lady louisa (1743 – 1821) castletown castletown(eng).pdf · tom conolly inherited castletown and...
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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.