Mitchelstown Castle, Co Cork  – ‘lost’  

by jenjunebug

Mitchelstown Castle, Co Cork  – ‘lost’  

Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. An older castle was demolished and it was rebuilt, as we see in this photograph, in the 1770s by Caroline Fitzgerald and her husband Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston.

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. 207. “(Fitzgibbon/IFR; King, Kingston, E/PB; Webber/IFR) Orignally the stronghold of that branch of the Geraldines which held the title of White Knight; passed to the Kings after the death of Maurice Oge FitzGibbon, 12th white Knight, whose niece married Sir John King, 1st Lord Kingston. By 1750, 4th Lord Kingston had a house here with a two storey hall, its upper storey surrounded by a “handsome corridor,”…

John King 1st Baron Kingston married Catherine Fenton, whose mother was Margaret Fitzgibbon.

Robert King (1657–1693), 2nd Baron Kingston by John Michael Wright courtesy of Ulster Museum. He was the son of 1st Baron and Catherine née Fenton.
Margaret O’Cahan (c. 1662-1721), standing in a black habit, and holding a string of rosary beads, Attributed to Garret Morphy (c.1655-1715), courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 she married James King 3rd Baron Kingston, a brother of the 2nd Baron.
Jeremiah Barrett (d.1770) A conversation portrait of the Children, William, Elizabeth and Margaret King, of James 4th (last) Baron Kingston of Mitchelstown with a pet doe and dog courtesy of Adam’s 6 Oct 2009. The surviving daughter Margaret, daughter of Elizabeth Meade (Clanwilliam), inherited the vast Mitchellstown Estate of the White Knights. She married Richard Fitzgerald of mount Ophanlis, and their only daughter Caroline married, as arranged, the 2nd Earl of Kingston thus uniting the two branches of the King family. Life at Mitchellstown was recorded by two famous employees of the Kings, Arthur Young the agriculturalist and Mary Wollstonecruft who probably sketched out the basis of Vinchication of the Rights of Women whilst governess to the King children. It was not without excitement, in 1799 Lord Kingston shot dead Colonel Fitzgerald, his wife’s illegitimate half-brother in the hotel in Mitchellstown for abducting his 17 year old daughter Mary Elizabeth and his eldest daughter Margaret having married the 2nd Earl of Mount Cashell left him to befriend Shelley in Italy and is The Lady in ‘The Sensitive Plant’ by Shelley. Provenance: Rockingham House.
Edward King 5th Baron Kingston 1764 standing in peers robes, courtesy of Adams auction 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter. He was later created 1st Earl of Kingston. He was the son of Henry King, 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey.
Edward King (1726-1797), 5th Baronet of Boyle Abbey and eventually, 1st Earl of Kingston.
Edward King, later 1st Earl Kingston courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).
Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.
Mitchelstown Castle hall, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Portrait almost certainly of Anne King, daughter of Sir Henry King and sister of 1st Earl of Kingston, married John ‘Diamond’ Knox of Castlerea, Co. Mayo courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).
Isabella King, daughter of Sir Henry King and sister of 1st Earl of Kingston, wife of Thomas, 1st Earl of Howth courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).
Eleanor King, daughter of Sir Henry King 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey and sister of Edward 1st Earl of Kingston, with her son James Stewart (of Killymoon) holding a dog courtesy of Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).

A new house was built by 2nd Earl of Kingston 1776, it was in this house that his daughter, Margaret, was taught revolutionary ideas by her governess, Mary Wollstonecraft; she afterwards married Lord Mount Cashell, who lived nearby at Moore Park, but left him and settled in Italy, where she befriended Shelly, who wrote of her as “The Lady” in The Sensitive Plant. Margaret’s sister, Mary, eloped 1797 with a cousin, who was a married man; her father afterwards shot him dead at an hotel near Mitchelstown and was consequently tried by his peers for murder, but acquitted.

Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.
Caroline, née Fitzgerald, Countess of Kingston, wife of Robert King 2nd Earl of Kingston, by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.

