If you ever looked up at the evocative medieval Barryscourt tower house and wondered what life was like behind those formidable walls, the following account by an English traveller in 1620 might satisfy your curiosity.
"We are come to the castle already. The castles are built very strong, and with narrow stayres, for security. The hall is the uppermost room, lett us go up, you shall not come downe agayne till tomorrow.
"The lady of the house meets you wth. her trayne. Salutations paste, you shall be presented wth all the drinks in the house, first the ordinary beare, then aqua vitae, then sacke, then olde-ale, the lady tastes it, you must not refuse it. The fyre is prepared in the middle of the hall, where you may sollace yor. selfe till supper time, you shall not want sacke and tobacco.
"By this time the table is spread and plentifully furnished wth. variety of meates, but illcooked and without sauce. When you come to yor. chamber, do not expect canopy and curtaines."
The account of a visit to the 16th-century tower house at Carrigtwohill, Co Cork, was written by Luke Gernon, who was visiting the area and sought the castle's hospitality.
Considered one of the finest medieval buildings in the State, the castle has been looked after since 1987 by the Barryscourt Trust, set up to conserve, enhance and develop the heritage potential of the tower house.
Last year the trust instituted a bi-annual series of lectures on medieval Ireland, to foster discussion through scholars of the period, on medieval history, archeology and architecture.
It was decided that the lectures, which are free, should be open to the public.
They are then published individually with a compilation to be brought out at three-yearly intervals. So far two of the lectures in the series have appeared. They are: "Barryscourt Castle and the Irish Tower House" by Tadgh O' Keeffe of the department of archaeology at UCD; and "The Impact of the Anglo-Normans on Munster" by A.F. O'Brien of UCC's department of history.
Tadgh O'Keeffe says of Barryscourt: "The tower house is the late-medieval Irish castle par excellence. From the 1300s to the 1600s the great majority of Irish castles included, or were comprised solely of, tower houses. What is perhaps most remarkable about the tower-house tradition is that by the end of the 15th century all three populations in medieval Ireland - the Gaelic, Irish and the Gaelicised English - had embraced it."
"Barryscourt Castle, or at least its tower house, can be considered from an architectural perspective to belong to the top rank of Irish late-medieval buildings," the author says.
"Its layout adheres to a simple conception. The tower house and adjacent structure, which can reasonably be identified as a hall, occupy one entire site of a quadrangular enclosure, with a curtain, or bawn wall, which extends eastwards of the two buildings."
The castle is well worth visiting.