The name of the hotel near Doneraile is Springfort Hall.
Best,
Bill O'Neil
At 11:12 AM 1/11/01 -0600, you wrote:
>Kilcolman is as accessible as any private land in Ireland, including that
>with archaeological monuments on it. That is, as accessible as the owner
>cares to make it. The tower itself is locked, but --judging from our visit
>during last summer's Millenium conference-- only a short cattle fence or
>two surrounds the castle proper. Nothing really to bar the adventurous
>pedestrian; nothing like the anti-druidic fortress that is Stonehenge. You
>must park the car about a kilometer away and walk to the site, however.
>
>The un-Stratford-on-Avon beauty of the place is partly due to its
>inaccessability (enhanced, perhaps, by bad local memories re planters) and
>lack of an EU-funded heritage site/museum to destroy the setting with
>mediocre architecture and bring in loads of gawkers. The downside of this
>ignoriety is possible further pillaging (cf. Erich Klingelhoeffer's article
>on the castle in a recent *Archaeology* magazine). I counted one (old)
>road sign in the environs pointing vaguely in the castle's direction, and
>that at a fairly random intersection in its vicinity. Ergo, to get along
>the by-roads and backways to find it, best pick up a very good map of the
>north Co. Cork area; the best ones are based on the Ordnance Survey. It
>should be marked. Look for Doneraile, near Mallow, and go from there. cf.
>also maps in the back of the Sp Enc.
>
>Does anybody remember the name of the hotel near Doneraile our group stayed
>in during the conference? It's a nearby, nice Georgian building w/a cozy
>bar perfectly suited to wet, tired Spenserians.
>
>Best, Thomas
>
>
> >I think the merger sounds very useful.
> >
> >Can anyone tell me if the remains of Spenser's castle in Kilcolmain are
> >accessible and, if so, how to get there from Cork? I'm going for a quick
> >visit and would like to check it out.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Andrew Smyth
> >Plymouth State College
|