Kilbrittain - Features of Interest

Features of Interest

Howestrand is a beach in Kilbrittain with the ruin of a Coast Guard station that overlooks the beach, built in 1910 and burnt down in 1920.

Kilbrittain Castle is the oldest inhabited castle in Ireland. The Castle is thought to date from 1035 where the original fortress may have been built by the O'Mahony Clan. Known to have been in the hands of the Norman family of de Courcey and possibly extended in the 13th Century, Kilbrittain Castle was the principal seat of MacCarthy Reagh family, Princes of Carbery, from the early 15th century. The castle was extensively restored and enlarged by the Stawell family in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was partially burned in 1920 and restored in 1969 by inventor Russell Winn. Kilbrittain Castle is now the home of the Cahill-O'Brien family.

Coolmain Castle was originally built by the de Courcey family in the early 15th century, but they lost it to the MacCarthy Reaghs, the Princes of Desmond, the following century. Over the years it passed through the hands of a number of families, including that of the Earls of Cork. In the middle of the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell acquired the property. In the early 1900s it was owned by a popular American novelist of the day, Don Byrne. He was from New York, but his wife, Dolly Cadogan, was from the area.

Roy Disney bought it about 20 years ago from Hollywood photographer Bob Willoughby, who had carried out extensive refurbishments to the property.