This magnificent private home was built in 1874 and dominates the landscape for miles around. Originally built for the 3rd Viscount of Palmerston (1784-1865) it is closeby the village of Cliffoney in the civil parish of Ahamlish.
Designed by Dublin man James Rawson Carroll, it is constructed with yellow brown sandstone brought from County Donegal. It is built on land once owned by the O'Connor Sligo family confiscated by the English. Just over 10,000 acres of land on which the Castle sits was granted to Sir John Temple (1600-1677) Master of the Rolls in Ireland. It was passed down to the 3d Viscount, who served as a British Prime Minister and as British Foreign Secretary. It was him who commissioned the building on the Castle that stands today. The house completed in 1874 after his death in 1865 and was passed to his stepson The Rt. Hon. William Cowper-Temple. He died in 1888 and the estate passed to his nephew, The Hon Evelyn Ashley, a son of the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Evelyn spent quite some time there and passed the estate to his only son Wilfrid Ashley following his death in 1907. It was his daughter Edwina, Countess of Mountbatten who would be it's last British owner.
The house was emptied in 1916 and remained so until 1950. It was inherited by Edwina, Countess of Mountbatten of Burma who with her husband made several improvements, installing electricity and water. After his wife's death in 1960, Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, spent his Summers there until his death when his boat was blown up off the coast of Mullaghmore by the IRA in August 1979
The castle and surrounding area is now owned by Hugh Tunney (1928-2011) a businessman from County Tyrone who bought the castle and 3,000 acres in 1991 after leasing it for many years.
