Separated from Dursey by only a narrow sea gorge, this remote outpost consists of sod-covered ruins of two rectangular buildings set within a larger rectangular enclosure measuring 23 metres north to south and 31.3 metres east to west. The site, known as Ballynacallagh Fort, offers visitors a glimpse into one of the final chapters of Gaelic resistance in Ireland.

The fort gained its place in history during the Nine Years’ War when Donal Cam O’Sullivan Beare, the last great Gaelic lord of the Beara Peninsula, garrisoned it in 1602 as part of his network of coastal defences. O’Sullivan Beare was making a desperate stand against English forces following the defeat at Kinsale, and this small island fortress formed part of his strategy to control the waters around his stronghold at Dunboy Castle. However, the fort’s isolation proved its undoing; English commander George Carew captured it before launching his final assault on Dunboy itself, removing a key defensive position from O’Sullivan Beare’s dwindling territory.

Today, the ruins stand as a poignant reminder of this turbulent period, when the old Gaelic order made its last stand against English expansion. The location itself is spectacular, with Atlantic waves crashing against the rocky shores and views stretching across to the Beara Peninsula. Though the buildings are now little more than grassy mounds and stone foundations, the site’s strategic importance is immediately apparent to anyone who makes the journey to this windswept corner of Cork.