Derryquin Castle was an 18th-century stone-built country house, now demolished, in the Parknasilla estate in

Sneem Sneem () is a village situated on the Iveragh Peninsula (part of the Ring of Kerry), in County Kerry, in the southwest of Ireland. It lies on the estuary of the River Sneem. National route N70 runs through the town. While the 2016 census recor ...

, County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland. It stood on the

Ring of Kerry The Ring of Kerry ( ga, Mórchuaird Chiarraí) is a circular tourist route in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. Clockwise from Killarney it follows the N71 to Kenmare, then the N70 around the Iveragh Peninsula to Killorglin – passi ...

route some 40 km (25 miles) south-west of Killarney. Designed by local architect

James Franklin Fuller James Franklin Fuller (1835–1924) was an Irish actor, architect and novelist. Life Fuller was born at Nedanone,James Franklin Fuller: Omniana: the autobiography of an Irish octogenarian. London, Smith, Elder & Co (1916) County Kerry, the only ...

, the house comprised a three storey main block with a four storey octagonal tower rising through the centre and a two storey, partly curved wing. The building was equipped with battlements and machicolations. Derryquin Castle c

History

The Parknasilla estate was acquired by the Very Reverend James Bland, an Englishman who had moved to Ireland in 1692 as chaplain to

Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney Henry Sidney, 1st Earl of Romney (also spelt Sydney; March 1641 – 8 April 1704) was an English Whig politician, soldier and administrator. He is now best remembered as one of the Immortal Seven who drafted the Invitation to William of Oran ...

, the newly appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Bland, the son of John Bland of Sedbergh, entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1684 (BA 1687, MA 1703) and became Archdeacon of Limerick on 1 June 1693, resigned in 1705, and became Archdeacon of Aghadoe on 12 July that year. He became Treasurer of Ardfert in 1711 and

Dean of Ardfert The Dean of Limerick and Ardfert is based in the Cathedral Church of St Mary's in Limerick in the united diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert within the Church of Ireland. St Brendan's Cathedral, Ardfert was destroyed by fire in 1641. Th ...

in 1728. Bland sold his Yorkshire properties in 1717. He was married to the eldest daughter of Sir Francis Brewster, Alderman of Dublin. On his death, and burial at Killarney, the property passed to his son, Judge Nathaniel Bland (1695-1760), who left it in turn for his son the Rev James Bland (1727-1786), who left it in turn for his son Francis Christopher Bland (1770–1838),

High Sheriff of Kerry The High Sheriff of Kerry was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Kerry, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Kerry County Sheriff. The sheri ...

for 1806. From him it passed to his son James Franklin Bland (1799–1863), who was High Sheriff of Kerry for 1835. He was succeeded by Francis Christopher Bland (1826–1894), High Sheriff in 1859, and he in turn by James Franklin Bland (1850–1927). Sir (Francis) Christopher Bland has Derryquin as one of the backgrounds for his novel "Ashes in the Wind". In 1891 James Franklin Bland sold the castle to the Warden family, who lived there until 1922, when it was burnt down by the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

, one of nearly 40 historic houses in Ireland to suffer the same fate. It was owned at the time by Colonel Charles Wallace Warden. The building was demolished in 1969. The site of the building now lies within the grounds of the Parknasilla Resort Hotel, which the Bland family also built in the 1890s.

References

External links

Official website Parknasilla Resort and Spa Hotel
{{Historic Irish houses , state=collapsed Castles in County Kerry 1922 fires in Europe Buildings and structures in County Kerry Buildings and structures demolished in 1922 1922 disestablishments in Ireland Former castles in the Republic of Ireland