Castletown House Update

The Irish Georgian Society welcomes the OPW’s purchase of lands at Castletown House, Co. Kildare following a protracted period which restricted access to the house itself and its surrounding historic designed landscape. This acquisition finally safeguards the setting of Ireland’s greatest and most architecturally significant eighteenth-century country house and completes a task embarked on by Desmond Guinness when he bought the house in 1967.

With the greater part of the historic demesne now in public ownership, the Irish Georgian Society proposes that this is an exciting opportunity for the OPW to prepare a strategic plan for the estate. As a long-term stakeholder in Castletown, the Irish Georgian Society would enthusiastically support such an initiative. This would facilitate long-term planning and ensure that everyone can benefit from the outstanding heritage and amenity values of a site that is truly of international importance.

The Irish Georgian Society looks forward to the timely return of visitors to the house and grounds to enjoy its great interiors and historic collections, a portion of which the IGS has on loan to the OPW, for the public’s benefit. We wish to commend Mr. Kevin “Boxer” Moran, Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, the Chair of the OPW, John Conlon, and his colleagues for securing these lands for the State and for their roles in overseeing and managing Castletown House and parklands.