A Future for Irish Historic Houses - Irish Heritage Trust

Lambay Castle
Lambay Castle is situated on Lambay Island, located approximately three miles off
the north County Dublin coast. The house is owned by the Lambay Estate Co. which
in turn is owned by a family trust, established by the late Lord Revelstoke. The house
and the estate are presently managed by Margaret Kelly (grand-daughter of Cecil
Baring, who created the present castle) and her husband, Patrick, one of the trustees,
who live in the castle all year round. The house is of historical importance for a
number of reasons:
- In the early twentieth century it was redesigned and transformed from a
small sixteenth-century house by Sir Edwin Lutyens into a castle for Cecil
Baring (later 3 rd Lord Revelstoke) who had bought the island in 1904 as a
home for himself and his wife. It is one of the very few Edwardian country
houses built in Ireland and is generally regarded as one of the most
important twentieth-century buildings in the country.
- Lutyens is acknowledged as one of the most important international
architects of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His preeminence
amongst his contemporaries was unquestioned. His most notable
work was arguably the Viceroy’s Palace at New Delhi. In Ireland he was
also associated with the design of the internationally renowned Heywood
gardens in Laois and the World War I Memorial Garden at Islandbridge.
- Lutyens also designed the landscape surrounding the house and an
extensive complex of other buildings (including another large house, six
cottages, farm buildings and a chapel.) Thus his association with the
design of the house and other associated buildings as well as the landscape
marks it as being rather unique and certainly of great international
importance. Also of great significance is the fact that Lambay is one of
only five Lutyens’s houses still inhabited by the original family.
- The original contents of the house are largely intact and the interior design
is just as it was when it was originally built. It also houses a fine collection
of paintings and portraits and an important photographic archive. Lambay,
therefore, provides a very rare insight into the design and workings of an
Edwardian house.
- Finally, the natural history of the island itself is of great importance. It
should be noted that Lambay is, in fact, the only inhabited island on the
east coast and is also a listed archaeological site.
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