Shankill Castle and Gardens is set in parkland near Paulstown on the Carlow/Kilkenny border. Visitors are invited to walk in the grounds and gardens, and there are guided tours of the house. [1]
Shankill Castle started as a Butler tower-house near the ruins of an old church. Peter Aylward bought the lands from his wife's family, the Butlers, in 1708, and it was rebuilt and set in a formal landscape with a vista to the front and canal to the rear. In the 19th century, it was enlarged and castellated, serpentine bays added to the canal, and an unusual polyhedral sundial given a place of pride on a sunken lawn. Other additions were a gothic porch bearing the Aylward crest and a conservatory. [2] The stable-yard and the castellated entrance to the demesne are attributed to Daniel Robertson. The interior preserves much of its 18th-century character and features including a Georgian staircase, Gothic plasterwork, and a Victorian drawing-room.
A branch of the Butler family, the Toler-Aylwards resided at Shankill until 1991 and some still live in the area of Kilkenny. Shankill is now home to the artist Elizabeth Cope [3] [4] and her husband Geoffrey. They have three children Phoebe Cope McCosh, [5] Reuben Cope, and Sybil Cope. Shankill Castle hosts a residency programme for artists and creative professionals through ResArtis. [6]
In the garden, there are remnants of 18th-century lime alles, 19th-century laurel lawns. There are some Victorian favourites such as the now gigantic sequoias and 20th-century, self-sown ash trees. The moated garden, once a rose garden then forgotten and planted with Sitka spruces is now a spring garden, and the graveyard blooms all year round. The walled garden has an apple arch under-planted with red tulips and some antique goblet-shaped pear trees trained against a mellow brick wall.
Around Shankill Castle Gardens there are 3 significant trees which are included in the Tree Register of Ireland, [7] compiled by the Tree Council of Ireland. [8] These include a Commoime, a Wellingtonia Giant Sequoia and two Cupressus macrocarpa.
County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the county. At the 2022 census the population of the county was 103,685. The county was based on the historic Gaelic kingdom of Ossory (Osraighe), which was coterminous with the Diocese of Ossory.
Kilkenny is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2022 census gave the population of Kilkenny as 27,184.
Shankill is an outlying suburb of Dublin, Ireland, situated in the local government area of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. Located in the southeast of the traditional County Dublin, close to the border with County Wicklow, it has a population of 14,257. It runs from the coast, between Loughlinstown and Bray, inland towards the foothills of the Dublin Mountains. Shankill borders Rathmichael, as well as Loughlinstown, Killiney, Ballybrack and Bray in County Wicklow. It is part of the Civil Parish of Rathmichael and contains the formerly separate district of Shanganagh, and in its southern parts, the locality of Crinken.
Kilkenny Castle is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland, built in 1260 to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways. It was a symbol of Norman occupation, and in its original 13th-century condition, it would have formed an important element of the town's defences with four large circular corner towers and a massive ditch, part of which can still be seen today on the Parade.
Thomastown, historically known as Grennan, is a town in County Kilkenny in the province of Leinster in the south-east of Ireland. It is a market town along a stretch of the River Nore which is known for its salmon and trout, with a number of historical landmarks in the vicinity. Visitor attractions include Jerpoint Abbey, Kilfane Glen gardens, and Mount Juliet Golf Course.
Foulksrath Castle is a 14th-century Anglo-Norman tower house located in Jenkinstown in County Kilkenny, Ireland.
Castlecomer is a town in the north of County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is positioned at the meeting of N78 and R694 roads about 16 km (9.9 mi) north of Kilkenny city. At the 2016 census of the Central Statistics Office, the town's population included 1,502 people.
Gowran is a town located on the eastern side of County Kilkenny, Ireland. The historic St. Mary's Collegiate Church is located in the centre of Gowran close to Gowran Castle. Gowran Park race course and Golf Course are located one km from the centre of Gowran. Gowran is located on the R448 regional road where it is crossed by the R702 regional road.
