Once the residence of the richest family in Carlow

Duckett’s Grove was built between 1818 and 1850 and was once home to the Duckett family. The Ducketts were Carlow’s largest landowners for 300 years with an estate covering more than 12,000 acres. It was designed by the famous architect Thomas Codden in a castellated Gothic revival style for John Davidson Duckett which included fantasy towers, turrets, and ornamented oriels and niches. At its height, the house had 11 staff just to maintain the grounds alone. In 1908 the property passed to a land agent after an internal family feud and later again it was used by local farmers for storage and reputedly by a local branch of the IRA for organizing its flying columns. In 1933 the house was unfortunately destroyed by fire. Carlow County Council acquired Duckett’s Grove in 2005 and has since restored the historical gardens which have examples of plants from all over the World. In 2011, Duckett’s Grove was featured in an episode of SYFY’s ‘Destination Truth’ to find out if the ruins are haunted by a banshee ghost…the outcome was…scary..!!