with the advice of James, 1st Duke of Leinster,

her brother-in law. The ceiling is based on

that in the first floor dining room in Leinster

House, designed by Isaac Ware. On the west

wall, the posthumous portrait of William

Conolly, in his robes as Speaker of the Irish

House of Commons, was painted by Stephen

Catterson Smith and is based on Jervas' portrait

in the Green Drawing Room. Original to

Castletown are the two 18th-century giltwood

tables as are the three gilded mirrors or pier

glasses.

The Butler’s Pantry

Here, food that had been brought from the

kitchens in the west wing, quite a distance

away, was reheated before being served in

the Dining Room.

The Brown Study

Used as an office and later as a breakfast

parlour, this room retains its original 1720s

pine panelling and tall narrow oak doors.

The Red Drawing Room

One of a series of State rooms used on

important occasions in the 18th century,

it was redesigned in the mid 1760s and

completed c.1768. The ceiling is based on a

published design by Sebastiano Serlio. Much

of the furniture is original to the room and

is displayed in the formal arrangment of the

18th century. The walls are covered in damask

probably dating from the late 19th century.

The Green Drawing Room

Again, the whole design of this room reflects

the influence of Isaac Ware’s interiors at

Leinster House. Originally lined with green

silk, traces of which survived, the wall

covering has recently been replaced with

green silk woven in France. This was the

principal reception room or saloon where the

Conollys formally received visitors to the

house. Either side of the central door are two

portraits by Charles Jervas, on the right is the

portrait of Speaker Conolly and on the left

that of his wife Katherine with her niece.

The Print Room

One of the earliest print rooms and probably

the only intact 18th century one left in

Ireland, the decoration of this room is

attributed to Lady Louisa Conolly, wife of

Tom Conolly and her sister who, as was the

fashion for the time, cut out favourite prints

and decorative borders to attach to the walls

and screens.

The Conolly Bedroom

Until his death in 1729, the Conolly

Bedroom would have been used by

Speaker Conolly in the morning to

receive important guests as was the

custom in the French Court. The mock

leather wall paper dates from the 1840s,

when this room became a library.

The Healy Room

Originally a dressing or sitting room,

this now contains photographic

enlargements of drawings of horses

belonging to Tom Conolly. The

drawings are the work of the gifted

young Irish artist, Robert Healy.

The Map Room or Closet

The estate maps from the 1750s show

the formal layout of the park, avenues

and the orderly plantation of trees.

The panelling dating from the 1720s

has been painted over with Victorian

wood ‘graining’.

The Upper Corridors

On the first floor are the principal

bedrooms. Lady Louisa's apartment

consists of her boudoir, bedroom and

dressing room.

The Pastel Room

The pastel room contains a collection

of pastel portraits, including seven

by the Irish pastellist Hugh Douglas

Hamilton.

The Long Gallery

Redecorated in the mid

1770s in the Pompeian

style by two English artists,

Charles Reuben Riley and Thomas

Ryder, the Long Gallery measures

almost 27m by 7.5m. This was perhaps

Lady Louisa's favourite room and was

used as a living room. At either end of

the room over the chimney pieces, are

portraits of Tom and Louisa Conolly.

The glass chandeliers were made in

Venice. When they eventually arrived,

Lady Louisa wrote that “the chandeliers

have arrived intact but they are the wrong

blue for the room.” The statue of Diana

stands in the central niche with above

it the painting of Aurora, goddess

of the dawn, derived from a ceiling

decoration by Guido Reni.

The Obelisk

Paid for by his widow, the Conolly

Folly or Obelisk, closes the vista to the

back of the House and can be seen from

the Long Gallery. A monument to

Speaker Conolly, it was built in 1740 as

a Famine Relief Scheme, the design being

attributed to Richard Cassels (Castle).

The Family

William Conolly, (1662-1729) the son

of a prosperous Donegal innkeeper, was

of a relatively humble background. He

was elected M.P. for the Borough

of Donegal in 1692 and Speaker of the

Irish House of Commons in 1715. By

the 1720s, he was acknowledged to

CastletownCastletown, Co. Kildare, is Ireland’s largest and finest Palladian-style country house.

Background: a design for the layout of the Park, c.1739

The construction of Castletown began

around 1722 for William Conolly,

Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.

The facade of the main block was

designed by the Italian architect

Alessandro Galilei (1691-1737) whose

best known work is the facade that he

added to the old basilica of St. John

Lateran in Rome.

