Lismore Castle Fishery
A Brief History of Lismore Castle
Lismore Castle ( Caisleán an Lios Mhóir) is the Irish home of the Duke of Devonshire. Located in the town of Lismore in
County Waterford in the Republic of Ireland, it belonged to the Earls of Desmond, and subsequently to the Cavendish family from 1753.
It was largely re-built in the Gothic style during the mid-nineteenth century for The 6th Duke of Devonshire. The castle features gardens, which are open to the public. The upper garden is a 17th-century walled garden, while much of the informal lower garden was designed in the 19th century.
Under Lord Burlington the planting has been enhanced, and contemporary sculpture added, including works by Sir Antony Gormley, Marzia Colonna and Eilís O'Connell.
The Ice House's, Lismore
The overgrown, circular structures are built into the hillside on the R666 Lismore-Fermoy road close to Lismore Castle.
Each house has a dome shaped roof, with their middle sections cone shaped. A smaller ice house also stands in Lismore’s Millennium Park, the buildings are amongst the very few ice-houses still standing from an era when many of them would have been used for storing fish that was delivered along the 23km-stretch of river from Youghal to Cappoquin and beyond.
They were built not to serve the nearby Castle but by a local family, the Foleys who operated a fishery business in the area and wanted to preserve their catches. On a piece of flat land, channels were dug through which water from the river would enter and then be held by sluice gates while it froze during the winter: the resultant ice was then moved into these two round buildings which seemingly continued to serve this purpose well into the last century.
The original entrance porch was to the rear, through which further doors gave admittance to each house, each measuring 6.65 metres in diameter and 4.5 metres to the top. They remained in use until the 1940s. Ice-houses were thought to be a status symbol for the big houses who could boast of not just of having fish out of season but of having ice for their drinks too.
Our Fishing Clients
Our Clients can expect an unparalleled fishing experience.
At Lismore Castle & Golf Course Fishery, we offer nearly two miles of two inter-linked beats, the Castle Beat & the Golf Course Beat.
With ongoing beat maintenance throughout the season, you will find we have ample Vehicle & Pedestrian access, a Fishing hut on the Castle Beat, and seats along the river banks giving you plenty of access to our runs & glides for both the experienced and less-experienced fly angler, offering peaceful and tranquil fishing throughout your stay with us, and hopefully catching that salmon!