A 13th-Century Castle Was Lost to Time Until Archaeologists Found It—Inside Another Castle

Lost temples, palaces, and even entire cities from the past have often emerged from unexpected places. Ruins of a medieval church were found buried under a parking lot. The port leading to Cleopatra’s temple, Taposiris Magna, remained submerged for thousands of years until archaeologists discovered its remains at the bottom of the ocean. Now, what appeared to be a Victorian castle has now revealed what is left of a medieval fortress long since thought to have vanished.With its stone walls and Victorian facade, Roebuck Castle appears like the backdrop of a gothic novel, rising from the grounds of University College Dublin. Hidden behind the facade, however, is a far older and more entrancing history.When the castle was being given a facelift around a century and a half ago, older remains, which had been ravaged by time and in battle, were thought to have been cleared away as rubble. Archaeologist Tadhg O’Keeffe, a specialist in medieval archaeology at University College, and his team recently discovered fragments of the original building still standing beneath centuries’ worth of renovations. This discovery provides the first glimpse into the original castle in 800 years.Thought to have been built in the 13th century, it served as a home and fortress, though its original appearance was far less opulent than its later incarnations. It housed elites such as the medieval Lord High Chancellor of Ireland and, allegedly, the deposed King James II, who is said to have sought shelter in its shadows in 1689 after the throne was taken from him in the Glorious Revolution.By the following century, Roebuck Castle was crumbling, with what survived immortalized by Dutch artist Gabriel Beranger. Enamored with Dublin, Beranger moved there permanently in 1750 and painted various scenes of its emerald hills and craggy cliffs. He also traveled to other regions of Ireland to sketch more landscapes and ancient buildings. Beranger had brought his brushes with him while on a visit to Roebuck Castle, which he rendered in watercolor as it was in 1765.“UCD can now claim to have the oldest standing building on any university campus in Ireland”, O’Keeffe, who recently published his findings in Archaeology Ireland, said in a press release. “Beranger’s depictions of the ruined castle are really fascinating. He captured the basic form of the building, as you would expect, but thankfully he also captured some of those small details which are the clues needed to work out the building’s structural history.”What Beranger immortalized in that painting was hardly luxurious. He showed the castle for what it was, a dusty ruin streaked with stains of age, some of its windows completely destroyed. Whatever had not been bashed in by weather or cannons was slowly being eroded away by years of disuse.The clear sky above appears to have been much more of a sight to behold than the castle itself, which probably would have collapsed if it had not been repaired in 1790 by Lord Trimleston, who wanted it for his own country getaway. It was bought and sold several times until receiving a final modernization in 1874. After its Victorian gothic makeover, Roebuck Castle was thought to have lost all remnants of its distant past until O’Keeffe investigated the inside and found material dating all the way back to its medieval beginnings.Though those medieval bones of the castle are hidden under plaster used to reinforce walls and ceilings, they can still be made out. An outline of the castle as it was in the Middle Ages was superimposed on a modern photo to show exactly how much smaller it was. Whoever carried out repairs across the years evidently chose to build over what was already there instead of demolishing it, just as early churches were often built over ancient Greek temples.More research will be needed to determine the exact year the oldest parts of the castle were built. Medieval castles from the early 13th century are rare, but Beranger’s rendering is precise enough that it gives the archaeological team more confidence that the original version of Roebuck Castle arose sometime during that time period.“The passage of time has been unkind to the castles which were built across south Dublin in the Middle Ages,” said O’Keeffe. “Lost buildings are lost historical records. They leave gaps in our knowledge. It is wonderful to be able to welcome back Roebuck’s medieval castle, and to know that it won’t get lost again.”Elizabeth Rayne is a creature who writes. Her work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Ars Technica, SYFY WIRE, Space.com, Live Science, Den of Geek, Forbidden Futures and Collective Tales. She lurks right outside New York City with her parrot, Lestat. When not writing, she can be found drawing, playing the piano or shapeshifting.