In 1823, 3rd Earl, known as “Big George”, demolished his father’s house and commissioned James and George Richard Pain to build him a castle which he stipulated should be bigger than any other house in Ireland; it had, moreover, to be ready to receive George IV on his next Irish visit; one of the towers was to be called the Royal Tower and contain a bedroom for ths King. The castle was finished in two years, at a cost of £100,000; it did not quite manage to be larger than any other house inIreland, but it was one of the largest and most successful of the earlier Gothic Revival castles. …

George King (1779-1839), later 3rd Earl of Kingston, painting by Romney.
Mitchelstown Castle in Co Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.

In the end, George IV never came, but Big George entertained as though he had a royal house-party the whole time. Even complete strangers were received with hospitality at the castle; there were sometimes as many as 100 people staying. All were dazzled by the splendour, by the display of plate and the army of servants…. Then, in 1830, his tenants’ failure to vote for the candidate of his choice in a by-election drove Big George out of his mind and he was taken to London, where he died 1839. His son, 4th Earl, continued to keep open house at Mitchelston until 1844, when he suffered a financial crash. The earl and his house party closed the doors of the castle against the bailiffs and stood siege for a fortnight, then the creditors took possession and much of the estate was sold up. Like his father,the 4th Earl went mad. The castle and the reduced estate was eventually inherited by the 5th Earl’s widow, who married, as her second husband, W.D. Webber. Henceforth, economy reigned at the castle…. The castle was burnt 1922, and the ruin was afterwards demolished; the ashlar having been bought by the monks of Mount Melleray for their new church.” 

Drawing Room in Mitchelstown Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Courtesy Mark Bence-Jones.
Anna née Brinkley, wife of the 5th Earl of Kingston, who lived in Mitchelstown.

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.

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/search/label/County%20Cork%20Landowners

THE EARLS OF KINGSTON WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CORK, WITH 24,421 ACRES

The family of KING was originally of Feathercock Hall, near Northallerton, Yorkshire.

The first of its members we find upon record in Ireland is

SIR JOHN KING, Knight (c1560-1637), who obtained, from ELIZABETH I, in requital of his military services, a lease of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon; and, from JAMES I, numerous valuable territorial grants, and several of the highest and most lucrative political employments.

He married Catherine, daughter of Robert Drury, and grand-niece of the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir William Drury, and had, with other issue,

ROBERT, his heir;
John;
Edward;
Dorothy; Mary.

Sir John was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR ROBERT KING, Knight, of Boyle Abbey, Muster Master-general of Ireland, who wedded firstly, Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Folliott, 1st Baron Folliott, of Ballyshannon, and had, with other children,

JOHN (Sir), 1st Baron Kingston;
ROBERT, created a Baronet.

Sir Robert died in 1657, and was succeeded by his youngest son,

THE RT HON ROBERT KING (c1625-1707), of Rockingham, County Roscommon, MP for Ballyshannon, 1661-6, County Roscommon, 1692-9, and for Boyle, 1703-7.

Mr King was created a baronet, 1682, designated of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon.

He wedded Frances, daughter and co-heiress of Colonel Henry Gore, and died in 1707, leaving issue, his eldest surviving son,

SIR JOHN KING, 2nd Baronet (1673-1720), MP for Boyle, 1695, 1703, and 1713, and for County Roscommon, 1715-20, who espoused Elizabeth, daughter of John Sankey, of Tennalick, County Longford,  and dsp 1720, when the title devolved upon his brother,

SIR HENRY KING, 3rd Baronet (1680-1739), PC, MP for Boyle, 1707-27, and for County Roscommon, 1727-40, who married, in 1722, Isabella, who was 13th in descent from EDWARD III, and sister of 1st Viscount Powerscourt, by whom he had issue,

ROBERT, created Baron Kingsborough;

EDWARD, 1st Earl of Kingston;

Isabella; Anne.

The eldest son,

SIR ROBERT KING, 4th Baronet (1724-55), was raised to the Peerage, in 1748, in the dignity of BARON KINGSBOROUGH, but died unmarried in 1755, when that dignity expired, while the baronetcy devolved upon his brother,

SIR EDWARD KING, 5th Baronet (1726-97), created Baron Kingston, 1764, Viscount Kingsborough, 1766, and EARL OF KINGSTON, 1768.

