Blarney Castle.

(Small field.)

Read about Blarney Castle from Irish Pictures Drawn with Pen and Pencil by Richard Lovett

Blarney Castle is situated on a steep rock rising above the River Martin, an adjacent Rock close by is said to have Druidic connections. The castle, the third to be erected on the site, was built by Cormac Laidhr Macarthy, lord of Muskerry, a descendant of the ancient kings of Desmond and Cork The walls are some 85 ft high and 12 feet thick at the base. It came under siege several times during the 16th and 17th century but finally fell to the William's III army in 1690 being largely destroyed. An inscription on the castle reads 'Cormac Macarthy fortis me fieri facit AD 1446' (Cormac MacCarthy built me strongly in 1446)

Eloquence and The Blarney Stone.
This appears to originate from the time of Elizabeth I. The Lord of Blarney at the time was Cormac MacDermot MacCarthy was asked by George Carew the Queen's Deputy in Ireland to give up the Irish tradition of electing the clan chiefs, and transfer his allegiance to the English crown, MacCarthy continually side stepped with promises and elequent statements, until finally in exasperation the Queen exploded 'Blarney! Blarney! What he says he never means. It's the usual Blarney!'

The Blarney Stone is situated high under the battlement, the tradition of kissing the blarney stone appears to date from the 18th century when the estate was held by the Jeffrey's family. Tradition says that those who kiss the stone will receive the blessing of elequence. Some say that the stone is part of the Stone of Scone the crowning stone of the Kings of Scotland now in Westminster Abbey.