Castle Freke, Rosscarbery, Co Cork
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. 68. “(Evans-Freke, Carbery, B/PB) The original Castle Freke was an old castle formerly belonging to the Barrys, which was bought by the Frekes in C17; Capt Arthur Freke defended it for several months during the Williamite ward, but it was afterwards captured by the forces of King James and partially burnt. It continued to serve as the family seat until late 1780s, when Sir John Evans-Freke, 2nd Bt, after coming of age, found it so neglected and disapidated that he abandoned it and built a new house on a more convenient site, with splendid views over Roscarbery Bay…When the offices came to be built, which was not until ca 1820, it occurred to Sir John (by this time 6th Lord Carbery) that “the whole might be thrown into the character of a castle”; and so he commissioned Sir Richard Morrison to carry out a transformation….The house was gutted by fire in 1910 and rebuilt with steel window-frames…The work ws finished in 1913, when a ball was given here for the coming of age of 10th Lord Carbery, who sold Castle Freke post WWI. The house was dismantled 1952 and is now a ruin.”
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
“A large classical house built c. 1790 by Sir John Evans-Freke, altered by Richard Morrison c. 1820, when he also designed the large office court. The original house was at the same time remodelled in the Tudor Revival style. The main block was destroyed by fire in 1910. In the subsequent rebuilding Morrison’s alterations were simplified. The house was stipped of its fittings in 1952. Now a ruin.”
The Buildings of Ireland. Cork City and County. Frank Keohane. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. 2020.
p. 25. The first prominent exponent of Neoclassicism in Cork was a native, Michael Shanahan. He appears to have been a stonecutter, and probably came to the attention of the ‘Earl-Bishop’ Frederick Hervey while the latter was Bishop of Cloyne in 1767-8. Hervey took Shanahan on a Continental tour in 1770-2, a very rare thing for an Irish architect, during which Shanahan made measured drawings, particularly of bridges, as Hervey was proposing to build a bridge at Londonderry. On his return to Ireland, he became Hervey’s agent and oversaw the construction of James Wyatt’s Downhill in Derry, as well as designing churches and glebe houses in that diocese. Shanahan returned to Cork in the early 1780s, establishing a marble and stone works in White Street which specialized in chimneypieces, geometrical stone staircases and porticos. His first significant commission was St Patrick’s Bridge, in 1788-91. Shanahan’s houses tend to be reticent in the extreme. Castle Freke (1780s) and Castle Bernard [p. 26] (1790s) are big astylar blocks, bare except for rusticated quoins and thin cornices. Castle Bernard in particular appears to owe a debt to Wyatt’s Castle Coole in the axial arrangement of a hall with columnar screen, and the elliptical saloon projecting into the bow on the garden front.
https://archiseek.com/2011/1820-castle-freke-co-cork/
1820 – Castle Freke, Co. Cork
Architect: Richard Morrison
Ruined for many years, currently undergoing reconstruction.
Detached multiple-bay two-storey castle, built c.1780, having break front to front (south-east) elevation, four-stage tower to western corner and bartizan to south corner on stone corbels. Crenellated stone parapets on stone corbels, having roughly coursed sandstone chimneys. Roughly coursed sandstone walls with string course to tower and parapets and limestone quoins. Camber-headed window openings with stone sills and sandstone voussoirs, set within recessed round-headed niches to side (south-west) elevation having sandstone voussoirs and keystones. Square-headed window openings to tower with chamfered stone sills. Various associated buildings to front including round and octagonal-profile towers with parapets having decorative scalloped coping surmounting stone corbels and coursed stone circular-plan chimneystacks. Coursed limestone walls with cruciform loops. Three-stage octagonal tower attached to single-bay two-storey ruin. Crenellated parapet on stone corbels to tower and coursed stone chimneystack to ruin. Roughly coursed stone walls with string course to tower. Square-headed window openings with stone sills and moulded stone label mouldings to ruin. Located within own expansive grounds.
