Baggotrath Castle, or Baggotsrath Castle, was a castle situated at present-day

Baggot Street Baggot Street () is a street in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Location The street runs from Merrion Row (near St. Stephen's Green) to the northwestern end of Pembroke Road. It crosses the Grand Canal of Ireland, Grand Canal near Hadding ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

city centre. It was built in the late thirteenth century by the Bagod (later called Baggot) family, for whom it was named. During the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...

, possession of the castle, which was described as "the strongest fortress near Dublin", was a matter of great importance to both sides in the conflict, and it was largely destroyed during the siege of Dublin in 1649, on the eve of the

Battle of Rathmines The Battle of Rathmines was fought on 2 August 1649, near the modern Dublin suburb of Rathmines, during the Irish Confederate Wars, an associated conflict of 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It has been described as the 'decisive battl ...

. The ruins of the castle remained on the site until the early nineteenth century when

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

demolished what was left of it. No trace of it survives today, but it probably stood at present-day 44-46 Upper Baggot Street, facing Waterloo Road.Ball, F. Elrington ''History of Dublin'' 6 Volumes Alexander Thom and Co. Dublin 1902-1920 Vol.2 pp.42-8

Early history

The castle and the surrounding district took their name from the Bagod family, which was founded by Sir

Robert Bagod Sir Robert Bagod (died 1299) was an Irish judge who was appointed the first Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas in 1276. He built Baggotrath Castle, which was the strongest fortress in Dublin: it was located on present-day Baggot Street in ce ...

, the

Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland was the presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, which was known in its early years as the Court of Common Bench, or simply as "the Bench", or "the Dublin bench". It was one of the ...

, who purchased the lands from Nicholas de Hyntenberge about 1280 and built the castle.''Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters c.1244-1509'' From the Bagods, ownership of the castle passed to the Fitzwilliam family, who later held the title

Viscount Fitzwilliam Viscount FitzWilliam, of Merrion in the County of Dublin, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1629 for Thomas FitzWilliam, along with the subsidiary title Baron FitzWilliam, of Thorncastle in the County of Dublin, also in th ...

. It came into the possession of the influential English-born soldier and statesman Sir Edward Perrers in the early 15th century, but later reverted to the Fitzwilliam family. The castle was the scene of violent conflict in 1441. Sir Edward Perrers' widow Joanna, to whom the castle had passed on their only son's death in 1428, died having appointed

James Cornwalsh James Cornwalsh (died 1441) was an Irish judge who held the office of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He was a political figure of considerable importance in fifteenth-century Ireland, and a supporter of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, James Bu ...

, the

Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron ( judge) who presided over the Court of Exchequer (Ireland). The Irish Court of Exchequer was a mirror of the equivalent court in England and was one of the four courts which sat in the build ...

, as her

executor An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...

.''Close Roll 22 Henry VI'' Cornwalsh took possession of the castle, a move which was greatly resented by Sir Edward Perrers' daughter Ismay, who had married into the Fitzwilliam family. Her husband raised a substantial troop of soldiers, attacked the castle, and according to the charges laid against him, he "feloniously murdered" the judge, who was sitting peacefully at supper, quite unaware of the dangers. The charge of murder makes it difficult to explain why Fitzwilliam and Ismay were soon pardoned, although the Government of Henry VI was notoriously willing to issue

pardons A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

, even for the most serious of crimes. The castle was described as being in a ruinous condition in 1489 but was later rebuilt, and by the 1640s was said to be the strongest fortress near Dublin, although the owners complained of substantial damage to their property in 1642.

Battle of Rathmines

In July 1649 the Irish

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

leader, James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde advanced on Dublin, which was held by Parliamentary forces under Colonel Michael Jones. Anticipating that Ormonde would try to seize Baggotrath Castle, Jones took the precaution of partly destroying it. Nonetheless, Ormonde was determined that the castle should be fortified if possible. On 1 August a troop of 1500 men was sent to secure it but, for reasons which have never been clear, they took the whole night to travel a distance of about a mile. When Ormonde himself arrived he found that nothing had been done to fortify the castle. Meanwhile, Jones had been alerted to Ormonde's arrival and attacked the castle with some 5000 men. The Royalist cavalry deserted and most of the foot soldiers were killed or captured, allowing Jones to move on to his decisive victory at Rathmines.

Decay and ruin

No effort seems to have been made by the Fitzwilliams (who owned another substantial Dublin property,

Merrion Castle Merrion Castle was a castle situated about 300m south of the present-day Merrion Gates, to the south of Dublin city centre. Built in the early fourteenth century, it was from the sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century the principal se ...

) to restore Baggotrath, and the process of its decay continued inexorably.Smith 1856 p.310 Its' ruins were described in detail by Austin Cooper in 1778, and drawn by

Francis Grose Francis Grose (born before 11 June 1731 – 12 May 1791) was an English antiquary, draughtsman, and lexicographer. He produced ''A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'' (1785) and ''A Provincial Glossary, with a Collection of Local Pr ...

in 1791, some years before what remained of the castle was demolished by the Corporation to allow for the extension of Baggot Street. The name is preserved in Baggotrath Lane, a narrow side street which connects Lower Baggot Street with Merrion Street.

References

{{Castles in Dublin Castles in Dublin (city) 13th-century fortifications