“Remains of detached three-storey over basement country house, c. 1745 now in ruins. Gothic style mantle added, c. 1825. Designed by Thomas Cobden. Extended c. 1845, with granite ashlar viewing tower on an octagonal plan, turrets and entrance screens added. Designed by J. McDuff Derick. Stable complex to rear.” [1]
Thomas Duckett (1646-1682) purchased the property in 1695. He married Judith Power, granddaughter of 5th Baron of Curraghmore.
The property was once part of a 12,000 acre estate with eight acres of gardens.
“In 1695 Thomas Duckett (1) who is stated, by Sir William Betham, Ulster King of Arms, to have been the son of James Duckett, of Grayrigg, Westmorland, by his third wife Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Walker, of Workington, Cumberland, purchased five hundred acres of land in Kneestown, Rainestown, and Ardnahue, Palatine, Co. Carlow from British landlord Thomas Crosthwaite from Cockermouth near the Lake District in Scotland. Thomas Crosthwaite owned a vast amount of land in Ireland during that period and had himself acquired this and other lands which comprised of 495 acres of plantation in 1666 under the Acts of Settlement (1666 – 1684) in the reign of King Charles II. However, Thomas Duckett did not make use of this land until the 1700s when he built a country house in Rainestown, replacing a smaller house on the same site where Duckett’s Grove stands today.” http://duckettsgrove.ie/
“In the early years of the Ducketts’ story, intermarriage with some well-connected and wealthy families contributed greatly to their financial standing and allowed for the expansion of the Demesne. Thomas Duckett’s (1) wife Judith de la Poer was the heiress of the wealthy Pierce De La Poer of Killowen in County Waterford, grandson of the Honorary Pierce De la Poer, of Killowen, Brother of Richard, First Earl of Tyrone. Thomas Duckett (1) had one son, Thomas Duckett (2)[1667-1735] who was his successor and heir. The Duckett family extended their estate, and their wealth grew throughout the eighteenth century.
“The only son from this marriage Thomas Duckett (2) (a member of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers) lived in Phillipstown Manor, Rathvilly, Co. Carlow, situated approximately 3 miles from Kneestown and Rainestown which was a property purchased from the Earl of Ormonde. He married Jane Bunce, daughter of John Bunce, of Berkshire in 1687. His last will and testament was dated 18th January 1732 and was proved on 13th May 1735. Thomas Duckett (2) had three daughters and one son and heir; John Duckett Esq., (1) of Phillipstown, Rathvilly, Co. Carlow and Newtown, Co. Kildare, whose last will and testament dated 13th April 1733, was proved on 17th May 1738.“
A house called Phillipstown Manor built in 1745 according to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage still survives – Thomas Duckett (1667-1735) and his wife Jane Bunce must have lived in an earlier version of this.
“John Duckett Esq., (1)married Jane Devonsher who was daughter of Thomas Devonsher Esq. from Cork. The first son of John Duckett (1) and Jane Devonsher was Thomas Duckett (3) of Newtown died unmarried.“
Jane Devonsher was the sister of Abraham Devonsher who lived at Kilshannig in Cork (see my entry – it is a Section 482 property). My Quaker husband and I laugh that some of the most exuberant plasterwork and the most exuberant architecture was owned by Quakers! But perhaps the Ducketts were no longer Quakers by the time the house was made so ornate. John and his wife Jane lived in Phillipstown Manor. https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/10300308/philipstown-manor-phillipstown-carlow
“John and Jane’s second sonWilliam Duckett (1) of Phillipstown, Co. Carlow married Janet Summers, daughter of Samuel Summers, Esq., and they had no children. Their third son, Abraham Duckett (1) of Ardnahue, Co. Carlow married Mary Jessop, daughter of Samuel Jessop, Esq. Abraham Duckett (1) and Mary Jessop had four sons (three sons, who all died without children) and three daughters.”
It was John and Jane’s fourth son, Jonas Duckett Esq. (1720-1797) of Co. Carlow (who Duckett’s Grove is said to have been named after), who passed Duckett’s Grove to the next generation. It may have been he who built a two storey Georgian house on the property later transformed into the current confection.
Jonas married Hannah Alloway, daughter of William Alloway, Esq. of Dublin, a merchant banker, who brought money to the marriage. They had four sons, their eldest son and heir being William Duckett who was born in 1761. In 1790 William Duckett (b. 1761)married another daughter of a banker, Elizabeth Dawson Coates, daughter and co-heir of John Dawson-Coates Esq, a banker of Dawson Court, Co. Dublin. The bank was called Coates and Lawless and in 1770 it was located at 36 Thomas Street.
William Duckett (b. 1761) and Elizabeth Dawson-Coates’s son John (1791-1866), added Dawson to his name, to become John Dawson-Duckett. I believe that this is because Elizabeth Dawson-Coates’s father John Dawson-Coates may have been the heir of John Dawson of the bank Wilcox and Dawson. [2]
John Dawson-Coates had two daughters who were his co-heirs, Elizabeth and Anne. Their brothers predeceased their father. Elizabeth married William Duckett (b. 1761) and Anne married William Hutchinson of Timoney, County Tipperary. [see 2]
The fortunes of the two heiresses, Elizabeth and Anne Dawson-Coates, coalesced when the daughter of Anne Dawson-Coates and William Hutchinson (Sarah Hutchinson Summers) married her cousin (John Dawson-Duckett) the son of Elizabeth Dawson-Coates and William Duckett.
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 113. “(Eustace-Duckett/IFR) A square house of two and three storeys, transformed into a spectacular castellated Gothic fantasy by Thomas A. Cobden [1794-1842], of Carlow, for J. D. Duckett 1830 [John Dawson Duckett (1791-1866)]. Numerous towers and turrets, round, square and octagonal; notably a heavily machicolated round tower with a tall octagonal turret growing out of it. The walls enlivened with oriels and many canopied niches sheltering statues; more statues and busts in niches along the battlemented wall joining the house to a massively feudal yard gateway; yet more statues manning the battlements of one of the towers, and disposed around the house on pedestals. At the entrance to the demesne is one of the most stupendous castellated gateways in Ireland: with a formidable array of battlemented and machicolated towers and two great archways giving onto two different drives; the principal archway having a portcullis, and being surmounted by an immense armorial achievement, which was originally coloured. The house was burnt 1933 and is now a ruin.” [3]
John Dawson Duckett was appointed High Sheriff of County Carlow in 1819 and married Sarah Hutchinson Summers [or is it Sarah Summers Hutchinson?], daughter of William Hutchinson Esq. from Timoney Park, Co. Tipperary on 16th March 1819. They had two sons: the eldest, William (Dawson) Duckett (1822 – 1908) was named after his grandfather and he was the last blood heir to Duckett’s Grove. Their second daughter, Anne Duckett married Hardy Eustace of Castlemore, Tullow, Co. Carlow. They went on to live at Hardymount in County Carlow, which has gardens one can visit (see below).
David Hicks tells us in his book Irish Country Houses, A Chronicle of Change, that more work was carried out in the 1840s, designed by architect John MacDuff Derick, who added extra floor space and prominent architectural features, such as a large circular flag tower, which was faced in local granite. A new basement kitchen as added with a billiard room above on the ground floor level. The exterior of the castle was decorated with various niches that contained statues and, on the facade of the building, heads of many mythological creatures. Bust of famous warriors decorated the length of the battlemented wall that joined the castle to one of the courtyards to its rear. Statues around the grounds depicted Greek and Roman figures.
As well as enlarging the castle, MacDuff Derick created the impressive entrance gateway, with an immense coat of arms carved by Kelly and Kinsella, which was gilded and coloured and features birds and animals associated with the lineage of the Duckett family.
The Ducketts were quite happy to allow members of the public to picnic in their gardens until one group disturbed the peace in 1902, peering in their windows, and the family closed the grounds to the public.
William Dawson Duckett (1822 – 1908) married twice. His first wife died without any children. One year later William Dawson Duckett, at the age of 73 years, married 21 year old Maria Georgina Thompson. Maria Georgina Thompson was daughter of Captain Robert Gordon Cummins and widow of Theophilius Thompson of Forde Lodge, Co. Cavan. She had one daughter.
The website tells us:
“William (Dawson) Duckett (2) now had a new wife Maria and a stepdaughter Olive. He didn’t live that long afterwards, as he died on 22nd June, 1908 aged 86. He was the last member of the Duckett family line to live in Duckett’s Grove Gothic Mansion, in Rainestown, Carlow, leaving just his wife Maria and her daughter [Olive, by a previous marriage of Maria to Theophilus Thompson] living there after his death. In his last will and testament dated 29th February, 1904, William (Dawson) Duckett (2) willed his estate to his widow, Maria Georgina Duckett with the exception of a small section of his estate willed to his nephew, John Hardy Rowland Eustace with the instruction that the Duckett family name be affixed to the name Eustace, giving rise to the name ‘Eustace Duckett’ from Castlemore. [William Dawson Duckett’s sister Anne married Hardy Eustace and their son was John Hardy Roland Eustace] Maria’s daughter Olive married Captain Edward Stamer O’Grady circa 1916.
“It was also at this time that Maria decided to leave Duckett’s Grove following alleged threats from seven Carlow businessmen who were disgruntled and had become malicious in their feelings towards her, allegedly wanting to acquire Duckett’s Grove Gothic mansion. She decided to live in ‘De Wyndesore’, a mansion on Raglan Road, Dublin which was purchased for her as a wedding gift by her late husband William (Dawson) Duckett 2. She spent some time moving between her Dublin and London homes and rarely returned to Duckett’s Grove.” She became mentally ill and paranoid and the only heir to Duckett Grove, her daughter Olive, was cut from her will. [see the full story in Jimmy O’Toole, The Carlow Gentry: What will the neighbours say! Published by Jimmy O’Toole, Carlow, Ireland, 1993. Printed by Leinster Leader Ltd, Naas, Kildare.] [4]
The National Inventory tells us about these gates:
“The double entrance arches and lodges were designed in a gothic-revival style by J.McDuff Derick [1810-1859] about 1840. This structure is difficult to describe but is a mixture of walls, buttresses, towers and crennelations with lancet windows and heavily mullioned windows. This is possibly the most elaborate entrance to any estate in Ireland and is of considerable architectural importance.” [see 1]
Om 1921 Duckett’s Grove was sold to a consortium of local farmers. After the sale the house was occupied by British soldiers and later by Irish Free State soldiers during the Civil War. The Ducketts were held in high regard by the community so that house was not damaged beyond the soldiers taking pot-shots at the statues. The house was sold again, this time to Theo Frederick George Thompson of the Hanover Works in Carlow (see David Hicks). While he was deciding what to do with it the disaster of the fire occurred.
After the fire the building was sold to Charles Balding of Rainstown House and in later years, used as a riding school. The gate lodge was converted into a pub in the 1970s. In 2005 Carlow County Council took possession of Duckett’s Grove for use as a public park with the intention of conserving the castle and restoring the gardens.
After wandering around the castle we went back through the stable yard toward the walled garden.
[2] Tenison, C.M. “The Old Dublin Bankers.” Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. vol. 1, 1895.
[3] p. 113, Bence-Jones, Mark. 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.
[4] Jimmy O’Toole, The Carlow Gentry: What will the neighbours say! Published by Jimmy O’Toole, Carlow, Ireland, 1993. Printed by Leinster Leader Ltd, Naas, Kildare.
Glenarm Castle & Garden, photo by Donal Maloney 2021 for Tourism Ireland [1]
Sorry, this is another re-publishing, as it was previously published on my “Places to Visit in County Antrim” page. Stephen and I have still been too busy this year to visit more Section 482 properties. Heritage Week is coming up next month, August 17-24th, so all of the Section 482 properties should be open – see my home page for details, https://irishhistorichouses.com/
I hope Stephen and I can visit many properties this year during Heritage Week!
The website tells us that Glenarm Castle is one of few country estates that remains privately owned but open to the public. It is steeped in a wealth of history, culture and heritage and attracts over 100,000 visitors annually from all over the world.
“Visitors can enjoy enchanted walks through the Walled Garden and Castle Trail, indulge in an amazing lunch in the Tea Room, purchase some local produce or official merchandise, or browse through a wide range of ladies & gents fashions and accessories and a selection of beautiful gifts, souvenirs and crafts in the Byre Shop and Shambles Workshop – with many ranges exclusive to Glenarm Castle.“
“Glenarm Castle is the ancestral home of the McDonnell family, Earls of Antrim. The castle is first and foremost the private family home of Viscount and Viscountess Dunluce and their family but they are delighted to welcome visitors to Glenarm Castle for guided tours on selected dates throughout the year.
“Delve deep into the history of Glenarm Castle brought to life by the family butler and house staff within the walls of the drawing room, the dining room, the ‘Blue Room’ and the Castle’s striking hall.
“Finish the day with the glorious sight of the historic Walled Garden, which dates back to the 17th century.“
Dates are limited and booking in advance is required.
The castle was built around 1603 by Randal MacDonnell [1610-1682], afterwards 1st Earl of Antrim, as a hunting lodge or secondary residence to Dunluce Castle, and became the principal seat of the family after Dunluce Castle was abandoned. The mansion house was rebuilt ca. 1750 as a 3-storey double gable-ended block, joined by curving colonnades to two storey pavilions with high roofs and cupolas. This would have been during the life of the 5th Earl of Antrim, Alexander MacDonnell (1713-1775).
We learned of the 1st and 2nd Earls of Antrim on our visit to Dunluce Castle in Antrim. When the 2nd Earl died in 1682 his brother Alexander (1615-1699) became 3rd Earl of Antrim. He first married Elizabeth Annesley, daughter of the 1st Earl of Anglesey.
Arthur Annesley (1614-1686) 1st Earl of Anglesey, after John Michael Wright based on a work of 1676, National Portrait Gallery of London 3805.
Elizabeth née Annesley died in 1672 and Alexander married Helena Burke. Their son Randal (1680-1721) became the 4th Earl of Antrim.
The 4th Earl married Rachael Skeffington, daughter of Clotworthy, 3rd Viscount Massereene, Co. Antrim, of Antrim Castle. The 4th Earl of Rachael had a son Alexander MacDonnell (1713-1775) who succeeded as 5th Earl of Antrim. It was during his time that the castle was enlarged. He was a Privy Counsellor and Governor of County Antrim.
