Tower — Castleknock (without Phoenix Park)

Located on the grounds of the Vincentian college beside Castleknock village. This is a natural hillock known as Windmill Hill.  Listed in the Dublin SMR (1988) as an ‘Earthwork Unclassified’ which was based on a reference to ‘a rath’ in the Dublin Penny Journal of 1835 when it stated that Windmill Hill was the remains of a ‘Rath’ (Anon 1835, 237).  The hill was determined by the SMR to be the remains of a natural hill and was not included in the Dublin RMP (1998) as the classification had been changed to redundant record.  The classification was changed in 2015 from redundant record to burials based results from test excavation carried out in 2007 under licence No. 07E0682Ext. (McLoughlin 2007) which was undertaken around the water tower in advance of the insertion of a new water tank. Four grave-cuts with human skeletal remains were identified east of the extant tower. Development was redesigned to allow for preservation in situ (McLoughlin 2007). Subsequent geophysical survey under Licence no. 07R0233 identified a cross-shaped anomaly (Nicholls 2007) which was interpreted by archaeologist Christine Baker as possibly marking the possible site of the eponymous windmill (DU017-013002-).  It is uncertain if there was a medieval windmill at Castleknock and the placename may be a reference to the 18th-century circular ‘Watch Tower’ on the summit of the hill rather than named after the site of a levelled medieval windmill.     Compiled by:  Caimin O'Brien   Date of Compilation: 25 November 2025