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It met for the last time in the Parliament Building
(now occupied by Bank of Ireland) directly opposite Trinity College,
on August 2nd 1799. A number of politicians were awarded peerages.
Patronages and bribes were distributed generously and the Irish
Government voted itself out of existence.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland came into existence
on 1st January 1800. The brass chandeliers in the Throne Room and
Bermingham Tower Room, of the State Apartments, commemorate this
event, with interwoven shamrocks, roses and thistles, symbolising
Ireland, England and Scotland.
The economic effect on the city was devastating and unemployment
rose almost immediately as the city lost its economic momentum.
The population and poverty increased alarmingly. The Castle's role
as policy maker virtually ceased, as the Chief Secretary and Under
Secretary at Westminster, took over control. The post of Viceroy
degenerated to that of a figurehead. The former Ranger's house,
in the Phoenix Park, was greatly extended and renovated and Viceroy
Wellesley moved his household to the new Viceregal Lodge, (which
is now the Irish President's official residence of Áras an
Uachtaráin).
The Viceroy continued to hold court in the Castle, which was then
mainly used by Government Departments and administrators. He retained
his prominent role in the distribution of patronage, by drafting
pension lists and appointing local sheriffs, who in turn appointed
the Grand Juries. Regular donations were also made, on his behalf,
to 'loyal press'. His immediate staff came and went with his term
of office and the size of his retinue was seen as a measure of his
importance.
Robert Peel took up his role of Chief Secretary in Dublin Castle,
in 1812 and set about reforming the Dublin 'Night Watch' and Dublin
Constabulary. The Under Secretary, Thomas Drummond, continued Peel's
work, by forming an armed Irish Constabulary to deal agrarian unrest
and agitation. On the instructions of Queen Victoria, Viceroy Mayo
renamed this force the Royal Irish Constabulary, on the 6th September
1867, in appreciation of their role in quashing the Fenian rebellion
earlier that year. Medals were distributed.
Drummond was also responsible for setting up the unarmed Dublin
Metropolitan Police, under the Constabulary of Ireland Act, of 1836.
Two years later, on the 5th January, eight hundred men of the DMP
paraded in frock coats and top hats reinforced with whalebone (to
stand on and see over obstructions). They were inspected by the
Lord Lieutenant, Earl of Musgrave, to whom Dublin was described
in the new commissioners first report as being 'a lawless city,
criminals having usurped control over a considerable portion of
their fellow citizens' and that the Diggis Lane area, close to the
south-east corner of the Castle, was 'a hotbed of human temptitude'.
On the 17th August 1922, following the handover of political power
to the Provisional Irish Government, the newly formed unarmed Civic
Guard marched into Dublin Castle. The Gardai have retained their
presence in the Police Office Yard, ever since. There is now also
a Garda museum in the Record Tower.
The Dublin Street Directory of 1850 gives comprehensive information
on the occupancy of Dublin Castle. The Upper Castle Yard (Great
Courtyard) housed the Council Chamber and Office, Chief Secretaries
Office and Lunatic Inspectors Office. The Lower Castle Yard accommodated
the Aide-de-Camps quarters, extensive stables, forge and Riding
School, Castle Mews, Office of Arms and the Offices of the Metropolitan
Police Commissioners, Paymaster of the Civil Services and Prison
Inspector. An icehouse, for provision of ice at banquets, adjoined
the Record Tower, which was then known as the Wardrobe Tower as
it housed ceremonial robes for State occasions - it got its present
name later, when the State papers were stored there. In the Piquet
Yard was housed the cavalry and their stables and in the garden
area was the Police office and Army Barracks.
We also know that, at that time, the State kitchen was located
on the ground floor of the Bermingham Tower, close to St. Patrick's
Hall. Nearby were stewards' rooms, servants' quarters and bedrooms,
meat and fish larders, sculleries and a stillroom for distillation
of liquor. In the basement, beneath the State Apartments, were (silver)
plate and glass pantries, brushing and lamp rooms, a servants' hall
and wine cellar.
The Street Directory also shows the economic and social effects
of the Castle on its surroundings in the 1850's. Dame Street had
many fashionable shops, which catered for the wealthy and the Castle
courtiers. Premises on this street included solicitors, a button
maker to the Lord Lieutenant, wine, spirits, tobacco and snuff merchants,
gun manufacturers and a furrier to Lord Lieutenant and Countess
Clarendon. Ship Street had dairies, boot and shoe and watch case
makers, wire works, timber merchants, grocers, a French stay and
corset maker and a fireproof safe manufacturer.
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