Corr Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Chorraigh – Castle of the round hill) is an

L-plan An L-plan castle is a castle or tower house in the shape of an L, typically built from the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other location ...

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

likely constructed sometime in the fifteenth century in

Sutton, Dublin Sutton ( ga, Cill Fhionntain – Fintan's cell or church) is a residential suburb on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It occupies the tombolo which links Howth Head to the mainland, some of the lower slopes of Howth Hill, and a little of the ...

. The castle lies within the boundaries of Howth Demesne in the old townland of Correston, close to the townlands of Quarry and

Burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of sh ...

. The castle was probably built on higher ground in order to guard the isthmus at Sutton which was the only route on land to access Howth Castle and the port of Howth. It has historically sometimes been called ''The Dane's castle''.

History

It appears that the area surrounding the castle was inhabited by the Cornwalsh family of Welsh origin in medieval times with the nearby hill and their Welsh origin giving them their name. It is unknown whether the Cornwalsh family, the later White family or another party actually constructed the castle. The castle was definitively owned by the Whites of St. Catherine in the mid 16th century but passed to Christopher St Lawrence, 8th Baron Howth in 1579 and may have been improved and upgraded at that time. It was later used as a grandstand and feature on the Howth Park Racecourse (1829–1842) by the 30th Lord of Howth. The racecourse circuit ran from near Howth Castle and circled Corr Castle by the Burrow Road. The Lord of Howth's black and white racing colours were later adopted by Howth Celtic Football Club upon establishment of the club on part of the Howth Castle grounds in 1962. The area around the castle was used as a quarry for much of the late 19th and early 20th century with the tower and out buildings along with a windmill water-pump some of the few structures left standing in the immediate area. More substantial remains of the castle can clearly be seen in photos taken by Francis Browne SJ in the 1930s which appear to show part of external castle walls or a

bawn A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional spe ...

. After being partially restored in the early 2000s, the castle is now secured and sits within a private apartment complex as an architectural feature although it still can be clearly viewed from the nearby

Howth Road Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes ...

Status and Features

The castle is recorded on the Fingal County Council Record of Protected Structures (RPS 0551) with the description – ''Remains of 16th century castle of St. Lawrence family in open space at centre of apartment development''. The castle is also recorded on the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP DU015-025) which notes the architectural detailing and archaeological significance of the building. Among the identifiable features include the remains of a

wall,

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

s, garderobe chutes – which could have had various uses over time, battlements and

machicolation A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at t ...

s and a chamber with a

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

led roof. Although the tower has various defensive features, it is not clear that defense was the primary purpose of the building and rather functioned as a look-out tower and more as accommodation over time. Other more decorative features which have been recorded on the castle since the 18th century include a cut stone fireplace, pointed cut stone arch windows and a number of carved features including a bold

chamfer A chamfer or is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fu ...

with a defaced floral

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

on the North East edge of the main tower and a rude human face on a projecting stone on the East side. Archaeological testing in the area immediately surrounding the tower has recorded evidence of habitation as far back as the 13th and 14th century. Today the tower is well preserved and protected by virtue of its specific status. It now sits in a gated apartment complex with no new building permitted in the vicinity.

Notes

References

{{reflist Sutton, Dublin Castles in Fingal Howth Buildings listed on the Fingal Record of Protected Structures Tower houses in the Republic of Ireland