Charleville Castle

OVERVIEW

A Gothic revival castle on the edge of Tullamore beside the River Clodiagh, designed by Francis Johnston and built between 1798 and 1812 for Charles William Bury, later 1st Earl of Charleville. It is widely held to be one of the finest houses of its type in Ireland. The demesne holds the King Oak, a very old oak the Bury family linked to their own fortunes. After decades of dereliction the castle has been held since the 1970s by a trust and its volunteers, who have restored it room by room and open it for tours, weddings and events.

HISTORY

The first mansion on the site was built by Thomas Moore about 1641; the estate passed through Charles Moore, Lord Tullamore, and by marriage into the Bury family, who built the present castle. The family declined through the nineteenth century and the castle was left empty for long periods in the twentieth, losing its roof and much of its interior before restoration began.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

The tradition names a girl called Harriet, said to have died after a fall on a staircase, and places her on the stairs and in the upper rooms. The castle has been filmed by Living TV's Most Haunted, Fox's Scariest Places on Earth and Ghost Hunters International, and photographed by Simon Marsden for his books of haunted places. The entry records a well-established and much-visited tradition; the accounts are those of investigators, volunteers and television crews rather than a contemporary document, and the castle's own trust neither denies nor sells the reputation.

VISITING

Guided tours in season and by arrangement; the castle also hosts weddings, concerts and paranormal events. Check with the Charleville Castle Heritage Trust before travelling.