Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 87. “(Morris/IFR) A low two storey Georgian house, with a slightly irregular five bay front.”
Clonmore House, County Kilkenny, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached five-bay two-storey country house, built 1759, possibly incorporating fabric of medieval range, 1449, on site with five-bay (single-bay deep) two-storey lower range parallel along rear (north) elevation continuing into two-bay two-storey return to north, and two-bay single-storey perpendicular (outbuilding/service) range with half-dormer attic having elliptical-headed carriageway to ground floor. Extensively renovated with replacement single-bay single-storey projecting porch added to centre ground floor. Hipped roof (hipped to porch; hipped to parallel range; pitched to return on an L-shaped plan with gablets to half-dormer attic windows) with replacement slate, clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks having profiled capping, cut-limestone bellcote to gable to perpendicular range (with round-headed aperture between piers having cast-iron bell, and cut-limestone archivolt supporting finial), decorative timber bargeboards to gables, and replacement iron rainwater goods on timber eaves having paired consoles. Unpainted replacement roughcast walls over random rubble stone construction with quoins to corners, random cut-limestone walls to porch having cut-stone date stone (dated 1449), and exposed random rubble stone construction to part of return. Square-headed window openings (grouped in three-part arrangement to porch) with cut-limestone sills, moulded rendered surrounds having friezes to ground floor front (south) elevation supporting moulded entablatures, and replacement one-over-one timber sash windows having margins. Square-headed door openings to return and to perpendicular range with dressed rubble stone voussoirs, and replacement timber panelled doors. Elliptical-headed carriageway to ground floor perpendicular range with dressed rubble stone voussoirs, and replacement lifting door. Set back from road in own grounds.
Appraisal
A well-composed substantial country house reputed to have origins dating back to a fourteenth- or fifteenth-century castle or tower house connected with the Archdale-Morris family, thereby representing an important element of the archaeological heritage of County Kilkenny. Having undergone a comprehensive renovation project the essential composition attributes survive in place while replacement fittings allude to the earlier counterparts on site, thereby maintaining some of the integrity of the house. Forming the centrepiece of a middle-size landholding (with 12404220 – 2/KK-42-20 – 2) positioned overlooking the River Suir the house remains of additional importance for the associations with the Elliott and the Blunden families.
Clonmore House, County Kilkenny, courtesy National Inventory.Clonmore House, County Kilkenny, courtesy National Inventory.Clonmore House, County Kilkenny, courtesy National Inventory.
Castle Blunden, County Kilkenny, courtesy National Inventory.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 62. “(Blunden, Bt/PB) A highly romantic mid-C18 house with water on both sides of it so that it seems to float; the water being two lakes probably formed out of the moat of the earlier house or castle here. It was built either for John Blunden, MP or for his son, Sir John Blunden, 1st Bt. Of three storeys over a vaulted basement; six bay front, central niche with statue below square armorial panel and above single-storey pedimented Doric portico. Quoins; rusticated surrounds to all the windows and the niche. Slightly sprocketed roof. Teh back of the house consists of two gables with a projections between them containing the principal and secondary staircases. The decoration of the interior is late C18 and was probably carried out by the 2nd Bt after his marriage to a bride who, according to Dorothea Herbert, brought him (a clear £8000 a year.) Hall with frieze of rams heads. Drawing room with ceiling of Adamesque plasterwork. Before 2nd Bt married, he and his sisters kept the house constantly filled with young people; in the evenings, there were boating parties on one of the lakes, when, according to Dorothea, the girls would step from the windows into the pleasure boat “whilst six or seven fiddles serenaded us on the water.” The young men of teh party would also serenade the girls at night outsdie their bedroom, and sometimes “burst in” catching them “en chemise.” A wing has recently been added to the house, designed by Mr Jeremy Williams, containing an additional sitting room.”
Castle Blunden, County Kilkenny, courtesy National Inventory.Castle Blunden, County Kilkenny, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached seven-bay three-storey over basement Classical-style country house, c.1750, on a symmetrical plan with (single-storey) prostyle tetrastyle pedimented Roman Doric portico to centre ground floor, two-bay three-storey side elevations, and three-bay full-height central return to west. Hipped slate roof on a U-shaped plan (ending in gables to rear (west) elevation; hipped to return) with clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks, slightly sproketed eaves, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered eaves having iron brackets. Part ivy-clad unpainted rendered, ruled and lined walls over random rubble stone construction with cut-limestone dressings including quoins to corners, stringcourses to each floor, round-headed recessed niche to centre first floor having cut-limestone block-and-start surround incorporating keystone, and heraldic plaque to centre top floor with cut-limestone surround. Square-headed window openings (round-headed window opening to return) with cut-limestone sills, cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds having keystones (plain surrounds to basement having keystones), six-over-six and three-over-six (top floor) timber sash windows having four-over-eight timber sash windows to basement with wrought iron bars. Square-headed door opening under prostyle tetrastyle pedimented Roman Doric portico (having cut-limestone columns with responsive pilasters supporting entablature, frieze having central panel, and carved limestone surround to pediment having modillions) with carved cut-limestone surround, and glazed timber panelled double doors. Interior with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from road in own grounds with gravel forecourt, and landscaped grounds to site.
Appraisal
Representing an important element of the mid eighteenth-century architectural legacy of County Kilkenny a Classically-composed substantial country house built to designs attributed to Francis Bindon (c.1698-1765) in a manner reminiscent of the contemporary (1737) Bonnettstown Hall (12401909/KK-19-09) nearby has been very well maintained to present an early aspect with the original composition attributes surviving in place together with most of the historic fabric both to the exterior and to the interior. Sparsely-detailed the external expression of the house is enlivened by limestone dressings including a somewhat squat portico displaying high quality stone masonry. Forming the centrepiece of a large-scale estate (including 12401905, 15, 19 – 20/KK-19-05, 15, 19 – 20) the resulting ensemble having long-standing connections with the Blunden family makes a pleasant contribution to the visual appeal of the local landscape.