Built in the style of a 16th century

Italian town palace, most of the work

on Castletown was supervised by Sir

Edward Lovett Pearce, a young Irish

architect, employed by Speaker Conolly

in 1724 to complete the project. Pearce

had, at that time, recently returned

from Italy, where he had been

acquainted with Galilei. He added the

colonnades linking the east and west

pavilions to the main body of the

House. The interior was unfinished

at the time of Speaker Conolly’s

death in 1729 and it was only in

1758, after the marriage of his

great-nephew Tom Conolly,

who had inherited Castletown,

that this work recommenced.

During the 1760s and 1770s

the restrained neo-classical

designs of the English architect,

Sir William Chambers influenced

the decoration of some of the main

rooms of the House.

The Entrance Hall and Staircase

The impressive two-storeyed entrance

hall with its black and white chequered

floor,was designed by Sir Edward Lovett

Pearce and is unchanged since the

building of Castletown. At gallery level,

there are tapering pilasters with baskets

of flowers and fruit carved in wood. The

chimney-piece is of black Kilkenny marble.

The grand staircase of cantilevered

Portland stone with its balustrade of

brass columns was not built until 1760,

the work being carried out under the

direction of Simon Vierpyl, a protégé of

Sir William Chambers. The walls were

decorated in the rococo stuccowork

manner, typical of the Swiss-Italian

Lafranchini brothers. This incorporated

family portraits including, at the foot

of the stairs, the bust of Tom Conolly,

William's great-nephew. The four seasons

are represented by four heads on the

piers at ground level.

The Dining Room

Originally two smaller panelled rooms,

the dining room was completed in 1767

by Lady Louisa, wife of Tom Conolly,

Background: The Print Room continued overleaf

The Long Gallery

Lady Louisa (1743 – 1821)after Sir Joshua Reynolds(The Irish Architectural Archive)

Ceiling p

lasterwork in the

Long Gallery

Plas

terw

ork

deta

il.

(The

Iris

h A

rchi

tect

ural

Arc

hive

)

be the wealthiest man in Ireland, his

fortune deriving from astute dealings

in forfeited estates after the Jacobite

defeat of 1690. Castletown remained

unfinished at the time of Conolly's

death in 1729 although his widow

continued to live there.

It was not until after his great nephew

Tom Conolly inherited Castletown and

married Lady Louisa Lennox (1743-1821)

in 1758 that work was recommenced.

Lady Louisa played an important part

in the alteration and redecoration of

Castletown, supervising most of the

work herself.

The Conolly family continued to live at

Castletown until 1965 when the house

and the land were sold.

The Later Years

Purchased in 1967, by the Hon.

Desmond Guinness, initial restoration

work commenced and

Castletown was first

opened to the public.

In 1979, the house was

handed over to the

Castletown Foundation

who continued

the maintenance,

management and

restoration work and the Foundation

now acts in an advisory capacity with

regards to the interior and its contents.

With the exception of the contents,

ownership of Castletown together

with the Conolly Folly were transferred

to State care on 1 January 1994 and is

now managed by the Office of Public

Works. The external fabric of the

house and wings has been repaired

and conserved and floors, plasterworks

and decorative finishes conserved.

The top story of the main block which

had been vacant for a number of years

has been restored as a research centre

for the study of eighteenth century

buildings and demesnes. The West

Wing and West Yard, formerly the

kitchen wing and yard have been

restored as a visitor reception area.

Some forty hectare of parkland have

been purchased from the Honourable

Desmond Guinness and the farm

buildings and farm yard have been

acquired. Historic landscape studies

of the landscape have revealed a wide

range of 18th century elements. It

is hoped to restore many of these

features including river walks, folly

buildings and vistas.

The long-term objective is, therefore,

by means of restoration, conservation,

acquisition of parkland and

development of visitor facilities, to

preserve for future generations one of

the most important houses in Ireland

and one of significance in terms of

European architectural heritage.

First Floor Landing: Staircase Hall

The

obel

isk:

A m

onum

ent

to S

pea

ker

Con

olly

. (T

he Ir

ish

Arc

hite

ctur

al A

rchi

ve)

Background: The Staircase Hall

Celbridge, Co. Kildare

Castletown VISITORS’ GUIDE

Castletown is managed by the O.P.W.