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 Lord Deputy of Ireland, is held to have set out to build a grand residence on the edge of Naas: a red-brick house some 137 metres long, with bricks said to have been shipped in from Holland and 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 from outside, not one you walk through. It is a protected site and the ruin is fenced. Keep to public ground, respect fencing and signs, do not enter the site, and do not stop where there is no safe place to stand. The Naas Local Area Plan describes public access as an objective for future conservation work, so check local notices before making a special trip.
Why it’s worth a look
For all that, it’s a remarkable thing to see. The excavation report places the start of work around 1636–37. The house was designed on a scale Ireland hadn’t seen, a long three-storey facade in warm imported brick that still reads as startlingly modern against the surrounding farmland. It was unfortified: a statement house, not a fortress. Its long red-brick walls are close to the road and are the easiest features to recognise. The surrounding garden and earthwork remains are protected along with the house.
Give it a few minutes and a few photographs from a safe public spot; the low morning or late-afternoon light is kindest to the brickwork.
Getting there and parking
The ruin sits on the Newbridge Road, west of Naas town centre. There is no car park at the ruin, so do not block the road or any gateway, and choose a safe, legal place to leave your vehicle before you walk. Check local notices before making a special trip, and do not assume there are toilets, a café or information boards on site.
Nearby
Naas itself is minutes away, and Newbridge a short drive west. For a fuller day out, the Irish National Stud and the towpath walks of the Barrow Way are both within easy reach.