Ashtown Castle (Irish: Caisleán Bhaile an Ásaighis) is a tower house in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland.

It was found hidden within the walls of a much larger and more recent Georgian building, the Under Secretary's Lodge also known as Ashtown Lodge, that was being used by the Papal Nuncio until 1978. At that time, the Lodge was deemed structurally irreparable due to dry rot. However, as the building was being demolished, Ashtown Castle was discovered. It has now been restored and forms part of the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre.

It is thought to originally date from the 1430s[verification needed], as it is built to dimensions that conform with a government policy of the time who offered £10 to those who built a castle for their own safety. The castle was later incorporated into the construction of Ashtown Lodge which was to serve as the official residence of the Under Secretary from 1782.

Ashtown Castle

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Dublin Castle (Irish: Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the seat of the United Kingdom government's administration in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland. The Castle served as the seat of English, then later British government of Ireland under the Lordship of Ireland (1171–1541), the Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800), and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1800–1922).

After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, the complex was ceremonially handed over to the newly formed Provisional Government led by Michael Collins.[1]

The castle today is a major tourist attraction and conferencing destination. The building is also used for State dinners (the most recent being for Queen Elizabeth II in 2011) and most significantly, the inauguration of the presidents of Ireland.

Dublin Castle was first founded as a major defensive work by Meiler Fitzhenry on the orders of King John of England in 1204,[2] some time after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169, when it was commanded that a castle be built with strong walls and good ditches for the defence of the city, the administration of justice, and the protection of the King's treasure.[3] Largely complete by 1230, the castle was of typical Norman courtyard design, with a central square without a keep, bounded on all sides by tall defensive walls and protected at each corner by a circular tower. Sited to the south-east of Norman Dublin, the castle formed one corner of the outer perimeter of the city, using the River Poddle as a natural means of defence along two of its sides. The city wall directly abutted the castle's northeast Powder Tower, extending north and westwards around the city before rejoining the castle at its southwestern Bermingham Tower. In 1620 the English-born judge Luke Gernon was greatly impressed by the wall: ""a huge and mighty wall, foursquare, and of incredible thickness"".[4]

The Poddle was diverted into the city through archways where the walls adjoined the castle, artificially flooding the moat of the fortress's city elevations. One of these archways and part of the wall survive buried underneath the 18th-century buildings, and are open to public inspection.

History
Through the Middle Ages the wooden buildings within the castle square evolved and changed, the most significant addition being the Great Hall built of stone and timber, variously used as Parliament house, court of law and banqueting hall. The building survived until 1673, when it was damaged by fire and demolished shortly afterwards. The Court of Castle Chamber, the Irish counterpart to the English Star Chamber, sat in Dublin Castle in a room which was specially built for it about 1570. The Castle sustained severe fire damage in 1684. Extensive rebuilding transformed it from medieval fortress to Georgian palace. No trace of medieval buildings remains above ground level today, with the exception of the great Record Tower (ca. 1228–1230); it is the sole surviving tower of the original fortification, its battlements an early 19th-century addition.[5]

United Irishmen General Joseph Holt, a participant in the 1798 Rising, was incarcerated in the Bermingham Tower before being transported to New South Wales in 1799.

In 1884 officers at the Castle were at the centre of a sensational homosexual scandal incited by the Irish Nationalist politician William O'Brien through his newspaper United Ireland.[6]

In 1907 the Irish Crown Jewels were stolen from the Castle. Suspicion fell upon the Officer of Arms, Sir Arthur Vicars, but rumours of his homosexuality and links to socially important gay men in London, may have compromised the investigation. The jewels have never been recovered.[7]



At the very beginning of the Easter Rising of 1916 a force of twenty-five Irish Citizen Army members were able to seize the entrance and guard-room of the Castle, before reinforcements for the small garrison arrived.[8] During the Anglo-Irish War the Castle was the nerve centre of the British effort against Irish separatism. On the night of Bloody Sunday in 1920, three Irish Republican Army members Dick McKee, Conor Clune and Peadar Clancy, were tortured and killed there.[9][10][11]

When the Irish Free State came into being in 1922, Dublin Castle ceased to function as the administrative seat. It served for some years as temporary Courts of Justice (the Four Courts, the home of the Irish courts system, had been destroyed in 1922). After the courts vacated the premises, the Castle was used for state ceremonies. As President of the Executive Council, Éamon de Valera received credentials there from newly arrived ambassadors to Ireland on behalf of King George V in the 1930s. In 1938, Douglas Hyde was inaugurated as President of Ireland at the Castle. Inaugurations of subsequent presidents took place there in 1945, 1952, 1959, 1966, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1983, 1990, 1997 and 2011. President Erskine Hamilton Childers' lying-in-state took place there in November 1974, as did that of former President Éamon de Valera in September 1975.

