DALKEY CASTLE

DALKEY CHRONOLOGY: 

830.  The Vikings took over Dubh Linn. 

939.  There was thriving slave trade on Dalkey Island and slaves were held in the area of the promontory fort. 

1000.  Around this time the stone Church dedicated to St. Becnat was built on the mainlnd. 

1169.  The Anglo Normans arrived in Irelan. 

1172.  Lands at Dalkey were granted to the Archbishop of Dublin. 

1300-1400.  Seven fortified Town House/Castles were built in Dalkey. 

1348.  The Black Death arrived to Dalkey Island. 

1500.  Ringsend opened as a port and Dalkey went into decline. 

1765.  Readings Map shows open strip farming in Dalkey. 

1767.  A harbour was built at Dunleary. 

1804.  Martello Towers were built to defend agains a Napoleonic attack along the coast. 

1807.  Two transport vessels, The Prince of Wales and The Roachdale, having left Dublin port, foundered in a snow storm on the rocky shoreline between Booterstown and Seapoint. 

 1821. Dunleary Harbour was partially finishedand open for business. 

1834.  The first passenger Railway was opened from Dublin to Kinstown.  

1866. George Bernard Shaw lived in Torca Cottage for a year and spent summer holidays there until 1874. 

1893. Dalkey Town Hall was built as a venue for community events. 

1899. The town commissions became Urban District Councils. 

1904.  James Joyce taught for a term in Clifton School on Dalkey Avenue. 

1930.  The four Urban District Councils united to form the Borough of Dún Laoghaire. 

1949. Last Tram to Dalkey. 

1995. Dalkey was designated one of two heritage towns in County Dublin by Bord Fáilte. 

1998. Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre opened. 

HISTORY OF DALKEY CASTLE 

Goat Castle takes its name from the Cheevers family of Monkstown who owned the castle in the early 1600s. Cheevers comes from ‘chevre’ the French translation of ‘goat’. The goat features on their coat of arms. The castle was converted to a meeting room for the Dalkey Town Commissioners in the 1860s. and was used for this purpose until 1936. When Dalkey Town Hall was built in the 1890s. the ground floor became the foyer of the Town Hall. 

Goat Castle is a fine example of Fortified Town House. It dates from the lara 1390s when Dalkey Sound was used to off load goods from large ships bound for Dublin. Some of the goods were transferred to smaller boats and transported by sea to the city. The Fortified Town Houses are thought to have been built to store the remainder of the goods. They are quite similar in design to the later £10 castles of Henry VI which date from 1429. 

STRUCTURAL FEATURES : 

• Battlemens: This design gave protection to the defenders fring arrows. There are narrow window opes and two turrets. 
• Garderobe: This was the toilet in the medieval town house and is situated on the first floor. They were small, dark, cold, draughty cells built into the walls with stone shafts leading straight down into a pit or a moat below. 
• Machicolation: An opening called a ‘machicolation’, built out over the main door, allowed the defender to drop stones on attackers. 
• Spiral Stairs: The spiral stairs ascended in a clockwise direction. 
• Victorian stairs: The current stairs to the first floor is not spiralled. It was installed in the early1800s. 
• Murder Hole: if attackers managed to get through the front door they found themselves in a small room with further strong doors to get past. Above their heads there was a murder hole. The occupants threw down lighted firewood, boiling water and rocks or logs through this on intruders. 
• Entrance: the entrance was particulary well defended. The main door, of oak, opened inwards. When closed, it could be secured with a timber beam.
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  

  Marta Jiménez, Andrea Manrás y Bárbara Pérez