Article

Blarney Castle and Gardens, County Cork

Blaney is most famous for its Stone but the Castle has some of the finest gardens in Ireland and a mansion house too

Think of Blarney and folk will say "The Blarney Stone" which sits at the top of the castle. There is however much more to Blarney than a stone of eloquence. In fact, yesterday, I took 85 photos there. Worry not, I shan't put them all on here but such is the level of enchantment about this wonderfully quiet corner of County Cork. The themed gardens include a Poison Garden, The Rock Garden, The Fern Garden and Arboretums.

Blarney Castle

Blarney House and Castle

Caisleán na Blarnan

It is easy to see why this particular location set upon high rocks would be an excellent defensive position.

Caisleán na Blarnan (aka Blarney Castle) is actually the 3rd structure to stand on this site. A wooden hunting lodge stood here in the 10th Century ( 10thC ) Then a stone building in the 1200s. The current building was built by the McCarthys in 1446. The Tower House remaining is what people call Blarney Castle. It was also surrounded by watch towers of which two remain.

It would be difficult to attack this place successfully.

Watch Tower by the The Tower House now known as Blarney Castle.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

There is a centuries-old tradition and it does not as people think it is, of kissing the stone so you can talk a lot. The Kissing of the Stone supposedly gives people the gift of talking their way out of any situation with eloquence and charm.

The stone sits at the very top of the Tower House. I did not go up. There was an hour-long queue and 100 narrow, worn, stone steps. But, people do go to be held upside down to kiss the stone. It is cleaned 4 times a day but I do not think that this is enough for my germ-phobic mind. Apart from this, I have charm enough for 2 people already without kissing a stone.

Kissing Stone Ditty

There is a stone there

That whoever kisses

Oh he never misses

To grow eloquent

Origins

The background of the stone is uncertain.

One tradition has it that the Clionagh, Queen of the Banshees, revealed the power of the Stone to the McCarthy Clan. Others say it was used when the McCarthys helped the Scottish to defeat the English in Battle.

I think that given the propensity of some Irish chieftains to dangle their enemies over the parapets, by the ankles, it started as they had to talk themselves out of being dropped over the top if they could talk eloquently enough.

The Gardens

Gardens

Next we have a celebration of the visual beauty of the gardens.

Poison garden

The Poison Garden is the only one in Ireland. Be careful not to touch.

It contains plants from many countries. Each one is clearly labelled with information about its properties.

poison plants or leaves

Poison

Rhubarb leaves are poisonous but not the stems. NB. Remove the leaves immediately after you pick rhubarb.
Wolfsbane is a favourite of all Harry Potter fans. It can be poisonous.
Black Cohosh is widely used in menopausal products but it can be toxic when taken in large quantities

Blarney House

Sir George Colthurst decided to commission a Belfast architect to build a new home for himself and his family. Built in 1874, the house is in a Scottish baronial style with blue limestone and Cumberland slates. It is a mighty impressive house and is closed off to the public. George's descendant Sir Charles Colthurst lives there.

Me and my Soulmate

Conclusion

So, as you see my husband and I found out that there is so much to Blarney than a Stone. It is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in Cork.

The River Martin runs above the River Blarney

Updated July 28, 2026

Comments

VeronicaJun 15, 2023

Bsg . Good comment as always.

Cork is in Southern Ireland so is not part of Great Britain. They have the Irish flag but N. Ireland can fly the Union Jack or Irish flag. You would never see the Union Jack in the South.

blackspanielgalleryJun 15, 2023

Just got to visit the article and its images. I thought it would have not have a Scottish appearance in any part, but the image clearly shows the house does. One observation, with all the spires I see no Union Jack flying, a nice touch. Was the omission by the owners?

VeronicaJun 11, 2023

Writer artist.

People do though, they queue for over an hour to climb a narrow spiral staircase and then be turned upside down and kiss a dirty stone.

