The caste was built as a private home for the very wealthy Henry Mitchell and his wife. Henry Mitchell was a skilled pathologist and eye surgeon, who had inherited an enormous fortune and became later also a politician. 

In 1903 Kylemore Castle was sold to the Duke of Manchester (William Angus Drogo Montague) and his Duchess of Manchester , Helena Zimmerman. 

In 1920 they had to sell the house and grounds (because of gambling debts) to the he Benedictine community of nuns, who had come to Ireland after their Abbey in Ypres, Belgium was destroyed during WW I.

The castle and gardens are open to the public. Kylemore's beautiful neo-Gothic Church is also a venue for Choirs and performers from all over the world.

For more detailed information, see website