Ballymagarry, where the Earls lived after Dunluce Castle, burned down in 1750, so in 1756 the 5th Earl of Antrim invited an engineer from Cumbria called Christopher Myers to come to Glenarm to rebuild the ruin. Myers transformed it into a grand Palladian country house with curving colonnades ending in pavilions on either side, one of which contained a banqueting room. The lime trees that now arch over the driveway were planted and gardens were planned in a network of walled enclosures.
Alexander the 5th Earl married Elizabeth Pennefather, daughter of Matthew, MP for Cashel and Comptroller and Accountant-General for Ireland. She died, however, in 1736, and he married Anne Plunkett in 1739.
“Miss Anne Plunkett, niece of the first Lord Aldborough, Countess of Antrim,” 18th Century Irish School , courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite. She was the daughter of Charles Patrick Plunkett of Dillonstown, County Louth and Elizabeth Stratford. She married Alexander MacDonnell the 5th Earl of Antrim.
Anne née Plunkett gave birth to the heir, Randal William (1749-1791), who later became the 6th Earl of Antrim. Anne died when Randall was just six years old, so Alexander married again, this time to Catherine Meredyth, daughter of Thomas of Newtown, County Meath. She had been previously married to James Taylor (1700-1747), son of Thomas 1st Baronet Taylor, of Kells, Co. Meath.
The 6th Earl served as MP for County Antrim as well as High Sheriff for the county. Randall William MacDonnell married Letitia Morres, daughter of Hervey Morres 1st Viscount Mountmorres of Kilkenny. They had no sons.
Randall William was created 1st Viscount Dunluce [Ireland] and 1st Earl of Antrim [Ireland] on 19 June 1785, with special remainder to his daughters in order of seniority. This meant that his daughters became Countesses of Antim in their own right. He then served as Privy Counsellor for Ireland. He was created 1st Marquess of Antrim [Ireland] on 18 August 1789 but this title died with him, along with the two earlier creations of Earl of Antrim and Viscount Dunluce.
His eldest daughter Anne Catherine (1778-1834) became 2nd Countess of Antrim in 1791 when her father died. Anne Catherine’s sister Letitia Mary predeceased her. When Anne Catherine died in 1834 her sister Charlotte became 3rd Countess of Antrim. Charlotte’s sons became the 4th and 5th Earls of Antrim (the Countesses being in lieu of the 2nd and 3rd Earls). The descendants still live in the castle.
Anne Catherine married first Henry Vane-Tempest (1771-1813) 2nd Baronet Vane, of Long Newton, Co. Durham. They had a daughter, Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest, who married Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. Harry Vane-Tempest decided to ‘Gothicise’ the building. The colonnades and pavilions were demolished and Gothic windows installed. When he died, Anne Catherine married Edmund Phelps, who assumed the name of MacDonnell.
Anne Catherine and Edmund hired William Vitruvius Morrison to enlarge Glenarm.
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 135. “(McDonnell, Antrim, E/PB) …The main block had a pedimented breakfront with three windows in the top storey, a Venetian window below and a tripartite doorway below again, flanked on either side by a Venetian window in each of the two lower storeys and a triple window above. The pavilions were of three bays. Ca. 1825, the heiress of the McDonnells, Anne, Countess of Antrim in her own right, and her second husband [Edmund Phelps], who had assumed the surname of McDonnell, commissioned William Vitruvius Morrison to throw a Tudor cloak over Glenarm. He did very much the same as he had done at Borris, Co Carlow and Kilcoleman Abbey, Co Kerry; adding four slender corner turrets to C18 block, crowned with cupolas and gilded vanes; he also gave the house a Tudor-Revival façade with stepped gables, finials, pointed and mullioned windows and heraldic achievements, as well as a suitably Tudor porch. The other fronts were also given pointed windows and the colonnades and pavilions were swept away, a two storey Tudor-Revival service wing being added in their stead.” [3]
Mark Bence-Jones continues:”The interior remained Classical; the hall being divided by an arcade with fluted Corinthian columns; the dining room having a cornice of plasterwork in the keyhole pattern. In 1929, the Castle was more or less gutted by fire; in the subsequent rebuilding, to the designs of Imrie & Angell, of London, the pointed and mullioned windows were replaced with rectangular Georgian sashes. Apart from the octagon bedroom, which keeps its original plasterwork ceiling with doves, the interior now dates from the post-fire rebuilding; some of the rooms have ceilings painted by the present Countess of Antrim [Elizabeth Hannah Sacher]. The service wing was reconstructed after another fire 1967, the architect being Mr Donal Insall. In 1825, at the same time as the castle was made Tudor, the entrance to the demesne from the town of Glenarm was transformed into one of the most romantic pieces of C19 medievalism in Ireland, probably also by Morrison. A tall, embattled gate tower, known as the Barbican, stands at the far end of the bridge across the river, flanked by battlemented walls rising from the river bed.” [3]
Glenarm Castle, by Donal Maloney 2021, for Tourism Ireland. [see 1]Glenarm Castle, with George the butler, who gave us a tour, photograph by Donal Malony 2021 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool (see [1]). A portrait of Charlotte, Countess of Antrim, with her head resting on her hand, is on the wall.Glenarm, County Antrim.
The second daughter, Charlotte 3rd Countess of Antrim married Mark Robert Kerr (1776-1840), son of William John Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian, Scotland. An information board tells us that as well as being a military man, he had a fondness for art.
Drawings by Mark Kerr.Glenarm, County Antrim.
Charlotte and Mark had many children. Their sons who inherited the title Earl of Antrim after their mother’s death took the name MacDonnell when they succeeded to the title. The 4th Earl, Hugh Seymour McDonnell (1812-1855) had no son so his brother, Mark (1814-1869), succeeded him as 5th Earl of Antrim.
Glenarm, County Antrim.
Mark’s son William Randal McDonnell (1851-1918) succeeded as 6th/11th Earl of Antrim. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.) of County Antrim. In the information panel in the museum at the castle, he is referred to as the 11th Earl. He married Louisa Jane Grey. She held the office of a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria between 1890 and 1901.
Louisa, wife of 11th, or 6th Earl of Antrim.Information about William, 6th Earl of Antrim. His wife Louisa née Grey was lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.Glenarm, County Antrim.
Their son Randal Kerr MacDonnell (1878-1932) became 7th/12th Earl of Antrim in 1918. In 1929 a large fire occurred.
Glenarm, County Antrim.
His son Randal John (1911-1977) became 8th Earl (13th) in 1932, and his son in turn, Alexander Randal MacDonnell (1935-2021) the 9th Earl.
Glenarm, County Antrim.
Randal John 8th Earl and his wife Angela attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
Angela Sykes (1911-1984), wife of the 8th or 13th Earl was an artist and she created the rather bulging statues of planetary gods that adorn the ceiling corners of the front hall. She also designed Mithras slaying the bull over the fireplace. She also created murals in the dining room, drawing room and in her bedroom.
[3] p. 135, Bence-Jones, Mark. 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.
I am republishing this as a separate entry. Sorry not to have a Section 482 property to write about this week – still one to write up, and we haven’t been visiting as we’ve been looking for our own house to buy in the countryside – it won’t be a Georgian house, unfortunately! I hope to get back to visiting Section 482 properties eventually….
Dunluce Castle Co Antrim by Robert French, Lawrence Collection National Library of Ireland, flickr constant commons.Dunluce Castle by Matthew Woodhouse 2015 for Tourism Ireland [1]
The website tells us:
“With evidence of settlement from the first millennium, the present castle ruins date mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries. It was inhabited by both the feuding MacQuillan and MacDonnell clans. Historical and archaeological exhibits are on display for public viewing.
Opening Hours: Please check before visiting as public access may be restricted.“
The storyboards tell us that Colla MacDonnell was head of the clan and overthrew the MacQuillans, and that when he died in 1558, Dunluce passed to his brother, Sorley Boy MacDonnell. The MacDonnells had more castles up along the coast. Sorley Boy had to spend much time in battle defending his territory. In 1565 he was captured by Shane O’Neill and held hostage for two years.
Sorley Boy married Mary O’Neill, daughter of Conn Baccach O’Neill (1484-1559), 1st Earl of Tyrone. Families intermarried to form alliances.
In 1563, an expedition of the Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, massacred Sorley Boy’s troops on Rathlin Island, across the bay from his castle, when they had fled there for safety.
Dunluce Castle was captured in 1584 by John Perrot, Lord Deputy of Ireland. Sorley Boy’s troops scaled the cliffs to attack and recapture the castle. Sorley Boy surrendered to Queen Elizabeth in order to be rewarded his lands again, under “Surrender and Regrant.” Sorley Boy died in 1589.
Sir John Perrot, (1527-1592) said to be a son of King Henry VIII, Soldier and Lord Deputy of Ireland, Date 1776 Engraver: Valentine Green (English, 1739 – 1813); Copyist: George Powle, (English, fl.1764-1771), courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Portrait of Elizabeth I, Queen of England (1503-1603) Date c.1560, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
The sign boards tell us that after Sorley Boy’s death in 1589 he was succeeded by his third son, James. James died in 1601 and was succeeded by his brother, Randall Arranach MacDonnell (1556-1635). He fought against the English in the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, but later sought to regain favour with the crown and again surrendered and was regranted the lands of “the Route” and the Glens of Antrim, owning 330,000 acres. He was made Viscount Dunluce in 1618 and Earl of Antrim in 1620.
The story of Randal Arranach MacDonnell, d. 1636, 1st Earl of Antrim.His name “Arranach” refers to the fact that he was brought up by a foster family in the Scottish Isle of Arran. It was common for one family to foster the children of another, to solidify social and political bonds.
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses:
“(McDonnell, Antrim, E/PB) The ancestral stronghold of the McDonnells, Earls of Antrim, dramatically situated at the end of a rocky promontory jutting out into the sea off the north Antrim coat. The castle, which was built at various periods from C14 to C17, eventually consisted of several round towers and a gatehouse with rather Scottish bartizans, joined by a curtain wall, with domestic buildings inside this enclosure. The latter included a mid-C16 loggia with sandstone columns, and a two storey Elizabethan or Jacobean house, with three large oriels. These two buildings were first of two courtyards into which the castle enclosure was divided; the other and lower yard containing offices and servants’ quarters. There were also buildings on the mainland, erected early C17. In 1639, part of the curtain wall of the castle collapsed into the sea, together with some of the servants’ quarters and a number of servants. After the Civil Wars, the castle was abandoned by the family in favour of Glenarm Castle, it is now a romantic ruin.” [2]
The structure consisted of the gatehouse and a curtain wall, with domestic buildings inside the enclosure. Signage tells us that Sorley Boy MacDonnell built the Scottish style gate house. About forty years later, Randal MacDonnell built a manor house, by 1620, inside the enclosure, of which we can see remnants. It was of two or three storeys and had three large oriel windows.
As Mark Bence-Jones writes: “The castle, which was built at various periods from C14 to C17, eventually consisted of several round towers and a gatehouse with rather Scottish bartizans, joined by a curtain wall, with domestic buildings inside this enclosure. The latter included a mid-C16 loggia with sandstone columns, and a two storey Elizabethan or Jacobean house, with three large oriels. These two buildings were first of two courtyards into which the castle enclosure was divided; the other and lower yard containing offices and servants’ quarters.“
Signage tells us that it was not just a castle that was located on the cliff but a whole town, established by Randal MacDonnell (1556-1635), 1st Earl of Antrim, in 1608.
Archaeologists have recently unearthed remains of merchants’ houses and a forge, cobbled streets 11 metres wide, and an array of personal artefacts.
In 1642 Dunluce was burned to the ground. At that time, the next generation, Randal Macdonnell (1610-1682) 1st Marquess of Antrim and 2nd Earl of Antrim inhabited the castle, with his wife Katherine Manners, who was the widow of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.
The town as well as the castle was devastated in the 1641 Rebellion.Randal Macdonnell, 2nd Earl of Antrim.Randal MacDonnell (1610-1682) 2nd Earl and 1st Marquess of Antrim.Katherine was painted by Rubens.Katherine Manners (d. 1649) Duchess of Buckingham by Anthony Van Dyke, courtesy National Trust Images.
Before walking across to the Castle, you pass remains of ancilliary buildings.
[2] p. 116. Bence-Jones, Mark. 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.
Malahide Castle by Brian Morrison, 2015, for Tourism Ireland [1]
The castle is described in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as a five bay three storey over basement medieval mansion from 1450, renovated and extended around 1650, and again partly rebuilt and extended in 1770 with single-bay three-storey Georgian Gothic style circular towers added at each end of the front elevation. It was further extensively renovated in 1990. It is open to the public.
In 1185, Richard Talbot, who had accompanied King Henry II of England to Ireland in 1174, was granted the land and harbour of Malahide. [2] Talbots remained living at the site of Malahide Castle for the next nearly 800 years, from 1185 until 1976, with the exception of a few years during Oliver Cromwell’s time as Lord Protectorate.
I visited again recently so though I have published about the castle before, I am adding to it today. Unfortunately I seem to have lost the first two pages of the notes I took, so apologies to our very informative tour guide!
“The original stronghold built on the lands was a wooden fortress but this was eventually superseded by a stone structure on the site of the current Malahide Castle. Over the centuries, rooms and fortifications were added, modified and strengthened until the castle took on its current form.” [3]
The first stone castle was probably built around the end of the fifteenth century. It was a simple rectangular building of two storeys. The ground floor contained the kitchen and servants quarters and the first floor the family quarters and a great hall.
Mark Bence-Jones describes it in his Guide to Irish Country Houses:
p. 198. “(Talbot de Malahide, b/PB) The most distinguished of all Irish castles, probably in continuous occupation by the same family for longer than any other house in Ireland. It also contains the only surviving medieval great hall in Ireland to keep its original form and remain in domestic use – at any case, until recently.” [4]
Another castle that has been in nearly continuous occupation by the same family since the time of the Norman invasion and of King Henry II of England is Dunsany in County Meath – which was also occupied by a Cromwellian during the time of the Protectorate. Dunsany is a Revenue Section 482 property and it can be visited on certain dates during the year, and it is still occupied by the Plunkett family. (I haven’t published an entry about it as the family asked me not to.) Another, whose entry I will be adding to soon after my Heritage Week visit, is Howth Castle in Dublin, built by the St. Lawrence’s, or an earlier version of it, after the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, and which was only sold by the family a few years ago.
