Huntington Castle
- Klasifikace
- Hrad
- Země
- Irsko
- Region
- County Carlow
- Adresa
- Huntington Castle, Clonegal, Clonegal
- Období / styl
- Late tower-house with Victorian and 1920s additions
Huntington Castle stands in the valley of the River Derry, a tributary of the River Slaney, on the borders of Counties Carlow and Wexford near Clonegal. The site previously held an abbey and a fourteenth-century castle guarding a mountain pass. The castle is a large late tower-house of rough-hewn granite, altered around 1680 and 1720 with regular fenestration and a northern wing added. Built by Lord Esmonde, it passed to the Durdin family through marriage. In 1880 the heiress Helen Durdin married Herbert Robertson, Baron Strathloch. They made late Victorian additions, while their son Manning Durdin-Robertson, an early devotee of concrete, conducted further alterations in the 1920s. In the 1970s the writer and mystic Olivia Durdin-Robertson and her brother Laurence converted the undercroft into a temple to the Egyptian Goddess Isis. Later, Laurence's son David and his wife Moira completed a thorough restoration of the castle, gardens and outbuildings. The house contains early panelled rooms and an eclectic family collection. Outside are Victorian terraces, an ancient yew walk, and seventeenth-century formal gardens in the Italian manner, recently restored. The woods contain fine specimen trees; the castle is approached via a magnificent lime-tree avenue from the gates at Clonegal village. Available as a film location; house and garden open June to August, garden only in May and September.
Liam Hughes from Milwaukee, WI, USA / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0