Lismore Castle (Lismore, Ireland)
There has been a castle at Lismore ever since 1185 when Prince John built a “castellum” on the present site. When John became King of England he handed the Castle over to the Church and it was used as a Bishop’s Palace until 1589. In 1589 the Castle was leased and later bought outright by Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1602, he sold Lismore to Richard Boyle, who later became the first Earl of Cork. Richard Boyle’s youngest son, Robert Boyle, the philosopher and father of modern chemistry, was born at Lismore in 1626. In 1753, the Castle and its lands passed to the fourth Duke of Devonshire following his marriage in 1748 to Lady Charlotte Boyle, the only surviving daughter and heiress of the fourth Earl of Cork (1695-1753). The sixth Duke (1790-1858), known as the bachelor Duke, undertook the most extensive restoration of the Castle. In 1823, Joseph Paxton (1801-1868) was employed as under gardener. Botanist, inventor, engineer, architect, town planner, and railway promoter, Paxton designed the Crystal Palace for Great Exhibition of 1851. It was he who played a leading part, between 1840 and 1858, in creating Lismore Castle and Gardens as they are today. Adele Astaire, Fred Astaire’s sister Adele Astaire, Fred Astaire’s sister, married Lord Charles Cavendish and lived in the Castle between 1932 and 1944. The present owners are Lord and Lady Burlington. The Castle is their private family home and is not open to visitors.
Contact
Lismore Castle, -, Telephone: +353(58)54424 | Fax: +353(58)54896 | Official site