Note that the majority of these are private houses, not open to the public. I discovered “my bible” of big houses by Mark Bence-Jones only after I began this project of visiting historic houses that have days that they are open to the public (Section 482 properties).

This is a project I have been working on for a while, collecting pictures of houses. Enjoy! Feel free to contact me to send me better photographs if you have them! I’ll be adding letters as I go…

[1] 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.

Abbeville, Malahide, Co Dublin

“A house built for Rt Hon John Beresford, Taster of the Wines in the Port of Dublin, brother of the 1^st Marquess of Waterford and one of the most powerful men in Ireland at the end of C18; its name commemorating the fact that Bereford’s first wife came from Abbeville in Northern France. Of two storeys over a basement; front of 7 bays between two wide curved bows prolonged by singe-storey 1 bay wings, each with a fanlighted triple window and an urn on a die. Pilastered entrance doorway. Good drawing room with alcove, ceiling of Adamesque plasterwork and husk decoration on walls, incorporating circular painted medallions.” [1]

Abbeylands, Whiteabbey, Co Antrim – burnt 1914 

“A two storey Victorian house, vaguely Italianate, but with mullioned windows in the centre of its symmetrical front. Shallow curved bows on either side of front, single storey Ionic porch; narrow pedimented attic storey, with three narrow windows, in centre. Burnt 1914 by Suffragettes.” (!) [1]

Abbeyleix House, County Laois

P. 1. Abbey Leix, Co Leix: “[Vesey, De Vesci, V/PB] A three storey late C18 block, built from 1773 onwards by Thomas Vesey, 2nd Lord Knapton and afterwards 1st Viscount de Vesci, with some interiors being designed by James Wyatt. Seven bay entrance front, with three bay pedimented breakfront; frontispiece of coupled Doric columns and entablature around entrance door. Five bay garden front with three bay breakfront. In C19 the elevations were made more ornate with a balustraded roof parapet, entablatures over the windows, balconies and other features. A large conservatory was also added at one side of the house, which was blown away by the “great wind” of 1902 and replaced by a wing containing a new dining room. The principal rooms in the main block have ceilings and, in the old dining room, walls decorated with Wyatt plasterwork. The hall has a screen of fluted Ionic columns; the drawing room is hung with a C19 blue wallpaper. The demesne contains some magnificent trees, including oaks which are part of a primeval forest. A formal garden with terraces and ironwork balustrades was laid out by Lady Emma Herbert, who married 3rd Viscount 1839; inspired by the garden of her Russian grandfather, Count Simon Woronzow, at Alupka, near Yalta, in the Crimea. Towards the end of C19, in the time of 4th Viscount, whose wife was Lady Evelyn Charteris, daughter of 10th Earl of Wemyss, Abbey Leix was the Irish outpost of the “Souls.” ” [1]

Abbeyville, Ballymote, Co Sligo – lost

p. 1. “(Phibbs/LGI1912) A 2 storey house built between 2 fortified towers 1716 by William Phibbs. Sold 1810 to Richard Fleming, who modernised it and altered the house 1816. Sold by the Flemings ca 1990; eventually fell into ruins.” [1]

Abbotstown House (formerly also known as Sheephill), Castleknock, Co Dublin – sports centre 

“(Hamilton, Holm Patrick, B/PB) A 2 storey house, added to at various times, but of predominantly early to mid-C19 aspect, 5 bay entrance front, the centre bay breaking forward with a triple window above a projecting pilastered porch. Similar side elevation, with a single-storey pillared bow instead of porch; prolonged by curved bow of full height. Parapeted roof; entablatures on console brackets over triple windows and other embellishments.” [1]

Aberdelghy, Lambeg, Co Antrim

p. 1. “Richardson/LGI1912). An irregular two storey house of mid-C19 aspect; shallow gables with bargeboards; hood mouldings over windows. A seat of Alexander Airth Richardson, son of Jonathan Richardson, MP, of Lambeg, and his wife, Margaret Airth.” [1]

Aclare House,  Drumconrath, Co Meath

p. 1. “(Singleton/LG1912; Lindsay, sub Crawford, E/PB). An almost Italianate house built 1840 for H.C. Singleton; 2 storey and faced with ashlar. Three bay entrance front, projecting central bay with pedminent and Wyatt windown about Grecian Doric portico; three bay side with slightly projecting end by. Office wing set back, fronted by graceful conservatory with curving ends and roof. Inner hall ceiling supported on carved wood brackets; upstairs landing screened from central top-lit space by arcade supported on Tuscan columns. Opened as a hotel ca. 1950 by its then owner, Mr D.E.T. Lindsay; it has since been sold, but is still run as a hotel.” [1]

Adare Manor, County Limerick – hotel

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/07/21/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-limerick/

Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988):

“Originally a two storey 7 bay early C18 house with a 3 bay pedimented breakfront and a high-pitched roof on a bracket cornice; probably built ca 1720-1730 by Valentine Quin [1691-1744], grandfather of the first Earl of Dunraven [Valentine Richard Quin (1752-1824)].” [1]

Adelphi, Corofin, Co Clare

p. 2. “(Fitzgerald/ LG1863; Blood/IFR) early 19C house of one storey to the front and two storeys to the back. Five bay front with Wyatt windows; end bow; wide eaved roof. Behind the house is an old ruined tower.” [1]

Affane House, County Waterford

p. 289. “(Browning/IFR; Poer/LG1863) A three storey three bay house of C17 or C18 appearance…The last of the great battles between the Earls of Ormonde and Desmond was fought near here 1564. Affane was later famous for producing the best cherries in Ireland, which were said to have been first planted by Sir Walter Raleigh. Since Affane is one of the houses associated with the legendary old Countess of Desmond, it is possible that the cherry tree from which she fell to her death was here. In C17 Affane was the seat of Valentine Greatrakes, known as “the Stroker” from his ability to cure the King’s Evil and all manner of diseases by stroking.  Affane was inherited by his only daughter who married Major Edmund Browning; it passed by inheritance C18 to a branch of the Poers or Powers, who were here until 1954. The house is now ruinous.” [1]

Aggard, Craughwell, County Galway

p. 2. “(Lambert/IFR) A house of mid to late C18 appearance of two storeys over a high basement. Front of two bay on either side of a central three sided bow incorporating a fanlighted doorcased with rustications, pylons and a keystone surmounted by a pedestal.” [1]

Aghaboe, Ballybrophy, County Laois

p. 2. “A 2 storey 7 bay house with a pedimented and fanlighted doorcase, probably dating from 1st half of C18; formerly linked to two flanking wings, one of which has disappeared; the surviving wing being in fact a small late C17 house with plaster panelling in its interior.” [1]

Aghada House, Aghada, Co Cork – gone

p. 2. A late Georgian house by the elder Abraham Hargrave, built for John Roche between 1791 and ca. 1808. [1]

