Where TravelGumbo Was #280
If the images that were clues in this week’s puzzle seemed to blur the line between medieval and modern, there’s a reason. Malahide Castle was the home of one family from the 12th century nearly to the end of the 20th, constantly adding, adapting, mixing, matching and moving.
The 791-year residence of the Talbot family only came to an end in 1976 when the last of the family, facing large inheritance taxes, sold the castle to the Irish government, along the remaining 260 acres of its land. Most of the acreage is now a regional park, and the castle is a fascinating place to visit, even for those of us who are somewhat castle-averse. And there are gorgeous gardens, which we’ll return to in another blog.
It’s also an easy visit for Dubliners and Dublin visitors; it’s only nine miles from central Dublin, with frequent commuter rail service, and then a jolly Dotto train that makes a circuit including the station, the castle and Malahide’s ocean beachfront, as well as a couple of stops in the pleasant town center.
The first Talbot was a knight who arrived in Ireland in 1174 with Henry II, who granted him the “lands and harbor of Malahide.” The family’s tenure there was interrupted only by a 10-year exile in Cromwell’s time. When the Restoration came, the Puritan tenant was hanged, and the family returned.
The odd-angled endpiece of this sofa was to allow young couples to court without indecorous touching.
The Talbots had surprisingly good and bad fortunes in the Restoration and after; on the bad side, during the wars between Catholic King James II and Protestant William III, fourteen family members sat to breakfast in this Great Hall, and then set off to the Battle of the Boyne, where fourteen of them were killed the same day.
Despite that blow, and despite the family’s clinging to Catholicism until 1774, they were able to hold on to their estate and lands, even as Catholic worship was prohibited and Catholic landholders generally forbidden to pass on their estates to family.
The first parts of the castle were built starting in 1185, although it was originally little more than a stone square block. The towers, for instance, were added in 1765, and you can see some 20th-century additions in the picture below.
There’s even a ruined church on premises, once part of Malahide Abbey, now also gone, leaving behind only the chapel and churchyard. It dates to the 15th century, and was built over an older church. One of the tombs within is that of a Mary Plunkett, whose husband died on their wedding day, leaving her ‘maid, wife and widow, all in a day.’ Its lead roof was stripped for bullets in Cromwell’s time, and never restored.
Inside, the rooms have also undergone change after change, and that’s evident in the varying styles to be found, and in 19th-century furniture grouped around far more ancient fireplaces.
Why go downstairs for breakfast?
Much of the furnishings that were there after the 7th Baron Talbot died in 1973 were sold off by his inheriting sister, Rose. When she sold the castle to the government, there was an uproar over the furnishings, and some were retrieved; others are replacements similar in period. The bathroom, however, is original, if a bit different from our styles.
The bedrooms are mainly in a modern part of the building, and reflect styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but with a few surprises, like this 1930s combination of a bakelite-cased clock with an automatic coffeemaker—long before Mr. Coffee!
The children’s nursery has some interesting features, especially toys of the early part of the 20th century. That may be influenced by the castle’s having been home from 1980 to 2010 to the Tara’s Palace Museum of Childhood, which is now located at the Powerscourt Estate, near Enniskerry,
Aside from the Castle itself, which offers guided tours as well, there are extensive gardens and lawns, a botanical garden (the 7th Lord Malahide was a serious botanical collector with contacts all over the world) and a museum. There are also often events and fairs run by local organizations in the park.
If you’re thinking of a visit, leave yourself at least a half day; there’s a quite good cafe in the visitor center as well as a store run by Avoca, a hand-weaving cooperative that has several locations in Ireland. You could just visit the castle, but you’d miss out on really pleasant walks through the grounds and the botanical garden. Admission for adults is €12, €8 for seniors, €6 for children.
DART rail service from Dublin’s Connolly Station takes about a half-hour and runs frequently. If you don’t feel like taking the 10-15 minute walk to the grounds from the station, you can always take Toots the Dotto Train (officially the Malahide Road Train) to the Castle, and then reboard it for town or beach. Tickets for children, adults and seniors are €4/6/5 and there are family rates.
There are a few more photos in the slideshow below, and there is this final one, meant for hardware freaks like me: an unusual toggle switch for lights in the Great Hall.
