Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on flat ground in the middle of a housing estate. The W corner turret is all that survives of this towerhouse. It rises to two storeys. Built of roughly coursed masonry with dressed quoins. There is a lintelled entrance on E side at ground level and first floor (int. dims. L 3.4m; Wth 3m). The S side of the tower is lit by plain square opes. According to the Exchequer Inquisitions for County Dublin, it was agreed in 1601 that Alderman Patrick Browne and his wife should build a castle on the lands of Irishtown (Ball 1906, 87). This building is marked on the Down Survey (1655-6) map. The Civil Survey 1654-55 describes this building as a habitable house (Simington 1945, 292). A drawing by Beranger dated 1772 shows a twin gabled towerhouse (Harbison 1998, 30-31).
Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Date of upload: 26 August 2011

References

Ball, E.F. 1902-20 (Reprint 1979) A history of the County Dublin, 6 vols. Dublin. Gill and Macmillan.

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1945 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. VII: county of Dublin. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Harbison, P. 1998 Beranger's antique buildings of Ireland. Dublin. Four Courts Press in association with the National Library of Ireland.