The castle is a tourist attraction and, following major refurbishment, is also used as a conference centre. During Ireland's presidencies of the European Union it has been the venue of many meetings of the European Council. The crypt of the Chapel Royal is now used as an arts centre, and occasional concerts are held in the grounds of the Castle. The complex of buildings is usually open to the public, except during state functions.

Dublin Castle is currently maintained by the Office of Public Works, and houses, among other things, offices of the Revenue Commissioners in a 20th-century building at the end of the Castle Yard, some elements of the Office of Public Works itself in an old stables area, and some functions of the Garda Síochána.

The castle complex also hosts the Chester Beatty Library, in a purpose-constructed facility, and the Garda Museum.

Dublin Castle

Dunsoghly Castle is a castle and a National Monument in St Margaret's, Ireland.

Location
Dunsoghly Castle is found in St. Margarets, Co Dublin.

History
Dunsoghly Castle was built around 1450 by Sir Thomas Plunket, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, and was continuously occupied until the 1870s by descendants of the same family, despite being a cramped Irish castle and uncomfortable by post-medieval standards. The lofty four-storey tower of the castle has tapering corner turrets rising above the parapet.

The roof, which has served as a model for restorations at Bunratty Castle and Rothe House, is arch-braced with four oak principals; on each collar-beam stands a king-post supporting a purlin and cross-pieces below the ridge. The rafters are laid flat rather than on edge as in modern roofs and the framework covered with split laths.

There is a small chapel to the south bearing the year ""1573"" over the door, the Instruments of the Passion and the initials of Sir John Plunket and his third wife Jenet Sarsfield. Sir John was the grandson of Sir Thomas, who built Dunsoghly, and like his grandfather he presided as Chief Justice in one of the courts of common law. Jenet was a much married lady, Sir John being the fifth of her six husbands. On the west and south are remains of earthwork defences put up during the warfare of the 1670s.

Dunsoghly Castle

Rathfarnham Castle (Irish: Caisleán Rath Fearnáin) is a 16th-century fortified house in Rathfarnham, South Dublin, Ireland.

Origins
The earlier Irish castle was replaced by the present building built on lands confiscated from the Eustace family of Baltinglass because of their involvement in the Second Desmond Rebellion. The family were Irish-speaking and epitomized the fusion of Gaelic & Norman traditions that defines early modern Irish identity as described in the phrase More Irish than the Irish themselves. The Geraldines defended the Pale from the Irish clans in the nearby Wicklow Mountains. It is believed the present castle was built around 1583 for Archbishop Adam Loftus. Originally a semi-fortified and battlemented structure it underwent extensive alterations in the 18th century.

The castle consisted of a square building four stories high with a projecting tower at each corner, the walls of which were an average of 5 feet (1.5 m) thick. On the ground level are two vaulted apartments divided by a wall nearly 10 feet (3.0 m) thick which rises to the full height of the castle. On a level with the entrance hall are the 18th century reception rooms and above this floor the former ballroom, later converted into a chapel.

Rathfarnham was described as a ""waste village"" when Loftus bought it. His new castle was not long built when in 1600 it had to withstand an attack by the Wicklow clans during the Nine Years' War.

Civil war
Archbishop Loftus left the castle to his son, Dudley and it then passed to his son Adam in 1616. During Adam's ownership, the castle came under siege in the 1641 rebellion. It was able to hold out against the Confederate army when the surrounding country was overrun. Adam Loftus opposed the treaty of cessation in order the stop the fighting between the Irish Confederates and the English Royalists. Consequently, he was imprisoned in Dublin Castle.

During the subsequent Irish Confederate Wars (1641–53), the castle changed hands several times. From 1641 to 1647, it was garrisoned by English Royalist troops. In 1647, Ormonde, commander of the Royalists in Ireland, surrendered Dublin to the English Parliament and Parliamentary troops were stationed at the castle until 1649 when a few days before the Battle of Rathmines, the castle was stormed and taken without a fight by the Royalists as part of the Siege of Dublin. However, the Roundheads re-occupied it after their victory at the Battle of Rathmines. It has also been reported that Oliver Cromwell held council there during his campaign in Ireland before going south to besiege Wexford. Adam Loftus, who recovered his castle and lands under Cromwell, sided with the Parliamentarians and was killed at the Siege of Limerick in 1651.

