Lismore Castle

Listen first. Below the castle walls, the River Blackwater moves slowly over its stones, broad and dark. Rooks call from the tall trees. The air carries the smell of wet grass and cut yew. Then lift your eyes. Grey battlements rise straight out of a wooded cliff, as if the rock itself had decided to become a building. This is Lismore Castle, and it has watched over this bend in the river for more than eight hundred years.

Before the castle, there were monks. In the seventh century, Saint Carthage, known in Irish as Mochuda, founded a monastery here at Lismore. It grew into one of the great centres of learning in early Christian Ireland. Students came from Ireland, Britain and further afield. The quiet town around you is built on that old foundation of prayer and scholarship. Even the name, Lismore, comes from the Irish for a great enclosure, or a great ring fort.

The first castle came with the Normans, the French-speaking knights who arrived in Ireland in the late twelfth century. Tradition and most histories credit Prince John, the future King John of England, with building a fortress here in 1185. The site made sense. From this height, a garrison could control the river crossing and the valley below. For long periods afterwards, the castle served as a residence for the bishops of Lismore.

Now comes a name you may not expect. At the end of the sixteenth century, the castle belonged to Sir Walter Raleigh — the courtier, explorer and favourite of Queen Elizabeth the First. Raleigh held large estates in this part of Munster. But his fortunes were mixed, and in 1602 he sold Lismore to an ambitious newcomer named Richard Boyle. Boyle would become the first Earl of Cork, and one of the richest men in Ireland.

Boyle rebuilt the castle and made it his family seat. His household was large, and one of his many children became famous far beyond Ireland. Robert Boyle was born here at Lismore in 1627. He grew up to be a pioneer of modern chemistry. Schoolchildren around the world still learn Boyle's Law, which describes how the pressure of a gas changes with its volume. So a small part of the story of modern science begins in these rooms above the Blackwater.

The seventeenth century was violent in Ireland, and Lismore did not escape. During the wars of the 1640s, the castle came under attack and suffered serious damage. For a time it stood partly ruined. Its next great chapter began in 1753. Through a marriage, the estate passed to the Cavendish family, the Dukes of Devonshire. The Devonshires still own Lismore today, which gives the castle an unusual continuity.

Much of what you see now is the work of the sixth Duke of Devonshire in the nineteenth century. People often call him the Bachelor Duke, because he never married. He loved building, and he turned Lismore into a romantic Gothic castle, with towers, battlements and pointed windows. It looks medieval from a distance. In fact, much of the outline belongs to the age of railways and steam. Look closely at the crisp stonework and you can often tell the older walls from the newer ones.

Inside, the Duke wanted rooms to match the dream. The banqueting hall was decorated in a rich Gothic style, with designs associated with Augustus Pugin, the great champion of the Gothic Revival, and the decorator John Gregory Crace. Expect deep colours, painted ceilings and carved woodwork. The interiors are private, so most visitors will never see them. Still, it helps to know that behind these grey walls the rooms are full of colour.

Here is a discovery most visitors miss. In 1814, during building work, workmen found treasures hidden inside a blocked-up section of wall. One was the Lismore Crozier, a decorated bishop's staff from the early medieval period. The other was a manuscript now known as the Book of Lismore, a collection of saints' lives and Irish tales. Someone had hidden them, probably in a time of danger, and they waited for centuries. Today both are treated as national treasures.

The castle also has a twentieth-century connection to Hollywood. In 1932, Adele Astaire married Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devonshire. Adele was a celebrated dancer, and the stage partner of her brother, Fred Astaire. The couple made their home at Lismore, and Fred came to visit. It is a pleasant thought: one of the greatest dancers of the century, walking these same terraces above the Irish river.

For most visitors, the gardens are the real way in. The Upper Garden is a walled garden laid out by Richard Boyle in the early seventeenth century. It is often described as one of the oldest continuously cultivated gardens in Ireland. Inside the walls, you find terraces, vegetable beds, flower borders and glasshouses. The Lower Garden is looser and greener, with trees, shrubs and lawns. Contemporary sculptures stand among the plants, so old and new sit side by side.

Look for the long yew walk, a dark green tunnel of clipped trees. Local tradition says the poet Edmund Spenser walked here and wrote part of his long poem, The Faerie Queene. Spenser did live in this region in the late sixteenth century, but the yew walk story is a legend, not a documented fact. Either way, the walk is quiet and cool, and it is easy to see why people wanted to place a poet here. Nearby, Lismore Castle Arts shows contemporary art in part of the old buildings.

Before you leave, walk down toward the bridge over the Blackwater and turn around. From there, the castle stands above the trees exactly as the sixth Duke intended you to see it — towers on the cliff, the river at its feet. Listen again to the water and the rooks. Monks, knights, bishops, an explorer, a scientist and a dancer all knew this view. Now, for a few minutes, it belongs to you.