Jigginstown was going to be a palace for a king who never came. In the 1630s Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford and Charles I’s hard-handed Lord Deputy of Ireland, set out to build a residence fit for royal visits on the edge of Naas: a red-brick house some 137 metres long, one of the largest buildings in Ireland and among the first built of brick, said to have been shipped in from Holland, with Kilkenny marble planned for the floors and columns. Then Strafford was recalled to London and beheaded for treason in 1641, the house still unfinished, and the wars of the 1640s saw off most of what stood. Locals have called it Strafford’s Folly ever since.
Be clear about what you’re visiting before you drive out: this is a roadside ruin you look at, not one you walk through. The main entrance is fenced off and has stood under scaffolding for years. The OPW, which owns it as a National Monument, has named it a high priority for stabilisation in 2026, but at the time of writing the works are still subject to ministerial consent and have not begun. People do reach the brick shell – there’s an informal way in over a wooden fence on the farm side, opposite Chadwick’s hardware – but officially you view it from outside, and the honest best vantage is from Jigginstown Bridge or the Newbridge Road.
Why it’s worth a look
For all that, it’s a remarkable thing to stand in front of. Begun around 1632 to a design by the architect John Allen, at a cost of roughly £6,000, it was unfortified – a statement house, not a fortress – and on a scale Ireland hadn’t seen: a 380-foot facade, three storeys, in warm imported brick that still reads as startlingly modern against the surrounding farmland. It predates the great Palladian houses of Kildare by a century, and the brick alone makes it unlike almost any ruin of its age in the country. Give it fifteen minutes and a few photographs; the low morning or late-afternoon light is kindest to the brickwork.
Getting there and parking
The ruin sits on the Newbridge Road (R413), about 1.5km west of Naas town centre. There’s no car park – people use the lay-by on the farm side or park in one of the nearby estates – and no toilets, café or information boards on site. Bus Éireann routes 125 and 126 stop at Jiggstown Green, a short walk away. You can fold it into Naas’s heritage trail, which passes the castle near the canal.
Nearby
Naas itself is minutes away, and Newbridge a short drive west. For a castle you can actually go inside, or simply a fuller day out, the Irish National Stud and the towpath walks of the Barrow Way are both within easy reach. Check the OPW’s situation before you travel: the day the scaffolding finally comes down, Jigginstown will be a far better visit than it is now.