Known as Carbury, it began its documented life as a substantial house in the early sixteenth century, served as the Dublin residence of one of Ireland's most powerful noble families, and then, by the close of that same century, had been repurposed into something considerably more volatile: a store for gunpowder.

The house is recorded by Clarke (2002) as existing in the early 1500s, and by 1539 it was functioning as the Dublin residence of the Earl of Ormond. The Earls of Ormond, head of the powerful Butler dynasty, were among the dominant figures in late medieval Irish political life, maintaining influence across Munster and Leinster and frequently negotiating the difficult ground between Gaelic Ireland and the English crown. That such a family maintained a residence in Dublin south city speaks to the practical need for powerful lords to keep a foothold close to the seat of colonial administration. The building's conversion to a gunpowder store around 1597 places it squarely in one of the more turbulent periods of Elizabethan rule in Ireland, when the Nine Years' War was gathering momentum and the military logistics of the crown in Ireland were under considerable strain. Storing gunpowder within or near a city was not without risk, and dedicated stores were a practical necessity for any garrison administration.

The honest difficulty with Carbury is that its precise location has not been established. The historical record notes its existence and its general area within Dublin south city, but does not pin it to a specific street or site. For anyone curious enough to look, the area around the old medieval city's southern margins repays slow exploration, and the documentary trail, such as it is, lives in the archive rather than on the ground. Clarke's 2002 work remains the starting point for anyone wishing to trace what little is known of the building's history.