Johnstown Castle

Johnstown Castle is a Gothic Revival castle located in County Wexford, Ireland.

Johnstown Castle is located on the Johnstown Castle Estate, a 150 acres (61 ha) estate, located off the road between Murntown and Rathaspeck, 5.5 km (3.4 mi) southwest of Wexford town.

The first castle built on the estate was a tower house built in the late 12th century by the Esmonde family, Normans who came to southeast Ireland from Lincolnshire in the 1170s after the Norman invasion of Ireland (1169). They also built a tower house, which still stands, at Rathlannon immediately to the south.

Oliver Cromwell spent a night on the estate in 1649, prior to the October 1649 Sack of Wexford. His Roundhead army used the land around Johnstown Castle to prepare. The Esmondes, Catholics, were expelled during the Cromwellian years. Johnstown Castle was bought by the Grogan family in 1692.

Owner Cornelius Grogan was hanged for his part in the 1798 Rebellion; he had been commissary-general for the United Irishmen. In 1810 the estate was restored to his brother John Knox Grogan, who, with his son, Hamilton Knox Grogan-Morgan, created Johnstown Castle as it stands today, on the "bones" of the Norman tower house. Daniel Robertson designed the Gothic Revival castle and parts of the surrounding land. By 1863, the demesne was divided in two, with a deer park in the north and the castle, pleasure grounds, farm and two artificial lakes to the south. By 1836–1872 the building was finished.

The Grogans later married into the ancient FitzGerald family.

During the First World War, Royal Naval Air Service airships were based at Johnstown Castle, and were primarily used to deal with the U-boat threat, but with limited success.

Lady Maurice FitzGerald (née Lady Adelaide Jane Frances Forbes, 1860–1942), wife of Lord Maurice FitzGerald (son of Charles FitzGerald, 4th Duke of Leinster), was the last owner to live in the house.

Following the death of Lady Maurice in November 1942, the Johnstown Estate was inherited by her grandson, Maurice Victor Lakin. He looked to dispose of the Estate and it came to the attention of Wexford County Manager TD Sinnott who recommended that the Minister for Agriculture, James Ryan, acquire the castle for the purpose as an agricultural college.

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

Johnstown Castle ranks #4,930 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #82 of the 173 mapped in Ireland. Founded c. 1175, it is older than 80% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 564 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,335 times in the last 60 days, more than 56% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Waterford, 42 km away. See how Ireland compares in the castle statistics.

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