Drishane Castle

Drishane Castle stands near Millstreet in Ireland. The stone stronghold was raised by the MacCarthy Gaelic lords in the mid fifteenth century, with building activity dated to about 1436–1450 and work probably begun under Dermot Mór, a younger son of Tadhg who ruled Desmond from 1390 to 1428.

During the late sixteenth century the site remained in MacCarthy hands. In 1592 Tadhg, son of Owen, surrendered Drishane to Queen Elizabeth I and received a regrant from the Crown. His son Owen, also recorded as Eoin, maintained possession of the castle until his death in 1637.

All lands held by the MacCarthy family were taken into crown control after the conflicts of 1641–1653. When Charles II returned to the throne in 1660 the estate was restored to Donough MacCarty, who became the first Earl of Clancarty, but the family lost the property again following the Williamite War of 1689–1691.

Ownership passed into private hands in the early eighteenth century. The Hollow Sword Blade Company held the land and sold it to Henry Wallis in 1709. The Wallis family secured full title by 1728 and built the neighbouring house around 1730. During the Fenian Rising of 1867 the castle was used as a garrison. Wallis ownership continued until 1882, and the property later belonged to Patrick Stack.

In 1909 the complex became a religious establishment. The Sisters of the Infant Jesus acquired the site and ran a boarding secondary school for girls there until 1992. After that date the Duggan family purchased the property and adapted it as a centre for people seeking asylum. The name Drishane in modern usage is applied both to the medieval tower and to the adjacent eighteenth-century house. The site is recorded as a National Monument in County Cork. In 1974 the castle and house served as a film location, standing in for the fictional Brede Abbey in the film adaptation of In This House of Brede.