Kinsale and Cobh - Ireland 2014 - page 270

477-2263. A little coffee-and-pastry café stands inside the walls, downhill across from the
ticket office (June-Sept daily 10:00-18:00).
After Your Visit: Forabeerormealnearby,trytherecommended BulmanBarinSum-
mercove, where the road runs low near the water on the way back to town (with small
parking lot). And to see how easily the forts could bottle up this key harbor, pull over at
the grand harbor viewpoint at the high point onthe road back into town (between Summer-
cove and The Spaniard pub). Or, from the fort, take the popular, scenic 45-minute Scilly
Walk along the waterside back into town (see here ) .
James Fort
Older, overgrown with yellow gorse, and filling a peaceful park, James Fort is Kinsale's
other star fort, guarding the bay opposite Charles Fort. Built in the years just after the fam-
ous 1601 battle of Kinsale (when a Spanish force disembarked here—see the “Kinsale's
History” sidebar), this fort is more ruined, less interesting, and less visited than Charles
Fort. Its satellite blockhouse, which sits below the fort at the water's edge opposite Sum-
mercove, controlled a strong chain boom that could be raised to block ships from reaching
Kinsale's docks (free, always open).
Getting There: Easily accessible by car or bike, it's two miles (3 km) south of town
along Pier Road on the west shore of the bay (cross the bridge and turn left; you'll dead-
end at Castle Park Marina, where you can park or leave your bike). It's up the hill behind
the Dock pub. When facing the pub, the trailhead to the fort is at the far left end of the
buildings, where the parking lot ends.
▲ Desmond Castle
This 15th-century fortified urban customs house has had a long and varied history. It was
the Spanish armory during Spain's 1601 occupation of Kinsale. Nicknamed “Frenchman's
Prison,” it served as a British prison and once housed 600 prisoners of the Napoleonic
Wars (not to mention earlier American Revolutionary War prisoners captured at sea—who
were treated as rebels, not prisoners, and chained to the outside of the building as a warn-
ing to any rebellion-minded Irish). In the late 1840s, it was a famine-relief center.
Today, the evocative little ruin comes with a scant display of its colorful history, as well
as the modest two-room Museum of Wine, highlighting Ireland's little-known connection
to the international wine trade. In the Middle Ages, Kinsale was renowned for its top-qual-
ity wooden casks. Developing strong trade links with Bordeaux, local merchants traded
their dependable empty casks for casks full of wine. Later, Kinsale became a “designated
wine port” for tax-collection purposes.
Cost and Hours: €3, Easter-Sept daily 10:00-18:00, closed Oct-Easter, last entry at
17:15, Cork Street, tel. [phone].