Myrtle Grove, Youghal, 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. 221. “(Boyle, cork and Orrery, E/PB; Abuthnot, Bt/PB) Almost the only completely unfortified C16 Irish house to have survived intact and in anything like its original state; altered C18 and C19 byt still unmistakeably a. Tudor manor house with three steep gables in a row, an central porch oriel and another oriel at one end; though the latter now have Georigan glazing as do the other windows. Traditionally the Irish house of Sir Walter Raleigh; the oriel at the end of the house, whichi faces the old Collegiate Church and lights the large upstairs drawing room, being idenfied with what Releigh refereed to when writing in a letter “my oriel window at Youghal.” The room is in exactly the right position to have been Raleigh’s great chamber, and it looks just as one would imagine it to have looked; panelled in dark oak, and with an elaborately carved chimneypiece and overmantel incorporating the figures of Faith, Hope and Charity. The panelling and mantel do not appear to  have been C19 importation, for it is clear from an account of 1837 that they had then been here for longer than anyone could remember. Sice it is most unlikely that they were in stalled in C18, they must have been in the room since at least C17, and might possibly have even been here in Raleigh’s time. Another upstairs room is similarly panelled, but the rest of the interior is Georgian, or later. By the front door is a yew tree under which Releigh is believed to have smoked, and a servant is supposed to have had a bucket of water thrown over him, thinking he was on fire. A remnant of the old town wall of Youghal runs through the garden; it was doubtless on account of being within the wall that the house survived as it did. Together with the rest of Sir Raleigh’s Irish estates, the house was acquired by Richard Boyle,afterwards 1^st Earl of Cork, 1602. In C18 it was acquired by the Hayman family, who let it ca 1830s and 1840s to Col Fount. Later in C19 it was bought by the politician and colonial administrator Sir John Pope-Hennessy (the original of Trollope’s Phineas Finn), who sold it to another distinguished colonial administrator, Sir Henry Arthur Blake. It eventually passed to Sir Henry Arthur Blake’s daughter, Mrs J.B. Arbuthnot, whose grand-daughter, Mrs Nigel Murray, is the present owner. Mrs Arbuthnote’s younger daughter sas the late Patricia Cockburn, wife of Claud Cockburn,the journalist.” 

https://www.igs.ie/conservation/project/myrtle-grove

Constructed in the late sixteenth century though with elements dating back several centuries before that. A key architectural element in the complex that includes St. Mary’s Abbey and the College, Myrtle Grove was once owned by Sir Walter Raleigh, who used Cork as a base for his expeditions to Virginia. The town wall that bounds Myrtle Grove is high—around thirty feet high, and very solid, and it was this that enabled the house to be built unfortified, with large windows— unusual for the time in Ireland. The house has changed little over the years. Above three gables that dominate the front façade, a roof ridge runs parallel with the spine of the house and is surmounted by five tall chimneystacks. The stack at the north end is massive; the wall where it rises is six feet thick, and almost certainly dates from late medieval times. The windows on the front, facing east, were enlarged at some point; the originals would probably have had stone mullions, as at the Ormond house at Carrick-on-Suir. At Myrtle Grove, the principal rooms are on the first floor and have the largest windows. The present windows in the house, in the sense of frames and glass, date mainly from the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. All are Georgian in style; those at the rear are hinged while the front windows lack the counterweights needed for sliding sashes, perhaps because the thick walls prevented weight boxes being built. A stone porch protects the front door and supports a large bay window above: another bay window allows light into the first-floor room on the south side. Raleigh referred fondly to his “Oriel window” at Youghal, and a similar window can be found over the front door of his childhood home, Hayes Barton in Devon. 

Grants Awarded:

2015: €5,000 from IGS undesignated US donations 

2018: €5,000 grant through IGS Inc. (U.S. Chapter) towards the repair of oriel window. Conservation architect, Lucy O’Connor of Howley Hayes Cooney Architecture; joiner, Anthony Deegan of Corr Joinery. 

2018: 20,493 from IGS towards electrical works 

2019: Grant from IGS Inc. (U.S. Chapter) towards essential upgrading of electrical works, and a €5,000 grant through the IGS London Chapter for repairs to three sliding sash windows on the first floor of the front of the house. Architect, Lucy O’Connor of Howley Hayes Cooney Architecture; joiner, Anthony Deegan of Corr Joinery.

2022: €2,000 grant from the IGS London Chapter for window repairs. Conservation architect, Lucy O’Connor of Howley Hayes Cooney Architecture; joiner, Anthony Deegan of Corr Joinery. 

2023: €3,000 grant from the IGS London Chapter for window repairs. Conservation architect, Lucy O’Connor of Howley Hayes Cooney Architecture; joiner, Anthony Deegan of Corr Joinery. 

2024: €3,000 grant from the IGS London Chapter for window repairs. Conservation architect, Lucy O’Connor of Howley Hayes Cooney Architecture; joiner, Anthony Deegan of Corr Joinery.

2024: €3,000 from IGS Cork towards window repairs 

NIAH Listing: 

References to IGS Bulletins and Journals:

Murray, Peter (2017) From Warden’s House to Myrtle Grove, IGS Review 
https://www.igs.ie/updates/article/from-wardens-house-to-myrtle-grove

The Buildings of Ireland. Cork City and County. Frank Keohane. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. 2020. 

The fortified houses of the late C16 and early C17 constitute a bridge between the medieval tower house and the modern mansion. They were built by old Norman families, at Castle Lyons and Ightermurragh (Ladysbridge); by city merchants, such as the Archdeacons at Monkstown; by English settlers, at Baltimore, Coppinger’s Court (Rosscarbery) and Mallow; and by Gaelic chiefs, at Coolnalong (Durrus), Mount Long (Oysterhaven), Kanturk, Dromaneen (Mallow) and Reendiseart (Ballylickey). Twenty-two such houses survive in Cork. 

In comparison to tower houses, these houses are better lit, have thinner walls, lack vaults, and feature timber floors and staircases as well as integral fireplaces. They are also notably symmetrical in plan and elevation, and some, such as Kanturk, incorporate proto-classical features. They generally retain some defensive features, such as door yetts, gunloops, bartizans and crenellated parapets, [p. 18] although their wall-walks were not all continuous, and in cases such as Mount Long and Monkstown were barely accessible. The other notable feature is the use of towers or turrets, influenced no doubt by the Elizabethan fashion for a quasi-military appearance derived from an earlier chivalric age. The arrangement of the towers gives rise to distinctive plan-forms: U plan (Coolnalong), Y-plan (Mallow and Coppinger’s court), L-plan (Dromaneen (Mallow) and Mossgrove (Templemartin), cross-plan (Kilmaclenine, Ightermurragh), X-plan (Kanturk, Monkstown, Mount Long, Aghadown), Z-plan (Ballyannan (Midleton), and T-Plan (Reendiseart). Baltimore, Carrigrohane, Castle Lyons, Myrtle Grove (Youghal) and Castlemartyr aer simple rectangular blocks. A number of Jacobean bawns with circular corner towers also survive, at Ballinterry (Rathcormac), Dromiscane (Millstreet), Dromagh, Clonmeen (Banteer) and Mossgrove.” 

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2022/02/1st-earl-of-cork.html

THE EARLS OF CORK AND ORRERY OWNED 20,195 ACRES IN COUNTY CORK

The Ancestors of this illustrious family had, for many generations, their residence in Herefordshire, where

LEWIS BOYLE lived in the reign of HENRY III; the great-grandson of this gentleman was

LEWIS BOYLE, of Bidney, and founder of the friars, in the city of Hereford, living during the reign of HENRY VI.

This gentleman had two sons,

John, who succeeded in Herefordshire;

ROGER, of whose descendants we are to treat.

The younger son,

ROGER BOYLE, married Jane, daughter of Thomas Patishall, and had issue,

ROGER, his heir;

John;

Michael, grandfather of the Most Rev Michael Boyle, Lord Archbishop of Armagh.

