The grand entrance hall is square, and the wall which once divided it from the centre courtyard has been replaced by oak pillars leading to an inner vestibule and staircase which occupies the site of the former open space. From this a passage extends the whole length of the castle to the Italian tower. The oak room is a magnificent apartment, wainscotted in dark Irish oak, relieved with lighter shades and exquisitely carved. The panels are painted with armorial bearings. There is a beautiful carved chimney-piece at the lower end of the apartment set with the grate in one frame. Upon touching a secret spring this all swings out and discloses a recess large enough to hide in. The furniture of the room is also Irish oak. Here is preserved the “Speaker’s Chair” of the Irish House of Commons.
The drawing-room and library are both very handsome rooms, and with the oak room, breakfast-room, parlour, and dining-room, form a splendid suite of rooms, opening one off the other. There is a very valuable collection of family portraits in the castle.
The Italian tower contains the chapel, record-room, and a small study. The first of these is in Gothic style and beautifully proportioned. Among the treasures to be seen here are Cranmer’s New Testament and Queen Mary’s Bible.
Over the front entrance is a stone screen slightly raised from the wall and ending in a pointed arch under the parapet wall. It is about 8 feet in width, and is handsomely sculptured with arms, mottoes, and events connected with the castle and its owners. At the top is a carved head representing Charles I., supposed to have been placed there by the first Viscount when he added to the fortress in 1662. Lower down are the arms of the founder and his wife, with the date of erection (1613), &c. Immediately over the hall door is a carved shell supported by mermaids, which represents the Skeffyngton crest.
The two ancient bastions have been formed into terrace gardens, and the grounds of the whole castle are most beautifully laid out. A splendid view is obtained from the old “Mount,” the summit of which is reached by a winding path.
The demesne is entered from the town through a castellated entrance, surmounted by a turretted warder’s lodge, which upon state occasions in modern times has been sentinelled with warders garbed in antique costume, battle-axe in hand.