Ghost of Old Bawn House

Old Bawn House

Old Bawn House which has since been demolished. The chimneypiece belonging to Old Bawn House is now in the National Museum in Dublin.

Old Bawn House

Old Bawn House

Old Bawn House which has since been demolished. The chimneypiece belonging to Old Bawn House is now in the National Museum in Dublin.

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Close to the Old Bawn Road and the Dodder was situated one of the most important houses of the Dodder valley –- Old Bawn House. Archdeacon William Bulkeley, son of the Archbishop of Dublin, built the house in 1635.

During the rebellion of 1641 the house was damaged, but was restored soon after. The house continued to be lived in for many years, but was eventually demolished. There was a local tradition in the old neighbourhood of Old Bawn House: that each year on the anniversary of the death of Archdeacon Bulkeley, a coach drawn by six headless horses and containing two passengers attended by two footmen, drives up to the house.

However woe betide anyone who looks on the coach, for they will die within a year and a day - or so the story goes.