DiCamillo Companion
Ireland

Charleville Castle (Charleville Forest) (Charleville Forest Castle) (Redwood)

Cabra, near Tullamore

Co. Offaly

Ireland

Circa Date: 1800-12 w/20th century alterations

Status: Fully Extant

House Open to Public: Yes

Country House: Yes

This house has been used for TV and Film

The house from an early 20th century postcard

  • Earlier Houses: Redwood, an earlier 17th century house on a different site, was replaced by the current house.

    Built / Designed For: 1st Earl of Charleville

    House & Family History: Charleville is noted for its unusually slender round tower (125 feet tall) and its gallery, which runs the entire length of the garden facade and features spectacular plaster fan vaulting. The dining room has a fireplace that incorporates the design of the west door of the chapel at Magdalen College, Oxford. Beginning in 1912, with the departure of Lady Emily, the last surviving daughter of the 4th Earl of Charleville, the house was left empty for 68 years. By 1968 Charleville's roof had been removed; in 1970 a 35-year lease for the castle and surrounding 200 acres was granted by the heir of the secondary family line, David Hutton-Bury (who owned and lived on the estate adjacent to the castle), to Michael McMullen, who lived in the castle and began its restoration in the early 1980s, during which time he restored the six main public rooms. In 1987 Bridget Vance and her mother, Constance Vance-Heavey, took over the leasehold from McMullen and continued the restoration. The castle is also used as the site of Quest Campus, a university and transatlantic educational initiative.

    Comments: Mark Bence-Jones: "The finest and most spectacular early 19th century castle in Ireland, Francis Johnston's Gothic masterpiece..." The gallery has "...one of the most splendid Gothic Revival interiors in Ireland..."

  • Architect: Francis Johnston

    Date: 1800-12
    Designed: House for 1st Earl of Charleville

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  • Country Life: CXXXII, 710, 1962.

  • Title: Guide to Irish Country Houses, A
    Author: Bence-Jones, Mark
    Year Published: 1988
    Reference: pg. 82
    Publisher: London: Constable and Company
    ISBN: 0094699909
    Book Type: Hardback

  • House Listed: Unknown

    Park Listed: Unknown

  • "The Scariest Places on Earth" (2001 - episode 1.20, "Charleville: Haunted Irish Castle Dare" [aka "The Ulrich Family"]). "The Scariest Places on Earth" (2001 - episode 1.32, "Return to Charleville: The Haunted Irish Castle Dare, Part II [Benes Family]"). "Most Haunted" (2002 - TV documentary, episode 1.16). "Most Haunted Unseen" (2004 - TV documentary, based on episode 1.16). "Becoming Jane" (2007 - as the interiors of Lady Gresham's house). "Northanger Abbey" (2007 - Granada Television production).

  • Past Seat / Home of: SEATED AT CURRENT HOUSE: Charles William Bury, 1st Earl of Charleville, 1800-35; Charles William Bury, 2nd Earl of Charleville, 1835-51; Charles William George Bury, 3rd Earl of Charleville, 1851-59; Charles William Francis Bury, 4th Earl of Charleville, 1859-74; Bury family here until 1912. McMullen family, late 20th century.

    Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

    Primary Current Ownership Use: Mixed Use

    Ownership Details: Owned by the Hutton-Bury family and leased by the Charleville Estate Company to the Charleville Castle Heritage Trust in perpetuity.

  • House Open to Public: Yes

    Phone: 353-050-621-279

    Email: [email protected]

    Website: http://www.charlevillecastle.com

    Historic Houses Member: No

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