The Dunsany Plunkett and the Talbot families intermarried. Matilda Plunket (d. 1482), daughter of Christopher Plunket of both Dunsany and Killeen, sister of Christopher Plunket 1st Baron of Dunsany (d. 1467), married Richard Talbot of Malahide (b. 1418).
Matilda Plunket’s first husband, Walter Hussey, Baron of Galtrim, was killed in a battle on their wedding day! The couple were married on Whit Monday 1429, but within a few hours the bridegroom was murdered in a skirmish at Balbriggan, County Dublin. In the Meath History Hub, Noel French tells us that Lord Galtrim supposely wanders through Malahide Castle at night pointing to the spear wound in his side and uttering dreadful groans. It is said he haunts the Castle to show his resentment towards his young bride, who married his rival immediately after he had given up his life in defence of her honour and happiness.
Matilda married Richard Talbot in 1430. When Richard died she married a third time, to John Cornwallis, who held the office of Chief Baron of the Exchequer of Ireland. She moved back to Malahide Castle when widowed, running the household and overseeing major extensions to the castle. The Archiseek website tells us thatthe castle was notably enlarged in the reign of Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483). Matilda is buried in the old abbey next to Malahide Castle.
Richard and Matilda’s son Thomas Talbot (d. 1487) held an office created for him by King Edward IV in 1475, called Hereditary Lord High Admiral of Malahide and the Adjacent Seas. With this title he was awarded dues from customs, which would have been lucrative.
The Gothic windows over the entrance door are the windows of the oldest remaining part of the castle, the Oak Room. The windows themselves were only added in the 1820s, when the Oak Room was enlarged to the south by Colonel Richard Wogan Talbot, 2nd Baron, when he added on the Entrance Porch and the two small squared towers. Originally, there was no entrance on the south side, but a shell-lined grotto.
The Oak Room would have been the main room in the early stone castle.
The Oak Room, Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. [5]
The oak room is lined with oak panelling, elaborately carved. The carvings would have originally been part of older furniture. The panelling would have made the room warmer than having bare stone walls or limewash. The panels were painted white to make the room brighter as the windows would have been small to keep out the cold and to protect against invaders.
The Talbot crest features a lion and a dog, symbolising strength and loyalty. In the entrance courtyard to the castle, Talbot dogs sit on the pillars.
John Talbot (c. 1384-1453), 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, Detail of illuminated miniature from the Talbot Shrewsbury. He is in a habit as a knight of the Garter. Behind him a Talbot hound, his heraldic badge. presenting the book to Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, 1445. His robe displays several encircled Garters. See Poems and Romances (Shrewsbury book), illuminated by the MASTER OF JOHN TALBOT – http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=47542
The website of the Malahide Historical Society tells us that in 1641 John Talbot (d. 1671) succeeded his father Richard to the lordship of the Talbot estates in Malahide, Garristown and Castlering (Co. Louth).
During the uprising of 1641, Talbot tried to remain neutral, although as Catholics, many of his relatives rebelled. The Malahide Heritage website tells us:
“The Duke of Ormonde, on behalf of the Lords Chief Justices, garrisoned Malahide Castle but desisted from laying waste the farmland and village. The 500 acres about the castle were very productive and Talbot was supplying the garrison and Dublin with grain and vegetables at a time when the authorities were concerned with a very severe food shortage. Nevertheless, John was indicted for treason in February 1642, outlawed and his estates at Malahide, Garristown and Castlering declared forfeited. However, he managed to rent back his own castle and estate for a further decade.“
James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, who was also a supporter of the Stuart monarchy, in a portrait in Malahide Castle.
In 1653 Myles Corbett, Commissioner of Affairs in for Oliver Cromwell in Ireland, fleeing from an outbreak of plague in Dublin, ousted the family and obtained a seven-year lease on the castle.
When Charles II was restored to the throne, Myles Corbett was executed for his role in signing the death warrant of King Charles I.
The castle was restored to the Talbots after Corbet’s death.
John Talbot married Catherine Plunkett, daughter of Lucas 1st Earl of Fingall, of Killeen Castle, and Susannah Brabazon daughter of Edward Brabazon, 1st Lord Brabazon and Baron of Ardee (the Brabazons still live in Killruddery in County Wicklow).
According to tradition, Mark Bence-Jones tells us, the carving of the Coronation of the Virgin above the fireplace of the Oak Room miraculously disappeared when the castle was occupied Myles Corbett and reappeared when the Talbots returned after the Restoration. This would have been a Catholic tale, as Protestants do not believe in the virgin birth and would not venerate Mary the mother of Jesus in the way that Catholics do. The carving is seventeenth century Flemish.
Behind the carved panels on the wall to the right hand side of the fireplace is a door that acted as an escape route for Catholic priests when Catholic mass was held in this room.
When he returned to Ireland after Corbet left Malahide, Talbot acted as agent for Irish Catholics attempting to recover confiscated estates. He regained title to Malahide but he lost the customs of the port of Malahide, all his land in Castlering and most of the Garristown land, amounting to 2,716 acres in all or two-thirds of what he inherited in 1640.
The other ancient room in the castle is the Great Hall, which dates to 1475. The room has carved wooden corbel heads of King Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483), which are original. Here, Talbots would have presided over a medieval court, a place of banquets, feasting and music, with its minstrals gallery. The minstrels would have been kept away from the family for health reasons, as they might have carried disease and infection.
The Great Hall has an important collection of Jacobite portraits. Jacobites were supporters of King James II, as opposed to William of Orange. The portraits belonged to the Talbots and were acquired by the National Gallery and are now on loan to the castle.
You can see the carved heads of King Edward IV (1442 – 1483) in this photograph of Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives.Richard Talbot (1630-1690) Duke of Tyrconnell sits to the left of the chimneypiece. (see [5])The Great Hall, a photograph that is displayed in the entrance hall of the castle.
Richard Wogan Talbot (1766-1849) 2nd Baron Talbot extensively remodelled the Great Hall in 1825 in a neo-gothic revival style. Also, as you can see in my photographs, the ceiling has more wooden beams than in the 1976 photographs: the room was conserved in 2022 to honour its history.
Work on the Great Hall was carried out under the direction of conservation architects Blackwood Associates Architects. Over €500,000 was invested by Fingal County Council. Work was done to the external fabric of the building, including upgrading the roof and rainwater goods. Internally, the rafters of the great hall were restored as well as the minstrels’ gallery.
Conservation of the 19th century windows and fireplaces also took place. Studying the photographs, the windows appear to have been moved from the right hand side when facing the minstrals gallery, to the left hand wall! In fact a room seems to have disappeared from the Dublin City Library and Archives 1976 photograph above.
I was greatly interested in the portraits and would love to return to learn more about them and their sitters.
I have not yet identified the man who currently takes pride of place over the chimneypiece between the two windows.
I haven’t identified this man in his fine suit of armour and frilly lace collar and cuffs, who currently sits over the chimneypiece between the windows. I’d love help with identifications!He is rather like Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory, Eldest son of James, Duke of Ormond.Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, (1634-1680), Eldest son of James, Duke of Ormond, in armour standing near his charge, attributed to Van Dyck, courtesy of Adam’s auction 11 Oct 2016. Provenance: Formerly in the collection of the Earl of Fitzwilliam, 1948. Thomas Butler (1634-1680) 6th Earl of Ossory, studio of Sir Peter Lely, circa 1678, courtesy of National Portrait Gallery NPG 371. Second son of the Duke and Duchess of Ormond and father of 2nd Duke of Ormonde. Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [5])
An exerpt from J. Stirling Coyne and N.P. Willis’s The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland, 1841, describes the portrait collection at Malahide Castle, writing that there were portraits of Charles I and his wife by Van Dyke and of James II and his queen by Peter Lely.
John Talbot (d. 1671) and Catherine Plunkett’s son Richard (1638-1703) married Frances Talbot (d. 1718) daughter of Robert Talbot (d. 1670) 2nd Baronet Talbot, of Carton, Co. Kildare. Frances’s father played a leading role in the Catholic Confederacy of the 1640s.
Richard Talbot of Malahide (1638-1703), Attributed to Peter Lely, Dutch, 1618-1680. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Frances Talbot (c.1670-1718) by Garret Morphy courtesy National Gallery of Ireland NGI 4150. She was the daughter of Robert Talbot, 2nd Baronet of Carton, County Kildare, and wife of Richard Talbot (1638-1703) of Malahide.Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [5]). Portrait of Frances Talbot (c.1670-1718) by Garret Morphy.
The Talbot family played a leading role at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690: it is said 14 members of the Talbot family had breakfast together in the great hall on the morning of the battle, but only one of the 14 cousins returned to Malahide when the battle was over. They fought on the side of James II.
Displayed in the castle, this family tree includes the Talbots of Carton.
Richard’s wife Frances was a niece of Richard Talbot, 1st Duke of Tyrconnell (1630-1691). The Duke of Tyrconnell was a close companion of James, Duke of York, who later became King James II. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tell us:
“At the battle of the Boyne on 1 July the greater part of the Jacobite army was diverted upstream as a result of a Williamite ruse, leaving Tyrconnell in command of 8,000 men at Oldbridge, where the battle was fought and lost, despite fierce resistance, especially from Tyrconnell’s cavalry. Immediately after the battle both Lauzun and Tyrconnell advised James to leave for France.“
Richard Talbot (1630-1691), Duke of Tyrconnell, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Richard Talbot (1630-1690) Duke of Tyrconnell.
Richard Talbot (1630-1691), Duke of Tyrconnell’s portrait takes centre stage on the back wall of the Great Hall.
Centre, Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell. Portrait by Francois de Troy, court painter for King James II in his exile.Above him in the centre is John Talbot 1st Earl of Shrewsbury c. 1670.In the top right corner is Catherine Nugent (d.1756) by James Latham c. 1725.Richard, 5th Viscount Molyneux of Maryborough (1679-1738) and Mary, 5th Viscountess Molyneux (1680-1766) by Garret Morphy, c. 1705, above Morris Hayes (2025).
I’m not sure what role Richard of Malahide played in battles in Ireland, but he was Auditor-General of Ireland in 1688, when the Duke of Tyrconnell was Lord Deputy of Ireland.
Richard of Malahide and his sons survived the change in monarchy and although the Earl of Tyrconnell and his brother, Frances Talbot’s father the 2nd Baronet of Carton, were attainted, Richard managed to keep his estate of Malahide.
The library wing dates to the seventeenth century and is hung with eighteenth century leather wall hangings.
Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [5])The library, Malahide Castle, Dublin, photograph byPocket Squares . The wallpaper is of calfskin with gold and silver leaf and is three hundred years old. The room was used as a dining room in the 1970s by the Talbots.
Richard’s son John (1668-1739) married Frances Wogan, daughter of Colonel Nicholas Wogan of Rathcoffey, County Kildare. The Wogans had also been a Jacobite family.
The family continued to intermarry with prominent Irish Catholic families: John and Frances née Wogan’s son Richard (d. 1788) married Margaret O’Reilly, daughter of James O’Reilly of Ballinlough Castle and of Barbara Nugent, another Catholic family. Archiseek tells us that the family remained Roman Catholic until 1774. At this time Richard officially converted to Protestantism, but our tour guide pondered rhetorically “but did he really?” His wife Margaret did not convert.
Richard raised a company of military volunteers. The Malahide heritage site tells us:
“Early in November 1779, the anniversary of the birth of William III and of his landing in England, one hundred and fifty of Captain Talbot’s men joined up with other north side Volunteers and all nine hundred marched through the city to College Green led by the Duke of Leinster. There, in company with south side Volunteers, they called for Free Trade between Ireland and England, firing off their muskets and discharging small cannon. The scene was recorded by the English painter Francis Wheatley in his well known canvas. Talbot’s Volunteers later formed the nucleus of an officially recognised regiment of Fencibles, renamed the 106th Regiment of Foot with Richard as their colonel. They proved unruly and mutinous and were disbanded in 1783 but not before they had cost Talbot a great deal of expense.“
Painting by Francis Wheatley depicting the Dublin Volunteers on College Green, 1779.
A fire in the castle in 1760 destroyed a great hall that dated from the early 16th or 17th century. The room had been divided into four smaller rooms by hanging tapestries from the ceiling to form walls. Richard and Margaret had a new Georgian Gothic wing built, which added two slender round towers. Part of the castle was reconfigured with the new wing, to create two magnificent drawing rooms with rococo plasterwork which may be by or is certainly in the style of Robert West.
The Castle from the Pleasure Garden, photograph by George Munday, 2014, Tourism Ireland. The towers were added in 1765.(see [1])Malahide Castle, engraving of picture by Francis Wheatley, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Mark Bence-Jones suggest that the work at Malahide Castle was probably done by amateur architect Thomas Wogan Browne, who may also have carried out work for Hugh O’Reilly (1741-1821) of Ballinlough Castle in County Westmeath, Margaret’s brother.
Ballinlough Castle, County Westmeath, photograph courtesy of Ballinlough Castle’s website.
Thomas Wogan Browne (d. 1812) of Castle Brown in County Kildare, which is now the home of the school Clongowes Woods College, was a cousin of Richard. Richard Talbot’s mother was Frances Wogan, daughter of Nicholas Wogan of Castle Browne and his wife Rose O’Neill, and her sister Catherine married Michael Browne, and was the mother of Thomas Wogan Browne. [6]
Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare, home of amateur architect Thomas Wogan Browne who may have designed the new wing at Malahide Castle.Rose O’Neill, later Mrs Nicholas Wogan, by Garret Morphy c. 1695. She was Richard Talbot’s grandmother. Thomas Wogan Browne the amateur architect was her nephew. Portrait courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland NGI 4149.
The Dictionary of Irish Biograph tells us that, like Richard Talbot, Wogan Browne was brought up a Catholic but at about the time of his marriage conformed to the Protestant church (October 1785), which enabled him to play a part in local life and politics closed to him as a Catholic.