After the English Civil War, the Loftus family retained ownership of the castle. In 1659, Dr. Dudley Loftus, great grandson of Archbishop Loftus, took over the castle. During his lifetime, Dudley held the posts of Commissioner of Revenue, Judge of the Court of Admiralty, Master in Chancery, representative for Kildare & Wicklow in the Protectorate Parliament and MP for Naas, Bannow and Fethard (Co Wexford).

His body is interred at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

The eighteenth century

The property then passed by marriage to Philip Wharton. The young man lost his money in the South Sea Bubble and in 1723 the castle was sold to the Right Hon William Conolly, speaker of the Irish House of Commons for £62,000. In 1742, the castle was sold to Dr. Hoadly, Archbishop of Armagh, and on his death four years later it passed to his son-in-law Bellingham Boyle. In 1767, he sold the property to Nicholas Hume-Loftus, second Earl of Ely, a descendant of Adam Loftus, the original builder of the castle.


Nicholas died within a few years, probably as an indirect result of great hardships which he had suffered in his youth, and the estate passed to his uncle, Hon. Henry Loftus, who was created Earl of Ely in 1771. In commemoration of regaining ownership, the Loftus family constructed another entrance for the castle in the form of a Roman Triumphal Arch. The arch can still be viewed from nearby Dodder Park Road. Henry Loftus, Earl of Ely was responsible for much of the conversion of the medieval fortress into a Georgian mansion and employed renowned architects Sir William Chambers and James 'Athenian' Stuart to carry out these works. The mullioned windows were enlarged and the battlements replaced by a coping with ornamental urns. A semi-circular extension was added to the east side and an entrance porch approached by steps, on the north. The interior was decorated in accordance with the tastes of the period and leading artists, including Angelica Kauffman were employed in the work. Writers of the period who visited the house have left extravagant descriptions of its splendour.

Henry died in 1783 and was succeeded by his nephew Charles Tottenham. He subsequently became Marquess of Ely as a reward for his vote at the time of the Union.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries
In 1812, the family leased the estate to the Ropers and removed their valuable possessions to Loftus Hall in Wexford. The lands and castle were then used for dairy farming and fell into disrepair.

In 1852 it was bought by the Lord Chancellor, Francis Blackburne whose family resided there for three generations. The property developers Bailey & Gibson acquired the castle in 1912 and divided up the estate. The eastern part became the Castle Golf Club, the castle and the southwestern portion were bought in 1913 by the Jesuit Order and the northwestern part was devoted to housing.

The Jesuits are an order renowned for their education and one of them; Father O'Leary S.J. constructed a seismograph. This machine could detect earth tremors and earthquakes from anywhere in the world and for a time, Rathfarnham Castle became a source of earthquake information for the national media.

To the north of the castle was a long vaulted chamber formerly known as Cromwell’s Court or Fort. This was apparently a barn or storehouse erected as part of the castle farm and had narrow loopholes in its 5-foot (1.5 m) thick walls. In 1922, it was incorporated into the new retreat house, to which it formed the ground story and its character concealed from the outside by a uniform covering of cement plaster.

Not far from the Golf Club House was an attractive little temple built of stone and brick, another relic of Lord Ely’s occupation of Rathfarnham. Although rather out of repair, if restored, it would have added much to the charm of this part of the links. Unfortunately, by decision of the committee, it was demolished in 1979.

In 1986, the Jesuits sold Rathfarnham Castle but before leaving, they removed the stained glass windows, made in the famous Harry Clarke studios, from the chapel and donated them to Tullamore Catholic Church which had been destroyed by fire in 1983. The other windows were donated to Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross and Temple Street Children's Hospital, Dublin.

Preservation
The castle was sold to Delaware Properties in 1985 and it was feared that it was facing demolition. After immense public pressure to save the building, it was purchased by the state in 1987 and was declared a National Monument. Currently, by the Office of Public Works, there is an extensive refurbishment going through the castle but it is still open to the public during the summer months (5 May - 12 October).[5] The Castle is presented as a castle undergoing active conservation, where visitors can see, at first hand, tantalising glimpses of layers of its earlier existence uncovered during research.

Rathfarnham Castle

Clontarf Castle (Irish: Caisleán Chluain Tarbh) is a much-modernised castle, dating to 1837, in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland, an area famous as a key location of the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. There has been a castle on the site since 1172. In modern times, it has functioned as a bar, cabaret venue, and hotel.

History
The deLacy family and the Templars
The first castle on the grounds, of which no trace remains, was built in 1172 by either Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, or his tenant Adam de Phepoe. Clontarf was subsequently held by the Knights Templar and, after their suppression in 1308, passed to the Knights Hospitaller, until they were in turn deprived of it at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The last prior, John Rawson was created Viscount Clontarf in 1541 in return for surrendering the castle and its lands to the crown.

