Ardgillan Castle

Ardgillan Castle is a country house near Balbriggan, County Fingal, Ireland. It is set in the 200-acre (0.81 km2) Ardgillan Demesne (Irish: Ard Giolláin), a public park in the jurisdiction of Fingal County Council.

The previous owner of the land was Robert Usher, a wine merchant from Tallaght.

The house was built by the Reverend Robert Taylor son of Sir Thomas Taylor, 1st Baronet in 1738. When he bought the land it was quite a wooded area so he employed some former soldiers from Bangor, County Down and paid them 1d and a meal per day as well as bed every night. They also received a tot of Irish whiskey from Bushmills which was brought in for 2 shilling 2 pence a gallon.

It later passed down to Thomas Edward Taylor, son of Reverend Edward Taylor (1768–1852), and grandson of Thomas Taylour, 1st Earl of Bective in the 19th century.

In the 1850s, George Papworth was engaged to carry out renovations on the house including farm offices, he had earlier carried out works on nearby Kenure House. Frederick Darley was also involved in designing new stable blocks around the same time.

The house remained in the Taylor family until 1962 when the estate was sold to Henrich Potts of Westphalia.

In 1982 the estate was sold to Fingal County Council, which, with the help of Fás, renovated the house. It was officially opened to the public in 1992 by then president Mary Robinson.

Featuring castellated embellishments, the building overlooks Barnageera Beach, the Irish Sea and Balbriggan. The castle consists of two storeys over a basement, which extends under the south lawns. When occupied, the ground and first floors were the living accommodation while the west and east wings were servants quarters and estate offices. The basement was the service floor, the kitchen and stores. The castle has now been restored and is open to visitors.

Ardgillan Demesne is open to visitors, with a mix of woodlands and large grass open spaces. The park contains a walled herb garden, rose garden, Victorian conservatory or glasshouse, tea rooms and an ice house. A children's playground was built in 2006.

The ground floor rooms and kitchens of the Castle are open to visitors for guided tours. Tea rooms are located off the main reception area and are open during the Castle opening times.

Text adapted from “Ardgillan Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ardgillan Castle ranks #4,215 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #66 of the 173 mapped in Ireland. Founded 1738, it is older than 19% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 556 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Drogheda, 19 km away. See how Ireland compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