Dunsany Castle
| Dunsany Castle | ||
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 Dunsany Castle in the mist |
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| Alternative name (s): | Caisleán Dhún Samhnaí | |
| Creation time : | 16th Century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | well preserved | |
| Standing position : | Irish nobility | |
| Construction: | Ashlar | |
| Place: | Dunsany | |
| Geographical location | 53 ° 32 '8.1 " N , 6 ° 37' 15.2" W | |
| Height: | 77 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Dunsany Castle ( Irish Caisleán Dhún Samhnaí ) is a modernized, Norman low castle near the hamlet of Dunsany between Trim and Dunshaughlin in County Meath, Ireland . Hugh de Lacy had the castle begin to be built in 1180 or 1181; he also commissioned the construction of the nearby Killeen Castle and Trim Castle . Dunsany Castle is probably Ireland's longest continuously inhabited building and still belongs to the Cusack family and their descendants by marriage, the Plunketts . The castle is surrounded by an estate , the core area of the formerly extensive lands. There is a historic church that is still in use today, an enclosed garden, a farm, an ice house and various residential houses and other buildings.
history
The castle was probably built as a replacement for a simple moth in the years 1180–1200, the remains of which can still be seen to the right and left of today's castle. The foundations of the lower parts of the four main towers are believed to date from this period, as are some of the rooms inside, e.g. B. an old kitchen. However, many additions and alterations were made to the castle, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries; today's castle is more than three times the size of the original structure.
Dunsany Castle was inhabited together with Killeen Castle by the Cusacks , initially on behalf of the Lacys, and fell to the Plunketts by marriage in the early 15th century. Dunsany Castle and Killeen Castle were originally on the same property, but the Plunketts bequeathed Killeen Castle to their older son and Dunsany Castle to their younger, Christopher , whereupon the property was divided and Dunsany Castle was inherited by the Barons of Dunsany . They owned the new property almost without interruption, with the exception of the time of the reconquest of Ireland : the then Lady Dunsany defended the castle against an initial attack by Cromwell's troops, but later the family was evicted and some members died on the way to Connacht . They were cousins of Saint Oliver Plunkett .
The Dunsany lands were reduced in size with the implementation of the Land Acts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but the castle was still surrounded by its original estate and some other lots remained with the estate, some being attached to the estate and others further away.
Most of the works of the writer Lord Dunsany were created in the castle, especially in a room in one of the towers. In 1910 the writer commissioned the construction of a two-story extension on one side at the back of the castle. This extension was built in 1914 in the arts and craft style and contains a billiard room , two bedrooms and other facilities.
The widow's house and its property were sold in the second half of the 20th century.
Since the 1990s, publicity work has been carried out to restore some of the Dunsanys' homes on the estate, in the settlement and in Trim.
The family's other castle, the largest in Ireland but in ruins, Trim Castle, was transferred to the state in the 1990s.
description
You enter the castle through a vestibule and a lobby with a stucco ceiling. The lobby opens into a central staircase, which has the main staircase and a vaulted ceiling, and a private side hall. On the ground floor is the large dining room with portraits of the deceased family members, the property's former administrative office, and a beautiful arts-and-craft billiard room . Also in the historical core of the castle, starting from a central corridor, you can find the old kitchen and a more modern version of the kitchen, a suite of bedrooms and other rooms. The corridor in turn forms the connection to the buildings in the inner courtyard of the castle with living rooms and the gallery of the later 20th Lord Dunsany.
The library and a parlor with stucco work by Stapleton from 1780 are on the first floor of the historic castle . The library, on which James Shiel may have worked, is in neo-Gothic style and has a "honeycomb" ceiling. There is also a side staircase on this floor, on which a priest's hole used to be built to hide Catholic clergy. On the second floor there are neat bedrooms, some of them with attached bathrooms; the parade bedroom also has a dressing room. One of the bedrooms is said to be haunted by ghosts.
estate
Walls, entrances and lodges
The estate is surrounded by a dry stone wall, most of which was built as an aid organization during the great famine .
The main entrance to the property, opposite a medieval pilgrim's cross , looks like a Gothic ruin, but is a replica that includes a gatehouse lodge. It is provided with a solid, black metal gate. Directly behind the former caretaker's house, a peculiar, lowered building, and directly to the west of the public road is the access road to the farm of the estate.
The former main entrance, which leads to a long avenue that suddenly makes the castle appear to those arriving, has a tower lodge and high, white gates. Another entrance at Dunsany Bridge over the Skane has a strange lodge made of black stones, which was damaged by vandals in the 1990s.
Nikolauskirche ("The Abbey")
The Church of St. Nicholas of Myra, also known as "The Abbey", was built in the 1440s in place of an earlier church from 1305. Today it is a national monument with remains of galleries and living rooms; Inside and around are graves of family members and local residents, including that of the 20th Lord Dunsany. The church is no longer in use today, but there is a new church in the hamlet of Dunsany. The old church is still consecrated and the Bishop of Meath celebrated a wedding mass there under a tent roof in the early 2000s.
Enclosed garden
On the estate there is a large, enclosed garden with an area of over 1.2 hectares, in which fruit and vegetables are still grown for the estate today. A gardener's house is built into the walls of the garden, where the head gardener used to live. There are still active beehives nearby.
More buildings
Also on the estate is a stone farm with a stable yard, an ice house and a fountain. In the stable yard there is a dwelling house and at least one ruinous farmhouse near the walls.
Mounds on either side of the castle are said to have once been a twin moth ; the 19th Lord Dunsany is buried in one of the mounds.
In front of the castle there is a lawn with a ha-ha ditch and then the fields of the property begin. Under one of the streets there is a path in a tunnel, on which the servants could get from the fenced farm to the fields without looking.
Many of the fields on the estate have historical names.
Lands
The lands consist of a mixture of fields, marshland and light mixed forest. In the back of the estate, along the old Dublin to Navan railway line, runs the River Skane , a tributary of the Boyne .
Access
As this is a private property, access is only possible with prior permission. The castle can be visited on certain days of the year on free guided tours, often held by family members
Trivia
The castle and estate were used for filming, e.g. B. for the film Braveheart (e.g. the wedding scene in St. Nicholas Church), as well as in 2002 for the remake of The Magnificent Ambersons .
Individual evidence
- ^ Church Gazetteer: Church of st. Nicholas of Myra . St. Nicholas Center. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
Web links and sources
- Dunsany Castle site
- Discover Boyne Valley . Meath Tourism.
- Castles of Ireland - Dunsany Castle . In: Castles and Historic Buildings of Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland . Britain-Ireland-Castles.com.