Ballyvolane House, Castlelyons, Co. Cork – section 482 €€€
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 28. “(Pyne, sub Phipps/IFR; Green, sub Blake, Bt, of Menlough/PB) A Victorian Italianate house with a roof on a heavy cornice. Pillared hall. The seat of the Pyne family. Bought ca 1953 by late C.H. Green.”
Tourist Accommodation Facility – not open to the public.
Open: all year except Jan 1, Dec 24-31
They may give you a tour as entry price is listed: Fee: adult €5, family €15. Call in advance.
The website tells us: “Welcome to Ballyvolane House, a historic Irish country house of extraordinary warmth, style and comfort that provides luxury manor house accommodation, bespoke intimate weddings, glamping and private house parties/exclusive house rentals, located in the beautiful North Cork countryside of southern Ireland. Ballyvolane House is also home to Bertha’s Revenge Gin.“
The National Inventory describes the house: “Ballyvolane House is a fine example of the Victorian Italianate domestic architecture, in this case being applied to a house which was originally a three-storey early eighteenth-century structure. The top storey was removed when the house was remodelled in 1847. The classically proportioned façade is enlivened by the decorative render dressings including oak-leaf brackets to the eaves, window surrounds and heavy continuous sill course. The porch constitutes the decorative focus of the house and is articulated by pilasters. The doorway is flanked by skillfully carved marble engaged columns with ornate foliate capitals which add further artistic interest to the façade. The block to the west was built to house the servants and is of a simpler design and treatment. This building, together with extensive outbuildings and walled gardens, adds valuable context to the site.“
The website tells us about the history:
“There is an inescapable air of frivolity at Ballyvolane – the name itself means ‘the place of springing heifers’ and is testament to the fertility, richness and natural diversity of the land on which the estate lies.
“Originally built in 1728 by Sir Richard Pyne, a retired Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Ballyvolane was designed in the classic Georgian country house style with three storeys… An amorous descendent, Arthur Pyne, acquired sufficient capital from his marriage to three wealthy women to have the house considerably enlarged in the early 19th century.
“The three-storey house was again modified in 1872 by George Pyne. He had the building pulled apart and then, by removing the top storey, recreated a two-storey house rendered in Italianate style, with an extensive west end wing.“
The website continues: “Recent research carried out Terence Reeves-Smyth unearthed tender documents for the remodelling of Ballyvolane from this time – the architect was Richard Rolt Brash (1817-1876), a Cork architect, whose father and brother were well known builders in the city. RB Brash is better known as a very active antiquarian and friend of John Windele – he was especially interested in round towers.
“The rebuilding/remodelling in the early 1870s followed the re-acquisition of the house and demesne by the Pyne family in 1869. Arthur Pyne (1747-1839) who probably built the present house around c.1800 and laid out the present parkland (which looks Regency in date), was succeeded by his eldest son Jasper Pyne. Unfortunately, when Jasper died in 1860-1 he left no male heirs and as a result his wife and daughters did not inherit the property (the estate had been left by his father Arthur entailed for a life and could only be inherited by male issue). Consequently, following a big court case in May 1861 the property passed to Jasper’s younger brother, the Rev. William Masters Pyne, Rector of Oxted in Surrey. In March 1864 the Rev Pyne put the place on the market through the Encumbered Estates Courts. It remained on the market until bought by another member of the Pyne family in January 1869.
“It appears that Ballyvolane was originally purchased by Sir Richard Pyne in 1702-3 for £696; prior to this it had been the property of Sir Richard Nagle and Edmond Barry, but had been granted (forfeited lands) to Viscount Sidney. At the same time Sir Richard Pyne also purchased three other Co Cork properties from the Commissioners for Sale of Forfeited Estates; one was Blarney, the others were the estates of Ballinaneala and Ardra. He also in England bought Great Codham Hall in Essex, where the family continued to live well into the 19th century.“
“The Pynes built the present house and lived here until 1953, when it was bought by the late Cyril Hall Green (known as Squirrel Green) and his wife Joyce (née Blake), on their return from Malaya, where Squirrel had managed rubber plantations since the 1920’s. Ballyvolane was passed on to Squirrel’s son, Jeremy, who ran it as a mixed tillage and dairy farm until the mid 1980’s when it became one the founding members of the Hidden Ireland group, an association of town and country houses offering a unique and exclusive style of accommodation and chosen for their architectural merit and interesting characteristics.