Castle Freke makes a notable and significant contribution to the surrounding landscape. Located on an elevated site overlooking the sea, the building is visible for miles from both sea and land. Associated with the Evans-Freke family, they were significant contributors to the social and historic fabric of the area. The architectural form of the building and association with significant architects, William Morrison in the early nineteenth century and Kaye-Parry and Ross in the early twentieth century, make this country house an important contributor to the architectural heritage. The eighteenth century classical house was disguised by William Morrison in his 1807 design with the addition of Gothic Revival features, including towers, bartizans, castellations and tall chimneystacks. The courtyard was remodelled and a second courtyard created with the addition of a single-storey wing and tower. It would appear that this work remained incomplete up to c.1840. The interior was destroyed by fire in 1910 and architects Kaye-Parry and Ross inserted concrete floors and roof and a Jacobean Revival style interior. The reinforced concrete technology utilised during the early twentieth century reconstruction adds both technical and scientific significance to the building. In 1919 the last Baron of Carbery, John Evans-Freke sold the estate. The lands were divided when it passed to the Land Commission in the 1930s. It was used as army barracks for the 38th-39th Battalions during World War II, and later as a summer base for the boys of Upton Industrial School. The house was dismantled in 1952 following the purchase of the house by a local man.
https://www.castles.nl/castle-freke
Castle Freke lies next to a small forest in Castlefreke townsland, in County Cork in Ireland.
Originally Castle Freke was a tower house dating back to the 15th century. It belonged to the Barry family. It was occupied by the Frekes 1617.
The Frekes and Evans intermarried and became Barons of Carbery 1715 and Castle Freke was rebuilt in 1780 by Sir John Evans-Freke, incorporating the original castle keep in its design.
The renowned architect Sir Richard Morrison altered the castle into its current Gothic castellated style in 1820. In 1910 a fire gutted the castle. John Carbery was forced to sell Castle Freke in the 1920s and it was dismantled in 1952.
In 2005 the sprawling ruin of the castle was bought back by Stephen Evans Freke, the youngest son of the late Peter Evans Freke, the 11th Lord Carbery. He started a restoration to return Castle Freke to its former glory. But in 2014 he had a financial dispute with the architect overseeing the restoration and the works halted. The current phase of restoration is partially complete.
This is a great castle, too bad it’s completely sealed off and abandoned again. But I must say that it also adds to its creepy atmosphere. It is on private property and therefore not accessible.
David Hicks, Irish Country Houses, A Chronicle of change. The Collins Press, County Cork, 2012.
http://www.bandon-genealogy.com/Frekes_of_Castle_Freke.htm
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30942022.html
Labour of love to restore former family castle
A retired Wall Street investment banker is spending millions of euros “on a labour of love” rebuilding a castle which was once in his family’s possession for hundreds of years.
Tue, 06 Aug, 2019 – 07:05
Sean O’RiordanA retired Wall Street investment banker is spending millions of euros “on a labour of love” rebuilding a castle which was once in his family’s possession for hundreds of years.
Stephen Evans-Freke is painstakingly rebuilding Castle Freke, originally constructed as a mansion house in the 1750s, but which had impressive battlements added to it later. The castle, which is situated near Rosscarbery, Co Cork, has impressive views of the sea and surrounding land. On a clear day, you can see Fastnet Rock.
Stephen explained that the Evans’ side of the family were Welsh Celts, while the Frekes were Norse Vikings. They both arrived in Ireland around the same time, in the late 1570s. The Frekes bought land and the old Rathbarry Castle from the Barry clan shortly after their arrival. The Barrys were the dominant force in the area at the time.
The Frekes and Evans intermarried and became Barons of Carbery in 1715. The current Castle Freke was built by John Evans-Freke, although, as Stephen pointed out, there was clear evidence on the site of an older “fortified Elizabethan ‘strong house’.”
His Norse, Welsh, and Irish heritage are to the fore in the rebuilding programme and can be seen in some of the magnificent plaster ceilings which are being put into the castle. The type of plasterwork being carried out by experts hasn’t been undertaken in Europe for hundreds of years.
Stephen Evans-Freke with his partner Barbara Birt at Castle Freke Castle in West Cork.
One of the impressive reliefs on the ceilings is a depiction of the Children’s of Lir legend, replete with resplendent swans. But Stephen has a sense of humour and in one corner, he’s added a small frog poking his head out and smoking a cigar.
To honour his Viking heritage, there’s a large plaster ceiling depiction of the Norse god Odin and his two protective wolves. It also features the legendary Valkyries collecting the bodies of fallen heroes from the battlefield to bring them to Valhalla. Freke is incidentally the Norse name for a wolfman.
