Survey Data
Reg No
50080447
Rating
National
Categories of Special Interest
Archaeological, Architectural, Historical, Technical
Original Use
Castle/fortified house
Date
1350 - 1450
Coordinates
311152, 231776
Date Recorded
02/05/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Rectangular-plan moat, built c.1400, repaired c.1990, forming protective defence around Drimnagh Castle grounds. Entrance bridge spanning moat, built c.1780, replacing earlier drawbridge structure. Castellated walls of the castle and yard, constructed from local calp limestone and featuring battered buttresses. Stone platform east of the undercroft allowing access to moat via stone steps. Early twentieth-century castellated walls, built c.1904, having openings with brick detailing and pediments, enclosing coach house to south. Steel bridge spanning moat leading to coach house from Drimnagh Castle school grounds. Fed by the Bluebell stream, enclosing castle, courtyard, gardens, stable buildings, work yard, and coach house. Draining into Lansdowne Valley via sluice gate.
Appraisal
In 1215 Hugh De Berneval, or Barnewall, acquired the lands of Drimnagh, Kimmage and Terenure and began construction of fortifications on this site. The earliest parts of the castle date to the late fourteenth century and the moat was designed as a defensive measure to minimise the risk of enemy invasion, protecting people and animals within its enclosure. An extensive renovation and reconstruction of the castle and demesne began in 1986 and included repair works to the moat and walls. Drimnagh Castle is reputedly the only medieval castle in Ireland to retain its flooded moat.