16th century to 17th century
In 1600 Queen Elizabeth I granted the estate to Sir Geoffrey Fenton, her secretary of state for Ireland, and it passed by marriage from his descendants to the King family. George King of Clontarf took part in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and as a result his lands were confiscated.

The Vernon family
Clontarf Castle - geograph.org.uk - 395705.jpg
At the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, the Clontarf estate was given to Captain John Blackwell, on 14 August 1649. Blackwell afterwards sold his interest to John Vernon, Quartermaster General of Cromwell's army. The Vernon family was to remain in possession for some 300 years.

In 1660, John Vernon, passed Clontarf Castle to his son, Edward Vernon. Edward died in 1684 and one of his sisters took possession. In 1695 a first cousin of Edward's, also named John Vernon, claimed rights and the estate was granted to him by an Act of Parliament in 1698.[1]

The last of the direct male line of Vernons at Clontarf was Edward Kingston Vernon (1869–1967), who succeeded to the estate on the death of his father Edward in 1913. He lived at the castle for only six months, after which time it was let to John George Oulton and his wife Mona, the only daughter of Walter Blades Calverley by Vernon's sister Edyth. The castle was finally sold to the Oultons in 1933.

JG Oulton, who took over the Vernon estate, died in the castle on 17 April 1952, and the Castle was left to his son, Desmond, who sold the property to pay death duties and other expenses.

1957 to 1997
The Castle remained vacant until 1957 when it was purchased by Mrs. Egan, who in turn sold it not long after to Eddie Regan in the 1960s. Gerry and Carmel Houlihan purchased the building in 1972 and ran it as a popular cabaret venue until 1998.

Conversion to hotel
The Castle re-opened to the public as a four-star, 111-room hotel in June, 1997.

Clontarf Castle

Leixlip (/ˈliːkslɪp/ or /ˈliːslɪp/; Irish: Léim an Bhradáin) is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and Brega, as an outpost of The Pale, and today on Kildare's border with Dublin.

As of 2016, the population of the town was 15,504.[1] It is the fourth largest town in Kildare, and the 29th largest in Ireland.

Name
The placename comes from the Old Norse lax hlaup (Younger Futhark: ᛚᛅᚼᛋ ᚼᛚᛅᚢᛒ; pronounced [laks l̥ɔup]) which means ""salmon leap"". The name in Irish (Léim an Bhradáin) is a direct translation of this, and was first adopted in the 1890s.[3] In Latin, it is Saltus salmonis, from which comes the names of the baronies of North Salt and South Salt.[4]

History
Leixlip was the site of the famous Battle of Confey, in which the Viking King Sigtrygg Caech of Dublin defeated the Irish King of Leinster around the year 917. The first settlement at Leixlip was an outpost of Early Scandinavian Dublin, built at the furthest point where longships could be rowed up the Liffey. Its status as an outpost of Dublin continued for centuries, marking a border of The Pale.

The town was home to Arthur Guinness's first brewery in 1755, where he brewed ales until he moved on to St. James's Gate Brewery, Dublin in 1759.[5]

The first history of the town was published in 2005.[6]

Festival
The Leixlip Festival (previously known as the Salmon Festival) has taken place every year since 1990 on the June bank holiday weekend. It offers live entertainment in pubs, a number of open-air concerts, and also a street carnival.

Most notably, in 1995 the Festival Committee decided to include 'The Arrival of the Vikings' as a theme for the festival. It was decided to invite Viking Re-Enactment groups from the UK to participate in the weekends festivities in full Viking dress and to stage mock battles.

The committee, in conjunction with FAS who at the time provided resources to organise and stage the festival, decided to build a Viking replica ship which would be burnt in a battle re-enactment on the banks of the Liffey on the festival closing night with a fireworks display. Three members of the organising team, with the aid of two FAS carpenters spent 5–6 weeks constructing the to-scale replica ship at the Wonderful Barn site in Leixlip. For the festival, the boat was transferred to the banks of the Liffey in the centre of Leixlip village, where as planned it was ceremoniously burnt on the Festival Sunday night.

The fireworks display continues to take place on the Sunday night since 1995.

Leixlip Salmon Festival Limited also provides a youth training scheme in association with Foras Áiseanna Saothair. In recent years the festival has played host to bands such as The Coronas, Aslan, The Blizzards, The Hothouse Flowers, Republic of Loose, Delorentos and The Riptide Movement. Solo artists have also performed including Damien Dempsey and Niall Breslin. The festival also gives local talent the opportunity to showcase their music.

