Hello, I'm just wondering if anyone knows of any family's that still lived in castles in Ireland in the 1920's. I'm particularly interested in the names Mclean and Doherty. Either from Donegal or Derry.
thank you
Yes a few people lived in castles then, and some still do. In general though, castles were cold, draughty places which cost a fortune to heat, and often had inconvenient layouts. People often couldn’t afford to live in them and abandoned them. They tended to belong to landed gentry whose presence was often resented and so some were burned down in the troubles of the 1920s. However some still survive. Lough Eske Castle in Co. Donegal is one example, now a 5 star hotel:
https://www.lougheskecastlehotel.com
In Co Antrim Lord O’Neill lived in Shane’s Castle near Antrim town. The Earl of Antrim lives in in Glenarm Castle. Carrickfergus Castle was used by the army until the 1950s.
I can’t particularly think of any inhabited castles in Co. Londonderry/Derry, but there are a couple in Donegal. Inishowen Doe Castle (near Creeslough) is still inhabited I think.
If you google castles + Ireland you’ll find plenty.
McClean/McLean is not a very common surname in Ireland. There’s only 3500 in the country in the 1911 census. 200 in Donegal and 215 in Derry. You could browse those to see if you can find the person you are looking for. Doherty is more of a problem with 18,000 of them, 7827 in Donegal and 2649 in Derry.