Levington Park, Mullingar, 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. 184. “(Levinge, Bt/PB; Dease, sub Bland/IFR) A two storey nine bay gable-ended C18 house with a high roof, a pediment and an pillared porch. Home of a branch of the Levinges; later of E.F. Dease, father of Maurice Dease, 1st VC of WWI, now of Mr J.P. Donleavy, the novelist.”
Levington Park, FARRANISTICK, County Westmeath
Detached nine-bay two-storey country house with two-storey returns to rear at either end (north and south), built (or rebuilt) c.1748. Possibly including earlier fabric. Altered, c.1810, with the addition of a three-bay pedimented section, a limestone Doric porch and a Wyatt window to the entrance front (east). Pitched natural slate roof having cut stone chimneystacks and cut stone eagle finals to either end of front façade. Lime roughcast rendered walls over rubble limestone construction with projecting ashlar eaves course. Evidence of brick construction to ground floor to south gable. Square-headed window openings having six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows and cut stone sills to front elevation (east). Lunette window with ‘spider’s web’ tracery to eaves pediment (over porch). Variety of early multi-pane timber sliding sash windows to rear, including a number with exposed sash boxes and high percentage of surviving early crown glass panes. Central square-headed doorcase (behind projecting porch) with early timber panelled door having square-headed fanlight over with intersecting tracery. Cut stone steps to front. Interesting interior with decorative plasterwork, marble fireplaces and a early cantilevered staircase. Set well back from road in extensive mature grounds adjacent to the shore of Lough Owel. Extensive collection of outbuildings (15401911) to the rear (west), arranged around a central courtyard with the house forming the east range, and main entrance gates and estate wall to the east (15401912).a
Appraisal
An attractive and important large-scale country house, which retains its early form and character. It also retains a great deal of its early fabric, both to the interior and exterior, including a fine cantilevered staircase, marble fireplaces, decorative plasterwork and early sash windows with exposed sash boxes having crown glass. The regular front façade is enhanced by the classically proportioned fenestration, the eaves pediment and by the rather unusual and strangely robust Doric entrance porch. This fine structure has evidence of at least two distinct building phases (c.1750 and c.1810), whilst the architectural form, the mass and the detailing to the rear of this building (west) and to the two returns to the north and south, hints at the presence of pre-1700AD fabric. This building was reputedly (re)built for Sir Richard Levinge (1728-86), a noted and colourful eccentric, to celebrate his marriage in 1748. In 1827 it was still the seat of a branch of the Levinge Family, in the ownership of an R. H. Levinge, Esq. It was later the residence of Maurice Dease, who was awarded the first Victoria Cross of World War One. James Joyce wrote extensively about his visits to the house in the early twentieth-century, at a time he was residing at nearby Mullingar. It was later, apparently, in the ownership of Julie Andrews, the British actress and is currently the residence of the celebrated author J. P. Dunleavy. Levington Park forms the centrepiece of an interesting collection of demesne-related structures, along with the outbuildings (15401911), the estate wall and the main gates (15401912) to the east, and represents an important element of the architectural heritage of Westmeath.
Complex of two-storey outbuildings, arranged around a courtyard to the rear (west) of Levington Park (15401910), built between c.1750 and 1850. Possibly containing earlier fabric. Pitched natural slate roofs with rubble stone chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Constructed of rubble limestone with sections of lime roughcast render over. Square-headed window openings with cut stone sills having variety of timber sliding sash windows, many having exposed sash boxes and retaining early glass. Square-headed doorcases with timber sheeted and glazed timber doors. Segmental-headed carriage arch to centre of west range. Fountain with cut stone detailing to centre of courtyard. Courtyard cobbled in limestone sets, now overgrown with grass. Walled garden to the south, enclosed by rubble limestone walls with brick lining to interior. Complex adjoins Levington Park to the rear (west).
Appraisal
An extensive complex of multi-period outbuildings and a walled garden to the rear of Levington Park (15401910), which retain their form and character. They are very well constructed using limestone rubble and retain much of their historic fabric, including early sash windows with exposed sash boxes having early glass and high pitched natural slate roofs, which hint at early, perhaps even pre-1700AD fabric. These outbuildings and associated walled garden help to give an insight into the extensive resources required to maintain a large country house during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They forms part of an important group of associated structures within the former Levington Park Demesne, along with the main house (15401910), the estate wall and the main entrance gates (15401912) to the east, and the gate lodges (15401913).
Main entrance gates serving Levington Park, erected c.1810, comprising two pairs of ashlar limestone gate piers (on square-plan) with ashlar limestone capstones over, forming central vehicular entrance flanked by square-headed pedestrian entrances (set into dressed limestone) walling to the east and west. Wrought-iron double gates to central vehicular entrance with single wrought-iron gates to flanking pedestrian entrances. Sections of rubble limestone estate wall to the east and west. Gateway flanked by a pair of attendant gate lodges (15401913). Located to the east of Levington Park (15401910).
Appraisal
An attractive, if plainly detailed, set of entrance gates serving Levington Park (15401910). This gateway is of early nineteenth-century appearance and probably dates to the c.1810 remodelling of Levington Park. The gate piers are well-built in good quality dressed limestone while the associated gates are a good example of early wrought-iron work. The robustly constructed estate wall, running away to the east and west, makes a pleasing visual statement in the local landscape to the northwest of Mullingar. This gateway and estate wall forms part of an important group of demesne-related structures associated with Levington Park House.
Pair of matching two-storey gate lodges, built c.1810, flanking main entrance gates (15401912) to the Levington Park Demesne. Pitched natural slate roofs having moulded brick chimneystacks (one to each structure), cast-iron rainwater goods and timber bargeboards to gable ends. Rubble limestone construction retaining sections of lime render over. Square-headed window openings having cut stone sills and six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows. Two-over-two pane timber sliding sash window to gate lodge to west at first floor level having elliptical-headed glazing bars. Loop hole openings to attic levels. Both structures back onto road and front into the demesne (north). Located to the northwest of Mullingar.
Appraisal
An unusually large pair of gate lodges, associated with Levington Park (15401910), which retain their early form and character. These lodges retain their early fabric, including timber sash windows, decorative timber bargeboards and timber sliding sash windows. The timber bargeboards and the moulded brick chimneystacks, suggests that these structures date to the early nineteenth-century remodelling of the main house. The timber sliding sash window with the elliptical-headed glazing bars is very similar to those found to the attic level of Levington Park itself. These lodges form part of an important group of demesne-related structures associated with Levington Park House and add substantially to the historic character of the landscape to the northwest of Mullingar Town.
Irish Historic Houses 