Guide to Irish Castles, Manors, and Country Houses

of THE PROVINCE OF LEINSTER for:

-- Co. DUBLIN --

Notes: (1) -- M. Bence-Jones, A Guide to Irish Country Houses, London, 1988.

Notes: (2) -- Dublin Castle -- Dublin Castle occupies a commanding site south of the River Liffey where, it is believed, a Danish fortress once stood. The Royal mandate for the building of the Castle was issued by King John in 1204, and Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin, is said to have completed the work abt. 1220. The 14th Bermingham Tower in the SW corner and the wall running east from it, beneath St. Patrick's Hall, are the only vestiges of the Norman building. The Lords Deputy and Lords Lieutenant of Ireland resided there and State Councils and sometimes Parliament and Law Courts would meet there . For 700 years, the Castle was the center of English authority in Ireland. A fire in 1684 had the Powder magazine moved later to Phoenix Park to insure the safety of the Castle. The castle was restored, presumably according to the designs of Sir Wm. Robinson, Surveyor-General.

The Office of Arms (now the Genealogical Office) is in the Upper Yard; the Heraldic Museum on the ground floor. Facing the Genealogical Office are the State Apartments where once the Viceregal Court was held. The apartments, recently restored, are new used for the reception of foreign dignitaries and for the installation of the President. St. Patrick's Hall is approached by the Grand Staircase which dates from the 19th C. There was another fire in 1941, which damaged the Victorian drawing-room (reconstructed).

Notes: (3) -- The Viceroyal Lodge (Aras an Uachtarain) -- In Phoenix Park, the largest demesne within the park is that of Aras An Uachtarain, the official residence of the President of Ireland. It was formerly the summer residence of the English Viceroy who held court in Winter at Dublin Castle, but before it became the Viceregal Lodge the house was privately owned. In 1751, the office of Ranger and Master of the Game, was given to one Nathaniel Clements, who was rising in power and influence. In 1755, Clements succeeded Gardiner (Deputy Vice-Tresurer and Deputy Paymaster of Ireland) As ranger of the Park, Clements designed and built a new residence for himself in 1751/2. In 1782, the Phoenix Park Lodge (then called) was purchased as an occasional residence for the Lord Lieutenant, and greatly enlarged and renovated...After Ireland gained her independence in 1922, the Viceregal Lodge became the residence of the Governor General, and now that the Republic is established it is occupied by the President. (Aras un Uachtarain means literally "The house of the President")...

Notes (4) -- Trinity College (The Provosts' House) --Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth. Francis Andrews was made Provost of Trinity in 1758 (whereas the main entrance on College Green was put up between 1752 and 1758). He set at once to build his handsome official residence for himself and his successors. The Provost's House is the only one of the great Dublin houses to have been continuously lived in, and it still serves the purpose for which it was built. The architect was John Smyth. The Provost's House was built for entertaining and the bedroom accommodations is limited, partly because it had been customary for the position of Provost to be filled by a celibate Clergyman...

Notes (5) -- Howth Castle -- The hill of Howth, at the end of the long arm of the Howth peninsula, forms the northern side of Dublin Bay. It also forms a little harbor of its own, which was, up to a 100 yrs ago, the principal port of entry to Ireland from England. Two islands serve to break the violence of the Irish sea, Lambay to the north, and Ireland's Eye, abt. a mile off-shore, which still belongs to the St. Lawrences. Howth Castle nestles comfortably in the shelter of the hill. The St. Lawrence family have had their seat here for almost 800 yrs, and conserve their trust to the present day. It is often related that a Norman knight, Sir Almeric Tristram, won the ownership of the Howth peninsula in battle on the anniversary of the Feast of St. Lawrence (and from that day he was known as Sir Armoricus St. Lawrence). Another possible source of the name is that one of the followers of Wm. the Conqueror were named St. Laurent and had settled in England in the 12th Century. In the 18th Century the old keep was modernized and enlarged by Wm, 26th Lord Howth in 1738. Thomas, 27th Lord Howth was created Viscount St. Lawrence and Earl of Howth in 1767, and died in 1801. His grandson, the third Earl, who lived until 1874, was famous as a sporting figure. In the yr 1909, the ancient title died out with the 4th Earl as no male heir could be traced. The estates devolved upon his nephew Julian Charles Gaisford, who assumed by Royal License in 1909 the aditional surname of St. Lawrence. His mother, Lady Emily, was a sister of the 4th Earl.

