One of the longest-inhabited buildings in Ireland

Leixlip is located on the confluence of the River Liffey and the River Rye. This was the ancient border between the Kingdoms of Leinster and Brega and the edge of the Pale. Leixlip Castle was built in 1172 for Adam de Hereford, a Norman soldier in Strongbow’s army making it one of the earliest castles in the country. It has since been continuously inhabited for the next 800 years. It was used as a hunting base by King John in 1200 and withstood a 4-day siege by Edward The Bruce’s Army in 1316. In 1567 it was bought by Judge Nicholas White whose family remained here until 1728. It was then bought by William ‘Speaker’ Conolly for £12,000 whose famous tenants included Archbishop Stone, the Protestant Primate (during the 1750s), the Viceroy Lord Townshend (1770s), Lord Waterpark, and Baron de Robeck (who drowned in the Salmon Leap!). In the 1920s the castle became the residence of the first French ambassador to the Irish Free State and in 1945 it was sold to William Kavanagh, prior to the purchase in April 1958 by The Hon. Desmond Guinness.