Barberstown Castle: A Medieval Castle and Hotel in County Kildare
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Ireland
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- British, English
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Barberstown Castle is a medieval castle in Ireland, near Straffan in County Kildare, built by Nicholas Barby around 1288. Its complex incorporates Norman, Elizabethan, and Victorian architectural styles. The Fitzgerald family originally owned the land and also held the castle for a period as feudal lords.
Medieval and early modern ownership
By 1630, the property belonged to William Sutton, a member of one of County Kildare’s leading aristocratic families. In 1689, during the Jacobite-Williamite War, the Irish conflict between supporters of the deposed Catholic king James II and those of William III and Mary II, Barberstown Castle was owned by Lord Kingston.
The Earl of Tyrconnell, Richard Talbot, confiscated the castle because Kingston supported James II, who had been deposed in 1688 and was fighting in Ireland. The Crown then took possession, and royal Commissioners of the Revenue, officials responsible for administering revenue and related property matters, managed the estate. In the late seventeenth century, they leased it to Roger Kelly.
Private ownership and nineteenth-century additions
The property changed hands several times before Bartholomew Vanhomrigh purchased it in 1703 for 1,033 pounds, together with 335 acres of surrounding land. Vanhomrigh had been Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1697 and was the father of Vanessa, who was associated with the writer and churchman Jonathan Swift. He later sold Barberstown Castle to the Henry family.
Financial difficulties led the Henry family to sell the castle to Hugh Barton of the Barton and Guestier wine family. During the 1830s, Barton added a final wing to the building and also constructed Straffan House, which later became associated with the K Club, an Irish country-club and golf resort.
Hotel conversion and modern ownership
In the twentieth century, the Huddleston family sold Barberstown Castle to Norah Devlin, who converted it into a hotel in 1971. The English musician Eric Clapton bought the castle in 1979 and sold it in 1987 to Ken Healy. Healy renovated the building and expanded it from a ten-bedroom guesthouse with three bathrooms into a 59-bedroom, four-star hotel. He is identified as the current owner and lives at the property.
Renovations in 1996 revealed an underground tunnel connecting the castle with the nearby church in Straffan. The tunnel is thought to relate to the period of the Penal Laws, restrictions imposed mainly on Catholics and other non-established religious groups in Ireland. Barberstown Castle has operated as a hotel since 1971.
Remains
Castle fabric and grounds
The castle complex brings together Norman, Elizabethan, and Victorian architectural elements. Its surviving features include a tower and battlements, while Hugh Barton’s wing, added during the 1830s, forms part of the later development of the building. Gardens extend around the castle across 20 acres, approximately 8.1 hectares.
Underground tunnel
An underground tunnel discovered during the 1996 renovations links Barberstown Castle with the church in Straffan. Its proposed connection with the period of the Penal Laws gives the feature a place in the later religious and social history of the property.
