Castle Pollard (formerly Kinturk), Co Westmeath
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. 74. (Pollard-Urquhart/LGI1958) A three storey five bay Georgian block enlarged and remodelled 1821 for W.D. Pollard by C.R. Cockerell, who added a single storey Greek Ionic portico, two short single-storey wings with blinkd walls and niches on the entrance front, and a wing on the garden front. Eaved roof; balustraded area. Cockerell also formed a new staircase hall, with an elegantly cantilevered brass-railed stair leading up to a spacious bedroom lobby lit by a coloured glass dome. Now an institution.”
Casey, Christine and Alistair Rowan. The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster. Penguin Books, London, 1993.
Clonard House, Dublin Road, Mullingar, County Westmeath
https://theirishaesthete.com/2019/12/16/castlepollard/
In Poor Health
Captain Nicholas Pollard was one of the many adventurous Englishmen who came to Ireland in the latter part of the 16th century and was rewarded by the government with a grant of land. Originally from Devon, Pollard arrived here as part of the Earl of Essex’s ill-fated expedition in 1599, but whereas his commander returned home in ignominy, Pollard remained and received land and the castle at Mayne in County Westmeath. His heir, also called Nicholas, settled slightly further to the east where he built a new castle and founded a town, which he duly named Castlepollard. His son Walter carried out further improvements in the area, having received from Charles II a patent for holding fairs and a weekly market in the new town. Walter’s son, another Walter, although he had served in Charles II’s army and was attached to the Stuart cause, nevertheless supported William III and in the aftermath of the Battle of the Boyne became a Member of Parliament, as well as being charged to raise supplies for the crown in Westmeath for a number of years. He died in 1718 and having been predeceased by his only son, the estate passed to his daughter Letitia who in 1696 had married Major Charles Hampson; the latter duly took his wife’s family name, Successive generations of Pollards then followed, none of whom made much of an impression outside the immediate locale, although in the 19th century some of them enjoyed respectable army careers. The family remained in residence until after the death of the last male heir, Francis Edward Romulus Pollard-Urquhart in 1915: two decades later the house and 110 acres were sold to a Roman Catholic religious order, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
Standing on the outskirts of Castlepollard, the Pollards’ former residence is called Kinturk House. The core of the building is believed to date from c.1760 when it would have replaced an older castle either here or on an adjacent site. This work was undertaken because in 1763 the estate’s then-owner William Pollard married Isabella, daughter and heiress of John Morres. However, one must assume her inheritance was not enormous since Kinturk was only room deep. This changed in the 1820s when the house was enlarged and remodeled for its next resident, William Dutton Pollard by architect Charles Robert Cockerell, who had come to Ireland to work on another commission for the Naper family at Loughcrew. Cockerell doubled the depth of Kinturk and gave the garden front of the building a more imposing presence by increasing the number of bays (from five to seven) with a central breakfront. He also added a single-storey Ionic porch to the façade, and single storey extensions at either end. Inside, the most notable feature is the cantilevered Portland stone staircase with brass banisters but at least one of the ground floor reception rooms retains pretty rococo plasterwork from the 1760s.
Within a few years of buying Kinturk House, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart embarked on a substantial building programme in the grounds, where they erected, among other structures, a chapel linked to the old residence by a corridor and a free-standing three-storey block intended to serve as a 120-bed Mother and Baby Home. All the new buildings, constructed between 1938-41 was designed in a starkly brutalist style by Dublin architect Thomas Joseph Cullen, who throughout a long career worked extensively for the Catholic church. The cost of this project was some £76,000, much of the money coming from the Hospital Sweepstakes Fund. Called St Peter’s, the home operated for 35 years and like other similar establishments elsewhere in the country – some of them also operated by the same religious order – has in recent years rightly been subjected to public scrutiny, not least because of the horrific conditions in which many young women and their new-born infants were required to live. Following the closure of the home, in 1971 the site was sold to the Midland Health Board, and then, like so many other buildings across the country, became the responsibility of the Health Service Executive (HSE). Kinturk/St Peter’s thereafter provided residential care for the disabled until its closure was announced in 2014, shortly before a highly condemnatory inspection report on the facility was issued by the Health Information and Quality Authority. Today, two detached bungalows provide accommodation for ten residents. The rest of the site sits empty and neglected, the various properties visibly falling into disrepair. The original Kinturk House, of evident architectural merit, is closed up and increasingly dilapidated. This is, unfortunately, yet another instance of a state authority failing to look after the buildings supposed to be in its care and leaving it in poor health. As always, ultimately the citizens of Ireland (who own the place) will be the losers.
Attached five-bay three-storey over basement country house, built c.1760. Remodelled and extended in 1821 with the addition of single-storey wings to either end (southwest and northeast) having round-headed niches, a freestanding tetrastyle Ionic porch to the centre of the main façade (northwest) and a large three-storey block to rear (southeast). Later in use as a convent and now in use as a hospital. Shallow hipped natural slate roof with four ashlar chimneystacks, cast-iron rainwater goodsand a moulded ashlar cornice at eaves level. Roughcast rendered walls above ground level, smooth rendered at basement level, separated by projecting cut-stone string course. Square-headed window openings having moulded limestone surrounds, cut stone sills and six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed doorcase behind porch having moulded cut stone surrounds and original timber panelled door. Flight of cut stone steps flanked to either side by balustraded parapets gives access to doorway over basement. Fine neoclassical interior with elegant plasterwork and joinery. Set in landscaped grounds shared with a number of hospital buildings, c.1935.
The architectural quality and refinement are apparent in the design, execution and detailing of this fine country house. The impressive form and scale of this imposing house is emphasised by the symmetrical façade, a feature typically found in houses dating from the mid-Georgian Period. The interior is also noteworthy with some elegant rococo plasterwork and a fine staircase in Portland stone with brass balusters. The 1821 remodelling was carried out for William Pollard by the important architect C. R. Cockerell (1788-1867), who also carried out noteworthy work on Loughcrew House (Co. Meath) and the Gilson Endowed School (Oldcastle, Co. Meath) around the same time. The house has very important historical connections with the Pollard Family who were responsible for the development of Castlepollard during the early-seventeenth century and also the remodelling of the village in its present form c.1820. The house remained in Pollard hands until c.1935 when it was purchased by Sisters of Sacred Heart and used as a convent until 1971 when sold to Midland Health Board. This structure represents the focal point of an important and extensive range of demesne-related structures and contributes strongly to the architectural heritage of north Westmeath.
Irish Historic Houses 