Manderley Castle

Manderley Castle (Irish: Caisléan Mhanderley), formerly "Victoria Castle" and "Ayesha Castle," is a large castellated Irish mansion built in Victorian style, in Killiney, County Dublin, Ireland. It has been owned by musician Enya since 1997.

From the roof of the crenellated turret of the castle, it is possible to see the Irish Sea. The building is surrounded by 14,000 m2 (3.5 acres) of gardens which had a number of woodland walks. A secret tunnel at the bottom of the garden originally gave access to Killiney beach but now is sealed off.

According to blueprints submitted in 1988, the owners sought permission to convert the existing stable house into attached living quarters. Permission was granted and the stable became an attached guest house, art room, exercise room and lounge area complete with staff quarters and a large loft. A tunnel running from the castle's basement to the Irish Sea was also marked for sealing in the blueprints.

According to the same submission, Manderley Castle sits at 1,300.336 m2 (13,996.70 ft2) in combined floor space.

Judge Robert Warren built Victoria Castle in 1840 to commemorate Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. The interior was gutted by fire in 1928, then restored by Sir Thomas Power of the whiskey distillery family. He renamed the mansion "Ayesha Castle", after the goddess who rose from the flames in H. Rider Haggard's novel She. In 1995, the Aylmer family decided to turn Ayesha Castle into a place of tourist interest, "conver[ting] existing stables to a ground floor apartment and a first floor craft room". The Stable Gallery was established there, and a number of artists displayed their pictures.

Irish musician Enya bought the castle in 1997 for €3.8 million ($4.1 million USD), reportedly outbidding Michael Flatley, who also viewed the house. Based on her interest in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, Enya renamed the castle "Manderley" for the fictional house that plays a central role in the 1938 novel.

Enya stated in several interviews around 1998 (while out promoting Paint The Sky With Stars: The Best of Enya) that the castle had fallen into major disrepair and was in need of extensive remodeling.

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

Manderley Castle ranks #732 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #9 of the 172 mapped in Ireland. Founded 1840, it is older than 10% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 562 atlas entries founded in the 19th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 42,032 times in the last 60 days, more than 99% of the atlas. 17 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Dublin, 14 km away. See how Ireland compares in the castle statistics.

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