2005:510 - LUTTRELLSTOWN CASTLE AND DEMESNE, Dublin

Luttrellstown Castle and Demesne, near Lucan, is one of the most intact 18th-century demesne lands in the western suburb of Dublin, spanning over 560 acres. The main house is a conglomeration of buildings, the earliest of which can probably be dated to the Tudor period. The full plan of this building, including rounded turrets, was incorporated within various new builds and wings, which were added in the late 18th century (between 1787 and 1790) and again in the 19th century. The castle, however, probably occupies the site of the medieval castle of Luttrellstown, which is first referred to in documentary sources in the 15th century but was probably early 13th century in date, built by Geoffrey Luttrell. The demesne was set out as Brownian landscape in the late 18th/early 19th century, which saw a general sweeping away of some of the tree-lined avenue, formal gardens and woodland in favour a ‘naturalized parkland’, in keeping with the Brownian style. The Brownian landscape survived largely intact in the western part of the demesne until relatively recently and was set in pasturelands. These lands form the site under discussion. A golf course, set out in the 1970s, occupied the eastern part of the estate, but the existing topographical features were retained to a large extent and disturbance was kept to a minimum.

The works under discussion refer to an extension of the golf course into the western pasturelands and the extension of the 18th-century ornamental lake. Despite monitoring of all soil-stripping, nothing of archaeological significance was noted during these works, as the disturbance of the existing topography was kept to a minimum. Most of the work involved building up the ground rather than reducing it. The ornamental lake was extended on the western side, but nothing of archaeological significance was located in this area either.

27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2