St. David’s Castle, Naas, Co Kildare

Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.

p. 253. “An old castle with Goergian sash windows and quatrefoil openings and C19 battlements. Formerly the Glebe House of St. David’s Church, Naas.”  

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/11814128/saint-davids-castle-main-street-north-off-church-lane-off-naas-east-naas-co-kildare

Detached three-bay two- and three-storey house, c.1730, on an irregular plan retaining early aspect incorporating fabric of tower house, c.1600, comprising three-bay two-storey range with single-bay two-storey projecting bay to front (south-east) on an L-shaped plan having two-bay single-storey bay with half-dormer attic at angles to north-east, single-bay two-storey side elevation to north-east continuing into single-bay three-stage/storey medieval tower house to north-west on a square plan with single-bay two-storey flanking bay to rear elevation to west having single-bay single-storey projecting bay to north-west. Hipped and gable-ended roofs with slate (behind battlemented parapet to tower). Clay ridge tiles. Rendered and roughcast chimney stacks. Square rooflights. Rendered coping to gables. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast walls over rubble stone construction. Painted. Part slate-hung to tower. Roughcast battlemented parapet wall to tower with cut-stone coping. Square-headed openings (some pointed-arch openings to tower with quatrefoil opening to top floor to tower to north-west). Stone sills. 3/6, 6/6 and 8/8 timber sash windows with 2/2 sidelights to one tripartite window opening. Replacement glazed timber panelled door, c.1980. Interior with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from road in grounds shared with Saint John’s Church with part of south-west elevation forming boundary wall fronting on to lane to south-west. Detached two-bay double-height outbuilding, c.1730, to south-east with elliptical-headed integral carriageway. Reroofed, c.1940. Gable-ended roof. Replacement corrugated-iron, c.1940. Iron ridge tiles. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast walls. Painted. Square-headed door opening. Timber panelled door. Elliptical-headed integral carriageway. Timber double doors with timber overpanel. Section of stone cobbling, c.1730, to site.

Appraisal

Saint David’s Castle is an attractive house that is a little-known feature of the architectural heritage of Naas, being set well back from the line of Main Street and screened from view from Church Lane. The house is of considerable social and historical interest as one of the earliest and longest-standing private residences in the locality – the tower house dates to a period pre-1700 and is therefore of archaeological significance. Renovated and extended in the early eighteenth century to present the appearance of a gentleman’s residence, the house retains many of the features and materials dating from this phase of work. The house retains multi-pane timber sash fenestration of various dimensions, with some openings of other profiles, while the interior retains features such as timber panelled shutters to the window openings. A slate roof remains intact, having cast-iron rainwater goods, and the early aspect of the house is marred only by the insertion of an unsympathetic replacement door. The house is attractively set in grounds shared with Saint David’s Church (11814125/KD-19-14-125) as is accompanied by an outbuilding of much character, while being fronted by a section of stone cobbling that is evidence of a now almost-lost traditional practise.

https://archiseek.com/2011/1210-st-davids-castle-naas-co-kildare

1210 – St. David’s Castle, Naas, Co. Kildare

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• 1210 – St. David’s Castle, Naas, Co. Kildare

Also known as King John’s Castle, and is the last surviving example of the many fortified houses in the town of Naas. Converted into a dwelling in the 18th century. It is a large building of three stories, it comprises a tower, with a winding stone staircase, a dungeon. In 1409 Henry IV granted to Naas its first charter as a Corporation and a few years later it was given power to collect tolls at all the entrances to the town, the moneys to go towards fortifying the town with walls and gates. King John’s Castle was rebuilt and incorporated into the town wall structure at this time.