malahide castle

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 breakfasted here before riding out to the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, never to return. The delightful demesne was created by (Milo) Lord Talbot de Malahide between 1948 and 1973 and contains over 5,000 different species of trees and shrubs.