Ireland · Still standing
Shankill Castle
Shankill Castle is a country house that developed from an earlier Butler tower-house and was remodelled and enlarged by the Aylwards into a castellated house set in formal parkland. It stands beside a canal with serpentine bays and is surrounded by walled and moated gardens with notable mature trees. The house remains lived-in and open to visitors for garden walks and guided tours of the interior.
Its prime
1850
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1850
What Shankill Castle looked like in its prime.
A house built onto an older tower-house core, with later 19th-century castellations: crenellated parapets and an irregular roofline punctuated by the vertical mass of the original tower; a Gothic porch bearing the Aylward crest and a glazed conservatory attached to one side. The grounds include a formal front vista across parkland and a rear canal with serpentine bays, a sunken lawn with a prominent polyhedral sundial, a moated garden and high walled garden framed by mature specimen trees.
Its story
The story of Shankill Castle.
Shankill Castle began as a Butler tower-house near the ruins of an old church, close to Paulstown on the Carlow–Kilkenny border. In 1708 Peter Aylward bought the lands from his wife's family, the Butlers, rebuilt the house and set it in a formal landscape, with a vista to the front and a canal to the rear.
In the 19th century the house was enlarged and castellated, serpentine bays were added to the canal, and an unusual polyhedral sundial was given a place of pride on a sunken lawn, along with a Gothic porch bearing the Aylward crest and a conservatory. The stable-yard and the castellated entrance to the demesne are attributed to Daniel Robertson, and the interior preserves much of its 18th-century character — a Georgian staircase, Gothic plasterwork and a Victorian drawing-room.
The Toler-Aylwards resided at Shankill until 1991, and some of the family still live in the Kilkenny area. The castle is now the home of the artist Elizabeth Cope and her husband Geoffrey; it hosts a residency programme for artists and creative professionals, and the walled and moated gardens and house are open to visitors.
Step inside
12 places to explore in 1850.
The record describes 12 distinct spots at Shankill Castle — including 3 interiors: entrance hall with georgian staircase, room with gothic plasterwork, victorian drawing-room. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Shankill Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1850 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Shankill Castle.
The families that held Shankill Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
The original tower-house was a Butler house; the family sold the lands to Peter Aylward in 1708.
Aylward
Held by the Aylwards and Toler-Aylwards from Peter Aylward's purchase in 1708 until 1991.
