Castletown

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

The 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.

The Mill