Barn in Bremore

The rebuilt Manor Castle (DU002-002001-) of Bremore (Brí Mhór/Big Hill), the ancestral home of the Barnewall (De Berneval) family stands 985m to the N of the town of Balbriggan, 280m W of the coastline, with Balbriggan martello tower No. 12 (DU002-004----) 480m to the SSE. The present castle has been rebuilt by the Parks Department of Fingal County Council, all of the upper floors from c. 4m upwards have been built in these 20th-century works.  The precise location of a ‘great Barne’ associated with the manor castle of Bremore has not been identified.  The castle building with a barn, an orchard and a park with a settlement cluster was described in the 1654-56 Civil Survey as; ‘one Burnt Castle with a great Barne & eight tenements one orchard & parke with some small young Ashtrees’ (Simington 1945, 4).  One of three long buildings indicated on OSi historic maps located to the W, and NE of the castle may have been the site of the ‘Great Barne’.  The ruins of Bremore Castle and the adjoining bawn enclosing an area to the W of the castle was described in the 1880s which was then in the possession of the King family; ‘Mr King who takes a great interest in this relic of antiquity, and showed me every part of it.  He stated that his late father was of the opinion that their residence, which adjoins the Castle, and the walls of which are fully 8ft. [2.4m] thick, formed originally the malt-house belonging to the Castle' (Dix 1868, 68).  This malt-house may have been the ‘great Barne’ referred to in the 1654-56 Civil Survey.  The long narrow building forming the N boundary of the castle bawn depicted on the 1837 ed. OSi six-inch map may have been the site of the 'great Barne', it is unclear of this building was the ‘Malt House’ lived in by the King family in the 19th-century. Alternatively the two long buildings depicted to the NE of the castle on the 1837 six-inch map may have been the site of the barn.  On the 1837 ed. OSi six-inch map the building furthest to the NE of the castle has a Thrashing Machine immediately to the E of the building which may indicate that this building had an agricultural function.   Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien