Charleville Forest Castle

The story

Charleville Forest Castle rises from old oak woodland on the edge of Tullamore in County Offaly, close to the River Clodiagh, and is often counted among the finest Gothic Revival houses in Ireland. The estate is much older than the castle. Thomas Moore built the first mansion on the site around 1641. It passed to his grandson Charles Moore, Lord Tullamore, and on his death in 1674 went through his sister Jane to the Bury family.

Charles William Bury, created 1st Earl of Charleville in 1806, decided the estate needed a grander seat. He commissioned the architect Francis Johnston in 1798, and the new castle went up between about 1800 and 1812, with some sources giving 1814 for completion. The family's money did not always keep pace with its ambitions, and the house was shut up for long periods; each time it reopened, new rooms were added or old ones refitted, including a dining-room ceiling designed by William Morris. Wikipedia also says Lord Byron was a guest and held parties there. A 1789 painting by Matthew William Peters of a scene from Shakespeare's Henry VIII once hung in the house; it left in 1970 and is now in a Canadian collection.

The tragedy at the heart of the castle's ghost story is well documented. Lady Harriet Hugh Adelaide Bury, born in 1854, was the second daughter of the 3rd Earl and his wife Arabella. Her mother died in 1857 and her father in 1859, leaving her an orphan at about five and a ward of chancery in the care of her uncle Alfred Bury. In April 1861, aged seven or eight (the sources differ), she went over the rail of the great staircase and died of a broken neck; in many versions she was sliding down the banister at the time. Her body was laid in the Bury vault beneath St Catherine's Church at Hop Hill in Tullamore. A newspaper report of the accident was reproduced by Thomas Lacy in a book of 1863, and the Offaly Archives keep press cuttings about her death.

The family's link with the house ended in 1912, when Colonel Charles Howard-Bury, the soldier and explorer, moved to Belvedere House in County Westmeath. Charleville stood empty and decayed; by 1968 its roof had been stripped. A private restorer began work on it in 1973, followed by others, and a charitable trust was formed to continue the work.

The legend

Harriet is the castle's best-known ghost. Visitors and volunteers picture her as a small girl with golden curls, dressed in blue and white with blue ribbons, and most reports center on the main staircase where she died: a child's singing deep in the night, laughter and sometimes screams. One volunteer said he heard a series of loud bangs and then the sound of a child skipping and singing, a story told only by the county tourism site. Photographs taken indoors are said to show shadows or mists. Visitors reportedly leave toys and notes for her, although that detail is unconfirmed.

Nobody has found a dated first report of the haunting, so it is not possible to say when the story of Harriet's ghost began. A contributor to the Offaly History blog wrote in 2018 that her grandmother had never accepted the idea of Harriet on the stairs, and the post treats the ghost as family lore, ending on a candid "Who knows?" The same writer speculates that others might haunt the place, such as Bishop Pococke of Meath or the 2nd and 3rd Earls, but these are a historian's musings, not sightings. The trust says some ghosts are "still around," and tourism articles mention ghostly monks and grim dungeons without any detail.

The demesne also has a legend that has nothing to do with ghosts. The King Oak, said to be more than 400 years old, is believed to signal death in the Bury family: when it sheds a branch, a family member is supposed to die soon afterward. Druids are said to have worshipped in the surrounding oak woods.

The castle has been promoted as the most haunted building in Europe, a phrase found again and again in media copy that cannot be measured. Its television record is real, though. Living TV's Most Haunted filmed an episode titled "Charleville Forest Castle" in its first series in 2002, and the castle has also appeared on Scariest Places on Earth and Ghost Hunters International, though their episode numbers are not confirmed. The photographer Simon Marsden, known for his images of ruins and haunted places, also captured it.

What remains today

The castle is intact as a building but remains a long-running restoration project, cared for by the voluntary Charleville Castle Heritage Trust. In 2014 the castle housed "The Explorers' Museum," devoted to the history of exploration and to Charles Howard-Bury. It has hosted festivals such as Castlepalooza, "fright nights" and theater, and its Gothic interiors have served as a film set for Becoming Jane and Northanger Abbey (both 2007), the pilot of Reign (2013), The Green Knight and, according to Wikipedia, the second season of Wednesday (2025). The Irish Times listed it among Ireland's buildings at risk in 2014.

Visiting

As of 2026, the trust says public tours are suspended, with no reopening date, while building work goes on. Check the official Charleville Castle website for reopening dates and for any paranormal evenings or events, which have been held in the past. Do not enter the castle or grounds outside organized visits.

While it is closed, the story can still be followed in Tullamore: St Catherine's Church at Hop Hill holds the Bury family crypt where Harriet was buried, and the Offaly Archives hold records and press cuttings on the family. Most Haunted's 2002 episode shows the interior during the castle's ghost-hunting heyday.

Sources

1. Wikimedia Commons category : Charleville Castle — Wikimedia Commons
2. "Bury, Lady Harriet Hugh Adelaide" authority record — Offaly Archives — Offaly Archives
3. "Ghoulish tales at Charleville Castle" — Tourism Ireland (ireland.com) — Tourism Ireland (ireland.com
4. "Haunted Offaly" — Visit Offaly (county tourism) — Visit Offaly (county tourism
5. "Hauntings" (6 Nov 2017) — Charleville Castle Heritage Trust (official) — Charleville Castle Heritage Trust (official
6. Home page — Charleville Castle Heritage Trust (official) — 1.1852777
7. Most Haunted 1x16 — TVmaze — TVmaze
8. "The ghost of Charleville Castle, Tullamore!" (Eleanor Ridley, 27 Oct 2018) — Offaly History Blog — Offaly History Blog
9. Wikipedia article — Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Text written by AI from the sources above and checked by a separate AI fact-check (how we work). Images: credits and licenses under each picture.