MALAHIDE, a maritime town and parish in Coolock barony, Dublin county, nine miles N. from Dublin, comprising an area of' 1,126 acres, of which 28 are in the town. Population of the parish, 1,339; of town, 664, inhabiting houses. The town is situated on a narrow inlet of the sea, and on the Drogheda railway, of which it forms the fourth station from Dublin.

In 1174 the Manor and Castle of Malahide was granted by Henry II. to Richard Talbot (the ancestor of the Earls of Shrewsbury, and Lords of Malahide), who accompanied that monarch into Ireland ; this grant was confirmed by King John, and its privileges were extended by Edward IV by appointing the Lord of Malahide High Admiral of the port and seas adjoining, and granting courts leet and baron. This whole continued throughout an interrupted succession in the family of Talbot to the Revolution when Cromwell besieged and took the Castle, and resided there for some time, when he passed sentence of outlawry upon Thomas, Lord Talbot de Malahide, and granted the Manor and Castle to Myles Corbet, one of the regicides, who held it seven years, until the restoration, when the Talbot family resumed possession, and in whom it has remained to the present day.

The Castle, commonly called "the Court of Malahide," is a large square building, flanked by lofty circular towers, and stands on a high limestone rock, commanding a fine view of the town and bay. Of the original Castle little remains but the site, and that has been greatly enlarged and improved by the present Lord Talbot de Malahide; the principal front is embattled, and the main entrance, which is under a splendid gothic porch , is defended by two circular towers. The grand hall is roofed with richly carved ancient Irish oak, lighted by three large windows with a gallery at the end. Among many splendid apartments the Castle contain, the most curious is that called the "oak chamber," ceiled and wainscoted with richly carved oak, in compartments, containing scriptural devices, and lighted with a pointed window of stained glass. In the drawing room, among other valuable paintings, there is a small altar-piece painted by Albert Durer, said to have been originally in the oratory of Mary Queen of Scots', at Holyrood House. The demense is adorned with groups of stately trees and the grounds and gardens of the Castle are beautifully laid out. It is open daily to visitors (Sundays excepted) from 10, A.M., to 1, p.m. and 2 to 4, P.M. The town contains few houses but many handsome cottages, which are chiefly let in summer to visitors for sea bathing.

The only public buildings in the parish are the Church, a neat edifice of the later English style , and a handsome Roman Catholic Chapel, opened July, 1846. A large hotel, built by the Drogheda Railway Company for the accommodation of visitors, stands near the town. It has a Constabulary Police and a Coast Guard Station. It is said to have been once a place of great traffic, and Hollinshed enumerates it as amongst the principal port towns of Ireland. The cotton manufacture was introduced here in the last century by the late Mr. McIntire, aided by a grant of £2,000 front the late Irish Parliament, but did not succeed. An Act was also obtained in 1788 by the same gentleman, at his own expense, for a canal to extend to Swords and Fieldstown, but it likewise failed. The only trade carried on here now is in the import of coal, about 20,000 tons annually, and in the export of grain, meal, and flour. Off the coast there are profitable buds of oysters, the property of the Lord of the Manor, leased to Messrs. Gaffney and O'Hara, Dublin, from which considerable quantities are drawn, and are much esteemed for their flavour. The inlet of' Malahide is four miles N. from Howth, and extends four miles inland. It is dry at low water, but at high tide vessels drawing 10 and 17 feet may enter, and lie afloat in the creak. Across the estuary, about one and a quarter miles in length, the Drogheda railway is carried by an embankment, at an elevation of' eight feet in ordinary spring tides; in the centre of this embankment the line passes over a -wooden viaduct of 11 arches or spans, 50 feet wide, through which the tide flows as far as Lissan Hall bridge, a distance of two and a half miles.

The railway trains from Dublin to Drogheda stop at 7 minutes past 8, 20 minutes past 9, 23 minutes past 11, and 50 minutes past 11, a.m. ; 40 minutes past 3, 33 minutes past 5, 35 minutes past 8, and at 35 minutes past 10, p.m. The up trains to Dublin from Drogheda stop at 55 minutes past 3, and 20 minutes past 9, A.M. ; at noon 45 minutes past 2, p.m.,16 minutes past 4, 7 minutes past 6. The fares are-first class carriages, ls.; Second class, 8d. ; third class 6d. The mails from Dublin arrive at 20 minutes past 9, A.M., and at 36 minutes past 8, p.m. ; and departs at 4, A.M., a nd at 25 minutes past 4, p.m. The Post Office grant and pay money orders.