This commanding hilltop position, offering sweeping views across the countryside in every direction, once held an O’Driscoll castle that stood firm into the early 1600s. The historian Coleman noted in 1927 that local memory placed the castle as still standing at the beginning of the 17th century, though by his time, and certainly by ours, no visible trace of the structure remains above ground.

The castle’s stones didn’t simply vanish into the Cork countryside; they found new life in the walls and foundations of nearby farm buildings. According to local tradition, farmers incorporated the dressed stone blocks into their barns and houses, a common practice that saw many Irish castles literally built into the agricultural landscape around them. This practical recycling of medieval masonry means that fragments of the O’Driscoll stronghold likely still shelter livestock and store grain, centuries after the castle’s defensive purpose ended.

The O’Driscolls were one of the most powerful Gaelic families in West Cork, controlling much of the coastal territory and maintaining several castles throughout the region. This particular fortification at Lettertinlish would have served as both a defensive position and a statement of authority, its elevated location allowing the O’Driscolls to monitor movement across their lands. Today, visitors to the site find only the natural rock outcrop, but the strategic importance of the location remains obvious to anyone who stands where the castle once did, looking out across the same views that the O’Driscoll lords would have surveyed from their now vanished towers.