Aghade Lodge, Tullow, Co Carlow

p. 2. “(Roche/Bt/PB; Browne/ifr) A two storey gabled Victorian house on the River Slaney, with an overhanging roof and bargeboards.” [1]

Aghadoe House, Killarney, County Kerry

p. 2. (Winn, Headley, B/PB) A Victorian house of red sandstone ashlar with limestone facings, consisting of an irregular two storey main block that goes in and out a great deal, and a three storey office wing. Vast round-headed plate glass windows on ground floor of main block, either single or grouped in threes, separated by slender mullions. Much narrower mullioned windows with round-headed lights above, and in the wing; mostly two-light, and in one case, five-light. Limestone porch with three arches and balustrade. Burnt 1922 and subsequently rebuilt, when the eaves of the roof were made to overhang much more than they did previously.” [1]

Aghadoe, Killeagh, Co Cork 

p. 289. “(De Capell Brooke, Bt/PB1967) A plain early C19 house in the villa style, standing above a romantic wooden glen on an estate which was granted to Philip de Capell 1172, and continued to be owned by his descendents until the present century; it was known by the local inhabitants as “the Maidan estate” to distinguish it from the other large properties in the neighbourhood, all of which had, at some period in their history, been forfeited. By C16, the family name had been corrupted to Supple; 1797 Richard Brooke Supple of Aghadoe changed his name to de Capell Brooke on inheriting the estate of the Brookes in Northamptonshire. There is a design of ca 1700, probably by a French architect, for an elaborate Palladian mansion at Aghadoe, which was never carried out.” [1]

Aghamarta Castle, Carrigaline, Co Cork – house with ruined castle

“(O’Grady.LGI1912; Clarke/IFR) An irregular two storey house faced in cement, with an enclosed porch fronted by Doric columns and some dormer-gables. The house stands in a fine position overlooking the Owenboy estuary. There is a ruined castle in the grounds.” [1]

Aghern, Conna, Co Cork – stud farm

p. 3. “(Bowles/LGI1912/ Kinahan/IFR; Hare, sub Listowel, E/PB) A simple two storey late Georgian house built alongside an old Desmond castle on the northern bank of the River Bride. The principal north front has a central semi-circular bow with a single bay on either side of it; the long adjoining front facing the river has irregular fenestration and a shallow bow window which is a later addition…” [1]

Ahanesk or Ahanisk, Midleton, Co Cork

p. 3. “(Jackson/LGI1894; Sadlier-Jackson, sub Trench/IFR; Lomer, sub Stafford-King-Harman, Bt/PB) A plain rambling predominantly C19 house, with a rectangular oriel on one wing; overlooking a backwater of Cork Harbour. Large, characteristically Edwardian hall, with a low, heavily embossed ceiling and a straight enclosed staircase rising from one side of it down which, in the late-Victorian and Edwardian period, the dashing Mrs Sadlier-Jackson (the first lady in Cork to ride astride) is said to have been in the habit of sliding on a tray, wearing pink tights, to entertain her guests. Other reception rooms with higher ceilings.…” [1]

Aharney, County Laois

Aherlow Castle, Bansha, County Tipperary  – ruin restored, runs courses 

p. 3. “(Moore/IFR) A small late C19 “pasteboard” castle in the Glen of Aherlow, built by the Moore family, of Mooresfort. Polygonal tower, with dummy loops; square tower. Recently demolished.” [1]

Allenton, Tallaght, Co Dublin – Demolished in 1984

p. 3. “An attractive little two storey five bay early C18 house with a pedimented three bay breakfront and a fanlighted, pedimented and rusticated doorcase. Lunette window in pediment. Originally weather-slated. Given its present name after it was built by Sir Timothy Allen, who acquired it in ca mid-C18. In 1814 the residence of George F. Murphy; in 1837, of F.R. Cotton. Demolished in 1984.” [1]

Altamira, Liscarroll, Co Cork

p. 3. “(Purcell/LGI1912) A plain three storey Georgian block, 3 bay entrance front, 4 bay front adjoining; entrance doorway of rather urban style with a large fanlight extending over the door and two sidelights.” [1]

Altamont, Kilbride, Co Carlow – gardens open to public

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/02/21/office-of-public-works-properties-leinster-carlow-kildare-kilkenny/

p. 3. “(St. George/IFR; Borrer, sub Orlebar/LG1952; Watson/IFR) Main block of ca 1760, incorporating earlier house, with three sided bow in centre and two bays on either side, high-pitched roof and odd Gothic cresting; gabled C19 Gothic wings added 1870.” [1]

Altavilla, Rathkeale, Co Limerick 

p. 3. “(Bateman/LGI1912; Greenall, Daresbury, B/PB) A house built ca 1745-46 by John Bateman undoubtedly to the design of Francis Bindon; consisting of a centre block of three storeys over basement joined by screen walls to two storey flanking wings enclosing courts. Centre block with six bay entrance front, two bay breakfront, tripartite pedimented and rusticated doorcase; wings with two modified Venetian windows, having niches in their centre section, in th upper storey; straight screen walls with rusticated doors flanked by niches. Garden front of centre block with two bays on either side of a nice and oculus; quadrant walls on this side joining centre blocks to wings, showing the influence of Vanbrugh. Its pedimented interior doors and fielded panelling were burnt. The hosue became a ruin but has now been restored by second and present Lord Daresbury, though without a top story.” [1]

Altidore Castle, Kilpeddar, Greystones, Co Wicklow – section 482

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2020/06/25/altidore-castle-kilpeddar-greystones-county-wicklow/

A charming late-Georgian “toy fort,” with four octagonal corner turrets; of two storeys on the entrance side and three on the other sides, where the ground falls away. Despite the battlements on the turrets, the house is more Classical than Gothic; it is symmetrical and has a central Venetian window over a pillared porch.” [a Venetian window is one having a centre light wider than the flanking lights and with an arched head. In elaborate examples the lights are separated by columns. Craig, Maurice and Knight of Glin, Ireland Observed, A Handbook to the Buildings and Antiquities. Mercier Press, Dublin and Cork, 1970.] 