The pair of “Malahide Orange” painted drawing rooms which contain rococo plasterwork in the manner of Robert West and the Dublin school also have decorative doorcases and marble fireplaces and are now filled with portraits and paintings.
West, Robert (d. 1790), stuccodore and Dublin property developer, was probably born in Dublin c. 1720-1730. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that he was established in his trade by c.1750. His brother John was also a plasterer and builder. The Dictionary of Irish Biography entry states:
“West is often confused with Robert West (d. 1770), artist and draughtsman, who lived in Dublin at the same time and was a teacher of applied arts such as stucco design as well as life drawing. Though there is no evidence that the two men were blood relatives, they would almost certainly have known of each other’s work. Continental prints, showing ceiling designs by artists such as Bérain, Pineau, and Boucher, were commonly circulated among craftsmen and students in Dublin during the 1750s and 60s. Robert West the artist may have provided inspiration for some of the motifs (such as birds, swags, and musical instruments) used by West the stuccodore. The design and fixing of plasterwork was a complex collaborative venture involving many hands, and it is rarely possible to attribute plasterwork designs to a single artist. It is known that Robert worked alongside his brother John West and he would have required a team of assistants.“
“Robert was a property developer as well as a stuccodore, which provided a ready-made market for his team of plaster workers. In 1757 he leased two adjacent plots on what is now Lower Dominick St. The surviving plaster work in number 20, which is attributed to West and his circle, is among the most daring rococo plasterwork to be found anywhere in Ireland. Menacing birds perch on pedestals, and naturalistic busts of girls, sea-pieces, and bowls of flowers are sculpted with great sensitivity. West is associated with the plasterwork in about ten town houses in Dublin such as 4 and 5 Rutland (latterly Parnell) Square and 86 St Stephen’s Green. All of these interiors date from c.1756 to 1765. West is not connected to any plasterwork between 1765 and his death in 1790.“
Robert West plasterwork in 20 Lower Dominic Street, photograph courtesy of Dublin City Library Archive.Dominick Street Lower, No. 20 ceiling of stairhall, Robert West’s house 1758.
“The West circle of stuccodores was instrumental in encouraging imaginative rococo plasterwork in Ireland during the 1750s and 1760s. West was a magpie in terms of style and deployed elements of the chinoiserie (winged dragons and ho-ho birds) alongside the more conventional swirling acanthus leaves commonly found on contemporary continental prints. Indeed, this eclectic mix can be seen in many Dublin town houses and in country houses as far afield as Florence Court, Co. Fermanagh.“
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “The doorway between the two rooms has on one side a doorcase with a broken pediment on Ionic columns. The walls of the two drawing rooms are painted a subtle shade of orange, which makes a perfect background to the pictures in their gilt frames.
“Opening off each of the two drawing rooms is a charming little turret room. A third round tower was subsequently added at the corner of the hall range, balancing one of C18 towers at the opposite side of the entrance front; and in early C19, an addition was built in the centre of this front, with two wide mullioned windows windows above an entrance door; forming an extension to the Oak Room and providing an entrance hall below it.”
Malahide Castle drawing room 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [5])Malahide Castle 1980, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [5])Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [5])Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [5])Malahide Castle 1984, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [5])
The Malahide history website tells us that to generate employment for his tenants, beginning in 1782 Richard Talbot built a five-storey cotton mill, generating energy from a large water wheel. He wanted to construct a canal from Malahide into county Meath, from which he could obtain a toll, and obtained parliamentary approval, but died just as work commenced in 1788, so it wasn’t built. [6]
Richard’s widow Margaret was created Baroness Talbot in 1931 at the age of 86. This could be due to her husband’s work, and also her family connections. She was related by marriage to the influential George Temple Grenville, later to become the Marquess of Buckingham, who was twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He married Mary Nugent, daughter of Robert Craggs-Nugent (né Nugent), 1st Earl Nugent. His patronage would be of considerable benefit to Margaret and her offspring. Due to this creation, her sons then became Barons.
Her son Richard Wogan Talbot (1766-1849) became 2nd Baron Talbot of Malahide in 1834 when his mother died. He held the office of Member of Parliament (Whig) for County Dublin between 1807 and 1830. The Malahide Heritage Site tells us that he carried out extensive repairs and improvements to Malahide Castle and let it for the summer of 1825 to the Lord Lieutenant, the Marquesss of Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington’s eldest brother Richard).
Colonel Richard Wogan Talbot, 2nd Baron Talbot of Malahide (c.1766-1849) Date 1840, by Giovanni Battista Canevari, Italian, 1789-1876. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
When there was a dire shortage of coinage in 1803, Richard Wogan Talbot set up a bank in Malahide with authority to issue small denomination notes. He became an early director of the Provincial Bank of Ireland which many years later amalgamated with the Munster & Leinster Bank and the Royal Bank of Ireland to form the now existing Allied Irish Bank.
Richard Wogan Talbot was elected to Westminster in 1806 and continued there until he retired in 1830. He was a supporter of Catholic Emancipation.
He was created Baron Furnival of Malahide in 1839 in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He married firstly Catherine Malpas (d. c.1800) of Chapelizod and Rochestown, Co. Dublin, by whom he had two children. In 1806 he married Margaret Sayers, daughter of Andrew Sayers of Drogheda. He lived beyond his limited means throughout most of his life and was supported by his mother, Margaret. [7]
His son predeceased him, so the baronetcy passed to his brother, James Talbot (1767-1850).
Here is the portrait of Colonel Richard Wogan Talbot, 2nd Baron Talbot of Malahide (c.1766-1849) in situ, below Frances Talbot (c.1670-1718) by Garret Morphy.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography has an extensive entry for James Talbot (1767-1850) 3rd Baron of Malahide, who was a diplomat and spy! From 1796 until he retired in 1803 he engaged in highly sensitive and covert activities mainly in France and Switzerland. In 1804 he married Anne Sarah Rodbard of Somerset with whom he had seven sons and five daughters. The family lived in France and Italy for about thirteen years before returning to his wife’s family home in Somerset. On the death of his brother Richard in October 1849 he became 3rd Baron Talbot. However, he was too infirm to travel to Malahide and he died in December 1850, aged 83. [see 7]
The Baronetcy then passed to his son James Talbot (1805-1883) 4th Baron of Malahide. He was an antiquarian and archaeologist.
James Talbot, 4th Baron Talbot de Malahide (1805-1883) by John Collier courtesy National Gallery of Ireland NGI 4654.
The Malahide History Site describes the 4th Baron’s achievements:
“In 1838 he set off with his aunt Eliza from Ballinclea House in Killiney on an extended tour of Europe and the near east. They spent over two years abroad during which he conducted much research while in Egypt and developed a keen interest in Roman antiquities. He succeeded his father as fourth Baron Talbot of Malahide in 1850 having already been in residence in Malahide and in 1856 he was created a peer of the United Kingdom as Baron Talbot de Malahide, in the County of Dublin. This gave him a seat in the House of Lords where he contributed regularly and from 1863 to 1866 he served as a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip) in the Liberal administrations of Lord Palmerston and Lord Russell. He was also a magistrate for Co. Dublin. James Talbot was also a noted amateur archaeologist and an active member of the Royal Archaeological Institute, serving as president for 30 years. Moreover, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries of London and served as president of the Royal Irish Academy. He was president also of the Geological and Zoological Societies of Ireland and vice-president of the Royal Dublin Society where he was a regular exhibitor of cattle at its shows. In that society’s autumn show he won a prize for seventeen varieties of farm produce from Lambay. He was instrumental in the revival of the Fingal Farming Society. Lord Talbot of Malahide married a well-to-do Scottish heiress, Maria Margaretta, daughter of Patrick Murray, of Simprim, Forfarshire, in 1842 but was left a widower in August, 1873. She was the last to be buried in the crypt in Malahide Abbey under the altar tomb associated with Maud Plunkett. He had a family of seven children. He died in Madeira in April 1883, aged 77, and was succeeded in his titles and estates by his eldest son.“
Maria Margaretta Murray, Lady Talbot, married to James 4th Baron Talbot of Malahide, by Thomas Lawrence.
The Malahide History Site tells us that a gas-making plant was purchased from Messrs Edmundson of Capel Street in Dublin in 1856 and erected on The Green in the village. Apart from providing street lighting, the gas appears to have been piped to the castle thus making it one of the earlier houses to have gas lighting installed.
James’s son Richard Wogan Talbot (1846-1921) was next in line as 5th Baron. He also sounds like a fascinating character. He joined an exploration party making researches into the interior of Africa, and later published an account of his adventures. He found the estate in poor condition when he inherited, so he saved all that he could to put the castle and estate in order. [see 7]
Richard married Emily Harriette Boswell, and after his death their son James Boswell Talbot became the 6th Baron. Emily Harriette was the granddaughter of James Boswell the biographer of Samuel Johnson, author of the Dictionary of the English Language in 1775. When Emily died in 1898, Richard Talbot inherited the Boswell estate in Auchinleck, Scotland. This included an ebony cabinet full of the writer’s papers! In 1986 the remains of the buildings at Auchinleck were turned over to the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust by James Boswell, a descendant of the 18th-century Boswells. Now restored, Auchinleck House is used for holiday lets through the Landmark Trust, and is occasionally open to the public.
Richard the 5th Baron and his son spent much time travelling and the castle was left empty for long periods. He married for a second time in 1901 and he and his wife returned to live in Malahide. Several of his wife Isabelle’s paintings hang in the castle. She filled the house with children from her first marriage to John Gurney of Ham House and Sprowston Hall in England. She became head of the Dublin branch of the Red Cross during World War I and was awarded an O.B.E. in 1920.
James Boswell Talbot the 6th Baron’s main interests were horse racing, Irish wolfhounds and fishing. He married at aged 50 Joyce Gunning Kerr, the eighteen year old daughter of an actor and London theatre manager. He fished at Mountshannon where he and his wife maintained a lodge and boat. Having inherited about 3,000 acres he had, by 1946, sold all but the 300 acres around the castle. He was of a retiring disposition but popular locally. His new wife assumed much of the day-to-day management of the castle. Lady Joyce took a keen interest in the Boswell Papers and was closely involved in their sale but not before she attempted to censor some of Boswell’s more explicit descriptions of his sexual encounters. They had no children so when he died in 1948 the title went to a grandson of the 4th Baron, Milo, who became 7th Baron, and who inherited Malahide Castle and estate.
James Boswell Talbot (1874-1948) 6th Baron Talbot and his wife.
Milo would not have grown up expecting the title, as his father had an elder brother who predeceased him by just one year, but this brother did not have children.
Colonel The Hon. Milo George Milo Talbot (1854-1931) by William Carter. He was the father of Milo the 7th Baron.
Milo the 7th Baron was a diplomat in Laos when he inherited Malahide Castle and was later Ambassador to Laos. He never married. He returned to live in the castle and died in 1973.
Milo Talbot, one of the last owners of Malahide, at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronationin 1952.
He is yet another fascinating character and is described on the Malahide Historical Society website:
“Much of Milo’s career during the 1940s and early 50s is shrouded in mystery and rumour. At Cambridge, Guy Burgess had been his history tutor and Anthony Blount had also tutored him. Kim Philby and Donald Maclean were also at Cambridge around this time. Milo is thought to have worked in the Secret Service for some years during World War II and to have encountered some of these men in the Foreign Office and in diplomatic postings abroad especially at Ankara in Turkey. In the course of Milo’s time at the Foreign Office during the Cold War Burgess and Maclean defected to the Russians after Philby alerted them to the fact that they were under suspicion. Milo retired in 1956 aged 45. Philby subsequently defected to be followed by Blount who was exposed as a double agent and who had been a regular guest of Milo at Malahide Castle. When Milo died suddenly in Greece when apparently in good health rumours and innuendos again circulated. No post mortem was carried out. Milo’s sister Rose burned his papers immediately on his death and many of the Foreign Office papers relating to him have disappeared.” [see 7]
When Milo the 7th Baron died the barony expired, and Malahide Castle and demesne was inherited by his sister Rose. Two years later, in 1975, she sold the castle to the Irish state, partly due to inheritance taxes. She moved to family property in Tasmania.
[4] 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.
Newbridge House is a Georgian Villa built to the design of James Gibbs in 1737 for Charles Cobbe (1686-1765), Archbishop of Dublin. For many years, it was attributed to Richard Castle, but in 2000 a plan for Newbridge was discovered which suggests it was the work of James Gibbs, an English architect. [1] As Alec Cobbe and Terry Friedman highlight in their 2005 study, James Gibbs in Ireland: His villa for Charles Cobbe Archbishop of Dublin: “Newbridge, in its simplicity and beautiful proportions, stands as a handsome achievement of Palladian restraint, one of the very few of Gibbs’ country houses to survive largely unaltered.”
In Great Irish Houses, with forewards by Desmond FitzGerald and Desmond Guinness, we are told:
“The Cobbe family association with Newbridge stretches back to the late mid 18C when Charles Cobbe was named Archbishop of Dublin, a prestigious and lucrative title with a salary of up to £10,000 per annum. The Archbishop immediately began to think of living quarters in line with his station and turned to Newbridge where a medium-sized Stuart house already existed. In engaging Gibbs for the rebuilt, Cobbe and Friedman note the Archbishop took “a step distinctly independent of what was happening on the architectural scene in Dublin.” A grand architectural design for Newbridge was abandoned when the Archbishop failed to secure the See of Armagh and Gibbs set about rescaling the design to one more closely resembling the property that stands today.” [1]
Charles Cobbe advanced rapidly through the ecclesiastical ranks; he was appointed Dean of Ardagh in 1718, Bishop of Killala in 1720, Bishop of Dromore in 1727, Bishop of Kildare in 1732, and finally Archbishop of Dublin in 1746. He married Dorothea, daughter of the Richard Levinge 1st Baronet, Speaker of the House of Commons, and Chief Justice of Common Pleas in Ireland, of Knockdrin Castle, County Westmeath. She was the widow of John Rawdon 3rd Baronet, of Moira House, County Down.
