castles historical dublin

From Vico Road follow Victoria Road uphill around the edge of Killiney Hill park. On the left as you approach the village is Ayesha Castle, which was built in 1840 by Robert Warren and named Victoria Castle in honour of queen Victoria's recent accession to the throne.

The interior was gutted by fire in 1928 and was magnificently restored by Sir Thomas Power of the celebrated whiskey family. He renamed it Ayesha Castle after the goddess who rose from the flames in Rider Haggard's novel sh...

The castle was built around 1200 as an Episcopal manor. It is 5-sided, enclosing a courtyard of considerable size.
It is entered by a strong gateway with a porter's room on the left, and on the right a priest's room with remains of mid-13th century windows and a first floor reached by a spiral staircase.

Beyond it is a chapel of fourteenth-century date, with parts of an original tiled floor; its windows have been built up. The tower at the north end of the wall was the residence...

Marino Crescent where Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, was born in 1847.
Clontarf, a short distance down the road, was the scene of the famous battle of Good Friday, 1014, when Brian Boru broke the power of the Danes over Ireland.

Brian himself was slain during the battle while praying in his tent. Clontarf Castle (1835) was built on the site of an ancient Pale fortification which had belonged successively to the Templars and to the Knights of St John....

Mrs. Bridget Aylee Owner of Ayesla Castle will welcome you personally and give you a guided tour of the castle and grounds....

The history of the Talbots of Malahide stretches back virtually unbroken to 1185 when the property was granted to Robert Talbot by Prince John, Lord of Ireland.
The castle is the oldest to be continually inhabited by the same family and, apart from a period during which they were evicted by Cromwell, the Talbots lived there until 1975.
The castle has the only surviving original medieval great hall hung with an impressive collection of family portraits. It is said that 14 Talbot cousins b...

The castle was first built about 1204 by King John of England as a stronghold to protect against the Irish and to safe-keep treasure. It was the headquaters of the English government in Ireland for many centuries until it was won back by the Irish Free State in 1922.
Famous accomplishments to take place here include the night that Michael Collins broke into the castle during the Black and Tan War to see if he could find if the British had any information about him. And in 1907 the Irish...

The castle was built by Sir Thomas Plunkett probably some time around the middle of the 15th century. It consists of a central block, four storeys high and square corner towers, which have corbelled roofing.

The wooden roof on the top floor, which has been partially replaced, is the last original 15th to 16th century roof in the country to survive. It served as a model for the modern reconstructed roofs at Rothe House, Kilkenny and Bunratty Castle, County Clare.
Just to the south of...

Howth Castle, an irregular battlemented structure founded in 1464, although the present fabric dates mainly from the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.
The castle is not open to the public but you can visit the grounds, famous for their rhododendron gardens which boast over two thousand varieties.
Also in the castle grounds are the National Transport Museum, with its display of service vehicles including the Hill of Howth No 9 Tram; the ruined square tower of the sixteenth-cen...