The original Clonyn Castle was built in 1639 by Richard Nugent, the 15th Baron Delvin and 1st Earl of Westmeath. It was built as a replacement for the earlier Delvin Castle, the ruins of which still stand on the main street of the village.

When Cromwell’s army approached in 1649, Nugent ordered Clonyn Castle to be burned rather than allow it to fall into the hands of his enemies. He then fled to Galway. The castle was rebuilt by his grandson around 1680 and remained the Nugent family home until the nineteenth century.

The present Clonyn Castle was built a short distance from the earlier house for Fulke Greville and his wife Lady Rosa Nugent. The magnificent Victorian castle was constructed in the 1860s and 1870s and is the building that stands today. Part of the ruins of the earlier Clonyn Castle can still be seen in the grounds.

The castle remained in the Nugent family until 1922, when Patrick Nugent sold it and left for Scotland. It subsequently became home to a community of Australian nuns, who intended to establish a secondary school there, although the project did not proceed.

Clonyn then acquired a remarkable place in the history of Jewish refugees in Ireland. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the castle was purchased by Jacob Levy, a wealthy Jewish businessman from Manchester, who made it available as a home for Jewish children who had survived the Holocaust.

In 1948, more than one hundred children, most of them from Czechoslovakia, came to Clonyn Castle. They had survived the Holocaust and were brought to Ireland through the efforts of Rabbi Dr Solomon Schonfeld and the Chief Rabbi’s Religious Emergency Council. They remained at Clonyn for about a year, receiving care and education before eventually settling in Britain, the United States and Israel. Some of the former Clonyn Castle children later returned to Delvin and were warmly welcomed by the local community.

Clonyn Castle has subsequently been restored and has been a private residence for many years. It remains one of the most prominent historic houses in the Delvin area.

Please note that Clonyn Castle is a private residence and that the castle and its grounds are not open to the public.