Castletown House

  • In 1722 Speaker Conolly started building Castletown House which is Ireland's largest eighteenth century country mansion. It contains one hundred magnificent rooms with 229 windows.
  • As the estate was self supporting it required brewers, bakers, weavers, carpenters, dairy maids, stable boys, gardeners, coachmen and masons.
  • The butlers were paid £13 per year, cooks £12, coachmen £11, gardeners £10, kitchen maids £3 and cowkeepers £3.

Castletown Gates

PictureThe Sphinx on Castletown Gates
Castletown gates stand at one end of the Main Street of Celbridge. They were built in 1783 by Lady Louisa Conolly at a cost of £17. On top of each magnificent pier rests the statue of a sphinx - a figure with the body of a lion and the face of a human. Inside the gates is a splendid avenue of lime trees which leads to Castletown House.

Did You Know?

  • When Speaker Connolly came to Celbridge in 1709, he said the people were all beggars.
  • Speaker Connolly had a alary of £25,000 and was the richest man in Ireland at the time.
  • On top of each pier of Castletown Gates rests the statue of a sphinx - a figure with the body of a lion and the face of a human.