Upon the Restoration the Talbot family came again into possession.
Close to the castle are the ruins of a church which was erected and endowed by the Talbot family, and where they were buried for many years. Here is the altar tomb of Maud Plunkett, “The Bride of Malahide,” who was “maid, wife, and widow on one and the same day.” Her third husband was Sir Richard Talbot. The tomb is particularly remarkable because of the effigy which represents Lady Talbot as wearing the “horned coif” of 1412, and it is the only representation of this fashion in Ireland.
It is said the church was unroofed by Corbet, either to make bullets of the lead or to cover a barn with the other material.
The history of the castle would be hardly complete without mention of the famous ghost “Puck,” who has a fancy for roaming the grounds in the costume he wore when he was an inhabitant of the castle. There are many stories regarding his appearances, amongst which is the following authenticated account: Not so many years ago a naval officer who had just been appointed to the Coast Guard Station at Malahide received an invitation to dine at the castle. On his way up the avenue he met a strange figure in a fantastic costume whom he thought was some one masquerading. Not liking to be made the subject of a joke, he threatened to knock him down unless he told him what he wanted, and upon getting no reply he endeavoured to carry out his threat, but his arm passed through his adversary, and he thought it advisable to hasten his steps to the castle. It was not likely to improve his appetite, however, to find the portrait of the strange figure looking down upon him from the dining-room wall.
Richard Talbot was created Lord Talbot de Malahide in 1831, and the present peer is 5th Baron.
| Authorities Consulted. |
| D’Alton, “History of County of Dublin.” |
| Proceedings of Royal Society of Antiquaries. |
| Carew MSS., Book of Howth. |
| Brewer, “Beauties of Ireland.” |
| Burke, “Visitation of Seats and Arms.” |
| M’Mahon, “Malahide Castle” in “Historic Houses.” |
| Burke’s Peerage. |
| Parliamentary Gazetteer. |
| P., “Malahide Castle,” in Dublin Penny Journal. |
| Prendergast, “The Plantation of the Barony of Rhone,” in Journal of Kilkenny Archæological Society. |
MALLOW CASTLE
The town of Mallow is situated on the River Blackwater, seventeen miles north-north-west of Cork, in the Barony of Fermoy.
The ruins of the castle are to the south of the town upon rising ground commanding the river. They consist of a great rectangular building running north and south, and measuring about 80 feet in length and 30 in breadth on the inside. It has thirty-one Tudor windows, which are generally large and square, having two series of oblong lights, three or five in number, and a window on the north contains as many as eight.