Mark Bence-Jones describes Newbridge House in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
“Of two storeys over high basement, ashlar faced entrance of six bays, with a pedimented tripartite doorcase. Broad flight of stairs with ironwork railings up to hall door; shouldered window architraves; solid roof parapet with urns and eagles at corners.“
The website for Newbridge House tells us: “In 1985 the family gave the house and sold the demesne to Dublin County Council (now Fingal County Council) entering into an agreement under which the historic family-owned pictures, furniture and documents, are kept in situ while the Cobbe family remains in residence. As a result of this agreement, the interiors of Newbridge House are remarkably complete and amongst the best preserved in Ireland.“
Dublin county Council began an extensive programme of restoration, renovation and reconstruction when it took over ownership of the house. The house was opened to the public in 1986 along with 360 acres of landscape which had been developed in the style of the English landscape movement, probably to the designs of Charles Frizell from Wexford [2]. Additions include the cobbled courtyard designed by Robert Mack and built about 1790. This too has been extensively restored and now houses a museum on late 18th century rural life.
Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd and Christopher Simon Sykes describe the acquisition of Newbridge House in their Great Houses of Ireland: “the enterprising pair of Michael Lynch, of Dublin County Council’s Parks Dept, and Matt McNulty, of Bord Failte (the Irish Tourist Board), who had already rescued the historic Malahide Castle nearby to be a tourist attraction, stepped in with an ingenious solution [in 1985]. The Cobbes could continue to reside in the house in return for leaving most of the contents – the original Irish furniture, pictures and works of art on display – in situ on loan.” [3]
In 1749 three years after Charles Cobbe was made Archbishop of Dublin, he hired his friend, architect George Semple, to add the 100 foot spire to St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Before this, Jonathan Swift, a former Dean of St. Patrick’s had objected to a steeple.
The website tells us about the history of the Cobbe family:
“In 1717, Charles Cobbe (1686-1765) came to Ireland as private secretary and chaplain to his kinsman Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was appointed Bishop of Killala in 1720 and his career progressed with successive bishoprics until he was enthroned as Archbishop of Dublin in 1743.
“Cobbe began purchasing lands on the Donabate peninsula in 1736, and commissioned the celebrated architect James Gibbs in 1744 to design a plan for the rebuilding of Newbridge House, where a house had stood previously. Work began in 1747 and Newbridge is Gibbs’s only executed work in Ireland.
“The Archbishop gave the near-finished building to his only surviving son, Thomas (1733-1814) in 1755, on the latter’s marriage to Lady Elizabeth (Betty) Beresford, youngest daughter of the 1st Earl of Tyrone [of Curraghmore, County Waterford]. By extending the house, decorating it with ornamental stucco, collecting pictures, porcelain and commissioning furniture from Irish cabinetmakers, Thomas and Lady Betty left a significant mark on Newbridge which is still evident today.”
The entrance hall, which is one of the three halls, has a grand a pedimented chimneypiece flanked by doors that have shouldered architraves. The coat of arms of the Cobbe family features two swans with the legend Moriens Cano (dying, I sing), along with the Archbishop’s coat of arms. The plaster cornice features an oak leaf and ribbon frieze, and the chair rails and skirting all have the mark of Gibbs as seen in other houses of the period. The flooring is of Portland stone and Welsh slate. Throughout the house, the plasterwork is attributed to the Dublin stuccodore Richard Williams, who is documented as receiving payments at Newbridge during the early 1760s. [4]
Off the entrance hall is a study, where locals remember doing business across the large desk in the centre of the room, selling hay or buying cattle. Family portraits hang on the walls and there is a writing desk that was used by a daughter of the house, Frances Power Cobbe, the great social campaigner. Her two autobiographies provide a telling insight into the 19th century operation of the house. [see 4]
To the right, facing south, is the dining room, which features a black Kilkenny marble broken-pedimented chimneypiece. It is likely that this followed a Gibbs design, as drawings for similar pieces exist for the drawing room, library and saloon at Kelmarsh Hall, Gibbs’ Palladian-style mansion in Northampton [see 1]. Both the walls and ceiling are decorated with ornate stuccowork, with the Greek key motif of the panel frets replicated in the side tables made for the room. A hand-operated dumb-waiter sits in one corner. The room has a portrait of the Duke of Bolton as Knight of the Garter and a portrait of the Archbishop. [see 4, p. 243]
Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd and Christopher Simon Sykes tell us that this room was last decorated several years ago when Alec Cobbe had curtains and wallpaper made. In one corner stands an unusual piece of furniture that may have been an oyster table. The estuary at Malahide was well known for oysters up until the mid 19th century and this table allows diners to deposit shells through a narrow channel.
Thomas Cobbe and his wife Elizabeth née Beresford had a son, Charles (1756-1798). He married Anne Power Trench of Garbally, County Galway in 1778 but also ran up considerable debts. As a result, his father Thomas had to sell some estates in Louth and their large townhouse in Palace Row. Charles served as MP for Swords in the Irish Parliament, and predeceased his father.
The website tells us that in 1810, Thomas gifted Newbridge to his eldest grandson, Charles Cobbe (1781-1857), who, as well as raising his own five children here, provided a centre of home life for the numerous children of his brothers.
Montgomery-Massingberd and Sykes tell us that two interesting portraits hang in the library: Charles Cobbe and Fanny Kemble. Charles, great grandson of the Archbishop, went to India with his brother to join the Duke of Wellington’s forces. When he moved back, his grandparents Tommy and Lady Betty Cobbe had gone to live in Bath and the house had been closed up. Following marriage to Frances Conway he began restoring Newbridge to its former glory from 1810 onwards. Much of the furnishings date from this golden period in the house’s history. The actress Fanny Kemble was a friend of Fanny Cobbe and a frequent visitor to the house. [5]
One room is dedicated as a “cabinet of curiosities.” Desmond Guinness and Desmond FitzGerald tell us in their entry about Newbridge House in Great Irish Houses that the collection may have started life as a shell collection in the 1790s by Elizabeth Beresford (1736-1860) who married the archbishop’s son Colonel Thomas Cobbe. She came from Curraghmore in County Waterford (see my entry on Curraghmore) and would have been familiar with her mother’s Shell Cottage. Much of what we see in the collection today comes from the Indian subcontinent, including a Taj Mahal in alabaster, ostrich eggs, corals, statues of house gods, a snake charmer’s box and tusks with carving noting the abolition of slavery [see 5]. The oriental theme is even carried through to the elephant design curtains. The panels on the wall are reproduction of the originals.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “Soon after the Archbishop’s death, 1765, his son, Col Thomas Cobbe, MP, who had a fashionable wife, a sister of 1st Marquess of Waterford, added a wing at the back of the house containing a very large drawing room, with a ceiling of rococo plasterwork by Robert West [we now know it is actually by a pupil of Robert West, Richard Williams], who also decorated the family pew in the Protestant church at Donabate. This great room, which is now hung with a scarlet wallpaper, is entered by way of a corridor and though a monumental doorway with a pediment and fluted engaged Corinthian column.”
The grand drawing room is entered via a sculpture gallery.
The Corinthian door, which was executed between 1763 and 1764, is a marvellous entrance to the room. Montgomery-Massingberd and Sykes tell us it was George Semple who oversaw the new building work. [see 3]. They write:
“Above all, Thomas, who followed his maternal grandfather, Speaker Sir Richard Levinge, 1st Baronet, into the Irish House of Commons, and Lady Betty, a celebrated hostess, were determined to make Newbridge a fashionable place for entertaining. They promptly extended the house by adding the Red Drawing Room, a highly impressive chamber, 45 feet long, entered through a monumental doorway with a pediment and fluted engaged Corinthian columns. The glorious ceiling of rococo plasterwork, and also the one which enlivened the Archbishop’s Dining Room, is by the Dublin stuccodore Richard Williams, a pupil of Robert West of Florence Court fame.“
The ornate ceiling in this room includes baskets of flowers and exotic bird dragons. An article in the 2017 Irish Georgian Society Review tells us that Williams worked so much in the house that he married the children’s nurse!
The room was last redecorated in 1828, when the wallpaper, curtains and the unusual curtain rails were commissioned. The Dublin upholsterers Mack, Williams and Gibton supplied the carpet and curtains. The fireplace is Italian.
Archbishop Charles Cobbe and his son Thomas were assisted in the purchase of art by Matthew Pilkington, husband of the writer Letitia Pilkington, a friend of Jonathan Swift.
Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd and Christopher Simon Sykes tell us:
“Besides serving as Thomas and Lady Betty’s salon, the Red Drawing Room was also in effect a picture gallery to show off the magnificent collection of Old Master paintings which they formed with the expert advice of the local clergyman the Reverend Matthew Pilkington. For as well as being Vicar of Donabate (where the Cobbe family piew was also decorated by ‘Williams the Stoccoer,’ as he is described in the Newbridge accounts), Pilkington was, by a happy chance, the author of The Gentleman’s and Connoisseur’s Dictionary of Painters (1770), the first such work of reference to be published in English.” [see 2, p. 130]
Robert O’Byrne tells us more about the Reverend Matthew Pilkington:
“In 1725 he married the well-connected Laetitia van Lewen, as diminutive – but also as witty – as her husband, and the couple became friends with the likes of Jonathan Swift and Patrick Delany. Through the former Pilkington secured the position of Chaplain to the London Mayor of London and so moved to the other side of the Irish Sea. However in London he antagonized potential supporters and was imprisoned two years later. On returning to Dublin, he then became estranged from his wife and the couple was eventually and scandalously divorced in 1737: just over a decade later Laetitia Pilkington published her entertaining memoirs, from which her former husband emerges in a poor light. Ultimately he recovered his social position thanks to the patronage of Charles Cobbe, Archbishop of Dublin who offered Pilkington the living of Donabate and Portraine next to Cobbe’s newly completed seat at Newbridge.” [6]
Mrs Letitia Pilkington (née Van Lewen), (1712-1750), Adventuress and Author Date: c.1760 Engraver: Richard Purcell, Irish, c.1736-c.1766 After Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Irish, 1718-1784.
The website tells us of Charles Cobbe (1781-1857) and his family. Cobbe was concerned with the welfare and the living conditions of his tenants, and in the 1830s he sold two of the best pictures of this room to raze the ‘wretched mud cabins’ of his tenants and replace them with proper cottages.
Charles’s daughter, Frances Power Cobbe, would become a noted philanthropist, feminist and writer, and advocated university education for women. She was the author of a number of books and essays, including The Intuitive Theory of Morals (1855), On the Pursuits of Women (1863), Cities of the Past (1864), Criminals, Idiots, Women and Minors (1869), Darwinism in Morals (1871) and Scientific Spirit of the Age (1888). She was the partner of Mary Lloyd, the sculptor, whom she met in Rome. In letters and published writing, Cobbe referred to Lloyd alternately as “husband,” “wife,” and “dear friend.”
Frances Power Cobbe By https://wellcomecollection.org Image from frontispiece of autobiography “Life of Life of Frances Power Cobbe, by Herself, Volume 1.” Bentley, London, 1894.
Charles occupied Newbridge for 47 years and on his death it passed to his son, also named Charles (1811-1886). The house passed from Charles (1811-1886) to his brother Thomas’s son, Leuric Charles Cobbe (1859-97), and then to his son, Thomas Maberley Cobbe (1884-1914). The website continues:
“…Thomas Maberley Cobbe married Eleanor Colville Frankland, the elegant daughter of an Anglo-American heiress and descendant of one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, John Jay. The couple, setting up at Newbridge at the beginning of the 20th century, entertained guests, raised their family and managed the estate for the trustees. In 1933, Newbridge was inherited by their son Tommy, who was born and lived there his whole life. When he died in 1984 it passed to his two nephews and his niece who had grown up in the house.“
The nephews and niece were children of Tommy’s brother Francis (1913-1949): Hugh, Alec and Mary – their mother was also a Cobbe (descended from the fourth son of Charles Cobbe and Anne Power Trench).
The house tour includes the basement and servants’ quarters.
Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd and Christopher Simon Sykes write:
p. 131. “Nostalgically stocked kitchens, laundries and outbuildings help present a rounded picture of life in an Irish country house. The coaches on display in the stables include a splendid State Coach built in 1790 (about the same time as the square cobbled courtyard was laid out) for ‘Black Jack’ FitzGibbon, Lord Chancellor of Ireland.“
They tell us that ‘Black Jack’ was notorious for his remark that he would ‘tame the Irish like cats.’ Hardly surprisingly, they add, that his coffin had dead cats thrown at it.
Stephen and I visited Gravelmount House in December 2023. Christine Casey and Alistair Rowan describe Gravelmount in their The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster. Penguin Books, London, 1993:
p. 199. “Large three storey, five-bay late Georgian house with a shallow hipped roof and no eaves cornice. Attractive ivy-grown façade, with very long sash windows diminishing abruptly on the top storey. Central fanlit doorcase flanked by freestanding Doric columns supporting an entablature.”
Brian the owner told us it is called “Gravelmount” as it sits on gravel.
Through the front door, one steps into a spacious hall with an acanthus leaf ceiling rose and frieze of urns, swags and drapery. The hall was festooned with generous Christmas decorations. Current owners the McKennas purchased the property in 2004, and the thirty acres includes an Equestrian centre which runs an Ability Therapy school for children with special needs.
Gravelmount was built in around 1780, Brian told us, for the Weldon family. William Weldon, Barrister, of Gravelmount, married Elizabeth (d. 1761), daughter of Nicholas Browne, 2nd Viscount and 4th Baronet of Kenmare, County Kerry.
William’s son Nicholas married Lucy Gorges, widow of William St. Lawrence, 14th Baron Howth. She was the daughter of Richard Gorges (d. 1728) of Kilbrew, County Meath and Nichola Sophia Hamilton (1666-1713). William’s daughter Helen became the third wife of John Nugent, heir to the title Earl Nugent of Westmeath in 1748. [1]
Lucy was friendly with Jonathan Swift, and he called her his “blue eyed nymph.” [2] In order to marry the Catholic Nicholas Weldon, Lucy had to obtain a royal pardon, in order to maintain her property rights. [3]
Nicholas Weldon and Lucy had a son William. The Meath website tells us that on 30 April 1776 William Weldon renounced the Catholic Church and became a Protestant at the parish church of St. Peters. He married Isabella Rose Fleming and secondly, Lucy Cuffe, daughter of John, 2nd Baron Desart of County Kilkenny. William died after 1802. His son John Hamilton Weldon (d. 1837) held Gravelmount in 1812 and also had a city residence at 42 Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin. [see 1]
In the 1830s the house belonged to the Rev. R. Longfield and was occupied by John O’Connor. In 1837 it was described as a spacious and handsome house with the demesne comprising about 160 statute acres and the grounds were tastefully laid out. John O’Connor inherited an estate at nearby Ardlonan. O’Connor, son of Rev. George O’Connor of Castleknock, was a graduate of Trinity College and bred horses at Gravelmount. [see 1]
The most famous inhabitant of Gravelmount was John’s son Charles Yelverton O’Connor, an engineer who emigrated to Australia and constructed Fremantle harbour in Western Australia and a water pipeline to the gold fields, from Perth to Kalgoorlie, 330 miles. A plaque by the front gate honours him. There was a ceremony when the plaque was revealed in the presence of the Australian ambassador.
