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

The house is furnished with beautiful period furniture together with an extensive collection of Irish portrait paintings, mainly from the National Gallery. The history of the Talbot family is recorded in the Great Hall, with portraits of generations of the family telling their own story of IrelandÕs 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 nightfall.

Many additions and alterations have been made to this romantic and beautiful structure, but the contours of the surrounding parklands have changed little in eight hundred years, retaining a sense of the past. The grounds are also open to the public, and appeal to all visitors, young and old.