Heritage Award - Castleacre Insurance join forces with Historic Houses Ireland to celebrate some of the Country's Incredible Houses
Heritage Award – Castleacre Insurance join forces with Historic Houses Ireland to celebrate some of the Country’s Incredible Houses
- 9 February 2026
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- Posted by: Castleacre
Castleacre Insurance is delighted to join forces with Historic Houses of Ireland in celebrating some of Ireland’s most beautiful Country Houses with a joint award. The inaugural Castleacre & Historic Houses of Ireland Heritage Award is open to members of Historic Houses and is designed to highlight the work of the owners who have bravely taken on the task of reinvigorating some of the country’s most important privately owned period buildings. Three eminent judges: Irish aesthete, architectural and fine art lecturer and author, Robert O’Byrne; Christopher Moore, architectural historian, conservationist, paint expert and lecturer; and Historic Houses of Ireland’s own Events and External Relations Officer Thomas Emmet, will be shortlisting the 2026 entries.
Thomas Emmet of Historic Houses of Ireland said
‘we have been really pleased with the number of entries we have had this year. We are focusing on three key criteria for the award as we start shortlisting properties which are Preservation, Innovation and Community Engagement.’
Castleacre’s Director, Mark Hewlett says
‘I think the panel of judges are going to have quite a hard task over the next few weeks but we are really looking forward to learning more about the properties that reach the final shortlist. Over the last few years, with COVID, Brexit, and the inflation that followed, country house owners have had to be incredibly innovative and broaden what they do because of the impact on all sorts of income streams and maintenance and refurbishment costs. It is crucial to support and highlight this work because these houses are an important part of Ireland’s architectural and landscape history – we know that HHI have become a powerful lobbying and support organisation for their members but this award postively highlights individual endeavour. This year there will be one winning award of €3000 and two runner up awards of €1000 each. ‘
The Castleacre & Historic Houses of Ireland Heritage Award ceremony will take place at the Merrion Hotel in Dublin on Tuesday 24 March but short-listed contenders will be announced by the panel in a few weeks.
