A 17th century garden little changed in 3 centuries, the gardens at Kilruddery House are of special interest to gardening historians, but you certainly don’t have to be one to enjoy them.
The house has been home to the same family for almost 4 centuries and is only open in May, June and September but it’s worth making an effort to see if you are here at the right time.
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An interesting old house in a beautiful location with Clew Bay on one side and a serenely lovely lake on the other.
There is a virtual theme park in the grounds, which won’t be to everyone’s taste but is terrific fun for kids.
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The work of architect Charles Lanyon, this Victorian castle is built in an ornate Scottish Baronial style and was completed in 1877.
Outside cat lovers will have a good time finding all nine of the cats depicted in mosaic, painting and sculpture in the gardens, from which there is a great view of Belfast.
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Dublin Castle was the centre of British rule in Ireland for centuries and scene of many contentious events over the years. It now houses state offices, but guided tours are available.
Recent excavations have exposed parts of the original 13th century castle, built at the ‘black pool’ that gave Dublin its name.
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This small tower in a secluded location was once home to the poet William Butler Yeats, who restored it as a home for his family.
Following his death it fell into disrepair (as he predicted) but has now been returned to the way it was when the Yeats family lived there in the early part of the 20th century.
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One of the earliest and most important Norman castles in Ireland sits high on a hill overlooking the river Nore at the heart of the city that grew up around it.
There are impressive grounds and gardens surrounding it and many of the other buildings in the area were in one way or another linked to life in the castle over the centuries.
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A visit to Blarney Castle and a chance to kiss the Blarney stone are fixtures on many Irish tour itineraries, but is it actually a must-see or something of a tourist trap?
Well, the castle is pretty, there are good gardens around it and kissing the stone is a bit of harmless fun, but we’ll leave you to decide for yourself whether or not a visit is worthwhile.
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An architectural gem, this folly was built as a garden pavilion for James Caulfield, the 1st Earl of Charlemont, a wealthy landowner with a huge interest in art.
The design is based on classical Greek architecture for which the young earl acquired a taste during visits to Italy and Greece while on his ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe. It is not now, and never was, a gambling casino!
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This is a domestic scale castle, typical of the type a wealthy family would have lived in in Norman Ireland. In this case it was the home of the DeBarry family, who came to Ireland via Wales in 1185 and were given large tracts of land in East Cork by King John of England.
The castle was not just a home, it was designed too for easy defense, with almost impenetrable walls and good views of all approaches.
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Built around 1500, and a typical urban tower house of that time, Desmond Castle has had a varied, if not always illustrious, serving variously as a home, a prison, a workhouse, a tollhouse and now a museum.
It now houses a Wine Museum, documenting Ireland’s surprisingly extensive involvement in European wine making since as early as 1412.
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The Castle is not really a castle in the sense that most people understand the term, but a perfect example of an elegant and impressive Neo-Classical country house.
Castle Coole is now in the care of the British National Trust.
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Tullynally has been home to the Pakenham family for more that 350 years, and still is.
It’s very much a living home but has changed relatively little over the years and its interior gives a wonderful glimpse into how life was lived, both upstairs and downstairs, in Ireland’s great houses.
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