HWW! This is "old" Mallow Castle in Co Cork, a three storey rectangular stronghouse with wings projecting from the middle of the northern and southern walls. There are octagonal turrets on the north west and south west corners, one of which contains a staircase. The castle, which is now in ruins, was built in early Jacobean style. It featured high gables, stepped battlements and large mullioned windows with gun loops in the turrets and below the upper windows.The castle was built around 1598, either by Sir Thomas Norris (or Norreys), or his daughter who married into the Jephson family. During the Confederate War, the Jephsons sided with Parliament. The castle withstood an attack by Lord Mountgarret in 1642, but was captured by Lord Castlehaven in 1645. The castle was burnt down by the Jacobites in 1689 and fell into ruin. Rather than rebuild the burned castle, the Jephsons created a mansion house (the "new" Mallow Castle) out of the old castle's stable block. In 1928, the old castle was made a National Monument. The last Jephson was Commander Maurice Jephson who sold the castle to McGinn family of Washington D.C. in 1984 ending a family chain that stretched for almost 400 years.