Slane Castle — Slanecastle Demesne

Situated on a bluff on the N bank of a SW-NE section of the Boyne River which is c. 140m to the SE. This had become the caput or centre of the Fleming estate by the seventeenth century, and probably from much earlier. According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) William Fleming, the Lord of Slane, owned most of the parish in 1640 and the manor included ‘a castle with a hall, a stable Brewhouse, and Coach house, and divers other houses of Office, the same being some time the Mansion house of the said Lord of Slane.’ (Simington 1940, 343). Westropp (1901, 430) confirms that the Slane Castle of the Flemmings’ was situated where the present structure is. He describes it from a 17th century parish map of Slane as a large courtyard. ‘Along the river front (south) stood, at the south-east angle, a strong square tower with large windows; a short distance to the west, a round tower with pointed roof; then a low range of buildings with a high, square tower, with arched recess, to the south-west. The west side was closed with a battlemented wall, having a walk along the summit curving, to meet a gatehouse with battlements, a large archway, and a house with a lofty chimney to the right in the centre of the north face; a curtain wall, with a postern, connected it with a round tower, having a pointed roof, at the north-east angle; the east wall is hidden behind this; there was a fosse to the landside.’ This is probably an over-interpretation of a standardised drawing of a complex structure. The present building was begun in 1785 to a design of James Wyatt. It is a seven bay, three storey over basement Gothic Revival castle with square corner towers, which could contain earlier fabric. It has a large bow on the SW front, which contains the famous circular ballroom (Bence-Jones 1978, 260-1).