Batty Langley Lodge

Batty Langley Lodge sits at the Dublin Road entrance of the Castletown House, Ireland's largest and earliest Palladian style house, and takes its name from the English architect and gardener Batty Langley whose book - Gothic Architecture - published in 1747, featured a drawing that served as inspiration for the façade of the lodge, added to the existing rectangular cottage in 1785.

With its stylised gothic façade facing the estate and Castletown rather than the road, this lodge's unusual design reflects its past dual purpose as both a gate lodge and as the end point of the river walk along the Liffey.

The lodge features a pretty double bedroom with a bathroom off it, a sitting room with open fire, an outside patio with garden furniture and modern utilities such as washing machine and dishwasher.

Apparently, Louisa Conolly, lady of the Castletown House used the lodge as a cottage ornée, where she could pretend to lead a life of domestic simplicity. However, the primary function of the lodge was to act as a gate house, and as a residence for one the Castletown grounds-men or gardeners, which it did until the mid twentieth century.

After the careful restoration and conservation work carried forward by the Irish Landmark and funded through OPW, Batty Langley Lodge is now a lovely holiday retreat, 5 minutes from Leixlip and not too far from lively Dublin, for those willing to step back in time and experience life in the 19th century.