Close to the Old Bawn Road once stood one of the finest houses of the Dodder Valley — Old Bawn House, built in 1635 by Archdeacon William Bulkeley, son of Archbishop Launcelot Bulkeley of Dublin.

The elegant mansion was damaged during the 1641 rebellion, later repaired, and remained a landmark for centuries. Its interior was known for a magnificent carved oak staircase and intricate stucco work, fragments of which survive today in the National Museum of Ireland. The house itself was demolished in the twentieth century, but its legend endures.

Local tradition held that on the anniversary of Archdeacon Bulkeley’s death, a coach drawn by six headless horses would thunder up the old approach road to the house. Inside sat two passengers, attended by two ghostly footmen. The death coach would stop briefly at the site — then vanish into the night.

But the tale carried a dire warning:

Woe betide anyone who looks upon the coach — for they will die within a year and a day.

This chilling omen links the story to the Cóiste Bodhar, Ireland’s spectral “deaf coach” said to foretell death. Some older tellings even claimed the apparition appeared on 8 September, the date associated with Bulkeley’s passing in 1671.

Nothing remains of Old Bawn House itself, though the site near Scoil Maelruain still attracts quiet fascination. Whether the coach continues its ghostly anniversary visit is unknown — few have dared to wait and see.