A few miles from the cathedral city of Kilkenny, Castle Blunden stands on an elevated site in the midst of mature parkland. Dating from the 1750s, and still owned by the Blunden family, this pretty seven-bay building is typical of County Kilkenny houses from the mid-Georgian period. The house is rendered, with a profusion of cut limestone decoration and details, and a handsome sprocketed roof, while the later Doric porch compliments the symmetry of the facade. The basement is concealed by a ramped gravel approach, which makes the house appear both lower and wider than is actually the case, while the small lakes to either side add to the overall air of enchantment.
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Their father, Sir William Blunden, a British naval officer and farmer, established Rionore, a bespoke jewellery business in Kilkenny along with Sir Basil Gouldiong, which was then taken over by the distinguished jewellery designer Rudolf Heltzel and still operates today…
Their great grand aunt was the eminent artist Sarah Purser – known for her stained glass and portraits. Purser once joked of her portraiture that she “went through the British aristocracy like the measles”…. The Blunden family have been in Kilkenny since the 17th century and their home, Castle Blunden, was constructed in the mid-1800s. “The family integrated and survived through the 18th century by marrying heiresses, and through the 19th century’s turbulent times by being honest and decent – keeping their heads down and playing chess,” say the twins….
The castle and estate have since passed the sisters to the first-born male heir through the primogenitor line.
When their father, Sir William, died in 1985, the estate went to his brother Sir Philip, as the girls had no brother.
Their mother, Lady Pamela Purser Blunden, continued to live at Castle Blunden until her death in 2017, and now the castle, estate and title have passed to the heir apparent, their nephew Patrick.
The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy: Kilkenny. Volume 1. Art Kavanagh, 2004.
Blunden of Castle Blunden.
See the chapter on the Blundens of Castle Blunden in Art Kavanagh’s The Landed Gentry and Aristocracy of Kilkenny.
p. 15. Sir John 1st and his wife Lady Susanna had a large family including five daughters and in order to assist in finding suitable marriage partners for those ladies many lavish parties were held at Castle Blunden. Guests who had travelled far would stay the night and the young unmarrieds would share the barrack room, modesty being maintained by means of a curtain hanging across the room to segregate the sexes.
p. 16. According to Burke’s Peerage Overington Blunden was given a grant of lands in Kilkenny in 1667. He was granted Clanmore or Glanmore “to be forever called Blunden’s Castle”. The lands originally belonged to the Shee family. He was also granted other lands in Kilkenny as well as lands in Co Laois and Co Waterfrod. …Overington was granted the lands in lieu of the money he had adventured. He was originally from Southwark in Surrey and was by profession a whitster or cloth bleacher. …When they took possession of the Kilkenny lands they lived in the tower house which was to the rear of the present house which was not built until almost 100 years later.
THE BLUNDEN BARONETS OWNED 1,846 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY KILKENNY
JOHN BLUNDEN (c1718-83), only surviving son of John Blunden, of Castle Blunden, Barrister, MP for County Kilkenny, 1727-52, married Martha, daughter of Agmondesham Cuffe, and sister of John, 1st Baron Desart, and had issue (with several daughters),
JOHN, his heir; William Pitt, father of the 3rd Baronet; Overington. (General in the army; MP).
Mr Blunden was created a baronet in 1766, denominated of Castle Blunden, County Kilkenny.
Sir John was succeeded by his eldest son,
SIR JOHN BLUNDEN, 2nd Baronet (1767-1818), High Sheriff of County Kilkenny, 1805 and 1813, Mayor of Kilkenny, 1802, who married twice, though both marriages were without issue, when the title passed to his nephew,
SIR JOHN BLUNDEN, 3rd Baronet (1814-90), DL, Barrister, High Sheriff of Kilkenny City, 1843-4, County Kilkenny, 1847, who wedded, in 1839, Elizabeth, daughter of Major John Knox, of Dublin, and had issue,
WILLIAM, his successor; John Overington; Edward Herbert; Maurice Robert; Arthur Henry; Abraham; Kate; Harriette; Nicola Sophia.
Sir John was succeeded by his eldest son,
SIR WILLIAM BLUNDEN, 4th Baronet (1840-1923), Surgeon, High Sheriff of County Kilkenny, 1904, who espoused, in 1879, Florence Caroline, daughter of Henry Shuttleworth, and had issue,
JOHN, his successor; Eric Overington; Muriel.
Sir William was succeeded by his eldest son,
SIR JOHN BLUNDEN, 5th Baronet (1880-1923), who wedded, in 1918, Phyllis Dorothy, daughter of Philip Crampton Creagh, and had issue,
WILLIAM, his successor; PHILIP OVERINGTON, 7th Baronet.
Sir John was succeeded by his elder son,
SIR WILLIAM BLUNDEN, 6th Baronet (1919-85), Lieutenant-Commander RN, who married, in 1945, Pamela Mary, daughter of John Purser, and had issue,
Sir William died without male issue, when the title passed to his brother,
SIR PHILIP OVERINGTON BLUNDEN, as 7th Baronet (1922-2007), who wedded, in 1945, Jeanette Francesca Alexandra, daughter of Captain D Macdonald RNR, of Portree, Isle of Skye, and had issue,
HUBERT CHISHOLM, his successor; John Maurice Patrick; Marguerite Eugenie.
Sir Philip was succeeded by his eldest son,
SIR HUBERT CHISHOLM BLUNDEN, 8th and present Baronet (1948-), of The Cottage, Carrigloe, Cobh, County Cork, 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, who married, in 1975, Ellish O’Brien, and has issue,
EDMUND, b 1982; Amelia, b 1977.
CASTLE BLUNDEN, County Kilkenny, is a mid-18th century house built either for John Blunden MP, or for his son, Sir John Blunden, 1st Baronet.
It comprises three storeys over a vaulted basement, with a six-bay front enclosing a central niche containing a statue below an armorial panel.
The interior decoration is late 18th century in style, likely decorated by the 2nd Baronet, whose wife afforded him “a clear £8,000 a year.”
The hall boasts a frieze of rams’ heads; and the plasterwork in the drawing-room has an “Adamesque” ceiling.
Castle Blunden stands in a most idyllic setting, with water on both sides of it, probably formed originally from a moat (from an earlier castle).