YUKKY germs.

Indeed the gardens are lovely.

WriterArtistJun 11, 2023

Blarney castle looks like a well secured fortress. The gardens are lovely and the greenery is amazing. Kissing a stone which is already been kissed many times is not for me. I wonder if there were cases of improved eloquences.

VeronicaJun 7, 2023

My opinion is that a castle of this strategic position would not be attacked often. I have no idea how often they were staffed.

DerdriuMarrinerJun 7, 2023

Online sources give different answers about watch towers in general and about Blarney Castle in particular.

Is there any information onsite about how much and how often watch towers were staffed? Was it a case of no matter what there was an ever-running rotation of guards for 24/7 coverage? Or was it knowledge- or rumor-activated?

VeronicaJun 7, 2023

I agree Dusty. Washing it even after every kiss would not be sufficient for me.
The grounds are really lovely.

dustytoesJun 6, 2023

No way would I wait an hour to kiss a stone that contains stuff from many others! yuck. But the grounds are so pretty. Hope your sweetie is doing well.

DerdriuMarrinerJun 3, 2023

Your brother has mentioned Maureen's family connections to County Mayo, which is why I mentioned Great Aunt Arabella's (and my Norway maternal line) connections with County Mayo.

The binder may give me the information this evening when I get back home. Otherwise, Ancestry should give me the particulars -- since that's where I first got the information during my year in SLC -- by sometime next week.

The Family History Library worked up a different way of retrieving information online from the Ancestry site. That way works a bit more cumbersomely for me than the first, original organization of genealogical information.

VeronicaJun 3, 2023

Frank s wife 's family are Mayo people.

DerdriuMarrinerJun 3, 2023

I can find out where Arabella Tear Sharpe was from in County Mayo.

The information may be in my huge binder from when I genealogized at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, with my brother for one whole year. Or it may be retrieved by searching on Ancestry.

I remember I mentioned great aunt Arabella Tear Sharpe recently to your Big Brother in one of his comment boxes.

I was supposed to have been named for her -- from the Roden Winterbotham Sharpe paternal line -- but my mother prevailed since her descent from the third son of Scots King Kenneth McAlpin for some reason means that, at least in her direct line from him, every couple of generations Prince Gregor's descendants have a Deirdre/Derderiu/Derdriu.

The consequence was my nickname is Deedee instead of Bella ;-D.

There would also be a Douglas/Douglass somewhere in Great Aunt Arabella's ancestry.

VeronicaJun 2, 2023

Derdriu
And a bit of Viking too which is most likely through your Irish lines.
i think my best beloved Bog Bro will be particularly interested in your Aunt Arabella Tear Sharp :)
Do you know which part she was from? :)

DerdriuMarrinerJun 2, 2023

Tennis star Arthur Ashe described the British Isles as his favorite place because of its people's love of flowers, manners and rituals.

I like the way you so courteously reminded me of something that I knew and should not have forgotten: don't be as unkind as the ancient Greeks and let posterity link the subsequent Britons, Gaels and Gauls of the British Isles with so-called barbarianism.

Me too, what with my maternal ancestral Norway family line of Ireland (which they loved so much they showed up in just about every area) and of Orkney and what with my great aunt Arabella Tear Sharpe of County Mayo I think of myself as Briton, Gael, Gaul.

VeronicaJun 2, 2023

Hello Sandy

Thank you for pitching in. One of the things I love about Wizzley apart from "meeting " so many lovely people, is learning about all the beautiful places that people visit.

VeronicaJun 2, 2023

Derdriu
You have no need to offer apologies. Maybe my words sounded that way unintentionally. I welcome your comments and support.. I welcome how comments on here develop the pages..
Your intelligence shines through your words and is appreciated by Frank and myself.

Indeed, Frank and I would consider ourselves to be Briton/ Gael .

sandyspiderJun 2, 2023

I enjoyed reading about your trip! I would love to visit Blarney Castle and its gardens.

