Kilkea Castle. Open to the public?

Archeron · 11-01-2012 3:19pm #1

Hi everybody.

Just wondering if anybody knows if Kilkea Castle hotel is open to the public? I want to go and have a look at the castle and grounds, but dont know if they would allow this, or if the grounds are reserved for guests only.
I've tried to contact the hotel iteself, but the lines are ringing out.

If anyone has any idea, I'd be grateful!
Cheers

nilhg · 11-01-2012 8:03pm

Both hotel and golf club are closed AFAIK, if you are not too far away it's probably worth taking a drive down and seeing if the grounds of the place are locked up, sure if anyone says anything to you you could say you're thinking of buying it:D.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilkea_Castle

nilhg · 11-01-2012 8:12pm

Just noticed, street view goes nearly to the door.

byhookorbycrook · 11-01-2012 8:15pm

Gates are usually open, either the front ones or the back ones, by the golf club.

Lots of good legends around it!

washman3 · 11-01-2012 8:18pm

we (the people of ireland) own it now, so in you go, no questions asked.

blackbird98 · 13-01-2012 11:34am

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Gates are usually open, either the front ones or the back ones, by the golf club.

Lots of good legends around it!

not any more!! both the hotel and golf club are closed, went into liquidation a while back. Gates, front & rear are locked, with signs stating no trespassers.

Sometimes there is a jeep parked at the rear gate lodge, you could inquire there if you would be allowed to have a look around

pity, because it was a good place for a stroll, photographs etc.

homerhop · 13-01-2012 10:32pm

there are people still walking the grounds every day.

washman3 · 14-01-2012 12:08am

homerhop wrote: »

there are people still walking the grounds every day.

And rightly so. after all, they now own it...;)

Joe Public · 15-01-2012 1:25pm

washman3 wrote: »

we (the people of ireland) own it now, so in you go, no questions asked.

Try using that to get into Áras an Uachtaráin

washman3 · 15-01-2012 6:55pm

Joe Public wrote: »

Try using that to get into Áras an Uachtaráin

we were within a whisker of putting in a Fianna Fail bagman in there.;)

byhookorbycrook · 15-01-2012 7:02pm

Back gate has been open when I pass, maybe for the gatelodge. Pity if they are stopping people going into the grounds.
If you are in the area, you should climb up to the rath in Mullachcreelan,views are excellent. A pint in the Moone Highcross Inn is nice too and of course a visit ot the high cross itself, the crosses and Viking burial stone at Castledermot.

DWCommuter · 16-01-2012 10:07pm

NAMA

doughef · 27-08-2012 2:45pm

sorry for digging up an old thread..

Went out to Kilkea on Saturday evening. If you go to the golf course entrance you can easily get in. There is a gate that doesnt quite close and a chain holding it together.
Easy to hop over.

I'm not condoning breaking and entering either, as there was a lady there who says that its always full of people walking dogs etc.

Its a little bit overgrown but you can walk in around the courtyard.
It looks like you could re-open it tomorrow, there are still furniture andTV's in the room and all the dinning tables are still in the function room.

Creepy though all the same.. We walked up to the golf club,. I was peering in the window and all of a sudden music started from inside. No joke.. kind of like some one had unmuted a TV or something..... !!!:eek::eek:

Mongarra · 27-08-2012 2:58pm

Oh no, I wouldn't go there. A former Earl of Kildare lived there and he was known as the Wizard Earl. He practised black magic and ultimately terrified his beautiful wife by turning himself into a large eel but with with his own head and face, and going to her chamber - still known as the Enchanted Chamber.

If that's the kind of thing they did to their own, what would they do to uninvited visitors?!

doughef · 28-08-2012 9:13am

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Ok,.. Well I wont go back so.....

but seriously, somebody must have been inside the golf club

ladysarastro · 28-08-2012 10:06pm

Nah think you're pretty safe as legend has it that the Wizard Earl sleeps around the earthworks and fort of Mullaghmast. He only wakes every seven years to ride a horse with silver shoes and when they have worn down he will return and banish Irelands foe's.

Love stories like that!

fluke · 30-08-2012 11:13am

doughef wrote: »

sorry for digging up an old thread..

Went out to Kilkea on Saturday evening. If you go to the golf course entrance you can easily get in. There is a gate that doesnt quite close and a chain holding it together.
Easy to hop over.

I'm not condoning breaking and entering either, as there was a lady there who says that its always full of people walking dogs etc.

Its a little bit overgrown but you can walk in around the courtyard.
It looks like you could re-open it tomorrow, there are still furniture andTV's in the room and all the dinning tables are still in the function room.

Creepy though all the same.. We walked up to the golf club,. I was peering in the window and all of a sudden music started from inside. No joke.. kind of like some one had unmuted a TV or something..... !!!:eek::eek:

Out of curiosity was the window looking into the bar?

doughef · 30-08-2012 12:04pm

yip,..

The window I was looking in was in the bar.
To clarify, this was the bar of the golf club and not the castle itself.

We didnt hear a thing as we walked up. Peering through the window (curtains were closed) and all of a sudden loud music started up from inside!

fluke · 30-08-2012 2:32pm

doughef wrote: »

yip,..

The window I was looking in was in the bar.
To clarify, this was the bar of the golf club and not the castle itself.

We didnt hear a thing as we walked up. Peering through the window (curtains were closed) and all of a sudden loud music started up from inside!

That's creepy - I wonder if maybe somebody who worked there had keys and just said sure eff it I'll stick on the telly..

Are the flats behind the golf club in use?

doughef · 30-08-2012 3:03pm

As far as I could see those houses / apts behind are not in use.

I grew up not too far away and for some reason Kilkea has always interested me.
I remember years ago going out there on a Christmas eve to play a gig but the whole place was closed... nobody there !! spooky.

I stayed in the castle a few years ago at a wedding. Gorgeous place.

Incidentally, looking at the graves out there, one belongs to a 4 year old boy. I think he was buried approx 1904 - its very well maintained.

fluke · 30-08-2012 4:15pm

doughef wrote: »

As far as I could see those houses / apts behind are not in use.

I grew up not too far away and for some reason Kilkea has always interested me.
I remember years ago going out there on a Christmas eve to play a gig but the whole place was closed... nobody there !! spooky.

I stayed in the castle a few years ago at a wedding. Gorgeous place.

Incidentally, looking at the graves out there, one belongs to a 4 year old boy. I think he was buried approx 1904 - its very well maintained.

Yeah I know the surroundings well, though I wouldn’t know too much about who lives in the area. I used to work in the golf club and would cycle home. Cycling up that main laneway via the castle in the dark as you leave the was pretty freaky. It would be very dark even with a bike light. Actually if memory serves me correctly I often didn’t have a front bike light as that battery kept going out and that was the only part of the journey I got out of the way really quickly as it was just such a dark open space I felt a little vulnerable...

and thought I might hit a tree!

Kilkea Castle. Open to the public?

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