Notes (6) -- Lucan House -- Along the banks of the river Liffey, rising in the Wicklow Mts. south of Dublin, stands Rossborough. In 1633, when Sir Thomas Wentworth came to Ireland as Lord Deputy, the old castle, or what is left of it, still stands beside a sm. graveyrd within the demesne. It was built shortly after the Norman Conquest, and had many different owners until in 1386, it became the property of the 4th Earl of Kildare. On the attainder of the 10th Earl (Silken Thomas) it was leased by the Crown to Matthew King in 1554 with special requirements that he inhabited the castle himself or placed in it liege men who would use the English tongue and dress. Ten yrs. later, Sir Wm. Sarsfield is mentioned as being 'of Lucan'. The Sarsfied, an English family who had settle in Co. Meath held Lucan until the time of the Commonwealth. As they were a Catholic family, and implicated in the 1641 rebellion, they were thrown out although the head of the house was close on 70 yrs of age. Lucan Castle was taken over by Sir Theophilus Jones, an officer in the Parliamentarian Army. At the time of the Restoration Sir Theophilus was forced to return the Lucan estates to Patrick Sarsfield, the father of the great General Sarsfield, hero of the Siege of Limerick, created Earl of Lucan by James II in 1691. The title died with his son in 1719, and the Lucan property devolved upon Charlotte Sarsfield, the cousin of the 2nd Earl. A consideralbe heiress, she married Agmondisham Vesey and it was their son, also Agmondisham, who built the present house. A daughter of theirs married Sir John Bingham, whose son Charles took the title Earl of Lucan when raised to the peerage in 1795. There might have been a house there already as well as the old castle, for in 1700 there is a claim on the 'Castle and great white house at Lucan'. In 1932, the Colthurst-Veses sold Lucan to Hugh O'Conor. The O'Conor Don, whose principal seat was Clonalis, near Castlerea, Co. Roscommon. The O'Conors trace their lineage back to Eochid Morghmeodhin, the G.father of the 1st Christian King of Connaught. His son-in-law, Sir Wm. Teeling, MP, sold the house to the Italian Government.

Notes (7) -- Luttrellstown Castle -- Originally a Pale Fortress, it belonged to the Luttrells, Earls of Carhampton for 400 yrs until it was purchased by Mr. Luke White, MP for Leitrim, in abt. 180. The Luttrells had fallen on bad times, one was murdered, another died in debt. It must have been the millionaire White who gave Luttrellstown (which he renamed Woodlands) the demense and castle we can see today. He was a self-made man (he went into the lottery business and amassed an immense forture.) Luke White's 4th son and heir was made Lord Annaly in 1863, and probably age the house its mock Tudor banqueting hall. (remodeled by the present owner into the present dining-room in 1950)

Notes (8) -- Malahide Castle -- Malahide has remained the property of the Talbot family since it was granted to Richard Talbot in the lat yrs of the reign of Henry II, by his son John as Lord of Ireland. Malahide Castle must therefore be one of the oldest dwellings in Ireland to have been continuously inhabited by the same family. The town and harbor of Malahide are 9 miles to the NE of Dublin, and the Talbots were named Admirals of Malahide and the Seas Adjoining by Edward IV,an hereditary privilege which Strafford when Lord Deputy tried unsuccessfully to wrest from them. Cromwell, who granted the castle to Miles Corbet, the regicide; It was indeed fortunate for the Talbots that he (Corbet) had put his name to the death warrent of Charles I, and he was duly hanged after the Restoration. The Talbots returned to Malahide with the Talbots retaining the old faith until 1779. The 5th Lord Talbot married the younger dau. of Sir James Boswell of Auchinleck, and eventurally purchased Auchinleck and its contents from his sister-in-law. The castle had a fire that gutted the west side of the castle in 1790. The redecorations presumably followed on the marriage in 1765 of Richard Talbot to Margret, eldest dau. of James O'Reilly of Ballinlough, Co. Westmeath. She was created Baronees Talbot of Malahide and Lady Malahide of Malahide in 1831, when she had been a widow for 49 yrs.A title would have been given to her eldest son, but as his son had already died, she was made a peeress in her own right so that the 2nd son could inherit. The present owners are avid gardeners who have improved the gardens of Malahide over the years...

Notes (9) -- Newbridge -- Newbridge has remained in the possession of the family for which they were built. The Rev. Charles Cobbe, eventually to become Archbishop of Dublin, purchased Newbridge in 1736 and set about building it the following year. The Archbishop died in 1765 and was succeeded by his son Thomas Cobbe, who married Lady ELizabeth Beresford, the 8th and youngest dau. of the first Earl of Tyrone. Thomas Cobbe was succeeded by his son Charles, who was MP for Swords at the time of the Act of Union, and was 'almost the only one among the Members of the Irish Parliament who voted for the Union and yet refused either a peerage or money compensation for his seat'. The Cobbe family still makes Newbridge its home...

Notes (10) --Rathbeale Hall -- Rathbeale is an early 18th C. brick house, which incorporates part of a still earlier sturcture. On Petty's map of 1685, it is called Ricanhore, and evidently the site was inhabitated from early times. Rathbeale Hall was built in abt. 1710 by Lt-General Richard Gorges, whose son Hamilton, on marring an heiress, Catherine Keating, renamed it Catherine's Grove. Hamilton Gorges plastered over the birck and added the wings abt. 1740. In 1810, the house was bought by Matthew Corbally, who changed its name back to Rathbeale. Lady Mary Corbally was the last of that family to live there, and her son sold the house and land in 1958. It was bought by a farmer who did not, however, take up residence, and after a few years the place, surrounded by a sea of mud, began to look semi-derelict. The present owners, however, have stepped in and taken up the challenge and now the house is safe and restored to its former beauty. Those concerned for the future of Irish houses of the Georgian period owe a debt of gratitude to them for undertaking this formidable task...

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