Altidore Castle
- Klassifizierung
- Burg
- Land
- Irland
- Region
- County Wicklow
- Adresse
- Altidore Castle, Kilpedder, A63X227, Wicklow
- Epoche / Stil
- Early 18th-century Palladian
Altidore was built as a residence for General Thomas Pearce around 1730, possibly designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce, who created Ireland's finest early Palladian buildings. The castle was inspired by early 18th-century 'toy forts' similar to works by Pearce and Sir John Vanbrugh. Built beside a medieval O'Toole family castle on the eastern slopes of the Wicklow Mountains, north of Newtownmountkennedy, it overlooks wooded parkland toward the Irish Sea. The structure features two storeys over a basement with crenellated half-hexagonal corner towers and two formal five-bay fronts. The mountain-facing facade includes a three-bay breakfront with a central Venetian window and blocked doorcase. The interior contains early 18th-century joinery and a panelled dining room with later plaster plaques. The house was enlarged for Major Henry Brownrigg and later owned by Rev William Blachford, whose daughter Mary Blachford Tighe (authoress of "Psyche, or the Legend of Love") lived here as a child. Her brother John Blachford, an agriculturalist, subsequently resided here with his wife Mary Anne, daughter of parliamentarian Henry Grattan. The Dopping-Hepenstal family owned the estate from 1834 to 1918, leasing it extensively, including once as a tuberculosis sanatorium. Early twentieth-century ownership included two separate banks. In 1945, James Albert Garland Emmet purchased the three-hundred-acre property and undertook extensive restoration, creating a large garden centred on early 18th-century canals. The current owners have farmed organically for nearly twenty years. The Emmet family descends from United Irishman Thomas Addis Emmet, elder brother of the patriot Robert Emmet. The house contains a small Robert Emmet museum with original artifacts. Available as a film location; house and garden open to individual visitors and groups by arrangement, with a museum, concerts and educational visits available.
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