Drimnagh Castle Drimnagh Castle Was Built in the Thirteenth Century for The

Drimnagh Castle Drimnagh castle was built in the thirteenth century for the barnewell family a powerful Norman clan who owned vast tracts of land including ballyfermot and terenure. It was lived in until 1954 the last occupants being the hatch family who ran a dairy farm here. The castle which stands in the grounds of a Christian brothers school was in a dangerous structural condition by 1986 and was due for demolition. Brother Hogarty was approached by peter Pearson, a dedicated conservationist with a plan to rescue the building. A committee was formed comprising members of an taisce, the national Trust for Ireland, and interested local people and in 1986 the restoration work began. Dublin corporation to its eternal credit, has provided nearly £50,000 towards the cost. The castle has a moat fed by an underground stream called the bluebell. It is said to be the only castle in Ireland completely surrounded by it’s original moat. Until 1780 there was a wooden draw bridge where the present stone bridge now stands: this leads through the gatehouse tower into the castle precincts. The sixteenth century tower is 4 stories high and one provided cleat views of the western approaches to the city from the phoenix park to the Dublin Mountains. A ministerial gallery takes up three sides of the great hall where the barnewalls and their retainers once sat at meat; the recently made copies of medieval floor tiles are based on heraldic motifs of the barnewell family. Two stone masons and a carpenter from France on an exchange training programme, together with Irish traininers, made the roof and carried out repairs to the stone work. Craftsmen from Germany and Italy have also been involved with the project. They use only traditional methods of craftsmanship and are being trained in skills which might otherwise be lost. The saving of Drimnagh Castle has provided Dublin with another attraction open to the public. The great hall has an oak beamed roof copied from Dunsoghly Castle it’s surrounded on three sides by a wooden minstrels gallery. The castle has recently been restored using traditional methods of craftsmanship. (architecture of Ireland Maurice Craig) There is some very presentable artisan mannerist work to be seen at drimnagh castle in the south co Dublin a moated seat of the Barnewell family, modernised, probably by one of the loftus family, who leased it from the Barnewells early in the seventeenth century. In the later part of the century there were ripe specimens of the artisan-mannerist style to be seen in the interior of the Eyrecourt as old photographs testify and we can hardly doubt that it was once widely diffused. Surrounded by a rectangular moat still containing water, the late medieval tower has seventeenth century additions with ‘artisan mannerist” detail probably by the Loftus family (Wikipedia) The earliest recorded owner of Drimnagh Castle was Sir Hugh de Bernival (his name is recorded in state papers relating to ireland in 1216). His family, owners of Drimnagh Castle for centuries, were later known as Barnewell, sometimes Barnewall. The last occupants of Drimnagh Castle were the Hatch family. In the very early 1900s, the castle and its lands were bought by Joseph Hatch (b.1851), a dairy man, of 6 Lower Leeson Street. Joe Hatch was a member of Dublin City Council, representing Fitzwilliam Ward, from 1895 to 1907. He bought the castle in the first instance to provide grazing land for his cattle. He restored the castle, which became a summer home for his family and a splendid location for the celebration of the silver wedding anniversary of Joseph Hatch and his wife, Mary Connell, as well as the marriage of their eldest daughter, Mary, in 1910. Upon his death in April 1918, ownership of the castle passed to their eldest son, Joseph Aloysius (b.1882), known as Louis. Together with his brother Hugh, Louis managed the dairy farm and the dairy shop in Lower Leeson Street. Louis (who never married) died in December 1951. (Hugh, who did not marry until the age of 60 in 1944) died in 1950. Drimnagh Castle was left by Louis Hatch to Dr. P. Dunne, Bishop of Nara (‘Castle Bequest to Bishop’, The Irish Times, 9 January 1953), who sold it (reportedly for a nominal sum) to the Christian Brothers to build the school that now stands there. The buildings within the moat consist of a 15th century great hall with an attached 16th century tower, also a large early 20th century stone building used as a stable and a ballroom at one time and a coach house. Initially the brothers lived and ran a school there until 1956 when they moved to their new schools and monastery close by. By the mid 1980s the castle was a ruin with fallen roofs, missing windows and partly collapsed