Lismore Castle Co Waterford Ireland

Lismore Castle Co. Waterford Republic of Ireland. It belonged to the Earls of Desmond, and subsequently to the Cavendish family from 1753. It is currently the Irish home of the Duke of Devonshire. It was largely re-built in the Gothic style during the mid-nineteenth century for The 6th Duke of Devonshire.
Built as the sister castle to Ardfinnan Castle in 1185 by the Lord of Ireland, Prince John of England to guard the river crossing, the castle site was originally occupied by Lismore Abbey, an important monastery and seat of learning established in the early 7th century. It was still an ecclesiastical centre when King Henry II of England stayed here in 1171, and except for a brief period after 1185 (when he had assigned his son King John of England to build a 'castellum' here) when it served as the episcopal residence of the local bishop. It was a possession of the Earls of Desmond, whose lands were broken up during the plantations following the killing of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, in 1583.
In 1589, Lismore was leased and later acquired by Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh sold the property during his imprisonment for High Treason in 1602 to another infamous colonial adventurer, Richard Boyle, who was later created, in 1620, The 1st Earl of Cork.
Boyle came to the Kingdom of Ireland from the Kingdom of England in 1588 with only twenty-seven pounds in capital and proceeded to amass an extraordinary fortune. After purchasing Lismore he made it his principal seat and transformed it into a magnificent residence.. It was here in 1626 that Robert Boyle, The Father of Modern Chemistry, the fourteenth of the Earl's fifteen children, was born. The castle eventually descended to The 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork (1694-1753), who was a noted influence on Georgian architecture (and is usually known in architectural histories as the Earl of Burlington).
Lismore featured in the Cromwellian wars when, in 1645, a force of Catholic confederacy commanded by Lord Castlehaven sacked the town and castle. Some restoration was carried out by The 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd Earl of Cork (1612–1698) to make it habitable again, but neither he nor his successors lived at Lismore.
Dukes of Devonshire
The castle (along with other Boyle properties – Chiswick House, Burlington House, Bolton Abbey and Londesborough Hall) was acquired by the Cavendish family in 1753 when Lady Charlotte Boyle (1731-1754), the daughter and heiress of The 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, married the Marquess of Hartington, who later became, in 1755, The 4th Duke of Devonshire (1720-1764), a future Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Their son, the 5th Duke (1748–1811), carried out improvements at Lismore, notably the bridge across the River Blackwater in 1775 which was designed by Cork-born architect Thomas Ivory.
The 6th Duke (1790–1858), commonly known as 'the Bachelor Duke', was responsible for the castle's present appearance. He began transforming the castle into a fashionable 'quasi-feudal ultra-regal fortress' as soon as he succeeded his father in 1811, engaging the architect William Atkinson from 1812 to 1822 to rebuild the castle in the Gothic style, using cut stone shipped over from Derbyshire. Lismore was always the Bachelor Duke's favourite residence, but as he grew older his love for the place developed into a passion.
King Edward VII visiting The 8th Duke of Devonshire in May 1904. The 8th Duke had been a very prominent politician, especially when he was styled as Marquess of Hartington. As Lord Hartington, the 8th Duke had been bitterly opposed to Home Rule for Ireland in the 1880s.
In 1858, the Cavendish family sponsored a new bridge over the Blackwater, which replaced the one built in 1775.
After the death of the 6th Duke of Devonshire — known as the "Bachelor Duke" — in 1858, Lismore remained substantially unaltered. It became the home of a younger son of the 9th Duke, Lord Charles Cavendish, who married Adele Astaire, the sister and former dancing partner of Fred Astaire. Lord Charles’ nephew married Kathleen ‘Kick’ Kennedy, JFK’s sister. And so the list of names continues. After her husband's death in 1944 and her remarriage in 1947, Adele continued to use the castle until shortly before her own death in 1981.The castle was only used by The 11th Duke of Devonshire for brief annual visits.
The 12th Duke, who succeeded to the title in 2004.  A special thanks to Tomas o’ Sullivan {Tomas - Aerials } for showing me around.
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