Though nothing remains visible on the surface today, this location once housed a stronghold of the Clan Dermot MacCarthy, one of the prominent Gaelic families who controlled much of Cork during the medieval period. The castle appears on the Ordnance Survey’s six-inch map from 1842, where it was already marked as being in ruins, suggesting its destruction occurred considerably earlier.

The MacCarthys were among the most powerful dynasties in Munster, and their castles dotted the Cork landscape as symbols of their territorial control. Baugorm Castle would have been one of many fortifications in their network, strategically positioned to oversee the surrounding lands. Like numerous other Irish tower houses and castles, it likely fell victim to the tumultuous conflicts of the 16th and 17th centuries, when warfare between Gaelic clans, English forces, and various political factions saw the destruction of countless strongholds across Ireland.

Today, visitors to the pasture at Baurgorm will find no stone walls or foundations to mark where the castle once stood; time and agriculture have erased all physical traces. The site serves as a reminder of how thoroughly Ireland’s medieval landscape has been transformed, with hundreds of castles recorded in historical documents now existing only as place names and map references. Archaeological surveys continue to document these lost sites, preserving their memory even when the structures themselves have vanished completely into the Irish countryside.