Even after a dozen posts from the Cavan County Museum I’m still hooked on history for this week’s Thursday Doors – and it’s a castle this time.

Would you like to have a look inside?

Sorry, this is as close as I can get but you can see the roof is gone thanks to a fire in the past.



Walking around the castle we came to this facade but I don’t know if the steps leading up to it are original. They have the same stone and seem quite old but are not very grand.

For me, this is the most interesting part of the castle. You can see lots of features like the coach entrances, some servants quarters and a balcony. Here is where a lot of the activity for the running of the castle must have taken place.




Nearby we came across a yew grove, with some lovely old trees.



Now for the history. Here’s what we found out on our visit. The notices must have been used for target practise by some birds flying overhead. It was difficult to clean it all off, so please try to ignore the odd smudge. The castle was the family seat of the Saunderson family, who acquired the original building in 1573, during the Plantation of Ulster. Previously, it belonged to the O’Reillys of Breffni and had been known as Breffni Castle from the fourteenth century.




The landscape is beautiful and, as you can see from this image, we were surrounded by trees.


At this time of year you get the wonderful scent of wild garlic and there is an abundance of it here.


Of course, I had to harvest a bit to make some pesto.

Thanks for stopping by this week, I’ll continue the tour of the estate in my next post. Meanwhile, have a look at the varied selection of Thursday Doors Norm has to offer over on his blog.
Beautiful photos. I wonder about those steps that seem to lead to nowhere; they seem meaningful in some way. Starvation Lane is quite a name! You do find some of the most interesting places to share here on your blog.
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Thankfully, it’s under five kilometers from our house, as that’s how far we can travel for exercise during phase one of opening the lockdown here.
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Amazing castle and amazing surroundings as well.
Regards, Teresa
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It’s a very peaceful place, Teresa.
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Amazing photographs!
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Thank you Mary.
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Out of the trenches and into the castle. Quite a contrast. 🙂 What a shame the castle lasted all those years only to be destroyed by fire in 1990! Looks like a great place for a scary movie but not about vampires with all that garlic about. 🙂 Pesto. Mmmmm!
janet
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It’s relaxing and enjoyable during the day but I wouldn’t fancy being there late at night
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Wonderful history, thank you for sharing.
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Thank you for stopping by.
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Wow Jean, you keeping outdoing yourselves.Excellent post and what a history! And its stone looks indestructible. Too bad, they did not repair it after the fire! You must have LOVED researching the history part of your books:)
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I love doing the research, Jesh, but it’s very easy to get lost in it as so much interesting information comes up. Condensing it all is the difficult part.
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At least you get to the research! Moi, had to do it in grad.school a lot, and since I love counseling, it seemed the more mechanical part (for me, obviously you have found a way to make it alive).
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I agree with you that it’s very mechanical in its nature but it’s like foraging for food, Jesh. You can use the ingredients to cook up amazing stories. After all, they say fact is stranger than fiction but when you add them together all kinds of results are possible. Great for historical fiction and dystopian writers.
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I live in the Cotswolds and I went for a walk through some woods a few days ago and I nearly passed out from the smell of the wild garlic. Just about every square inch of ground was covered in the stuff. One of the joys of the countryside at this time of year.
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You can wash and dry the leaves and freeze them in plastic bags to make pesto later in the year. I love that smell walking through the woods.
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That’s a magnificent castle, Jean, even in it sad state. It’s nice that you can walk around it and that they’ve made that a beautiful walk.
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The chorus of birdsong is an added bonus at this time of year, Dan 🙂
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what a shame ,the castle was burned down there also like eighty percent of other buildings around Ireland,
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Great post Jean. Such a beautiful facade! Too bad the castle was damaged by fire. It must have been something to see from the inside when it was still intact.
And as for your wild garlic pesto…mmm looks delicious. I’d ask you to save me some but it might be a long while before I can go pick it up from you 😉
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You’ll have to forage for some, Norm, while it’s still in season. There must be tons of it where you are.
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I didn’t know you could eat wild garlic! That castle certainly looks haunted.
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It makes a fabulous pesto Jan, even nicer than basil.
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The facade looks sturdy, but most likely not, due to age.
There was a Netflix presentation on Robert The Bruce, I liked him!
Sounds like a fabulous visit. Thanks for sharing.
Pat
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It is a bit unstable. The fencing is around the castle in case of falling debris. Pity, I’d like to look inside.
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At this point maybe just from old photos😊
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thats great i come from co cavan originally ,i like that cctv in operation hopefully its working keep out the vandals,its a shame was burned down a couple of times i have a book The Saundersons of Castle Saunderson got it from the national library Dublin i will send you a copy if you are interested since you come from that area, also it would be great if you could visit the Church down in the basement all of the names of the Saunderson family are interred there over the years
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It’s definitely a good thing to have CCTV there, Matthias. I was back again yesterday to gather more wild garlic and take some photos of the church. I must have a look at the national library website for the book. The church was closed off to the public and is on private land. I’ll be featuring it on next week’s blog post.
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Just for the record Jean,lewellyn Saunderson fought in the American civil war General Lee appointed him one of his gallopers after Lee surrended Saunderson reached New Orleans where he managed to get back to Dublin lucky fellow.
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Wow, he was a very fortunate man to make it back safely. Thanks for sharing that interesting account, Matthias.
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Thank you for the historic tour. Castles are always fascinating both in history and size. Glad you even got to forage on your trip. 🙂
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I was back there again yesterday to gather more wild garlic for freezing 🙂
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That’s an amazing castle and beautiful grounds too! Nice shots, Jean.
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Thanks Brenda, it’s lovely to walk through the forest trail.
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Gorgeous pictures with a wonderful history lesson. I especially like the picture of the tree covered lane. Thanks for the post.
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That lane is a beautiful walk, I love it.
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Beautiful! Thanks for taking me along 🙂
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Thanks for joining me, Joey 🙂
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Beautiful castle.
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It’s in a beautiful setting too.
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Oh my goodness! What a shame it is just a shell of its former self… Perhaps at some stage some intrepid DIYer might decide to rebuild… In the meantime, it makes for a very moody ruin. Thank you for yet another stunning series of pics, Jean:)
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Moody ruin is a good description, Sarah.
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Thank you for sharing, Sarah, much appreciated.
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