1770s

Loughlinstown House, Shankill, Co Dublin 

by jenjunebug

Loughlinstown House, Shankill, Co Dublin 

Loughlinstown House, Dublin, October 2023. Photograph © Jennifer Winder-Baggot, www.irishhistorichouses.com

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.

p. 193. “(Domville/IFR) A two storey Georigan house. Seven bay front with one bay breakfront, in which there is a Venetian window above a tripartite rusticated and fanlighted doorway. Afterwards the home of the Galvin family.” 

Loughlinstown House, Dublin, October 2023. Photograph © Jennifer Winder-Baggot, www.irishhistorichouses.com

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/60260103/loughlinstown-house-wyattville-road-loughlinstown-loughlinstown-dun-laoghaire-rathdown

Detached seven-bay two-storey double-pile country house, extant 1778, on a U-shaped plan centred on single-bay full-height breakfront; single-bay two-storey side elevations; five-bay two-storey rear (north) elevation with single-bay full-height projecting end bays. Leased, 1796-1841. Occupied, 1901. Vacant, 1911. Sold, 1963. Resold, 1975. Now in alternative use. Hipped slate roof on a T-shaped plan behind parapet centred on hipped slate roof (breakfront); hipped slate roof on a U-shaped plan (north) centred on pitched (gabled) slate roof, lichen-covered clay ridge tiles, red brick Running bond chimney stacks on axis with ridge having stringcourses below moss-covered capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta tapered pots with red brick English bond chimney stacks (north) on cut-granite chamfered cushion courses on red brick English bond bases having stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta octagonal or tapered pots, and concealed rainwater goods with replacement uPVC rainwater goods to rear (north) elevation on red brick header bond stepped cornice retaining cast-iron downpipes. Roughcast walls with rusticated cut-granite quoins to corners supporting parapet having cut-granite coping; roughcast surface finish to rear (north) elevation with repointed red brick flush quoins to corners. “Venetian Door” with flagged threshold supporting wrought iron-detailed cast-iron bootscrapers, and block-and-start surround centred on keystone framing glazed timber panelled door having overlight with fixed-pane timber sidelights. “Venetian Window” (first floor) with cut-granite sill, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash window having fanlight with fixed-pane timber sidelights. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash windows. “Venetian Door” to rear (north) elevation with red brick surround centred on keystone framing glazed timber panelled double doors having fanlight with four-over-four timber sash sidelights without horns. “Venetian Window” (first floor) with cut-granite sill, and red brick block-and-start surround centred on keystone framing six-over-six timber sash window having fanlight with four-over-four timber sash sidelights. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and red brick block-and-start surrounds framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Interior including (ground floor): central hall on a rectangular plan retaining encaustic tiled floor, carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, cantilevered staircase on a dog leg plan with turned timber “spindle” balusters supporting carved timber banister terminating in volute, carved timber surrounds to door openings to landing framing timber panelled doors with carved timber Classical-style surround to window opening framing timber panelled shutters, and decorative plasterwork cornice to coved ceiling centred on decorative plasterwork ceiling rose; spinal corridor retaining tessellated Portland stone flagged floor, carved timber lugged surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters, and picture railing below moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; central “back hall” (north) retaining carved timber surround to door opening framing timber panelled door with carved timber surrounds to opposing window openings framing timber panelled shutters, and moulded plasterwork cornice to ceiling; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with carved timber lugged surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters. Set in relandscaped grounds with repointed granite ashlar piers to perimeter having ball finial-topped “Cyma Recta”- or “Cyma Reversa”-detailed cornice capping on fluted friezes supporting replacement wrought iron double gates. 

