Castle Oliver
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Castle Oliver (also sometimes known as Clonodfoy) is a castle in the south part of County Limerick, Ireland.
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[edit] Origins
The lands where the castle stands were settled in about 1658 by Capt Robert Oliver, one of Oliver Cromwell's soldiers. The present castle replaced the former Castle Oliver, which stood a thousand yards to the south-west and was the birthplace of Eliza Oliver, mother of the notorious Lola Montez, who became the lover and favourite of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. This castle was also known as Clonodfoy, a contraction of an earlier Irish place name: Cloch an Otbhaidhigh, meaning 'the stone structure of Otway', Otway being an Anglo-Norman family name.
[edit] History
Robert Oliver's descendant Richard Oliver married a Yorkshire heiress through whom he inherited substantial wealth. Their daughters, Isabella and Elizabeth Oliver Gascoigne, both married members of the Trench family of Woodlawn, Galway. The younger sister, Elizabeth, married Frederic Trench, 2nd Baron Ashtown in 1852.
The sisters built the present castle in 1845. It was designed by George Fowler Jones in the Scottish Baronial style and built in a local pink sandstone. It survived intact until the early 1980s, when it stood empty for a number of years. In 1989 it was purchased by the late Damian Haughton, who according to the subsequent owner, put a halt to most of the worst leaks in the roof. In 1998 it was purchased by Nicholas Browne, who continued the restoration work and transformed it back into a habitable residence. In 2006 it passed to the present owner, who completed high-grade restoration work to the main parts of the building and has made the castle available for rental. It contains about 110 rooms, and the largest private wine cellars in Ireland.
[edit] References
- Castle Oliver and the Oliver Gascoignes by Nicholas Browne;
- Burke's Guide to Irish Country Houses by Mark Bence Jones;
- Ardpatrick by John Fleming
