5 Things to Do in Kinsale, Ireland

3. Fort Charles (Dun Chathail)

This star fort sits on the water’s edge, and is an excellent place to explore. Built in 1690, it’s seen a lot of history, and has its fair share of ghosts.

Most the fort is left open for adventuring, with abandoned barracks to peek into and walls to climb. A few of the main buildings have been turned into exhibits where you can learn about being a British soldier stationed here in the past centuries. The section about married life is particularly interesting!

Alyssa Hollingsworth / Own Work

Be sure you read about the local White Lady (or ask a member of staff to tell you the story). Numerous sightings have been recorded, even by officers on watch. The story goes that the daughter of the fort’s commander married one of his officers. The night of her marriage, she walked with her new husband on the rampart walls. White flowers were blooming on the grassy slope down toward the water, and she stopped to exclaim,

“How beautiful they are under the moon!”

Her husband sent her back to their quarters and told his friend, who was on watch, that he was going to climb down to get the flowers for her. But the groom was tired after the long day, so his friend insisted on going for him. The groom took the sentry’s station, pulling his hat low over his face so no one would notice he’d switched places, and waited. His friend was gone a while, and the groom fell asleep.

Along came the commander, his father-in-law, who saw that a sentry was asleep on duty. The penalty for such a thing was death, and accordingly the father took out his gun and shot the man on the spot. It was only after the man’s hat fell off that the commander realized he had shot his son-in-law. Distraught by what he had done, the commander threw himself from the ramparts. The bride, emerging from her quarters, found the bodies, and jumped from the ramparts, too.

They say she still haunts the fort to this day.

Alyssa Hollingsworth / Own Work

While some of this is legend (and all of it would be better told to you by an Irish-accented lass!), the bones of the story are true. There was a commander who shot his son-in-law mistakenly, and he later killed himself.

After contemplating this tragedy, warm yourself up again with tea and scones in the little café. Then head back to the road train to return to Kinsale!