Duckett's Grove

The Duckett family remodelled an earlier house from the mid-1820s into an extravagant Gothic Revival pile of turrets, pinnacles, castellations and towers, probably to designs by Thomas Cobden. The family line ended and the last resident, Maria Duckett, left in 1916; the estate was divided among local farmers by the Land Commission, and in April 1933 the empty house burned. What is left is the shell - and because the design was so vertical, the ruin is more striking than the house may have been, a jagged silhouette with nothing behind the windows. Two walled gardens beside it, an upper and a lower, have been restored by Carlow County Council with herbaceous borders and lawns, and are the maintained part of the site. Entry is free with a car park, tearoom and toilets. The house itself is fenced and cannot be entered; it is unstable and stabilisation work continues.

History

The house was built around 1745 on an estate of more than 5,000 acres, at first as a plain two-storey Georgian house over a basement; from the mid-1820s it was redesigned in a castellated Gothic Revival style, paid for by marriages into wealthy merchant families, and it was the centre of an estate that grew to 12,000 acres (Wikipedia, Duckett's Grove).

The main sights

• The burned shell - turrets and pinnacles with nothing behind them.
• The two walled gardens - restored, and the maintained part of the site.
• The 1830s design - Gothic Revival remodelling, probably by Cobden.
• The silhouette - the ruin more dramatic than the intact house.

When to go

April to October for the gardens, which are the reason to linger. The ruin is visible year-round. Free, with a car park and seasonal tearoom.

What to expect

The house is fenced and cannot be entered - it is unstable. Nothing of the interior survives. The gardens are pleasant but modest. Facilities are seasonal.

Nearby

Browneshill Dolmen is south-west; Altamont Gardens and Tullow are close.

Key facts