Johnstown Castle is a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

castle located in

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Location

Johnstown Castle is located on the Johnstown Castle Estate, a estate, located off the road between Murntown and Rathaspeck, southwest of

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

town.

History

The first castle built on the estate was a

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

built in the late 12th century by the Esmonde family,

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

who came to southeast Ireland from

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

in the 1170s after the

Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land in Ireland over which the monarchs of England then claimed sovereignty. The Anglo-Normans ...

(1169). They also built a tower house, which still stands, at Rathlannon immediately to the south.

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

spent a night on the estate in 1649, prior to the October 1649 Sack of Wexford. His

Roundhead Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

army used the land around Johnstown Castle to prepare. The Esmondes, Catholics, were expelled during the Cromwellian years. Johnstown Castle was bought by the Grogan family in 1692. Owner Cornelius Grogan was hanged for his part in the 1798 Rebellion; he had been commissary-general for the

United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association, formed in the wake of the French Revolution, to secure Representative democracy, representative government in Ireland. Despairing of constitutional reform, and in defiance both of British ...

. In 1810 the estate was restored to his brother John Knox Grogan, who, with his son, Hamilton Knox Grogan-Morgan, created Johnstown Castle as it stands today, on the "bones" of the Norman tower house. Daniel Robertson designed the

castle and parts of the surrounding land. By 1863, the demesne was divided in two, with a deer park in the north and the castle, pleasure grounds, farm and two

artificial lakes Artificiality (the state of being artificial, anthropogenic, or man-made) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring nature, naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Co ...

to the south. By 1836–1872 the building was finished. The Grogans later married into the ancient FitzGerald family. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British ...

airship An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...

s were based at Johnstown Castle, and were primarily used to deal with the

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

threat, but with limited success. Lady Maurice FitzGerald (née Lady Adelaide Jane Frances Forbes, 1860–1942), wife of Lord Maurice FitzGerald (son of Charles FitzGerald, 4th Duke of Leinster), was the last owner to live in the house. Following the death of Lady Maurice in November 1942, the Johnstown Estate was inherited by her grandson, Maurice Victor Lakin. He looked to dispose of the Estate and it came to the attention of Wexford County Manager TD Sinnott who recommended that the Minister for Agriculture, James Ryan, acquire the castle for the purpose as an agricultural college. On 1 May 1944, the contents of the castle were sold off at a public auction lasting five days and conducted by Jackson Stops & McCabe. On 17 October 1945, the Johnstown Castle Agricultural College Act was ratified and the castle and Estate were formally handed over to the State by the family in lieu of death duties. The castle was taken over by the Department of Agriculture (later An Foras Talúntais from 1959 and

Teagasc Teagasc (, meaning "Instruction") is the State-sponsored bodies of the Republic of Ireland, semi-state authority in Republic of Ireland, Ireland responsible for research and development, training and advisory services in the agri-food sector. The ...

from 1988) and used for research into soils with laboratories created in the castle. It opened to the public in 2019 following a period of renovation. It is managed by the Irish Heritage Trust under curator Matt Wheeler, and work on conserving and restoring the building continues.

Castle

File:Johnstown Castle.jpg, Frontal view File:Terrace with statues, Johnstown Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1274598.jpg, Terrace with statues File:Johnstown Castle reflected in the lake - geograph.org.uk - 1274572.jpg, Castle reflected in the lake File:Lake and rhododendrons, Johnstown Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1240660.jpg, Lake and

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

s A Gothic Revival castle of 4 storeys. Interior goods include the "Apostles' Hall", with wood carvings of saints, as well as oil paintings, carved oak hall benches,

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

billiard table A billiard table or billiards table is a bounded table on which cue sports are played. In the modern era, all billiards tables (whether for carom billiards, Pool (cue sports), pool, Russian pyramid, pyramid or snooker) provide a flat surface us ...

s, dressing tables, upholstered sofas, fire grates and

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

fenders. A servants' tunnel, in length, runs from the meat house to the kitchens. The former stable yard houses the Irish Agricultural Museum.

References

External links

* {{authority control Castles in County Wexford Gothic Revival architecture in Ireland Gardens in County Wexford