Castle Blunden Detached seven-bay three-storey over basement Classical-style country house, c.1750 built to designs attributed to Francis Bindon (c.1698-1765)
Paddy Rossmore. Photographs. Edited by Robert O’Byrne. The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, 2019.
“the Blundens of Castle Blunden are descended from Overington Blunden, an English soldier who came to Ireland in teh seventeenth century and in 1667 was granted lands by the crown in County Kilkenny, Tipperary, Offaly and Waterford. Castle Blunden dates from around the middle of the following century, and was most likely built, or at least commenced by John Blunden who sat as a Member of the Irish Parliament for Kilkenny City from 1727 until his death in 1766. Its design attributed to amateur architect Francis Bindon, Caslte Blunden is of seven bays and three storeys, its facade enlivened by an unusually wide pedimented portico supported by four Roman Doric columns. Above this is a niche containing a somewhat diminuitve figure of a Roman general and then below the eaves a stone panel features the family coat of arms.”
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.]
“A two storey three bay C18 house. Primitive Venetian windows with slightly pointed heads on either side of roundheaded rusticated doorcase; Wyatt windows above.”
Belan House, County Laois, courtesy National Inventory.
Three-bay two-storey house with dormer attic, built c.1750, with pedimented central breakfront. Three-bay two-storey Georgian house, c.1790, attached to rear. Now derelict. Double-pitched and hipped slate roof with clay ridge tiles, nap rendered chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast rendered brick walls with limestone course to eaves. Venetian-style window openings to ground floor, Wyatt-style window openings to first floor with limestone sills and timber sash windows. Round-headed door opening with block-and-start doorcase and timber panelled door with fanlight. Timber panelled shutters to window openings; timber panelled intrados to Venetian window. House set back from road in own grounds; overgrown grounds to site. Group of detached outbuildings to site. Gateway to front comprising rendered piers with wrought iron gates.
Drumcree House, County Westmeath entrance front 1968, photograph: David Davison, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 113. “(Smyth/IFR) A distinguished early to mid-C18 house of ashlar; two storeys over basement. Pedimented breakfront centre, with oculus in pediment; doorcase with segmental pediment. Venetian windows with Ionic columns and pilasters above, flanked by niches. Now derelict.
Drumcree House main staircase ruins 1968, County Westmeath, photograph: David Davison, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 141. Very attractive two storey pedimented mid 18C house possibly designed by Michael Wills for the Smyth family. Doorcase with segmented pediment. Interior mostly remodelled in the early 19C and a new main staircase was created. Some original chimneypieces survive on the first floor. Derelict.
Detached seven-bay two-storey over basement Palladian country house, built c.1750. Now roofless and in ruinous condition. Central three bays on entrance front are advanced to form a breakfront with oculus to pediment. Constructed of coursed limestone with ashlar cornice, string courses and raised rusticated quoins to corners. Square-headed openings with moulded stone surrounds and cut stone sills. Centrally positioned doorcase with segmental pediment supported on Doric pilasters. Venetian window above to first floor with Ionic columns and pilasters flanked by round-headed niches. Entrance approached by limestone steps and wrought-iron railings. Set back from road in extensive mature parkland.
Appraisal
Elaborate Palladian style country house now in state of advanced dereliction. Enough survives of this building to indicate that it was a sophisticated residence with very fine masonry and architectural detailing. Layout and style is very typical of Palladian architecture with double-pile plan, pedimented breakfront and symmetrical entrance façade. The architect is unknown but this composition may have been the work of a someone of note. This house was built for a branch of the Smyth family, an important family in North Westmeath during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Smyth Family were noted architectural patrons and commissioned other fine country houses at Glananea and at Barbavilla, Collinstown. This substantial structure forms the focal point of an interesting group of demesne-related structures with a service tunnel and courtyard of outbuildings to the north-west. The house is built on the site of an earlier castle and is subsequently of archaeological interest. The house sits in mature parkland and makes a picturesque contribution to the landscape.
Paddy Rossmore. Photographs. Edited by Robert O’Byrne. The Lilliput Press, Dublin 7, 2019.
Although already in a state of some dereliction, Drumcree was still inhabited when photographed by Paddy but has since fallen into ruin. The house is one of a number built by members of the Smyth family, originally from Yorkshire, who settled in this part of the country in the seventeenth century: other properties once owned by them include Barbavilla and Glananea. The estate around Drumcree ran to almost 4,500 acres, allowing successive Smyths to represent Westmeath first in the Dublin and then in the Westminster parliaments, although the last to do so, Robert Smyth, was described in the Dublin Evening Post in June 1826 as “the most stupid and silly man in the county.”
Drumcree dates from the mid-18C and has been tentatively linked by Christine Casey to the Dublin architect Michael Wills. Of two storeys over basement, its seven-bay limestone facade features three advanced and pedimented centre bays in which a short flight of steps give access to the doorcase beneath a segmental pediment. Directly above is a Venetian window flanked by arched niches. Until recently Drumcree was submerged beneath a dense quantity of vegetation but this has been cleared away, suggesting that the house might yet return to domestic use.”
Baronston House (or Baronstown), Ballinacargy, Co Westmeath
Baronstown , County Westmeath entrance front, collection: Geoffrey Brooke, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 33. “(Malone, Sunderlin, B/DEP; Malone/LGI1912) A late C18 house consisting of a three storey centre block joined to two storey wings by curved sweeps; largely built by Richard Malone, 1st and last Lord Sunderlin, who is immortalised in Sir John Betjeman’s poem, Sir John Piers:
“And from the North, lest you, Malone, should spy me
You, Sunderlin of Baronstown, the peer,
I’ll fill your eye with all the stone that’s by me
And live four-square protected in my fear.”
The centre block had a seven bay front with a pedimented breakfront; oeil de boeuf window in pediment; three bay projecting porch. The wings were of five bays. After suffering two successive fires, the centre block was replaced 1903 by a large gabled Edwardian villa to the design of James Franklin Fuller; The original eighteenth century curved sweeps and wings remaining on either side, to produce an effect of grotesque incongruity. Sold ca 1929, afterwards demolished.”
