Huntington Castle, also known asClonegal Castle, is a castle inClonegal,County Carlow,Ireland, built in 1625.
It is now a private house open to the public for guided tours throughout June, July, August and September.
The structure was originally a "plantation castle",[1] used for defensive purposes during theplantation of the area in the early 17th century. The original tower house, which served as a garrison, was built in the 15th century as a stronghold for the Caviness family, an old Irish clan. Due to the strategic importance of the village of Clonegal during theCromwellian conquest of Ireland because of its location on the road betweenDublin andWexford, the castle was captured byOliver Cromwell as he marched onKilkenny[2] in 1650.
The house was extended circa 1880 to include a seven bay two storey wing.[3]
The house and grounds were redecorated by Manning Durdin Robertson in 1933 in a modern style including a new boat house, removal of battlements and reconstruction of the gateway.[4]
It was the setting for Stanley Kubrick's filmBarry Lyndon. Its basement has been the base of a religion, theFellowship of Isis, since 1976,[5] The castle hosted the Solas Festival in August 2008,[6] co-founded byOlivia Robertson, her brother Lawrence Durdin-Robertson and his wife Pamela. The castle is now owned by Alexander and Claire Durdin Robertson.
The Esmonde family laid out most of the gardens in the 17th century. This includes the French limes on the Avenue, theparterre or lawns to the side of the house, the fish ponds on either side of the centre walk through the wilderness and the majority of yew trees which comprise the Yew Walk. Larger plantings have resulted in Huntington possessing a number of great Irish trees, including varieties of hickory, acut leaved oak,Siberian crab andbuckeye chestnut. A lake at the bottom of the wilderness was built for ornamental purposes but next to it is one of the earliestwater turbine houses in Ireland, providing Huntington with its own electricity as early as 1888. TheRiver Derry, which forms the boundary between Counties Wexford and Carlow, flows along the bottom of the wilderness, providing a pleasant setting for woodland walks.
52°41′23″N6°38′55″W / 52.6898°N 6.6486°W /52.6898; -6.6486