The eldest son,

ROGER BOYLE (d 1576), espoused, in 1564, Joan, daughter of Robert Naylor, and had issue,

John (Rt Rev), Lord Bishop of Cork and Cloyne;

RICHARD, of whom hereafter;

Mary.

The younger son,

RICHARD BOYLE (1566-1643), known as the Great Earl of Cork,

Second son of the aforesaid Roger Boyle, by Joan, his wife, daughter of John Naylor, studied law at the Middle Temple; but, despairing of success, embarked for Ireland, as an adventurer, and having obtained, after suffering some persecutions from the local authorities, the favour and protection of ELIZABETH I, amassed considerable wealth, received the honour of knighthood, was sworn of the Privy Council, and elevated to the peerage of that kingdom, in 1616, in the dignity of Baron Boyle, of Youghal.

His lordship was advanced, in 1620, to the dignities of Viscount Dungarvan and EARL OF CORK.

He married firstly, in 1595, Joan, daughter and co-heiress of William Apsley, of Limerick, without surviving issue; and secondly, Catherine, daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, Knight, principal secretary of state for Ireland, and had issue (with eight daughters),

Roger (1606-15);

RICHARD, his successor;

Geoffrey;

Lewis, created Viscount Boyle of Kinalmeaky;

ROGER, created Earl of Orrery; ancestor of John, 5th Earl of Cork;

Francis, created Viscount Shannon;

Robert.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

RICHARD, 2nd Earl (1612-98); who, having wedded, in 1635, the Lady Elizabeth Clifford, daughter and heiress of Henry, 5th Earl of Cumberland, was created a Peer of England, 1644, in the dignity of Baron Clifford of Londesborough, Yorkshire; and, in 1664, EARL OF BURLINGTON.

He had issue,

Charles, 3rd Viscount Dungarvan (1639-94); father of the 3rd Earl of Cork;

Richard, died in 1665 at the battle of Lowestoft;

Frances; Elizabeth; Mary; Henrietta.

His lordship’s eldest son having predeceased him, was succeeded by his grandson,

CHARLES (c1662-1704), 3rd Earl, and 2nd Earl of Burlington, who espoused Juliana, daughter and heiress of the Hon Henry Noel, of Luffenham, Rutland, by whom he had surviving issue,

RICHARD, his successor;

Elizabeth; Juliana; Jane; Henrietta.

His lordship was succeeded by his only son,

RICHARD (1694-1753), 4th Earl of Cork and 3rd Earl of Burlington, KG, who married, in 1720, the Lady Dorothy Savile, elder daughter and co-heiress of William, 2nd Marquess of Halifax, by which lady he had three daughters,

Dorothy;

Juliana; 

Charlotte Elizabeth, m William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington.

His lordship claimed, in 1727, the barony of Clifford, as great-grandson of the Lady Elizabeth Clifford, daughter and heiress of Henry, Lord Clifford, and the house of peers acknowledged and confirmed his lordship’s right thereto.

This nobleman was eminent as a munificent encourager of literature and the fine arts, and as a friend of Alexander Pope he will always be remembered.

His lordship died in 1753, and leaving an only surviving daughter, Lady Charlotte, who had wedded William, 4th Duke of Devonshire, and inherited the barony of Clifford; all his lordship’s other English honours ceased, while those of Ireland devolved upon his kinsman,

JOHN BOYLE (1707-62), 5th Earl of Orrery, in Ireland; Baron Boyle of Marston, in Great Britain; as 5th EARL OF CORK (refer to Roger, third son of the first Earl of Cork).

His lordship wedded firstly, in 1728, the Lady Henrietta Hamilton, youngest daughter of George, 1st Earl of Orkney KT, and had issue,

Charles, Viscount Dungarvan (1729-1759);

HAMILTON, his successor;

Elizabeth.

He espoused secondly, Margaret, daughter and sole heiress of John Hamilton, by whom he had further issue,

EDMUND, 7th Earl of Cork;

Catherine Agnes; Lucy.