He wedded, in 1752, Jane, daughter of Thomas Caulfeild, of Donamon, County Roscommon, and had, with other issue,

ROBERT, his successor;

Jane.

The heir apparent is the present holder’s son Charles Avery Edward King-Tenison, styled Viscount Kingsborough (b 2000).

MITCHELSTOWN CASTLE was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Kingston.

It was one of the largest Gothic-Revival houses in Ireland, a noble and sumptuous structure of hewn stone, in the castellated style, erected after a design by Mr Pain, of Cork, at an expense of more than £100,000.

Mitchelstown is about thirty miles north of the city of Cork.

The buildings occupied three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth being occupied by a terrace, under which are various offices.

The principal entrance, on the eastern range, was flanked by two lofty square towers rising to the height of 106 feet, one of which was called the White Knight’s tower, from its being built on the site of the tower of that name which formed part of the old mansion.

At the northern extremity of the same range were two octagonal towers of lofty elevation.

The entrance hall opened into a stately hall or gallery, eighty feet in length, with an elaborately groined roof, richly ornamented with fine tracery, and furnished with elegant stoves of bronze, and with figures of warriors armed cap-a-pie; at the further extremity was the grand staircase.

Parallel with the gallery, and forming the south front and principal range, were the dining and drawing-rooms, both noble apartments superbly fitted up and opening into the library, which was between them.

Entrance Hall

The whole pile had a character of stately baronial magnificence, and from its great extent and elevation formed a conspicuous feature in the surrounding scenery.

Near the Castle was a large fish-pond, and from a small tower on its margin, water was conveyed to the baths and to the upper apartments of the castle, and across the demesne to the gardens, by machinery of superior construction.

The gardens were spacious and tastefully laid out, the conservatory 100 feet in length and ornamented with a range of beautiful Ionic pilasters.

The parkland, which comprised 1,300 acres, was embellished with luxuriant plantations, and included a farming establishment on an extensive scale, with buildings and offices of a superior description, on the erection of which more than £40,000 was expended.

It was estimated that the castle, with the conservatories, farm, and the general improvement of the demesne, cost its noble proprietor little less, if not more, than £200,000 (£8.3 million today).

“Big George”, the 3rd Earl, was renowned for his extravagant hospitality. 

The 4th Earl continued to entertain his visitors regally at Mitchelstown.

One of the under-cooks  was a young man called Claridge.

Lord Kingston suffered a financial downfall: His lordship – and house guests – locked the doors against the bailiffs and were besieged therein for a fortnight, until finally the Castle was possessed, creditors satisfied and much of the estate was sold. 

What remained of the estate was inherited by the 5th Earl’s widow. Thereafter, Economy reigned. 

The house was looted and burned in 1922 by the IRA, which had occupied it for the previous six weeks.

The order to burn the building, to prevent the newly established Irish Free State army from having use of it, was made by a local Republican commandant, Patrick Luddy, with the approval of General Liam Lynch.

It is clear that one of the motivations for the burning was to try to cover up the looting of the castle’s contents, including large amounts of furniture, a grand piano, paintings by Conrad, Beechy and Gainsborough.

Many of these objects have come up for sale in recent years and some, such as the piano, are still kept locally.

The Castle was severely damaged by the fire.

However, it is clear from documents in the National Archives of Ireland that, for example, in places where the fire had not reached, ‘mantelpieces had been forcibly wrenched from the walls and carted.’

As this episode took place at the height of the Irish Civil War, there was no appetite afterwards to prosecute anyone for their role in the looting and burning.

The ashlar limestone of the castle was later removed to build the new Cistercian abbey at Mount Melleray, County Water.

The site of the building is now occupied by a milk powder processing plant and the surrounding 1,214 acre demesne (private park) of the castle has been destroyed.

Lord Kingston’s town residence between 1826-32 was 3 Whitehall Place, London, now part of the Department of Energy & Climate Change.

 First published in February, 2012.

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