Ayesha Castle (or Victoria Castle), Victoria Road, Killiney, Dublin 

by jenjunebug

Ayesha Castle (or Manderley or Victoria), Victoria Road, Killiney, Dublin 

Ayesha Castle, Dublin entrance gate, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Victoria Castle, County Dublin, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.

Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.  

p. 13. “(Warren/LGI1912; Lloyd of Lossett/LGI1958; Aylmer/IFR) A romantic 19th century castle of ashlar with a round tower and various turrets by the side of Killiney Bay, built ca. 1850 for Robert Warren of Killiney Castle, who named it Victoria Castle, presumably in honour of the queen visit to Dublin for the Exhibition of 1853. It later became the residence of Rev Humphrey Lloyd, FRS, of Lossett, Co Cavan, Provost of Trinity College Dublin 1867-81, and remained in the Lloyd family until the present century. Gutted by fire towards the end of the Lloyd ownership; afterwards restored, and its name changed to Ayesha Castle. Bought by Col R. M. Aylmer in 1947.” 

Victoria Castle, County Dublin, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Victoria Castle, County Dublin, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Victoria Castle, County Dublin, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.

Irish Historic Houses, by Kevin O’Connor:  

owner: Brigid Aylmer. 

A romantic 19th century Victorian castle with the finest views of Killiney Bay and the Sugarloaf Mountain in the county. It was built from local granite by Robert Warren, a wealthy landowner, in 1840, when he called it Victoria Castle… 

It was gutted by fire in 1926 and was bought and renovated by Sir Thomas Power of Power’s Whiskey who renamed it Ayesha, after the goddess heroine of Rider Haggard’s novel She, who rose, phoenix-like, from the flames. Amongst its noteable features are the fine oak panelling in the entrance hall and dining-room, and the magnificent spiral staircase.” 

Leave a comment