Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on the S side of Monastery Road where the land falls away to the W and NW. Known as 'Tully's Castle', this is National Monument No. 285 and is in state care. Described in the Urban Survey of Dublin as; 'The remains survive on the south side of Monastery Road of a narrow sixteenth century tower with crenellations. It is a two storied structure with a lean-to building beside it. Internally it is slightly over 3m square. There are three windows in the south face and Ball (1899, 97) recorded the presence of a carved head between the two on the upper floor. The name is derived from a family which lived here in the eighteenth century (Ua Broin 1944, 212). The building has been the subject of a comprehensive study by Murtagh (1982). According to the Down Survey of 1657 there stood at Clondalkin then only the stump of a castle, some thatched houses and the round tower, which was described as a high watch tower (Ball 1902-20, iv, 117-18)' (Bradley and King 1988, 220-1).
The remains comprise a well preserved, square tower which is offset off the corner of a hall house. This service tower rises to three storeys with crenellations and is attached to the NE corner of the two storey dwelling. At the parapet level of the tower there are stepped crenellations with a drip-stone ledge and gutter. Its interior is not accessible, the S face has been rebuilt to secure the building. It is built of coursed stonework with hammer dressing on the quoins (ext. dims. 3.3m NW-SE; 3.45m SW-NE). Lit by plain rectangular opes, some with dressed jambs all on the roadside frontage. On the upper storey is a projecting boulder which is probably the 'carved head' identified by Ball (1899, 97). Access to the tower was originally from the S side. There are two large rectangular openings on this side, the upper is a doorway. A gable scar on the S side indicates the presence of a later building up against this side. Attached to W wall is a dwelling with remains of a stairwell in the NW corner. Possible gunloops are present on the ground floor and a chimney breast with a flue on the first floor level (Ua Broin 1944, 212; MC Dix 1898, XXXX, 57).

See attached image of Tully's Castle from the Patrick Healy Collection, courtesy of South Dublin Libraries, Local Studies Collection, County Library, https://hdl.handle.net/10599/1901

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 17 July 2023

References

Ball, E.F. 1899c Descriptive sketch of Clondalkin, Tallaght and other places in west County Dublin. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 29, 93-108.

Murtagh, B. 1982 The fortified town houses of the Pale. Unpublished MA thesis. University College, Dublin.

McDix, E.R. 1896 Notes on some lesser castles in Co. Dublin. The Irish Builder, 38, 224.

Ua Broin, L. 1944 Clondalkin, Co. Dublin and it's neighbourhood. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 74, 191-218.

Bradley, J. & King, H. (1988) Urban Archaeological Survey, Dublin, Volume 4. A report commissioned by the Office of Public works (Unpublished).