Leixlip

Swords Castle was built as the manorial residence of the first Anglo-Norman Archbishop of Dublin, John Comyn, around 1200 or a little later in Swords, just north of Dublin. The castle was never strong in the military sense, but is unusual in that the perimeter wall of 305 metres is far larger than normal for an Irish castle.[1] The walls enclose a large pentagonal walled area of nearly 6,000 m² (1.5 acres) with a tower on the north, probably the Constable's residence, and an impressive gateway complex on the south. Within the castle were the Archbishop's apartments, apartments for knights and a banqueting hall. The warder may have occupied the quarters to the left of the gate, while to the right was the janitor's room with the priest's room overhead. The adjoining chapel, built in the late 13th century, was probably used as the Archbishop's private oratory. Other buildings, recorded for an inquisition in 1326, have now vanished, including the great hall on the east side of the enclosure.

History
A monastic settlement attributed to St. Columba (or Colmcille) existed in Swords from the 6th century, which in the 12th century was brought under the control of the Archbishop of Dublin. In 1181 John Comyn succeeded Laurence O'Toole as Archbishop and it appears that he chose Swords at some point as his chief residence, probably because the prebend of Swords was of considerable wealth and was much sought after. The evidence is that he had a manor in Swords by 1192, as a patent was granted to him there on that date authorising him to hold an annual fair lasting a week on the feast day (June 9) of St. Columba. It is generally accepted that the castle was then built around 1200 or a little later as the manorial residence of the Archbishop. The archbishop had his own seneschal at Swords and an ecclesiastical court was also held there. In 1216 the manor of Swords was granted to Henry de Loundres, the second English Archbishop, and it is recorded that in 1220 one William Galrote held the position of chief constable of the castle.

It appears that the Castle was occupied for the next hundred years by successive Archbishops of Dublin until Archbishop Alexander de Bicknor, who built a new Archiepiscopal palace at Tallaght in 1324. It appears by this stage that Swords Castle had been abandoned. The evidence for this is that in 1326 de Bicknor was accused of mishandling the treasury and the profits of his See were seized by the king and an inquisition held before the Sheriff of Dublin on 14 March 1326. The purpose of the inquisition was to ascertain the profits of the See, and as part of this a detailed description of Swords Castle was recorded. It is clear from this description that the Castle had fallen into disrepair. In all likelihood Swords was abandoned because of damage sustained during the Bruce campaign in Ireland of 1317, which was known to have devastated the country south from Dundalk to the gates of Dublin. Although there is no direct evidence that Swords Castle had been attacked by Bruce's forces, it was not well fortified enough to withstand assault, and the probability is that the Archbishop had removed himself to Tallaght for safety reasons.


It is doubtful if all the buildings of the Castle were ever repaired, but the stepped battlements suggest some form of occupancy during the 15th century, when it appears the castle was granted to retired Archbishops. There is no documentary evidence to show that any of them resided there however. Instead it seems that a portion at least of the castle was occupied by a constable during the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries. As late as 1547 Thomas Fitzsimons of Swords was appointed constable, and subsequently the Barnewall family retained an interest in the constableship and tenancy of the Castle. But by 1583, when briefly occupied by Dutch Protestants, it was described as ""the quite spoiled old castle"". The viceroy, Sir Henry Sydney, had some of the building repaired for the use of the colony of Dutch weavers who he hoped might 'show some example of industry to the lazy natives'.[2]

During the 1641 Rebellion the castle was chosen as the rendezvous for the Anglo-Irish Catholic families of The Pale [3] On 9 December of that year they assembled under arms at the Castle in order to join the rebellion, but were attacked by Sir Charles Coote under orders of the Lords Justices. Coote put them to flight, chasing them out of their fortifications and killing two hundred of them. It is possible that some burials found during modern excavations of the castle relate to this incident.

Not much is known about the Castle after that, but an Ordnance Survey map of 1837 shows the grounds or Bawn of the Castle had been converted into a garden. After the Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1870 the castle was sold to the Cobbe family, who leased it to local shopkeeper Robert Savage. Savage turned the grounds of the castle into an orchard and sold the produce in his shop.[4] In the 1930s the site was placed under the guardianship of the Office of Public Works, and in 1985 Dublin County Council (later Fingal County Council) purchased the castle with a view to its restoration.[5]

The Parks Department of Fingal County Council carried out a number of studies, including a conservation study of the entire area, and in 1995 a plan was agreed by the Council for the long term phased restoration of the castle. In 1996 work commenced on the restoration of Constable's Tower, and this was completed in 1998. The restoration of the rest of the castle is still ongoing and when complete, Swords Castle is intended to become a tourist attraction. The newly renovated castle was used as a film location for the production of TV series The Tudors in spring 2010. Swords Castle and Courtyard is open to the public from Monday to Friday by appointment only by calling 00353 (0)1 890 5600.

