placenamesLuttrellstown
Baile Lotrail
Luttrellstown's castle, wooded glen and ornamental lake preserve successive phases of a major Dublin demesne.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Baile Lotrail · Irish · main form · validated name
- Luttrellstown · English · main form
Place & story
The family and the early house
Garden historian Terence Reeves-Smyth distinguishes the tradition connecting Luttrellstown with King John from the firmer evidence of Luttrell ownership in the fifteenth century. Robert Luttrell, a Crown subsidy collector, provides the earliest documented family link to the manor in his account. By the 1654 Civil Survey, the property included a substantial mansion, malt house, barn and stables, as well as orchards and an ornamental grove. The later landscaped estate developed around this earlier residence. [2]
A designed landscape
The demesne occupies rising ground above the Liffey, cut by a rocky glen. Its serpentine lake was created between 1737 and 1744, beside the broad open space called the Great Lawn. Woodland screens, isolated parkland trees and carefully arranged views connected the house with its surroundings. Reeves-Smyth identifies a lakeside cold-bath temple of around 1740 and a rustic arch across the glen of around 1765 among the surviving features of this landscape. [2]
The castle seen today
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records an older castle incorporated into the seven-bay, two-storey country house, with remodelling and extensions around 1810. Battlements and turrets give it its castellated silhouette. Inside, the inventory notes an octagonal entrance hall, Gothic vaulting and decorative plasterwork in the ballroom. Rear wings, later additions and a farmyard quadrangle largely dating from around 1840 show how the residential and working buildings continued to change. [3]
The sale announced in 1983
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 23 June 1983 recorded plans to auction Luttrellstown Castle, its contents and 570 acres. Its owner, Aileen Plunkett of the Guinness family, was moving to London. The report described the proposed dispersal of furniture, carpets and other furnishings alongside the property sale. The Knight of Glin, speaking for Christie's, discussed both the international art market and the loss that the departure of important objects could represent for Ireland. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Dublin
- Barony
- Castleknock
- Civil parish
- Clonsilla
- Within
- Woodlands
- Coordinates
- 53.37371, -6.42896
- Logainm ID
- 1391286 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Luttrellstown. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Without Rival in our Metropolitan County: The History of Luttrellstown Demesne, Co. Dublin, Occasional Paper4 (2015) · Terence Reeves-Smyth, Northern Ireland Heritage Gardens Trust
- Luttrellstown Castle, registration11361036 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Sale of the Century1983: Luttrellstown Castle for Sale · RTÉ Archives, report by Joe O’Brien
- Luttrellstown estate golf clubhouse, as photographed in September 2007 illustration: based on a Luttrellstown Golf Club House by Harold Strong. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-05-27. How this page was prepared.