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Linsfort Castle B&B

Inishowen, 

County Donegal

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We aim to help guests to enjoy their stay by providing a warm welcome, comfortable clean accommodation, and good quality well cooked food. In short, the typical old-fashioned Irish hospitality, which gave the country its world reputation as the land of a thousand welcomes.  We try an put a little of ourselves into everything we do for our visitors – natural honey from our bees, fresh eggs from our hens and in season jams and produce from our gardens and orchard. ( see below)

On the Western shore of Donegal's Inishowen Peninsula, Linsfort Castle is a country house overlooking Lough Swilly. According to Dr John Corbett a Trinity historian who lived in the Castle from 1938 to 1943 it was originally built around 16o0 as a fortified tower house which together with a sizeable estate was made over to Paul Benson a London Stonemason,  as part payment for the contract to build the Walls of the City of Derry.  It was rebuilt in 1720 by his grandson Captain Arthur Benson.  The house is described in “ Classic Irish Houses of the Medium size as "an H plan house of 1720 with an armorial tablet”.  Click here to see Corbett’s History of Linsfort Castle.


Welcome to Linsfort Castle

Linsfort Castle
Connie in the Kitchen
Olod Kitchen

Amenities

We offffer spacious accommodation where you can relax and feel comfortable  in this lovely rural coastal setting. We have over an acre of lovely gardens and a terrace with a lough view. 

  • large double bedrooms with Lough views -  single beds can be added to make family or twin rooms
  • three bathrooms/shower rooms adjacent to bedrooms
  • large lounge with open fire, library, table games, quizzes
  • meals are served in our Old Irish kitchen with crane and inglenook fireplace
  • private sun terrace with Lough Swillly views
  • freeWiFi broadband 
 Rathmullaan Room


Swily Room
Front Garden

Lower Garden

Our Gardens

We started planting an acre of garden from a greenfield site in1996, with organic practices and wildlife attraction in mind. A mix of ash, birch and oak trees are nicely maturing and we have one very fine specimensof Chinese Elm. Beech and escalonia hedging give good shelter from the sea breezes for a variety of shrubs and topiary. We also have a small orchard, bee hives, vegetable garden and a pond- in- the- making.

Like all gardens it is a work in progress; all help and advice is gladly embraced from our visitiors as they stroll about or simply sit and watch our bees at work.  If anyone is  interested we are pleased to offer a basic introduction to beekeeping.

The garden is now home to a n interesting array of bird life; robins and wrens, finches and tits, blackbirds and thrushes, masgpies and jackdaws and even an errant male pheasant who pays court to our brown hens.  Last year we heard the cry of a very rare male corncrake in the meadow just below.

Laburnums

Topiary in the snow

plaque2

Top 100 cover

 Best 100 Places to Stay in Ireland 

2011, 2012 and 2013

Among our 2010 visitors were John and Sally McKenna and their children. They publish the Internationally renowned Bridgestone Travel Guide to Ireland. We were delighted to be selected for inclusion in the Bridgstone Travel Guide,and , to our double delight were included in the Bridgestone Top 100 Places to Stay in Ireland for 2011 and 2012. !  Triple joy followed by our inclusion in Joh and Sally McKennas# Best 100 for 2013.

You can follow John and Sally on the links below:

Find us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bridgestone-Guides/316124135258

Follow us on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/bridgestoneEd

See us on TV

In September we appeared on UTV
in  Lesser Spotted Ulster

Lesser Spotted Ulsterttp://www.facebook.com/

Linsfort Beaches

 Linsfort Castle  is 400 metres from the shore of Lough Swilly and enjoys access to 2 beautiful clean beaches with a very shallow aspect - a great natural playground for kids. In season we have a variety of birdlife on the shore: Brent Geese and Shelduck are amongst our winter visitors. We see seals quite regularly and on occasions dolphins, porpoises and even a basking shark! 		Linsfort Beach
Alan Rooks and Brigeen Clafferty
Linsfort Castle B&B , Linsfort , Buncrana, Inishowen, Donegal, Ireland
Tele 00 353 749363148
Mobile 0879677244 		Linsfort Logo


Linsfort Castle by R John H. Corbett

 Originally Linsfort was a medieval tower house which in the early 17th century came into the possession of Paul Benson, a London mason who obtained the contract for building the Walls of Derry under the supervision of Thomas Raven, a military engineer sent over from London in 1610.

The work was completed in 1618 and in payment Benson obtained grant of a large acreage in Inishowen, including Linsfort. Paul Benson was the first Sheriff of County Donegal and his descendant Arthur Benson rebuilt Linsfort Castle. The sandstone block over the hall door bears the arms of Benson (Atr.on a chevron sa. three crosses forme or) impaled with those of his wife – name unknown.

Beneath the arms is the inscription  “THIS HOUSE WAS REBULT BY CAPTAIN ARTHUR BENSON IN THE YEAR OF GOD 1720 “

 

When rebuilt in 1720 the house was castellated, with flat lead roof; but a government grant offered about 1850 for replacing lead roofed houses with slate ones, this was taken up by the then owner, hence the present slate roof and the lack of castellation.

A headland on the eastern coast of Lough Swilly about a quarter of a mile from Linsfort Castle is known as Mount Paul (after Paul Benson), and another opposite to it is known as Mount Peter (said to be named after Paul’s brother Peter). There was a tradition that these brothers used to race each other in swimming across the little bay contained between the two headlands.