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The easiest way to get to MALAHIDE from the centre of town is to take the suburban train service from Connolly Station (you can also take the #42 bus from Talbot Street or the #47 bus from Marino Casino). Either way, Malahide Castle makes for an enjoyable day out (April-Oct Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-6pm; Nov-March Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2-6pm; park open daily Feb & March 10am-6pm, June 10am-9pm, July & Aug 10am-8pm, Oct 10am-7pm, Nov-Jan 10am-5pm; GBP3.15/?4.00). When the last Lord Talbot died in 1973, his family home was taken over by the state. Much of the grounds has since been given over to playing fields but, unpromising as these look, the castle itself is terrific. If you're in need of refreshment pay a visit to the excellent tea room . For miniature-train buffs, Malahide also has the Fry Model Railway, a working O-gauge layout (April-Oct Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2-6pm; GBP2.90/?3.68). Dating in parts from 1174, when a marauding Norman, Richard Talbot, seized the lands and made it his fortress, the castle has been added to haphazardly over the ensuing centuries to make it look just how you think a castle ought to: turrets, Gothic windows, battlements and all. As well as being satisfyingly picturesque, what's fascinating about Malahide Castle is that you can follow its progress from a simple defensive tower - the first room you see inside, with amazing black carved panelling, and within the original square tower - to the addition of embellishments such as battlemented walls and turrets and, later still, its transformation into a country house, all fortifications now strictly decorative, with a mock-Gothic entrance. Inside, a remarkably successful attempt has been made to show the best Irish furniture and pictures in good period settings; much of what you see is on loan from the National Portrait Gallery of Ireland. It's indicative of the complex history of the Anglo-Irish, that the rich and powerful Anglo-Norman Talbot family didn't actually turn Protestant until the eighteenth century. The castle even passed out of the hands of the family for ten years during the Cromwellian wars. In the dining room is a large picture of the Battle of the Boyne; as Catholics, the Talbots fought not for Prince William but on the losing side. It's said that of the fourteen members of the family who sat down to breakfast in the dining room before setting out to fight, not one returned alive. Malahide village , which must once have been little more than a crossroads at the gates of the castle, has long since outgrown its estate village status. It's a delight, one of those places where there's nothing much to write about, but which for some reason is really pleasant to be in: just a few grandish houses, some more modest colour-washed ones, the most spick-and-span train station you've ever seen and quiet streets sloping gently down to the golden strand and wild sea beyond.
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