Clonyn Castle, Delvin, Co. Westmeath

Download this image

More from this collection

Related by When

Related by Where

Research Help!

Where: Westmeath, Ireland

Try to find the spot where the photographer was standing.

When: Unknown

Try to find the date or year when this image was made.
Charming Clonyn Castle brings our week to a close. As the location for the 'famous' novel "The Valley of the Squinting Windows' there are lots of windows to squint through in this fine pile. Is it still there and if so in what condition?

Thanks to our typically helpful contributors, we know that Clonyn Castle is indeed standing, and in fact remains a private home. We also learned of it's temporary use, after WWII, as a home for recuperating children who had survived the holocaust...


Photographer: Robert French

Collection: Lawrence Photograph Collection

Date: between ca. 1865-1914

NLI Ref: L_CAB_03198

You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie

Info:

Owner: National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Source: Flickr Commons
Views: 17590
robertfrench williamlawrence lawrencecollection lawrencephotographicstudio glassnegative nationallibraryofireland clonyncastle delvin ireland brinsleymcnamara thevalleyofthesquintingwindows solomonschonfeld countywestmeath baronofdelvin lawrencephotographcollection

Add Tags
  • profile

    sharon.corbet

    • 26/Aug/2016 07:40:23

    It's still there (closest Streetview), and still in good condition.

  • profile

    National Library of Ireland on The Commons

    • 26/Aug/2016 07:56:12

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] Very impressive, thank you Sharon!

  • profile

    ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq

    • 26/Aug/2016 08:12:23

    "In May 1949, one hundred Jewish children, who had miraculously survived the Holocaust, were brought to Clonyn Castle, Westmeath for a year, to recuperate from the traumas of the war. Few of them could speak English, or even one another's languages, and yet Clonyn was to become, briefly, a haven for them. .... " From www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/clonyncastle.html More - www.thejc.com/arts/books/66642/rabbis-restoration-tale And - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonyn_Castle en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Schonfeld

  • profile

    Carol Maddock

    • 26/Aug/2016 09:42:32

    Mentioned in a case in the Land Court in Dublin in May 1890, that was reported on a few months later...

    ONLY AN OLD CASTLE The Nugents of Clonyn, Westmeath ... Mr. E. White, on the part of the Receiver over the estate, Mr. Matthew Weld O'Connor, applied for directions as to the repairing of Clonyn Castle, in the county Westmeath. An affidavit of the Receiver stated that Mr. J. M. Miller, of Brunswick-street, architect, who had been employed by him to examine the castle, had found it to be in a very bad condition, many of the floors being quite rotten. Sanitary and plumbing repairs alone would cost £451, and it would take £2,000 more to make the castle generally water-tight and safe. Mr. Henry Richards (instructed by Messrs. B. Whitney & Co.), on the part of the owner, the Hon. P. Greville Nugent, opposed any expenditure whatever being incurred. The castle was an immense structure, and required rebuilding rather than repairing. No on could be got who would take it at anything like an adequate rent. It was let at present 1890 at £100 a year, one-half of which was to be given back for repairs. An expenditure of £2,000 was out of the question. Mr. Herbert Shaw (instructed by Messrs. Longfield, Kelly, and Armstrong) appeared for the Marquise de la Bedoyere, who was an incumbrancer on the estate for £32,000, and also tenant for life in remainder. She also opposed any expenditure on the castle unless it should be postponed to her incumbrance and the interest thereon. No one having less than £10,000 a year could reside in the castle. Mr. Justice Monroe declined to order any repairs to be made.
    (The Nation on Saturday, 23 August 1890)

  • profile

    ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq

    • 26/Aug/2016 11:17:05

    Some more "Clonyn" newspaper cuttings via Trove - 1892 - Assault In A Railway Carriage by the fifth son ("on the Brighton Line"- 3 years before Wilde's TIOBE) - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197974847 1892 - Six months prison with hard labour - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/39464474 1923 - 'Norman' castle burned - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/64184452 1927 - Purchased by Australian nuns (!!) for novitiates - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107970451

  • profile

    oaktree_brian_1976

    • 27/Aug/2016 00:14:29

    From the Library of Congress. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042414/1922-07-07/ed-... quite the battle during the civil war in 1922 there also. Republican surrender to the Free State Forces.

  • profile

    DannyM8

    • 27/Aug/2016 22:00:01

    Are there no Dogs left in your archives???

  • profile

    silverio10

    • 28/Aug/2016 20:59:21

    Buena serie de fotos antiguas .

  • profile

    National Library of Ireland on The Commons

    • 28/Aug/2016 21:13:15

    Thanks all! (Muchas gracias :) ) Description, map, tags, etc all updated.