Lord it Up – Georgian Castles and Stately Homes Near Dublin

If the perfect proportions, beautiful plasterwork, and elegant drawing rooms of The Merrion have you hankering for more Georgian gorgeousness, here are six  gems to visit. Ranging from an ancient castle (with Georgian additions), to Ireland’s most perfect Palladian Mansion, all are within an hour of The Merrion Hotel.

 

When Ardgillan Castle was built in 1738, its design harked back to a fashion for imposing battlements and martial-style towers. While, elsewhere, tasteful Lords and Ladies were commissioning sprawling symmetrical Palladian extravaganzas, Ardgillan was still satisfyingly gothic. The parklands are marvellous, with a walled garden, rose garden and ornamental gardens, plus five miles of footpaths and sea views. Open year-round, there are tea rooms, a playground, and visits to the castle are €5 for a self-guided tour. The kitchens are a particularly fascinating trip back in time, and you can also discover the ice house – a precursor to the modern day fridge.

A still-older gem that is well worth seeing is Malahide Castle. It dates back to 1185, when Henry II gave lands to his faithful knight, Richard Talbot. The atmospheric castle, which is said to be populated by numerous ghosts, sneaks into our list because, like so many castles and great houses, it was added to over the centuries. The towers are the Georgian additions. Visit to explore the gardens, including a walled garden and butterfly house, with tickets from €8. There are also shops and a café and The Casino Model Railway Museum. Access to the castle itself is by guided tour, or you could always splash out and hire the gothic great hall for your own private banquet….

Newbridge House brings us to the symmetry we so associate with the heyday of Georgian architecture. Initially built as a retreat for an Archbishop, it was once quite modestly decorated, but when Thomas Cobbe inherited, his glamorous wife, Lady Betty set about transforming the place. Today it has one of the best preserved Georgian interiors in Ireland. Explore everything (tours from €12): from the Cobbe Cabinet of Curiosities, to artworks, fine china and fabulous furniture. There are also formal gardens, parklands and a traditional working farm.

 

By the time we get to Co Wicklow’s Russborough House, we’re in full Palladian mode. Think classic central mansion, with colonnaded wings reaching right and left: designed both to impress, and to draw you in. With a frontage of 210m, it is said to be the longest house in Ireland, but its real fame lies in its ornate plasterwork, by the renowned Lafranchini Brothers, and its art collection. Including works by Rubens, Vermeer, Goya and Gainsborough, the collection became infamous for a series of thefts, from the 1970, right up to 2002. Subsequently recovered, the most valuable pieces are now at the National Gallery, but you can still swoon over marvellous art, and a particularly fine collection of silver and porcelain – visit for €12. The house is absolutely beautiful, and so is the 200 acre park, including a walled garden, maze and serpentine lakes. There is a lovely café, excellent shop, craft courtyard and more. The estate is also home to the National Bird of Prey Centre, so you can marvel at hawks and falcons as well as everything else.

Built by Richard Castle (also known as Cassles), the same architect as Russborough, Powerscourt is another Palladian masterpiece. It was the country house for the Powerscourt Viscounts, who also owned the Powerscourt Townhouse, now a rather lavish speciality shopping centre, a short stroll from The Merrion Hotel. Destroyed by fire in the 1970s, the country mansion has been restored although only two rooms are presented as they would once have been. The rest are shops and cafés, making it a very elegant spot for retail therapy, specialising in homewares, design and garden items. See if you can spot the locations of some of the films shot here, including The Count of Monte Christo and King Arthur, and going all the way back to Laurence Olivier’s Henry V. More recently the Estate has also featured in The Tudors, Vikings and Camelot. Garden visits from €11.50. There is an on-site distillery, where Fercullen whiskey is made, with tours and tastings from €25. Drive further into Wicklow, to visit the stunning Powerscourt Waterfall, Ireland’s highest waterfall, admission €6.50.

 

And finally to Castletown House, in Co Kildare. Ireland’s earliest, and finest Palladian House was saved by Irish Georgian Society founders, Mariga and Desmond Guinness in the 1960s. Desmond Guinness, who died in 2020, recalled it once being so chilly that family and houseguests would wear their warmest winter coats to traverse the corridors to bed. In its heyday it would have been warmed by constantly burning fires, tended by an army of servants. Explore the only fully intact Georgian Print Room in Ireland – where Lady Louisa followed the fashion of the day by pasting prints directly on to the walls, rather like an Eighteenth Century scrapbook. You can also wander through the great halls and galleries, bedrooms and dining halls. An unmissable visit, self-guided house tours cost €8. There are fine pieces of furniture, and look out for three extraordinary coloured chandeliers. These were ordered by Lady Louisa from Venice in the late 1700s, and it is said that she had the Long Gallery specially decorated for their arrival. There are extensive parklands, follies, lodges and a lake. Exhibitions, events and concerts are frequently held on site, and The Concierge at The Merrion can advise guests on making booking.