Lough Cutra Castle is a privately owned 19th-century castle located near

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 2,800 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 road (Ireland), R458 and R460 ...

in south

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

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 ...

. The castle was designed by English architect John Nash for Colonel

Charles Vereker, 2nd Viscount Gort Charles Vereker, 2nd Viscount Gort Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire) (1768 – 11 November 1842), known as Charles Vereker until 1817, was an Irish soldier and politician. Background Gort was the son of Thomas Vereker by Juliana, daughter of C ...

. Construction started in 1811 and was completed in 1817. The castle was later acquired by and a residence of

Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough Field Marshal Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough, (3 November 1779 – 2 March 1869) was a senior British Army officer. After serving as a junior officer at the seizure of the Cape of Good Hope during the French Revolutionary Wars, Gough commanded ...

. The castle was purchased by

Standish Vereker, 7th Viscount Gort Standish Robert Gage Prendergast Vereker, 7th Viscount Gort, (12 February 1888 – 21 May 1975) was an Anglo-Irish peer, connoisseur and collector of fine art, antiques, and objets d'art, whose seat was at Hamsterley Hall, County Durham. He was a ...

in 1952 and restored by Sir Humphry Wakefield, then husband of Gort's great-niece the Hon. Elizabeth Sidney.

Location

Lough Cutra Castle is located south of

beside Lough Cutra lake on an area of 600 acres. The lake is 1000 acres in size and is Europe's largest privately owned lake. The Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon, which is part of the ''Castle Race Series'', has been held every May since 2012 in the grounds of the castle, with those grounds open to the public for the event.

Visitors

During their

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

to Ireland in May 2015, future king

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

and

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. Camilla was raised in East Sussex and South Kensington i ...

, stayed at the castle over three days and hosted a state dinner for 18 guests in the castle dining room, guests included the

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

Michael D. Higgins Michael Daniel Higgins (; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, broadcaster, and sociologist who has been serving as the president of Ireland since 2011. Entering national politics through the Labour Party, he served as a senator ...

and his wife Sabina.

References

External links

Official Site
Castles in County Galway {{Ireland-castle-stub