The Palace Under the Alps

Castle Ward, one of the great houses of Ulster, is the result of a remarkable compromise in the eighteenth century between a certain Lord and Lady Bangor. He wanted a traditional house in the conservative classical style. She wanted a racier “Gothick” style made fashionable by Alexander Pope at Strawberry Hill in Twickenham. Unable to agree, they built (between 1760 and 1780) a house with a classical Palladian face on one side and a vigourously Gothic facade on the other. This battle of styles continued inside, where the staircase, dining room, and music room are in the classical tradition, while the sitting and withdrawing rooms are in the style favored by Lady Bangor. The result satisfied no one, least of all Lord and Lady Bangor, who stopped talking and eventually split up.

Apart from its remarkable interiors, Castle Ward offers a beautiful setting overlooking Strangford Lough plus 700 acres of gardens and woodland walks to stroll through. There’s an unusual Victorian laundry, a temple, and a tower house, a crafts center and a shop and tearoom. If you’re in Northern Ireland, it really shouldn’t be missed.

Details: Castle Ward is at Strangford on the A75 road south of Belfast. The house is open from April 1 to September 30 every day but Fridays from 2 to 6. The grounds are open from dawn to sunset throughout the year. In addition, there are vestiges of St. Patrick throughout the area. Saul, about three miles west of Castle Ward, is where Patrick landed in Ireland in A.D. 432 and two miles further west at Downpatrick, in the graveyard at the Church of Ireland Cathedral, stands a granite boulder reputed to mark his burial site.

William Bryson, The Palace Under the Alps, p154

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-castleward