For his Celtic/Welsh ancestry, he has created another ceiling scene, this time depicting the Lady of the Lake presenting the legendary sword Excalibur to King Arthur. There are also two dragons fighting, which signifies the one-time struggle for supremacy between Wales and England.
The magnificent music room has had an entire plaster ceiling installed, the inspiration for which came from the ceiling of Lincoln Cathedral. Stone flooring recently put down in part of the house came from a medieval monastery in the Burgundy region of France.
“It’s a bit of a pay as you go project,” says Stephen, who declined to comment on what the final bill for the restoration project was likely to cost him.
Funeral shrouds don’t come with pockets. You’re not going to be able to take it (money) with you. You might as well do something worthwhile with it.
There was a major fire in the castle in 1909 and when it was rebuilt, the plaster walls were replaced with concrete. A team of 20 workmen, made up of stonemasons, plasterers, sculptors, and carpenters, have stripped the walls of the old concrete and are preparing to re-plaster all of them.
The 40-plus chimneys have already been relined and the vast majority of the battlements have been repaired, as have many external walls on land surrounding the castle.
“All of the parapets were knocked for their lead in the 1950s,” says Stephen. “We’ve probably moved the world market on lead restoring them. We had two craftsmen who came out of retirement to do it.”
In particular, he has great praise for his master stonemason, Micheál Ó Suilleabháin.
He painstakingly replaced stone on the battlements and other parts of the building, most of which was cut from local quarries. Some old quarries in the area were reopened to source the same kind of stone.
“It’s been sandblasted so lichen can grow on it and give it that weathered look like the rest of the stones,” Stephen says.
His family owned Castle Freke up to 1921, but they didn’t leave it because of the political turmoil of the time. In fact, the Evans-Frekes openly supported the winning side.
“My great uncle, Baron John Carey, was a great supporter of Michael Collins. He was the first man in Munster to own an aeroplane used to put on flying shows at which he would raise funds for the cause of independence.”
The castle was later taken over by another family. Stephen bought it back in 1999, “but with no particular intention at the time of restoring it”.
However, thoughts of finally getting his hands back on the family pile were sown when he was quite young.
“We had a painting of the castle in our family home,” he says. “My father brought me to see the castle when I was 12. It was very forlorn-looking. This is about roots. My aim is to get the main block restored in the next five years.”
Stephen says he is also going to put a lot of effort into restoring the gardens, and will work with Cork County Council experts on the best way to do this. Eventually, he hopes to open them up to the public. Once the castle is refurbished, he plans to spend part of his time living there, but would also open it on occasion to the public for charity events.
“The castle and the approximate 170-acre estate have been put into a trust to preserve it for future generations of the family.”
From mining and biotech to trad music and fishing
Stephen Evans-Freke was born in Ashbourne, Co Meath. He is the youngest son of the late Peter Evans-Freke, the 11th Lord Carbery. Stephen’s father was an engineer, but as there was no work for such professionals at the time in Ireland, the family moved to England when he was at a young age.
After graduating in 1973 from Cambridge University with a law degree, Stephen moved to South Africa, where he worked with IBM to build the first computer programme for valuing gold mines.
In 1976, he moved to New York and became an investment banker working in Wall Street. In the 1980s, Stephen concentrated much of his efforts on financing the first generation of biotech companies, a feat he is especially proud of as many of these companies went on to produce life-saving and life-improving treatments.
He was lead investment banker to Genentech, AMGEN, Centocor, and a number of other leading biotech companies. He left Wall Street in 1990. Stephen describes himself as having a couple of great passions in his life, apart from renovating the castle.
“I’m a passionate environmentalist and very much supportive of sustainable farming,” he said proudly as he looked down from the castle turrets on a herd of horned Aberdeen Angus grazing in a field below.
“I also love traditional music.”
He also likes his fishing, and big fish at that. Stephen spends a lot of his time in the Caribbean, having moved to the US Virgin Islands in 2008, and prefers nothing better than fishing for big marlin.
He also enjoys scuba diving, sailing, tennis, playing the piano, reading history and philosophy, and horseback riding. Stephen is a well-known philanthropist. He founded new ventures on the US Virgin Islands, including the leading Caribbean air ambulance company, AeroMD.
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