The Conolly Archive: the calendar of the Conolly papers
Castletown unlike so many Irish country houses has a richly-documented history. The Conolly family papers can be found in a number of Ireland’s archives and libraries including those at Trinity College Dublin, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the National Archives and the National Library of Ireland. The greatest single collection of ‘Castletown Papers’, however, belongs to the Castletown Foundation, and is currently housed in the Irish Architectural Archive in 45 Merrion Square, where it is available to interested researchers. These papers have been listed and catalogued by Dr Patrick Walsh and Dr Anthony Malcomson, and their detailed calendar has been published as The Conolly Archive by the Irish Manuscripts Commission in 2010.
The Maynooth University/OPW Archive and Research Centre at Castletown also houses a small, but growing, collection of Castletown material, as well as other important collections relating to Irish country houses and the decorative arts. These include the recent acquisition (December 2014) of the research papers of the late Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin, who was amongst his many other roles, a distinguished director of the Castletown Foundation.
The Castletown Foundation are always interested in hearing about new archival material relating to Castletown. If you have letters, photographs or estate material please do get in touch with us.
The Castletown Foundation 