Clonbrock Castle Desmene Today

The Castle, still in restoration, seen behind the restored Gardener’s quarters, now serving as cottages for guests

I walked the grounds owned by Beverly and Jonathan Baylis today. The grounds which make up the current desmene of the Castle, which is far less than the 29,500 acres which were owned by Lord Clonbrock and his family.

Most of that has been sold in large parcels to local farmers who run their cattle on the lush, giant fields. The Baylis’s have procured a lovely corner of the original lands, which include river frontage, woodlands, the ruins of the substantial stables and some pasturage. It is largely untouched, due to its size, but what has been “tamed” is lovely indeed.

Starting on the inside of the renovated garden, we see the corner tower, Lady Gregory’s Tower
She may or may not have stayed there. This bust is meant to be a representation of the woman.

Along this wall we see the remains of espaliered apple trees. The man I spoke with who has been doing all of the masonry repair on the castle itself told me that during the height of the estate, there were 57 gardeners living and working on the grounds.

Here, we are looking across the lawn to what was originally the Head Gardener’s home. It is now where Beverly and Jonathan live. The cottage where I am staying has been created out of a line of smaller cottages where the Master gardening team would have lived.

The rest of the gardener’s were most likely scattered around the estate, though through this entrance in the wall, to a “secret garden”, there are also the ruins of a greenhouse and a couple of cottages.

You can see the remnants of a fireplace in the back

Leaving the walled-in Gardener’s area we come to some of the rich lands which were stolen from the Irish and deeded to Sir Henry de Leon, ancestor of the Dillon family (later made the Earls of Clonbrock), for his support of the Earl of Moreton, (later King John of England) to establish his Lordship of Ireland in 1185. You can see why it was such a gift. Look at those Oaks!

The Castle was built by Tadhg Caoch O’Ceallaigh shortly after 1469, when he was proclaimed Chieftain of half of the Ui Main, a vast tract of land laying between Lough Corrib and the Shannon River. The entire region had belonged to the O’Kelly’s since at least the 4th Century, when Main Mor, a chief of the Clan Culla in Ulter, conquered this part of Connacht. Somehow, between 1754 and 1610, the Dillon family, of whom Thomas Dillon had become Chief Justice of Connacht, managed to take possession of the Castle and lands.

The pasturage is fertile, there is water, ample sunshine, and it’s on the fringes of “The Pale” (the far outskirts of Dublin), making it a fashionable location.

For my part, I wished I had one of those excellent Irish horses I see daily so that I might have gone for a gallop across the fields.

Instead, still on foot, I turned off into this little lane passing the ruins of this gatekeeper’s cottage and heading toward the river

where I disturbed this poor doe, who had been bedded down under the old bridge I was standing on as I took the picture. She was so fast that I barely had time to catch her image.