Clontarf Castle

Situated on a slight rise overlooking Dublin Bay just SW of a Church (DU019-015001-) and graveyard (DU019-015002-). The present castle is a Tudor-Revival House (1837) with a mock Norman keep attached, designed by Willliam Vitruvius Morrison. It occupies the site of a former castle associated in the 12th-century with Adam de Phephoe and later the Knights Hospitallers (Bence-Jones 1987, 87; Dawson 1976, 124-5, O'Donovan 1997, 17-18)). During the late 17th century the property passed to John Vernon, a quartermaster of Cromwell’s army in 1650. The Civil survey (1654-6) describes a castle with a stone house adjoining a stone bawn at Clontarf (Simington 1945, 176). Rocque's map (1760) shows a large rectangular bawn with circular bastions at the NW and NE angles, which was demolished in 1837. Excavations in 1996 revealed little evidence for the original castle except for a section of wall (W 2.6m) orientated N-S, which extends under the existing building (O'Donovan 1997, 17-18). Compiled by Geraldine Stout

Clontarf Castle, originally a 17th-century house, was rebuilt in 1837 as a Tudor-Revival structure with a mock Norman keep by the architect William Vitruvius Morrison. It is historically significant as part of the 19th-century revival of medieval architecture in Ireland and for its association with the nearby site of the Battle of Clontarf (1014), a pivotal event in Irish history.