In 1603, Gerald the 14^th Earl of Kildare leased lands at Carton to Sir William Talbot who built the original Carton House sometime before his death in 1633.

In 1739 on the return of the Fitzgerald’s to Maynooth, Robert the nineteenth Earl of Kildare bought back the lease.

Unfortunately, Robert died in 1744 and the twentieth Earl, James together with his young wife Emily Lennox (married in 1747) started to redeveloped Carton House and Demesne.

He was active in political life and was granted the title of the First Duke of Leinster in 1766, when Irish earldoms were abolished as a reflection of the family’s importance.