“Ballyvolane was managed as a successful country house bed and breakfast by Jeremy and his wife, Merrie until January 2004, when the reins were handed to his son Justin and his wife, Jenny. Justin and Jenny are experienced hoteliers having gained international management experience in some of the best hotels in the world namely Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, The Legian in Bali, Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai and prior to moving home, Justin was GM of Babington House (part of Soho House) in Somerset. Three generations of the Green Family now live at Ballyvolane.“
https://www.geni.com/projects/Historic-Buildings-of-County-Cork/29338
Ballyvolane House Originally built in 1728 by Sir Richard Pyne, a retired Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. The house was designed in the classic Georgian country house style with three storeys. Jasper Pyne, acquired sufficient capital from his marriage to three wealthy women to have the house considerably enlarged in the early 19th century. The three-storey house was modified in 1847 by Jasper’s nephew and heir, George Pyne. Three families connected to Ballyvolane – the Coppingers (See Stephen Coppinger, of Ballyvolane) originally lived here in a much older building until the land was acquired by the Pyne family in the early 18th century. The Pynes built the present house and lived in it until 1953, when it was bought by the late Cyril Hall Green and his wife Joyce, on their return from Malaya, where Cyril had managed rubber plantations since the 1930’s. Ballyvolane was passed on to Cyril’s son, Jeremy, who ran the farm until the mid 1980’s when it became one the founding members of the Hidden Ireland group, an association of town and country houses offering accommodation chosen for their architectural merit and interesting characteristics. Also today a wedding venue
In 1730 – Andrew St Leger and his wife, Jane rented the house from the Pyne family. The butler, Timothy Croneen, and a maid, Joan Condon, decided to murder the St Legers to rob them. Both were found guilty at their trial in Cork. Croneen was executed and a little later so was Condon. She was sent to a place not far removed from the scene of the killings and, being thought a witch, was secured to a stake and burned to death. Where she perished was later named The Hag’s Cross and is still marked as such on some maps.
The Buildings of Ireland. Cork City and County. Frank Keohane. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. 2020.
p. 45. Few significant country houses were built during the latter half of the C19. Most are of small to middling size, often with minimal Tudor or Italian trim. Unpretentious Italianate is found as Lissard (1854-5) near Skibbereen, Farran (1866) and Ballyvolane (1872) near Castlelyons. The finest of these Italianate houses is Montenotte House in Cork, with its double height top-lit cortile in the manner of Barry’s clubs in London. Lewis Villamy designed Lisselane (1851-3) near Clonakilty in a loose French-chateau idiom. Gothic houses are much rarer; exceptions include Dunboy (1866-70) near Castletownbere, a virtuoso Tudor Gothic house wiht mullioned-and-transomed windows mingled with Continental motifs in an assured and robust composition.
p. 46. With its Scots Baronial stepped gables and corbelled tourelles, Blarney Castle House (1871-5) by the Belfast architect John Lanyon, is unique in Cork. The influence of Ruskin in both detailing and materials can be seen in a number of houses designed by William Atkins: Velvetstown, Ardavilling, and Parknamore. Lettercollum (1872) near Timoleague, by William H. Hill, and Thorncliffe (1865) at Monkstown, by Thomas N. Deane, are in a similar vein. After the 1880s major houses are rare, but there are good late C19 Jacobean interiors at Fota and Lota Lodge (Glanmire).
