'No information available' about conservation work on 400 year old Kildare castle
There is growing impatience at the slow rate of progress
Kildare County Council said it has no information about conservation work at Jigginstown Castle at Newbridge Road, Naas.
Cllr Anne Breen sought information about the work at a Naas Municipal District meeting.
In a report, KCC official Amy Granville said the structure is a national monument owned by the Office of Public Works.
“The structure is of significance as it is the earliest large structure in the country built primarily from brick. KCC is aware that it has been undergoing conservation work for a number of years (but this is not) being undertaken by KCC and “therefore a timeline for the completion of works is not known (and is) a matter for the OPW.”
In 2019 it was reported that no timeline is available for the opening of the castle to the public.
It was also reported that the OPW is engaged in a long term project to “stabilise and consolidate the physical fabric of the building and to preserve as much of the building fabric as is physically possible.”
At a more recent NMD meeting then councillor Colm Kenny observed that the structure scaffolding was there so long it may soon itself be described as historic.
Completed in 1637 at a cost of six thousand pounds, Jigginstown Castle was the brainchild of then Lord Deputy of Ireland Thomas Wentworth, who was executed in London in 1641.
It was built with the intention of becoming a royal palace prior to Wentworth being charged with treason. The castle was never lived in and fell into decay.