Castletown is Ireland’s largest and earliest Palladian style house. Built between 1722 and 1729 for William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and the wealthiest commoner in Ireland. The façade was almost certainly designed by the Italian architect, Alessandro Galilei, while the Irish architect Sir Edward Lovett Pearce added the wings.

The house remained in the hands of the Speaker’s descendants until 1965 when the house was purchased by a property developer Major Wilson. Fortunately the house was saved in 1967 when along with 120 acres of the demesne lands it was purchased by the Hon. Desmond Guinness, founder of the Irish Georgian Society for £93,000. The house was opened to the public in the same year and restoration work began, funded by the Irish Georgian Society and private benefactors. In 1979 care of the house passed to the Castletown Foundation, a charitable trust which was established to own, maintain and to continue the restoration of the house. In 1994 the house with the exception of the contents, was transferred to State care and it is now managed by the Office of Public Works. The transfer to State ownership has paved the way for a major programme of restoration and conservation work of the house and demesne lands. Through restoration, conservation, acquisition of parkland and development of visitor facilities, the long term objective is to preserve for future generations one of the most important houses in Ireland and one of significance in terms of European architectural heritage.

How to get to Castletown House

The house is located 20km from Dublin off the N4/M4 Sligo Road

From the M4, take exit 6 (R449 Celbridge West/Leixlip West Exit)

From the N7, take exit 4, Rathcoole, following R120 to Newcastle and R405 to Celbridge.

Please note that cars/ buses access is from the above entrance as the avenue from Celbridge is for pedestrian/bicycle access only. There is free parking for cars and coaches from Exit 6 off the M4 at Celbridge West.

GPS/SAT NAV Location: Latitude 53.355 and Longitude -6.53

Pedestrians can get the 67 bus from Merrion Square in the centre of Dublin to Celbridge main street and walk (approx. 15mins) along the historical lime avenue to the House through the parklands.

Please refer to Dublin Bus for bus times.

Opening Times:

Castletown House is open to the general public 10 am to 6pm (last admission to the house is at 4.45pm), Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays from the 15th March until the 31st of October 2013