Huntingdon Castle - Duckett’s Grove - Brownshill Dolmen

Huntingdon Castle - Duckett’s Grove - Brownshill Dolmen

On the May Bank Holiday, we took a road trip to Carlow on a lovely late Spring Day (meteorologically speaking). Carlow is a county often overlooked on the tourist trail, which is a shame as there is so much history to be seen, from ancient to more recent times.

Our first stop was Huntingdon castle, in the village of Clonegal, which dates back to 1625. It was built on the grounds of a 13th Century Franciscan abbey, the ruins of which adjoin the present-day castle. It was expanded on in later centuries, with some of the more recent parts dating from the Victorian era. Originally a garrison, it became the family home of the Esmondes, from whom the owners of the castle claim their descent. Having twice passed through the maternal line, the family name is now Durdin Robertson.

I must say it’s well worth a visit, with lovely gardens in which there are a couple of ancient yew walks and lime trees which date back to the 17th century. The tour is given by one of the family so quite intimate and interesting. Now, ok, maybe not very PC in terms of the animal heads on the walls, dating from the time when colonists basically paid little regard for the wildlife of their empire, and indeed I also have to say that references to the Red Coats (British soldiers of the by-gone days) as being magnificent in their finery, don’t land well on many an Irish ear! Still, it was a very good tour and would recommend it for sure. We were also shown the basement area where a now deceased and well known family member, Olivia Robertson, set up a fascinating Temple to Isis (the God, not the terrorist group!) which is still occasionally in use.

There are many ghost stories attached to the castle and although I felt or saw nothing, I have to say that on our last visit, many moons ago, my daughter, then 11, saw a figure in the carpark and heard music in the room of Bishop Leslie, who died in there.  In fact, I heard some music too, in a different part of the castle, and to this day can’t explain it! In the grounds of the castle, there are some curious, magnificent peacocks and a nice little coffee and gift shop.

Following on from there, we ventured to another castle, this time the ruined, Duckett’s Grove. Burned down in 1933, its skeleton is pretty spectacular and dominates the landscape, which was brilliantly colourful on the day we were there, the Rapeseed being in full bloom. This building, the home of the Anglo Duckett family, was originally a standard Georgian house dating from the 18th century. However, in 1825, John (Dawson) Duckett hired a prominent architect Thomas A Cobden to redesign the house, and only 20 years later, designer John MacDuff Derik further enhanced the property, ensuring that this now Neo Gothic mansion, would be the most prominent in the county. Indeed, the architectural changes were done for nothing more than show, the family having married into Banking dynasties, thus allowing for overspending on the superfluous. Also, if you stop and think of when this ugly display of wealth occurred, in the years before and on the cusp of “an Gorta Mór”, the Great Hunger, erroneously referred to as the “Famine”, it really makes you realize the utter disregard the upper-class gentry had for the ordinary Irish person. Still, it is a very interesting place to visit and there is a little coffee shop and really well-kept gardens to be enjoyed by all.

Our last visit of the day was to the magnificent Brownshill Dolmen, east of Carlow town and to be honest, this was more my cup of tea, as they say! An ancient site, it was built by our ancestors over 5000 years ago and this particular Dolemn boasts a capstone that weighs approximately 150 tons making it probably the heaviest of any such capstone in Europe. Unlike Poulnabrone in County Clare, it has not been excavated but it is likely there are charred human remains and pottery still held within. Set back from the road, there is a small car park and a proper path which travels the side of a large field till it reaches the site. You can see where part of the Dolmen has collapsed from the sheer weight of the capstone but it is still an extremely impressive monument.

There is more to see in Carlow, but we had run out of time…..hopefully another day!

Contact Details

Margaret McKenna
Carrick Eighter, Virginia, Co. Cavan, Ireland
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Art to me, is storytelling a means to visually capture the atmosphere and tell the tales behind our landscape or capture the essence of that person’s character.

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