Loughlinstown House, Dublin, October 2023. Photograph © Jennifer Winder-Baggot, www.irishhistorichouses.com

Appraisal 

A country house representing an important component of the eighteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, one erected in two stages succeeding a house occupied by Sir William Domvile (1609-89), one-time Attorney General for Ireland (fl. 1660-86), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking gently rolling grounds with a mountainous backdrop in the distance; the symmetrical footprint centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase demonstrating good quality workmanship; the slight diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a feint graduated visual impression; and the high pitched roofline: meanwhile, such traits as the symmetrical footprint centring on a “Venetian Window”; the uniform or near-uniform proportions of the openings on each floor; and the restrained pediment embellishing the roofline, all confirm the architectural value of the earlier portion. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including crown or cylinder glazing panels in hornless sash frames: meanwhile, contemporary joinery; restrained chimneypieces; and decorative plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, an adjacent stable complex (see 60260104) continues to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a depleted estate having historic connections with the Domvile family including Major Herbert Winnington Domvile JP (1840-1910), ‘High Sheriff of County Dublin and Deputy Lieuteant late of Loughlinstown House County Dublin’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1910, 152); and a succession of tenants including Reverend Thomas Leland (1723-85); Justice Robert Day (1746-1841); and Henry West (1809-81), ‘Queen’s Council late of Loughlinstown House County Dublin’ (Calendars of Wills and Administration 1881, 692). 

Loughlinstown House, Dublin, October 2023. Photograph © Jennifer Winder-Baggot, www.irishhistorichouses.com

https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/about-eurofound/who-we-are/loughlinstown-house-a-history

Loughlinstown house has an impressive history that goes back to medieval times when a castle was erected here by an Anglo-Saxon family named Goodman. In 1641 rebellion broke out and the Goodmans played a leading part. When the rebellion was quashed, the leaders were deported to Connaught and their castles given to Cromwell’s supporters. Cromwell died in 1658 and two years later the King returned to England. All of Cromwell’s supporters were forced to leave their castles, and most of the property was returned to the original owners, with the exception of James Goodman and Loughlinstown. 

The new King knighted and sent William Domville to Ireland as his Attorney General. Sir William built a modern house on the Loughlinstown property and settled down to breed horses and black cattle. He died in 1689 leaving Loughlinstown House to his eldest son, also Sir William, who witnessed the flight of James 2nd after the Battle of the Boyne when the King and his army were encamped in Lehaunestown (Laughanstown). According to Domvile family lore, it was said that the King planted a tree on the avenue, which was still there in the early part of this century. 

The second Sir William Domvile died in 1698 and was succeeded by his son, William. Descendants of the Domvilles continued to live in Loughlinstown House until 1796, and the prescent facade of the house dates from the 1770s when the house was rebuilt and the gardens laid out. 

In 1796 Loughlinstown House was let to Mr Justice Robert Day of Tralee who lived there till his death in 1841. A life-long friend of Henry Grattan, Day had helped him achieve his aim of a free Parliament for Ireland. Following Justice Day’s death, the Domvile family were once more to take possession of the house until 1963 when the house was sold to Mr John Galvin, an American multi-millionaire of Irish extraction. In the early 1970s the house came into the possession of the Irish Government, which subsequently leased it to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). 

Note: This short history of Loughlinstown House is based on information that was very kindly submitted by MK Turner from Shankill, on 9 January 1977. Eurofound would welcome any other information on the historical background of the property. 

Belgard Castle, Clondalkin, Co Dublin 

by jenjunebug

Belgard Castle, Clondalkin, Co Dublin 

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. 

p. 36. “(Kennedy-Skipton/IFR; Lawrence, Bt, of Lucknow/PB; Maude, sub Hawarden, B/PB) A large three storey C18 block attached to a medieval tower with Georgian Gothic windows and battlements. Drawing room ceiling of Adamesque plasterwork. Belgard was originally a seat of a branch of the Talbot family, from whom it passed by inheritance to a branch of the Dillon family at the end of C17. In 1788 it was leased to Francis Cruise, whose family still occupied it 1814. Later in C19 it was bought by Dr Evory Kennedy, president of Royal College of Physicians of Ireland; it subsequently passed to his grandson, Sir Henry Lawrence, 2nd Bt (who was also the grandson of the great Sir Henry Lawrence, founder of British rule in the Punjab and defender of Lucknow), whose widow sold it in 1910 to A.F. Maude. Sold ca 1962 by Mr Hugh Maude.” 

featured in Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution of Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915. 

