The castle that’s part of rock’n’roll history
WIRE star Dominic West and his wife Catherine Fitz-Gerald have unveiled their 800-year-old Limerick castle for the readers of a prestigious US magazine.
And they reveal how Marianne Faithfull left Mick Jagger for a Lord during one particularly wild weekend at the 400acre estate which reportedly played host to Taylor Swift and her actor boyfriend Joe Alywn just weeks ago.
Dominic West revealed in magazine Architectural Digest how he first visited the castle to attend his wife’s 21st birthday party after they met in Trinity College.
‘I was really struck by the romance of the place,’ the actor recalled.
The magazine reveals that the couple now own the Glin Castle estate, along with Ms FitzGerald’s two sisters. The women’s father, the last Knight of Glin, Desmond FitzGerald, died in 2011.
Catherine said she was used to seeing famous faces from the 1960s coming through the castle’s gothic doors. She said: ‘My parents were part of the whole Swinging Sixties art scene in London and Dublin and they had friends in all kinds of worlds.
‘My dad would invite totally opposite people, like priests and poets and rock singers, all mixed up in a crazy hodgepodge. Everyone loved it.’
Catherine recalled Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull coming to visit the castle. However, while they arrived together, Faithfull ran off with a friend of FitzGerald’s father, Lord Rathmore. ‘She’s a great friend of ours but she left Mick Jagger at Glin Castle,’ said Catherine.
Catherine revealed in the article that they are currently working on updating the castle’s interior.
She said: ‘As a museum curator, my father was arranging the furniture like a museum. My contribution is to slightly relax it, to have some chairs where you can put up your feet around the fire, so people can really feel at home and enjoy their stay.’
Meanwhile, Dominic said that they have changed very little about the original castle, which features 18 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms. He said: ‘We’ve just replaced carpets and curtains, but the furniture is pretty much as my father-in-law left it.
Since taking ownership of the historic castle, they have decided to rent out the house for wedding weekends, golf tours, food tastings, and other special events.
Catherine said: ‘The castle is a retreat, a place to come and relax and escape. Wherever you look outside the house, you have these incredible views. On one side is the estuary, and the other is the garden.’
Taylor Swift reportedly rented out the entire castle over Christmas – and even bought a ticket for a GAA raffle at a local pub.
A-listers Jennifer Aniston, Julianne Moore and Sharon Stone have all opened their doors to design bible Architectural Digest.
‘Marianne ran off with a lord’