Rosturk Castle, Mulrany, Co Mayo 

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. 248. “(Stoney/IFR) A C18 house on the shore of Clew Bay, rebuilt as a rather austere C19 castle of rubble and random ashlar. Of two and three storeys; round and square corner towers of different sizes; a few turrets and corbelled bartizans. Small, simple battlements and rudimentary machicolations; plain walls with few, and in many cases, rather narrow, windows, of the ordinary rectangular Victorian plate-glass type At one side is a very extensive castellated office quadrangle; which, with its small battlements, its squat towers and its narrow window-openings, is reminiscent of an Arab fort.” 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/31306612/rosturk-castle-rosturk-co-mayo

Detached five-bay two- and three-storey split-level country house, extant 1881, on a square plan with single-bay three-storey turrets on circular plans centred on single-bay three-stage breakfront originally with single-bay single-storey projecting porch to ground floor; two-bay two-storey (south) or four-bay three-storey (north) side elevations with single-bay three-stage towers on square plans. Occupied, 1911. Seized, 1921. Sold, 1976. Repaired, 1994. Interior including (ground floor): vestibule; pointed-arch door opening into hall with glazed timber panelled double doors; top-lit double-height hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, staircase on a dog leg plan with chamfered timber balusters supporting carved timber banister terminating in chamfered timber newels, carved timber surrounds to door openings to landing framing timber panelled doors, and wind braced rafters to vaulted ceiling centred on lantern; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers. Set in unkempt landscaped grounds with piers to perimeter having battlemented capping supporting looped wrought iron double gates. 

Appraisal 

A country house erected for Robert Vesey Stoney JP DL (1841-1924), one-time High Sheriff of County Mayo (fl. 1884), representing an important component of the later nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of County Mayo with the architectural value of the composition, one repurposing a sporting lodge erected by Lieutenant-Colonel John Francis Vaughan (1808-80) of Courtfield, Hertfordshire (Williams 1994, 305), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on panoramic vistas overlooking the islet-studded Clew Bay with its mountainous backdrop in the distance; the compact, near-square plan form originally centred on a Georgian Gothic porch; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with the principal “apartments” or reception rooms defined by polygonal bay windows; and the “tourelle”-topped battlements embellishing the roofline. Although recently consigned to occasional use, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; Classical-style chimneypieces; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (see 31306613); an ivy-enveloped gate screen (extant 1915); and distant gate lodges (see 31306614; 31306615), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having historic connections with the Stoney family including Lieutenant-Commander Robert Vesey Stoney RNVC (1903-44), killed in action in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, during the Second World War (1939-45); and Lieutenant-Commander Robert Oliver Vesey Stoney (1928-97). 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/31306613/rosturk-castle-rosturk-co-mayo

Farmyard complex, extant 1901, including (west): Attached six-bay two-storey coach house on a symmetrical plan. Now disused. Pitched slate roof on strutted King post timber construction with clay ridge tiles, lichen-covered rock faced cut-limestone battlemented crow stepped coping to gables with rendered chimney stacks to apexes having stringcourses below capping supporting yellow terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on timber eaves boards retaining cast-iron downpipes. Limewashed roughcast walls. Series of six segmental-headed carriageways with concealed red brick voussoirs. Square-headed window openings (first floor) centred on square-headed loading opening with cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings with no fittings surviving. Set in wooded grounds shared with Rosturk Castle. 

Appraisal 

A farmyard complex contributing positively to the group and setting values of the Rosturk Castle estate. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/31306614/rosturk-castle-rosturk-co-mayo

Detached single-bay two-storey flat-roofed gate lodge, extant 1898, on a square plan. Now disused. Flat roof not visible behind parapet. Rendered, ruled and lined walls with rendered parapet on dentil consoles having concrete coping. Square-headed window openings, concealed dressings with hood mouldings framing boarded-up fittings. Set back from line of road at entrance to grounds of Rosturk Castle. 

Appraisal 

A tower-like gate lodge making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene at the principal entrance on to the grounds of the Rosturk Castle estate. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/31306615/rosturk-castle-rosturk-co-mayo

Detached three-bay two-storey gate lodge, extant 1915, on a rectangular plan with three-bay two-storey rear (east) elevation. Renovated, —-, to accommodate occasional private residential use. Pitched slate roof with clay ridge tiles, cement rendered chimney stacks having stepped capping supporting terracotta pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on timber eaves boards on rendered eaves retaining cast-iron downpipes. Replacement cement rendered walls centred on cut-limestone panel (first floor). Square-headed central door opening with concealed dressings framing replacement glazed timber panelled door. Square-headed window openings with drag edged tooled cut-limestone (ground floor) or concrete (first floor) sills, and concealed dressings framing timber casement windows. Set perpendicular to road at entrance to grounds of Rosturk Castle. 

Appraisal 

A gate lodge clearly illustrating the continued development or “improvement” of the Rosturk Castle estate in the early twentieth century with the architectural value of the composition suggested by such attributes as the compact rectilinear plan form centred on an emblem reminiscent of the Royal Banner of Scotland; and the somewhat disproportionate bias of solid to void in the massing compounded by the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original or sympathetically replicated fabric, thus upholding the character or integrity of a gate lodge making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene. 

 
http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-list.jsp?letter=R 

Enlarged and extended by Robert Vesey Stoney in the latter half of the 19th century. It was noted as his residence by Slater in 1894. The property was sold in the late 1970s to Dr Healy of St Luke’s Hospital, Dublin.