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Recent Posts
- Celebrating Irish Grandparents
- Lughnasa: The Irish Festival Celebrating the First Fruits of Fall
- Go West: Explore the Wild Atlantic Way
- The Gift of an Irish Name
- How to Spot an Irish Dad
- Trees Are Life: Irish Gifts with Deep Roots
- Ireland's Glorious Greens
- Ancient Irish Wedding Traditions
- Is Guinness Brewery the Heart of Dublin ?
- Our Patron Saint’s Famous Cathedral
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Gold & History in Dublin Castle
IrishShopShare
Kings and queens never lived in Dublin Castle, but it is one of Ireland’s top tourist attractions and its image appears on many Irish gifts. Constructed in 1204 on a Viking site, the original Dublin Castle burned down in 1684. Visitors to the rebuilt Georgian castle today can still see traces of the Viking ruins and the first castle, including the round tower that survived the blaze.
Dublin Castle sits in the heart of the city, a couple of blocks south of the River Liffey on bustling Dame Street. It’s a stone’s throw from popular spots including Christchurch Cathedral, the Olympia Theatre and the Temple Bar district. In addition to busloads of tourists, many gold Irish gifts have passed through this building. It houses the Assay Office.
Since 1637, the Assay Office has had responsibility for hallmarking gold and silver pieces made in Ireland. If your Irish gifts include fine jewelry, you can see this tiny mark on them. The design of Irish hallmarks has changed many times over the years, but basically it includes initials to indicate who made it, the Assay Office’s unique Hibernia hallmark, and a number to show the purity of the metal. Those are the compulsory hallmarks. On occasion, the Assay Office has also used special optional marks to mark the event, so to speak! In 1973, a special hallmark celebrated Ireland’s entry into the European Community as it was then. In 1988, a mark was designed using the three towers of County Dublin’s crest to commemorate the city’s millennium.