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The town's history is recorded in the museum (irregular hours - check with the tourist office; GBP1/?1.27), bang in the centre of town above the old market (1600) with its Dutch-style facade (1704). It's an intriguing jumble of stuff, including memorabilia from the Lusitania disaster, sixteenth-century royal charters and maps, local craftwork, personal effects of the eighteenth-century giant of Kinsale and a variety of bizarre local inventions that never got further than the local museum. Here, too, is the musty old courthouse that had remained much the same from the eighteenth century up until 1915, when the inquest into the sinking of the Lusitania was held here and Kinsale suddenly became the focus of the world's press; after the inquest it was decided that the courtroom should be left as a memorial. Desmond Castle (mid-April to mid-June Tues-Sun and bank holidays 10am-6pm; mid-June to early Oct daily 10am-6pm; GBP2/?2.54; Heritage Card) offers little to see beyond its simple, sturdy structure, although the tour is worth taking since the guides are instructive and entertaining. Here, too is a small wine museum (10am-6pm; GBP1.50/?1.90) which details the history of the "wine geese", those families that fled Ireland after both the Battle of Kinsale in 1601 and also those who left after the departure of James II in 1690, and who went on to establish vineyards and wine trading routes around the world. Nearby St Multose Church has traces of a medieval structure, and in the church porch are the town stocks dating back to the eighteenth century.
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