Banquets, candlelight, turrets, and princesses — castles are the epitome of romance and fairytales. But they can also mean draughty rooms, leaky roofs, inadequate heating, and endless costly maintenance.
“You have to be an idealistic lunatic to take on a castle,” laughs Patrick Nordstrom, the owner and custodian of Blackwater Castle in North Cork. “But you also need to be very realistic and have a strong concept of how it will work for itself.”
So what is it really like to own and live in a castle? To find out, we spoke to three passionate owners: Patrick in Blackwater Castle, Alicia Clements of Birr Castle, Co Offaly, and Catherine FitzGerald of Glin Castle, Co Limerick.
The romance is real. Both Blackwater and Birr Castle are associated with actual princesses.
Blackwater was connected to the Baron and Baroness of Fermoy, Princess Diana’s maternal grandparents, while Birr Castle’s Earl of Rosse is the half-brother of Lord Snowdon, who was married to Princess Margaret.
But science, astronomy, and engineering are not what you would normally associate with castles, which is what makes Birr Castle unique.
Alicia Clements is the daughter of the current Earl of Rosse — Brendan Parsons — and it was while she was studying engineering that she decided to delve into her family’s illustrious scientific past.
Alicia Clements, daughter of the Earl of Rosse at Birr Castle. Pic. Brian Arthur
Her ancestor, the third Earl Charles Parsons, built the world’s largest telescope — the Great Leviathan — in the early 1840s; it remained the biggest until 1914.
His wife Mary, the Countess of Rosse, was a pioneering photographer. Together, they made Birr Castle a centre for scientific discovery.
“I was writing a paper on the British engineer James Naysmith,” Alicia remembers. “He had visited Birr and I discovered his letters in the castle’s attic.”
Alicia failed her paper because she couldn’t prove the letters’ authenticity. It was then she realised she needed to put her ancestors’ scientific breakthroughs on the map.
Today Birr Castle is not only home to a wonderful interactive Science Centre, along with the restored Leviathan telescope but it continues to be a site for astronomy research, hosting Trinity College Dublin’s state-of-the-art radio telescope project I-LOFAR.
All of this, along with the castle’s beautifully restored gardens and a giant treehouse, has made Birr Castle the Midlands’ biggest tourist attraction (and Birr’s County Arms Hotel is a great place to stay if you’re visiting).
It’s a far cry from when Alicia’s father Brendan inherited the castle and the title back in 1979. “The castle was falling down,” she remembers, “and the garden was a beautiful, wild, unexplored wilderness. But he rolled up his sleeves and got to work.”
The first step was to restore the telescope, supported by the renowned astronomer Patrick Moore.
Brendan and his wife Alison, the Countess of Rosse, are passionate gardeners and set about transforming the 120-acre demesne.
“My father is very proud of the castle and adores sharing his knowledge with everyone,” says Alicia.
Today the Earl and his wife still live in a wing of the castle along with one of Alicia’s two brothers, whose family occupies another wing.
“The castle has evolved over the past 200 years,” she explains. “It was built for armies of servants and so inhabiting the whole castle can be uncomfortable by today’s standards.”
Alicia Clements at Birr Castle. Pic. Brian Arthur
It was also in the 1970s when Catherine FitzGerald’s father Desmond, the 29th and final Knight of Glin, moved back to Glin Castle from London.
Home to the FitzGerald family and the hereditary Knights of Glin for 800 years, Glin Castle had been uninhabited for at least 15 years.
Desmond and wife Olda brought their castle back from the brink, starting with restoring the farm.
A curator at the V&A museum in London, Ireland’s representative for Christie’s, and president of the Irish Georgian Society, Desmond set about tracking down the castle’s china, antiques, and paintings that had been sold throughout the decades.
“I always remember him being up a ladder moving paintings and finding artefacts,” remembers Catherine. “He was completely passionate about restoring the castle and the gardens.”
But from the beginning, Glin Castle had to earn its keep.
“My father had studied at Harvard and knew a lot of Americans so they decided to rent the castle out to families. My parents placed an ad in the New Yorker and friends of his, as well as former professors, would come and rent it for three months at a time.”
Glin Castle, Co Limerick.
Desmond, Olda, and their three daughters would live in one of the wings but during the winter, the family had Glin back to themselves again.
“It was the most magical place to grow up,” recalls Catherine.
“The attics were like the Old Curiosity Shop, full of old trunks, ball gowns, and dusty driving goggles. We ran between ancient Killarney oaks, the remnants of an old Gaelic forest. At Christmas our grandmother would visit and we’d take out the silver tea service.”
In 1993 Glin Castle was turned into a family-run hotel but the financial crash had a devastating effect and in 2008 Desmond and Olda were forced to close the business and sell off many of their valuable antiques.
Three years later, Desmond died of throat cancer. The painful decision was made to sell Glin Castle; it stayed on the market for two years until Catherine and her husband, the actor Dominic West, intervened.
