The Restoration

As with any historical property left derelict or neglected over a lengthy period of time, the historical fabric had greatly suffered by the time Dr Michael Flatley purchased it in 1999. The house had long since been stripped of its original contents. The upper floor was closed off. The roof was leaking. The river had flooded the cellars. Its foundations had sunk so much over the previous generations that they were leaning outwards by over ten inches at their outer peaks.

The gardens and woodlands were very much the same: vegetation had long since suffocated the many woodland paths and in the process hid several ruined buildings including an ice house; the wood had become choked with laurel, ivy and old man’s beard clematis, resulting in a loss of light to the woodland floor and the creation of an infertile environment

According to local historian Pat Bartley, "The house was in a state of complete disrepair, it was plundered, an absolute wreck, and had to be completely refurbished, reroofed and renovated.  The gardens and woods were a wilderness also."

Dr. Terence Dooley, from the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates at NUI Maynooth in Ireland,  like many others, has great respect for what Flatley achieved at Castlehyd.

"‘Due to an amalgam of economic, political and social reasons, only a very small proportion of Ireland’s original 7,000 or so country houses survive today. Castle Hyde is fortunate to be one of those, but this might not have been the case if not for Michael Flatley, for by the 1990s it had suffered all of the ravages consistent with the economic and social decline of the old landed class from the late nineteenth century and the unsympathetic policies of successive Irish governments post-independence."

"That Michael Flatley was prepared take on the saving of Castle Hyde and invest such a huge sum of money in its restoration was evidence of his desire to salvage one of Ireland’s great houses. Castle Hyde, to Mr Flatley’s credit, is now once again a home and a very welcoming one"

Castlehyde had been developed and significantly remodelled on at least two other occasions in the historical past - in the early eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries - to keep up with changing trends and fashions. The latest phase begun by Mr Flatley in the 1990s has attempted to balance conservation requirements with the changes that are necessary to adapt historic houses for modern use. What has been created at Castlehyde is an amalgam of magnificent period interiors with all the modern luxuries befitting a celebrity lifestyle, and, more significantly, the future of Castle Hyde has been secured for many generations to come.