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Dublin Castle has also been through numerous changes, so that it is not possible today to get any real idea of what it looked like in the late Middle Ages. The first works were begun at the start of the thirteenth century (there is a royal writ for them dated 1205), and they were positioned on or near fortifications in Dublin that were almost certainly of mid-tenth century Viking origin. It was built under the orders of King John in 1204, the round tower is the only feature of the original Norman Castle. Recent excavations revealed Viking battle buildings. According to a drawing surviving from the later seventeenth century, the castle was a five-sided enclosure, with no great tower, but with huge round corner towers on the angles. Parts of some of these have survived, incorporated in various later works. These include the base of the Bermingham Tower on the south-west end of the enclosure; parts of what is now the Record Tower on the southeast end, 17 meters (56 ft) in diameter, whose parapet and machicolation are of the nineteenth century; and stretches of the southern curtain. What was called the Storehouse Tower, on the north-east corner, may have been used as a residential tower in place of a great tower, but it was demolished in the eighteenth century. On the north-west corner was the Corke tower, a round tower that was rebuilt in the seventeenth century.
Some of the rooms that can be visited are St. Patrick's Hall, where the presidents of Ireland are inaugurated. It is most noted for the painted ceilings and also the Waterford Crystal Chandeliers which light up the rooms. Also worth a visit is the Birmingham Tower which was used as a prison and whic
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