Carrigadrohid
Carraig an Droichid

The Lee Valley
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Carraig an Droichid · Co. Cork

A Lee Valley village flooded by its own reservoir. The castle that remains tells half the story.

Carrigadrohid sits at the edge of the reservoir created when the Lee was dammed in the 1950s. The dam flooded the original village centre. The castle — a 14th-century tower house on a rock above the water — survived and now stands alone on its island, connected by a causeway when the water level allows. It's one of the better accidental landscapes in Cork.

Cormac Láidir MacCarthy built the castle around 1450. Four centuries later it was used as a prison and execution site during the War of Independence. The reservoir now covers what was once arable ground. The drive along the southern shore of the lake is quiet and worth taking if you're moving between Cork and Macroom.

Population

~200

Coords

51.8840° N, 8.8870° W

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Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

A 14th-century tower in a man-made lake

The castle and the dam

The Lee Hydro Scheme in the 1950s created the Carrigadrohid and Inniscarra reservoirs, flooding the valley floor. The medieval castle at Carrigadrohid, which had survived Norman occupation, MacCarthy wars, Cromwellian sieges and War of Independence executions, ended up marooned on a rock in the middle of a man-made lake. ESB engineers worked around it. It's still there.