About Crodaun

Lady Louisa Conolly (1743 – 1821) was an English-born Irish noblewoman and one of the famous Lennox sisters who lived at nearby Carton House, she was notable for leading a very good and charitable life. Her 200th Anniversary was celebrated here in Celbridge during August. Louisa was only 8 years old when her parents died within a year of each other, her great grandfather was Charles II of England. In 1759, aged 15, Lady Louisa Lennox married young Tom Conolly.

To celebrate her arrival at Castletown, the Oak Trees at our Phase 2 entrance were planted along the entrance nearest to Carton House in 1759. Coincidentally, 1759 is the “Guinness-Year”.

Tom Conolly inherited Castletown from his grand-uncle, William Conolly who was also the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and after whom the “Speaker” Bar is named on the Main Street. On inheriting Castletown, the house was not of today’s standard of decoration or size. Lady Louise devoted her lifetime right up to her death to developing the house as we see it today.

Louisa brought the latest fashions to Castletown, she employed the famed LaFrancini brothers to decorate her Italianate stair hall with some of the most sumptuous plasterwork in all Ireland ; she brought an English artist named Riley to decorate her new Long Gallery in the newly fashionable Pompeiian style.

The Glass Chandeliers in this room were made on the famous island of Murano close by to Venice.

Her two drawing rooms along the ground floor haveceilings by Serlio and Isaac Ware, Italian marble fireplaces and richly woven silk wall coverings are a joy to behold.

Tom and Lousia did not have their own children but they provided for the welfare of young children and adults from disadvantaged backgrounds as a lifelong project, contributing both money, education and effort towards initiatives which would enable both adults and children in need to acquire productive skills and support themselves. They developed one of the first Industrial Schools where boys and girls learnt trades.

On her deathbed, she was moved from the house to a Tent on the front lawn to expire in the view of her wonderful creation.

Castletown was sold by the Conolly-Carew family to Desmond and Mariga Guinness who set up the Castletown Foundation until 1994 when they donated t free of charge to the Irish State and became the care of the OPW.

Today, the grounds are visited by almost 700,000 people a year, with nearly 28,000 of those visiting the house.

~ Seamus Fitzgibbons~ Crodaun Forest Park resident