And from the Nonrth, lest you, Malone, should spy me,
You, Sunderlin of Baronstown, the peer,
I’ll fill your eye with all the stone that’s by me
And live four-square protected in my fear.
The centre block had a seven bay front with a pedimented breakfront, oeil de boeuf window in pediment; three bay projecting porch. The wings were of five bays. After suffering two successive fires, the centre block was replaced 1903 by a large gabled Edwardian villa to the design of James Franklin Fuller; the original C18 curved sweeps and wings remaining on either side, to produce an effect of grotesque incongruity. Sold ca 1929, afterwards demolished.”
Richard Malone (d. 1816) had no children. He had a brother, Edmond Malone (1741-1812) who was a barrister and Shakespearean scholar.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 141. A large three storey pedimented house built in 1755 for Richard Malone 1st Lord Sunderlin, with flanking pavilions joined to the main block by quadrants. The house was rebuilt in 1889, following a fire. Following another fire in 1903 the main block was completely rebuit to the design of James Franklin Fuller in the Tudor manor house style. Demolished.
Baronston also known as Baronstown, was a three-storey centre block joined to two-storey wings by curved sweeps. In 1903, a large, gabled, Edwardian villa was constructed on the site of the central block, with the sweeps and wings remaining on either side. This replacement was built twice by James Franklin Fuller, rebuilt first ‘for the late Col Malone’ and second on a smaller scale for ‘the present Col. Malone’ after successive fires. Baronston was sold in 1929.
THE MALONES WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY WESTMEATH, WITH 13,715 ACRES
EDMOND MALONE, of Ballynahown, married, in 1569, Margaret, daughter of Richard Dalton, of Milltown, by whom he had issue, one son,
EDMOND MALONE, of Ballynahown, who wedded firstly, in 1599, Rose, daughter of John Coghlan (The Maw); and secondly, Catherine Pettyt.
By the latter he had a son, John, who was settled at Cartrons, County Westmeath, in the neighbourhood of his father, and a daughter, Mary; and by the former he was father of a son and heir,
EDMOND MALONE, of Ballynahown, who espoused, in 1617, a daughter of Garrett Byrne, and left a son and successor,
EDMOND MALONE, of Ballynahown, who married, in 1644, Mary, daughter of Brazel Fox, of Kilcoursy, and had two sons,
ANTHONY MALONE, of Baronston, married, in 1673, Mary, daughter of John Reilly, of Lismore, County Cavan, and granddaughter of the Earl of Roscommon, and was father of
RICHARD MALONE (1674-), of Baronston, the celebrated lawyer and orator, who wedded, in 1698, Marcella, daughter of Richard Molady, by Mary his wife, daughter of John Malone, of Cartrons, and had issue,
ANTHONY(Rt Hon), MP; Edmond, MP; father of RICHARD, 1st BARON SUNDERLIN; Richard, MP; Anne Jane Frances; Mary; Margaret; Marcella.
The elder son of Edmond Malone and Mary Fox his wife,
EDMOND MALONE, of Ballynahown, High Sheriff of County Westmeath, 1756-7, wedded, in 1674, Anne, daughter of Henry L’Estrange, of Moystown, King’s County, and had (with a daughter) three sons,
RICHARD MALONE (1706-59), of Ballynahown, espoused, in 1717, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Crosbie, of Ballyheigue, County Kerry, and had issue,
Edmond, MP for Ardfert; dsp 1759; HENRY, his heir; Anthony (Rev); Elizabeth.
The second son,
HENRY MALONE, of Ballynahown, married Anne, daughter of Henry Morres Jones, of Moneyglass, County Antrim, and had a son,
EDMOND MALONE, of Ballynahown, who wedded, in 1774, his cousin Mary, eldest daughter of John O’Connor, of Mount Pleasant, King’s County, and had issue,
EDMOND, of whom presently; John; Henry; Maria; Anne.
His eldest son,
EDMOND MALONE, of Ballynahown, Captain, Black Horse Regiment, espoused, in 1813, Henrietta, daughter of John Chomley, of Belcamp, County Dublin.
He died in 1818, and left issue,
Edmond, died unmarried, 1836; JOHN RICHARD, of whom hereafter; Harriette.
The only surviving son,
JOHN RICHARD MALONE JP DL (1817-94), of Baronston, High Sheriff of County Westmeath, 1852, married firstly, in 1844, Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel Henry Peisley L’Estrange, of Moystown, King’s County, and by her had issue,
JOHN RICHARD, his successor; Henry L’Estrange.
He wedded secondly, in 1868, Anna Jane, youngest daughter of Robert William Lowry DL, of Pomeroy, County Tyrone, and Belmore, County Westmeath.
His eldest son,
JOHN RICHARD MALONE JP DL (1846-), High Sheriff of County Westmeath, 1896, Colonel Commanding 6th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, espoused firstly, in 1872, Charlotte Mildred, daughter of the Hon John Yarde Buller, and sister of John, 2nd Baron Churston, and had issue,
JOHN RICHARD MORDRED HENRY L’ESTRANGE; Roderick O’Connor Vivian Henry Vere; Victor Mildred Charles.
Colonel Malone wedded secondly, in 1893, Catherine Cecil, daughter of Major J W Percy, and had further issue,
Henry Anthony Percy; Richard Maurice Fitzgerald; Barbara Grace Maria Patricia.
BARONSTON HOUSE, Ballynacargy, County Westmeath, was a late 18th century house consisting of a three-storey centre block joined to two-storey wings by curved sweeps.
The centre block had a seven-bay front with a pedimented breakfront; a three-bay projecting porch; wings of five bays.
Having suffered a series of fires, the centre block was replaced, in 1903, by a large, gabled, Edwardian villa, with the sweeps and wings remaining on either side.
Baronston was sold in 1929 and subsequently demolished.
Sunderlin arms courtesy of European Heraldry. First published in January, 2012.
The Malone Mausoleum in the graveyard of Kilbixy, County Westmeath, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
The Malone Mausoleum in the graveyard of Kilbixy, County Westmeath, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
The Malone Mausoleum in the graveyard of Kilbixy, County Westmeath was erected in the late 18th century, its design attributed to James Wyatt who is thought also to have been responsible for the adjacent St Bigseach’ church. The building was commissioned by Richard Malone, first (and last) Baron Sunderlin who lived nearby in the long-lost Baronston House. Faced with ashlar limestone, it takes the form of a weighty square block on a stepped base plinth above which rises a pyramidal roof. Comparisons have been made with the mausolea of Halicarnassus and Knidos, and, with regard to the north-east elevation, the fourth century BC Choragic Monument of Thrasyllos on the south face of Athens’ Acropolis. The building’s Greek cross interior contains three sarcophagi, one for Malone, one for his late uncle Anthony Malone (whose extensive estates he had inherited) and one for his brother Edmond, a well-known Shakespearean scholar of the period. Access to the interior is via double doors, above which is an inscription reading ‘Mors Janua Vitae’ (Death is the Door of Life) while on the south-west can be seen the Malone coat of arms with the inscription ‘Fidelis at Urnam’ (Faithful until Death). Thanks to the Follies Trust, the mausoleum underwent extensive restoration in 2023 but recently a tree in the graveyard came down beside it and while this does not appear to have damaged the main structure, the cast-iron railings may have suffered.
The Malone Mausoleum in the graveyard of Kilbixy, County Westmeath, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
The Malone Mausoleum in the graveyard of Kilbixy, County Westmeath, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Castle Otway, County Tipperary view of entrance and garden fronts, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 74. “(Otway-ruthven; IFR; Verney-Cave, Braye, B/PB) A handsome two storey mid-C18 house with a vast and largely C19 towerhouse at its back. The towerhouse incorporated part of the original Clohonan or Cloghanane Castle, which was granted to John Otway 1665 and later renamed Castle Otway. The C18 house which Dr Craig considers to have been designed by the same architect or builder as Lissenhall, Co Tipperary, another house of the Otways, had a seven bay front…. Burnt 1922.
Castle Otway, County Tipperary, entrance front 1979, photograph: William Garner, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 133. A fine mid Georgian two storey pedimented house. Good Doric pedimented doorcase. A tower house much altered is incorporated in the rere of the house. Built for the Otways. Burnt in 1922. Now a ruin.
Detached seven-bay two-storey over half-basement country house with three-bay pedimented breakfront, built c. 1750, and having four- and- five-storey medieval towerhouse rebuilt in nineteenth-century with three-storey elevations, with turret, to rear. Now in ruins. Roofless, with rendered brick chimneystacks to house and multiple offset limestone stack to towerhouse. Castellations, machicolations and corbel tables to towerhouse. Roughly-dressed limestone walls, slate hung to rear and south-west gable, with brick eaves course and ashlar quoins and plinth. Square-headed openings with limestone voussoirs and sills. Pointed-arch openings, some blocked, with ashlar limestone voussoirs and keystones and limestone sills to tower. Square-headed opening to entrance with carved limestone engaged Doric columns, entablature and pediment. Remains of limestone steps leading to entrance. Castellated walls with alternating round and rectangular openings having integral carriage-arch and with castellated mock gatehouse to south-west. Multiple-bay single-storey outbuildings to south-east.
Appraisal
The form of this impressive country house, despite its ruinous condition, is of apparent architectural design and execution. The house was built for the Otway family, and the medieval towerhouse, rebuilt in the nineteenth century, incorporates part of the original Cloghanane castle granted to John Otway in 1665. The house retains many original and interesting features such as the limestone sills, voussoirs and ashlar quoins. The doorway surround is particularly ornate and is obviously the work of skilled craftsmen. The towerhouse contrasts with the Georgian façade of the main house, thereby providing further interest to the site. The Tipperary Gentry. Volume 1. By William Hayes and Art Kavanagh. Published by Irish Family Names, c/o Eneclann, Unit 1, The Trinity Enterprise Centre, Pearse St, Dublin 2, 11 Emerald Cottages, Grand Canal St, Dublin 4 and Market Square, Bunclody, Co Wexford, Ireland. 2003. Otway of Templederry p. 169. John Otway, a lieutenant in Cromwell’s army, and formerly of Ingham Hall in Westmoreland, found himself at least in a geographically prominent position around 1655 when he took possession of the old Morris stronghold in Latteragh…By 1654 only the bare walls were left of the main structure, and the only usable part was the barbican or outer tower, which was still intanct. Latteragh Castle, in the barony of Upper Ormond, had been the chief seat of the Morrises, descendants of Geoffrey de Marisco, the Norman knight who acquired it around 1200. Sir John Morris, recorded as the proprietor in 1641, had died in 1647 before the Cromwellian confiscations took place. It was his widow, Dame Catherine, who had been dispossessed by the Cromwellian settlement, and who was the recipient of a transplanters’ certificate for land set out to her in Connaught. p. 170. John Otway added to his original grant by purchasing debentures for land from Cromwellian soldiers who had got small grants of land in Upper Ormond….But he was among the cromwellian grantees in an unsure position after the restoration of Charles II in 1660. James Butler the Duke of Ormonde, and then Lord Lieutenant, one of the king’s most loyal supporters, was at once put into pssession of his confiscated estate. Not only did the agile duke increase his share of Tipperary land, but ensured that his relatives and allies would also be restored to their lands. Among his distant relatives was Dame Katherine Morris, who was enabled to return and obtain recovery of Lattteragh for her son, another Sir John, who was married to a daughter of Purcell, the baron of Loughmoe. John Otway, however, played his cards well. Knowing he had to give up his lands in Latteragh, he had, as early as January 1661, secured a certificate from the Court of Claims for a new grant of lands as yet undisposed of in Templederry parish…In 1684, to make doubly sure of his title, he used the good services of the earl of Mountrath, a former Cromwellian leader who still wielded much influence, to obtain the king’s patent under the Commisson of Grace for his new estate, comprising the old lands of the O’Kennedys of Cloghonan… p. 171. John Otway also had the advantage that the Cloghonan Castle, a former O’Kennedy stronghold, was in fairly good shape, having been partly repaired… prior to 1654. He accordingly had a well defended residence at his disposal, which was later to be renamed Castle Otway. ..As early as 1650 John had married Phoebe Loftus, a daughter of Nicholas Loftus of Fethard, County Wexford, who was a son of Sir Dudley Loftus of Rathfarnham Castle. Accordingly he was already linked with the ascendancy, and was soon playing a prominent role among the new elite of Tipperary, by getting elected High Sheriff of the county for 1680. John’s eldest son, also named John, died in 1722 without a male heir, and it was Henry, the eldest son of his thrid son, Thomas, who inherited Castle Otway. Thomas had established himself at Lissenhall, near Nenagh… He probably built a small residence there are first, when around the mid-18C an elegant middle-sized Georgian house was built where some members of the Otways lived for four generations. Through his wife Christian, daughter and co-heir of Richard Lock, Tullagory, MP, and his daughters, Thomas established early marriage and political alliances with other newly emerging ascendancy families in North Tipperary and elsewhere. …Henry, who inherited Castle Otway, married Mary, daughter of Phanuel Cooke of Clonamiklon, near Uringlford. His eldest son and successor, Thomas, married Martha Prittie, a sister of Henry Prittie of Kilboy, 1st Lord Dunally. Cooke Otway, Henry’s younger brother, who became a captain of the Life Guards, was called after his mother’s maiden name. