Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in flat ground near the roadside. All that survives of Deansrath Castle is portion of a stair tower, which rises to two storeys with a partially vaulted over ground floor. This is built of mortared ashlar blocks of limestone. This appears to be part of a gatehouse shown in a drawing by Beranger in 1773 (Harbison 1998, 166-167). It was part of a larger castle complex described by Austin Cooper in the eighteenth century which was entered through and defended by a deep enclosing fosse (Price 1942, 38-39). The Dean of St. Patrick was proprietor in 1641 (Simington 1945, 307). By 1656 it is described as the 'stumpe of a castle' (op cit, 292, see Mc Dix, 1897, XXI, 179; Healy 1974, 22; Ball 1906, 112, 117).
Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Date of upload: 26 August 2011

References

McDix, E.R. 1897g The lesser castles in the Co. Dublin. 21st article: Deansrath Castle. Irish Builder 39, 178.

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

Price, L. (ed.) 1942 An eighteenth-century antiquary: the sketches, notes and Diaries of Austin Cooper, 1759-1880. Dublin.

Price, L. (ed.) 1942 An Eighteenth Century Antiquary. Falconer, Dublin.

Healy, P. 1975b Third report on monuments and sites of archaeological interest in county Dublin. An Foras Forbartha, Dublin.

Healy, P. 1975a Second report on monuments and sites of archaeological interest in county Dublin. An Foras Forbartha Teoranta.

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

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