The Edwardian Domestic Revival or Free Style, which favoured picturesque forms in brick and terracotta with gables, tall chimneys, tile-hanging, and mullioned and leaded windows, is generally confined to lodges, as at Castletownsend and Castle Mary (Cloyne), and to suburban houses in Cork city. Ashlin’s Clonmeen House (Banteer) is a rare country-house example. The Pavilion at Fitzgerald’s Park, Cork, is also Free Style and incorporates some Art Nouveau decorative elements. The last great country house to be built in Cork is Hollybrook Hall near Skibbereen, in a Free Style employing classical and rustic elements, with a wonderfully eclectic range of interiors. The garden buildings by Harold Peto at Ilnacullin were designed in a similar spirit.”
Detached seven-bay two-storey country house, facing north, being rebuild of 1847 of earlier three-storey house of 1728, itself on site of medieval house. Now in use as guest house. Flat-roofed porch to front. Flat-roofed single-bay two-storey addition to north end of west elevation links house to lower seven-bay two-storey block to west. Skirt slate roof to main block, with rendered chimneystacks moulded copings with render brackets and string course. Moulded render cornice with dentillated course below, moulded render string course just above window head level, connected to each other by ornate render brackets oak leaf motifs. Porch has moulded render cornice with render brackets and moulded render string courses below. Rendered walls with render quoins, and moulded render string course between floors also acting as sill course to first floor. Segmental-headed openings having moulded render surrounds with keystones and one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows, having limestone sills to ground floor. Round-headed window openings to sides of porch, set into round-headed recesses, with moulded render archivolts, imposts and spandrels, moulded render panels below windows, flanked by panelled render pilasters with moulded render plinths, and having one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows with render sills. Round-headed door opening with moulded render archivolt and engaged marble columns with vegetal capitals and moulded plinths, set into round-headed recess with moulded render spandrels, timber panelled door, fanlight, and limestone threshold. Segmental-headed door opening to rear having overlight and half-glazed timber panelled double-leaf door, with molulded render surround. Block to west has hipped slate roof with rendered chimneystacks, roughcast rendered walls, square-headed window openings with some two-over-two pane timber sliding sash windows with render sills, rest being replacement uPVC, and square-headed door opening with paned overlight and timber battened door, and square-headed door opening to west gable having timber battened door approached by flight of limestone steps. Timber game larder set on octagonal stone pier to yard, having timber louvered sides and timber louvered pyramidal roof with finial. Single-bay single-storey outbuilding to south-west having hipped slate roof, roughcast rendered rubble sandstone walls, square-headed openings with fixed timber window and doorway with dressed sandstone voussoirs and replacement timber door. Single-storey single-bay outbuilding having single-pitched slate roof to other side of small yard, yard being entered through camber-headed doorway having cut sandstone voussoirs. Roughcast rendered sandstone and limestone square-profile piers leading to courtyard, having doible-leaf wrought-iron gates. Roughcast rendered sandstone piers to road entrance, with cut-stone caps and roughcast rendered sandstone walls with render coping, and having ball-shaped wheel guards.
Appraisal
Ballyvolane House is a fine example of the Victorian Italianate domestic architecture, in this case being applied to a house which was originally a three-storey early eighteenth-century structure. The top storey was removed when the house was remodelled in 1847. The classically proportioned façade is enlivened by the decorative render dressings including oak-leaf brackets to the eaves, window surrounds and heavy continuous sill course. The porch constitutes the decorative focus of the house and is articulated by pilasters. The doorway is flanked by skillfully carved marble engaged columns with ornate foliate capitals which add further artistic interest to the façade. The block to the west was built to house the servants and is of a simpler design and treatment. This building, together with extensive outbuildings and walled gardens, adds valuable context to the site.
Range of outbuildings to courtyard at Ballyvolane House, built c. 1780. Comprising north, east and south ranges with L-plan outbuilding. Walled garden to rear of south range and walled garden with outbuilding to east. Rubble sandstone walls with segmental-headed opening having timber battened half-door with cobbled ramp, leading to courtyard. Two-storey east range having six-bay ground floor and only one opening to first floor, with pitched slate roof, rubble sandstone walls with roughly dressed limestone quoins, and camber-arched window and door openings with roughly dressed limestone voussoirs. Multiple-bay two-storey south range having remains of pitched slate roof with bellcote to east elevation, rubble sandstone walls, camber-arched window openings with sandstone voussoirs, elliptical-arched vehicular entrance with dressed sandstone voussoirs and remains of timber battened door. Elliptical carriage archways leading to small rubble sandstone walled garden, having dressed sandstone voussoirs. Flight of sandstone steps to east elevation. Multiple-bay two-storey north range having pitched recently reslates roofs, roughcast rendered walls, camber-arched door openings with dressed limestone voussoirs and square-headed window openings with brick voussoirs. L-plan outbuilding having pitched corrugated-iron roof to west bay and single-pitched slate roof to north bay, rubble sandstone walls with chamfered corner to north bay, segmental-headed opening to west bay having dressed sandstone voussoirs and timber battened double-leaf doors, square-headed opening to west bay having rubble sandstone voussoirs and timber battened door. Rubble sandstone walled garden to east having roughly dressed sandstone quoins, having segmental-headed opening to west wall with dressed voussoirs and single-leaf cast-iron gate with flower motifs, segmental-headed arch to south wall with sandstone voussoirs, and two-bay single-storey outbuilding to north having brick extension to east, with pitched slate roof, brick chimneystack, rubble sandstone walls with roughly dressed sandstone and limestone quoins, and square-headed openings with replacement casement windows, and timber battened door.
Appraisal
The Georgian stables of Ballyvolane House are a fine example of a planned farm complex complete with walled gardens. These outbuildings are arranged symmetrically on a rectangular plan. High quality materials were used in their construction, enlivened by the use of dressed voussoirs to many openings. The south range retains its bellcote and an unusual flight of curving stone steps to its east elevation. The walled garden to the east retains its cast-iron gate with decorative floral motifs. The walled gardens and outbuildings serve as a reminder of the range of demesne-related activities once associated with country houses in Ireland.
Single-arch bridge over irrigation channel, built c. 1850, having stepped weir to west. Roughly coursed dressed sandstone walls with round-profile limestone copings and square-profile limestone piers with domed caps. Dressed sandstone voussoirs to round arch. Rubble limestone walling to stream to west side.
Appraisal
This bridge is solidly constructed and high quality materials have been used throughout. The rounded copings and caps add decorative interest to the structure. The stepped weir is an unusual feature and adds further interest to the site.
https://theirishaesthete.com/2016/01/16/attention-to-detail/
Viewing an old building, one is often so engaged absorbing the totality that details of design can be overlooked. How many visitors to Ballyvolane, County Cork, for example, pay much attention to the stairs? This house, originally built in 1728 by Sir Richard Pyne, was extensively modified in the second half of the 1840s by a descendant, Jasper Pyne. Evidently a new staircase was one of his additions but note how on the side of every tread is affixed a cast-iron putto in each of whose fists can be found a nail holding one of the balusters in place.
http://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_houses/hist_hse_ballyvolane.html
Ballyvolane, County Cork, Ireland – The Place of the Springing Heifers
Photographs by James Fennell. Published circa 2007, revised 2018.
Maintaining a big Georgian Irish country house is a famously time-consuming business. Every day presents a new hazard – dry rot in the rafters, jackdaws in the chimney, slates sliding off a roof, the sudden emergence of a major fault-line in a bedroom wall. An owner will find a large portion of his or her life sporadically dedicated to righting these wrongs. Jeremy and Merrie Green were well aware of such pitfalls when they moved into the house which Jeremy’s father, Cyril Hall Green, a retired rubber planter from Malaya, had purchased in 1955.
Located close to the village of Castlelyons in north County Cork, the original house at Ballyvolane (“the place of the springing heifers“) was built in 1728 by Sir Richard Pyne, a retired Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. According to Terence Reeve-Smith: ‘The property was purchased by Sir Richard Pyne in 1702-3 for £696. Prior to this it had been the property of Sir Richard Nagle and Edmond Barry, but had been granted (forfeited lands) to Viscount Sidney. At the same time, Sir Richard Pyne also purchased three other County Cork properties from the Commissioners for Sale of Forfeited Estates; one was Blarney, the others were the estates of Ballinaneala and Ardra. In England, he also bought Great Codham Hall in Essex, where the family continued to live well into the 19th century.’ Mr Reeve-Smith was unsure where this early 18th century house was located but he guessed that it was close to where the yards are now located and proposed that would probably been approached by a straigjht avenue from the west through what is now the walled garden.
The present house is believed to be late 18th or early 19th century; it appears on an 1830s map. This probably took place during the ‘reign’ of Arthur Pyne (1747-1839) who also laid out the present Regency-style parkland gardens and pleasure grounds. He was succeeded by his amorous eldest son Jasper Pyne, who married three wealthy women; the stables are thought to have been built on his watch. It was formerly thought that the three-storey house was further modified in 1847. However, in May 2018, Terence Reeve-Smith revealed that the tenders for this rebuilding actually date to 1872, see below.
When Jasper died in 1860-1, he left no male heirs so neither his wife nor daughters could inherit the property; the estate had been left by his father Arthur entailed for a life and could only be inherited by male issue. A big court case ensued in May 1861, by which the property passed to Jasper’s younger brother, the Rev. William Masters Pyne, Rector of Oxted in Surrey. In March 1864 the Rev Pyne put the place on the market through the Encumbered Estates Courts. It remained on the market until bought by a member of the Pyne family in January 1869. It was at this point that the building was remodelled; the top storey was removed to recreate a two-storey house with an extensive west end wing. Under the roof in the attic, the blue and white wallpaper can still be seen in patches on the wall of one of the third storey rooms.
The architect was Richard Rolt Brash (1817-1876), of 21 South Mall, Cork City. This Cork architect whose father and brother were well known builders in the city. Better known as a very active antiquarian and friend of John Windele, R.B. Brash was especially interested in round towers.
One perfectly sensible way of ensuring one’s home is kept in a state of good repair is to make the state of one’s house central to one’s business. It was with this sort of philosophy in mind that the Greens decided to take the plunge in 1980 and open Ballyvolane as a guesthouse. Soon after the doors opened, visitors began flooding in to set up short-term residence and enjoy the Green’s celebrated hospitality in between touring the locality and salmon fishing on the nearby Blackwater. However, the Greens were insistent that the house remain primarily a family home. And so, while international guests wandered around the house armed with fishing rods, large drinks and hire car keys, the Greens three young sons would gallop between their legs on hobby horses, hurley sticks and long-suffering Springer Spaniels. The combination of family home and exclusive accommodation worked well. In December 2003, Ballyvolane was selected by The Sunday Times as one of the Britain’s top twenty great escapes.
The added charm of Ballyvolane is its owners. Jeremy Green acquires the fiery glint of an ancient shannachie when the subject of ghosts comes up. He has an arsenal of ghost stories; some charming and very funny, others spine-shiveringly spooky. A murder most foul took place at Ballyvolane in 1731 when the butler and a maid shot and stabbed Andrew St Leger, an elderly man, and his wife and made off with a chest full of valuables. It was said that an inconvenient gardener axed to death during their getaway is wont to appear before guests to this day. However, a dive into the archives in May 2018 reveals a little more:
HOME AFFAIRS. Dublin, Jan. 19. We have an Account from Cork, that Timothy Croneen was condemned and executed there the 15th Inft. for the barbarous Murder ot Mr. St. Leger and his wife, concerning which in Court he made the following short Declaration, viz. “The Devil was too strong with me, I declare I shot Mr. St. Leger, I was resolved at first to rob my Master, I went into the Room, and afterwards I gave my Mistress five Stabs, the Gardiner consented to go with me and hold the Candle; I took about 20l, and the Watch out of my Master’s Pocket; After the Gardiner and I went to Bed I made the Agreement with him.” The Tryal lasted seven Hours, when his Bolts were knock’d off in the Dock, and he was carried immediately to the Place of Execution, and there hang’d about a Minute, then cut down, his Head cut off, his Bowels taken out and flung in his Face, his Body divided into 4 Parts, and to be put in 4 cross Roads ; and Joan Condon was fentenced to be burnt alive the next Day, but we hear she has got a Reprieve to the 23rd Instant. (Newcastle Courant – Saturday 13 February 1731)
Joan Condon did not get off the hook:
‘They write from Cork, that on the 23d of Jan. last, Joan Condon was burnt for being concern’d in the Murder of Lieutenant St. Leger and his Lady, without making any further Discoveries.’ (Newcastle Courant – Saturday 20 February 1731)
And, as for the gardener, Michael B. Holly discovered this record of a “John Holly”:
Dublin, Jan 16 (1730?) – Wee heard from Cork, that John Holly, the gardner, who was accused as being one of the accomplices in the murder of Lieut. Andrew St. Leger and his wife, November the 10th 1730, Died the 8th of Jan laft in the city goal of Cork.
***
Since January 2004, the property has been managed by the next generation of the Green family: Jeremy and Merrie’s eldest son Justin and his wife Jenny. This enigmatic couple have already enjoyed a fascinating career, working for some of the most prestigious hotels in Hong Kong, Dubai and Bali. Prior to their return to Ireland last autumn, they ran Somerset’s highly acclaimed Babington House on behalf of London’s Soho Club. Now comfortably ensconced in the family home, their four-year-old son Toby gallivants around the legs of the Blüthner grand piano in the pillared hall, where his father and uncles used to play thirty years earlier.
Today, the odd ghost aside, Ballyvolane and its surrounding demesne offer a sanctuary of immense peace and beauty. The spacious, bright bedrooms are perfectly appointed to bring a sense of tremendous ease to guests. Outside, the chorus of songbirds and the rustle of leaves. Donkeys and horses graze in the meadows. Kestrels and fantail doves swirl in the air. The occasional nimble-footed red squirrel leaps from tree to tree. And walking amid all this nature and serenity, one can quite understand why the Green family have every intention of keeping this a family home for many generations to come.
[1] https://www.irelandscontentpool.com/en/media-assets/media/104557
Essentially Irish: Homes wih Classic Irish Style. Josephine Ryan, photography by James Fennell. Ryland Peters & Small, London and New York, 2011.
p. 123. “It was back in the early 1980s that Jeremy and his English wife Merrie first opened their doors to paying guests, being two of the founder member of the Hidden Ireland travel company. …[ p. 124]Ballyvolane is now run by Justin, the oldest of Jeremy and Merrie’s three sons, and his Scottish wife JEnny. The couple both worked in the hotel and catering business and they met while working at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong. Upon returning to the UK, Justin and Jenny managed the hugely successful Babington House in Somerset before bringing their experience and expertise back home to Ireland in 2004.
p. 126. The house has 10 bedrooms, of which six are for guests.
p. 127. The name ‘chesterfield’ is believed to have originated in the 18th century, when the fourth Earl of Chesterfield, a man of great style and sophistication, commissioned a reknowned cabinetmaker to produce a piece of furniture that would ‘allow a gentleman to sit upright in utmost comfort.’
Guests have the freedom of relaxing in the bright orange, formal pillared entrance hall, complete with baby grand piano…p. 128. The orange entrance hall boasts fine plaster cornicing and a pair of columns with ornaments Corinthian capitals. The room was first painted this shade in 1847, when the house was remodelled, and it has been maintained ever since. The fire remains lit throughout the winter months…
p. 129. Leading to the bedrooms is the grand staircase, which benefits from a flood of natural light from the large window on the first return. Lining the walls are paintings inherited through Justin’s grandmother and depicting distant ancestors.
p. 131. Original to the house is this enormous, glazed white terracotta bath, with its highly varnished wood surround – it’s so deep that there is a step around the base to help you climb in.
A pair of headboards painted by Jane Willoughby with dreamlike utopian scenes..
Irish Historic Houses 