Qualla: Castlewellan https://qualla.com/castlewellan en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/castlewellan-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Castlewellan https://qualla.com/castlewellan Castlewellan: Introduction https://qualla.com/castlewellan/ Photo credit Ryan Mcdonald, CC BY 2.0. A French architect once stood in this corner of County Down and drew something Ireland had never seen before: a town built around two squares, lined with chestnuts, joined by a main street wider than any market town had any business being. The Annesley family commissioned it. Castlewellan still wears the plan. Between the Mourne Mountains to the south and Slieve Croob to the north, the chestnut canopies thicken in summer and thin to lace in winter, and beneath them the limestone of the old market house has stood since 1764 - now sheltering library shelves where butchers once weighed meat.

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Image: Ryan Mcdonald | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/castlewellan-wp/gceu-castlewellan-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Castlewellan: Two Squares, One Idea https://qualla.com/castlewellan/ Photo credit Ardfern, CC BY-SA 3.0. Most Irish towns grew the way water flows: along whatever crooked path the road took, with houses elbowing each other for frontage. Castlewellan refused that geography. The plan distributes the town between an upper square and a lower square, the broad main street linking them li...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/castlewellan-wp/gceu-castlewellan-two-squares-one-idea.mp3 0:06 2 full Castlewellan: The Arboretum Begun in 1740 https://qualla.com/castlewellan/ Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. Northwest of the town squares, the Annesley grounds opened toward Castlewellan Lake. Beginning in 1740, decades before the castle itself rose, gardeners started planting trees gathered from Spain, Mexico, Wales, and farther. The arboretum grew slowly, as arboretums must. By the m...

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Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/castlewellan-wp/gceu-castlewellan-the-arboretum-begun-in-1740.mp3 0:06 3 full Castlewellan: The Longest Maze in the World https://qualla.com/castlewellan/ Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. Between 2000 and 2001, volunteers planted yew and beech in a spiralling pattern across the forest park, creating the Peace Maze. Until 2007 it held the title of longest permanent hedge maze on Earth. The name was deliberate. Castlewellan had lived through the Troubles - a January...

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Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/castlewellan-wp/gceu-castlewellan-the-longest-maze-in-the-world.mp3 0:06 4 full Castlewellan: Soma and the Modern Town https://qualla.com/castlewellan/ Photo credit Irishdeltaforce, CC BY-SA 3.0. Castlewellan today has a population just under three thousand and a quietly active cultural life. The Soma Festival, running annually since 2013, fills the squares each summer with live music, food stalls, and family events. The town's GAC club draws crowds to its pitch on weeken...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/castlewellan-wp/gceu-castlewellan-soma-and-the-modern-town.mp3 0:06 5 full Castlewellan: Stones Older Than the Town https://qualla.com/castlewellan/ Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. Two miles southwest, the Drumena Cashel still encloses the footprint of an Early Christian farmstead, its stone wall hiding an Iron Age souterrain that runs underground in a cool dark curve. To the north, the Legannany Dolmen balances its capstone on three legs above the slopes o...

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Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/u/castlewellan-wp/gceu-castlewellan-stones-older-than-the-town.mp3 0:06 6 full