History of Malahide Castle

Malahide Castle is one of the oldest and most historic castles in Ireland.  From 1185 until 1975, it was the home of the Talbot family.  This was a remarkable tenure by a single family and is one of the longest in Ireland.

In 1169, at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion, Malahide was under the control of Hammund Mac Turkill, the last Viking King of Dublin.

The estate began in 1185, when Richard Talbot, a knight who accompanied England’s King, Henry II to Ireland in 1174, was granted the "lands and harbour of Malahide".  Strongbow was granted the remainder of Leinster.

The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 12th century and it was home to the Talbot family for 791 years, the only exception being the period from 1649-1660, when Oliver Cromwell granted it to Miles Corbet after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland; Corbet was hanged following the demise of Cromwell, and the castle was restored to the Talbots.

The building was notably enlarged in the reign of England’s King, Edward IV, and the towers were added in 1765.

The estate survived such losses as the Battle of the Boyne, when fourteen members of the owner's family sat down to breakfast in the Great Hall, and all were dead by evening, and the Penal Laws, even though the family remained Roman Catholic until 1774.

In the 1920s the private papers of James Boswell were discovered in the castle, and sold to American collector Ralph H. Isham by Boswell's great-great-grandson Lord Talbot of Malahide.

Malahide Castle and Demesne was eventually inherited by the seventh Baron, Lord Milo Talbot and on his death in 1973, passed to his sister, Rose. In 1975, Rose sold the castle to the Irish State, partly to fund inheritance taxes.

Many of the contents, notably furnishings, of the castle, had been sold in advance, leading to considerable public controversy, but private and governmental parties were able to retrieve some.

Discover More About the Long History of Malahide Castle
Malahide Castle Architecture (PDF)

The Recent History of Malahide Castle (PDF)

The History of the Talbot Family (PDF)

For further information on Malahide Castle and the Malahide area see the Malahide Historical Society website.