What is recorded here
Mullingar still contains an old castle on Dominick Street, though no marker or intact wall gives it back. Richards drew it in 1691 and Sir Henry Piers called such buildings fashionable in 1682, which means people lived beside them, not merely admired them from a distance. The castle may have been a hall, a tower, a courtyard or a house proud enough to use a military name. It is not lost so much as absorbed, waiting for someone to stop looking for a landmark and start listening for the shape of the room.
Richards 1691 map of Mullingar shows an 'Old' castle on the N side of Dominick St. at the E of the street. The precise location of this castle within the historic town of Mullingar (WM019-089----) has not been identified (Andrews and Davies 1992, 10). In 1682 Sir Henry Piers recorded that in the town of Mullingar (WM019-089----) there were, ‘ancient buildings here [that] were old fashionable castles (WM019-089001-; WM019-089008-; WM019-089010-; WM019-089029-; WM019-089030-; WM019-089032-), some of which remain yet, and some are demolished, and better or at least more commodious houses are built in their room’ (Vallancey 1786, 78).
Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien
Date of upload: 1 July 2014
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
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