Knockdrin

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Knockdrin entrance leaving Mullingar towards Castlepollard

Knockdrin is an area north of Mullingar, in County Westmeath, Ireland. It is home of the Westmeath Hunt, and its most notable building is Knockdrin Castle.

[edit] Castle

Knockdrin Castle is an eighteenth century neo-Gothic castellated mansion, and currently the home of the von Prondzynski family. Ferdinand von Prondzynski is the current President of Dublin City University.

Until the 18th century the main residence on the estate was a Norman castle which was destroyed by fire. The main part of the present castle was built in the late 18th century by Sir Richard Levinge, Lord Lieutenant of Westmeath, although there were further alterations and additions that were completed by the mid-19th century. The Levinges came to Ireland with the Williamites, in the late 17th century. The first Sir Richard Levinge was Lord Chief Justice of Ireland and a member of the Lords Commissioners, who were appointed by the crown to settle all the land questions which had arisen in Ireland after the Cromwellian conquest, the Restoration and the Williamite Wars. Sir Richard took advantage of his position to purchase Knockdrin Estate from the Tuites, who were the Norman-Irish owners up to that time. At the time there were over 12,000 acres (49 km²).

The present estate of about 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) was laid out as a hunting ground. Lord Randolf and Lady Churchill, parents of Winston were frequent visitors. Jennie Churchill declared that the foxes were as wild as the locals. Winston Churchill himself privately visited the castle during the War of Independence.

During the Emergency, the castle was taken over for troop accommodation and was occupied by a company of the 6th (Dublin) Infantry of the Irish Army. The Army left in 1945 and handed the castle back to the Levinges.

The Levinges owned Knockdrin until 1946, although the last Sir Richard Levinge (later a Director of Guinness) had by then not lived there for some time. In that year the estate was sold to Paddy Dunne-Cullinan, who remained there until 1961 when he in turn sold the estate to the Hans and Irene von Prondzynski from Germany. The arable land is now leased but the family continues to live in the castle. Until the mid 19th century the castle and estate were called "High Park". The property was then renamed Knockdrin, after a hill on the estate; the name is also related to Lough Drin, a small lake on the estate. The Irish name for the locality is "Móine Liath (pronounced Moe in ah lee ah) which means Grey Shrubbery.