Humewood Castle is a Gothic-fantasy mansion built in 1870 in 427 acres of parkland at

Kiltegan Kiltegan () is a village in west County Wicklow, Ireland, on the R747 regional road close to the border with County Carlow. The village is in a townland and civil parish of the same name. The civil parish extends into County Carlow. Accordin ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

in Ireland. The mansion was originally built by the English architect William White and extended by James Brooks as a private residence of the Hume family. As of 2024, it is owned by American billionaire John C. Malone. Built of granite, the three-story main building is flanked by a tall, round turreted tower at one end and a more angular tower at the other. The ground floor consists of a drawing room, dining room, salon and ballroom banqueting hall and a lower ground floor a billiard room, smoking room and wine cellar. The upper floors contain 12 bedrooms.

History

The Hume family had settled at Humewood and built a castle there in the 15th century. The estate passed down through successive generations to Fitzwilliam Hume (1805–1892) who was the wealthy MP for

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had ...

from 1852 to 1880. He commissioned architect William White to design a country retreat for the summer and the shooting season and White hired Albert Kimberley to build the castle. White exceeded his brief and the final result, built between 1867 and 1870, was today's Gothic fantasy which far exceeded the budget, bankrupting White in the process. Fitzwilliam Hume assumed the surname of Dick in 1864 under the terms of a legacy. His only son William Hume inherited the property and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Wicklow and served as

High Sheriff of Wicklow The High Sheriff of Wicklow was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Wicklow, Ireland from Wicklow's formation in 1606 until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Wicklow County Sh ...

for 1896. After William Hume's death the estate passed to his daughter Catherine Marie-Madeleine (Mimi), who had married Jacques Weygand, son of the French General

Maxime Weygand Maxime Weygand (; 21 January 1867 – 28 January 1965) was a French military commander in World War I and World War II, as well as a high ranking member of the Vichy France, Vichy regime. Born in Belgium, Weygand was raised in France and educate ...

. They had no children. Shortly before her death in 1992, Mimi Weygand presented the majority of the estate cottages, including several in Kiltegan, to her tenants. The castle and 450-acre estate were subsequently sold at auction to the German businesswoman Renata Coleman for £1 million. Renata Coleman developed the house into an upmarket private hotel and introduced duckshooting and polo in the grounds. She marketed it in 2004 at an offering price of EUR 16 million. Coleman sold it to the Galway developer John Lally’s company, Lalco, to be further developed. Economic conditions were unfavourable, however, and in 2012 it was sold at a loss for 8 million euros to American billionaire

John Malone John Carl Malone (born March 7, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman, landowner, and philanthropist. He was chief executive officer (CEO) of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), a cable and media giant, from 1973 to 1996. As of 2016, Malone i ...

References

External links

* {{Historic Irish houses Buildings and structures in County Wicklow Hume family