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1 Upper Castle Yard
Upper Castle Yard
The Upper Castle Yard occupies the rectangle once enclosed by the medieval Castle, gaining the name “Devil’s Half-Acre” after centuries of association with bloody deeds and coercive rule. The buildings ranged around this yard housed the most important elements of the apparatus of Government and State.
The long range to the south housed the Viceregal State Apartments, residence of the King’s representative in Ireland, the Viceroy or Lord Lieutenant. This suite of ornate rooms on the first floor was used for formal ceremonies and exclusive entertainments. On the Christmas Eve of 1919, 300 soldiers arrived unannounced and billeted themselves in some of the rooms at the west end, including the Portrait Gallery and George’s Hall – a supper room that had been built for the visit of King George V in 1911.
Gradually, more and more people were provided with space within the Castle. The Throne Room became an office, occupied by twenty-two female typists. The State Drawing Room and some of the Viceroy’s private rooms nearby were converted into an apartment for Lieutenantcolonel Sir Edgeworth-Johnstone, the Chief Commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP). On the ground floor below him, rooms were being prepared for William Redmond, Assistant Commissioner, when he was assassinated in January 1921. St Patrick’s Hall was pressed into occasional use for dances, intended to entertain those who could not venture beyond the Castle gates for fear of assassination. The range at the east end of the Yard, separating it from the Lower Castle Yard, housed the Privy Council Chamber and in the north-east corner of the Yard were the offices of the Chief Secretary for Ireland and his deputy, the UnderSecretary. The Chief Secretary headed the bureaucratic administration of Ireland, aided by a large map on the wall of his office showing the whole of the island.
The range at the west end of the yard was split into four “State Residences” known as Houses No. 1 to No. 4, with House No. 5 at the end of the north range adjoining these and House No. 6 (since demolished) behind the large gateway with the statue of Fortitude (holding his spear). In former times, these were occupied by members of the Viceregal Household.
Owing to the increasing danger at the end of 1919 and the start of 1920, these were also taken over by those who were ordered to live within the Castle walls for their safety. Thomas Neylon (District Inspector of the RIC) occupied House No. 2; Sir John James Taylor (Assistant Under-Secretary) occupied Houses No. 3 and No. 4; General Tudor (General Officer Commanding, Dublin District) had House No. 5; and Sir Henry Wynne (Chief Crown Solicitor) had House No. 6.
Following a change in personnel, House No. 4, at the north end of the range, was later occupied by Mark Sturgis (Assistant Under-Secretary), who left a diary of his time at the Castle during the war.
The Office of Ulster King of Arms, Ireland’s heraldic authority, occupied the Bedford Tower, with its turret and clock standing resolutely over the Upper Castle Yard.
