Portlick Castle is a late medieval tower house castle near the village of Glasson,

County Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. It is located approximately 6 miles from

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...

on the shores of

Lough Ree Lough Ree () is a lake in the midlands of Ireland, the second of the three major lakes on the River Shannon. Lough Ree is the second largest lake on the Shannon after Lough Derg. The other two major lakes are Lough Allen to the north, and L ...

. It comprises a square late medieval 4-storey stone tower with an attached 2-storey Georgian wing and Victorian tower.

History

Sir Henry de Leon, accompanied Prince John (later King John) of England to Ireland, after the initial invasion by the

Earl of Pembroke Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its origin ...

(Strongbow) back in 1169, and was granted large areas of land in the Westmeath area. The surname eventually evolved from De-lee-on to Di-lee-on to Dillon. The

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

version of this surname is "Diolun". A branch of the Dillons was granted the lands of Portlick and probably constructed the medieval motte located nearby. This would have been their primary fortification and probable residence until the castle was constructed in . From then on they resided at the castle until 1696 when

Garrett Dillon Garrett (or Gerard or Gerald) Dillon (c.1640-c.1696) was an Irish judge, politician and soldier, who held the office of Recorder of Dublin. He is mainly remembered today as one of the signatories of the Treaty of Limerick, which he helped to ...

, former Recorder of Dublin, was attainted under the Articles of Limerick and forced to flee to France, where he died a few years later. It was then granted to Thomas Keightly, a member of King William's privy council, who in turn sold it to William Palmer of Dublin. Subsequently, the grant was repudiated and the property repossessed by the crown to be sold to the Reverend Robert Smyth (Smith) in 1703. A member of the Smyth family lived in Portlick Castle until 1955. The Smyths built the Georgian residential wing and in 1860 Robert Ralph Smyth then built a castellated 3-storey tower block at the front of the Georgian addition to give the building its current twin tower appearance. According to articles in ''The Westmeath Independent'', Portlick Castle "was burned down on Wednesday, July 17, 1861", with loss of thousands of pounds worth of plates, furniture and books, and was uninhabitable when bought in 1988 by the Australian poet Luke Whitington, an art patron and an experienced restorer of derelict buildings in Italy. He extensively re-roofed and refurbished Portlick's buildings, with final council certification as fit for habitation obtained in 2000. In 2012, the entire castle could be rented during forty-six weeks in the year for 1,000 euros per night, and was also for sale, including 27 acres of land. As of 2019, Portlick Castle was owned by Whitington and let as a private residence. In 2020, the castle was still listed as "for sale". In early 2021, the castle was officially sold to an Irish-American family from California.

Ghost stories

According to local lore, Portlick Castle,

Kilkenny Castle Kilkenny Castle ( ga, Caisleán Chill Chainnigh, IPA: �kaʃlʲaːnˠˈçiːl̪ʲˈxan̪ʲiː is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways. It was a symbol of ...

, Monkstown Castle (Cork), the Sharon Rectory, and the Workhouse Museum in Derry are said to be haunted by a "Blue Lady"

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

References

California family Buys Historic Castle {{Cite web, url=https://www.westmeathindependent.ie/2021/01/30/family-in-california-buys-historic-portlick-castle/, title=Family in California buys historic Portlick Castle Castles in County Westmeath Houses in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in County Westmeath Country houses in Ireland Reportedly haunted locations in Ireland This castle was inhabited by the Finn Thor and Tora Hannevig and their family from approximately 1953-1970. Renovations were made to add laundry and electricity. Sources are extensive family photos from the period. They are buried at the local church. Finn Thor mentioned the Blue lady frequently.