The current owners have not yet fixed up the top floor so they live on the first two storeys. We went through the drawing room and dining room and into the morning room which is south facing and still has its original fireplace.
The stairs are lit by a large window, and below the stairs is a lovely stained glass window.
The owners added panelling to the hall and morning room. Brian then took us down to the basement, where it still has its original wine cellar, and a vaulted ceiling. A door in the basement leads out to a yard.
[2] Ball, F. Elrington History of Dublin Vol. 5 “Howth and its Owners” University Press Dublin 1917 pp. 135-40.
[3] “Pardon of George II to Lucy Lady Dowager Howth in respect of rents imperilled through her marriage to Nicholas Weldon, a papist” 13 December 1751 National Library of Ireland.
Colonel Rt. Hon. John Eyre (1623-1685) was the son of Giles Eyre. John married Mary Bigoe, daughter of Phillip Bigoe. John Eyre accompanied General Ludlow to Ireland. He acquired large estates in counties Galway, Tipperary, Clare and King’s County, and he built Eyrecourt Castle in County Galway. He was appointed Privy Counsellor (P.C.), and he held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Galway. He held the office of High Sheriff of County Galway in 1681.
John and Mary née Bigoe had a son John (1659-1709) and Samuel (1663-1728). John “Proud” Eyre (1659-1709) inherited Eyre Court. He married, first, Margery Preston, daughter of George Baronet Preston, of Craigmillar in Scotland. Her sister Elizabeth Preston married William Parsons 2nd Baronet of Birr Castle, County Offaly. Margery and “Proud” John had several children. After his first wife died, “Proud” John married Anne Hamilton, daughter of William Hamilton of Liscloony County Offaly.
Eyre Family Portrait of Lady Anne née Hamilton (daughter of William Hamilton of Liscloony County Offaly), wife of John Eyre (1659-1709) the 2nd of Eyrecourt , courtesy Purcells Auctioneer Feb 2016. She had been previously married to Matthew Plunkett, 7th Baron of Louth.
Children of John Eyre and Margery Preston
Elizabeth Eyre m. Frederick Richard Trench (1681-1752)
Very Rev. Giles Eyre d. 17 Jan 1750, married Mary Cox. They had a son Richard Eyre (d. 1780) who married firstly, Emily Trench, daughter of Frederick Richard Trench and Elizabeth Eyre, on 21 June 1752. He married, secondly, Anchoretta Eyre, daughter of Colonel Samuel Eyre and Charity Dancer, on 13 January 1764. He held the office of High Sheriff of County Galway in 1749. He lived at Eyrecourt, County Galway, Ireland.
John Eyre d. Oct 1745. Married first Rose Plunkett, daughter of Matthew Plunkett 7th Baron Louth, and second, Jane Waller, daughter of Robert.
Emilia Eyre d. 23 Aug 1770, m. John Rochfort (1690-1771)
Jane Eyre, died unmarried.
Mary Eyre b. a 1677, married Thomas Baldwin of Corolanty, County Offaly (see my entry)
George Eyre b. 1680, d. 1710, married Barbara, daughter of Thomas Coningsby, the 1st Earl of Coningsby.
Margery Eyre b. c 1690, d. b 1743, married Lt.-Col. Shuckburgh Whitney.
John and Mary née Bigoe’s second son was Samuel Eyre (1663-1728). He married, firstly, Jane Eyre, daughter of Edward Eyre. He married, secondly, Anne Stratford, daughter of Robert Stratford and Mary Walsh, in November 1696.
Samuel gained the rank of Colonel in 1690 in the the Army, before Limerick. He held the office of High Sheriff of County Galway in 1696 and the office of Governor of County Galway and then served as Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Galway in 1715. He lived also lived at Eyreville, County Galway, Ireland.
Child of Samuel Eyre and Jane Eyre
John Eyre d. c Sep 1741, of Woodfield, County Galway. He married Mary Willington.
Children of Samuel Eyre and Anne Stratford
George Stratford Eyre. He married, firstly, Mary D’artiquenave, and married, secondly, Mary Ann (?) on 6 August 1762. He held the office of High Sheriff of County Galway in 1731, and the office of Governor of Galway in 1740. He also held the office of Vice-Admiral of Munster.
(George) Stratford Eyre of Eyreville, Governor of Galway, son of Colonel Samuel Eyre, 2nd son of the Founder of Eyrecourt courtesy Purcells Auctioneer Feb 2016.Eyre Family Portrait of Mary D’Artiquernave, First Wife of George Stratford Eyre (1697-1767), courtesy of Purcells Auctioneer Feb 2016.
Anne Eyre m. Robert Powell
Mary Eyre married Colonel Thomas Croasdaile
Frances Eyre married Willington Driffield
Barbara Eyre married John Hawkes
Colonel Thomas Eyre b. 1720, d. 1772, married Anne Cooke.
Colonel Thomas Eyre (c.1720-1772), son of Col Samuel of Eyreville, in the uniform of the 49th Foot; and Anne Eyre née Cook, courtesy of Christie’s Irish Sale 2001.
Colonel Samuel Eyre (d. 1789) was the son of John Eyre (d. circa 1741) of Woodfield, County Galway, and Mary Willington. Samuel married Charity Dancer, daughter of Thomas, 4th Baronet Dancer, of Modreeny, Co. Tipperary.
Eyre Family Portrait of Colonel Samuel Eyre (d. 1789) of Eyreville courtesy Purcells Auctioneers Feb 2016.Charity Dancer (baptised 1718), married Samuel Eyre in 1741, mother of Thomas Dancer Eyre, Elizabeth Eyre, Chichester Eyre, Anchorette Eyre and Mary Eyre. Courtesy Purcell Auctioneer Feb 2016. She was the daughter of Thomas, 4th Baronet Dancer, of Modreeny, Co. Tipperary.Thomas Dancer Eyre courtesy Purcells Auctioneer Feb 2016.Captain Thomas Dancer Eyre (1742-1799) of 4th Dragoon Guards, m. Letitia Cole in 1788, courtesy Purcell Auctioneers 2016.Eyre Family Portrait of Robert Hedges Eyre, son of Richard Hedges Eyre of Macroom Castle, Co. Cork , courtesy Purcell Auctioneers Feb 2016.Helena Hedges Eyre, daughter of Richard Hedges Eyre of Macroom Castle, Co. Cork, and Frances Browne, married to Reverend George Maunsell Dean of Leighlin courtesy of Purcells Auctioneer Feb 2016.
We don’t have a National Trust in the Republic of Ireland the way they do in Northern Ireland. We have instead organisations such as the Office of Public Works, The Landmark Trust, Irish Heritage Trust and An Taisce. Sorry to republish this as a separate entry – previously published in my “Places to visit and stay in County Down” entry. I’ve been busy at weekends and not visiting Section 482 properties, but I’ll catch up again with that soon I hope!
Mount Stewart, County Down, by Art Ward for Tourism Northern Ireland, 2016. (see [1])
“The Stewarts came from Scotland to Donegal as part of the Jacobean Plantation of Ulster. Alexander Stewart [1700-1781] and his wife, Mary Cowan, bought a large area of land in County Down in 1744, part of which became Mount Stewart demesne. Mary had inherited a fortune from her brother, Robert Cowan, who was in the East India Company, and was Governor of Bombay.” Mary and Robert’s father John Cowan was an Alderman of the city of Derry in what is now Northern Ireland. Alexander Stewart was MP for Derry.
Alexander Stewart (1700-1781) by Andrea Soldi, courtesy of National Trust Mount Stewart.Oil painting on canvas, Mary Cowan, Mrs Alexander Stewart (1713–1788), by Andrea Soldi (Florence c.1703 – London 1771), circa 1737. A three-quarter-length portrait of a woman with fair hair, seated, turned to the left, wearing a blue dress with a pink bow, and white drapery. She rests her left elbow on a table, and points to the left with her right hand. She married Alexander Stewart in 1737. The artist returned from “the Levant” to London in 1736 and painted in Scotland c. 1756-58.
The National Trust website continues: “A modest house on the shore of Strangford Lough was extended in the 1780s into a long low 2-storey house by Alexander’s son, Robert. Robert also built a walled garden and farm buildings further inland, and commissioned James ‘Athenian’ Stuart to design the Temple of the Winds, one of the finest small neo-classical buildings in Ireland. Through his political connections and marriage, Robert rose through the political ranks, becoming earl and subsequently marquess of Londonderry.“
Robert Stewart (1739-1821) 1st Marquess of Londonderry married, first, Sarah Frances Seymour Conway, and she gave birth to his heir, Robert Stewart (1769-1822) 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, who was later made Viscount Castlereagh.
He then married secondly, Frances Pratt, daughter of Charles Pratt 1st Earl of Camden, Chislehurst, County Kent in England.
Oil painting on paper laid down on canvas, A Conversation Piece with Robert, 1st Marquess of Londonderry (1739-1821), his Second Wife, Frances (1750-1833), their Son Charles William (1778-1854), and their Four Younger Daughters, Selina, Matilda, Emily Jane and Octavia by Thomas Robinson (Windermere before 1770 – Dublin 1810), 1803-08. The daughters shown are Lady Selina Stewart, later Lady Selina Kerr (d.1871), Lady Emily Jane Stewart, Viscountess Hardinge (1789-1865), Lady Octavia Catherine Stewart, later Baroness Ellenborough (d.1819) and Lady Matilda Stewart, later Lady Matilda Ward (d.1842). Their elder three daughters Georgiana (d. 1804), Caroline (1865) and France Anne (1777 – 1810) are not present.
The website tells us: “It was Robert’s son, best known as Viscount Castlereagh, who chose the architect George Dance to design a new wing for Mount Stewart which included a series of fine reception rooms. The west wing was built around 1804–6.“
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 216. “Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Londonderry, M/PB) A long two storey Classical house of 1820s, one end of which is, in fact, a house built 1803-06 by 1st Marquess of Londonderry (father of the statesman, Castlereagh) to the design of George Dance. The seven bay front of 1803-06 house survives as the end elevation of the present house; unchanged, except that its centre bay now breaks forward under a shallow pediment, similar to those on either side of the present entrance front, which are very much of 1820s. The three rooms at this end of the house keep their original ceilings of delicate plasterwork; the centre one, which was formerly the entrance hall, has a ceiling with pendentives, making it an octagon. Behind this former entrance hall is an imperial staircase with a balustrade of elegant ironwork, lit by a dome; this too, is part of the earlier house.“
Robert Stewart 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, Viscount Castlereagh.Amelia Anne Hobart, Viscountess Castlereagh and later Marchioness of Londonderry, courtesy of National Trust Mount Stewart.
The website continues, telling us more about Lord Castlereagh: “Castlereagh is best known in Ireland for his involvement in the repression of the 1798 Rebellion and as one of the architects of the Anglo-Irish Union of 1800, for which he was vilified by many. He was however regarded as a consummate statesman and astute negotiator.
“From 1802 to 1822 he was based in London as Secretary of State for War and Foreign Secretary during the wars with America and France under Napoleon. He was one of the chief negotiators at the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) and his greatest legacy was steering the Congress towards a more equitable balance of power. The Congress was the first multinational European congress; many issues were discussed including the abolition of slavery. Castlereagh became a staunch supporter of abolition, as the trade was ‘repugnant to the principles of humanity and universal morality’.
“The Peterloo Massacre of 1819 earned him more criticism, for although he was not personally responsible and was appalled by the outcome, as Home Secretary he had to justify the yeomanry’s actions. In 1822 he suffered a breakdown and took his own life, just a year after becoming the 2nd marquess of Londonderry.“
Information board courtesy of National Trust Mount Stewart.Information board courtesy of National Trust Mount Stewart.I think Lord Castlereagh is the image of radio dj Dave Fanning!Information board courtesy of National Trust Mount Stewart.
Castlereagh’s father the 1st Marquess and Frances Pratt went on to have many more children.
Information board courtesy of National Trust Mount Stewart.
It was a son from the second marriage, Charles Stewart (1778-1854) who became the 3rd Marques of Londonderry after his brother killed himself. First he married Catherine Bligh, daughter of John 3rd Earl of Darnley. She had a son, who became Charles’s heir, Frederick William Robert Stewart (1805-1872) 4th Marquess of Londonderry. Frederick married Elizabeth Frances Charlotte Jocelyn, daughter of Robert Jocelyn, 3rd Earl of Roden, County Tipperary, but they had no children. She had been previously married to Richard Wingfield 6th Viscount Powerscourt.
After his first wife’s death, Charles Stewart (1778-1854) married Frances Anne Emily Vane-Tempest in 1819. He changed his surname to Vane. Frances Anne’s mother was Katherine MacDonnell whom we came across at Glenarm, the notorious heiress!
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “3rd Marquess, Castlereagh’s younger half-brother, who was far richer than either his father or his brother had ever been, having married the wealthy Durham heiress, Frances Anne Vane Tempest, enlarged the house to its present form ca 1825-28, his architect being William Vitruvius Morrison. A new block was built onto what had been the back of the original house, as wide as the original house was long and long enough to make, with the end of the original house, a new entrance front of 11 bays, with a pedimented porte-cochere of four giant Ionic columns as its main central feature; the three outer bays on either side being treated as pavilions, each with a one bay pedimented breakfront similar to that which was put onto the front of the original house. The outer bays have a balustraded roof parapet, which is carried round the end of the house and along the new garden front. The latter is as long as the entrance front, and has a boldly projecting centre with a pediment and a single-storey portico of coupled Ionic columns; and a curved bow at either end.”
The website tells us: “Castlereagh’s half-brother, Charles Stewart fought in the Peninsula War under Wellington and became British ambassador at Berlin and then Vienna during the Congress. In 1819 he married the wealthy Frances Anne Vane Tempest who had inherited coal mines and a grand estate in County Durham. They travelled widely and rebuilt Wynyard, County Durham and Londonderry House in London. Charles also extended Mount Stewart in the 1840s. His grandson, the 6th Marquess, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the 1880s. The 6th Marquess was strongly opposed to Home Rule for Ireland; he and his wife were instigators and signatories of the Ulster Covenant in 1912.“
Charles and Frances Anne had several children. Their daughter Alexandrina married into Emo Park in County Laois.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “The principal interior feature of the newer building is a vast central hall, consisting of an octagon, top-lit through a balustraded gallery from a dome filled with stained glass, with rectangular extensions so as to form a room much longer than it is wide; with screens of couple painted marble Ionic columns between the octagon and the extensions. Morrison’s reception rooms are spacious and simple; the drawing room has a screen of Ionic colmns at either end. The interior of the house was done up post WWI by 7th Marquess, Secretary of State for Air in 1930s; the central room in the garden front being panelled as a smoking and living room. The 7th Marquess and his wife (the well-known political hostess and friend of Ramsay MacDonald) also laid out an elaborate garden, going down the hillside from the garden front of the house towards Strangford Lough. As well as this noteaable C20 garden, Mount Stewart boasts of one of the finest C18 garden buildings in Ireland, the Temple of the Winds, an octagonal banqueting house built 1780 to the design of “Athenian” Stuart, who based it on the Tower of the Winds in Athens. It has a porch on two of its faces, each with two columns of the same modified Corinthian order as that of the columns of the Tower of the Winds. Mount Stewart was given to the Northern Ireland National Trust by Lady Mairi Bury, daughter of 7th Marquess, ca 1977, and is now open to the public. The Temple of the Winds was given 1962 to the Trust, which has since restored it; the garden was given to the Trust in 1955.”
You can see pictures and read more about the treasures in the house on the website. The website tells us about the various rooms of the house.
“Soak up the atmosphere of the most impressive space in the house, where you can see life-size sculptures by Lawrence MacDonald, alongside the family collection of silver dating from 1694.
“Look down at your feet to take in the original Scrabo stone, which was recently restored after being hidden since the 1960s when it was covered by linoleum.“
When Frederick died, his brother succeeded as the 5th Marquess of Londonderry, George Henry Robert Charles William Vane-Tempest (1821-1884). Like his father, he joined the military. He married Mary Cornelia Edwards, daughter of John Edwards, 1st and last Baronet Edwards, of Garth, Montgomeryshire.
Their son Charles Stewart Vane-Tempest succeed as the the 6th Marquess of Londonerry in 1884. In 1885 he added Stewart to his surname, to become Vane-Tempest-Stewart. In 1875 he married Theresa Susey Helen Chetwynd-Talbot, daughter of Charles John Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury. The 6th Marquess served in many posts, including Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland between 1886 and 1889.
Their son Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1878-1949) succeeded as 7th Marquess of Londonderry. He married Edith Helen Chaplin, daughter of Henry Chaplin, 1st Viscount Chaplin.
The website continues: “Charles’s great-grandson, Charles 7th Marquess, served in the First World War, during which his wife Edith founded the Women’s Legion. At the end of the war, Edith began to create the gardens at Mount Stewart and redecorated and furnished the house, processes she thoroughly enjoyed and continued until her death in 1959. Charles served in the new Northern Irish government following the partition of Ireland in 1921. He later became Secretary of State for Air during the early 1930s. The horrors of the First World War and the rise of Communism meant many were anxious to avoid another European war. For Charles, this meant holding a series of meetings with the Nazi leadership, but his actions and intentions were misunderstood and his career and reputation were fatally damaged.“
“Step inside the drawing room which was the social hub of the house, furnished with comfortable armchairs and sofas gathered around the fireplace, as well as a piano for musical entertainment.
“At one end of the room stands the Congress of Vienna Desk, brought back by Castlereagh Viscount Castlereagh after the Congress and the Peace of Paris in 1815, for which he was made a Knight of the Garter. Above it hangs his portrait, by Sir Thomas Lawrence, alongside many others by the same artist.”
“Visit the dining room which was used to entertain famous guests including Winston Churchill and Neville Chamberlain – both of whom later became Prime Ministers of Britain. Along the walls stand the chairs used during the Congress of Vienna (1814–15). Their needlework covers were commissioned by Edith in the 1930s to display the coats of arms of those present at the Congress, and the countries they represented.“
“Stop by the breakfast room, where Charles and Edith enjoyed relaxed family breakfasts, lunches and afternoon teas overlooking the Sunk Garden that Edith created in 1920–21. Edith introduced the large sliding sash window so that they could have direct access to the garden.
“In the centre of the room you can see the family’s traditional Irish ‘wake’ or hunting table, whilst a collection of Berlin cabinet plates from 1810–20 are displayed in the cabinets.”
Unfortunately it was raining and we were on our way back to Dublin so we didn’t get to explore the gardens though my hairdresser Shane tells me they are splendid.
Information board courtesy of National Trust Mount Stewart.From “In Harmony with Nature, The Irish Country House Garden 1600-1900” in the Irish Georgian Society, July 2022, curated by Robert O’Byrne.Information board courtesy of National Trust Mount Stewart.
We did, however, get to the coach house to see the State Coach.
p. 60. “(Talbot de Malahide, B/PB; Fitzgerald, Leinster, D/PB; Nall-Cain, sub Brocket, P/BP) The lands of Carton always belonged to the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare, whose chief castle was nearby, at Maynooth; in C17, however, they were leased to a junior branch of the Talbots of Malahide, who built the original house there.” [1]
The Carton website tells us that the lands of Carton first came into the ownership of the FitzGerald family shortly after Maurice FitzGerald (d. 1176) played an active role in the capture of Dublin by the Normans in 1170. He was rewarded by being appointed Lord of Maynooth, and given an area covering townlands which include what is now Carton. The website goes on to tell us:
“His son became Baron Offaly in 1205 and his descendant John FitzGerald [5th Baron Offaly, d. 1316], became Earl of Kildare in 1315. Under the eighth earl, [Gerald FitzGerald (1455-1513)] the FitzGerald family reached pre-eminence as the virtual rulers of Ireland between 1477 and 1513.“
Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare, “Silken Thomas,” c. 1530 attributed to Anthony Van Dyck.
“However, the eighth earl’s grandson, the eloquently titled Silken Thomas [the 10th Earl of Kildare] was executed in 1537, with his five uncles, for leading an uprising against the English. Although the FitzGeralds subsequently regained their land and titles, they did not regain their position at the English Court until the 18th century when Robert, the 19th Earl of Kildare, became a noted statesman.“
It surprises me that after Silken Thomas’s rebellion that his brother was restored to the title and became the 11th Earl on 23 February 1568/69, restored by Act of Parliament, about thirty years after his brother was executed.
It was William Talbot, Recorder of the city of Dublin, who leased the lands from Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Kildare (1547-1612). William Talbot was created 1st Baronet Talbot, of Carton, Co. Kildare on 4 February 1622/23. He was MP for Kildare in 1613-1615. He built a house at Carton. His son Richard was created 1st Duke of Tyrconnell in 1689 by King James II, after he had been James’s Groom of the Bedchamber. He fought in the Battle of the Boyne and was loyal to the Stuarts, so was stripped of his honours when William of Orange (William III) came to power.
Richard Talbot, Duke of Tyrconnell (1630-1691), courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Frances Talbot (c.1670-1718) by Garret Morphy courtesy National Gallery of Ireland NGI 4150. She was the daughter of Robert Talbot, 2nd Baronet of Carton, County Kildare, who was a brother of the Duke of Tyrconnell, and wife of Richard Talbot (1638-1703) of Malahide.Tyrconnell Tower in grounds of Carton House, photograph 2014 for Tourism Ireland. [2]
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “After the attainder of Richard Talbot, Duke of Tyrconnell, James II’s Lord Deputy of Ireland, Carton was forfeited to the crown and sold 1703 to Major-Gen Richard Ingoldsby, Master-General of the Ordnance and a Lord Justice of Ireland; who added a two storey nine bay pedimented front to the old house, with wings joined to the main block by curved sweeps, in the Palladian manner. In 1739 Thomas Ingoldsby sold the reversion of the lease back to 19th Earl of Kildare [Robert FitzGerald (1675-1744)], who decided to make Carton his principal seat and employed Richard Castle to enlarge and improve the house.“
Richard Ingoldsby (c.1664/5–1712) was the son of George, who came to Ireland with the Cromwellian army in 1651 and became a prominent landowner in Limerick. Richard fought in the Williamite army. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that Richard Ingoldsby purchased Carton House and demesne in Co. Kildare for £1,800 in 1703 from the Talbot family. He also owned a town house in Mary St., Dublin. He married Frances, daughter of Col. James Naper of Co. Meath; they had at least one son, Henry Ingoldsby (d. 1731). Henry lived the high life in London and Carton had to be sold to pay his debts in 1738, and he sold it back to Robert Fitzgerald the 19th Earl of Kildare.
Robert Fitzgerald (1675-1744) 19th Earl of Kildare, after Frederick Graves, courtesy of Adam’s auction 15th Oct 2019.
Robert FitzGerald the 19th Earl of Kildare married Mary O’Brien, daughter of William, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin.
The Archiseek website tells us:
“In 1739, the 19th Earl of Kildare employed Richard Castle to build the existing house replacing an earlier building. Castle (originally Cassels) was responsible for many of the great Irish houses, including Summerhill, Westport, Powerscourt House and in 1745, Leinster House, which he also built for the FitzGeralds.” [3]
Bence-Jones tells us about the rebuilding of Carton by Richard Castle: “Castle’s rebuilding obliterated all traces of the earlier house, except for a cornice on what is now the entrance front and the unusually thick interior walls. He added a storey, and lengthened the house by adding a projecting bay at either end; he also refaced it. He gave the entrance front a pediment, like its predecessor; but the general effect of the three storey 11 bay front, which has a Venetian window in the middle storey of each of its end bays, is one of massive plainness. As before, the house was joined to flanking office wings; but instead of simple curved sweeps, there were now curved colonnades.”
There is a projecting bay on either side of the garden front facade with a Venetian window in the middle storey of either projecting bay. According to Mark Bence-Jones, these were designed by Richard Castle. The flanking wings were joined initially by curved colonnades, later replaced by straight connecting links.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “The work was completed after the death of 19th Earl for his son [James (1722-1773)], 20th Earl, who later became 1st Duke of Leinster and was the husband of the beautiful Emily, Duchess of Leinster [Emily Lennox, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Richmond] and the father of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the United Irish Leader.”
James Fitzgerald, 20th Earl of Kildare, later 1st Duke of Leinster by Robert Hunter, Irish, 1715/1720-c.1803. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Emilia Mary, Countess of Kildare (née Lennox) (1731-1814), Wife of the 20th Earl of Kildare and future 1st Duke of Leinster After Joshua Reynolds, English, 1723-1792, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Emily née Lennox (1731-1814) Countess of Kildare, wife of the 1st Duke of Leinster, by Allan Ramsay (1713-1784). Oil on canvas, painted 1765. Purchased 1951, No. 1356, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK, Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)Emily Fitzgerald née Lennox (1731-1814) Duchess of Leinster 1770s by Joshua Reynolds.Margaretta Fitzgerald (d. 1766) Countess of Hillsborough, daughter of Robert Fitzgerald, 19th Earl of Kildare, attributed to Charles Jervas, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy auction. She married Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough, Co. Down, 1st Marquess of Downshire.Edward Fitzgerald (1763-1798) by Hugh Douglas Hamilton – http://www.galleryofthemasters.com/h-folder/hamilton-hugh-douglas-lord-edward-fitzgerald.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3835564
They certainly were a rebellious family! It is said that this saved the house from being burnt by Irish rebels in 1920s, as a portrait of Edward Fitzgerald the United Irishman was shown to the would-be arsonists. Emily Lennox’s sister, Louisa, married Thomas Conolly and lived across the parkland in Castletown House. Stella Tillyard writes of the life and times of the sisters, Emily and Louisa and it was made into a mini series for the BBC, entitled “The Aristocrats” which was filmed on site at Carton House. I’d love to read the book and see the movie! She also wrote about Edward FitzGerald.
Edward Fitzgerald (1763-1798), circa 1780, courtesy Whytes March 2025.
When the 1st Duke died, Emily married her children’s tutor and lived very happily with him. She had enjoyed spending time with him and the children at their house in Blackrock, Frascati, which no longer exists, and the children swam in the sea.
Frescati House, County Dublin, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Emily and the 1st Duke’s heir was William Robert Fitzgerald (1749-1804) 2nd Duke of Leinster. He married Emilia Olivia née Usher St. George (1759-1798).
William Robert Fitzgerald (1749-1804) 2nd Duke of Leinster wearing Order of St. Patrick, by Gilbert Stuart, courtesy Christies.William Robert Fitzgerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster, (1749-1804) Date 1775 by Engraver John Dixon, Irish, c.1740-1811 After Joshua Reynolds, English, 1723-1792. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.William Robert Fitzgerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster, K.P. (1749-1804), circle of Joshua Reynolds courtesy of Christie’s Irish Sale 2002.William Robert FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster (1749-1804) in the uniform of the Dublin Volunteers by Hugh Douglas Hamilton courtesy of Sotheby’s, London, 18 May 2001.Hugh Douglas Hamilton portrait of Emilia Olivia née St. George, 2nd Duchess of Leinster courtesy of Bonhams Old Master Paintings 2018.Emily Margaret FitzGerald (1751-1818), daughter of 1st Duke of Leinster wife of Earl of Bellomont by H D Hamilton courtesy Fine Art Sale Cheffins 2014.Henry Fitzgerald 1761-1829, son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and Emily Lennox, attributed to John Hoppner, courtesy of Adam’s auction 13 Oct 2015.Henry FitzGerald (1761-1829) by Hugh Douglas Hamilton courtesy of Cheffins Fine Art sale 2013. He was a son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and Emily Lennox.Charlotte Boyle-Walsingham, Lady FitzGerald (1769–1831) by John Hoppner, R.A courtesy Sotheby’s Old Masters Day Auction.She was the wife Henry Fitzgerald (1761-1829), of a brother of the 2nd Duke of Leinster.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “3rd Duke, Lord Edward’s nephew, [Augustus Frederick Fitzgerald (1791-1874)] employed Sir Richard Morrison to enlarge and remodel the house ca 1815, having sold Leinster House in Dublin. Morrison replaced the curved colonnades with straight connecting links containing additional rooms behind colonnades of coupled Doric columns, so as to form a longer enfilade along what was now the garden front; for he moved the entrance to the other front [the north side], which is also of 11 bays with projecting end bays, but has no pediment. The former music room on this side of the house became the hall; it is unassuming for the hall of so important a house, with plain Doric columns at each end. On one side is a staircase hall by Morrison, again very unassuming; indeed, with the exception of the great dining room, Morrison’s interiors at Carton lack his customary neo-Classical opulence.”
Augustus Frederick FitzGerald, 3rd Duke of Leinster, (1791-1874) engraver George Sanders, Scottish, 1810 – c.1876 after Stephen Catterson Smith, Irish, 1806-1872. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Hermione Dunscombe – Duchess of Leinster,” O.O.B., signed lower left ‘Marian Nixon, 1878,” courtesy Fonsie Mealy auction July 2018.
Archiseek continues: “Carton remained in the control of the FitzGeralds until the early 1920s when the 7th Duke sold the estate and house to pay off gambling debts of £67,500. In 2000, Carton was redeveloped as a “premier golf resort and hotel”. A hotel was added to the main house, and the estate’s eighteenth-century grounds and landscaping were converted into two golf courses.” [3]
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “Beyond the staircase, on the ground floor, is the Chinese bedroom, where Queen Victoria slept when she stayed here; it remains as it was when decorated 1759, with Chinese paper and a Chinese Chippendale giltwood overmantel.” Unfortunately we didn’t get to see this room.
The Chinese Room at Carton House, decorated by Emily, Countess of Kildare in the mid 18th century. Above the chimneypiece is a Chippendale mirror erupting into a series of gilded branches, some of which are sconces. Pub. Orig Country Life 18/02/2009 vol CCIII.
Bence-Jones continues: “The other surviving mid-C18 interior is the saloon, originally the dining room, in the garden front, dating from 1739 and one of the most beautiful rooms in Ireland. It rises through two storeys and has a deeply coved ceiling of Baroque plasterwork by the Francini brothers representing “the Courtship of the Gods”; the plasterwork, like the decoration on the walls, being picked out in gilt. At one end of the room is an organ installed 1857, its elaborate Baroque case designed by Lord Gerald Fitzgerald [1821-1886], a son of the 3rd Duke.“
“The door at this end of the saloon leads, by way of an anteroom, to Morrison’s great dining room, which has a screen of Corinthian columns at each end and a barrel-vaulted ceiling covered in interlocking circles of oak leaves and vine leaves.
Bence-Jones tells us: “The demesne of Carton is a great C18 landscape park, largely created by 1st Duke and Emily Duchess; “Capability” Brown was consulted, but professed himself too busy to come to Ireland. By means of a series of dams, a stream has been widened into a lake and a broad serpentine river; there is a bridge by Thomas Ivory, built 1763, an ornamental dairy of ca 1770 and a shell house. Various improvements were carried out to the gardens toward the end of C19 by Hermione, wife of 5th Duke, who was as famous a beauty in her day as Emily Duchess was in hers; she was also the last Duchess of Leinster to reign at Carton, for her eldest son, 6th Duke, died young and unmarried, and her youngest son, 7th Duke, was unable to live here having, as a young man, signed away his expectations to the “50 Shilling Tailor” Sir Henry Mallaby-Deeley, in return for ready money and an annuity. As a result of this unhappy transaction, Carton had eventually to be sold. It was bought 1949 by 2nd Lord Brocket, and afterwards became the home of his younger son, Hon David Nall-Cain, who opened it to the public. It was sold once again in 1977.”
[1] Bence-Jones, Mark. 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.
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Belvedere in his 1988 book:
p. 39. “(Rochfort, sub Belvedere, E/DEP Rochfort/LGI1912; Marlay/LGI1912; Howard-Bury, sub Suffolk and Berkshire, E/PB; and Bury/IFR) An exquisite villa of ca 1740 by Richard Castle, on the shores of Lough Ennell; built for Robert Rochfort, Lord Bellfield, afterwards 1st Earl of Belvedere, whose seat was at Gaulston, ca 5 miles away [Gaulston is no longer standing]. Of two storeys over basement, with a long front and curved end bows – it may well be the earliest bow-ended house in Ireland – but little more than one room deep.”
Bence-Jones continues: “The front has a three bay recessed centre between projecting end bays, each of which originally had a Venetian window below a Diocletian window. Rusticated doorcase and rusticated window surrounds on either side of it; high roof parapet. The house contains only a few rooms, but they are of fine proportions and those on the ground floor have rococo plasterwork ceilings of the greatest delicacy and gaiety, with cherubs and other figures emerging from clouds, by the same artist as the ceilings formerly are Mespil House, Dublin, one of which is now in Aras.”
When Robert Rochfort decided to use Belvedere as his principal residence he employed Barthelemij Cramillion, the French Stuccadore, to execute the principal ceilings. The Rococo plasterwork ceilings were completed circa 1760.
Robert Rochfort the 1st Earl of Belvedere was the son of George Rochfort (1682-1730) and Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Hamilton-Moore, 3rd Earl of Drogheda.
George Rochfort (1682-1730) of Gaulstown, Co. Westmeath, M.P. for Co. Westmeath by Charles Jervas courtesy of Christies Auction 2002.Robert Rochfort (1652-1727) as Speaker of the Irish House of Commons by an unknown artist, Photograph of a painting owned by Michael O’Reilly.He was the father of George Rochfort (1682-1730) of Gaulstown, Co. WestmeathJames Rochfort (executed in 1652 after killing someone in a duel) usually known by his nickname “Prime Iron,” by Garret Morphy.He was the father of Robert Rochfort (1652-1727).
Bence-Jones tells of the Rochforts: “Soon after the house was finished, Lord Bellfield’s beautiful wife [Mary Molesworth, daughter of Richard, 3rd Viscount Molesworth of Swords, Dublin] confessed to him that she had committed adultery with his brother; whereupon he incarcerated her at Gaulston, where she remained, forbidden to see anyone but servants, until his death nearly thirty years later; while he lived a bachelor’s life of great elegance and luxury at Belvedere.“
Belvedere, County Westmeath.
Mary Molesworth was Robert Rochfort’s second wife. His first wife, Elizabeth Tenison, died childless in 1732, from smallpox.
Mrs. Delaney writes of Robert and his second wife “he has discovered an intrigue, and they say he has come to England in search of him [the brother who committed adultery] to kill him wherever he meets him… He is very well-bred and very well in his person and manner; his wife is locked up in one of his houses in Ireland, with a strict guard over her, and they say he is so miserable as to love her even now; she is extremely handsome and has many personal accomplishments.“
It is said that Charlotte Bronte may have been inspired by Mary’s imprisonment to write the character of “the madwoman in the attic” in Jane Eyre.
Belvedere, County Westmeath.Sarah Rochfort (nee Singleton) was the daughter of The Rev. Rowland Singleton (1696-1741) of Drogheda, later Vicar of Termonfeckin, County Louth, wife of Arthur Rochfort (1711-1774) of Bellfield House Co Westmeath, sold at Shepphards.Her husband was imprisoned when he could not pay his legal damages for adultery.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “Another of his brothers lived close to Belvedere at Rochfort (afterwards Tudenham Park); having quarrelled with him too, Lord Belvedere, as he had now become, built the largest Gothic sham ruin in Ireland to blot out the view of his brother’s house; it is popularly known as the Jealous Wall.”
Tudenham Park was built for Robert’s brother George Rochfort (1713-1794) around 1743. He married Alice, daughter of Gustavus Hume 3rd Baronet of County Fermanagh. Tudenham Park is now a ruin and was recently sold.
The jealous wall is rather disappointingly attached to the visitor centre of Belvedere at the entrance to the park. Robert went to great expense to construct the wall to resemble an artificial ruined abbey, hiring the celebrated Italian architect Barrodotte to work on the project.
The Earl of Belvedere managed to have children despite his antipathy toward his wife. His son George Rochfort (1738-1814), 2nd Earl of Belvedere inherited Belvedere and other estates when his father died in 1774. He also inherited debts, and sold Gaulston House, the house where his mother had been imprisoned by his father. Unfortunately Gaulston House was destroyed by fire in 1920. George Rochfort built an extension onto the rear of Belvedere but spent most of his time in his townhouse, Belvedere House in Great Denmark Street, Dublin.
George Rochfort (1738-1815), later 2nd Earl of Belvedere by Robert Hunter (c. 1715/20-1801), Adams auction 18 Oct 2022.Belvedere House, Belvedere College, Dublin.Inside Belvedere House, plasterwork by Michael Stapleton, Belvedere College, Dublin.Belvedere House, Belvedere College, Dublin.
Robert Rochfort 1st Earl and Mary née Molesworth had a daughter Jane whom it seems was not dissuaded from marriage despite treatment of her mother, and married Brinsley Butler, 2nd Earl of Lanesborough, MP for County Cavan.
George Rochfort (12 October 1738 – 13 May 1814), 2nd Earl of Belvedere, and his second wife Jane née Mackay, by Robert Hunter, 1804 courtesy of Christies.Richard Rochfort (1740-1776) by Robert Hunter courtesy Christies Old Master Paintings and Sculpture. He was another son of the 1st Earl.
The 2nd Earl of Belvedere married first Dorothea Bloomfield, and after she died, he married Jane Mackay. He had no surviving children after his death in 1814. His wife inherited his Dublin property but his sister Jane née Rochfrot inherited Belvedere. Jane married Brinsley Butler, 2nd Earl of Lanesborough. She inherited Belvedere when she was 77 years old! She had married a second time, to John King, and the income from the estate allowed herself and her second husband to live in fine style in Florence.
Jane née Rochfort Countess of Lanesborough (1737-1828) Attributed to Thomas Pope Stevens courtesy Christies Irish Sale 2002.She was the daughter of Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere and married Brinsley Butler, 2nd Earl of Lanesborough.
The male line of the Earls of Lanesborough died out after two more generations. Jane’s son Robert Henry Butler (1759-1806) 3rd Earl of Lanesborough married Elizabeth La Touche, daughter of David La Touche (1729-1817) and Elizabeth Marlay, whom we came across when we visited Harristown, County Kildare (see my entry) and Marlay Park in Rathfarnham, Dublin. The estate passed down to their son, Brinsley Butler, 4th Earl of Lanesborough, but he died unmarried. The estate then passed through the female line. The 3rd Earl of Lanesborough’s sister Catherine married George Marlay (1748-1829), the brother of Elizabeth who married David La Touche.
Elizabeth, Countess of Lanesborough (née La Touche), (1764-1788), wife of 3rd Earl of Lanesborough, Date 1791 Engraver Francesco Bartolozzi, Italian, 1725-1815 After Horace Hone, English, 1756-1825, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “In C19, the Diocletian windows in the front of the house were replaced with rectangular triple windows; and the slope from the front of the house down to the lough was elaborately terraced. Belvedere passed by inheritance to the Marlay family and then to late Lt-Col C.K. Howard-Bury, leader of the 1921 Mount Everest Expedition; who bequeathed it to Mr Rex Beaumont.” (see [3])
Catherine and George Marlay had a son, George (1791-1880), who married Catherine Tisdall, and the estate passed to his son, Charles Brinsley Marlay (1831-1912). Charles was only sixteen when he inherited Belvedere from his cousin the Earl of Lanesborough.
Charles Brinsley Marlay of Belvedere House County Westmeath, courtesy of The Fitzwilliam Museum.
It was Charles Brisley Marlay who built the terraces leading down to the lake, in the late 1880s. The twelve stone lions were added later. He spent many hours planning the 60 metre long rockery to the side of the terraces, and also built the walled garden. He was known as “the Darling Landlord” due to his kindness to tenants, and for bringing happiness and wealth back to Belvedere. He was cultured and amassed an important art collection, as well as improving the estate.
The inheritance of Belvedere continues to be even more complicated. It passed via Catherine Tisdall’s family. Her mother Catherine Dawson (1762-1821) had married twice. Catherine’s second husband was Charles William Bury (1764-1835), the 1st Earl of Charleville. We came across him earlier, as an owner of Charleville Forest, in Tullamore, County Offaly.
Charleville Forest Castle, County Offaly.
Belvedere passed to Charles William Bury (1764-1835) the 1st Earl of Charleville’s descendant, Lt. Col Charles Howard-Bury (1883-1963). The 3rd Earl of Charleville, Charles William George Bury (1822-1859) had several children but the house passed to the fourth child, Emily Alfreda Julia Bury (1856-1931), as all others had died before Charles Brinsley Marley died. It was therefore the son of Emily Alfreda Julia Bury and her husband Kenneth Howard, who added Bury to his surname, who inherited Belvedere. Their son was Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury (1883-1963).
Charles Howard-Bury left Belvedere to his friend, Rex Beaumont. Eventally financial difficulties caused Mr Beaumont to sell the property, and it was acquired by Westmeath County Council. Two years previously, in 1980, Mr Beaumont sold the contents of the house – I wonder where those things ended up?
The estate is a wonderful amenity for County Westmeath, with large parklands to explore with several follies, as well as the walled garden.
In Belvedere, dining was an opportunity to impress guests not only by the room but by the sumptuous meals, presented by immaculately dressed servants. The rococo ceiling of puffing cherubs and fruits and foliage is attributed to Barthelemji Cramillion, a French stuccodore.
Information boards tells us that the Drawing Room was the place for afternoon tea, after-dinner drinks, music and conversation. Belvedere’s last owners, Charles Howard-Bury and Rex Beaumont would have passed many happy hours relaxing and reminiscing about their wartime experiences and travels across the world, as well as planning trips to Tunisia and Jamaica.
Irish Historic Houses 