Professor Kevin B. Nowlan, who served as chairman of the Castletown Foundation with great distinction until his death aged 91 in 2013.
The Castletown Foundation has ten members, made up of a chairperson and nine directors. The Foundation has always strived to include a broad range of interests and expertise amongst its directors, spanning the academic, conservation, heritage, planning and tourism spheres. Through its members the Foundation also maintains close ties with the local community in Celbridge, and further afield in County Kildare.
The current directors are:
Chairperson: David Sheehan is a fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, is a conservation architect grade 1 and is a partner in Sheehan & Barry, Architects. His firm has worked on many of the leading historic houses in Ireland, including Russborough House, Co Wicklow, Curraghmore House, Co Waterford, Ardbraccan House, Co Meath, Lambay, Co Dublin.His particular expertise is in the upgrade of historic structures, which includes interiors and their presentation.He has been Chairman of the Foundation since 2020.
Cathal Dowd Smith is the Curator and Collections Manager of Newbridge House and Farm and Malahide Castle and Gardens. He holds a degree in the History of Art and Architecture and History from Trinity College Dublin. His current research interests are in the Irish country house and the architectural and landscape histories of the 18th and 19th centuries. Having worked at Newbridge for over a decade, he has published widely on different aspects of its history.
Dr Alison Fitzgerald Dr Alison FitzGerald is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Maynooth University where she specialises in the history of Irish design and material culture. Her publications include Silver in Georgian Dublin: Making, Selling, Consuming (Routledge 2016).
Philip Jones is a professional town planner, with a Master’s degree in Planning, and a Diploma in Legal Studies, and is a Fellow of the Irish Planning Institute, having served as its President in 1999 – 2001. Until his retirement in 2020, he had served as City Planner for Waterford City Council for four years, then County Planner for Kildare County Council for 13 years, and then successively Senior Planning Inspector, Deputy Director of Planning and Board Member with An Bord Pleanála for 21 years. While in Kildare, he was responsible for the writing of the Kildare County Development Plan in the 1990’s, including its policies for the protection of Castletown House and Demesne, as well as those of Donaghcomper, with which Castletown is linked both historically and in landscape terms. While with An Board Pleanála, he oversaw the planning appeal oral hearing that resulted in the significant refusals for development within Donaghcomper Demesne. His planning and legal knowledge will help the Foundation in its continued liaison with the OPW and with the local authority in preserving and protecting the House, Demesne and their surroundings.
Dr Conor Lucey is Associate Professor in Architectural History in the School of Art History and Cultural Policy at UCD and a Board Member of the Irish Georgian Society. His book, Building Reputations: Architecture and the Artisan, 1750-1830 (Manchester University Press, 2018) received the prestigious Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion, awarded by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain for a book that “provides an outstanding contribution to the study or knowledge of architectural history”.
Adrian Masterson brings his background in finance to bear on the Foundation’s activities.
Pat Murray is a collector and a Board Member of the Irish Georgian Society. He has played a key role in augmenting the Foundation’s collections.
Professor Finola O’Kane-Crimmins is Professor of Architecture in the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. Finola’s is an internationally acknowledged expert on landscape history. Her publications include Landscape Design in Eighteenth-Century Ireland: Mixing Foreign Trees with the Natives (2005), Ireland and the Picturesque; Design, Landscape Painting and Tourism in Ireland 1700-1830 (2013) and Landscape Design and Revolution in Eighteenth-Century Ireland and the United States, 1688-1815 (2023). Finola brings extensive experience of advising on the conservation of Irish historic landscapes, particularly those of the Liffey, Boyne, Feale and Blackwater valleys, to the Foundation.
June Stuart, is a resident of Celbridge, where she lives in Kildrought House built in 1725 by Speaker Conolly’s close associate Robert Baillie. She has played and continues to play a significant role in protecting the town’s eighteenth-century heritage, and acts as an invaluable link between the Foundation and local interest groups including the Celbridge Action Alliance and the Celbridge Historical Society.
Dr Patrick Walsh is Associate Professor of Eighteenth-Century Irish History and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. He is the author of The Making of the Irish Protestant Ascendancy: The Life of William Conolly, 1662-1729 (Woodbridge, 2010) and (with Anthony Malcomson) The Conolly Archive (Dublin 2010). He is the author of the most recent guide book to Castletown published in 2007.
Patrons
Frances Bailey worked for the National Trust in Northern Ireland as one of their leading curators. She brought her practical experience and the knowledge gained through her work with the National Trust to the Foundation. Together with other directors she is led the development of the Foundation’s acquisitions policy and, in partnership with the OPW, the conservation management plan. Frances retired from the Foundation in 2026
Roddy Feely was one of the longest-serving members of the Castletown Foundation, and played a key role in the handover of Castletown to the state in 1994. As company secretary he has special responsibility for managing the Foundation’s finances and accounts. He retired from the Foundation in 2026 .
Matt McNulty is a former Director General of Bord Failte, the Irish tourist board, and brings his considerable experience in the tourism sector to the Foundation. He is also a director of the Irish Heritage Trust. He retired as a director of the Foundation after many years service in June 2018
Christopher Moore succeeded the late Professor Kevin B. Nowlan as chairman of the Foundation in 2013. Christopher has had a long association with Castletown going back to his student days, and served as curator of the house during the 1980s. A passionate advocate for the house and its collections work with the Office of Public Works has helped ensure that the house and its collections are conserved and presented to the highest possible standards. Christopher retired as a director of the Foundation in June 2018 but will remain on board as a Patron.
