Baggotrath Castle

Coordinates: 53°20′01″N 6°14′35″W / 53.333513°N 6.243054°W / 53.333513; -6.243054 Baggotrath Castle, or Baggotsrath Castle, was a medieval castle situated at present day Baggot Street in Dublin city centre. It was built in the late thirteenth century by the Bagod (later Baggot) family, for whom it was named.

During the English Civil War, possession of the castle, which was described as "the strongest fortress near Dublin", was a matter of great importance to both sides in the conflict, and it was largely destroyed in 1649, on the eve of the decisive Battle of Rathmines. The ruins of the castle were left on the site until the early nineteenth century when Dublin Corporation demolished it. No trace of it survives today, but it is generally agreed that it stood at the present 44-46 Upper Baggot Street, facing Waterloo Road.

The castle and surrounding district took their name from Sir Robert Bagod, the Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, who purchased the lands about 1280 and built the castle on the site. From the Bagods ownership the castle passed to the Fitzwilliam family, who later gained the title Viscount Fitzwilliam. It passed to the influential English-born soldier and statesman Sir Edward Perrers in the early 15th century but later reverted to the Fitzwilliam family.

The castle was the scene of a violent conflict in 1441. Sir Edward Perrers' widow Joanna, to whom the castle had passed on their only son's death in 1428, died having appointed James Cornwalsh, the Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, as her executor. Cornwalsh took possession of the castle, a move which was greatly resented by Sir Edward Perrers' daughter Ismay who had married into the Fitzwilliam family. Her husband raised a substantial troop of soldiers, attacked the castle, and according to the later charge "feloniously murdered" the judge. The charge of murder makes it difficult to explain why Fitzwilliam and Ismay were soon pardoned, although the Government of Henry VI was notoriously willing to issue pardons, even for the most serious of crimes.

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