Castletown House, County Kildare

The dining-room to the left of the hall was created by throwing together two earlier rooms, while at the same time the ground-floor windows were lowered twenty-one inches. It was in the dining-room that legend has it Tom Conolly entertained the devil, whom he had met out hunting and invited back, believing him to be a 'dark stranger' but realising the truth after his guest had removed his boots to reveal hairy feet shaped like cloven hooves. A priest was summoned in haste, he hurled his breviary at the devil missed and cracked a mirror, whereupon the devil took fright and vanished up the chimney, leaving behind a split hearthstone and a cracked mirror to this day.

The green drawing-room, formerly the saloon, has been restored with green silk copied from the original fabric (1765) and gilded fillet copied from Chamber's design for the fillet in the gallery at Osterley Park. It contains a japanned lacquer cabinet that belonged to old Mrs Conolly and is inscribed 'Mrs Conolly to Miss Burten' with drawers painted with charming Italianate scenes. Flanking the door are portraits of Speaker Conolly and his wife Katherine by Jervas. The adjacent print room was created by Lady Louisa Conolly between 1766 and 1768 with the help of her sister Sarah. The fashion for pasting engravings and mezzo tints onto walls during the long winter days became very popular at that time. The print room at Castle town is possibly the earliest to survive - it is certainly the only one that still exists in Ireland. Used as the billiard room in the last century, it now contains Louis XVI furniture with Aesop's fables in tapestry, a gift to Castletown which looks very well here.

Apparently inspired by her success in the print room, Louisa Conolly decided to redecorate the long gallery - an eighty-foot-long room on the first floor directly above the garden front enfilade. She had the old plaster panels 'knocked off smack smooth' and Pompeian decoration painted onto the walls by two English artists, Charles Reuban Riley and Thomas Riley, between 1775 and 1777. Plans to remove the old Pearce ceiling and frieze were dropped and the ceiling was instead redecorated with colours matching the walls. The glass chandeliers from Murano near Venice were bought to match the room's colour, though Louisa was disappointed when they arrived, claiming they were the wrong blue.

Four doors once led into the room but after remodelling there was only one entrance, although another blind door had been created to disguise the fact that the landing entrance was placed off centre. The lunette above the doors is copied from Guido Reni's 'Aurora', while the portrait of Tom Conolly over the mantelpiece at the end of the room was painted in 1758 by Mengs in Rome. A visitor in 1778 found the room furnished in the most delightful manner with fine glasses, books, musical instruments, billiard table - in short, everything that you can think of . . . and though so large it is so well fitted that it is the warmest, most comfortable looking place I ever saw and they tell me they live in it quite in the winter, for the servants can bring in dinners at one end without anyone hearing at the other.'

Tom Conolly died in 1803 but Lady Louisa lived on for many years. She eventually died in 1821, seated in a tent erected on the lawn in front of Castletown, for it was her wish that she should go looking at the house she had loved so much. The house then passed to the grandson of Tom Conolly's sister Harriett, Colonel Edward Michael Pakenham, who changed his name to Conolly. He was succeeded in 1848 by his son Thomas Conolly (1823-76), and later in turn by both of his sons. Upon the death of Major Conolly in 1956, Castletown was inherited by Lord Carew who put it up for auction in 1965.

The land was bought by property speculators who proceeded to build a housing estate beside the 250-year-old lime avenue. Ultimately in 1967 the decaying house and 120 acres were bought in the eleventh hour by Desmond Guinness in order to save Castletown for posterity. It became the headquarters of the Irish Georgian Society, who with the help of weekend volunteers and money raised at home and abroad managed to repair the building and refurnish some of the rooms. In 1990 it was acquired by the Office of Public Works and its future is now finally assured, although the battle to recover its dispersed contents may be waged for generations to come.

Located 1 mile north east of Celbridge. NGR: N 980342.
Refreshments available. Toilet facilities.
Admission charge. Tel: (01) 6288252.

From the Appletree Press title: Irish Country Houses.