Stop 1. Blarney Castle

The current castle was built in 1446 by Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, the ninth Lord of Muskerry. Blarney was the most important of the MacCarthy castles and became the main dwelling place of future MacCarthy chiefs. It was captured during Elizabethan and Cromwellian times, confiscated and sold in 1688 to Sir James St. John Jefferyes from whom the present owners are descended.