Ardo (also known as Ardogena), Ardmore, Co Waterford – lost
Mark Bence-Jones. 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. 10. “(McKenna/LGI1912) A gingerbread Carcassonne on a bare clifftop overlooking the Atlantic, consisting of a plain two storey house to which a tall battlemented square tower and numerous round turrets, with pointed windows, hood mouldings and quatrefoil openings, were added in the late-Georgain period; the turrets continuing far beyond the house itself, joined by straight and curving castellated walls, to form a line of brittle fortifications….In the latter part of C18 and early C19, the home of Jeremiah Coghlan, a gentleman of slender means whose wife, known as “Madam”, maintained a recklessly grandiose and extravagant way of life here which she supported by helping the smugglers who frequented the coast. Two fo her four children were idiots, but she also had two beautiful daughters, one of whom she married off to “Cripplegate,” 8th and last Earl of Barrymore and the other to 9th Duc de Castries. The Coghlans, like the Barrymores – ended with a financial crash, but the Duc de Castries was rich and Ardo, though leased, remained in his family. It eventually passed to his grandson by his first marriage, the great Mashall Macmahon, victor ofMagenta and President of France in the early years of the Third Republic, who sold it 1874 to Sir Joseph McKenna of the National Bank, uncle of the politician Reginald McKenna. Ardo was abandoned ca 1918, it eventually became roofless and is now a crazy 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.
p. 140. A late 18C house to which castellated towers were added in the early 19C. Good classical plasterwork in the stair hall. Built by Jeremiah Coghlan. Now a ruin.
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Remains of detached three-bay two-storey house, c.1775, with single-bay three-stage corner turrets on circular plans. Abandoned, 1918. Now in ruins. Roof now gone (original profile not discerned) with roofs to turrets not visible behind parapets. Unpainted rendered walls over random rubble stone construction. Square-headed window openings with no sills, red brick dressings, and fittings now gone. Elliptical-headed door opening with fittings now gone. Pointed-arch window openings to turrets with stone sills, red brick dressings, and fittings now gone. Set back from road in own grounds on elevated site overlooking Atlantic Ocean. (ii) Freestanding single-bay four-stage tower, built 1847, to south-east on a square plan originally attached. Roof not visible behind parapet. Random rubble stone walls (extending to first stage as remains of random rubble stone screen wall having battlemented parapet) with remains of unpainted render over having red brick quoins to corners, stringcourse to top stage, and battlemented parapet (stepped to one corner) having cut-stone coping. Pointed-arch window openings with cut-stone shallow sills, red brick dressings, and fittings now gone. (iii) Detached four-bay two-storey rubble stone coach house, c.1775, to south-east with series of elliptical-headed carriageways. Now in ruins. Pitched roof now gone with no remains of rainwater goods on squared rubble stone eaves. Random rubble stone walls. Square-headed window openings with no sills, stone lintels, and no fittings. Round-headed door opening with cut-stone voussoirs, and no fittings. Series of three elliptical-headed carriageways with cut-stone voussoirs, and no fittings. (iv) Detached three-bay two-storey rubble stone outbuilding, c.1775, to south-east. Now in ruins. Pitched roof now gone with no remains of rainwater goods on squared rubbles tone eaves. Random rubble stone walls. Camber-headed window openings to ground floor (square-headed window opening to centre first floor) with no sills, squared rubble stone voussoirs, and no fittings. Square-headed door opening with squared rubble stone voussoirs, and no fittings.
Appraisal
A late eighteenth-century Georgian Gothic house, now in ruins, the lofty towers of which contribute to a dramatic silhouette on an elevated site overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The house is of additional importance for its associations with the Coghlan, and McKenna families.
http://www.abandonedireland.com/Ardoginna.html
Ardoginna house was first mentioned in the Civil Survey 1654-1656, the proprietor’s name was James Fzt Gerald gent, Irish papist. The property consisted of 280 acres and was valued at £23.15.0.
The family name Costen was associated with the house in the 17th Century with several subsequent owners eventually leaving the house acquired by Sir France Prendergast. A story tells of the young heir of the house being falsely accused of stealing some valuable silver. The young man was pursued and fled across the cliff tops where he met his death at Croch an Oidhre (The Heir’s Gibbet) where his horse failed to make a jump and he ended up being hung in the reins of the horse.
Ardoginna house passed into the hands of the Coghlans – one of the principle families of Co. Waterford at the time, however the Coughlans must have fallen on evil days. There are several accounts of the Widow Coughlan and her smuggling activities, of her two handicapped children and her two beautiful daughters. One daughter became Lady Barrymore and her sister Eliza went to live with her in London, where she met the widowed Duc de Castries and married him and returned with him to France after the Revolution. The Ardo estate came into the de Castries family through the marriage and was later acquired by Marshal McMahon (President and Marshal of France in 1873) on his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of the Duc de Castries.
It was Marshal McMahon who put the Ardoginna property up for sale in 1865 with Sir Joseph McKenna buying the property. Sir Joseph was a nationalist M.P. for Youghal 1865 to 1868 and from 1874 to 1885. He had been born in Dublin in 1819, was educated at Trinity College and called to the Bar in 1848. The McKennas brought about a period of refurbishment and prosperity at Ardoginna house. In 1895 the house was recorded “of scrupulously white washed walls, gleaming brilliantly in the sun”. Those years from the 1860s to the 1920s appear to have been the heyday for Ardoginna house.
Sir Joseph McKenna had ten children six girls and four boys from his first marriage. He died on 15th August 1906. He had re-married and the second Lady McKenna died in July 1907. Both were buried in a vault in an adjoining field with a large stone angel on guard, however the statue wasn’t enough to stop the grave-robbers who long ago desecrated the place.
Members of the McKenna family lived at Ardoginna for some years before moving to England.
During the period 1920-21 the house was let during the summer and after this time there was no caretaker and the place was looted, eventually sold and deprived of its roof and the final period of its desolation into ruin began.
Irish Historic Houses 