Rathfarnham Castle
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Exciting new discoveries at Rathfarnham Castle Rathfarnham Castle in South Dublin is a National Monument in State ownership since 1988. The Office of Public Works manages the site and has been undertaking a programme of restoration and conservation on the castle over the past twenty years. Previous phases of works carried out by the OPW involved structural repairs, re-roofing, re-rendering, installation of services, and limited decoration. The current works relate to the provision of a new lift and staircase in the south-west tower, new toilet facilities and upgrading of doors and floors for fire resistance, as well as provision of
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external ramps and steps to allow level access to a new entrance point. These works are intended to significantly address both fire safety issues and universal accessibility limitations of this National Monument. An Archbishop’s Castle The original castle at Rathfarnham dates back to the Elizabethan period (1583) and was built for Archbishop Adam Loftus, a Yorkshire clergyman who came to Ireland as chaplain to the Lord Deputy and quickly rose to become Archbishop of Armagh and Dublin, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, First Provost and founder of Trinity College Dublin, and Queen Elizabeth’s chief envoy to Ireland.
Rathfarnham Castle was a new architectural typology in Ireland, an Elizabethan fortified house, rectangular in plan, with four angled bastion towers influenced by French and Italian military design. In the 18th century, the Castle was remodelled as a classical country house: the battlements were infilled, new Georgian-style windows added and the floor level of the first floor changed. The interiors above basement level were remodelled by some of the finest architects of the day including Londonbased Sir William Chambers and James ‘Athenian’ Stuart. In 1912, the Castle was bought by the Jesuit Order who installed a new stairs in the south west tower and constructed two large dormitory wings later demolished by the OPW.
Today, many of the visitors come to see the elaborate 18th century plasterwork and rooms from the Georgian phases of the building and to enjoy the demesne grounds, now a public park managed by South Dublin County Council. Gunloops and Garderobes Recent discoveries arising from the current phase of works have shed new light on the earlier phases of the castle and its occupants. As the builders carefully demolished the 20th century stairs and stripped back modern plasterwork in the south west flanker, they uncovered extensive evidence relating to earlier building periods including blocked gun loops, garderobes (medieval toilets), fireplaces and fragments of doors and windows dating from the 16th, 17th, and both early and later 18th centuries. Identifying these various features allows us to reconstruct the old floor levels to try to identify the use of the rooms and to start to tell the story of the people who built and lived in Rathfarnham Castle.
Buried treasure While the demolition works revealed important information about the sixteenth century castle, the most exciting discovery however, relates to a hundred years after the castle was constructed. Excavations for the new lift shaft in the southwest flanker uncovered a unique assemblage of artefacts, deposited inside a wash pit adjacent to a drain that exits this tower. The waterlogged context and the presence of a stone floor (c.1700) that completely sealed the wash pit meant that the objects were perfectly preserved. The collection dates from 16501700 and includes personal possessions encompassing fashion and toiletries, entertainment and diet and reflecting trade links between the inhabitants of the castle and the wider 17th century world. Over 17,000 individual artefacts were recorded, as seen in the photographs on the following pages.
there for washing and never retrieved, or dumped; the analysis is ongoing. In any case, the archaeologists believe that the artefacts belonged to a specific household, most likely that of Lord Adam Loftus (16251691), a descendant of the original Archbishop Adam Loftus. These artefacts give us a rare and intimate insight into the lavish lifestyle of the castle’s elite residents. What makes it even more exciting is that they can be traced back to their original owners. As a collection they give an insightful story of the castle in the late 17th century. In the wider context, the wars and rebellions raging in 17th century Ireland mean that archaeological evidence from the 17th century is rare and this gives the wide-ranging Rathfarnham collection a uniqueness of both national and international consequence.
How or why the items were discarded is still being established - they may have been hidden when the castle was attacked, or placed 1 Rathfarnham Castle. 2 Lead crystal drinking goblets. 3 Wax Seals.
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Next steps On the 30 October 2014, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys, and Simon Harris, Minister of State were joined at the Castle by Chairman Clare McGrath of the OPW and Raghnall Ó Floinn, the Director of the National Museum, to make a public announcement regarding the archaeological finds. Extensive coverage on RTÉ and the Irish Times, as well as Archaeology Ireland and other fora brought the discovery to a wider audience. The artefacts have now all been recorded, catalogued, cleaned and undergone preliminary conservation and stabilisation before being removed to various specialists for analysis and description. A symposium will be held at Rathfarnham Castle later this year, where the archaeologists will give a paper on the excavation and overall assemblage and each specialist will present their
OPW Project Team
findings. All of the papers will then be collected together to constitute the final published archaeological report on the site. Following this, the OPW will work closely with the National Museum of Ireland to fully conserve the remarkable assemblage for exhibition. With the artefacts safely retrieved, works on the main contract have resumed and the lift shaft is now being constructed. The castle will re-open in 2015 and it is hoped that OPW in conjunction with the National Museum of Ireland will, at a future date curate an exhibition in Rathfarnham Castle of the archaeological finds that tell us so much about the history of the castle and its inhabitants. Eithne Moran, Architectural Services.
Architectural Services Eithne Moran, Barbara Kenny Civil & Structural Engineering Services Ian Wolfe, Engineer Mechanical & Engineering Services Conor Byrne Quantity Surveying Services Finbar Murphy Project Management Services Gerard Kennedy, Barry Nangle, Sandra Moyles Archaeologist Antoine Giacometti, Alva Mac Gowan, Archaeology Plan Main Contractor Dunwoody and Dobson Ltd. Partial Services Planning and tender documents by CODA Architects 2010-2012
4 Minister Simon Harris and Minister Heather Humphreys holding a Chinese porcelain plate. 5 Artefacts relating to 17th Century Costume. 6 Small jars which would have contained ointments and cosmetics. 7 Selection of complete late 17th century glass wine and spirit bottles (Maxwell Photograhy). 8 Glass Figurine.
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