Castle Ward is an 18th-century[1] National Trust property located near the village of Strangford, in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the townland of the same name
Castle Ward is an 18th-century[1] National Trust property located near the village of Strangford, in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the townland of the same name. It overlooks Strangford Lough and is 7 miles from Downpatrick and 1.5 miles from Strangford.
Castle Ward is open to the public and includes 332 hectares (820 acres) of landscaped gardens,[1] a fortified tower house, Victorian laundry, theatre, restaurant, shop, saw mill and a working corn mill. It has a shore on Strangford Lough. From 1985 to 2010 it has also hosted Castleward Opera, an annual summer opera festival.
History
Castle Ward has been the home of the Ward family since ca. 1570. Known originally as Carrick na Sheannagh and owned by the Earls of Kildare, it was bought by Bernard Ward, father of Sir Robert Ward, Surveyor-General of Ireland. The 850 acre walled demesne also dates from the 16th century. The Ward family built a succession of homes in their estate; Old Castle Ward, built about 1590 near to Strangford Lough, still survives, but a mansion built about 1720 by Judge Michael Ward was demolished about 1850, although some of the associated landscaping remains.[4]
The architect of the current building, built during the early 1760s for Michael Ward's son Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor is unknown, although he may have come from the Bristol area, with which the Ward family had associations. It may have been James Bridges who practiced in Bristol between 1757 and 1763 and whose work there has some similarity to Castle Ward.[3]
The property was inherited by a settlement made during 1748 by Bernard Ward's eldest son, Nicholas, 2nd Viscount Bangor, who was clearly insane. When his younger brother, Edward, died during 1812 leaving a young son, the youngest brother Robert took the opportunity to relocate the insane Nicholas into a smaller house in Downpatrick and strip Castle Ward of everything valuable. The house stood empty until the death of Nicholas during 1827, when it was inherited by Edward's son, now the 3rd Viscount. He and his descendants restored the building and its furnishings, but on the death of the 6th Viscount during 1950 the house and estate were given in lieu of death duties to the Government of Northern Ireland, who presented the house and its gardens to the National Trust during 1952.
On 10 February 1973, Leonard O'Hanlon (age 23) and Vivienne Fitzsimmons (age 17), both members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, were killed in a premature bomb explosion in the grounds of Castle Ward estate.
Parking FREE, 250 yards
Adults: £8.60
Children: £4.30
- Family: £21.55
- Group Adult: £6.50