Swords Castle

Malahide Castle (Irish: Caisleán Mhullach Íde), parts of which date to the 12th century, lies, with over 260 acres (1.1 km2) of remaining estate parkland (the Malahide Demesne Regional Park), close to the village of Malahide, nine miles (14 km) north of Dublin in Ireland.

History
The estate began in 1185, when Richard Talbot, a knight who accompanied Henry II to Ireland in 1174, was granted the ""lands and harbour of Malahide."" The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 12th century and it was home to the Talbot family for 791 years, from 1185 until 1976, the only exception being the period from 1649–60, when Oliver Cromwell granted it to Miles Corbet after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland; Corbet was hanged following the demise of Cromwell, and the castle was restored to the Talbots. The building was notably enlarged in the reign of Edward IV, and the towers added in 1765.

The estate survived such losses as the Battle of the Boyne, when fourteen members of the owner's family sat down to breakfast in the Great Hall, and all were dead by evening, and the Penal Laws, even though the family remained Roman Catholic until 1774.

In 1918 during the First World War a mooring-out base for airships was established in the grounds of the castle, used by airships from RNAS Anglesey in Wales which conducted anti-submarine operations in the Irish Sea. There were plans to base airships here from 1919, but these were abandoned at the end of the war.[1]

In the 1920s the private papers of James Boswell were discovered in the castle, and sold to American collector Ralph H. Isham by Boswell's great-great-grandson Lord Talbot de Malahide.

Malahide Castle and Demesne was eventually inherited by the 7th Baron Talbot and on his death in 1973, passed to his sister, Rose. In 1975, Rose sold the castle to the Irish State, partly to fund inheritance taxes. Many of the contents, notably furnishings, had been sold in advance, leading to considerable public controversy, but private and governmental parties were able to retrieve some.

Visiting
The castle, along with its subsidiary attractions, was for many years operated as a tourist attraction by Dublin Tourism, working with Fingal County Council, which owns the whole demesne. The operating partner is now Shannon Heritage, which has in turn appointed subsidiary partners, most notably, for shop and café facilities, Avoca Handweavers.

The castle itself can be visited for a fee, on a guided-tour-only basis. In addition, it is possible to hire the famously Gothic Great Hall for private banquets. The castle's best-known rooms are the Oak Room, and the Great Hall, which displays Talbot family history. In the courtyard behind the castle are a café and craft shop, and other retail facilities.

The Talbot Botanic Gardens, situated behind the castle, comprising several hectares of plants and lawns, a walled garden of 1.6 hectares and seven glasshouses, including a Victorian conservatory. Many plants from the southern hemisphere, notably Chile and Australia, are featured. The gardens showcase the plant collecting passion of the 7th Lord Talbot de Malahide in the mid 20th Century.

The demesne is one of few surviving examples of 18th century landscaped parks, and has wide lawns surrounded by a protective belt of trees. It can be visited freely, with a number of entrances and car parking areas.

In addition to woodland walks, and a marked ""exercise trail,"" the park features sports grounds, including a cricket pitch and several football pitches, a 9-hole par-3 golf course, an 18-hole pitch-and-putt course, tennis courts and a boules area.

Adjacent to the golfing facilities, and containing the access to them, is a pavilion which also contains a café and other facilities.

The cricket venue is Ireland's biggest,[citation needed] with a capacity of 11,500. Located in the Lady Acre field, the Malahide Cricket ground attracts international fixtures and teams such as Australia, England and Pakistan.[2]

There is an extensive children's playground near the castle.

A seasonal road train operates in a loop from the vicinity of the castle to the railway station and back. A Malahide castle and coastal tour bus begins its journeys in Malahide Castle and continues to Howth, with two daily departures.[3]

The Fry Model Railway was located at Malahide Castle from 1988-2010. As of September 2017 it is expected to re-open at the Casino, Malahide in 2019.

Tara's Palace Museum of Childhood was formerly located at Malahide Castle, but relocated to Powerscourt Estate near Enniskerry in 2011.

Malahide Castle

Monkstown (Irish: Baile na Manach), historically known as Carrickbrennan (Irish: Carraig Bhraonáin), is an area in south Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County, Ireland. It is on the coast, between Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire. The DART stations of Seapoint and Salthill and Monkstown serve the area.

The lands of the Carrickbrennan estate form the greater part of the civil parish of Monkstown.

Monkstown is part of the Dáil Éireann constituency of Dún Laoghaire.

