Editing Lismore Castle

{{more footnotes|date=December 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use Irish English|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox building
| name                = Lismore Castle
| native_name         = ''Caisleán na Leasa Móire''
| native_name_lang    = ga
| image               = Lismore Castle (Lismore, Co. Waterford).jpg
| image_size          = 250
| image_caption       = Lismore Castle, 2006
| map_type            = Ireland
| map_dot_label       = Lismore Castle
| architectural_style = [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]]
| location            = [[Lismore, County Waterford]]
| location_country    = [[Ireland]]
| coordinates         = {{coord|52|08|26|N|07|55|57|W|display=inline,title}}
| altitude            = {{cvt|43|m}}
| completion_date     = {{start date and age|1851}}
| architect           = [[William Atkinson (architect)|William Atkinson]] (1811-15)
| other_designers     = [[Augustus Pugin]] and [[John Gregory Crace (designer)|John Gregory Crace]] (interiors)
| owner               = {{ublist|[[Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire|The 12th Duke of Devonshire]]|[[Cavendish family]]}}
| references          = <ref>{{cite web |title=Dictionary of Irish Architects |url=https://www.dia.ie/works/view/13782/building/CO.+WATERFORD%2C+LISMORE+CASTLE |website=www.dia.ie |access-date=13 January 2025}}</ref>
| website             = {{URL|lismorecastle.com}}
}}
'''Lismore Castle''' ({{langx|ga|Caisleán an Lios Mhóir}}) is a castle located in the town of [[Lismore, County Waterford|Lismore]], [[County Waterford]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]. It belonged to the [[Earl of Desmond|Earls of Desmond]], the Earls of Cork, and then to the [[Cavendish family]] from 1753. It is currently the Irish home of the [[Duke of Devonshire]]. The first castle on the site was built in 1185, and replaced, twice, in the 16th century. It was largely rebuilt in the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic style]] during the mid-nineteenth century for [[William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire|the 6th Duke of Devonshire]].

==Early history==
[[File:Lismore Castle. Co. Waterford LOC ppmsca.52647.jpg|thumb|Castles of Munster, Lismore, Waterford]]
Built as the sister castle to [[Ardfinnan Castle]] in 1185 by the Lord of Ireland, [[John, King of England|Prince John of England]] to guard the river crossing, the castle site was originally occupied by [[Lismore Abbey]], an important monastery and seat of learning established in the early 7th century. 

It was still an ecclesiastical centre when [[Henry II of England|King Henry II of England]] stayed here in 1171, and except for a brief period after 1185 (when he had assigned his son King John of England to build a 'castellum' here) when it served as the episcopal residence of the local bishop. 

It was a possession of the [[Earl of Desmond|Earls of Desmond]], whose lands were broken up during the plantations following the killing of [[Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond]], in 1583.

In 1589, Lismore was leased and later acquired by [[Sir Walter Raleigh]]. Raleigh sold the property during his imprisonment for High Treason in 1602 to [[Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork|Richard Boyle]], who was later made the 1st [[Earl of Cork]] in 1620.

==Earls of Cork and Burlington==
Boyle came to the [[Kingdom of Ireland]] from the [[Kingdom of England]] in 1588 with only twenty-seven pounds in capital and proceeded to amass an extraordinary fortune. After purchasing Lismore he made it his principal seat and transformed it into a magnificent residence with impressive gabled ranges each side of the courtyard. He also built a castellated outer wall and a gatehouse known as the Riding Gate. 

The principal apartments were decorated with fretwork plaster ceilings, tapestry hangings, embroidered silks and velvet. It was here in [[1626 in Ireland|1626]] that [[Robert Boyle]], ''the Father of Modern Chemistry'', the fourteenth of the Earl's fifteen children, was born. The castle eventually descended to [[Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork|the 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork]] (1694-1753), who was a noted influence on [[Georgian architecture]] (and is usually known in architectural histories as the [[Earl of Burlington]]).

Lismore featured in the Cromwellian wars when, in [[1645 in Ireland|1645]], a force of Catholic confederacy commanded by [[Earl of Castlehaven|Lord Castlehaven]] sacked the town and castle. Some restoration was carried out by [[Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington|the 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd Earl of Cork]] ([[1612 in Ireland|1612]]–[[1698 in Ireland|1698]]) to make it habitable again, but neither he nor his successors lived at Lismore.

==Dukes of Devonshire==
[[File:The king, the duke, and some other people....jpg|thumb|right|[[King Edward VII]] visiting [[Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire|the 8th Duke of Devonshire]] in May 1904. The 8th Duke had been a very prominent politician, especially when he was styled as [[Marquess of Hartington]]. As Lord Hartington, the 8th Duke had been bitterly opposed to [[Irish Home Rule movement|Home Rule for Ireland]] in the 1880s.]]
[[File:Lismore Castle entrance IMAG4012.jpg|thumb|Lismore estate entrance]]

