Kinnitty Castle

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Kinnitty Castle (2007)

Kinnitty Castle (also Castle Bernard ; Irish Caisleán Chionn Eitigh ) is a neo-Gothic castle from the 19th century northeast of the village of Kinnitty in County Offaly, Ireland . It is northwest of the Slieve Bloom Mountains near the R421 regional road , towards Cadamstown . The Bernards , residents of the castle, also had a pyramid built nearby.

history

The first castle in Kinnitty was destroyed in 1209 and rebuilt by the Normans in 1213 . During this time, an Augustinian abbey called St. Finnian was founded nearby , of which the famous High Cross and Abbey Wall have been preserved to this day. Later, the O'Carrolls of Ely followed the Normans and William O'Carroll had a new castle built near the monastery in 1630. The castle was confiscated in 1641 as part of the Plantation of County Offaly (or "King's County" as it was then called). In 1664, the Crown lent an estate including the castle to Colonel Thomas Winter in return for his military service. His descendants sold the property to Thomas Bernard , who renamed the house "Castle Bernard" and left it to his son, Member of Parliament Thomas Bernard . Many historical installations of the original castle can still be admired today.

1811 commissioned Lady Catherine Hutchinson , the wife of Thomas Bernard jun. , the architect James Pain to expand the castle into a castle in the neo-Gothic style and to its present size. Thomas Bernard jun. was followed by his son, also Thomas Bernard , Colonel and, in 1837, Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff of King's County. He died in 1882 unmarried and without descendants. His heir was his niece's husband, Captain Caulfield French , King's County High Sheriff in 1887 .

The castle was burned down by the IRA in 1922 but was restored in 1928 with a government grant of £ 32,000. The Bernard family lived there until 1946 when the property was sold to Baron Decies who resold it to the Republic of Ireland in 1951. From 1955 to 1985, the Forestry Training College (forest school) was housed there. In 1994 the Ryan family of Limerick bought it and converted it into a 37-room four-star hotel and wedding venue. The castle was taken over by KBC Bank in 2008 and operated as a hotel until 2015. Then the current owners, a group of Irish and US investors, bought it. This group includes a. Derek Warfield (founding member of The Wolfe Tones music group ) and Colin Breen (owner of the Four Green Fields Pub in Tampa , Florida ). Since the Kinnitty Castle Hotel was bought by the investor group in 2015, it has undergone major renovations and continues to serve as a venue for weddings and conferences of high quality, as well as a four-star hotel.

Sightseeing

About 50 m to the left of the entrance to the main building is a high cross , which probably dates from the 10th century. It was moved here from its original location in the 19th century. It's not in very good condition.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bernard Burke: A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland . 1912.
  2. ↑ Hochkreuz. SMR Number: OF036-044004- Retrieved July 8, 2019

Web links and sources

Coordinates: 53 ° 6 ′ 8.8 ″  N , 7 ° 41 ′ 50.9 ″  W.