History
A church was built at Carrickbrennan (as Monkstown was then known) before the 8th Century and dedicated to Saint Mochonna, bishop of Inispatrick or Holmpatrick near Skerries. The grange of Carrickbrennan, otherwise Monkstown was granted by the King to the Cistercian monks of Saint Mary's Abbey, Dublin, in 1200. The monks built their grange near to the church, and the village grew up around it. The lands of which it was a part extended as far south as Bulloch harbour on the outskirts of Dalkey, where the monks constructed a fishing harbour protected by a castle.[1]

In 1539, King Henry VIII awarded the Monkstown lands to Sir John Travers, Master of the Ordnance in Ireland. John Travers lived in his Castle at Monkstown from 1557 to his death in 1562 (he is buried in the Carrickbrennan Graveyard) when the property fell to James Eustace 3rd Viscount Baltinglass through his marriage to Mary Travers. In 1580, the Castle was used as a rebellion stronghold, after which it was awarded to Sir Henry Wallop, Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. The lands were later returned to Mary, the widowed Lady Baltinglass, who later married Gerald Alymer. On her death in 1610 the Castle was transferred to the Chevers family through the marriage of Mary Travers's sister Catherine to John Chevers, and the property passed directly to his second son Henry Chevers, who married Catherine, daughter of Sir Richard Fitzwilliam. Henry and Catherine Chevers lived here with their four children (Walter, Thomas, Patrick, Margaret).[citation needed]

Upon the death of Henry in 1640, the castle and lands were passed to Walter Cheevers. Walter and family received command to vacate Monkstown in 1653 by the Cromwellian Commissioners, and transplanted to Killyan, County Galway. In 1660, Walter Chevers was restored to his estate at Monkstown Castle, until his death in 1678. His death occurred on the 20th day of December 1678, and he was buried at Mountoun (Monkstown), two days later on 22nd.[2] The Shivers family of America trace their lineage to Thomas Chevers brother of Walter Chevers of Monkstown, through the Cromwellian warrant, authorized on 26 November 1653 for Captain John Whittey to transport the Thomas Chevers family to America.

Monkstown was later purchased by the Archbishop of Armagh, Michael Boyle where his son Murrough Boyle, 1st Viscount Blesington enlarged the castle making it one of the finest residences.[citation needed]

Until about 1800, Monkstown was a rural area of open countryside, dotted here and there with large houses owned by the merchants of Dublin. The Monkstown Church (Church of Ireland) had been built – but was smaller than the present church. Two rivers met in the area now called Pakenham Road. The river known as Micky Briens originated in Sallynoggin. A lake beside Monkstown Castle had one small island. The coastline was ragged and rocky, with a harbour stretching over 100 yards inland at the mouth of the aforementioned rivers, adjacent to the area now occupied by the West Pier. Dún Laoghaire (then called Dunleary, and later Kingstown) was then a small group of houses in the area of the Purty Kitchen, and the present area of Dún Laoghaire was an area of rocky outcrops and later, quarries.

Wednesday, 18 November 1807 was South Dublin's night of disasters. In an horrific storm, two sailing ships, the Rochdale and the Prince of Wales were blown on to the rocks, one at Seapoint and the other at Blackrock. About 400 lives in total were lost on that night, many of them washed up on the shore at Monkstown. The disaster was one of the factors which led to the building of Dún Laoghaire Harbour. Most of the victims were buried in Carrickbrennan Churchyard.

The building of Dún Laoghaire harbour gave an impetus to the area, and Montpelier Terrace was the first of many terraces built in the area. The coming of the railway in 1837 had a much greater impact. Firstly, it changed the topology of the coast, and secondly, it led to Monkstown becoming a commuter suburb of the city of Dublin. Most of the houses along Monkstown Road and the avenues north of that road were constructed over the next 30 years. The maps of 1870 show this phase completed, but the rest of Monkstown consists of mansions surrounded by extensive gardens.

For the following 50 years there was little change. The post-war developments of Castle Park, Richmond, Windsor, etc. and the more recent developments of Brook Court, Monkstown Valley, and Carrickbrennan Lawn mean that there is little opportunity for further development.

The diaries of the Rev John Thomas Hynes (1799–1868), a Catholic bishop who retired to Monkstown in 1861-68, provide a valuable insight into daily life in Monkstown in that period. Hynes lived at Bloomwood, Monkstown Avenue (later renamed as Carrickbrennan Road), and later moved to Uplands, The Hill, Monkstown. The Hynes Diaries recount such details as the coming of gas lighting, the postal and travel facilities, church affairs, and lots of local gossip. The Hynes diaries are now preserved in Melbourne, but the full text has been made available online.

