Johnstown castle
Johnstown Castle Gardens, County Wexford
The harmony between great Victorian revival castles and their surrounding ornamental grounds is rarely seen to such perfection as at Johnstown. The mature woodlands and lakes of this demesne provide the perfect setting for this turreted, battlemented and machicolated castle of gleaming silver-grey ashlar, built for the Grogan-Morgan family between 1810 and 1855 and incorporating part of a more ancient castle. The property was presented as a gift to the Nation in 1945 and was later occupied by the Department of Agriculture who established an agricultural institute here and undertook to maintain but not to alter the ornamental grounds.
The Kilkenny architect Daniel Robertson, who was responsible for some of the building work on the castle, is generally believed to have laid out and planted much of the grounds in the 1830s. This would have included the digging of the five-acre lake opposite the castle with Gothic towers rising from its waters and a terrace lined with statues on the opposite bank. Many fine trees and shrubs grow in the vicinity of the castle, including two lovely examples of Cryptomeria japonica 'Elegans', several very fine redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), a huge Rhododendron arboreum and some of the oldest and largest specimens of Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) in Ireland. The variety of mixed planting around the lake, which includes noble firs, Japanese cedars, Atlantic blue cedars, copper beeches, golden Lawson cypresses and holm oaks, provides a very satisfying range of colour through much of the year.
In the area to the west of the castle lake, visitors will pass through a woodland garden created around the ruined medieval castle of Rathlannon. Here the exotic foliage of a Magnolia wilsonii from China borders a large, elegant dogwood (Cornus kousa) from Japan and a Japanese snowball (Viburnum plicatum) with tiered spreading branches. Nearby lies a two-acre lake dug in the 1860s, while in the area to the north is a four-acre walled garden built between 1844 and 18S1 and rehabilitated by the Department of Agriculture. This is entered through the Devil's Gate, an arched 
gateway with gargoyles that leads onto a very long gravel path lined with flower borders and backed by clipped hedges. To the tight across mowed lawns a long hothouse shelters a colourful display of plants through out the year. Steps lead to the Upper Garden, now largely devoted to shrub propagation, and the old melon yard. Here no one will fail to admire a tender dwarf Japanese maple planted in the 1880s and a range of azaleas, magnolias and hibiscus.
Other attractions at Johnstown include a cemetery with very fine wrought-iron gates made in Italy, the site of the sunken Italian Garden close to the car park, and the lower lake, dug in the 1850s and covering some fourteen acres. All three lakes in the demesne provide a home for a wide range of waterfowl - mute swans, moorhens, coots, little grebes, herons and a recently introduced flock of mallards - all of which help to control the waterweeds. The attractive early nineteenth century farm buildings to the north of the lower lake house the Irish Agricultural Museum where a variety of old horticultural implements are on display.
Located 3 miles south west of Wexford at Murntown. NGR: T 020170. Open daily, all year: 9.00 am - 5.00 pm. The Irish Agricultural Museum is open all year. Tea room in museum open July and August. Toilet facilities. Suitable for wheelchairs. Dogs on lead. Admission charge normally but admission October to April is free.
Ballyhack Castle
Ballyhack
Wexford.
Phone:+353 51 389468
Location
Irish history.
Located in Ballyhack village off the R733 or by car ferry from Passage East.
Description
Irish history.
There was formerly an establishment of the Knights Templars here beside this peaceful inlet, but the present 5 storey castle is 15th century in date and probably has nothing to do with the Knights. The ground floor is vaulted and has a number of deep recesses, and the second floor is also vaulted.
There are also a number of recesses on the third storey; that on the east wall was once a chapel. On the same floor is now inaccessible prisoners' cell. An amount of 17th century pottery was found during conservation work in the castle.
Tintern Abbey is here on our light houses page As it and Bally hack (above) are onthe same route. Click here to see.
Clonmines Castle
Clonmines
Wexford.
Irish history.
Once a flourishing medieval town, Clonmines still contains the remains of some of its old buildings. The town was given a charter by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, early in the 13th century, and the Kavanagh family founded an Abbey here for the Augustinian Eremites which was 'beautified' and enlarged in 1385.
The town was destroyed in 1400, but rose again. Although it scarcely survived the 17th century, it continued to send members to Parliament up till 1800. Nevertheless, as late as 1794, the Augustinians still had a prior and brethren attached to their house here, though they may have lived on the other side of the river. The prosperity of the town probably depended on the silver and leadmines nearby which were worked up till Elizabethan times. On the left of the entrance avenue is one of the old town gates which was later turned into a lime-kiln. Passing through a gate, one comes on the right to a tower, known as the Town Hall, a two-storey castle-like building of around 1400 used as a church and a council chamber, and the seat of an ecclesiastical court. The ground floor is unusual in that half of the ceiling is vaulted with ribbed arches, and half is barrel-vaulted, and also in that it has two entrance doorways.
There was once a gallery on the ground floor. Beside the tower is a 15th century nave-and-chancel church with remnants of a tower at the western end. Further down the avenue, to the left, are
(I) Ruins of the Augustinian church, built around 1400
(ii) A strip of curtain wall with a tower at the northern end, which seems to have been used as a fortification though it may have been attached to the Augustinian church
(iii) Remains of another church
(iv) A tower-house built probably by the Suttons or by the FitzHenrys in the 15th or 16th century.
The old port sanded up probably around 1600, but remains of the harbour wall, built of large stones, can still be seen at the river's edge. A private house nearby incorporates another tower-house.
Rathmacknee Castle, County Wexford
Many Irish castls have lost their parapets during the course of time, but those at Rathmacknee are fully intact and are a superb example of the picturesque multi-stepped crenellations 
so characteristic of late medieval Irish archi tecture. Other features of the castle have survived equally well, and although now lacking its roof and floors, it may be considered one of the most complete examples of a tower house in South Leinster.
The tower occupies the south-east corner of a well preserved five-sided bawn that has a boldy projecting machicolation above the entrance. In plan the tower is a simple rectangle with one small projection - a prolongation southwards in the east wall to accommodate latrines.
There is a mural stair linking all five storeys, each having one apartment with closets or chambers in the thickness of the wall. The two lower storeys are beneath vaulting, while the timber floors had cross beams that were tenoned directly into the wall beams rather than laid directly upon them - an unusual practice that allowed the depth of the floor to be reduced.
It is probable that the castle was built by John Rossiter, Seneschal of the Liberties of Wexford in 1451, whose fami ly had lived in this area since the late twelfth century. Though staunch Catholics, they survived the Reformation purges, but ultimately forfeited their lands in the 1650s. The castle remained occupied until the 1760s.
Located 7.5 miles SW of Wexford town, Iying down a lane, off a minor road, due W of the main Kilmore road. Signposted.
NGR: T 037143.
National Monument. Key obtainable from Patrick Kavanagh in the modern house situated in the bawn.
Duncannon Fort
The name, Duncannon, derives from an Iron Age fortification which once occupied the site of the present imposing fort. The current structure dates mostly from the 16th century with modern additions. Restoration work is in progress. Guided tours during the season
Contact Eileen Roche
Tel: (051) 89188.
Ferns Castle
An impressive ruin of a Norman fortification, dating from the 13th century. It has had a chequered history and was owned by an Irish family, a bishop and, later, a countess during the 14th century alone! The castle, now in State care, is open to the public and guided tours are available during the summer months
