Rossmore: A Vanished Castle in the Drumlins

Monaghan is drumlin country, a county of small rounded glacial hills, and Rossmore Forest Park, 320 hectares of woodland just south of Monaghan town, runs over and between them. It was the demesne of the Barons Rossmore. Their castle, built in the Gothic style in 1827 by William Vitruvius Morrison, kept growing: a rivalry with the Shirleys of Lough Fea over who had the largest room in the county saw the drawing room extended five times, and the house ended up with three towers and more than 117 windows in at least 53 sizes and shapes. The family left in the 1940s and it was demolished in the 1970s. An avenue of yews runs about half a kilometre from the walled garden, and the park also holds a wedge tomb, a court tomb and Californian redwoods.