A 13th-century Irish castle thought lost to history has been rediscovered hidden within University College Dublin’s Roebuck Castle (UCDRC).
The team behind the unusual find, considered rare for a pre-17th-century castle south of Dublin, said the newly unearthed structure makes UCD home to Ireland’s oldest building on any university campus.
A Lost Castle Found Inside a College Campus Building
Although the structure itself had been temporarily lost to history, sources suggest the castle was built within what the team described as “living memory” of the 1169 Norman invasion of Ireland. The team said that those same sources indicate the original edifice was altered several times during the Middle Ages.
The lost castle’s most famous residents included a medieval Lord High Chancellor of Ireland. According to local tradition, James II, the deposed King of England and Ireland (and Scotland as James VII), may also have lived in the lost castle in 1689 after being dethroned.
According to Professor Tadhg O’Keeffe, a specialist in medieval architectural history at UCD School of Archaeology, the castle had fallen into ruin by the 1700s. Most historians believed the structure was ultimately razed to make way for later construction on the site.
Still, O’Keeffe noted, artist Gabriel Beranger visited the ruins around 1765, resulting in a series of watercolor artworks. The professor said those 18th-century artists’ depictions of the ruined castle “are really fascinating.”
“He captured the basic form of the building, as you would expect, but thankfully, he also captured some of those small details which are the clues needed to work out the building’s structural history,” O’Keeffe explained.
“The Medieval Features are Still There”
While researchers had long believed the Norman castle of Roebuck had been demolished, O’Keeffe and his team discovered walls and other features from the medieval structure beneath the modern structure’s layers of plaster.
Once an important fortress positioned along an approach road to Dublin, the research team said the newly discovered architectural remains match details one would expect from a 13th-century castle.
“From the outside, the present building looks to be entirely Victorian,” O’Keeffe explained in a statement announcing the ‘hiding-in-plain-sight’ discovery.
However, the professor noted, the walls of the old castle are still preserved inside the newer one.
“The medieval features are still there,” he said, noting that they’re simply obscured by centuries-later construction.
“They’re hidden under plaster, but they can be made out,” he said.
For context, O’Keeffe said the courtyard at the rear of the modern-day house “is actually the medieval castle courtyard!”
Not to be Lost Again
When discussing the significance of the lost castle’s discovery to the colleagues who discovered it, Professor O’Keeffe said the university is “incredibly lucky that the Georgian and Victorian modernisers of the property simply built around the medieval castle,” rather than tear it down.
“We are also lucky that they built very little else on the site,” the professor added, noting that the university can now lay claim to the oldest standing building on any university campus in Ireland.
From a historical perspective, the team noted that few castles south of Dublin from this significant period have survived the intervening centuries. Like the lost castle before its discovery, most were likely believed to be demolished and pillaged for their raw materials in the 17th century. This included reusing medieval castle stonework for later residences.
“The passage of time has been unkind to the castles which were built across south Dublin in the Middle Ages,” Professor O’Keeffe explained. “Lost buildings are lost historical records. They leave gaps in our knowledge.
“It is wonderful to be able to welcome back Roebuck’s medieval castle,” O’Keeffe added, “and to know that it won’t get lost again.”
Christopher Plain has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Reporter at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his novels at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.