Classiebawn Castle
Classiebawn Castle is a country house built for the 3rd Viscount Palmerston on what was formerly a estate on the Mullaghmore Peninsula near the village of Cliffoney in County Sligo, Ireland. The current castle was largely built in the late 19th century.
History
The building was designed in the Baronial style by the Dublin architect James Rawson Carroll, and is constructed from a yellow-brown sandstone brought by sea from County Donegal. It comprises a gabled range with a central tower topped by a conical roofed turret.The land, which once belonged to the O'Connor Sligo family, was confiscated by the English Parliament to compensate the people who put down an Irish rebellion. Around of land on which Classiebawn now stands was granted to Sir John Temple, Master of the Rolls in Ireland.
The property passed down to the 3rd Viscount Palmerston, a statesman who served as both British prime minister and British foreign secretary. It was this Lord Palmerston who commissioned the building of the current Classiebawn Castle and the harbour at Mullaghmore. The house was not complete upon his death in 1865 but was completed in 1874 by his stepson and successor, William Cowper-Temple. The latter died childless in 1888 and the estate passed to his nephew, the Hon. Evelyn Ashley, the second surviving son of the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Evelyn Ashley spent some time there each year and on his death in 1907 was succeeded by his only son, Wilfrid Ashley. He also spent his summers at the castle with his daughters Edwina, the future Countess Mountbatten, and Mary (1906–1986), who was Baroness Delamere from 1944 until 1955 as the second wife of the 4th Baron Delamere.