DerdriuMarrinerJun 1, 2023

Any DNA checks of the mummies of Urumchi are not among what I recall from the Barber book, which focused on the non-barbaric achievements -- such as establishing oasis stations along the Tarim River Basin, leaving what now are the rudiments of impressive homes, making impressive textiles and salt and training horses -- of the Tocharian speakers.

I can see how they could be people influenced by the peoples who became Britons, Gaels and Gauls rather than actually being them because they may have originated in Iran. It's quite confounding how their mysterious language became more like Gaelic than any other language in the world!?!

I know better than to use the term Celts as a race. So will you please accept my apologies for using the term that the Greeks so unkindly used?

VeronicaJun 1, 2023

Thank you; a lot of people say we are a photogenic couple.

Blarney is very happily situated regarding viewpoints.

You touch upon a sensitive point when you refer to "Celts ". The word Celts comes from the Greek word "Keltoi " meaning barbarians. The Greeks considered those around them were Keltoi. This means that "Celts" as a race did not exist. Over here, they were Gauls, Gaels and Britons who lived a "Celtic" lifestyle as opposed to being a race of people named " Celts". Therefore, it is more than likely that People as far as the East may have adopted some of the Celtic lifestyle habits.

DerdriuMarrinerJun 1, 2023

The computer crashed before I could add an observation I had to make.

Your first sentence under the subheading Caisleán na Blarnan mentions that "It is easy to see why this particular location set upon high rocks would be an excellent defensive position."

Elizabeth Barber notes, in her book The Mummies of Urumchi (between ancient China and India, where the people before they died and were mummified spoke Tocharian, language only found to be related to Celtic), that the overlap of best defensive location with best views, of horse-raising skills, of salt-gathering and making and of textiles always happened wherever the Celts settled.

Would you say that Blarney Castle affords breathtaking view of its surroundings?

DerdriuMarrinerJun 1, 2023

You and your husband are photogenic! Beautiful pictures throughout, of which the last is my favorite.

Caisleán na Blarnan

It is easy to see why this particular location set upon high rocks would be an excellent defensive position.

It would be difficult to attack this place successfully.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Origins

The background of the stone is uncertain.

Blarney House

Comments

VeronicaJun 15, 2023

blackspanielgalleryJun 15, 2023

VeronicaJun 11, 2023

Writer artist.

People do though, they queue for over an hour to climb a narrow spiral staircase and then be turned upside down and kiss a dirty stone.

YUKKY germs.

Indeed the gardens are lovely.

WriterArtistJun 11, 2023

VeronicaJun 7, 2023

My opinion is that a castle of this strategic position would not be attacked often. I have no idea how often they were staffed.

DerdriuMarrinerJun 7, 2023

VeronicaJun 7, 2023

I agree Dusty. Washing it even after every kiss would not be sufficient for me.
The grounds are really lovely.

dustytoesJun 6, 2023

No way would I wait an hour to kiss a stone that contains stuff from many others! yuck. But the grounds are so pretty. Hope your sweetie is doing well.

DerdriuMarrinerJun 3, 2023

VeronicaJun 3, 2023

Frank s wife 's family are Mayo people.

DerdriuMarrinerJun 3, 2023

VeronicaJun 2, 2023

DerdriuMarrinerJun 2, 2023

VeronicaJun 2, 2023

Hello Sandy

Thank you for pitching in. One of the things I love about Wizzley apart from "meeting " so many lovely people, is learning about all the beautiful places that people visit.

VeronicaJun 2, 2023

sandyspiderJun 2, 2023

I enjoyed reading about your trip! I would love to visit Blarney Castle and its gardens.

DerdriuMarrinerJun 1, 2023

VeronicaJun 1, 2023

DerdriuMarrinerJun 1, 2023

You and your husband are photogenic! Beautiful pictures throughout, of which the last is my favorite.