The interior makes even fewer concessions to medievalism: there are fine C18 marble chimneypieces, medallions with Classical figures on the walls of the dining room and a staircase similar to those in numerous Irish C18 houses, of stout but elegant joinery with a scrolled end to its balusters. Altidore originally belonged to a family named Blachford. It was acquired by the Hepenstals early in C19; subsequent owners included Percy Burton, who may have been attracted to it by its superficial resemblance to the Jacobean Lulworth Castle in Dorset, where he had been land agent. Since 1945 it has been the home of the Emmet family, who are descended from Thomas Addis Emmet, a leader of the United Irishmen and brother of Robert Emmet, “the Patriot.” [1]

Ampertain House, Upperlands, County Derry 

p. 4. “(Clark/IFR) The most important of several country houses in the neighbourhood built by members of the Clark family, whose linen mills, which gave rise to the nearby “linen village” of Upperlands, are still basically situated in the yard of one of these country houses, driven by water power. A plain late-Georgian type house built post 1821 by Alexander Clark. Two storeys over high basement, five bay front; shallow projecting porch, with fanlighted doorway set in arched recess. Eaved roof on bracket cornice. The front prolonged by a two storey three bay wing of similar style, set back; added 1915. At the other end, a Victorian conservatory on a high plinth.” [1]

Anaverna, Dundalk, Co Louth 

p. 4. “(Lenox-Conyngham/IFR) A plain late-Georgian house built ca. 1807 for Baron McClelland to the design of an architect named Gallier, who afterwards designed many buildings in New Orleans, USA. Five bays, 3 bay breakfront centre, fanlighted doorway; windows of upper storey set under relieving arches. Owned by the Thompson family 1831-1915; bought by E.F. Lenox-Conyngham 1916.” [1]

Anketill Grove (or Ancketill’s Grove or Anketell Grove), Emyvale,  County Monaghan – gate lodge accommodation 

p. 4. “Captain Oliver Ancketill built first Ancketill’s Grove ca. 1640, on low ground. His grandson Oliver rebuilt the house on higher ground at the head of the copper beech avenue. This house was demolished in 1781, and a third dwelling was erected on another site: A two-storey, five-bay, gable-ended main block with a small pediment, joined by curved sweeps to single-storey, two-bay wings. There are Georgian-Gothic windows in the wings; a door with a good keystone between two round-headed windows in each of the sweeps. 

“The house was extensively remodelled ca 1840; its most freakish feature, an Italianate campanile sprouting from the centre of the main block, would appear to date from this time; though there may always have been a central attic-tower, following the precedent at Gola, in the same county. The additions of 1840 included a porch and a new staircase; while at the same time the principal rooms were given ceilings of carved woodwork. Sold 1920.” [1]

Anna Liffey House, Lucan, Co Dublin 

p. 4. “(Shackleton, B/PB) A Georgian mill-house by the side of the River Liffey, with a noted garden. The home of the Shackleton family, cousins of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the explorer.” [1]

Annagh, Riverstown, Co Tipperary – ruin 

p. 4. “(Minchin/IFR) An attractive late-Georgian villa which became the seat of the Annagh branch of the Minchin family when they left Annagh Castle.” [1]

Annaghdown House, Carrandulla, Co Galway 

p. 289. “(Blake/LG1886) A house in Georgian style on the eastern shore of Lough Corrib; built ca 1868 by Richard Blake, of the Cregg Castle family.” [1]

Annaghlee, Cootehill, Co Cavan – gone

“A distinguished mid C-18 red-brick house attributed to Richard Castle…. In 1814, the residence of Michael Murphy. Now almost completely destroyed.” [1]

Annaghmore, Tullamore, Offaly 

p. 4. “(Fox/LGI1912) A house with fine neo-Classical bifurcating staircase. Much altered externally.” [1]

Annaghmore, Collooney, Sligo  – accommodation, airbnb 

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/10/19/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-sligo-connaught/

p. 4. “[O’Hara] A house of ca. 1820, consisting of a 2 storey 3 bay centre with single-storey Ionic portico and single-storey 2 bay wings, greatly enlarged ca. 1860-70 by C. W. O’Hara to the design of James Franklin Fuller; the additions being in the same late-Georgian style as the original house. The wings were raised a storey and extended back so that the house had a side elevation as high as the front and as long, or longer, consisting of 1 bay, curved bow, 3 further bays and a three-sided bow. At the same time, the fenestration of the original centre was altered, paired windows being inserted into the two outer bays instead of the original single window above a Wyatt window. All the ground floor windows except for those in the three sided bow have plain entablatures over them. Parapeted roof. Short area balustrade on either side of centre. Curved staircase behind entrance hall. Doorcases with reeded architraves and rosettes.” [1]

Annaghs Castle, Glenmore, Co Kilkenny 

p. 4. “A square two storey house of 1797, five bay front, fanlighted tripartite doorway with Composite columns; four bay side. Balustraded roof. Very delicate plasterwork in the style of Patrick Osborne in the hall. Later plasterwork in other rooms. In later C19, a residence of the Sweetman family.” [1]

Annamakerrig (or Annaghmakerrig, Tyrone Guthrie Centre), Newbliss, Co Monaghan – artist residence 

p. 289. “(Power/LGI1912) A house of Victorian appearance, in watered-down Tudor-Jacobean. Entrance front with central porch-gable; adjoining front with two curvilinear gables, single-storey three sided bows, windows with blocked surrounds. Finials on gables. The seat of the Moorhead family; inherited by Martha (nee Moorhead), wife of Sir William James Tyrone Power – whose father was the early C19 Irish actor, Tyrone Power, ancestor of the film actor of the name – and in recent years the home of her grandson, Sir William Tyrone Guthrie, the producer, who bequested it to the Irish nation as a centre for artists and writers.” [1]

Annemount, Glounthaune, Co Cork – Fire in 1948, destroyed 

p. 5. “Falkiner/BT,PB; Cummins/IFR; Beamish/IRF; Gillman/IFR; Murphy/IFR; Bence-Jones/IFR) A two storey house in a magnificent situation overlooking Lough Mahon and the upper reaches of Cork Harbour; built in late C18 by Sir Riggs Falkiner, 1^st Bt, who named it in honour of his second wife; enlarged and remodelled ca 1883 to the design of George Ashlin for John Murphy, Master of the United Hunt, who first discovered the house when the fox when he was hunting led him there. As remodelled, the big house was faced in cement, with entablatures over the windows; a projecting two storey porch, with a pediment and pilasters in the upper storey, was added  in the centre in its upper storey, was added in the centre of the front, with a single-storey three-sided pilastered bow on either side of it. The front was extended at one end by the addition of a two-storey wing of the same height and in the same style, with a third singel-storey bow and an Italianate campanile tower. Impressive two storey hall, with staircase and gallery of oak and pitch-pine; ceiling of coloured C19 plasterwork. Coloured C19 plasterwork also in drawing room and dining room, and richly ornamented pilaters; flat of drawing room ceiling covered with embossed gilt paper; moulded entablatures over doors; fine late-Georgian chimneypiece of white marble in drawing room, with Classical head and medallion, flowers, foliage and trophies. Brought 1945 by Col Philip Bence-Jones; destroyed by fire 1948, when a mild sensation was caused by the fact that a statue of the Madonna in the small oratory upstairs was untouched by the flames. The ruin was subsequently demolished.” [1]

