Bullock Har. — Bullock

The coastal castle of Bullock (Blóic) now in the grounds of Our Lady’s Manor nursing home run by the Carmelite order stands on a natural rise of ground overlooking Bullock Harbour and quay (DU023-020004-) to the NE, a turret (DU023-020002-) stood 135m to the SE which was a mural tower on the ‘Old Town Wall’ of the medieval settlement or fishing town of Bullock.  Bullock Martello Tower (DU023-033----) stands 380m to the SE. The historic town of Dalkey (DU023-023----) lies 780m to the S.  Sandycove Martello Tower (DU023-019----) is visible 520m to the NW.  Bullock castle consists of a gatehouse/gatetower with adjoining hall and solar or garedrobe tower which formed the northern perimeter of the bawn wall built to defend the medieval seaport and fishing village of Bullock.  The harbour and village of Bullock was protected by town defences described as an ‘Old Town Wall’ which had at least one angle tower located 135m to the S of the castle as shown on the 1837 ed. OS six-inch map.   The present quay was built in the 18th-century to facilitate the construction if nearby lighthouses.  This quay may have replaced an earlier quay that was depicted on a painting of the harbour by Frances Place in 1699 (De Courcy 1996, 53-54).  The complexity of the evolution of Bullock Harbour has been identified by virtue of interrogating this limited pictorial and textual evidence relative to the LiDAR scans made by the author and their research team in 2016' (Shotton 2019, 137-8). According to Shotton (2019, 147); 'the perspective in the drawing, defined by the vanishing lines of the castle and piers, establish that Place’s eye-level was at the midpoint of the castle height. Only “Old Bullock” rocks, on the east side of the harbour, would have provided a vantage point this high'.  Shotton (2019, 150) argues that; 'during the medieval period in Ireland fishing most often involved the use of weirs for catching fish that was hauled in with small boats, which could have easily been drawn up onto the sandy beach present at Bullock at that period. Though there is no evidence to confirm or deny the presence of structures at this period, as harbour structures rarely survive intact for 400 years or more, there is reasonable doubt as to the piers illustrated by Place being of early medieval origin'. Shotton (2019, 151) has suggested that the pier illustrated in 1699 by Frances Place was possibly; ‘built by the Fagans after this point (c. 1611), though no evidence has been found to verify this hypothesis. The only certainty is that piers did exist at the time of the Fagan tenure in the late seventeenth century’. Shotton identified from the LIDAR scans; ‘the physical remains of a rough-hewn stone structure is visible within the larger ashlar (dressed) granite construction built by Dublin Port. The rough hewn stone construction in the scan may consist of two independently constructed structures (toned in red), as there is a continuous joint present (white dashed lines). The lengthier section at the bottom of the image closely matches the dimensions quoted by Bligh and given the irregularity of its edge condition it appears likely that it had partially collapsed. The smaller remnant near the top left of the scan may relate to an earlier pier but its position has not been adequately correlated to the eastern pier illustrated by Place in the analysis to date’ (Shotton 2019, 156). Bullock Harbour (Portum de Blowyk/ Port of Bullock)  was associated in the medieval period with the Cistercian monastery of St Mary's Abbey, Dublin (Gilbert 1884, 309).  In 1345-6 a suit between Philip Wafre, Abbot of St Mary’s Abbey between 1337-51 and Walter de Bermyngham, Justiciar of Ireland between 1345-6 established the monasteries claim to the fishing tolls from Bullock by proving that Bullock was part of the manor Carrickbrennan, held by St Mary’s Abbey under a charter granted by Henry II, King of England between 1154-1189.  The abbot of the monastery or one of his officials had the right to select one fish from every fish-laden vessel which entered the port of Bullock (Gilbert 1884, Vol. 1, xlii).  In 1539-40 at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the lands and possessions of St. Mary’s Abbey, Dublin, included the ‘Villata of Bloyke’ town of Bullock, whose chief tenants were Patrick Bermingham and John Gaben who were in the possession of two meassuages/dwellings in Bullock (Gilbert 1884, Vol. 2, 64).  The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Dublin recorded that in Bullock there was ‘one Castle, slated, a Seaport, & a Bawne alsoe a good haven, the Buildings Valued by the Jury at one hundred poundes’ (Simington 1945, 268).  According to this survey the ‘Chief fish, Tith[e] fish, Custome fish, & Corne Tithes’ belonged to the owner of Bullock Castle (ibid.).  The terrier of the 1655-59 Down Survey map of Kill and Monkstown parish recorded that; ‘in Bullocke is a ffayre Antient Towne Fishing’ (NLI, MS 714/52).  The quay of Bullock Harbour was described in 1770 as; ‘about half a mile north of Dalkey, stands Bullock, or, rather Bloyke i.e. the little bank, the former being only a corruption of its proper name; and very likely it is, that the two great banks in the bay of Dublin, well known by the name of North and South Bulls, were so called from a like corruption of their real one. This is a small sea port, situated near the southern entrance of the bay, and capable of being made a safe harbour for larger vessels than at present frequent it. On the land side, the town is inclosed with a stone wall, and defended by an old gothic castle, which is kept in good repair.  A new quay faced with hewn stone, hath been lately built, for the convenience of conveying stones to the light-house-works’ (Wilson 1770, 208).  Bullock castle, harbour and town defences were described in 1820 as a; ‘village possessing a small quay upon the bay. It has also a Castle and Ramparts, the date of which is unknown; but these defences are with great probability supposed to have been intended for the protection of commerce, both from the Tories of the mountains, and the pirates who in former times infested the neighbouring seas’ (Cromwell 1820, 3).   Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien