Ballynegall, Mullingar, Co Westmeath – 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. 27. “(Smyth/IFR) A house built 1808 by James Gibbons, using stone from the old castle here, which was called Castle Reynall after the former owners of the estate, the Reynall family…Left by James Gibbons 1846 to his nephew by marriage, J.W.M. Berry,…who left Ballynegall to his cousin, T.J. Smyth 1855. Sold by Smyth family 1963, 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.
p. 141. “Very fine two storey classical house with a single-storey Ionic entrance portico. Built in 1808 to the design of Francis Johnston for James Gibbons. Fine interior including an entrance hall with a screen of Ionic columns, and a Portland stone staircase wiht a brass balustrade supporting a mahogany handrail inlaid with brass. The plasterwork of the house was by George Stapleton. Some of the chimneypieces on the first floor and one in the basement seems to have come from an earlier house. Single storey wings one of which incorporated a conservatory were added in the 1840s. The front elevation of the house was copied c. 1850 by George Papworth at nearby Middleton Park. The house was stripped in 1981 and the portico was re-erected at Straffan House, Co Kildare. Some chimneypieces are now in London. The house is now a ruin.”
In Blake, Tarquin. Abandoned Mansions of Ireland. Collins Press, Cork, 2010.
entry in MacDonnell, Randal. The Lost Houses of Ireland. A chronicle of great houses and the families who lived in them. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London, 2002
“The house, designed by architect Francis Johnston, was commissioned in 1808 and eventually demolished in 1981. In 1849, Mr. James Fraser wrote of the demesne, “The handsome Greek mansion accords with the rich and beautiful park around; while the schools and neat church in the demesne, together with comfortable houses for the tradesmen and labourers, show the good taste and liberality of the proprietor.”
“The history of the house goes back to the time when, following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the principal barons got their hands on large tracts of Irish land. One of the most successful was Hugh de Lacy, who obtained thousands of acres in County Westmeath. He gave the land of Baile nan Gall (or “The Town of the Foreigners”) to his followers, the Tuites, and it remained in their possession until 1720 when they sold it to Colonel Arthur Reynell, who renamed the old house on the land Castle Reynell.
The Reynells lived at Castle Reynell until 1803 when they sold it to a Mr. James Gibbons. This gentleman died shortly afterwards and his son, also named James, pulled down the old Castle of the Tuites and, in 1808, engaged Francis Johnston, the architect of the General Post Office in Dublin (as well as two of the most important mansions in the country, Charleville Castle in County Offaly and Townley Hall in County Louth) to build him a new house….James Gibbons also engaged Alexander McLeish to lay out his gardens (McLeish had already worked at the neighbouring estate of Knockdrin Castle).”
https://www.antaisce.org/buildingsatrisk/ballynagall-house-knockdrin
- Suffering from neglect and/or poor maintenance
- Suffering from structural problems
Assessment
- Condition of Structure: Ruinous
- Level of Risk: High
Appraisal
The building poorly maintained. None of the original fabric remains other than the external walls. It is suffering from structural problems that could lead to full or partial collapse, and there is an immediate threat of further deterioration.
The shell of an early 19th century house designed by Francis Johnson in demesne overlooking Lough Owel. The stable buildings remain in agricultural use. A long term conservation plan is required to secure surviving structures.
Ranges of multiple-bay two-storey stable block on U-shaped plan, built c.1808 or c.1824. Central integral carriage to southeast elevation with ashlar limestone bellcote over. Now in use as agricultural outbuildings. Hipped natural slate roofs with ashlar limestone chimneystacks. Constructed of ashlar limestone with ashlar trim, including projecting ashlar limestone string courses at first floor level and at eaves level. Projecting ashlar limestone plinth to base. Square-headed openings to exterior facades. Square-headed openings to ground floor in interior of courtyard with round-headed openings above to first floor, all set in full-height round-headed recesses. Mainly replacement window and door fittings throughout. Cast-iron lamp brackets to interior. Modern corrugated-iron canopies over stable doors to southwest range (interior). Located to the northwest of Ballynagall House (15401212) with remains of further outbuildings to northwest.
A very fine and attractive collection of outbuildings associated with Ballynagall House, which retain their early form and character. This collection of outbuildings has been attributed to Francis Johnston, the architect responsible for the designs of Ballynagall House and one of the foremost architects of his day. However, designs for stables at Ballynagall House were prepared by the architect John Hargrave c. 1824 (catalogue of auction of architectural drawings of John Hargrave – mentioned in IAA), the architect responsible for the designs of the gate lodge (15401214) and Portneshangan Church of Ireland church (15401215) to the southeast, so it is possible that he was responsible for the designs. The design, proportions and quality of the ashlar limestone masonry is of a very high standard, marking this stable block as one of the finest of its date surviving in the country. It forms part of an important group of associated structures within the former Ballynagall Demesne along with the ruins of the main house (15401212) and the gate lodge (15401214) to the southeast.
https://theirishaesthete.com/2015/10/05/when-nobody-cried-stop/
When Nobody Cried Stop
How curious that nobody in recent decades has thought to write a monograph on one of Ireland’s most prolific and talented architects: Francis Johnston. Born in Armagh in 1760, Johnston was effectively ‘discovered’ by the city’s primate Richard Robinson who sent him to Dublin to study with the Archbishop’s architect Thomas Cooley. Following the latter’s death in 1784 Johnston took over many of his commissions, not least Rokeby, County Louth which was Robinson’s country seat (see Building on a Prelate’s Ambition, February 4th 2013). Thereafter his career never faltered and demand for his services was unceasing. Among the most famous examples of his work are the General Post Office in Dublin and, on the other side of the city and in completely different mode, the Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle (of which more in due course). Success allowed him to be singularly generous: appointed second president of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1824 he designed and built the organisation’s premises on Abbey Street (it was one of the casualties of the 1916 Easter Rising, ironically headquartered in another of Johnston’s buildings, the GPO). After he died in 1829 his fabled collection of paintings, sculpture, books, objets d’art and curiosities was unfortunately dispersed. But throughout the country there survive examples of his work and these consistently demonstrate the refinement and assurance of Johnston’s taste. Until recently one of the best examples was Ballynegall, County Westmeath.
Ballynegall dates from 1808 when it was designed for James Gibbons whose family appears to have been involved in banking and other business in Dublin, from whence derived their fortune. Five years earlier he or his father (also called James Gibbons) had bought the estate on which it stands from William Reynell (his forebear Colonel Arthur Reynell had acquired the estate in 172). Seemingly some of the stone from an older property called Castle Reynell was used in the construction of Ballynegall. Evidence of the Gibbons’ affluence is evidenced by the fact the house was renowned for having cost £30,000 to build: an astonishingly substantial figure at the time. James Fraser’s Handbook for Travellers in Ireland (first published 1838) describes Ballynegall as a ‘handsome Grecian mansion’ which ‘accords with the rich and beautiful park around.’ James Gibbons senior died in Cheltenham in 1834, after which the property passed to his son, James junior. He died in 1846 while hunting and since he had no children Ballynegall next passed to a nephew of his wife James William Middleton Berry. On his own death in 1855 the estate was inherited by a cousin Thomas Smyth. Ballynegall remained in the possession of the Smyth family until 1963.
In 1993 Ballnegall was judged by Christine Casey and Alistair Rowan to be ‘a most delightful villa by one of Ireland’s most refined designers – a man of European stature.’ Of six bays and two storeys, its west-facing facade was perfectly plain except for a four-column Greek Ionic portico which defined the entrance. The garden front had deep Wyatt windows flanking a broad central bow. A sunken service wing to the north was matched on the other end of the house by a large mid-19th century cast-iron conservatory attributed to Richard Turner (Casey and Rowan propose this replaced an earlier one designed by Johnston), its roof supported by pilaster shafts with lotus capitals. Internally the house was a model of neo-classical restraint, the groundfloor holding an entrance hall divided into two sections by a screen of Ionic columns. This in turn gave access to the drawing room (which benefitted from the east-facing bow), library, dining room and morning room. A staircase at right angles to the entrance hall and screened from it by a further pair of Ionic columns led via a bow-shaped return to the generous first floor bedroom corridor: the basement featured an equally fine, broad corridor running the length of the building. Throughout the house the plasterwork by George Stapleton was simple but exquisite, in particular the guilotte and palmette friezes running below dentil and foliage cornices. Much of the furniture appears to have been made for the house by Mack, Williams & Gibton (the library’s bookcases look to have been especially fine) but other captivating details included the 19th century wallpapers, that in the drawing room being pink and gilt, and stenciled to represent decorative panels and pilasters.
We are fortunate that Ballynegall and its beautiful interiors were recorded in a series of photographs taken in 1961 just a year before the contents were dispersed on the instructions of Captain Michael Smyth during the course of a three-day auction in July 1962. The sale catalogue lists many fine pieces, all scattered: where are they now, and do the present owners know their provenance? The following year the house and estate were likewise sold, after which Ballynegall went through a couple of owners. In 1981 the house itself was ruthlessly stripped of everything that could be taken out: doors, chimney pieces, columns, even the floorboards pulled up for the value of the timber, and then the building unroofed. The portico now adorns the front of the K Club, County Kildare and the Turner conservatory serves as a restaurant at Lyons Village in the same county. The fate of the rest of the fittings is unknown although some of the chimney pieces apparently ended up in England.
