Glenveagh Castle
Glenveagh Castle (Irish: Caisleán Ghleann Bheatha ) is a large castellated Mansion house built in County Donegal, Ireland in about 1870.
Glenveagh Castle was built between 1870 and 1873 by Captain John George Adair. It stands within the boundaries of Glenveagh National Park, near both Churchill and Gweedore in County Donegal, Ireland. It is built in the Scottish Baronial style and consists of a four-story rectangular keep, surrounded by a garden, and a backdrop of some 165.4 km² (40,873 acres) of mountains, lakes, glens and woods complete with a herd of red deer. The Irish Gleann Bheatha (Bheithe) translates into English as "Glen of the Birch Trees". The visitor center has displays that explain the park as well as an audio-visual show and is accessible for patrons with disabilities.
The castle was built by Captain John George Adair (1823-1885), a native of County Laois, and a member of the minor gentry. Adair had made his fortune by chancy land speculation in the United States, and he returned to Ireland and bought up vast tracts of land in Donegal. Adair had married in 1869, Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie, a daughter of James S. Wadsworth, a Union General in the American Civil War. Together they set about the creation of the gardens and castle. Adair's ambition was to create an estate and castle that surpassed Balmoral, Queen Victoria's Scottish retreat. John Adair is remembered with scant affection in Donegal. On the heels of the Great Irish Famine and emigration on a par with the Highland Clearances, John Adair evicted 224 tenants from their blackhouses on his land. This was not for financial gain, but merely to improve the aesthetic aspect from the castle. These tenant clearances are known as the "Derryveagh Evictions". The name of John George Adair as a Donegal landlord has passed into history and folklore, ballad and documentary. All have one thing in common - Adair was notoriously cruel. He purchased Glenveagh and Gartan in 1859 making an estate of 28,000 acres (110 km2).
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