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Waller of Lisbrien. Both Henry and Thomas were educated at Trinity College, and in their time Otway House was built, incorporating the 16th/17th century O’Kennedy tower house, wiht its slit windows and gun loops. It wasa a fine two-storey mid-Georgian house, wiht a Doric pedimented doorcase, and had all the elegance of Lissenhall. Indeed there was such a striking similarity btween the two houses that it is though that the same architect was engaged for both. [Vanishing Houses of Ireland by Knight of Glin, David J. Cuffe, Nicholas K. Robinson] p. 173. Cooke Otway, who had succeeded to Castle Otway by the time of the disturbed 1790s, when the hill country around was seethign with rumours of rebellion, showed himself more than competent to seal with any incipient insurgency. [p. 174.] In the 1780s the Otways, like other landlords in the region, set up a volunteer corps, with Thomas Otway, nominated a Colonel, in command. … Thomas Otway has been portrayed as a “harsh and stern landlord.”…[p. 175] Thomas Otway also seemed to have an intolerance towards the native language. In 1772 Silo Magher was fined for speaking Irish in his presence. Thomas Otway recieved recognition as an “improving landlord” from the Dublin Society, which presented him with a silver medal in 1767…He died in 1786, and as he was childless, he was succeeded by his brother Cooke Otway [b. 1733]. p. 175. [around 1775] The secret societies, such as the Whiteboys, had grown in strength, and by the mid-1790s were given the umbrella name of the Defenders. The Orange Society had recently emerged as well, with the aim of maintaining the Protestant ascendancy, and was spreading throughout the land. Another more significant society to be founded in that decade, the United Irishmen, sought a union of Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters under a truly democratic government of all the people of the country. It was getting strong support from the Presbyterians, or Dissenters, in the North. When the government, nervous of any form of radicalism, especially in the wake of the recent French Revolution, suppresed teh United Irish Society, it went underground to become a secret, revolutionary organisation bent on establishign a republic with military support from France. The movement became meshed with the Defenders in many parts. Military loyalism and revolutionary republicanism were heading towards a confrontation. p. 176. Nenagh had become one of the most important United Irish centres in tipperary, its chief secret organiser being Hervey or Harvey Montmorency Morres, of the family which formerly owned Latteragh fortress and lands, who was a close friend of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Cooke Otway reorganised the Castle Otway volunteers as the Castle Otway Yeomen Cavalry, composed now mainly of his Protestant tenantry. The corp captured a local United Irish organiser named Daniel Darcy, who was transferred to Clonmel gaol to await trial. If convicted of administering the United oath he faced execution. …Dublin Castle declared martial law on the whole county in April 1798. ..panic set among many of the gentry in the county who quitted their residences and went into the towns. The High Sheriff then ordered every gentleman, under “such penalties as he should be empowered to inflict and the circumstances of the time justify” to return and remain at his country seat, to help restore law and order. Cooke Otway was not the sort of “timid” landlord the High Sheriff railed against. He proved himself a ruthless rebel hunter…[he flogged a man to force a confession. Some then came forward and confessed and gave in their pikes and made oaths of allegiance and were pardoned.][some captured who were determined to have administered teh United oath were transported to Australia]. p. 178. Cooke was succeeded by his second surviving son [the first, Loftus William, rose to the rank of Lieutenant General in the British Army and then became Knight Commander of Charles III of Spain], Henry 1768-1815, who married Sarah, daughter of thomas Cave of Stanford Hall, Leicester. She became heir to the family property, and she and Henry resided at Standford Hall and in Grosvenor Square, London. This marked the beginning of the absentee landlord phase of the Templederry Otways. The Otway estate then consisted of 6,667 statute acres. p. 179. Henry’s younger brother, Admiral Robert Waller Otway, 1770-1851, became a distinguished naval officer, and on the occasion of the coronation of William IV in 1831 was created a baronet for his services. …The baronetcy descended through this Robert Waller branch of the family, first to his eldest son, George Graham Otway and then to his brother, who lived in Brighton. p. 180. To return to Henry, who assumed the additional name of Cave, and lived in Stanford Hall, it was through him that the Castle Otway branch of teh family continued. He was succeeded by his second son, Robert Otway Cave, who became heir to Castle Otway. Robert was a man of much more liberal bent of mind than his grandfather Cooke, or his granduncle Thomas. He embarked on a political career as a young man, serving as MP for Leicester in 1826-30, and supporting Catholic emancipation. In 1835 he ran as a liberal candidate in the Tipperary election of 1835. As it happened there was no poll in that election and he was joined as one of the two Tipperary MPs by the well-known Richard Lalor Sheil. Despite his ascendancy background, one of Otway’s policies was opposition to the tithe system, the major and most controversial issue of the time. He was also on the side of O’Connell’s repeal of the Union campaign. He resided when convenient in Lissenhall and held his Tipperary seat until 1844… [he had no children] Sophia Otway [his widow], although an absentee landlord, continued to take a keen interest in her Castle Otway estate and its people. She headed the Borrisoleigh Poor Relief Fund with her £30 donation in 1846, and financially helped some families emigrate to America. …When Sophia died in 1849, Castle Otway was inherited by Vice Admiral Joselyn Otway, MP, second son of her husband’s brother, Rev Samuel Jocelyn Otway. [p. 181] In 1836, Robert Jocelyn married Anne Digby, daughter of Sir Hugh Crofton, of Mohill House, County Leitrim, and his only offspring, Frances Margaret, married William Clifford Bermingham Ruthven of Queensboro, County Galway. Through that marriage the surname became Otway-Ruthven. The eldest son and heir of William and Frances, Captain Robert Mervyn Bermingham, married Margaret, daughter of Julius Casement, of Cronroe, County Wicklow, in 1900. They had seven chidren, all of whom were given Bermingham as the last of their Christian names aparty from their eldest son, Robert Jocelyn Oliver, born 1901. He was the last Otway owner of Castle Otway. At least as far as the 19th century is concerned, the Otways were looked upon as good landlords. Castle Otway was burnt down in the time of the Civil War, 1922. The remnant of the estate was divided following the 1926 Land Act…The other former Otway residence, Lissenhall, is also a sad ruin.”