Anner Castle (formerly Ballinahy), Clonmel, Co Tipperary  

“An impressive C19 castle of random ashlar, built in 1860s by Rev. N.H. Mandeville to the design of a Cork architect, William Atkins; incorporating an old square castle of the Mandeville family which had up to then been known as Ballinahy, but which was renamed Anner Castle after being enlarged and transformed. Impressive entrance front with two octagonal battlemented and machicolated towers. Burnt 1926 and only front part rebuilt.” [1]

Annerville, Clonmel, Co Tipperary  

p. 5. “(Riall/LGI1958) A two storey Victorian house with a roof carried on a bracket cornice; entrance front with a two storey porch between two single storey three sided balustraded bows; and in the upper storey, two Venetian windows.” [1]

Annes Grove (formerly Ballyhemock or Ballyhimmock), Castletownroche, Co Cork – gardens open to public; gate lodge accommodation

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/01/19/office-of-public-works-properties-munster/

p. 5. (Grove Annesley/IFR and sub Annesley, E/PB). An early 19C house of two storeys over basement, built by Lt-Gen Hon Arthur Grove Annesley, who inherited the estate from his aunt by marriage, the heiress of the Grove family, who owned it previously. Seven bay entrance front; wooden porch with engaged Doric columns and entablature and sidelights with curved astragals; eaved roof. Irregular garden front facing the River Awbeg, in which, owing to the ground falling away, the basement forms an extra storey. Flaning the garden are two stable courts. Walled garden with C18 “mount”; Famous river garden of great extent, laid out and planted by R.A. Grove Annesley between ca. 1900 and his death in 1966, and continued by his son, the late E.P. Grove Annesley. Castellated entrance gateway at one end of the demesne.” [1]

Annesbrook, Duleek, Co Meath 

p. 5. “(Smith/LGI1912) A two storey three bay Georgian house with ground floor windows set under relieving arches and a large rusticated and fanlighted doorway; to which an impressive pedimented portico of four fluted Ionic columns and a single-storey wing containing a charming Georgian-Gothic “banqueting room” were added early in C19 by Henry Smith. According to the story, he made these additions in 1821, for when George IV came over to dine with him while staying with Lady Conyngham at Slane Castle; the monarch, however, never saw the banqueting room, preferring to dine out of doors.” [1]

Annestown House, County Waterford – B&B 

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/05/26/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-munster-county-waterford/

p. 5. “(Palliser, sub Galloway/IFR) Rambling three storey house at right angles to the village street of Annestown, which is in fact two houses joined together. The main front of the house faces the sea; but it has a gable end actually on the street. Low-ceilinged but spacious rooms; long drawing room divided by an arch with simple Victorian plasterwork; large library approached by a passage. Owned at beginning of 19C by Henry St. George Cole, bought ca. 1830 by the Palliser family, from whom it was inherited by the Galloways.” [1]

Anngrove (formerly Ballinsperrig), Carrigtwohill, Co Cork – demolished by ca. 1965

p. 6. “(Cotter, Bt/PB; Barry/IFR; Gubbins/LG1937 supp) A remarkable late C17 house built by Sir James Cotter, MP, a staunch adherent of Charles II who, in 1664, went to Switzerland with two companions and shot the fugitive Regicide, John Lisle. ..One of the rooms originally contained a velvet bed with hangings and gold brocade which was said to have belonged to Charles I and to have been given to Sir James Cotter by Queen Henrietta Maria “as a mark of her royal favour and thanks” for having led the successful action against Lisle. James II is traditionally supposed to have stayed a night in the house and to have slept in this bed. The lands on which the house was built were leased from the Barrys, Earls of Barrymore; some time post 1720, the widow of sir James Cotter’s son sold the reversion of the lease to the 4^thEarl and the Cotter family seat was henceforth Rockforest. The 5^th Earl of Barrymore, as Viscount Buttevant, lived for a period in Anngrove; but it was afterwards let. Charles I’s bed, which the Cotters left behind, was removed to Castle Lyons, the principal Barrymore seat, where it was burnt in the fire of 1771. Towards the end of the C18, or in early C19, Anngrove passed to the Wise family, from whom it was inherited, later in C19, by the Gubbins family. The house was still standing in 1950s but was demolished by ca. 1965.” [1]

Antrim Castle, County Antrim – open to the public 

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/03/21/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-ulster-county-antrim/

“(Skeffington, Massereene and Ferrard, V/PB) A castle by the side of the Sixmilewater, just above where it flows into Lough Neagh, built originally 1613 by the important English settler, Sir Hugh Clotworthy, and enlarged 1662 by his son, 1^st Viscount Massereene [John Clotworthy (1614-1665)]. The castle was rebuilt 1813 as a solid three storey Georgian-Gothic castellated mansion, designed by John Bowden, of Dublin, faced in Roman cement of a pleasant orange colour; the original Carolean doorway of the castle, a tremendous affair of Ionic pilasters, heraldry, festoons and a head of Charles I, being re-erected as the central feature of the entrance front, below a battlemented pediment. Apart from this, and tower-like projections at the corners, with slender round angle turrets and shallow pyramidal roofs, the elevations were plain; the entrance front being of four bays between the projections, and the long adjoining front of 11 bays. Mullioned oriels and a tall octagonal turret of ashlar were added to the long front in 1887, when the castle was further enlarged. Remarkable C17 formal garden, unique in Ulster, its only surviving counterpart being at Killruddery, Co Wicklow. Long canal, bordered with tall hedges, and other canal at right angles to it, making a “T” shape; old trees, dark masses of yew and walls of rose-coloured brick. Mount, with spiral path, originally the motte of a Norman castle. Imposing Jacobean revival outbuildings of course rubble basalt with sandstone dressings; built ca. 1840. Entrance gateway to the demesne with octagonal turrets. Antrim Castle was burnt 1922.” [1]

Antrim Castle gardens and Clotworthy House, County Antrim – estate and gardens open to the public, the Castle was destroyed by fire. The stable block, built in the 1840s and now known as Clotworthy House, is used as an arts centre.

Aras an Uachturain, (formerly Vicegreal Lodge and before that, Phoenix Lodge), Phoenix Park, Dublin  

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/10/17/office-of-public-works-dublin-aras-an-uachtarain-phoenix-park/

Arbutus Lodge, Montenotte, Co. Cork  – apartments  

p. 7. “A 2 storey mid-C19 Italianate house with Romaneque overtones. Modillion cornice; porch at end of house with Romanesque columns. Ballroom with Corinthian columns at one side.…” [1]

Arch Hall, Co Meath  – lost 

p. 7. “(Garnett/LGI1912) A three storey early C18 house attributed, as is the arch in the garden, to Sir Edward Lovett Pearce. Curved bow in centre of front, doorway with pediment and blocking; curved ends, with round-headed windows. Top storey treated as an attic. In the C19, the house was given a high-pitched roof on a bracket cornice, the curved ends being given conical roofs, so that they looked like the round towers of a French chateau. Also in C19, the windows in the attic storey were replaced by rather strange Romanesque windows in pairs. Now a ruin.” [1]

Archbishop’s Palace (or Armagh Palace), County Armagh 

p. 12. “The Palace of the (C. of I.) Archbishops of Armagh and Primates. A plain and dignified late C18 block, nine bays long and four bays deep, originally of two storeys over a high rusticated basement. Built 1770, to the design of Thomas Cooley, by Primate Richard Robinson, who added a third storey 1786, his architect then being Francis Johnston. Later, a large enclosed porch was added, with pairs of Ionic columns set at an angle to the front. Flanking the entrance front of the Palace is the Primate’s Chapel, a detached building in the form of an Ionic temple. The exterior, of 1781, is by Cooley; but the interior was carried out after Cooley’s death in 1784 by Francis Johnston, who succeeded him as architect to Primate Robinson. Johnston’s interior, a modification of Cooley’s design, is one of the most beautiful surviving C18 ecclesiastical interiors in Ireland; with a coffered barrel-vaulted ceiling, a delicate frieze, Corinthian pilasters, a gallery with a curved rear wall, and splendid panelling and pews. The Palace is surrounded by a well-wooded demesne, in which there is an obelisk, also by Johnston. The Church of Ireland is at present building a modern residence for the Primate on Cathedral Hill, so that the future of the Palace is uncertain.” [1]

Archerstown, Thurles, Co Tipperary  – ruin 

p. 7. “(Langley/IFR) A plain two storey three bay high-roofed Georgian house. Wing with Wyatt windows.”

and supplement: 

“The house incorporates parts of the medieval castle of the Archer family. A section of the castle bawn wall is incorporated in the wall of a small deer park, which still contains deer believed to be descended from the deer that were here in the Archer’s time.” [1]

Ardagh House, County Longford

p. 7. “[Fetherston, Bt/PB1923] An irregular 2 storey house of predominantly early to mid C19 appearance. Eaved roof on bracket cornice; porch and corridor with pilasters. Now a domestic science college.” [1]

Ardamine, Gorey, Co Wexford – Destroyed by IRA in 1921  

p. 7. “Richards/LGI1912) An early to mid-C19 house of two storeys over basement, consisting of two contiguous blocks one slightly higher than the other. Eaved roofs on bracket cornices; wide projecting porch, partly open, with Doric columns, party enclosed, with pilasters. Single storey curved bow. Giant corner pilasters on both blocks. Balustraded area.” [1]

Ardavilling, Cloyne, Co Cork  – burned 2017, being rebuilt  

“Litton/LGI1912; Beckford, sub Nutting, Bt/PB) A mildly Tudor-Revival C19 house, gabled and with a mullioned bow. The seat of the Litton family; in the present century, of the Stacpoole famly. Owned for some years after WWII by Lt-Col and Mrs F.J. Beckford.” [1]

Ardbraccan House, Navan, Co Meath 

p. 7. “The Palace of the (C of I) Bishops of Meath, on the site of the old castle where the Bishops lived from C14. Bishop Evans left money for the building of a new house here early in C18; his successor, Bishop Henry Downes, came here with Dean Swift to lay out the ground; but it was not until the time of the next Bishop again, Arthur Price, that the house was begun ca 1734, to the design of Richard Castle. When the two 2 storey 5 bay wings of what was to be a Palladian mansion had been completed, Price was elevated to the Archdiocese of Cashel. For the next 30 years, the subsequent Bishops did nothing about building the central block, but lived in one of the wings, using the other for guests. It was not until early 1770s that Bishop Henry Maxwell, a younger son of 1st Lord Farnham, decided to complete the house; he is said to have boasted that he would build a palace so grand that no scholar or tutor would dare to live in it. He obtained designs from Thomas Cooley and also from one of his own clergy, Rv. Daniel Beaufort, Rector of Navan, who was a talented amateur architect. Both of them were, to a certain extent, under the influence of James Wyatt, who produced a sketch of the garden front. The centre block, which was eventually begun 1776 and took several years to build, is a simple and dignified grey stone house of 2 storeys and 7 bays, with an Ionic doorcase; it harmonises well with Castle’s wings, to which it is joined by curved sweeps with niches. The garden front, also of 7 bays, has a 3 bay central breakfront in which the ground floor windows are set in a blind arcade. The restrained neo-Classical interior plasterwork is said to have been designed by Wyatt, though Beaufort was asked by Bishop Maxwell to design a ceiling for the entrance vestibule 1780. This is a narrow room with a barrel-vaulted ceiling of shallow hexagonal coffering; a door under a large and elegant internal fanlight at its inner end opens into the main hall or saloon in the middle of the garden front, which has a cornice of mutules and elliptical panels above the doors. The principal and secondary stairs lie on either side of this saloon, which also communicates with the drawing room and dining room in the entrance front, on either side of the vestibule. Despite Bishop Maxwell’s hope that the grandeurs of Ardbraccan would discourage scholars and tutors from aspiring to the diocese, his successor was Thomas O’Beirne who had started life as a humble schoolmaster; but who none the less carried out improvements to the outbuildings, advised by Beaufort. The more aristocratic Bishop Nathaniel Alexander carried out grander improvements to the outbuildings in 1820s and 30s. The handsome farm and stable yards are joined by a tunnel under the garden terrace.” [1]

Ardbrack House, Kinsale, Co Cork 

p. 8. “(Lucas/IFR) An attractive two storey five bay weather-slated late-Georgian house. Camberheaded windows; pedimented and fanlighted doorcase.” [1]

Ardcandrisk House, County Wexford https://aguidetoirishcountryhouses.com/2024/11/24/ardcandrisk-house-county-wexford/

p. 8. “(Grogan-Morgan/LG1863; Deane, Muskerry, B/PB) A two storey Regency villa composed of three polygons of different sizes. Eaved roofs; Wyatt windows at one end. Tail blind panels on narrow faces of polygons.” [1]

Ardee House, Co Louth – hospital 

p. 8. “(Ruxton/LGI1912 and sub Fitzherbert/IFR) A three storey seven bay C18 house of red brick. Small porch with pilasters, pediment and fanlights. Now a hospital.” [1]

Ardfert Abbey, County Kerry   – Destroyed by IRA by fire in 1922. 

p. 8. “Crosbie/IFR) A house originally built towards the end of C17 by Sir Thomas Crosbie, MP; “modernized” 1720 by Maurice Crosbie, 1^st Lord Brandon, and again altered ca 1830, though keeping its original character. Two-storey main block with seven-bay front, the two outer bays on either side breaking forwards and framed by quoins; a pedimented centre, in which a single triple window was substituted at some period – presumably during the alterations of ca 1830 – for the three first floor bays. Plain rectangular doorcase; and a high eaved roof on a modillion cornice. 
 
“The front was elongated by lower two-storey wings which protruded forwards at right angles to it, thus forming an open forecourt, then turned outwrds and extended for a considerable way on either side. Irregular wing at back of house. 
 
“Inside the house, the panelled hall was decorated with figures painted in monochrome on panels. There was an early 18th century staircase and gallery; Corinthian newels, and more panelling on the landing with Corinthian pilasters; modillion cornice. A large drawing-room boasted compartmented plasterwork on the ceiling. Here there was a full-length Reynolds portrait of Lady Glandore. Caryatid chimneypiece in one room.  
 
“The gardens had an early formal layout: sunken parterre; yew alleys; trees cut into an arcade; avenues of beech, lime and elm. A ruined Franciscan friary was in the grounds. 
 
“The mansion was burnt to the ground by the IRA ca 1922, and all that remains are some relics of the formal garden. 

“Ardfert eventually passed to Rev John Talbot (see Mount Talbot), son of 2^nd Earl of Glandore’s sister, who assumed the additional surname of Crosbie. It was sold in the present century by J.B. Talbot-Crosbie. Nothing now remains of the house, but there are still some relics of the formal garden.” [1]

Ardfinnan Castle, Ardfinnan, Co. Tipperary 

p. 9. “(Prendergast/LGI1937 supp) An old tower house above the River Suir, with a three storey gable-ended Georgian wing and also a three storey battlemented tower added in C19, when the gable of the Georgian wing was stepped and the old tower was given impressive Irish battlements.” [1]

Ardfry, County Galway  – ruins 

p. 9. “(Blake/IFR) A long, two storey house probably of ca. 1770 on a peninsula jutting out into Galway Bay where previously there had been a castle which, during the Civil War, Sir Richard Blake garrisoned in the service of Charles I. Principal front of nine bays with a central pediment and a higher, pyramidal-roofed pavilion at either end. On the front face of each pavilion is a two storey curved bow roof with a shallow half-dome. Hall with alcoves supported by pairs of columns edmbeeded in the wall. Dorothea Herbert and a cousin called here in 1784 during the celebrations for the wedding of Joseph Blake, afterwards the Lord Wallscourt, to a daughter of the Earl of Louth; when an unfortunate incident was caused by the cousin’s dog (to which he was in the habit of feeding “ripe peaches and apricots”) “dirtying the room and Lord Louth’s blindly stepping into it.” At the time of 3^rd Lord Wallscourt’s marriage to the beautiful Bessie Lock 1822, the house had been empty for some years and was very dilapidated; at first they thought it was beyond repair, but then they decided to restore it; the work was completed by 1826. It was probably then that the house was given its few mild Gothic touches: a pointed entrance doorway with pinnacles beneath a quatrefoil window; battlements on the end pavilions; and a Gothic conservatory with stone piers. The rather strange four storey block at teh back of teh house which has hood mouldings over its small windows may either have been built, or re-faced, at this time. The 3^rd Lord Wallscourt, a man of exceptional strength and often very violent, liked walking about the house naked; his wife persuaded him to carry a cowbell when he was in this state so as to warn the maidservant of his approach. In the early years of the present century, the 2^nd wife of 4^th Lord Wallscourt sold the lead off the roof to pay her gambling debts; so that the house gradually fell into ruin. It was recently re-roofed and re-windowed so as to be used for the film Macintosh Man; now, wiht the film-property roof a skeleton and the windows falling out, the house seems like the ghost of what it was in an earlier stage of its decay.” [1]

Ardgillan Castle, Balbriggan, County Dublin  – open to public

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/10/15/places-to-visit-in-dublin-ardgillan-castle-balbriggan-county-dublin/

p. 9. [Taylour, sub. Headfort, M/PB]. A C18 house consisting of a 2 storey bow-fronted centre with single-storey overlapping wings, mildly castellated either towards the end of C18 or early C19. The central bow has been made into a round tower by raising it a storey and giving it a skyline of Irish battlements; the main roof parapet has been crenellated and the windows given hood mouldings. Over each of the windows was thrown, literally speaking, a Gothic cloak of battlements and pointed arches; below which the original facade, with its quoins and rectangular sash windows, shows in all its Classical nakedness. Battlemented ranges and an octagon tower were added on the other side of the house.” [1]

Ardglass Castle (also known as The Newark), County Down

p. 10. “(FitzGerald, sub Leinster, D/PB; Beauclerk, sub St. Albands, D/PB) Originally a row of C15 warehouses by the harbour, protected by three towers standing alongside it. Made into a castellated house at the end of C18 by Lord Charles FitzGerald, 1^st and last Lord LeCale; also lived in by his mother, Emily, Duchess of Leinster, and her second husband William Ogilvie, a Scot who had been tutor to her more famous son, Lord Edward FitzGerald, and who subsequently developed Ardglass as a fashionable seaside resort. The old warehouses were given battlements, regularly-disposed windows with Georgian Gothic astragals, and a fanlighted doorway; the interior was decorated with plasterwork of the period, one room having a frieze with olive sprays and a repeated bust, which might perhaps be of Lord Edward. Ardglass Castle was eventually inherited by William Ogilvie’s daughter by a former marriage, who was the wife of Charles Beauclerk, a great-grandson of the 1^st Duke of St. Albans. In the later C19, some of the Georgian astragals were replaced by heavy window frames, and a porch, rather like a miniature truncated version of the canopy of the Albert Memorial, was added to one front. The castle became a golf club in 1911.” [1]

Ardigon, Killyleagh, County Down

p. 10. “(Heron/IFR) A solid Georgian block.” [1]

Ardkeen, Waterford, Co Waterford – hospital 

p. 10. “A two storey early to mid C19 house with five bay front and single-storey Doric portico. Built by a member of the Quaker family of Malcolmson, who founded the great cotton mills of Portlaw in early C19. Afterwards owned by the Bromhead family. Now a hospital.” [1]

Ardmore, Passage West, Co Cork

Ardmore Place, Bray, Co Wicklow – film studio 

p. 10. “(Paget/LG1972; Carleton-Paget, sub Carleton/IFR) A plain 2 storey C19 house, with an eaved roof and three sides bows on adjoining fronts.” [1]

Ardmulchan, Beauparc, Co. Meath 

p. 10. [Taaffe; Galvin, sub. Law] “Originally a house of the Taaffe family; bought 1904 by Mrs. F.G. Fletcher (later Mrs R.W. McGrath), who replaced it by an Edwardian mansion to the design of Sidney, Mitchell & Wilson, of Edinburgh; mostly in the plan, gabled and mullioned Tudor manor house style, but with a large Baronial tower, and an English Renaissance doorway: an elaborate confection of coupled Doric columns, a Doric frieze, scroll pediments and heraldic beasts...” [1]

Ardnalee, Carrigrohane, Co Cork 

p. 10. “Collins/LGI1912; Aldworth/IFR; Daly, sub Villiers-Stuart/IFR) A two storey house built by a member of the Morgan family 1832. Five bay principal front, overlooking the River Lee; fanlighted entrance porch beneath single-storey semi-circular Doric portico in side elevation, not centrally placed. Eaved roof. Small room panelled with the wooden blocks used for printing wallpapers.…” [1]

Ardnargle, Limavady, County Derry 

p. 10. (Ogilby/LG1937supp) A plain two storey 5 bay house of ca 1780, built by John Ogilby; given a porch, a three sided bow, window surround with console brackets and a modillion cornice ca 1854 by R.L. Ogilby. Victorian Classical plasterwork in hall and main reception rooms.” [1]

Ardo (also known as Ardogena), Ardmore, Co Waterford

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,” 8^th and last Earl of Barrymore and the other to 9^th 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.” [1]

Ardowen House, Co Sligo 

p. 10. “a plain Georgian house of two storeys over a basement; 4 bay front, with single storey 3 sided bow at one side. Return.” [1]

Ardoyne House, Edenderry, County Antrim 

p. 10. “ (Andrews/IFR) A house said to be basically late C17 but enlarged and remodelled in the late-Georgian period. Two storey; three bay front, with deep end bow and simple Doric porch.” [1]

Ardress House, Charlemont, County Armagh (National Trust), open to public 

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/10/05/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-armagh-northern-ireland/

p. 11. “(Ensor/LG1894) A two storey five bay gable-ended house of ca. 1664 with two slight projections at the back; enlarged and modernized ca. 1770 by the Dublin architect, George Ensor – brother of better-known architect, John Ensor – for his own use. Ensor added a wing at one end of the front, and to balance it he built a screen wall with dummy windows at the other end. These additions were designed to give the effect of a centre block two bays longer than what the front was originally, with two storey one bay wings having Wyatt windows in both storeys. To complete the effect, he raised the façade to conceal the old high-pitched roof; decorating the parapet with curved upstands and a central urn; the parapet of the wings curving downwards on either side to frame other urns. Ensor also added a pedimented Tuscan porch and he altered the garden front, flanking it with curved sweeps. Much of the interior of the hosue was allowed to keep its simple, intimate scale; the oak staircase dates from before Ensor’s time. But he enlarged the drawing room, and decorated the walls and ceiling with Adamesque plasterwork and plaques of such elegance and quality that the work is generally assumed to have been carried out by the leading Irish artist in this style of work, Michael Stapleton. Ardress now belongs to the Northern Ireland National Trust and is open to the public.” [1]

Ardrum, Inniscarra, Co Cork – demolished  

p. 11. “(Colthurst, Bt/Pb) A Georgian house with a long elevation. The original seat of the Colthurst family, who gave up living in the house in mid-C19, when they built the new Blarney Castle; it is now demolished.” [1]

Ardrumman House, Ramelton, County Donegal (supplement)

p. 289. “A house of ca. 1830 in mild Tudor-Revival overlooking Lough Swilly. 3 bay entrance front, central projecting gable with pointed entrance doorway; adjoining front with 3 pointed entrance doorway; adjoining front with three bay recessed centre and a two bay gabled projection at each end, one having a single Wyatt window in its lower storey surmounted by a label, as are the other windows which have simple mullions. Eaved roof with bargeboards.”  [1]

Ards, Sheephaven, Donegal - demolished ca 1965  

p. 11. “(Wray/LG1863; Stewart/ LGI1912). The former seat of the Wray family. ..When Alexander Stewart rebuilt the house in 1830 it was to the design of John Hargrave of Cork. [1]

Ardsallagh, Navan, Co Meath 

p. 11. [French/LGI1912] Tudor revival house of 1844; with steeply pointed gables and dormer-gables, oriels, mullions and tall chimneys.” [1]

Ardsallagh, Fethard, Co Tipperary 

p. 11. “(Farquhar, Bt, PB) A gable-ended double bow-fronted C18 house of two storeys over a basement; the bows being three sided and having between them a Venetian window over a pedimented and fanlighted tripartite doorway. Broad flight of steps with railings up to hall door. Hall open to spacious staircase; drawing room and dining room with modern plasterwork friezes in late C18 style. Originally the seat of the Frend family; bought after WWII by Mrs Reginald Farquhar who has made a noteable garden her with a series of walled enclosures, one of which is laid out as an Italian garden with a pool, also a wild garden planted with many rare trees and shrubs.” [1]

Ardtully, Co Kerry  – burnt in 1921, ruin 

p. 12. “A Victorian Baronial house.. built by Sir Richard Orpen on the site of an earlier house which in turn had replaced an old MacCarthy stronghold. Burnt 1921.” [1]

The Argory, Charlemont, County Armagh (National Trust) – open to the public

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/10/05/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-armagh-northern-ireland/

p. 12. “(MacGeough Bond/IFR) Built ca. 1820 by Walter MacGeough (who subsequently assumed the surname of Bond), to the design of two architects, named A. and J. Williamson, one or both of whom worked in the office of Francis Johnston. A house with imposing and restrained Classical elevations, very much in the Johnston manner, of two storeys, and faced with ashlar. Main block has seven bay front, the centre bay breaking forward under a shallow pediment with acroteria; Wyatt window in centre above porch with Doric columns at corners. Unusual fenestration: the middle window in both storeys either side of the centre being taller than those to the left and right of it. Front prolonged by wing of same height as main block, but set back from it; of three bays, ending with a wide three-sided bow which has a chimneystack in its centre. Three bay end to main block; other front of main block also of seven bays, with a porch; prolonged by service wing flush with main block. Dining room has plain cornice with mutules; unusual elliptical overdoors with shells and fruit in plasterwork. Very extensive office ranges and courtyards at one corner of house; building with a pediment on each side and a clock tower with cupola; range with polygonal end pavilions; imposing archway. The interior is noted for a remarkable organ and for the modern art collection of the late owner. Now maintained by the National Trust.” [1]

Armagh Palace, County Armagh (see Archbishops’ Palace, County Armagh)

Artramon House, Castlebridge, Co Wexford – B&B 

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/11/15/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-wexford/

p. 12. “(Le Hunte/LGI 1912; Neave, Bt/Pb) A late C18 house, remodelled after being burnt 1923. 2 storey; entrance front with pediment of which the peak is level with the coping of the parapet, and the base is well below the level of the main cornice. In the breakfront central feature below the pediment are two windows and a tripartite Venetian doorway; two bays on either side of the central feature.” [1]

Ash Hill Towers, Kilmallock, Co Limerick  – hidden Ireland accommodation, was 482 

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/04/06/ash-hill-kilmallock-co-limerick/

“(Evans/Carbery/ Johnson/ Harrington) A C18 pedimented house [the National Inventory tells us it was built in 1781], the back of which was rebuilt in Gothic 1833, probably to the design of James and George Richard Pain [the National Inventory corrects this – it was designs by Charles Frederick Anderson], with two slender round battlemented and machiolated towers. Rectangular windows with wooden tracery. Good plasterwork in upstairs drawing room in the manner of Wyatt and by the same hand as the hall at Glin Castle; saloon with domed ceiling. The towers have, in recent years, been removed. Originally a seat of the Evans family; passed in the later C19 to John Henry Weldon. Now the home of Major Stephen Johnson.” [1]

Ash Park, Feeny, County Derry (glamping) 

p. 13. “(Stevenson/IFR) A two storey five bay house built ca. 1796 by James Stevenson, of Knockan, Co Derry, as a residence for his elder son, William. High pitched roof, partly gable-ended, partly hipped.” [1]

Ashbourne House, Co Cork  – no longer a hotel 

p. 12. “(Beamish/IFR; Hallinan/ IFR) A plain 2 storey 5 bay late-Georgian house with additions in the late Victorian or Edwardian half-timbered style. Interiors of the period: fancy timber studding in the walls, oak panelling, beams and fretted ceilings. Garden with noted collection of trees and shurbs. Home of Richard Pigott Beamish, whose part in the Pike court case is recounted by Mark Bence-Jones in Twilight of the Ascendancy…” [1] 

Ashbrook, County Derry – whole house rental accommodation 

See my entry on https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/10/05/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-derry-northern-ireland/

p. 12. “(Beresford-Ash/IFR) A two storey bow-fronted gable-ended C18 house, reputed to incorporate a house built by John Ash 1686. Unusual fenestration: two windows on either side of the central curved bow in the upper storey, but only one on each side below. All the windows in the front and the entrance doorway have rusticated surrounds. Both sides of the house are gabled and irregular.” [1]

Ashburn, Limerick, County Limerick – demolished

p. 12. “A 2 storey house of 1829 built onto a three storey C18 house. Three bay front with central breakfront and semi-circular Ionic porch; roof parapet and corner pilasters. Bought 1870 by the Dunphy family; sold 1949, demolished ca. 1960.” [1]

Ashfield, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin 

p. 12. “(Cusack-Smith, Bt/Pb; Denis-Tottenham, sub Tottenham/IFR) A Georgian house of two storeys over high basement. Three bay front; solid roof parapet with urns; C19 porch. Blind lunette windows in side elevation. The seat of Sir William Cusack-Smith, 2^nd Bt Baron of the Court of Exchequer in Ireland 1801-36.” [1]

Ashfield Lodge, Cootehill, Co Cavan – gone  

p. 12. “(Clements/IFR) a two storey late-Georgian house… sold after the death of Lt-Col M.L.S. Clements 1952; subsequently demolished.” [1]

Ashford Castle, Cong, County Galway/ County Mayo  – hotel 

See my entry in https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/05/15/places-to-stay-and-visit-in-connacht-leitrim-mayo-and-sligo/

p. 12. “(Browne, Oranmore and Browne, B/PB; Guinness, Bt/PB) A vast and imposing Victorian-Baronial castle of rather harsh rough-hewn grey stone in a superb postion and the head of Lough Corrib. close to County Mayo village of Cong; built onto an earlier house consisting of a 2 storey 5 bay Georgian shooting-box enlarged and remodelled in French chateau style. The shooting-box and estate originally belonged to the Oranmore and Browne family; they were sold by the Encumbered Estates Court in 1855 and bought by Benjamin Lee Guinness, afterwards 1st Bt., head of Guinness’s brewery, who transformed the shooting-box into the French chateau. From the 1870s onwards, his son, Arthur, 1st and Last Lord Ardilaun, added the castle, which was designed by James Franklin Fuller and George Ashlin. He also built the tremendous castellated 6 arch bridge across the river, with outworks and an embattled gateway surmounted by a gigantic A and a Baron’s coronet, which is the main approach; from the far side of this bridge the castle looks most impressive. Its interior, however, is a disappointment, like the interiors of so many late-Victorian houses. The rooms are not particularly large, and some of them are rather low; everything is light oak, with timbered ceilings and panelling. The main hall was formed out of 2 or more rooms in the earlier house, and has a somewhat makeshift air; it is surrounded by an oak gallery with thin uprights and a staircase rises straight from one side of it. Another room has an immense carved oak mantel with caryatids and the Guinness motto. Magnificent gardens and grounds; large fountain, vista up the hillside with steps; castellated terrace by the lake. Sold ca 1930, now a hotel.” [1]

Ashgrove, Co Cavan

p. 13. “Two storey three bay C18 house with rusticated Venetian doorway below Venetian window.” 

Ashgrove, Cobh, Co Cork – demolished  

p. 13. “(Beamish/IFR) A plain three storey late Georgian house built for Councillor Franklin by Abraham Hargrave, overlooking the water between Great Island and the mainland… now a ruin. Old keep by entrance gate.” [1]

Ashley Park, Nenagh, Co Tipperary  – accommodation 

See my entry: https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/10/19/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-tipperary-munster/

p. 13. “(Head/LGI 1958, Atkinson/IFR) A two storey house of early C19 appearance, said to incorporate older building. Polygonal ends; external shutters; verandah.” [1]

Ashline, Ennis, Co Clare

p. 13. “(Mahon/LGI1912) A two storey Georgian house with a curved bow in the centre of its front, incorporating the entrance doorway; and with one bay on either side. Windows grouped away from the corners, leaving wide expanses of blank wall at either side of the façade. Extension set back and lower wing.” [1]

Ashton House, Castleknock, Co Dublin 

p. 13. “An imposing Victorian Italianate house consisting of three storey main block with single-storey wings. Both the main block and the wings have balustraded roof parapets; the main block has a central projection, with small segmental pediment, and a pilastered and balustraded enclosed porch. Small triangular pediment on each wing.” [1]

Ashurst, Killiney, Co Dublin 

Askeaton Castle, Limerick  

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/11/17/office-of-public-works-properties-in-county-tipperary/

Assolas, Kanturk, Co Cork 

Athavallie, Castlebar, County Mayo 

Athcarne Castle, Duleek, Co Meath

Athclare Castle, Co Louth 

Athgoe Park, Hazelhatch, Co Dublin 

Attyflin, Patrickswell, Co Limerick  

Auburn, Athlone, Co Westmeath – Now in use as offices

Aughentaine Castle, Fivemiletown, County Tyrone

This is a private home and the gardens are not open to the public: https://aughentaine.com

Augher Castle, County Tyrone (see Spur Royal)

Aughrane Castle, also known as Castle Kelly, Ballygar, Co Galway  – demolished 1951 

Aughnagaddy House, Ramelton, County Donegal (supplement)

Avondale House, County Wicklow – open to public 

See my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/10/20/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-wicklow-leinster/

Avonmore, Annamoe, Co Wicklow 

Ayesha Castle, Victoria Road, Killiney, Dublin