Desmond Castle, Tower house and customs building in Kinsale, Ireland

Desmond Castle is a stone tower house built around 1500 in Kinsale, County Cork, as the town's Customs House for Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Desmond. It is a national monument of Ireland, and since 1997 it has housed the International Museum of Wine, run by the Order of the Wine Geese.

Maurice Fitzgerald, Earl of Desmond, built the castle around 1500 after receiving customs rights over Kinsale's port from King Henry VII. Over the following centuries, the building changed hands and functions several times, reflecting the shifting fortunes of the town.

Inside the tower, a wine museum tells the story of trade links between Ireland and continental Europe through objects and documents that visitors can see today. The collection shows how merchants from France, Spain and Portugal were regular visitors to this port town.

The building sits along the narrow streets of Kinsale's old town and is easy to reach on foot from the harbor. It is worth checking ahead, as the site can occasionally be closed during conservation periods.

After 1641 the tower became a naval prison holding mainly French and Spanish captives, and locals called it the "French Prison". The Russian source also names Italian prisoners among those held there. A fire in January 1747 killed 54 inmates.