A Restored Irish Palace

Built in 1732, the Palladian manor that once served as an archbishop's country estate is just a rock's throw from the Rock of Cashel, a remarkable collection of medieval and Celtic ruins crowning a limestone outcrop in cow-dotted fields.

The Rock is visible from the palace gardens, where, in the 1740s, the archbishop's land agent, Richard Guinness, grew hops in order to make ale. His son, Arthur, would eventually use an inheritance from the archbishop to launch a beer empire in Dublin. So you could say the palace is where the Guinness idea first got brewing.

Having survived a period of neglect, the Cashel Palace has now been restored by a team of conservation architects and transformed into a 42-room luxury hotel in Europe's Relais & Châteaux portfolio.

Published Jan 20, 2022 by Zac Thompson