- Huntington Castle, Clonegal
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Huntington Castle
Huntington Castle, also known as Clonegal Castle, is a castle in Clonegal, County Carlow, Ireland.
The structure was originally a "plantation castle",[1], used for defensive purposes during the plantation of the area in the early 17th century. The original tower house, which served as a garrison, was built in 1625 for Laurence Esmonde, later Baron Esmonde.[2] Due to the strategic importance of the village of Clonegal during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland because of its location on the road between Dublin and Wexford, the castle was captured by Oliver Cromwell as he marched on Kilkenny[2] in 1650.
It is now a private house open to the public for guided tours throughout June, July, August and September. It was the setting for Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon. Its basement has been the base of a religion, the Fellowship of Isis, since 1976.[3] The castle hosted the Solas Festival in August 2008.[4]
Huntington Castle Gardens
The Esmonde family, who built Huntington Castle in 1625, laid out most of these gardens in the 17th century. This includes the French limes on the Avenue, the parterre or lawns to the side of the house, the fish ponds on either side of the centre walk through the wilderness and the majority of yew trees which comprise the Yew Walk. Larger plantings have resulted in Huntington possessing a number of great Irish trees, including varieties of hickory, a cut leaved oak, Siberian crab and buckeye chestnut. A lake at the bottom of the wilderness was built for ornamental purposes but next to it is one of the earliest water turbine houses in Ireland, providing Huntington with its own electricity as early as 1888. The River Derry, which forms the boundary between Counties Wexford and Carlow, flows along the bottom of the wilderness, providing a pleasant setting for woodland walks.
References
- ^ Williams, Jeremy (1994). A Companion Guide To Architecture in Ireland 1837 - 1921. Irish Academic Press. p. 39. ISBN 0716525135.
- ^ a b Heron, Marianne (1999). The Hidden Houses of Ireland. Gill & Macmillan Ltd.. pp. 28–30. ISBN 0717127303.
- ^ Rowan Kelleher, Suzanne (2004). Frommer's Ireland 2004 (14 ed.). John Wiley and Sons. pp. 177. ISBN 0764542168, 9780764542169.
- ^ Newenham, Pamela (18 August 2008). "Bad weather, mess and muck 'but the vibe was great'". Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0818/1218868019971.html. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
External links
Categories:- Castles in County Carlow
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