As the photographs taken earlier this year and shown here reveal, Ballynegall has been gradually drifting into oblivion ever since that despoliationh. Back in 1993 Casey and Rowan wrote that the fate of Ballynegall was ‘one of the most tragic consequences of the laissez-faire attitude of successive governments towards the architectural inheritance of the State…There can be little satisfaction in contemplating the lacerated fragment of a Fragonard and still less pleasure in a visit to Ballynegall as it is now.’ Visiting the place is indeed a melancholy experience, not just because the building is in such lamentable condition but also because that condition is a reflection of national indifference towards our own collective heritage. Within many people’s lifetime a fine house, a masterpiece of neo-classical refinement designed by one of Ireland’s greatest architects, has willfully and shamefully been permitted to fall into dereliction. It happened because nobody cried stop. It continues to happen for the same reason…
http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2015/01/ballynegall-house.html
THE SMYTHS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY WESTMEATH, WITH 9,778 ACRES
This is a branch of SMYTH of Gaybrook, springing more immediately from SMYTH of Drumcree.
THOMAS HUTCHINSON SMYTH (1765-1830), only son of Thomas Smyth, of Drumcree, by his third wife, Martha (daughter of the Ven Francis Hutchinson, Archdeacon of Down and Connor), served as High Sheriff of County Westmeath, 1792, being then described as of “Smythboro” or Coole.
He married, in 1796, Abigail, daughter of John Hamilton, of Belfast, and had issue,
THOMAS, his heir;
Francis, Captain RN;
John Stewart;
Edward, d 1857;
Arthur (Dr);
Hamilton, barrister (1813-59);
Anna; Emily.
Mr Smyth was succeeded by his eldest son,
THE REV THOMAS SMYTH (1796-1874), who wedded, in 1832, Mary Anne, daughter of Adam Tate Gibbons, East India Company, and niece of James Gibbons, of Ballynegall, and had issue,
THOMAS JAMES, his heir;
James Gibbons, major in the army;
William Adam, major in the army;
Albert Edward, major in the army;
Elizabeth Abigail Mary Amelia; Mary Anne; Louisa Anna.
The Rev Thomas Smyth was succeeded by his eldest son,
THOMAS JAMES SMYTH JP DL (1833-1912), of Ballynegall, High Sheriff of County Westmeath, 1858, Captain, Westmeath Rifles, who married, in 1864, Bessie, fourth daughter of Edward Anketell Jones, of Adelaide Crescent, Brighton, and had issue,
THOMAS GIBBONS HAWKESWORTH, his heir;
Ellinor Marion Hawkesworth; Maud Emily Abigail Hawkesworth.
Mr Smyth was succeeded by his only son,
THOMAS GIBBONS HAWKESWORTH SMYTH (1865-1953) of Ballynegall, High Sheriff of County Westmeath, 1917, who wedded, in 1895, Constance, younger daughter of Harry Corbyn Levinge, of Knockdrin Castle, Mullingar, and had issue,
THOMAS REGINALD HAWKESWORTH, b 1897;
Marjorie.BALLYNEGALL HOUSE, near Mullingar, is said to have been one of the greatest architectural losses in the county of Westmeath.
The designs for this elegant and refined Regency house have been traditionally attributed to Francis Johnston, one of the foremost architects of his day and a man with an international reputation.
The quality of the original design is still apparent, despite its derelict and overgrown appearance.
The house was originally constructed for James Gibbons at the enormous cost of £30,000, and was reputedly built using the fabric of an existing castle on site, known as Castle Reynell after the previous owners of the estate.
Ballynagall remained in the Gibbons Family until 1846, when ownership passed on to Mr James W M Berry.
In 1855, ownership later passed on to the Smyth family through marriage.
There is an interesting article here, written by one of the last of the Smyths to live at Ballynegall.
The house was abandoned in the early 1960s and all remaining internal fittings and fixtures were removed at this time.
The original Ionic portico was also removed in the 1960s and now stands at Straffan House, County Kildare.
The remains of a very fine iron conservatory, which has been attributed to Richard Turner (1798-1881), is itself a great loss to the heritage of the county.
Ballynagall House stands in picturesque, mature parkland.
The remains of the house form the centrepiece of one of the best collections of demesne-related structures in County Westmeath, along with the stable block to the north-west and the gate lodge and St Mary’s church to the south-east.
First published in February, 2013.
Irish Historic Houses 