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Castletown House
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Castletown House was built in 1722.There were a lot of owners of
Castletown House but it was originally owned byWilliam Connolly who was a speaker in the House of Parliament.Castletown House contains 100 rooms and almost each room has a secret passage way. It also has 229 windows. It is 400 feet long and 60 feet wide. It was built by Irish craftsmen using Irish materials.
In 1783 the window cleaner was paid £3:10:0 for his three weeks work.
The butlers were paid £13 per year, cooks £12, coachmen £11, gardeners £10, kitchen maids £3, and cow keepers £3.
Castletown Gates were built in 1783 by Lady Louisa Connolly at a cost of
£16:18:6. They are still one of the main features of Celbridge Village. |
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There are lots of stories about Castletown House but our favourite story
is the devils story.There are two versions of this story.
A large mirror hung on the wall in the dining room- also called the Red
Room. One day a girl walked into the room to have a look around. Now,she wasn't actually supposed to be in this room as it was cursed . She looked into the large mirror and saw the devil. The mirror then cracked. A priest attempted to bless the house and banish the curse of the devil. However it didn't work because any mirror that has since been put on the wall has cracked.
One day a man was out walking. He went into Castletown house and
brought a stranger with him. They began to play cards. During the game the first man dropped a card. He bent down to pick it up. As he was picking up the card he saw two hooves at the strangers feet. It was the devil. As soon as the devil realised that he had been recognised he disappeared, the only thing left was red smoke and a cracked mirror. |