Puxley Mansion

Puxley Mansion, also known as Puxley's House, Puxley Castle, Puxley Manor or Dunboy Castle, lies on a hillside west of the town of Castletownbere, in County Cork in Ireland.

This building originally only consisted of the square keep, which now stands at the back of the mansion. This keep was granted to the Puxley family in the 1700s. In 1866 the keep was extended with a large Gothic mansion by Henry Lavallin Puxley. Shortly after, his wife died at childbirth and he is said to have left Ireland, never to return to the mansion again.

In 1921, during the Irish War of Independence, the mansion was burned down by the IRA, who feared the building would be used to station English troops. Later the Puxley family received compensation and left the area for good. The gutted mansion was sold at an auction to a local in 1927.

In 1999 the Dunboy Estate, with the ruined Puxley Mansion and the remnants of Dunboy Castle, were put up for sale again. It was purchased by an investment company, who started to restore the mansion and built apartment blocks next to it. It was to become a luxury 6-star resort. It shortly opened in 2007, but quickly closed again due to the Financial crisis of 2007-2008. Now it stands abandoned again.

Puxley Mansion is not accessible. It is surrounded by a fence and guarded by a surveillance camera, which followed me while walking around the building... Dunboy Castle is close by.

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