Ireland · 18th century
Knockdrin Castle ranks #5,561 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #93 of the 178 mapped in Ireland. Founded c. 1785, it is older than 13% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 685 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Drogheda, 65 km away. See how Ireland compares in the castle statistics.
Knockdrin (Irish: Cnoc Droinne) is a townland and electoral division that is 5.6 kilometers northeast of Mullingar, in County Westmeath, Ireland. It is the home of the Westmeath Hunt, and its most notable building is Knockdrin Castle. The R394 regional road, the main Mullingar to Castlepollard route, runs through the area.
The name Knockdrin (Irish: Cnoc Droinne meaning 'hill of Drin') reputedly derives from a hill on the estate. This is also reflected to Lough Drin, a small lake on the estate. The Irish name for the locality is Muine Liath (pronounced Moe in ah lee ah), which means 'grey thicket'. Muine Liath is written in English as Monilea.
Knockdrin Castle is, according to The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (published in London in 1993 and better known as the Pevsner Guide to North Leinster), mainly an early 19th-century neo-Gothic structure. The current castle was constructed for Sir Richard Levinge, 6th Baronet (1785-1848), in the late 18th century, and the current structure was probably completed by 1820.
According to a National Inventory survey, parts of a surviving gate structure may be from an "earlier eighteenth century house [that] stood on the site (known as 'High Park')".
The National Inventory considers the castle as "one of finest picturesque castellated country houses built in Ireland during the first half of the nineteenth century ... retains its early character, form and fabric". The summary adds that there are many outbuildings, including an area that "incorporates the remains of a Late Medieval tower house, built c.1550".
According to some sources, the castle was designed by Richard Morrison, and was built on the site of High Park, the original 18th-century mansion that formerly stood there. According to the National Inventory, however, Levinge did not accept the two designs proposed by Morrison and that the final plan may have been by James Shiel. Another reliable source also confirms that the structure is credited to James Shiel, "assistant to Francis Johnston, one of Ireland’s best known Gothic Revival architects ... although elements of the front facade have been attributed to Morrison’s design".
From 1961 to late 2020, the castle was the home of the von Prondzynski family.
Text adapted from “Knockdrin” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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