Malahide Castle & Gardens

Malahide Castle is situated on over 260 acres of parkland near Malahide Village in Fingal, North County Dublin. While the original castle dates back to the 12th Century, there was notable work carried out to enlarge it during the reign of Edward IV, with the towers being added in 1765.

The grounds of the castle are open to the public year-round, and the demense is one of the few surviving examples of an 18th Century landscaped park. The beautiful walled garden, which makes up part of the larger Talbot Botanic Gardens, showcases many plants from the Southern Hemisphere, collected by the 7th Lord Talbot of Malahide during his grand tours. 

The estate itself is steeped in history, and dates back to 1185, when Richard Talbot was granted the "lands and harbour of Malahide" by King Henry II. Talbot had been one of Henry II's knights during the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, which began in 1171, and his family would go on to spend 791 years living on the estate, from 1185 until 1976, the only exception being from 1649-60 when Oliver Cromwell granted it to Miles Corbet after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. Following the demise of Cromwell, the Talbot family were restored to the estate and Corbet was hanged.

During their nearly 800 years living in Malahide Castle, the Talbot family survived many hardships, including the anti-Catholic Penal Laws and the Williamite War in Ireland, in which the Talbot family suffered heavy losses at the famed Battle of the Boyne. Before the battle, the family sat down to have breakfast together in the castle's Great Hall. By the evening of July 1st, 1690, fourteen of them lay dead on the battlefield in County Meath.

It was only 1975, that the Talbot family's association with Malahide Castle ended, when Rose Talbot, having inherited the estate following the death of her brother the 7th Lord Talbot of Malahide, sold it to the Irish State.

For more information, please visit www.malahidecastleandgardens.ie, and start planning your visit today!