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Title:	Rathfarnham Castle_1
Authors:	Healy, Patrick
Keywords:	Rathfarnham Castle Fr O'Leary SJ seismograph
Issue Date:	1987
Description:	Rathfarnham Castle_1: Built on land confiscated from the Eustace family on Baltinglass over involvement in the Second Desmond Rebellion, replacing an earlier Anglo-Norman building, by Yorkshireman Adam Loftus, Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, in around 1583. It takes a square form with four projecting towers and its present Georgian appearance is the result of works in the eighteenth century that transformed its original encastellated form. Its interior received its present form at that time through the work of Sir William Chambers and James 'Athenian' Stuart. In 1600 it withstood attack by the Wicklow clans as part of the Nine Year War. It was next attacked in 1641 during the 1641 Rebellion. Adam Loftus opposed peace between the royalists and Confederates and was imprisoned in Dublin Castle for a time. The Irish Confederate Wars saw it repeatedly change hands; 1641 to 1647 saw Royalist control; next English Parliamentary troops occupied it until before the battle of Rathmines in 1649 when Royalist troops took it and held it briefly before reverting to Parliament. Reputedly Oliver Cromwell spent time there before heading south, and Adam Loftus regained his home through siding with Parliament, dying at the siege of Limerick in 1651. It remained in Loftus family hands until the eighteenth century. It passed to Philip Wharton who lost his fortune in the South Sea Bubble, and sold it in 1723 to William 'Speaker' Connolly. 1742 saw it become property of Dr Hoadly, Archbishop of Armagh. In 1767, William Hume-Loftus, Marquess of Ely and descendant of the original owners purchased it. His heir, Henry, created Earl of Ely in 1771 was responsible for the present form of the exterior, employing architects Sir William Chambers and James 'Athenian' Stuart for the exterior with artists such as Angelica Kauffmann responsible for the interior. Henry died in 1783, succeed by his nephew, Charles Tottenham. The Loftus family moved to Loftus Hall in Wexford in 1812 leasing it to the Roper. The Lord Chancellor Francis Blackburn purchased it in 1852 and in 1912 the developers Bailey and Gibson acquired it dividing the estate between the Castle Golf Club, housing and a portion with the castle that was sold to the Jesuit Order in 1913 who held it until 1987 - during which time a seismometer of Fr O'Leary SJ was installed in a garden house - donating the Harry Clarke windows they installed to Tullamore Catholic Church which had been destroyed by fire in 1983. The other windows were donated to Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross and Temple Street Children's Hospital, Dublin. Next it was sold to Delaware Properties and after a campaign to save it, it was acquired by the County Council, having become a National Monument.
URI:	https://hdl.handle.net/10599/7980
Appears in Collections:	Patrick Healy Collection Published Items

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