Castle Ward, County Down

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Castle Ward

County Down

National Trust


Castle Ward Classical façade
Location: 54°22’23"N, 5°34’44"W
Information
Website: Castle Ward, County Down

Castle Ward is an 18th-century National Trust property located near the village of Strangford, in County Down, in the townland of the same name. It overlooks Strangford Lough and is 7 miles from Downpatrick and 1.5 miles from Strangford.

Castle Ward is open to the public and includes 820 acres of landscaped gardens, a fortified tower house, Victorian laundry, theatre, restaurant, shop, saw mill and a working corn mill. It has a shore on Strangford Lough. From 1985 to 2010 it has also hosted Castleward Opera, an annual summer opera festival.

Castle Ward Gothic Façade

Features

The most interesting aspect of Castle Ward is that of its dual architecture, reflecting the differing tastes of Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor and his wife, Lady Ann Bligh. While the entrance side of the building is done in a classical Palladian style with columns supporting a triangular pediment, the opposite side is Georgian Gothic with pointed windows, battlements and finials.[1] This differences in style continue throughout the interior of the house with the divide down the centre.[2]

There is a tower house in the estate's farmyard, built as a defensive structure in 1610 by Nicholas Ward.

History

Castle Ward has been the home of the Ward family since around 1570. Originally known as Carrick na Sheannagh and owned by the Earls of Kildare, it was bought by Bernard Ward, father of Sir Robert Ward, Surveyor-General of Ireland. The 850-acre walled demesne also dates from the 16th century. The Ward family built a succession of homes in their estate; Old Castle Ward, built around 1590 near to Strangford Lough, still survives, but a mansion built around 1720 by Judge Michael Ward was demolished around 1850, although some of the associated landscaping remains.

The architect of the current building, built in the early 1760s for Michael Ward's son Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor is unknown, although he may have come from the Bristol area, with which the Ward family had close ties. It may have been James Bridges who practiced in Bristol between 1757 and 1763 and whose work there has some similarity to Castle Ward.[2]

The property passed under a settlement made in 1748 to Bernard Ward's eldest son, Nicholas, who was clearly insane. When his younger brother, Edward, died in 1812 leaving a young son, the youngest brother Robert took the opportunity to move the insane Nicholas into a smaller house in Downpatrick and strip Castle Ward of everything valuable. The house stood empty until the death of Nicholas in 1827, when it was inherited by Edward's son, now the 3rd Viscount. He and his descendants carried out the process of restoring the building and its furnishings, but on the death of the 6th Viscount in 1950 the house and estate were made over in lieu of death duties to the Government of Northern Ireland, who presented the house and its gardens to the National Trust in 1952.

Pictures

  • Walled Garden, June 2011
    Walled Garden, June 2011
  • Castle, June 2011
    Castle, June 2011

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Castle Ward, County Down)

References

  1. ↑ Dixon, Hugh (1975). An Introduction to Ulster Architecture. Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society. p. 108. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 O'Neill, B (ed). (2002). Irish Castles and Historic Houses. London: Caxton Editions. p. 22. 
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