Standing Stone	Ring Fort	Castle	Weir	Inniscarra Bridge
Oriel House	Gunpowder Mills	Lime Kiln	Military Barracks	St Mary and St John's Church

Ballincollig Castle

Ballincollig Castle sits on a limestone rock facing the Maglin valley and has a rich history. The castle is mainly associated with the Barrett family who bought the land from Robert Coll in 1468-69 and are thought to have built a castle shortly afterwards.

Seen to its best advantage from the new Ballincollig bypass, it consists of a slender central keep, 15 meter high with a curtain wall running around the edge of the rock on which it stands. The wall is about 1.5 meter thick and 3 meters high and had two defensive towers, one in ruins in the south-east corner and a second facing directly south. There appears to have been a hall built into the outer wall as there are the remains of a fireplace and chimney. The keep had three floors and a basement, probably used as a prison. It seems to have been used for defensive purposes rather than as regular living quarters.

After much infighting, the family sold it to pay debts in 1630. In 1644 it was taken by Cromwell's forces and around 1689 it was garrisoned for James 11. But after 1690 it was unused and fell into disrepair.

In the nineteenth century, it was owned by the Wyse family and evidence of this can be seen in their stone crest inserted in the east wall of the keep with the letter W and the date 1857. Although it now stands on private land and is in a ruinous condition, it is an important landmark and reminder of Ballincollig's turbulent past.

In 2006 a planning application to build a number of new houses right up to the perimeter of the castle was turned down after local protest. BHA remains vigilant and monitors all new planning applications in the town.