Danesmoate House

Danesmoate House (formerly known as Glensouthwell or Glen Southwell) is a Georgian-style monumental house in the greater Rathfarnham area of County Dublin, Ireland.

Grange Road continues for nearly a mile to skirt the boundary wall of Marlay Park as far as the crossroads at Taylors Grange beyond which it terminates at a group of farmhouses where there was formerly an old passage leading to Stackstown. On the right the road to Kilmashogue passes the entrance to Danesmoate where there is the valley of the Little Dargle River, a tributary of the River Dodder which rises near the Ticknock rifle range.

The house was built in the 18th century by the Southwell family and in 1787 was the residence of Irish politician and soldier William Southwell.

Throughout the following century it was occupied by the Ponsonbys, down to 1896 and later by Professor Stanley Lane-Poole, the author of a number of works on Oriental art and numismatics. For many years down to 1946 it was the home of Lieutenant Algernon Gainsford of the Seaforth Highlanders.

In 1986, the house was the site of recording by rock band U2 for their album The Joshua Tree. Bassist Adam Clayton currently owns the house. Clayton built a small watchtower beside the 20-bed mansion, apparently based on the Cruagh Tower.

Within the grounds, in a field visible from the road, is an ancient monument known as the Brehon's Chair, consisting of three tall slabs about nine feet high enclosing a small square space. There was formerly another large slab supported by smaller ones lying to the north east but this was unfortunately destroyed about 1876 by blasting. The existing remains are apparently the portal portion of a dolmen type of tomb and the stones which were removed would have been part of the destroyed chamber. A similar type of portal can be seen on a dolmen at Haroldstown in Co. Carlow.

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