Abbotstown

Abbotstown is an historical demesne and country estate in Castleknock close to Blanchardstown in Dublin, Ireland. Historically the estate belonged to a number of aristocratic families and formed the principal seat in the civil parish of Castleknock. Despite a significant level of suburban development in the wider Dublin 15 area from the 1980s onwards, Abbotstown Demense remained largely undeveloped, as it was held by several State bodies, and today the majority of the land in the demense remains unspoilt and is now used for National Sports Campus Ireland.

Abbotstown Demense in the barony of Castleknock remained in the ownership of the Tyrell family up to about 1400 when Thomas Sergent and his wife Joan Tyrell, sister to the last Tyrell Baron of Castleknock, took up residence.

By the 17th century the estate had passed to Sir John Dungan who owned one thatched house, several cottages and an old church at Abbotstown. Later, the lands at Abbotstown were owned by the Clements family, ancestors to the Earls of Leitrim and famous for the fact that one of their number was Nathaniel Clements, Chief Ranger in the Phoenix Park where his residence later became the official residence of the President of Ireland, Áras an Uachtaráin.

The most famous family to live on the lands at Abbotstown were the Falkiner family who became Baronets of Abbotstown in 1812. The Falkiners married into the Hamilton family who lived on the neighbouring estate of Sheephill and in 1832 both estates were amalgamated by the Hamiltons and a new residence, Abbotstown House, was built as the family seat.

Ion Trant Hamilton was the Lord Lieutenant of County Dublin and Member of Parliament for County Dublin. He was ennobled in 1897 by Queen Victoria as Baron HolmPatrick and Abbotstown House remained the principal seat in Castleknock until 1947 when James Hans Hamilton, 3rd Baron HolmPatrick (1928–1991), lost part of his lands under a Compulsory Purchase Order to allow for the building of James Connolly Memorial Hospital.

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