The situation is so enclosed by the surrounding hills that figs grew plentifully here in former days. The pleasure grounds were at one time laid out in the Dutch style; yew, beech, and laurel grew to great perfection, and in a grove of the latter a rookery was established. The remains of a deer-park wall are still to be seen. The fortress is generally supposed to have been erected by the O’Donovans, but it is also ascribed to the Lady Catherine Fitzgerald, daughter of Thomas, 8th Earl of Desmond, and sister-in-law to the long-lived Countess. This would place its building at the later end of the fifteenth century. There are various legends told about “the black lady” in connection with Benduff, and they may refer to the above Geraldine. Later the castle belonged to the M’Carthys, and at the time of the Commonwealth confiscation it was in the possession of one Florence M’Carty. The estate was granted to Major Apollo Morris, an officer in Cromwell’s army, during the seventeenth century, and upon the restoration of Charles II. he retained his lands through the interest of the King’s secretary, to whom he was related. The grant was preserved in the castle until the middle of the nineteenth century, when Mr. William Morris sent it to a Cork bookseller for publication, and it was lost through the failure of the firm. Major Morris was succeeded by William Morris, who was an intimate friend of the great William Penn. On the right-hand side of the avenue is an old Quaker burial-ground, which was established by him, and to which “Friends’” funerals came from all parts of Cork. He was himself interred there, but against all the rules of the order a tomb was erected to his memory, which may still be seen, and after that the Quakers ceased to bring their dead to Benduff for interment. The property passed from the possession of the Morris family into that of the Fitzgibbons. AUTHORITIES CONSULTED. D. Donovan, “Sketches in Carbery.” Smith, “County and City of Cork.” Townsend, “Statistical Survey of the County of Cork.” Book of Survey and Distribution. _CLOGHAN CASTLE_ This fortress is situated between the Shannon and Little Brosna River, on the banks of the latter, about three miles south of Banagher, in the King’s County. This part of the country was formerly joined to Galway. Joyce gives the meaning of the name Cloghan as “stepping stones,” but Cooke states that the full appellation is Cloghan-na-geaorach, or “the stony place of the sheep,” Cloghan Hill being still famous for rearing these animals. When a tennis-court was being made some years back a number of human bones and cannon shot were found, while inside the castle a hand was discovered in the wall covered by the plaster. The castle is supposed to have been built in the reign of King John and to be one of the oldest inhabited castles in Ireland.