The castle (along with other Boyle properties – [[Chiswick House]], [[Burlington House]], [[Bolton Abbey]] and [[Londesborough Hall]]) was acquired by the [[Cavendish family]] in [[1753 in Ireland|1753]] when [[Charlotte Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington|Lady Charlotte Boyle]] ([[1731 in Ireland|1731]]-[[1754 in Ireland|1754]]), the daughter and heiress of [[Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington|the 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork]], married the [[Marquess of Hartington]], who later became, in 1755, [[William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire|the 4th Duke of Devonshire]] (1720-1764), a future [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] of the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]. Their son, the [[William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire|5th Duke]] ([[1748 in Ireland|1748]]–[[1811 in Ireland|1811]]), carried out improvements at Lismore, notably the bridge across the [[Munster Blackwater|River Blackwater]] in [[1775 in Ireland|1775]] which was designed by Cork-born architect [[Thomas Ivory of Cork|Thomas Ivory]].
[[File:Lismore Castle, 1835 (IA jstor-30003376) (cropped).jpg|thumb|A view of the castle in 1835, the [[Dublin Penny Journal]]]]
The [[William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire|6th Duke]] (1790–1858), commonly known as 'the Bachelor Duke', was responsible for the castle's present appearance. He began transforming the castle into a fashionable 'quasi-feudal ultra-regal fortress' as soon as he succeeded his father in 1811, engaging the architect [[William Atkinson (architect)|William Atkinson]] from 1812 to 1822 to rebuild the castle in the [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic style]], using cut stone shipped over from [[Derbyshire]]. Lismore was always the Bachelor Duke's favourite residence, but as he grew older his love for the place developed into a passion. 

In 1850 he engaged his architect [[Sir Joseph Paxton]], the designer of [[the Crystal Palace]], to carry out improvements and additions to the castle on a magnificent scale – so much so that the present skyline is largely Paxton's work. At this time, [[John Gregory Crace (designer)|J. G. Crace]] of London, the leading maker of [[Gothic Revival]] furniture, and his partner, the leading architect [[Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin|A. W. N. Pugin]], were commissioned to transform the ruined chapel of the old Bishop's Palace into a medieval-style banqueting hall, with a huge perpendicular stained-glass window, choir-stalls and Gothic stenciling on the walls and roof timbers. 

The chimney-piece, which was exhibited at the Medieval Court of the [[Great Exhibition]] of 1851, was also designed by Pugin (and Myers) but was originally intended for [[Horsted Place]] in [[Sussex]]; it was rejected because it was too elaborate and subsequently bought for Lismore – the Barchard family emblems later replaced with the present Irish inscription ''Cead Mille Fáilte'': 'a hundred thousand welcomes'. Pugin also designed other chimney-pieces and furnishings in the castle and, after his death in 1851, Crace continued to supply furnishings in the Puginesque manner. 

In 1858, the [[Cavendish family]] sponsored a new bridge over the Blackwater, which replaced the one built in 1775. This new construction followed designs by Charles Tarrant and was done by E. P. Nagle and C. H. Hunt.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Registry of Architectural Heritage, Cavendish Bridge |url=http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=WA&regno=22809082 |access-date=2012-12-26}}</ref>

After the death of the 6th Duke in 1858, Lismore remained substantially unaltered. It became the home of a younger son of the [[Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire|9th Duke]], [[Lord Charles Arthur Francis Cavendish|Lord Charles Cavendish]], who married [[Adele Astaire]], the sister and former dancing partner of [[Fred Astaire]]. After her husband's death in 1944 and her remarriage in 1947, Adele continued to use the castle until shortly before her own death in 1981.<ref name="Astaire">{{cite book |last=Giles |first=Sarah |title=Fred Astaire – his friends talk |publisher=Doubleday |year=1988 |isbn=0-385-24741-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780385247412/page/90 90] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780385247412/page/90}}</ref> 

The castle was only used by [[Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire|the 11th Duke of Devonshire]] for brief annual visits, generally over Easter. In the last years of his tenure it was made available for short-term rent. The [[Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire|12th Duke]], who succeeded to the title in 2004, continues to live primarily on the family's [[Chatsworth House|Chatsworth]] estate. 

His son and heir, [[William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington|Lord Burlington]], who has an apartment in the castle, has been given management of it,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lismore Castle garden gets royal treatment |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/lismore-castle-garden-gets-royal-treatment-1.1771479 |website=The Irish Times |access-date = 2015-12-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> and in 2005 converted the derelict west range into a contemporary art gallery, known as Lismore Castle Arts. The remainder of the interior is not open to the public, but is available for hire by groups of up to twenty-three visitors.

The castle features gardens, which are open to the public. The upper garden is a 17th-century walled garden,<ref>{{cite web |title=National Registry of Architectural Heritage, walled garden |url=http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=WA&regno=22809071 |access-date=2012-12-26}}</ref> while much of the informal lower garden was designed in the 19th century. Under Lord Burlington the planting has been enhanced, and contemporary sculpture added, including works by [[Sir Antony Gormley]], Marzia Colonna and Eilís O'Connell.

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Sources'''
*Terence R Smyth. (1994). ''Irish Country Houses''
*Megan Aldrich, ‘Crace, John Gregory (1809–1889)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004

==Further reading==
* Murdoch, Tessa (ed.) (2022). [[Great Irish Households|''Great Irish Households: Inventories from the Long Eighteenth Century'']]. Cambridge: [[John Adamson (publisher)|John Adamson]], pp.&nbsp;19–23 {{ISBN|978-1-898565-17-8}} {{OCLC|1233305993}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Lismore Castle}}
*[http://www.lismorecastle.com/ Official site]
*[http://www.discoverlismore.com Lismore Heritage Centre]
*[http://www.lismorecastlearts.ie/ Lismore Castle Arts gallery in West Wing of Lismore Castle]

{{Historic Irish houses}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1185 establishments in Europe]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1185]]
[[Category:1180s establishments in Ireland]]
[[Category:12th-century fortifications]]
[[Category:Castles in County Waterford]]
[[Category:Gardens in County Waterford]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries in the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Contemporary art galleries in Ireland]]
[[Category:Historic houses in County Waterford]]
[[Category:Lismore, County Waterford]]
[[Category:Robert Boyle]]
[[Category:John, King of England]]