Site of Castle, Formaoil, An Sráidbhaile, Co. Kerry
Along the southern edge of Brandon Bay in County Kerry, the site of Fermoyle Castle tells a story of absence rather than presence.
Site of Castle, Formaoil, An Sráidbhaile, Co. Kerry
No stones or walls remain to mark where this fortification once stood; instead, its existence is known only through a chance discovery during the construction of Fermoyle House around 1843. Workers building the new house uncovered what appeared to be partial foundations of an earlier structure, presumed to be the remnants of the medieval castle that once commanded this stretch of coastline.
The castle’s location, just northeast of where Fermoyle House now stands, would have offered strategic advantages for whoever controlled it. Positioned near the seashore, it would have provided views across Brandon Bay whilst maintaining proximity to the maritime routes that connected this part of Kerry to the wider world. The complete disappearance of the castle’s superstructure suggests it may have served as a convenient quarry for local building projects over the centuries, its dressed stones recycled into field walls, houses, and perhaps even into Fermoyle House itself.
Today, visitors to the area will find no romantic ruins or crumbling towers to explore. The site exists primarily in historical records and archaeological surveys, notably documented by Hitchcock in 1855 and later included in the comprehensive Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey of 1986. For those interested in Ireland’s vanished castles, Fermoyle represents one of many such sites where medieval power once projected itself across the landscape, only to fade completely from view, leaving behind little more than disturbed earth and historical footnotes.