Monkstown (County Dublin)

Howth Castle lies just outside the village of Howth, County Dublin in Ireland, in the administration of Fingal County Council. It was the ancestral home of the line of the St Lawrence family (see: Earl of Howth) that had held the area since the Norman Invasion of 1180, and had held the title of Lord Howth from 1425 to 1767. It is now held by their heirs, the Gaisford St. Lawrence family.

History
Since 1180 the St. Lawrence family were the feudal lords of Howth. The original family castle, a timber structure, was sited on the edge of Howth village, on Tower Hill, overlooking Balscadden Bay. Howth Castle has stood on its present site for over seven hundred years. The great English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens restyled a 14th-century castle built here, overlooking Ireland's Eye and the north Dublin coastline.

Legend
A popular legend about the Castle concerns an incident that apparently occurred in 1576. During a trip from Dublin, the pirate Gráinne O'Malley attempted to pay a courtesy visit to the 8th Baron Howth. However, she was informed that the family was at dinner and the castle gates were closed against her. In retaliation, she abducted the grandson and heir, the 10th Baron. He was eventually released when a promise was given to keep the gates open to unexpected visitors, and to set an extra place at every meal. At Howth Castle today, this agreement is still honoured by the descendants of the Baron.

Use in film
Castle Howth was depicted as the fictitious ""Castle Haloran"" from the 1963 Roger Corman and Francis Ford Coppola b-film Dementia 13 (a.k.a. ""The Haunted and the Hunted"") where it was the setting of numerous scenes.

Flashback scenes from the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western, Duck, You Sucker were shot here.[1] The castle was used extensively for exterior shots in Love & Friendship, Whit Stillman's adaptation of the Jane Austen novel Lady Susan.[2]

Grounds
In 1892 Rosa Mulholland referred to the grounds thus: “Back on the lower land you must visit the ancient demesne of the Earl of Howth, where a quaint old castle stands in a prim garden with swan-inhabited pond, and plashing fountain, encircled by dark beautiful woods full of lofty cathedral-like aisles, moss carpeted, and echoing with the cawing of rooks.”(Mulholland 1892: 35)

The grounds are noted for the wild rhododendron gardens, which are open to the public in summer and some of the oldest beech hedges in Ireland, planted in 1710. At certain times, such as summer 2016, guided tours of the castle could be booked at weekends.

In recent years, the 17th classical landscape was totally obliterated to make for the multi-facility Deer Park golf course, which had an associated hotel, the Deer Park Hotel, for many years.

The ""Kitchen in the Castle Cookery School"" is based in the restored Georgian kitchens of Howth Castle.

The National Transport Museum of Ireland is located in the grounds of the castle. It features lorries, trucks, fire engines and tractors. Also exhibited is the restored Hill of Howth No.9 Tram.

Literary references
The locale of James Joyce's 1939 novel Finnegans Wake is ""Howth Castle and Environs,"" which is taken to mean Dublin. The initials HCE appear in many contexts in the novel, not least in the name of its presumed main character, Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker.

Howth Castle

Maynooth Castle is a ruined 12th century castle in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland which stands at the entrance to the South Campus of Maynooth University.

History
The area covered by modern Kildare was granted by Strongbow to Maurice Fitzgerald in 1176. The castle was built at the junction of two streams in the late 12th century and became the home of the Fitzgerald family from then on and was expanded by Sir John Fitzgerald in the 15th century. The Fitzgeralds became the Earls of Kildare and Lords Deputy of Ireland.

The Fitzgerald occupation of the castle ended with the 1534 rebellion of Silken Thomas, the son of the ninth Earl of Kildare. An English force led by William Skeffington bombarded the massive castle in March 1535, the heavy modern siege guns of the English army making a ruin of much of the Medieval structure. The castle fell after a ten-day siege and the garrison summarily executed before the castle gate. Silken Thomas was captured shortly afterwards and committed to the Tower of London with his five uncles. They were executed for treason at Tyburn on 3 February 1537.

The Castle was restored in 1630-35 by Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, after his daughter had married George FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Kildare but much of this building was destroyed in the 1640s during the Eleven years war. Only the gatehouse (on which united arms of the Boyles and FitzGeralds can still be viewed) and the Solar Tower survive. The Fitzgeralds left Maynooth for good and made first Kilkea Castle and then Carton House their family seat.

Restoration work on the castle was restarted by the Office of Public Works in February 2000 to develop it into a Heritage Site. It is now open to the public from June to October, 10.00 a.m. - 5.45 p.m.. Today the partly ruined building remains as a tourist attraction, with limited access possible.