masonry. In 1978 the local GAA Club. An Caisleán GAA, took possession of the Castle Coach-house and renovated it to give them a clubhouse of Community hall, kitchen and changing rooms with adjoining showers. In 1986 Peter Pearson, a well known artist with An Taisce, the national trust for Ireland, set up a local committee and got FAS the state training authority, involved in a conservation and restoration programme. All work was carried out by hand; the construction of a 15th century medieval oak roof over the great hall, mullioned stone windows, lime mortars for building stone and plastering and wood carving in oak. A formal 17th century style garden was also created. By 1996 the work programme finished although the castle was far from being restored. Today the castle provides tours to the public and can be hired as a venue for weddings and other events. Dry stone walling courses are also run there. (From Irish Arts Review) January 1986, Drimnagh Castle lay rotting, its floors covered in debris and its roofs about to collapse. After continuous occupation since the thirteenth century, the castle only fell into disuse in the mid- 1950s. However, general decay, combined with vandal ism, during the last ten years mean that a major restoration programme is necessary to bring it back to a habitable condition. The Drimnagh Castle Restoration Project was initiated in 1985, and work began in February 1986. Negotiations took place between An Taisce and the Christian Brothers, the owners of the castle, with whom an agreement was drawn up, and Dublin Corporation made a grant of ?3,000 to enable the project to get under way. The work is being managed and promoted by a local committee under the auspices of An Taisce, and AnCO, the Industrial Training Authority, set up a training Peter Pearson, Chairman of the Drimnagh Castle Restoration Project, writes about that interesting building in the suburbs of Dublin and of the current efforts to save it from ruin. scheme, through which the restoration is being carried out. The object of the project is to restore the castle and open it up to the public as a heritage centre and as a focal point for the local community. Drimnagh Castle is particularly important in that it combines significant architectural features from various periods and is the only Irish castle still to be surrounded by a flooded moat. The presence of water around the building does much to create an atmosphere of peace and beauty even though it is located in a densely populated and heavily industrialized suburban area. Situated about four miles to the south-west of Dublin city, the tower of Drimnagh Castle commands a view which extends from the river Liffey to the Dublin mountains. The castle was built by the Barnewall family in the thirteenth century. It served not only as the residence of the Barnewalls and their retinue, but also as a centre of administration for the whole area, including the lands of Terenure and Ballyfermot. In times of trouble or war, the castle served as a stronghold and valuable animals could be brought within its moated area for safety. Life in the castle was, one imagines, simple, with few items of furniture, some tapestries on the walls and the great fireplace providing the focal point. Musical entertainment and games probably provided a way of passing the evening hours. Fowl, hawks and doves may have been kept. There was certainly a dove cote in the yard during the -50 Irish Arts Review is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Irish Arts Review 1984 1987 www.jstor.org ® IRISH ARTS REVIEW DRIMNAGH CASTLE last fifty years when Drimnagh Castle was the home of the Hatch family. Today the grounds are full of exotic fowl, part of Brother Lenane's collect ion which bring great life and colour to the place. Pleasure gardens existed both within the moated area of the castle and outside it and it is intended to recreate a seventeenth century style garden with gravel paths and box hedges. Drimnagh Castle is basically a rectangular medieval structure, a great hall over a vaulted undercroft, with an additional three-storied, sixteenth century gate tower. A drawbridge, which was re placed by a fixed bridge about 1780, gave access to the internal yard. There are two further substantial buildings, a large coach-house and a stable block, both appearing to date from the nineteenth century. The castle is situated in the grounds of the Christian Brothers' school off the Long Mile Road and is within the jurisdiction of Dublin Corporation. It is owned by the Christian Brothers, who have leased it to An Taisce for the purpose of managing its restoration. Though the basic structure of the castle is solid, all roofs, floors and stairs will have to be re-instated.

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