The Blurring of the Lines
Little wonder we feel so comfortable in Castle Leslie, so at home, so welcomed. The Blakleys were landlords in nearby Clones (listed in the 1876 Landowners of Ireland, County Monaghan) before heading up to the bright lights of Belfast at the turn of the 20th century. Glaslough means “calm or green lake”. The historic village is cute without being twee. The Coach House and Olde Bar is owned by the Wright family who are also the local undertakers – you don’t get more Irish than that.
Earlier this century Sammy Leslie of Castle Leslie – Glaslough is something of an estate village – did the seemingly impossible and extended the village in a complementary fashion. Organic, tasteful, contextual, understated, mildly playful. Importantly, where other places fail, it doesn’t try too hard stylistically. The only porticos you’ll find are up at the castle itself. We remember the new village layout being held up as an exemplar for contemporary residential development by Dublin planners. Desmond FitzGerald, the last Knight of Glin, was so impressed by Castle Leslie Village that he appointed the Development Planning Partnership, a planning practice based in Dublin, to carry out feasibility studies (although never executed) for a similar development on his estate of Glin Castle in County Limerick.
