Editing Dublin Castle (section)

==History==
[[File:DV405 no.193 Dublin.png|thumb|left|Soldiers at Dublin Castle in 1830]]
[[File:Dublin Castle and Black Pool.jpg|thumb|Dublin Castle and Black Pool]]
[[Image:castletower.jpg|thumb|The Record Tower, the sole surviving tower of the medieval castle dating from {{Circa|1228}}. To its left is the [[Chapel Royal (Dublin Castle)|Chapel Royal]].]]

Dublin Castle was first founded as a major defensive work by [[Meiler Fitzhenry]] on the orders of King [[John of England]] in 1204,<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Fitzhenry, Meiler}}</ref> sometime after the [[Norman invasion of Ireland]] in 1169, when it was commanded that a castle be built with strong walls and good ditches for the defence of the city, the administration of justice, and the protection of the King's treasure.<ref name=history>{{cite book|last= McCarthy|first= Denis |author2=Benton, David |year= 2004|title= Dublin Castle: at the heart of Irish History|location= Dublin|publisher = Irish Government Stationery Office |pages= 12–18|isbn= 0-7557-1975-1}}</ref> Largely complete by 1230, the castle was of typical Norman courtyard design, with a central square without a [[keep]], bounded on all sides by tall defensive walls and protected at each corner by a circular tower. Sited to the southeast of Norman Dublin, the castle formed one corner of the outer perimeter of the city, using the [[River Poddle]] as a natural means of defence along two of its sides. The city wall directly abutted the castle's northeast Powder Tower, extending north and westwards around the city before rejoining the castle at its southwestern [[Bermingham]] Tower. 

In January 1592, [[Red Hugh O'Donnell]] and brothers Art and [[Henry MacShane O'Neill|Henry O'Neill]] escaped from the castle after a period of imprisonement. Once free of the castle, Henry O'Neill went his own direction and returned safely to [[Ulster]],<ref name=FMcN>{{Cite news |last=McNally |first=Frank |date=14 January 2017 |title=Hardship for Art's Sake - An Irishman's Diary about the Art O'Neill Challenge|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/hardship-for-art-s-sake-an-irishman-s-diary-about-the-art-o-neill-challenge-1.2936402 |access-date=28 December 2024 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name = 2022_430Anniversary>{{cite web|date=8 January 2022|url = https://www.facebook.com/ArtONeillChallenge/posts/pfbid02zizQvR9NKNWD94aEbfCf2atLF58JFUeZ1eBcjzBXHtcJqLjgeq3gTbAUUCM7KNc8l | publisher = Art O Neill Events (Official [[Facebook]] account of the Art O'Neill Challenge) | website = facebook.com | title = Thursday, 6th January, was the 430th anniversary of the 1592 escape of Art and...  | accessdate = 25 December 2024 }}[[Wikipedia:SPS|{{sup|[''self-published'']}}]]</ref> whereas O'Donnell and Art, alongside a guide sent to help them, continued south to the rural valley of Glenmalure, a [[Irish rebellions|rebel]] stronghold where they knew they would find safety. The escape and subsequent journey to Glenmalure at night in winter, during which Art died of exposure, has been commemorated officially every January since 2009 by the annual [[Art O'Neill Challenge]] endurance race/walk.<ref name = AO_about>{{cite web |url = https://www.artoneill.ie/about | date= 16 January 2016|publisher = [[Mountain Rescue Ireland|Dublin & Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team]] | website = artoneill.ie | title = About | access-date = 18 January 2025 }}</ref>

In 1620 the English-born judge [[Luke Gernon]] was greatly impressed by the wall: "a huge and mighty wall, foursquare, and of incredible thickness".<ref>Gernon, Luke  ''A Discourse of Ireland'' (1620) published C. L. Falkiner ed. (1904)</ref> In the 17th century, the [[Earl of Arran (Ireland)|Earl of Arran]] described the Castle as "the worst castle in the worst situation in Christendom".{{sfn|Casey|2005|p=349}}

The Poddle was diverted into the city through archways where the walls adjoined the castle, artificially flooding the moat of the fortress's city elevations. One of these archways and part of the wall survive buried underneath the 18th-century buildings, and are open for public viewing.{{sfn|Casey|2005|p=348}}

[[File:Dublin Caste Guards circa 1905.jpg|thumb|left|Soldiers at Dublin Castle, {{Circa|1905}}]]