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.
Supplement
p. 294. “(Leicester, Bt/Edb; Magan/IFR) In mid-C18, Clonearl was sold by Sir John Leicester to Arthur Magan, a County Westmeath landed magnate of old Irish descent who had married a rich wife. William Henry Magan, “The Magnificent” built a new and elegant cut-stone neo-Classical house here ca 1820, to the design of William Farrell. Of two storeys, it had a five bay front with a giant Ionic portico in antis…Clonearl was inherited 1840 by the yonger William Henry Magan, known as Wiliam Henry the Bad; he was wildly extravagant and his misdeeds ranged from seducing the married daughter of an Earl (he married her, but is alleged, probably unfairly, to have strangled her) to annoying Queen Victoria by making faced when, as a young cavalry officer, he was escorting her carriage. He was also blamed for causing the death of a local man, who was called in to amuse a stag party at Clonearl and accidentally set fire to his shirt, sustaining fatal burns. Clonearl was burnt 1846, supposedly as a result of one of William Henry the Bad’s drunken orgies; it was not rebuilt. The house features in Brid William Magan’s excellent book, Umma-More.”
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 121. “A very fine cut stone two storey house built for W.H. Magan to the design of William Farrell c. 1817. Garden front with two storey Ionic portico in antis. Demolished.”
Ranges of stone outbuildings, built c.1750, set around courtyard. Multiple-bay single- and two-storey buildings with pitched and hipped slate roofs. Renovated east wing with replacement widows and doors. Square and segmental-headed openings to north west and south wings, with remains of groin-vaulted carriage arch beneath former clock tower to west range. Remains of Clonearl House, underground rooms and water pump located on the site.
Though in poor condition, these outbuildings retain evidence of some original design features that hint of the former splendour of Clonearl House. At present efforts are being made to restore the north wing.
Curragh Chase, County Limerick garden front 1938, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
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.
“(de Vere, a sub Hunt/ LGI1912; De Vere, sub Inchiquin, B/PB) A large house of two storeys over a basement with two adjoining fronts. The shorter of two is C18, by a Limerick architect, with two bays on either side of a central three sided bow; lower storey windows with shouldered architraves and simple entablatures; upper storey windows with shouldered architraves on console brackets. The longer front is early C19, probably added 1829 by Sir Aubrey de Vere, 2nd Bt (author of Julian the Apostate and The Duke of Mercia), to the design of an English architect, Amon Henry Wilds; of 11 bays, the three end bays on either side breaking forward; it is plain, except for prominent quoins, and has a curved bow at one end. A terrace with a broad flight of steps leading up to it runs along the whole length of the front, concealing the basement. Large library. The house is what Mr James Lees-Milne describes as “one of the most remote and romantic settings conceivable”; above a reed-fringed lake with woods stretching away to distant hills. The landscape was largely created by Sir Aubrey de Vere, 2nd Bt, with whom, in the words of his son, the C19 Catholic poet Aubrey de Vere, “landscape gardenings was one mode of taking out the poetry which was so deeply seated within him.” Aubrey de Vere was born here and though only a younger son, lived here for most of his long life; dying here at the age of 87 in the same small room which he had occupied as a child. His friend, Tennyson, often came to visit him here; and while here he wrote Clara Lady Vere de Vere. Curragh Chase passed to a great-nephew of Aubrey de Vere, R.S.V. O’Brien, of the Inchiquin family, who assumed the name of de Vere. The house was gutted by fire 1941 the ruin and its surrmoundings are now kept in good order by the Dept of Lands, which maintains the demesne as well as a forest park.”
Featured in Mark Bence Jones, Life in an Irish Country House. Constable, London. 1996.
On An Taisce Buildings at Risk register
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
This building has been vacant for a number of years and does not appear to be maintained. Most of the external fabric remains, but there are obvious signs of deterioration, particularly water penetration, slipped slates and vegetation growth. There is no immediate danger of collapse but the condition is such that unless urgent remedial works are carried out the building will sharply deteriorate.
Curraghchase House which was the residence of by the de Vere family and was the birthplace of the poet Aubrey de Vere is set in a magnificent demense landscape. The house is now derelict and vacant following a fire in 1941 but retains many limestone features. It is currently in the ownership of Coillte who have not put in any significant measures to improve the condition of the structure. This building urgently requires a conservation management plan and new uses to be identified to prevent further deterioration of its character.
