Museums & Archive

Malahide Castle

Malahide, Co. Dublin
Tel: 01 846 2184
Fax: 01 846 2537
Email: malahidecastle@dublintourism.ie
Website: www.malahidecastle.com

Opening hours: All Year: Monday to Saturday 10.00 am to 5.00 pm.
April to September: Sunday and Public Holidays 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.
October to March: Sunday and Public Holidays 11.00 am to 5.00 pm.

Set on 250 acres of parkland in the pretty seaside town of Malahide, the Castle was both a fortress and a private home for nearly eight hundred years, and is an interesting mix of architectural styles. The Talbot family lived here from 1185 to 1973, when the last Lord Talbot died.

The Castle is furnished with beautiful period furniture together with an extensive collection of Irish portrait paintings, mainly from the National Gallery of Ireland. The history of the Talbot family is recorded in the Great Hall, with portraits of generations of the family telling their own story of Ireland’s stormy history. One of the more poignant legends concerns the morning of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, when fourteen members of the family breakfasted together in this room, never to return, as all were dead by the end of the battle.

A major feature of Malahide Castle Demesne is the beautiful Talbot Botanic Gardens. The gardens, as they exist today, were largely created by Lord Milo Talbot between 1948 and 1973. They cover an area of between 7ha and 8ha of shrubbery and 1.5ha of walled gardens.