Viscount Townshend’s wife died at Leixlip Castle.
The Hon. George Cavendish remodelled the building and brought it up to modern requirements during his tenancy before 1837.
John Michael, Baron de Robuck, subsequently lived there, and was drowned in the Liffey in 1856 during a flood.
In 1878, Captain the Honourable Cornwallis Maude, son of the Earl of Montalt, took the castle after his marriage. He was killed at Majuba Hill.
The present occupier is William Mooney, Esq., J.P.
This fortress is one of the oldest inhabited houses in Ireland. It has been said that the novelist Maturin founded one of his weird plots on a legend relating to Leixlip Castle, but the statement requires verification.
An underground passage runs from the castle, beneath the Byewater, to St. Mary’s Church, where it terminates in a vault under the building, the end being now walled up.
Lord Frederick FitzGerald, “Leixlip Castle,” and Lord Walter FitzGerald, Note, in _Journal of the Archæological Society of the County Kildare_. Proceedings of Royal Society of Antiquaries. “History of St. Wolstan’s,” in _Irish Builder_ for 1899. P. (Petrie?), “Town and Castle of Leixlip,” in _The Irish Penny Journal_. Parliamentary Gazetteer. Book of Survey and Distribution. Calendar of Patent Rolls, Ireland. Book of Inquisitions of Province of Leinster. Fiants of Elizabeth. Transcripts of Inquisitions. MS. Ordnance Survey of Ireland.
This castle takes its name from a rath now known as Round Hill, _lis_ meaning “fort,” and _mor_ “great.” It is situated on the right bank of the River Blackwater, about four and a half miles north-by-east of Tallow, in the county of Waterford.
When Henry II. visited Lismore in 1171 he seems to have formed the plan of turning the ancient and famous Abbey of Mochuda into a fortified episcopal residence; hence in 1179 Milo de Cogan and Robert FitzStephen were sent by his directions to choose the site for this stronghold, which was to act as a protection against the “mere Irish.”
In all probability the tapering tower, now known as “Sir Walter Raleigh’s Tower,” formed part of the ecclesiastical buildings. It is constructed of rude rubble, and has plain loops and cornices. The entrance is on the second floor, and this leads into buildings of later date, so that it has no external doorway. A somewhat similar tower was destroyed by fire prior to 1864, which may (with the one now standing) have protected a gate between the upper and lower courts.