Detached eleven-bay two-storey over half-basement house, built c. 1750, with two adjoining fronts, shorter one dating to the eighteenth century, longer front dating to c. 1829. House now derelict following a fire in 1941. Having bowed north elevation, full-height canted bay to south elevation and extensions to rear (west). Projecting three-bay end bays to front (east) elevation. Roof missing. Cut limestone walls with cut limestone quoins, plinth course, cornice and raised parapet. Cut limestone platband to south and part of rear elevation. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls to part of rear elevation, having render quoins. Mixed red brick and rubble stone walls to north elevation of extension. Square-headed openings having cut limestone sills and voussoirs throughout, now blocked. Those to south elevation having cut limestone surrounds and hoodmouldings. Shared limestone hoodmoulding to ground floor windows, north elevation. Square-headed openings to basement, north elevation, with limestone sills and surrounds and metal railings. Some openings to rear having red brick voussoirs. Square-headed opening to front with cut limestone voussoirs. Limestone slab to entrance. Square-headed opening to north elevation of rear extension with red brick surround and voussoirs, and metal door. Semi-circular opening to threshold with cut limestone surround and cast-iron lid. Raised land to front of house with cut limestone retaining wall with cut limestone copings. Rubble stone wall to rear of house enclosing yard. Segmental-headed arch to south elevation set within cut limestone breakfront, having red brick voussoirs and double-leaf timber battened door. Segmental-headed opening to north elevation, with red brick voussoirs, cut limestone surround, and bellcote to top. Five-bay single-storey stable building to rear. Pitched slate roof having cut limestone eaves course. Rubble stone walls. Square-headed openings with limestone sills, red-brick voussoirs and surrounds. Square-headed opening with red brick voussoirs and surround, and timber battened door. Segmental-headed opening having red brick voussoirs and double-leaf timber battened door. Rubble stone semi-circular retaining wall marking meditation area to site.
The house and estate was formerly owned by the de Vere family and was the birthplace of the poet Aubrey de Vere, lending historical and cultural significance to the house. The work dating to 1829 was carried out by the architect Amon Henry Wilds. Although its been severely damaged by the fire, the house retains much of its original fabric, such as its limestone sills and decorative window surrounds. Its imposing size and austere appearance make a notable impression on the surrounding landscape. The outbuildings and yard to the rear of the house add context to the site.
Bellevue, County Wicklow, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 38. “(La Touche/IFR: A house built 1754 by the wealthy Dublin banker David LaTouche…a chapel was built near the house, to the design of Richard Morrison… As well as building the house, David laid out a landscape garden, which he and his son Peter adorned with numerous ornaments and follies… by the elder and younger Francis Sandys or Sands. Peter La Touche also constructed the remarkable glass conservatory or “glazed passage” which snaked across the lawn for more than 500 feet…Some years after the death of a subsequent Peter La Touche, in 1904, Bellevue was sold by his sisters and heiresses. The house was afterwards allowed to fall into disrepair. Parts of it were still standing in 1945,, but it was finally demolished in 1950s.”
Bellevue, County Wicklow, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.Bellevue, County Wicklow, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.Bellevue, County Wicklow, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 155. “A two storey house built c. 1754 for David La Touche. Altered and enlarged c. 1790 to the design of Whitmore Davis and again in the early 19C when Richard Morrison added a chapel. Demolished in the 1950s.”
David Digges La Touche (1703-1785), of Bellevue, County Wicklow, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Peter La Touche of Bellevue (1733-1828) Date 1775 by Robert Hunter, Irish, 1715/1720-c.1803, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Mrs La Touche of Bellevue by Stephen Catterson Smith 1806-1872, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland NGI 628.
The Ballydonagh demesne was bought in 1753 by David La Touche, a rich banker from Dublin of Huguenot extraction. He built a house between 1754 and 1756 at a cost of £30,000 and named it Bellevue. In 1785 it was inherited by his son Peter.
Described in ‘A view of antient and modern Dublin, with its latest improvements’ published in 1807: “He built the mansion house in 1754, and his son added the two wings. The whole is well planned; the offices also are commodious and numerous. The entire cost 30,000” and “The house is roomy and convenient furnished in good stile and contains some excellent stained glass particularly a chemist at work and fishermen bringing in their cargo by moonlight.”
The house had massive glasshouses attached which snaked around the building ” … a 650-feet conservatory, which would house many exotic plants as well as an orangery, a cherry house, a peach house and a vinery. Completed in 1793, this magnificent creation was then the largest conservatory in Europe. …”
The family finally left Bellevue in 1913 after which the house fell into decay and was pulled down in the early 1950s.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 16. “(Knox/IFR; Gabbett/IFR) A Georgian house, built by a descendent of William Baker, who was granted the estate, which had originally belonged to the Tobin family, 1660; subsequently reduced in size and inherited towards the end of C19 by a branch of the Knox family, from whom it passed by inheritance to the present owner, Lt-Col R.E. Gabbett. In 1953, finding the house ‘ugly and awkward’ Col Gabbett demolished the greater part of it, and built a two storey modern house in the Georgian style, incorporating what remained. The architect of the new house was Donald A. Tyndall.”
Detached four-bay two-storey house, rebuilt 1953, incorporating fabric of earlier house, c.1750, on site with single-bay two-storey side elevations, and two-bay two-storey return to north-east leading to four-bay three-storey end block to east having two-bay three-storey side elevations. Now in use as guesthouse. Hipped slate roofs with clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks, rooflight, and cast-iron rainwater goods on slightly overhanging rendered eaves. Ivy-clad unpainted roughcast walls with inscribed cut-limestone date stone/plaque, and unpainted rendered walls to rear (north) elevation. Square-headed window openings (some in tripartite arrangement) with cut-limestone sills, six-over-six timber sash windows having two-over-two sidelights to tripartite openings, and three-over-six timber sash windows to top floor end block. Elliptical-headed door opening with two cut-limestone steps, carved cut-limestone surround, timber panelled pilaster doorcase, timber panelled double doors having sidelights on panelled risers, and fanlight. Elliptical-headed door opening to house with timber panelled pilaster doorcase, glazed timber panelled door having sidelights on panelled risers, and fanlight. Interior with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from road in own grounds with gravel forecourt, and landscaped grounds to site.
A substantial house of two periods of construction resulting from the mid twentieth-century redevelopment of a mid eighteenth-century range for R.E. Gabbett (n. d.) to designs prepared by Donald Alfred Tyndall (d. 1975). Classically-derived details including the Wyatt-style tripartite arrangement to some window openings, the elegant treatment of the doorcase, and so on all serve to enhance the formal architectural design value of the composition. Having historic connections with the Tobin, the Whyte Baker, the Johnston, the Knox and the Gabbett families the house remains an important element of the built heritage of the locality.
Irish Historic Houses 