By any standard, Johnstown Castle is impressive, with its neo-gothic architecture, ornate gold ceilings and vast leafy grounds. But how does a castle with origins dating back to the 1100s marry with agricultural education and research?

Brenda Comerford, general manager at Johnstown Castle, explains its history in this regard: “The owners of the castle, the Grogans, had been terrific landlords. But by 1944, the final chap, Maurice Victor Lakin, who was a Lakin married into the family, said: ‘I just can’t afford double debt duties’. So he gave the estate to the Government by way of covering the taxes.

“But he did say: ‘I want this to be used for agricultural research, I want this to contribute to the farmers.’ If you think of the 1940s, people were hungry in Ireland and our land was totally depleted.”

In this vein, the castle and grounds – which had always been home to a mixed farming enterprise – were used as an agricultural college specialising in horticulture until An Foras Talúntais was established in the late 1950s. An Foras Talúntais was an agricultural research body that was amalgamated with ACOT – an agricultural advisory body – to form Teagasc in the 1980s.

The Irish Agricultural Museum at Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford.

With an emphasis on soil, Teagasc still operates out of Johnstown today, but not in the castle as An Foras Talúntais did, their buildings are now alongside it. Although the castle has been extensively refurbished – as you will read ahead – one of the upstairs labs previously used by An Foras Talúntais has been preserved, to mark that chapter in the castle’s long and varied history.

Refurbishment

In order to preserve the castle’s splendour and make it a larger tourist attraction (already the grounds and the Irish Agricultural Museum on it were open to the public), Teagasc partnered with the Irish Heritage Trust four years ago, who took the castle and 120 acres of the grounds under management – a further 800 acres are operated by Teagasc.

In the intervening period, Johnstown Castle underwent a €7.5m renovation, the fruits of which are finally being admired by the public. Proudly showing-off the new developments, CEO of the Irish Heritage Trust, Anne O’Donoghue (namesake of this writer) says the castle opened to the public for guided tours in mid-May, the new visitor centre will open in early July and new woodland playground area will open in August. The visitor centre is to incorporate a 120-seater restaurant and a retail area, with the existing café and shop being turned into an orientation space.

Inside the castle, eight grand rooms have been reopened, each as elaborate as the next. The table in the dining room is set for dinner. A menu on the wall from the 1850s states that veal and pigeon are to be served. A unique feature of this castle is that the drawing room is upstairs. There are both a lady’s and gentleman’s boudoir off it, which were mostly used for getting ready.

Possibly the most exciting aspect of the castle tour is walking the 86-metre underground tunnel, which runs from the food store to the kitchen. It was constructed so servants could not be seen bringing food to the kitchen, many of whom would start work in the castle in their early teens.

Walking through the tunnel, we are informed that although now it is bright thanks to overhead lighting, once it was only poorly lit through small holes in the ceiling, allowing in minimal daylight.

Science and heritage

Although a direct link between science and heritage may be difficult to imagine, they aided each other in the case of Johnstown, Anne contends.

“Were it not for An Foras Talúntais and its occupation of the offices and laboratories of the castle, I believe the castle would be completely derelict by now.”

Karen Daly is a Teagasc researcher based in Johnstown. She says that from when the site was first occupied by their predecessor, it has been to the forefront of advances in soil analysis. Interestingly, much of the initial funding for this came from Marshall Aid – an initiative by the US to help western Europe recover after World War II – and so many of the research methods originated in America.

“There was an injection of money from America under the Marshall Aid plan, about $1.8m,” says Karen. “With that came the funding to buy equipment, to build laboratories, offices, research stations and also to send people to the States. A lot of the first employees of An Foras Talúntais came out of UCD’s ag science degree programme and were sent over to America to do their PhDs. They came back with all the skills and knowledge about soils that the Americans had been developing for the previous 50 years.”

For Karen, Johnstown Castle has been given a new lease of life, and she is happy also that its agricultural science connections are being kept to the forefront.

“The theme around the castle is food, farming, family. I think when people see the castle and they see the laboratory presented to them as it was in the late ’50s and early ’60s, they will make that connection. So they will hopefully make the link between the food they eat and the agriculture from which it comes; that this is the home of the early research that underpins a lot of the farm management and farm advice we give today.”

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A piece of Irish heritage in Co Kilkenny