Castle Ward

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Castle Ward's neo-classical facade in September 2014

Castle Ward (also Castle Ward House , Castleward House , Irish Caisleán an Bhardaigh ) is a manor house 1.5 miles from the village of Strangford and 7 miles from Downpatrick in County Down in Northern Ireland . The 18th century house on the banks of Strangford Lough is managed by the National Trust .

Castle Ward is open to the public and is surrounded by 332 acres of landscaped grounds. There is also a fortified residential tower , a Victorian laundry , a theater, a restaurant, a shop, a sawmill and a flour mill that is still in operation. From 1995 to 2010 the Castleward Opera , an annual summer opera festival, also took place there .

architecture

The most interesting aspect of Castle Ward is that of its diverse architecture, which shows the different tastes of Lord Bangor and his wife, Lady Ann Bligh . While the entrance front is in the classic Palladian style with columns that support a triangular ornamental gable, the garden front shows neo-Gothic architecture with pointed arched windows , battlements and roof decorations . These differences in style continue inside the house; it is practically divided in the middle.

The residential tower

In the estate's farm there is a residential tower that Nicholas Ward had built in 1610 as a defensive structure.

history

Castle Ward estate had been the home of the Ward family since about 1570 . Originally called Carraig na Sionnach ( Carrick na Sheannagh , "Rock of the Foxes"), it belonged to the Earls of Kildare until Bernard Ward , the father of Sir Robert Ward , Surveyor General of Ireland, bought it. The 340 hectare fenced-in Fronhof also dates from the 16th century. The Ward family had a series of houses built on the property in succession: Old Castle Ward was built near Strangford Lough around 1590 and is still preserved today, but a mansion that Judge Michael Ward had built around 1720 was restored around 1850 tore off. Only something of its adjoining landscape garden has been preserved.

The architect of the existing building, which was built in the early 1760s for Michael Ward's son Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor , is unknown. Presumably he came from the Bristol area , with which the Ward family was closely associated. It could have been James Bridges , who worked in Bristol from 1757 to 1763 and whose work has similarities with Castle Ward.

The property was transferred in 1748 to Bernard Ward's eldest son, Nicholas , who was clearly visibly insane. When his younger brother, Edward , died in 1812, leaving only one underage son, the youngest brother, Robert , took the opportunity to move mad Nicholas to a smaller house in Downpatrick and rob Castle Ward of all of its precious furnishings. The house remained empty until Nicholas died in 1827, when Edward's son, now the 3rd Viscount, inherited it. He and his descendants had the house renovated and refurbished, but after the death of the 6th Viscount in 1950, the property and house were bequeathed to the Government of Northern Ireland to compensate for inheritance tax . This transferred the ownership of the house and gardens to the National Trust in 1952.

On February 10, 1973, Leonard O'Hanlon , aged 23, and Vivienne FitzSimmons , aged 17, both members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army , were killed by a premature bomb explosion on Castle Ward.

Picture gallery

  • Dining room

  • Neo-Gothic northeast facade of Castle Ward, June 2011

  • Enclosed garden, June 2011

  • Path in the reception hall to the main entrance

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b National Trust - Castle Ward . In: web page . National Trust. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  2. ^ Hugh Dixon: An Introduction to Ulster Architecture . Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, Belfast 1975. p. 108.
  3. ^ A b B. O'Neill (editor): Irish Castles and Historic Houses . Caxton Editions, London 2002. p. 22.
  4. ↑ a b c Timothy Belmont: Castle Ward . In: Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland . February 25, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  5. ↑ The Ward Paers . PRONI. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  6. ^ Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Northern Ireland . Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  7. ^ David McKittrick: Lost Lives . 2004.

Web links

Commons : Castle Ward  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 54 ° 22 ′ 22.8 "  N , 5 ° 34 ′ 44.4"  W.