Luscombe Castle is a country house situated near the resort town of Dawlish, in the county of Devon in England. Upon purchasing the land at Luscombe in 1797, Charles Hoare demolished the existing house and commissioned architects John Nash and Humphrey Repton to design a new house and gardens at the site. Nash and Repton came up with an asymmetrical designed building made from Portland stone, with castellated parapets, turrets and pinnacles to create the feel of a picturesque castle.
Woodstock House and Estate is a derelict Georgian house and estate located near Inistioge, County Kilkenny, Ireland, on the west bank of the River Nore. The Ladies of Llangollen story began here and Mary Tighe died here. The house was destroyed by presumed arson after it was used a billet by the British army. The house is still a ruin but the gardens are open to the public.
Paulstown is a small village in County Kilkenny in Ireland.
Mildred Anne Butler was an Irish artist, who worked in watercolour and oil of landscape, genre and animal subjects. Butler was born and spent most of her life in Kilmurry, Thomastown, County Kilkenny and was associated with the Newlyn School of painters.
Huntington Castle, also known as Clonegal Castle, is a castle in Clonegal, County Carlow, Ireland, built in 1625.
Margaret Butler, Countess of Ormond, Countess of Ossory was an Irish noblewoman and a member of the powerful and celebrated FitzGerald dynasty also known as "The Geraldines". She married Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, by whom she had three sons and six daughters.
Butler is the name of a noble family whose members were, for several centuries, prominent in the administration of the Lordship of Ireland and the Kingdom of Ireland. They rose to their highest prominence as Dukes of Ormonde. The family has produced multiple titles such as Baron Cahir, Baron Dunboyne, Viscount Ikerrin, Viscount Galmoye, Viscount Mountgarret, Viscount Thurles, Earl of Carrick, Earl of Kilkenny, Earl of Ormond, Earl of Ossory, Marquess of Ormonde and Duke of Ormonde. Variant spellings of the name include le Boteler and le Botiller. The Butlers were descendants of Anglo-Norman lords who participated in the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. The surname has its origins in the hereditary office of "Butler (cup-bearer) of Ireland", originating with Theobald Walter, 1st Chief Butler of Ireland. The arms of later family members depicted three cups in recognition of their original office.
Kiltinan Castle is a castle near Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland.
The High Sheriff of County Kilkenny was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Kilkenny, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Kilkenny County Sheriff. The sheriff had judicial, electoral, ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs. In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence. However, the sheriff retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in the county. The usual procedure for appointing the sheriff from 1660 onwards was that three persons were nominated at the beginning of each year from the county and the Lord Lieutenant then appointed his choice as High Sheriff for the remainder of the year. Often the other nominees were appointed as under-sheriffs. Sometimes a sheriff did not fulfil his entire term through death or other event and another sheriff was then appointed for the remainder of the year. The dates given hereunder are the dates of appointment. All addresses are in County Kilkenny unless stated otherwise.
St. Mary’s Collegiate Church Gowran, also known as the Church of the Blessed Virgin of the Assumption, is a church in the centre of the town of Gowran, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The site is a National Monument in the care of the Gowran Development Association (GDA) and the Office of Public Works (OPW). The church and its family connections have been of huge importance to Gowran and further afield over the centuries. The church is a collegiate church, which means that the priests or chaplains attached to it lived in community together. The present church was not a monastery or an abbey; however experts believe the church was built on the site of an earlier monastery. The presence of an Ogham stone on the site, which is on display in the chancel, suggests there was a place of worship here dating back 2000 years to Celtic times or beyond.
Butler House is an 18th-century Georgian Dower house located in Kilkenny, Ireland. It is currently working as a 4-star hotel and conference centre.
Gowran is a barony in the east of County Kilkenny, Ireland. The size of the barony is 430.5 square kilometres (166.2 sq mi). There are 35 civil parishes in Gowran. The chief town today is Gowran. The barony contains the ecclesiastical sites of Kilfane and Duiske Abbey The barony of Gowran is situated in the east of the county between the baronies of Fassadinin to the north, the baronies of Kilkenny, Shillelogher and Knocktopher to the west, and the barony of Ida is to the south. It borders County Carlow to the east. The M9 motorway bisects the barony.