Town of Castlebellingham
Formerly Gernonstown this village consisting of large country houses with lands surrounding them and situates 7 miles south of Dundalk on the N1 roadway. These manors are largely owned by the Bellingham family descendants of a captain in Cromwell’s army who received a grant of the confiscated lands of the Gernons of Gernonstown in the 1650’s. The castle once stood where, at present, stands the Bellingham Castle Hotel, an early 18th century construction which was earlier the home of Bellinghams that underwent major remodeling later. Further renovations include the tower tutters and the gateway. You can access the river Glyde from the ground of this hotel. Also there are Widows Almshouses, cottages and boarding houses constructed by the Bellingham family in this village, perhaps to the deisgn of William Vitruvius Morrison. Also you find a roadside crucifix that was designed from a royal oak blown down in 1902.
