A five-star luxury hotel has been created out of Ashford Castle, a medieval and Victorian castle that has been enlarged throughout the years. It is located in Ireland, close to Cong, on the County Galway side of Lough Corrib, on the border between Mayo and Galway. It was once owned by the Guinness family and now a part of the Red Carnation Hotels group. The Anglo-Norman House of Burke constructed a castle in 1228 around the edge of a monastic complex. Following a bloody battle between the forces of the de Burgos and those of the English official Sir Richard Bingham, Lord President of Connaught, when a truce was agreed upon, Ashford came into the hands of a new master after more than three and a half centuries under the de Burgos, whose surname changed to Burke or Bourke. When Bingham acquired the castle in 1589, he erected a walled enclave inside its boundaries. Either around 1670 or 1678, Dominick Browne, a member of the Browne family, was granted the estate by royal grant. The Browne family founded the Ashford estate in 1715, and a hunting lodge modeled after a 17th-century French Château was built. The coat of arms of the Brownes is represented by the double-headed eagles that are still visible on the roof. A member of the family lived at the castle in the late eighteenth century. One Thomas Elwood, who was listed as residing in Ashford in 1814, served as the agent of the Brownes in the early 1800s. In 1852, Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness bought the land. He made two substantial Victorian-style additions. In addition, he added 26,000 acres to the estate, constructed new roads, and planted thousands of trees. For the book about County Galway by Sir William Wilde, the castle was depicted. Following the death of Sir Benjamin in 1868, his son Lord Ardilaun inherited the estate and proceeded to further construct the neogothic edifice. An enthusiastic gardener, Lord Ardilaun supervised the creation of vast forests and completely reconstructed the west wing of the castle, which was created by architects George Ashlin and James Franklin Fuller. Two de-Burgo-time towers in the west and the early 18th-century section in the east were united by the new building. The entire fortress was augmented with battlements. Additionally, he provided financial support for the operating of multiple steamboats, the most famous of which was the Lady Eglinton, which ran between the villages of Upper Lough Corrib region and Galway City, thereby promoting increased trade in the region. He was viewed by many as an - improving landlord - during the Land Wars of the late 19th century, when tenant farmers were agitating the land, as tenants at nearby Lough Mask House exemplified. A few of his initiatives failed, most notably the Cong Canal, popularly called the Dry Canal, which was constructed to connect Lough Mask and Lough Corrib but failed because it could not hold water. Despite these obstacles, he and his spouse Olive, the daughter of 3rd Earl of Bantry had a great affection for the castle and its grounds. This is best demonstrated by the fact that, upon his ennoblement in 1880, he derived his title from the island of Ardilaun, which was a part of the estate on Lough Corrib. Following its reconstruction, the Ashford Castle entertained a number of well-known visitors, including George V, the Prince of Wales, who lodged with the Guinness family. President Ronald Reagan of the United States visited the location. The Quiet Man was filmed close to the castle in 1950
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#Castles#History
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Monuments and Architecture
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