Tallaght Castle (also known as Tallaght House and formerly known as the Archiepiscopal Palace) was a castle in Kilnamanagh,

Tallaght Tallaght ( ; , ) is a southwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The central village area was the site of a monastic settlement from at least the 8th century, which became one of medieval Ireland's more important monastic centres. Up to th ...

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It dates from the 14th century. It became an official residence of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin () is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: ...

until 1822. It was taken over by the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

in 1856. The castle is now in ruins with only a small proportion of it incorporated into the St. Mary's Priory building, in the grounds of St. Mary's Dominican Priory and

the Priory Institute The Priory Institute, is part of the St. Mary's Dominican Priory on the grounds of the old Tallaght Castle, Dublin 24, Ireland and provides, certificate, diploma, and degree programmes in theology and philosophy. Course accreditation In 2011, ...

The old palace gardens, Archbishop’s bathhouse, the Friar's Walk and St. Maelruain's Tree still remain in the current grounds.

Development

Tallaght village was first walled in about 1310. As ordered by Archbishop Alexander de Bicknor, the initial castle was built between 1324 and the 1340s, to defend the settlement. The original castle is thought to have comprised high walls with a courtyard in the centre. It was in bad condition a century later. In the mid-1400s, improvements were made by Archbishop Michael Tregury, leading to an increase in usage by subsequent Archbishops. Members of Archbishop Loftus's family were killed at the gates of the castle in the 1570s. Archbishop John Hoadly built a palace on the remains from 1727 to 1729 at a cost of £2,500. The grounds had a brewery and a granary and stables. By 1760 some of the buildings had become 'dilapidated'. In 1821, an act of Parliament ( 1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. ''15'') was passed which stated that it was unfit for habitation. In 1822 the property was sold to Major Palmer, Inspector General of Prisons, who pulled most of the palace down and used the materials to build his mansion, 'Tallaght House', as well as a schoolhouse and several cottages. A tower from the original castle was left untouched and later was incorporated into the current priory building. The once four-storey-high tower now has just internally two. Major Palmer later sold the mansion and lands to his successor as Inspector of Prisons, Mr Lentaigne. When the Dominican friars took a lease out on the property in the 1840s, one of the buildings was converted into a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

. The friars eventually bought the property from Mr Lentaigne in 1855. The chapel was replaced with a purpose-built

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, dedicated to Fr. Tom Burke, in 1883. Part of the house burned down in the first decade of the 1900s.

References

{{Historic Irish houses Castles in South Dublin (county) Ruined castles in the Republic of Ireland Anglican archbishops of Dublin Ruins in the Republic of Ireland Former official residences in the Republic of Ireland Tallaght Archbishop's palaces in the Republic of Ireland