In 1665 Henry Pakenham, a captain in the Parliamentary Dragoons, was granted land in lieu of pay arrears that included Tullynally. His grandson
Thomas was created the 1st
Baron Longford in 1756. Thomas's grandson, another
Thomas and 3rd Baron Longford, also inherited the superior title of 2nd
Earl of Longford in January 1794 from his grandmother,
The 1st Countess of Longford. The 2nd Earl remodelled the 17th-century house in the
Gothic Revival style in the early nineteenth-century, adding towers and a moat. It was by then larger than any other castellated house in Ireland. Since then, the house has passed down through successive generations of Pakenhams to the present head of the family,
The 8th Earl of Longford, and is the largest house in private hands in Ireland. The senior
British Army commander,
General Sir Edward Pakenham,
GCB, was born and brought up in the house. His elder sister, Kitty, was married to
Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley in 1806. Wellesley subsequently became
Field Marshal The 1st Duke of Wellington. ==Other Westmeath castles==