Clonyn Castle also known as Delvin Castle, is a Victorian country house situated in

Delvin Delvin () is a village in County Westmeath, Ireland; it is located on the N52 road at a junction with the N51 to Navan. The town is from Mullingar (along the N52). The word Delvin comes from Delbhna. That tribe settled in what is presen ...

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

some 18 km from

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmea ...

along the N52. It is a square, symmetrical, two-storey castle-like building of cut limestone with four tall, round corner towers at each corner. The interior has a large two-storey hall with a gallery and arcading. It was one of the last Victorian baronial castles to be built in Ireland. A golf course open to the public lies behind the castle, 500m from the centre of Delvin.

History

An early castle (now a ruin in the centre of the village of Delvin) is believed to have been built in

1181 Year 1181 ( MCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * King Philip II (Augustus) annuls all loans made by Jews to Christians, and takes a p ...

Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, 4th Baron Lacy (; before 1135 – 25 July 1186), was an Anglo-Norman landowner and royal office-holder. He had substantial land holdings in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Following his participation in the Norman Inv ...

for his brother-in-law, Sir Gilbert de Nugent. Sir Gilbert de Nugent, originally from the

Nogent-le-Rotrou Nogent-le-Rotrou () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture and is located on the river Huisne, 56 kilometres west of Chartres on the RN23 and 150 kilometres south west of Paris, to which it is ...

area in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, came to Ireland with Hugh de Lacy in

1171 Year 1171 ( MCLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 12 – Emperor Manuel I (Komnenos) orders the arrest of all Venetians ...

. Sir Gilbert was granted the title Baron of Delvin within the

Lordship of Meath The Lordship of Meath was an extensive seigneurial liberty in medieval Ireland that was awarded to Hugh de Lacy by King Henry II of England by the service of fifty knights and with almost royal authority. The Lordship was roughly co-extensive with ...

. A second castle was built in 1639 by Richard Nugent, 1st Earl of Westmeath, on elevated ground overlooking the village of Delvin and may be referred to as either Delvin or Clonyn Castle. When Cromwell's army approached Nugent caused the house to be burnt down and fled to Galway. The castle was restored by his grandson and occupied until 1860. The present house was built a short distance away from the previous castle by Lord Greville and his wife Lady Rosa. Following the death of

George Nugent, 1st Marquess of Westmeath George Thomas John Nugent, 1st Marquess of Westmeath (17 July 1785 – 5 May 1871), styled Lord Delvin between 1792 and 1814 and known as The Earl of Westmeath between 1814 and 1821, was an Anglo-Irish peer. Background Nugent was born in Cl ...

in 1871, Clonyn had passed to Lady Rosa, his only surviving child. She had married

Fulke Southwell Greville-Nugent, 1st Baron Greville Colonel Fulke Southwell Greville-Nugent, 1st Baron Greville (17 February 1821 – 25 January 1883), known as Fulke Greville until 1866, was an Irish Liberal politician. Early life Greville was the second son of Algernon Greville, Esq., of North L ...

, who in 1866 had assumed by Royal Licence the additional surname of Nugent. This latest building remained a Nugent residence until 1922, when Patrick Nugent sold it and moved to Scotland. It was afterwards home to a community of Australian nuns. In the post-World War II period, at the instigation of Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld, the castle served briefly as a home for Jewish children, most of them orphans of the Holocaust. Manchester businessman and philanthropist Yankel Levy was persuaded to buy the castle and associated land for £30,000 and some 100 children aged between 5 and 17 were temporarily housed before rejoining their families or starting new lives in England, America or Israel. Levy was consequently bankrupted. It is currently privately owned by Mrs Dillon.

Other Westmeath Castles

* Ballinlough Castle *

Killua Castle Killua Castle, and the nearby Raleigh Obelisk, are situated near Clonmellon, County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The present house was built in about 1780 by Sir Benjamin Chapman and consisted of a hall, dining room, oval drawing ro ...

Knockdrin Castle Knockdrin () is a townland and Electoral division (Ireland), electoral division that is 5.6 kilometers northeast of Mullingar, in County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of the Westmeath Hunt, and its most notable buildin ...

* Tyrrellspass Castle *

Tullynally Castle Tullynally Castle, also known as Pakenham Hall, is a country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhouse (Great Britain), ...

External links and references

The housing of the Jewish refugees
{{Coord, 53, 37, N, 7, 06, W, display=title, region:IE_type:landmark_source:GNS-enwiki Castles in County Westmeath Archaeological sites in County Westmeath National Monuments in County Westmeath