Fota Tower
Co. Cork.

Documenting our Heritage

In the 1820s John Smith-Barry moved from England to Ireland and made Fota House his permanent home. As his main residence he transformed Fota House from a modest two-storey hunting lodge into a seventy room mansion, he first considered a Tudor revival design, the fashion of that period, but eventually a more reserved Regency style design was executed by the architects Sir Richard Morrison and his son William Vitruvius Morrison.

Smith-Barry, perhaps not wanting to entirely miss out on the latest architectural fashions, employed the Cork architect John Hargrave to build him a Tudor Gothic Revival folly castle on the edge of the Fota Demense.  The two-storey castle had a main block of three bays, with a single bay block and circular towers adjoining. With fine views into Cork harbour the Fota Tower was used by the Smith-Barrys as a holiday lodge.

Fota House has recently been the subject of substantial restoration work, however Fota Tower is left to slowly crumble back into the landscape.

Please note that while Fota House is open to the public, Fota Tower is located on strictly private property and is not open to the public, trespassers will be prosecuted.

This article is the copyright of Tarquin Blake, Abandoned Ireland, and may not be reproduced in any form without permission.