Howth Castle

Howth Castle lies close to the village of Howth, Fingal County in Ireland. It is the ancestral home of the line of the St Lawrence family (see: Earl of Howth) that died out in 1909. From 1425 to 1767 the title had been Lord Howth, holding the area since the Norman invasion of 1180. It is now held by their heirs, the Gaisford St. Lawrence family.

Since 1180 the St. Lawrence family have been the Lords of Howth. Howth Castle has stood on its present site for over seven hundred years, the original one, a timber structure, having been sited on Tower Hill, overlooking Balscadden Bay. The current building is not the original castle, which was on the high slopes by the village and the sea. The great English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens restyled a 14th-century castle built here, overlooking Ireland's Eye and the north Dublin coastline.

A popular legend about the Castle concerns an incident that apparently occurred in 1576. During a trip from Dublin, the pirate Gráinne O'Malley attempted to pay a courtesy visit to the 8th Baron Howth. However, she was informed that the family was at dinner and the castle gates were closed against her. In retaliation, she abducted the grandson and heir, the 10th Baron. He was eventually released when a promise was given to keep the gates open to unexpected visitors, and to set an extra place at every meal. At Howth Castle today, this agreement is still honoured by the descendants of the Baron.

Castle Howth was depicted as the fictitious "Castle Haloran" from the 1963 Roger Corman and Francis Ford Coppola b-film Dementia 13 (a.k.a. "The Haunted and the Hunted") where it was the setting of numerous scenes.

Flashback scenes from the Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western, Duck, You Sucker were shot here. The castle was used extensively for exterior shots in Love & Friendship, Whit Stillman's adaptation of the Jane Austen novel Lady Susan.

In 1892 Rosa Mulholland referred to the grounds thus:

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