Dangan Castle is a former stately home in
County Meath
County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...
, Ireland, which is now in a state of ruin. It is situated by Dangan Church on the
Trim Road. The castle is the former seat of the Wesley (Wellesley) family and is located outside the village of
Summerhill. It was the childhood home of
Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during t ...
.
Wellesleys
The Wesley (later spelled and pronounced Wellesley) family had occupied the land since the conquests of
Henry II of England
Henry II () was King of England
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with the ...
.
[ The medieval castle, which was once their seat, now exists only as a ruined tower. The modern house was originally built in the early 1700s as Dangan House by Richard Colley, who demolished the old castle. Colley had inherited the estate from the childless Gerald Wesley, on condition that he changed his surname. He became the Right Honourable Richard Wesley, 1st Baron Mornington, and spent a considerable sum of money improving and maintaining the gardens of 600 Irish acres.][ These included a lake covering 26 acres, with a fort, several islands, and several ships. These were described in detail by ]Mary Delany
Mary Delany, earlier Mary Pendarves ( Granville; 14 May 1700 – 15 April 1788) was an English artist, letter-writer, and bluestocking, known for her "paper-mosaicks", botanic drawing, needlework and her lively correspondence.
Early life
Mary ...
.[
Richard was succeeded by his son Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington. Garret's son Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, spent most of his childhood at the castle and gardens. The property passed out of the hands of the Wellesley family after Arthur's older brother ]Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley
Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator. He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of ...
inherited it in 1781. He sold it to Thomas Burrowes of the East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
.[
]
Later history
The castle was occupied in the early years of the 19th century by Roger O'Connor, who acquired it from Burrowes on a permanently renewable lease.[ O'Connor, a passionate Irish nationalist, asserted that he had acquired it as "a suitable residence in which to entertain Napoleon" after the defeat of Britain.][James Dunkerley, Americana: The Americas in the World Around 1850, Verso, 2000, pp.449-50.] In 1809, during O'Connor's occupation, there was a serious fire that destroyed much of the building. Insurance fraud was suspected, but O'Connor's son Francisco Burdett O'Connor wrote in his autobiography 60 years later that he had accidentally started the fire himself when melting lead to create bullets.
In 1817 O'Connor was accused of having plotted with his estate manager and labourers to rob a mail coach, during which a guard was shot and killed. He was acquitted after a sensational trial, but left the building soon afterwards.
References
External links
Dangan Castle photographs
{{Historic Irish houses , state=collapsed
Castles in County Meath
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Wellesley family