Irish Castles. Orna Mulcahy
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Название: Irish Castles
Автор: Orna Mulcahy
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Учебная литература
Серия: Collins Little Books
isbn: 9780008378226
isbn:
Numbers in bold indicate the page where the property can be found
The page numbers on this map relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.
Numbers in bold indicate the page where the property can be found
The page numbers on this map relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.
DROMORE, GREENANE, KENMARE, COUNTY KERRY
A picture-perfect castle overlooking Kenmare Bay, An Culu looks like a particularly well preserved medieval castle or, at the least, a Victorian Gothic revival masterpiece, but in fact it dates from the 1990s, when it was built by an English businessman smitten with history. The first castle to be built in Ireland since Victorian times, it comes with all the architectural detail one might expect: a moat and a drawbridge, turrets and towers, a grotto-style swimming pool in the dungeon, and gas-fired torches that can be activated by remote control in the entrance. An Culu took three years to build, using teams of craftsmen from all over Ireland and the UK, as well as local stonemasons and joiners. It’s surrounded by forest managed by the Irish Forestry Board, Coillte.
An Culu is privately owned and cannot be visited.
Ardgillan Castle
STRIFELAND, BALBRIGGAN, COUNTY DUBLIN
+353 1 849 2212 | www.ardgillancastle.ie
Dating from 1738 and with considerable embellishment in the 1800s, Ardgillan Castle sits in a parkland setting in North County Dublin, with views over the sea. Ardgillan was originally built as a large country house, and the castellations were added in the 1800s. It was built by the Taylor family, whose ancestor Thomas Taylor had moved to Ireland from England in 1660 to be the Chief Examiner of the Down Survey of Ireland, the first detailed national land survey in the world. This survey was necessary after Cromwell’s Irish campaigns, which ended much land ownership for Catholics, providing opportunities for Protestants such as Taylor, who was able to buy up over 20,000 acres in Ireland. The Taylor family owned the property for over two centuries, but it is now owned by the State and is open to the public all year round for tours, refreshments, and activities. It sits in 194 acres of grassland and woodland, including walled, ornamental, and rose gardens.
Ardo Castle
ARDOGINNA, COUNTY WATERFORD
www.ardmorewaterford.com
Ruined and romantic, Ardo Castle stands on a clifftop, looking out to sea, near the pretty seaside village of Ardmore in County Waterford. Dating from the seventeenth century, its eclectic collection of towers, walls, gates, and turrets matches its string of owners and their fortunes. The first owner mentioned was a Fitzgerald, of Norman stock, whose heir, it is said, was caught stealing a gold cup and hanged. In the eighteenth century, the castle was owned by a Jeremiah Coughlan, whose wife is said to have supported her extravagant lifestyle by helping local smugglers. The ownership passed to Marshal McMahon who was President and Marshal of France in 1873. Finally, the castle was purchased by the McKenna family, who lived in it for some years until the end of the First World War, after which it was abandoned.
ASHFORD CASTLE ESTATE, CONG, COUNTY MAYO, F31 CA48
+353 94 954 6003
An awe-inducing baronial castle on Lough Corrib, close to the village of Cong, Ashford Castle was once owned by the Guinness brewing family and is now a luxury hotel with a plush, romantic interior. The earliest segment of the castle dates back to the early thirteenth century, when it was built on the edge of a monastic settlement by the de Burgo family. Defeated in battle in 1589, they lost their home to Lord Ingham, Governor of Connaught, whose family held it for over three hundred years. It was not until 1715, when the castle was acquired by the Browne family, that it became the Ashford estate, with the castle extended in the French chateau style. The castellated wings and the bridge entrance were added by the Guinness family, who acquired Ashford in the mid nineteenth century and extended the estate to 26,000 acres.
Askeaton Castle
HIGH STREET, CROOM, COUNTY LIMERICK
www.limerick.ie
Askeaton Castle stands on a small island in the river Deel in County Limerick. Started in 1199 and now a ruin, it was one of the castles of the Fitzgeralds, the Earls of Desmond, who arrived with the Norman invasion but who adopted the local language, laws, and culture to become “more Irish than the Irish themselves”, it was said. The Fitzgeralds ruled Munster from this castle for several centuries, until the English forces ate away at their support and drove them out in the late 1500s. The castle was destroyed by the forces of Cromwell in 1652, when it was defended by confederate Catholic forces.
The castle has a fine banqueting hall, with interesting architectural windows built above wine cellars and kitchens, testament to the importance of entertaining to the Irish nobility. Close by are two other ruins of interest: a fourteenth-century Franciscan friary founded by the Fitzgeralds, destroyed by an English commander in 1579 after failing to take the castle itself, and the 1740 Hellfire Club, where rich men were said to have gathered for entertainments and excesses of various kinds.
Athenry Castle
GORTEENACRA, ATHENRY, COUNTY GALWAY
+353 91 844 797 | www.athenryheritagecentre.com
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