Clontarf Castle
| Clontarf Castle | |
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Clontarf Castle from the front, showing 1837 core with modern lobby and other additions
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| General information | |
| Location | 3 Castle Avenue |
| Town or city | Clontarf, Dublin, Dublin 3 |
| Country | Ireland |
| Coordinates | 53°21′53″N 6°12′24″W / 53.364754°N 6.206675°W |
| Construction started | 1837 (current structure) |
| Completed | 2002? (latest modifications) |
| Website | |
| http://www.clontarfcastle.ie | |
Clontarf Castle (Irish: Caisleán Chluain Tarbh) is a much-modernised castle, dating to 1837, in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland, an area famous as a key location of the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. There has been a castle on the site since 1172. In modern times, it has functioned as a bar, cabaret venue, and hotel.
The first castle on the grounds, of which no trace remains, was built in 1172 by either Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, or his tenant Adam de Phepoe. Clontarf was subsequently held by the Knights Templar and, after their suppression in 1308, passed to the Knights Hospitaller, until they were in turn deprived of it at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The last prior, John Rawson was created Viscount Clontarf in 1541 in return for surrendering the castle and its lands to the crown.
In 1600 Queen Elizabeth I granted the estate to Sir Geoffrey Fenton, her secretary of state for Ireland, and it passed by marriage from his descendants to the King family. George King of Clontarf took part in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and as a result his lands were confiscated.
At the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, the Clontarf estate was given to Captain John Blackwell, on 14 August 1649. Blackwell afterwards sold his interest to John Vernon, Quartermaster General of Cromwell's army. The Vernon family was to remain in possession for some 300 years.
In 1660, John Vernon, passed Clontarf Castle to his son, Edward Vernon. Edward died in 1684 and one of his sisters took possession. In 1695 a first cousin of Edward's, also named John Vernon, claimed rights and the estate was granted to him by an Act of Parliament in 1698.
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Wikipedia