Puck's Castle () is a castle ruin in Rathmichael,

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

, Ireland. The castle is thought to have been erected by Peter Talbot in 1537, along with nearby castles on

the Pale The Pale ( Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast s ...

, to defend from the incursions of the O'Toole clan. The name 'Puck's Castle' is derived from the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

spirit the '

Púca The púca ( Irish for ''spirit/ghost''; plural púcaí), puca (Old English for ''goblin''), also pwca, pookah, phouka, and puck, is a creature of Celtic, English, and Channel Islands folklore. Considered to be bringers both of good and bad f ...

', which lends itself to local

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

that the castle is haunted.

History

In 1690, Puck's Castle allegedly provided refuge for

King James II James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685, until he was deposed in the 1688 Glori ...

and members of his fleeing army after his defeat at the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ) took place in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and James's daughter), had acceded to the Crowns of England and Sc ...

. In June 1867 the daughter of a local Englishman, Jane Eleanor Sherrard, disappeared near the castle after she went out to pick flowers for her dinner-table. Though the police began a widespread search for her, she was never found. The last known sighting of her was by a local postman, who claimed to have seen her picking flowers outside the castle.

Building

Puck's Castle is a 3-storey

fortified tower A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with defensive walls such as curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of ...

. It's roughly 10 metres in length, 7 metres in width, and has a height of 9 metres at the northwest corner. The entrance doorway is in the west wall. Inside the castle is a stone stairwell leading to the first floorPucks Castle, brief history & photos
and evidence of a fireplace, although much of how the castle may have looked before falling into disrepair is unknown.

References

{{Reflist Castles in South Dublin (county) Buildings and structures in South Dublin (county) Ruined castles in the Republic of Ireland Ruins in the Republic of Ireland

History

Building

See also

References