Classiebawn Castle, County Sligo
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. 84. “(Palmerston, V/DEP; Ashley, sub Shaftesbury, E/PB; Mountbatten, of Burma, E/PB) A Victorian-Baronial castle spectacularly situated on a bare headland jutting out into the Atlantic; built, towards the end of his life, by the statesman, Lord Palmerston; who is said to have sat on the grass and watched the new castle go up on a visit to his County Sligo estate. Designed by Rawson Carroll; of yellowish brown sandstone, consisting of a plain, gabled range and a central tower and conical roofed turret. Carved coat of arms on entrance front. The principal rooms are raised on a very high basement. Bequeathed by Palmerston to his wife’s grandson, Rt Hon Evelyn Ashley, MP, grandfather of the late Countess Mountbatten of Burma. The Irish seat of the late Earl Mountbatten of Burma.”
Built at the end of his life for Henry John Temple (1784-1865) 3rd Viscount Palmerston.
Classiebawn Castle, MULLAGHMORE [CAR. BY.], County Sligo
Detached multi-bay single- two- and three-storey with raised basement and attics stone mansion, built 1874. East main entrance wing with central five-stage tower with bartizan to south-east corner, three-storey over basement block to south with pitched roof set behind parapet and gabled entrance breakfront, two-storey with dormered attic pitched roof block to north. L-plan three-bay by two two-storey over raised basement gabled and parapeted south wing with single-storey over basement canted bay to west gable end. Two two-storey over basement gabled blocks to west stepping down to single storey service wing and enclosed yard to north-west. Pitched and hipped slate roofs, crested clay ridges, stepped ashlar stone corbelled chimneystacks, ashlar stone verge and parapet copings, cast-iron rainwater goods. Squared-and-snecked rubble stone walling, dressed ashlar quoins, ashlar strings, ashlar basement plinth course, ashlar corbelling to bartizan, machicolated ashlar corbelling to tower parapet. Square-headed window openings, splayed ashlar reveals and lintels, flush sills, painted one-over-one timber sash windows, two-over-two to basement. Pointed-arch window openings to east front at first and second floor of south block (continuous hood moulding to second floor gallery arcade) over entrance breakfront and to stairwell (with ashlar transoms) to north block, painted timber plain-glazed fixed lights. Square-headed door opening, profiled corbels to lintel, carved cartouche in spandrel of depressed arch over, moulded ashlar surround to arch, hood moulding over with carved label stops, flanking stone colonettes with carved capitals on square dados, varnished hardwood diagonally-sheeted double doors, three-sided stone approach steps. Sea edge location on elevated site, extensive grounds, approached by long avenue from gatelodge to east.
Appraisal
In a spectacular and isolated position by the sea, Classiebawn Castle dominates the skyline for miles around. It was designed by the architect Rawson Carroll (architect of Sligo Courthouse) for Lord Palmerston in a dramatic Scottish Baronial style that is entirely appropriate for the location. Exceptional workmanship is evident throughout the building which is superbly preserved in every respect.
http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-list.jsp?letter=C
Classibawn was commissioned by 3rd Viscount Palmerstown and completed by his stepson William Cowper-Temple in 1874. It afterwards passed to the Ashley family and is still in the possession of their descendants. In 1906 it was valued at £69.
https://archiseek.com/2015/1875-classiebawn-mullaghmore-co-sligo
1875 – Classiebawn, Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo
Architect: J. Rawson Carroll
Designed in the Baronial style by J. Rawson Carroll, a Dublin-based, but Scottish, architect, and is constructed of local stone with Mountcharles stone dressings brought by sea from County Donegal. It comprises a gabled range with a central tower topped by a conical roofed turret, and was intended as a marine residence for Rt. Hon. W.F. Cowper-Temple, MP (stepson of Lord Palmerston). Cost: £2,850.
The castle has always been used as a holiday home. The various owners used it for summer holidays and, up to 1916, it served as a shooting lodge in winter. The Castle has probably never been occupied all year-round.
Remained in the family for many years but in 1916 the house was cleared and remained empty until 1950. During the civil war, Classiebawn was occupied by the Irish Free State Army who protected it from damage. In 1939, it was inherited by Edwina, Lady Mountbatten who, with her husband Admiral of the Fleet The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, made a number of improvements, installing electricity and a mains water supply. Mountbatten’s biographer, Philip Ziegler describing the building “as charmless as its situation is magnificent”. After his wife’s death in 1960, Lord Mountbatten spent his summers there until his death when his boat was blown up off the coast of Mullaghmore by the IRA in August 1979. Sold after his death.
http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2012/04/classiebawn-castle.html
THE VISCOUNTS PALMERSTON WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY SLIGO, WITH 12,436 ACRES
The TEMPLES, from whom this family paternally, and the ducal house of Buckingham and Chandos maternally, descend, are said to have been of Saxon origin, and to have sprung immediately from the son and heir of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia,
EDWYN, who was deprived of the earldom by WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, and killed in defending himself against the Normans in 1071.
This Edywn left a son,
EDWYN, styled Earl of Leicester and Coventry, who is said to have assumed the surname of TEMPLE from the manor of Temple, in the hundred of Sparkenhoe, Wellsborough,
“Which manor was given by the ancient Earls of Leicester to the Knights Templar, who usually give the name of TEMPLE to their lands, and they granted it to one whose family was called Temple, of great account and livelihood in those parts.”
Be this, however, as it may,
HENRY DE TEMPLE was Lord of Temple and Little Shepey in the reign of the CONQUEROR, and from him descended
THOMAS TEMPLE, of Whitney, Oxfordshire, whose great-grandson,
PETER TEMPLE, received a grant of the manor of Butlers Marston, in Warwickshire, and purchased, in 1560, the right which Laurence Denet had therein.
This Peter being likewise lord of the manor of Stowe, Buckinghamshire, his descendants fixed their residence there.
He married Millicent, daughter of William Jekyl, of Newington, Middlesex, and had two sons,
John, the elder, ancestor maternally, of the noble house of BUCKINGHAM and CHANDOS; and
ANTHONY TEMPLE, who was father of
SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE (1555-1627), a learned and eminent person in the reign of ELIZABETH I, secretary to Sir Philip Sydney, and after his decease, to the unfortunate Earl of Essex; upon whose tragic end Sir William removed into Ireland, and was appointed provost of Trinity College, Dublin, which university he represented in parliament in 1613.
He received the honour of Knighthood, in 1622, from the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Oliver St John, and was appointed one of the Masters in Chancery.
Sir William espoused Martha, daughter of Robert Harrison, of Derbyshire, by whom he had two sons, and was succeeded in 1627 by the elder,
THE RT HON SIR JOHN TEMPLE (1600-77), Knight, was constituted Master of the Rolls in Ireland, and sworn of the Privy Council there.
He filled, for a series of years, high and confidential places in the government of Ireland; and was appointed, in 1648, Joint Commissioner of the Great Seal with Sir William Parsons.
Sir John joined, however, the standard of CROMWELL, but was nevertheless retained as Master of the Rolls after the Restoration, when he was constituted Vice-Treasurer of Ireland.
He wedded Mary, daughter of Dr John Hammond, of Chertsey, in Surrey, and had two surviving sons, viz.
WILLIAM;
JOHN.
Sir John’s younger son,
SIR JOHN TEMPLE (1632-1705), Knight, Solicitor-General, Attorney-General, and Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland, married Jane, daughter of Sir Abraham Yarner, Knight, of Dublin, and had issue, among others,
HENRY, his successor;
John.
Sir John was succeeded by his eldest son,
HENRY TEMPLE (c1673-1757), who was elevated to the peerage, in 1722, in the dignities of Baron Temple and VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, of Palmerston, County Dublin.
His lordship wedded firstly, in 1703, Anne, daughter of Abraham Houblon, and had issue,
HENRY, father of HENRY; d 1740;
Richard, d 1749.
He espoused secondly, in 1738, Isabella, daughter of Sir Francis Gerard Bt, and widow of Sir John Fryer Bt, but had no other issue.
His lordship was succeeded by his grandson,
HENRY, 2nd Viscount (1739-1802), who married, in 1767, Frances, only daughter of Sir Francis Poole Bt, of Poole Hall, Cheshire, but by her had no issue.
His lordship wedded secondly, in 1783, Mary, daughter of Benjamin Mee, and had issue,
HENRY JOHN, his successor;
William;
Frances; Elizabeth.
He was succeeded by his elder son,
HENRY JOHN, 3rd Viscount (1784-1865), KG GCB PC, twice PRIME MINISTER, who espoused, in 1839, Emily Mary, daughter of Peniston, 1st Viscount Melbourne, though the marriage was without issue.
The title expired following the decease of the 3rd Viscount.
CLASSIEBAWN CASTLE, near Mullaghmore, County Sligo, is a Victorian-Baronial mansion, splendidly located in a commanding position on a bare headland overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
It was built in the early 1860s, near the end of his life, by the statesman, Lord Palmerston.
The Castle was designed by Rawson Carroll.
It is of a yellow-brown sandstone, comprising a plain, gabled range and a central tower with a conical roofed turret.
The entrance front boasts a carved coat-of-arms; principal rooms are raised on a considerably high basement.
Classiebawn was bequeathed by Lord Palmerston to his wife’s grandson, the Rt Hon Evelyn Ashley MP, grandfather of Edwina, Countess Mountbatten of Burma; thus becoming the Irish seat of her husband LOUIS, 1ST EARL MOUNTBATTEN OF BURMA.
Lady Mountbatten made a number of improvements to Classiebawn, including the installation of electricity and mains water.
Hugh Tunney (1928-2011) bought the castle and 3,000 acres of surrounding estate in 1991, after having leased it for many years.
It is now the home of Mr Tunney’s long-term partner, Caroline Devine.
First published in April, 2012.
https://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/search/label/Sligo
The Classiebawn estate belonged to the Temple family from the 17th century, but they seem not to have had a main residence here until the mid 19th century, when Henry John Temple (1784-1865), 3rd Viscount Palmerston, who was Prime Minister, 1855-65, decided to build a holiday home on the windswept western Irish coast north of Sligo. His architect was James Rawson Carroll (1830-1911) of Dublin, who had trained under George Fowler Jones of York. The first site chosen was on Dernish Island, a little to the south-west, but experiment showed that it would be impossible to construct a causeway linking the island to the mainland, and this site was abandoned for the present location on the clifftops close to Mullaghmore.
The house was built of Donegal sandstone in a monumental Victorian Baronial style that opposes the Atlantic gales with an appropriate solidity. The house is composed of a gabled main range with a central tower and conical-roofed turret. The entrance front is decorated with carved coats of arms. Inside, the principal rooms are raised on a very high basement.
The house was unfinished when Lord Palmerston died, and his step-son and heir, William Cowper-Temple completed the house. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ashley family came here annually for the month of August, but in 1916, at the height of the Irish uprising, the house was cleared of its contents and the family stopped coming. However, it was neither unroofed by its owners nor burned by the Nationalists, perhaps because Wilfrid Ashley, then the owner, was popular and regarded as a fair-minded landlord. It remained unoccupied and decaying until the Second World War, when Lord Mountbatten visited the estate and was enchanted. ‘You never told me how stupendously magnificent the surrounding scenery was’, he wrote to his wife in 1941; ‘No place has thrilled me more…’. Renovations began after the war, with electric light installed in 1947 and a programme of repairs and redecoration lasting until 1950, after which the family resumed their habit of spending August here. From 1976 the castle was leased to Hugh Tunney, with the proviso that Lord Mountbatten could return each year for August. However that regularity of habit was ultimately fatal, for the IRA chose his annual holiday as an opportunity to murder to him and other members of his party by blowing up his yacht in 1979.
Descent: built for Henry John Temple (1784-1865), 3rd Viscount Palmerston; to step-son, William Cowper-Temple (1811-88), 1st Baron Mount Temple; to nephew, Hon. Evelyn Melbourne Ashley (1836-1907); to son, Wilfrid William Ashley (1867-1939), 1st Baron Mount Temple of Lee; to daughter, Edwina (1901-60), wife of Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900-79), 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma; leased 1976 to Hugh T. Tunney (1928-2011), who bought the freehold in 1991.
Irish Historic Houses 