Sligo Champion

Hazelwood House

The ghostly silence now looming over Hazelwood House, on the wooded shore of Lough Gill, belies the fact that the 284-years old structure, designed by the German architect Richard Cassels, was once the hub of an enterprise that, to a large extent, dominated the surrounding Sligo/Leitrim area, economically, socially and politically. Now a group of local Hazelwood residents are hoping that Hazelwood House will again become a hub from which will radiate an array of activities, benefiting not only the local community but also the wider North West region. Hazelwood was the seat of the Wynne family who traced their roots to 12th Century Wales. The family first established itself in Ireland in 1658, and Hazelwood Estate, with which the family is principally associated and which was probably originally O'Conor lands, was acquired in 1722.