Catherine had trained as a landscape designer and has put her heart and soul into the grounds of Glin Castle.
“We’ve actually gone back to my parents’ original vision for the castle and it’s available for private hire,” she explains. Built in the 1780s, it’s now a beautifully restored, comfortable, and luxurious home with fires burning in the grates and softly lit, colourful
interiors.
“It doesn’t respond well to lots of people,” explains Catherine. “It’s a delicate, intimate space so 50 people is the max. It’s very happy with about 30 people. We also host a lot of corporate retreats and golf groups because we’re close to Ballybunion, Adare Manor, Dingle, and Lahinch.”
Blackwater Castle’s Patrick Nordstrom. Picture Dan Linehan
Giving people the opportunity to become king and queen of their own castle is also Patrick Nordstrom’s way of keeping Blackwater Castle alive.
Unlike Alicia and Catherine, Patrick’s family have not lived here for centuries. His parents were from Finland and Patrick and his brother were raised in Munich.
His father, Dr Robbie Nordstrom, was a pioneering surgeon and innovator. He and his wife Ninna decided to buy Blackwater Castle in North Cork in the early 1990s.
“My father’s vision was to turn the castle into a centre for independent cancer research,” says Patrick.
Robbie Nordstrom died suddenly of an aneurysm in 1998 at the age of 56. “Our family didn’t have deep pockets or a viable plan for the castle,” remembers Patrick, who was working as a business analyst in Germany.
Using his skills, he set about creating a future for Blackwater. In 2004 he moved into the castle permanently. Today his 85-year-old mother Ninna still lives in the castle’s gate lodge.
Dating back to Norman times and with the 12th century tower still intact, Blackwater Castle was the seat of the Roche family.
“The first thing I did was to rebuild the main roof and put in double glazing,” says Patrick. “Restoring the courtyard was the biggest job, both the yard and the outbuildings. We couldn’t afford to do it quickly so a local stonemason worked on it for 16 years.”
Blackwater Castle’s Patrick Nordstrom: “The castle and its buildings sleep 70 and we encourage wedding couples to treat it like a hotel and save on costs. We actually had one couple who made a profit on their wedding!” Picture Dan Linehan
During the course of the restoration, Patrick believes they discovered the ruins of an old fortified town. “It has all the indications of it, I just need to pay for archaeological evidence,” he laughs.
Blackwater opened its doors as a B&B in 2005 and Patrick has carved a niche for offering a blank canvas for private gatherings and weddings.
“Every event here is completely unique,” he says. “The castle and its buildings sleep 70 and we encourage wedding couples to treat it like a hotel and save on costs. We actually had one couple who made a profit on their wedding!”
Patrick met Sheila O’Keeffe, his wife and soulmate, in Ireland. A solicitor and talented debater, she was his partner in all of their castle endeavours.
Their daughter Moya is now 16 but when she was six months old, Sheila was diagnosed with stage-4 colon cancer.
Despite being given only a few months to live, with medical trials, courage, and tenacity, Sheila defied all the odds and died shortly after Moya’s 14th birthday.
Patrick’s enthusiasm for Blackwater remains undimmed. He’s currently exploring how to create their own electricity from a water wheel on the castle’s river, saving €20,000 annually on bills.
But he is aware he is a custodian of the castle and his long-term plan is to find a worthy successor.
“I’m very open to chatting with interested people,” he reveals, “but it’s important to me that I find the right person who has the same values. Blackwater needs vision, discipline, and a financial background definitely helps.”
Catherine Fitzgerald, Glin Castle
Catherine FitzGgerald also feels the responsibility of being chateline of Glin Castle and believes it’s important to give back.
Glin Castle hosts regular public open days in conjunction with the town of Glin where people can come and enjoy its beautiful grounds as well as garden tours.
“People are recognising that the castle’s history and the biodiversity of the gardens are what is precious and worth preserving.”
Her four children adore the castle but she’s unsure what the future holds. “My youngest is passionate about conservation, the gardens and insects so we’ll see.”
Alicia Clements, daughter of the Earl of Rosse at Birr Castle. Pic: Brian Arthur
Legacy is also a big issue for Alicia Clements. She created the Giant’s Grove project, planting over 1,000 redwood trees which will make Birr Castle the world’s biggest centre for redwood trees outside of California.
But the castle potentially has a secure future with the news last April that the Government has added the castle and demesne to Ireland’s tentative list of Unesco World Heritage properties.
“It will be a 10-year project to achieve it but we’re absolutely delighted,” says Alicia. “It would be a real validation of what we’ve achieved here over the last 50 years. It would have been so much easier to sell up and live in a cosy bungalow. But we’ve preserved and showcased our unique scientific and botanic history.
“My father has compared the castle to a ship that’s on a voyage. People can get on and off for different parts of the journey but I would say I’m definitely in the engine room.”
Birr Castle is currently hosting the Historic Rosse Drawings art exhibition