Desmond Castle in Kinsale, County Cork, is a historic urban tower house built around 1500 by Maurice Bacach Fitzgerald, the Earl of Desmond, as a customs house for the town. Over centuries, the castle's role evolved significantly: it served as a prison from the 17th-18th centuries (earning the nickname "French Prison" due to its many French inmates), functioned as ordnance storage during the 1601 Battle of Kinsale, operated as a workhouse during the Great Famine, hosted Gaelic League meetings in the early 1900s, and later housed an undertaking business. The three-storey keep with rear storehouses represents a classic example of medieval Irish tower house architecture. Currently undergoing conservation works, the castle typically offers limited external viewing with modest admission fees.
