Castletown House & Parklands

Castletown is the earliest and largest Palladian style mansion in Ireland and is just 20km from Dublin City. It was built for William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons in the 1720s.

The design was influenced by a number of important architects of the time, including Alessandro Galilei and Edward Lovett Pearce. The early eighteenth century house was then ‘modernised’ by Thomas and Lady Louisa Conolly in the 1760s and then by Thomas Conolly II in the 1870s. These subsequent remodelling’s have created layers of decorative history which our dedicated guiding team will expertly reveal throughout your guided tour.

Since the estate came into the care of the OPW in 1994, extensive restoration works have been carried out to the house structure, the parklands, the Pleasure gardens and the farmyard and Castletown is now a hive of activity with a programme of tours, markets and cultural events set against the background of a beautifully preserved 18th century Irish estate.