Through the [[Middle Ages]] the wooden buildings within the castle square evolved and changed, the most significant addition being the Great Hall built of stone and timber, variously used as Parliament house, court of law and banqueting hall. The building survived until 1673, when it was damaged by fire and demolished shortly afterwards. The [[Court of Castle Chamber]], the Irish counterpart to the English [[Star Chamber]], sat in Dublin Castle in a room which was specially built for it about 1570. The Castle sustained severe fire damage in 1684. Extensive rebuilding transformed it from a medieval fortress to a Georgian palace. No trace of medieval buildings remains above ground level today, with the exception of the great Record Tower ({{Circa|1228}}–1230); it is the sole surviving tower of the original fortification, its battlements an early 19th-century addition.<ref name= "sa1">
{{cite web|url=http://www.dublincastle.ie/history.html|title= Dublin Castle web-site (history)|author=Dublin Castle|date=2002|publisher=Dublin Castle|access-date=2008-08-20 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080801180715/http://www.dublincastle.ie/history.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 1 August 2008}}</ref>

In 1764, English traveller John Bush wrote: "The Castle, as it is called from its having been the situation of one, I suppose, of which at present there are very few remains, is the residence of the lord lieutenant when in Ireland, but has very little of grandeur in its external appearance besides the large square court-yard, which it encloses. But the rooms, some of them, are large and elegant".<ref name="Bushp10">{{citation |url = https://archive.org/details/hiberniacuriosa00bush/page/10/mode/2up?view=theater |last=Bush |first=John |title=Hibernia Curiosa: A Letter from a Gentleman in Dublin to his Friend at Dover in Kent, Giving a general View of the Manners, Customs, Dispositions, &c. of the Inhabitants of Ireland. | year=1769 |publisher=London (W. Flexney); Dublin (J. Potts and J. Williams) |location=London | page = 10 }}</ref>

[[United Irishmen]] General [[Joseph Holt (rebel)|Joseph Holt]], a participant in the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|1798 Rising]], was incarcerated in the Bermingham Tower before being transported to New South Wales in 1799.

In 1884 officers at the Castle were at the centre of a [[Dublin Castle scandal|homosexual scandal]] incited by the Irish Nationalist politician [[William O'Brien]] through his newspaper ''United Ireland''.<ref>Costello, Peter ''Dublin Castle in the Life of the Irish Nation'', Wolfhound Press, 1999, p77, p104</ref>

In 1907 the [[Irish Crown Jewels]] were stolen from the Castle. Suspicion fell upon the Officer of Arms, Sir [[Arthur Vicars]], but rumours of his homosexuality and links to socially important gay men in London, may have compromised the investigation. The jewels have never been recovered.<ref>Kilfeather, Siobhán Marie ''Dublin: A Cultural History'', Oxford University Press 2005, p248</ref>

[[Image:DublinCastlePlan2.JPG|thumb|left|Plan of Dublin Castle and grounds with pedestrian entrance highlighted]]
[[Image:Dublin Castle Detail.jpg|thumb|Carved head of [[Saint Patrick]] on the Chapel Royal]]
[[File:Panorama Dublin Castle.jpg|thumb|Panorama]]

At the very beginning of the [[Easter Rising]] of 1916, a force of twenty-five [[Irish Citizen Army]] members were able to seize the entrance and guard room of the Castle before reinforcements for the small garrison arrived.<ref>{{cite book|first=Conor|last=Kostick|pages=[https://archive.org/details/easterrisingguid0000kost/page/115 115–116]|title=The Easter Rising|year=2000 |isbn=0-86278-638-X|url=https://archive.org/details/easterrisingguid0000kost/page/115}}</ref> During the [[Anglo-Irish War]] the Castle was the nerve centre of the British effort against [[Irish republicanism|Irish separatism]]. On the night of [[Bloody Sunday (1920)|Bloody Sunday]] in 1920, three [[Irish Republican Army]] members [[Dick McKee]], [[Conor Clune]] and [[Peadar Clancy]], were tortured and killed there.<ref>Sean O'Mahony, Death in the Castle: Three murders in Dublin Castle 1920. 1916/1921 Club</ref><ref>Dwyer, T. Ryle, The Squad (2005)</ref><ref>MacLysaght, Changing Times (1978)</ref>

When the [[Irish Free State]] came into being in 1922, Dublin Castle ceased to function as the administrative seat. It served for some years as temporary Courts of Justice (the [[Four Courts]], the home of the Irish courts' system, had been destroyed in 1922). After the courts vacated the premises, the Castle was used for state ceremonies. As [[President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State|President of the Executive Council]], [[Éamon de Valera]] received credentials there from newly arrived ambassadors to Ireland on behalf of King [[George V]] in the 1930s. In 1938, [[Douglas Hyde]] was inaugurated as [[President of Ireland]] at the Castle. All inaugurations of subsequent presidents have taken place there since. President [[Erskine Hamilton Childers]]' lying-in-state took place there in November 1974, as did that of former President Éamon de Valera in September 1975.