Clonearl, Daingean (formerly Philipstown), Offaly
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.
Supplement
p. 294. “(Leicester, Bt/Edb; Magan/IFR) In mid-C18, Clonearl was sold by Sir John Leicester to Arthur Magan, a County Westmeath landed magnate of old Irish descent who had married a rich wife. William Henry Magan, “The Magnificent” built a new and elegant cut-stone neo-Classical house here ca 1820, to the design of William Farrell. Of two storeys, it had a five bay front with a giant Ionic portico in antis…Clonearl was inherited 1840 by the yonger William Henry Magan, known as Wiliam Henry the Bad; he was wildly extravagant and his misdeeds ranged from seducing the married daughter of an Earl (he married her, but is alleged, probably unfairly, to have strangled her) to annoying Queen Victoria by making faced when, as a young cavalry officer, he was escorting her carriage. He was also blamed for causing the death of a local man, who was called in to amuse a stag party at Clonearl and accidentally set fire to his shirt, sustaining fatal burns. Clonearl was burnt 1846, supposedly as a result of one of William Henry the Bad’s drunken orgies; it was not rebuilt. The house features in Brid William Magan’s excellent book, Umma-More.”
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. 121. “A very fine cut stone two storey house built for W.H. Magan to the design of William Farrell c. 1817. Garden front with two storey Ionic portico in antis. Demolished.”
Ranges of stone outbuildings, built c.1750, set around courtyard. Multiple-bay single- and two-storey buildings with pitched and hipped slate roofs. Renovated east wing with replacement widows and doors. Square and segmental-headed openings to north west and south wings, with remains of groin-vaulted carriage arch beneath former clock tower to west range. Remains of Clonearl House, underground rooms and water pump located on the site.
Though in poor condition, these outbuildings retain evidence of some original design features that hint of the former splendour of Clonearl House. At present efforts are being made to restore the north wing.
Irish Historic Houses 