The Wonderful Barn is a corkscrew-shaped building on the edge of Castletown House Estate, formerly of the Conolly family, in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. The barn itself is formally in neighboring Leixlip.
This bizarre construction was built in 1743. The work was commissioned by Katherine Connolly, widow of William ‘Speaker’ Connolly. He had made his fortune from land transfers, following the confiscations by the Crown of lands belonging to supporters of James II after the Williamite War ended. He had the first Palladian Mansion built in Ireland – Castletown House near Celbridge in County Kildare.
William Connolly died in 1729 and was said to be the wealthiest man in Ireland at the time of his death, which left Katherine an extremely wealthy widow. She had The Wonderful Barn constructed in 1743 not only as a functional grain store, but as an unusual architectural feature which undoubtedly catches the eye. It is said that she also had philanthropic motivations for constructing this complex building.
There had been a severe famine in Ireland in 1740-41, she kept the local people employed working on projects like The Wonderful Barn and the 42-metre-tall Connolly Folly which she had constructed in 1741.The Wonderful Barn itself stands approximately 22 metres in height, and has a tapering cone, encircled by a cantilevered staircase with a crow’s nest viewing gallery
Heritage & Conserve 
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