His lordship distinguished himself as a writer, and was a friend of SWIFT.

He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,

HAMILTON (1729-64), 6th Earl of Cork and Orrery, who died unmarried, in little more than a year after his father, when the honours devolved upon his brother,

EDMUND (1742-98), 7th Earl of Cork and Orrery, who married firstly, in 1764, Anne, daughter of Kelland Courtenay, and had issue,

John Richard, Viscount Dungarvan (1765-8);

EDMUND, of whom hereafter;

Courtenay (the Hon Sir), Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy;

Lucy Isabella.

His lordship espoused secondly, in 1786, Mary, youngest daughter of John, 1st Viscount Galway, without further issue.

He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,

EDMUND (1767-1856), 8th Earl of Cork and Orrery, KP, a General in the Army, who married, in 1795, Isabella Henrietta, third daughter of William Poyntz, of Midgam house, Berkshire, and had issue,

Edmund William, Viscount Dungarvan (1798-1826);

George Richard (1799-1810);

CHARLES, of whom presently;

John, ancestor of the 12th and 13th Earls;

Robert Edward;

Richard Cavendish;

Isabella Elizabeth; Lucy Georgina; Louisa.

His lordship’s eldest surviving son,

CHARLES (1800-34), styled Viscount Dungarvan, wedded, in 1828, the Lady Catherine St Lawrence, daughter of William, 2nd Earl of Howth, and had issue,

RICHARD EDMUND ST LAWRENCE, his successor;

William George;

Edmund John;

Louisa Caroline Elizabeth; Mary Emily.

His lordship predeceased his father, and the family honours devolved upon his eldest son,

RICHARD EDMUND ST LAWRENCE (1829-1904), as 9th Earl of Cork and Orrery, KP, who married, in 1853, the Lady Elizabeth Charlotte de Burgh, daughter of Ulick John, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde, and had issue,

CHARLES SPENCER CANNING, his successor;

ROBERT JOHN LASCELLES, 11th Earl;

Emily Harriet Catherine; Grace Elizabeth; Isabel Lettice Theodosia; Honora Janet; Dorothy Blanche.

His lordship was succeeded by his elder son,

CHARLES SPENCER CANNING (1861-1925), 10th Earl, who wedded, in 1918, Mrs Rosalie Gray, daughter of William Waterman de Villiers, of Romsey, Hampshire, though the marriage was without issue, when the family honours devolved upon the 10th Earl’s brother,

ROBERT JOHN LASCELLES (1864-1934), 11th Earl, who espoused, in 1890, Josephine Catherine, daughter of Jospeh P Hale; the marriage, however, was without issue, and the titles reverted to his lordship’s cousin,

WILLIAM HENRY DUDLEY, 12th Earl (1873-1967), GCB, GCVO, Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Navy, who married, in 1902, the Lady Florence Keppel, youngest daughter of William, 7th Earl of Albemarle, though the marriage was without issue, when the honours reverted to his cousin,

REGINALD PATRICK, 13th Earl (1910-95), who married firstly, in 1952, Dorothy Kate, daughter of Robert Ramsden; and secondly, in 1978, Mary Gabrielle, daughter of Louis Ginnette.

The marriages were without issue, when the titles devolved upon the 13th Earl’s brother,

JOHN WILLIAM, 14th Earl (1916-2003), DSC, VRD, Lieutenant-Commander, RNVR, who married, in 1943, Mary Leslie, daughter of General Sir Robert Gordon Finlayson KCB, CMG, DSO, and had issue,

JOHN RICHARD, his successor;

Robert William;

Charles Reginald.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

JOHN RICHARD, 15th Earl (1945-), who married, in 1973, Rebecca Juliet, daughter of Michael, Lord Glenkinglas, and has issue,

RORY JONATHAN COURTENAY, styled Viscount Dungarvan;

Cara Mary Cecilia; Davina Claire Theresa.

The family also owned 11,531 acres in County Kerry, 3,398 in Somerset, and 3,189 in County Limerick.