Ballinlough Castle
Ballinlough Castle is a country house of 17th‑century origin near Clonmellon in County Westmeath, Ireland, extended in the late 18th century and continuously occupied by the Nugent family. It stands on a wooded hill above two lakes and is surrounded by formal gardens and lakeside walks. The house retains large, unusually tall windows and principal reception rooms on the ground floor with bedrooms reached by a vaulted first‑floor corridor.
Its prime
1790
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1790
What Ballinlough Castle looked like in its prime.
A compact 17th‑century country house with a late‑18th‑century added wing, sited on a wooded hill overlooking two adjacent lakes. The main block and attached wing present a domestic silhouette rather than fortification, with very tall ground‑ and first‑floor windows that dominate the façades. The front entrance bears an O'Reilly coat of arms dated 1614 above the doorway. Interiors include a large drawing room and dining room with tall window openings and a vaulted corridor above giving access to the first‑floor bedrooms; mature trees and lakeside walks frame the house.
Its story
The story of Ballinlough Castle.
Ballinlough is a 17th-century country house near Clonmellon in County Westmeath, set on a wooded hill overlooking two of the Westmeath lakes. Around 1790 a new wing was added by Sir Hugh O'Reilly, probably to designs of the amateur architect Thomas Wogan Browne, also responsible for Malahide Castle, the home of Sir Hugh's sister Margaret.
In 1812 the family changed their name from O'Reilly to Nugent, and they are among the few Irish Catholic families of the seventeenth century still living in their original family home. It remains the home of Nicholas and Alice Nugent. The principal rooms have what may be the tallest windows in a private house of the period, looking over the woods and lake, with bedrooms reached by a vaulted first-floor corridor.
The grounds, with their formal gardens and lakeside walks, have become festival country: the fourth annual Life Festival was held there in May 2009, and since 2010 the Nugents have leased the lands each year to the Body & Soul music festival.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1790.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Ballinlough Castle, including 4 interiors: drawing room (ground floor), dining room (ground floor), vaulted first‑floor corridor and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Recreate Ballinlough Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Ballinlough Castle.
The families that held Ballinlough Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Home of the O'Reillys from the seventeenth century; Sir Hugh O'Reilly added a new wing around 1790.
Nugent
The same family since 1812, when they changed their name from O'Reilly to Nugent; still in residence.
Nearby
