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Lismore Castle () is a castle located in the town of Lismore,
County Waterford County Waterford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. ...
,
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 ...
. It belonged to the
Earls of Desmond Earl of Desmond ( meaning Earl of South Munster) is a title of nobility created by the English monarch in the peerage of Ireland. The title has been created four times. It was first awarded in 1329 to Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, Maur ...
, the Earls of Cork, and then to the Cavendish family from 1753. It is currently the Irish home of the Duke of Devonshire. The first castle on the site was built in 1185, and replaced, twice, in the 16th century. It was largely rebuilt in the Gothic style during the mid-nineteenth century for the 6th Duke of Devonshire.


Early history

Built as the sister castle to Ardfinnan Castle in 1185 by the Lord of Ireland, Prince John of England to guard the river crossing, the castle site was originally occupied by Lismore Abbey, an important monastery and seat of learning established in the early 7th century. It was still an ecclesiastical centre when King Henry II of England stayed here in 1171, and except for a brief period after 1185 (when he had assigned his son King John of England to build a 'castellum' here) when it served as the episcopal residence of the local bishop. It was a possession of the
Earls of Desmond Earl of Desmond ( meaning Earl of South Munster) is a title of nobility created by the English monarch in the peerage of Ireland. The title has been created four times. It was first awarded in 1329 to Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, Maur ...
, whose lands were broken up during the plantations following the killing of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, in 1583. In 1589, Lismore was leased and later acquired by
Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...
. Raleigh sold the property during his imprisonment for High Treason in 1602 to Richard Boyle, who was later made the 1st Earl of Cork in 1620.


Earls of Cork and Burlington

Boyle came to the
Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland (; , ) was a dependent territory of Kingdom of England, England and then of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain from 1542 to the end of 1800. It was ruled by the monarchs of England and then List of British monarchs ...
from the
Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...
in 1588 with only twenty-seven pounds in capital and proceeded to amass an extraordinary fortune. After purchasing Lismore he made it his principal seat and transformed it into a magnificent residence with impressive gabled ranges each side of the courtyard. He also built a castellated outer wall and a gatehouse known as the Riding Gate. The principal apartments were decorated with fretwork plaster ceilings, tapestry hangings, embroidered silks and velvet. It was here in 1626 that Robert Boyle, ''the Father of Modern Chemistry'', the fourteenth of the Earl's fifteen children, was born. The castle eventually descended to the 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork (1694-1753), who was a noted influence on
Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchs of the House of Han ...
(and is usually known in architectural histories as the Earl of Burlington). Lismore featured in the Cromwellian wars when, in 1645, a force of Catholic confederacy commanded by Lord Castlehaven sacked the town and castle. Some restoration was carried out by the 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd Earl of Cork ( 16121698) to make it habitable again, but neither he nor his successors lived at Lismore.


Dukes of Devonshire

The castle (along with other Boyle properties –
Chiswick House Chiswick House is a Neo-Palladian style villa in the Chiswick district of London, England. A "glorious" example of Neo-Palladian architecture in west London, the house was designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753 ...
, Burlington House, Bolton Abbey and Londesborough Hall) was acquired by the Cavendish family in 1753 when Lady Charlotte Boyle ( 1731- 1754), the daughter and heiress of the 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, married the Marquess of Hartington, who later became, in 1755, the 4th Duke of Devonshire (1720-1764), a future
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
of the
Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...
. Their son, the 5th Duke ( 17481811), carried out improvements at Lismore, notably the bridge across the River Blackwater in 1775 which was designed by Cork-born architect Thomas Ivory. The 6th Duke (1790–1858), commonly known as 'the Bachelor Duke', was responsible for the castle's present appearance. He began transforming the castle into a fashionable 'quasi-feudal ultra-regal fortress' as soon as he succeeded his father in 1811, engaging the architect William Atkinson from 1812 to 1822 to rebuild the castle in the Gothic style, using cut stone shipped over from Derbyshire. Lismore was always the Bachelor Duke's favourite residence, but as he grew older his love for the place developed into a passion. In 1850 he engaged his architect Sir Joseph Paxton, the designer of the Crystal Palace, to carry out improvements and additions to the castle on a magnificent scale – so much so that the present skyline is largely Paxton's work. At this time, J. G. Crace of London, the leading maker of
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 ...
furniture, and his partner, the leading architect A. W. N. Pugin, were commissioned to transform the ruined chapel of the old Bishop's Palace into a medieval-style banqueting hall, with a huge perpendicular stained-glass window, choir-stalls and Gothic stenciling on the walls and roof timbers. The chimney-piece, which was exhibited at the Medieval Court of the
Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...
of 1851, was also designed by Pugin (and Myers) but was originally intended for Horsted Place in
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
; it was rejected because it was too elaborate and subsequently bought for Lismore – the Barchard family emblems later replaced with the present Irish inscription ''Cead Mille Fáilte'': 'a hundred thousand welcomes'. Pugin also designed other chimney-pieces and furnishings in the castle and, after his death in 1851, Crace continued to supply furnishings in the Puginesque manner. In 1858, the Cavendish family sponsored a new bridge over the Blackwater, which replaced the one built in 1775. This new construction followed designs by Charles Tarrant and was done by E. P. Nagle and C. H. Hunt. After the death of the 6th Duke in 1858, Lismore remained substantially unaltered. It became the home of a younger son of the 9th Duke, Lord Charles Cavendish, who married Adele Astaire, the sister and former dancing partner of Fred Astaire. After her husband's death in 1944 and her remarriage in 1947, Adele continued to use the castle until shortly before her own death in 1981. The castle was only used by the 11th Duke of Devonshire for brief annual visits, generally over Easter. In the last years of his tenure it was made available for short-term rent. The 12th Duke, who succeeded to the title in 2004, continues to live primarily on the family's Chatsworth estate. His son and heir, Lord Burlington, who has an apartment in the castle, has been given management of it, and in 2005 converted the derelict west range into a contemporary art gallery, known as Lismore Castle Arts. The remainder of the interior is not open to the public, but is available for hire by groups of up to twenty-three visitors. The castle features gardens, which are open to the public. The upper garden is a 17th-century walled garden, while much of the informal lower garden was designed in the 19th century. Under Lord Burlington the planting has been enhanced, and contemporary sculpture added, including works by Sir Antony Gormley, Marzia Colonna and Eilís O'Connell.


References

Notes Sources *Terence R Smyth. (1994). ''Irish Country Houses'' *Megan Aldrich, ‘Crace, John Gregory (1809–1889)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004


Further reading

* Murdoch, Tessa (ed.) (2022). ''Great Irish Households: Inventories from the Long Eighteenth Century''. Cambridge: John Adamson, pp. 19–23


External links


Official siteLismore Heritage CentreLismore Castle Arts gallery in West Wing of Lismore Castle
{{Authority control 1185 establishments in Europe Buildings and structures completed in 1185 1180s establishments in Ireland 12th-century fortifications Castles in County Waterford Gardens in County Waterford Art museums and galleries in the Republic of Ireland Contemporary art galleries in Ireland Historic houses in County Waterford Lismore, County Waterford Robert Boyle John, King of England