The castle moat

5 Apr 1968

At the Epiphany, 1591, there was the usual extra beer issue to the garrison of Dublin Castle, high revel in the officers’ quarters, sentries numb -with cold on the high turrets, thinking only of their relief. Three figures slipped from the shadow of the Bermingham Tower, swam the dark moat, and headed south for safety in the Wicklow Mountains—which safety only Hugh O’Donnell was destined to reach.

To-day the moat crossed by the three fugitives is a tarmac road, beneath which the Poddle River still runs and a small footbridge links the one-time State Apartments with the ground, once the Viceroy’s garden, laid out after 1700, except for the training school.

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