Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [137]
Getting There & Away
Dublin Bus ( 01-873 4222; www.dublinbus.ie) runs a service to Maynooth (€3.10, one hour) leaving several times an hour from Pearse St in Dublin.
Maynooth is on the main Dublin–Sligo line, with regular trains in each direction: to Dublin (€2.70, 35 minutes, one to four per hour); to Sligo (€35, two hours 40 minutes, four per day).
Return to beginning of chapter
AROUND MAYNOOTH
Castletown House
In a country full of elegant Palladian mansions, it is no mean feat to be considered the grandest of the lot, but Castletown House ( 01-628 8252; www.castletownhouse.ie; Celbridge; adult/child €4.50/3.50; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, from 1pm Sat & Sun Easter-Sep, 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, from 1pm Sun Oct) simply has no peer. It is Ireland’s largest and most imposing Georgian estate, and a testament to the vast wealth enjoyed by the Anglo-Irish gentry during the 18th century.
The house was built between the years 1722 and 1732 for William Conolly (1662–1729), speaker of the Irish House of Commons and, at the time, Ireland’s richest man. Born into relatively humble circumstances in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Conolly made his fortune through land transactions in the uncertain aftermath of the Battle of the Boyne (1690; Click here).
The original design of the house was by the Italian architect Alessandro Galilei (1691–1737), who in 1718 designed the facade of the main block to resemble a 16th-century Italian palazzo. Construction began in 1722 but Galilei didn’t bother hanging around to supervise, having left Ireland in 1719. Instead, the project was entrusted to Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699–1733), who returned from his grand tour of Italy in 1724 (where he had become friends with Galilei).
Inspired by the work of Andrea Palladio, which he had studied during his visit to Italy, Pearce enlarged the original design of the house and added the colonnades and the terminating pavilions. The interior is as opulent as the exterior suggests, especially the Long Gallery, replete with family portraits and exquisite stucco work by the Francini brothers. (In the US, Thomas Jefferson became a Palladian acolyte and much of official Washington DC is in this style.)
As always seems the way with these grand projects, Conolly didn’t live to see the completion of his wonder-palace. His widow, Katherine, continued to live at the unfinished house after his death in 1729, instigating many of the improvements made after the main structure was completed in 1732. Her main architectural contribution was the curious 42.6m obelisk, known locally as the Conolly Folly. Designed to her specifications by Richard Cassels and built so as to give employment to the poor after the 1739 famine, it is 3.2km north of the house and visible from both ends of the Long Gallery. Her other offering is the Heath Robinson (or Rube Goldberg, if you prefer)–esque Wonderful Barn, six teetering storeys wrapped by an exterior spiral staircase, on private property just outside Leixlip. The surrounding 500-house development kills the mood somewhat, but you still can appreciate the barn’s eccentric charm.
Castletown house remained in the family’s hands until 1965, when it was purchased by Desmond Guinness. He spent vast amounts of money in order to restore the house to its original splendour, an investment that was continued from 1979 by the Castletown Foundation. In 1994 Castletown House was transferred to state care and today it is managed by the Heritage Service.
Buses 120 and 123 run from Dublin to Celbridge (€3.50; 30 minutes; every half-hour Monday to Friday, hourly Saturday, six buses Sunday).
Larchill Arcadian Gardens
These gardens ( 01-628 7354; www.larchill.ie; Kilcock; adult/child €7.50/5.50; noon-6pm Tue-Sun Jun-Aug, noon-6pm Sat & Sun Sep) are Europe’s only example of a mid-18th-century ferme ornée (ornamental farm). A 40-minute walk takes you through beautiful landscaped