2025:708 - Kilgobbin Castle, Kilgobbin Road, Stepaside, Dublin 18, Dublin

Archaeological monitoring took place at Kilgobbin Castle during conservation works funded by the Community Monuments Fund. This follows a detailed analysis of the ruin by the author in 2024.

Kilgobbin Castle is a chamber- and gate-tower structure forming part of a larger castle, which would have included a bawn, other timber structures, and defensive fortifications dating from the c. thirteenth to c. fifteenth centuries. It concluded that Kilgobbin Castle is an important building which forms part of a group of unusual vaulted small residential castles in the southern Pale that share features with both thirteenth-century ‘hall-house’ architecture and fifteenth-century tower houses.

Works in 2025 involved the erection of scaffolding to the south and east façades, the cleaning and removal of vegetation from the two façades, capping of wall tops, and repointing of the two façades. Anticipated works to the vault were not carried out as it was too complex. All of these works were archaeologically monitored and they had no archaeological impact. Additional information on parapet drains, garderobes, corbels and putlogs was documented.