You’d think a city of Dublin wouldn’t be the place to hide a castle. Yet many Dublin natives had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned Drimnagh castle. This article describes the history of one of Ireland’s few moated castles.

Before the castle

About 5000 years ago, Neolithic people created burial grounds in the area now known as Drimnagh¹.

There is a megalithic tomb not far from here in Kilmashogue.

The land was wild and rugged, sporting wild boar, wolves and deer². The Bronze Age settlers came next, followed by the Vikings³. Vikings had invaded most of northern continental Europe as well as the British Isles and Ireland. It was a further Viking invasion led by Rollo that conquered northern France. He is better known in French history as Robert I of Normandy. The Normans then attacked and invaded England, before invading Ireland⁴.

History

Hugo de Berneval was a Norman Knight who built the original castle in 1240⁵. He was given the land called Drimnagh in 1215⁶ for services rendered to Lord Strongbow during the first invasion of Ireland⁷. The land was prime real estate because it was on high ground, and outside the city of Dublin⁸.

De Berneval anglicised his family name to Barnewall⁹. His family continued to be involved in Irish matters for the next 400 years¹⁰. In the process the family acquired land between Dirmagh and Balbriggan¹¹. The castle changed hands, first to Sir Adam Loftus in 1607 and then it passed from one family to another till 1904¹².

Mr Joseph Hatch bought it and spent a considerable amount refurbishing it till 1954 when he left it to the Christian Brothers¹³. They used the castle but it soon fell into disrepair¹⁴.

Current status

In the 1980s local residents set up a committee to restore and maintain the castle^{15 16}. It was Peter Pearson who created this committee after he discovered the castle was earmarked for destruction¹⁷. In June 1986 over 200 local tradespeople started restoring^{18 19}.

The whole restoration project took 5 years, and the castle is now open for events and to the public²⁰. (The BBC series The Tudors was filmed here²¹.)

The castle isn’t visible from the busy Long Mile road which runs past it. If you know what you’re looking for, it is easy to find.

References

1. History; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
2. History; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
3. History; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
4. History; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
5. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
6. Barnewalls; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-13) [↩]
7. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
8. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
9. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
10. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
11. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
12. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
13. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
14. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
15. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
16. Restoration; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
17. Restoration; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
18. One of the few moated castles in Ireland; Curious Ireland; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
19. Restoration; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
20. Restoration; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-09) [↩]
21. Films; Drimnagh castle; (Retrieved 2020-04-13) [↩]

Remember: links were correct at time of publication.