“The mansion of Belgard is in the parish of Clondalkin, Co Dublin, and lies about six miles to the south of the capital. It consists, as appears from Pr. R.C. Orpen’s drawing, of a tall tower, with a large square house adjoining. Save for the Georgian doorway, it betrays externally no distinct form of architecture, though the interior contains several handsomely decorated rooms, one of which was illustrated in the fifth volume of the Georgian Society’s publications. We reproduce the mantel in the drawing room.  

The original castle which stood here was the property of the Talbots, who were of the same stock as the ancient family of Talbot in Malahide. It is first mentioned towards the close of the fifteenth century, beign then the seat of Robert Talbot, who was so prominent a champion of the house of Ormond in their endless quarrels with the Fitzgeralds, that the latter declared “that he kept a calendar of all their doings, and stirred the coals that incensed brother against brother.” At this time Belgard was one of the principal castles in the county of Dublin, and doubtless covered a considerable area. Robert Talbot died in 1523, and this estate was enjoyed in succession by his son, grandson and great-grandson. The last-mentioned was Gilbert Talbot, who inherited on his father’s decease in 1580. 

During the rising instigated by Viscount Baltinglass, the forces of the Crown charged with its suppression, under the Earl of Kildare and Sir Henry Harrington, assembled at Belgard before setting out to attack the enemy in the neighbourhood of Rathmore. Gilbert Talbot died in 1626, being succeeded by his second son Adam. We have no particulars of the latter’s residence here, but he was a man of position in the country, and though he did not engage in the Rebellion, it is clear that his sympathies were on the side of the Confederates. His son John Talbot, of Belgard, was actively engaged on behalf of that party, but we have no particulars of his exploits save that he shot a man at Chapelizod, for which he narrowly escaped being hanged on the establishment of Cromwell’s rule. He wisely left the country, and is said to have subsequently distinguished himself during the war in Flanders. The castle was next occupied by Adam Loftus, grandson of Sir Dudley Loftus, of Rathfarnham, who settled here on his marriage, and as showing the them accommodation we may mention that he kept five servants. 

At the Restoration the rightful owner, Lieutenant John Talbot, “for reason known unto the King in an especial manner meriting his grace and favour” was restored to the inheritance. [see notes on Belgard Castle in the Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society, vol. v, pg. 12]. Under James II he became a Colonel in Tyrconnell’s Horse, and sat as M.P. for Newcastle Lyons in the Parliament of 1689. He fought for the Jacobites during the Revolution, but was, however, after the fall of Limerick, being specially included in the terms of capitulation, permitted to take up his residence at Belgard, where he was living in 1693, when he gave security for loyal behaviour. He died in 10th Sept 1697, aged 73, leaving by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Talbot, of Templeogue, three daughters and co-heiresses: Margaret, wife of Sir Peter Bath, second Bart., of Athcarne, Co Meath, who died without issue in 1686; Catherine, who married in 1694 Colonel Thomas Dillon; and Maryanne, who married in 1696 Christopher Dillon, of Lungmore, Co Mayo, a younger brother of her sister’s husband. 

Prior to his death in 1721, Colonel Dillon occupied the house in right of his wife. His widow also lived here, apparently with her sister, Lady Bath, who in her will, dated 2nd June 1732, is described as “of Belgert, Co Dublin.” [see The Complete Baronetage, by G.E.C., iv, 203]. AT a later period Henry Dillon, the Colonel’s eldest son, who married Jane, daughter of Michael Moore, of Drogheda, appears as the owner. He lived here for many years, and is stated to have been a man of great wealth, known far and wide for his charity, hospitality, and lavish expenditure. On his death in 1772 his eldest son Thomas inherited, by dying childless 14 years later the next brother, John, an officer in the Austrian service, succeeded. The existing house was certainly standing prior to this time, for it is mentioned by Austin Cooper, the antiquary, but the ornament is apparently rather later. John Dillon, who removed to London about 1796, was the last representative of the family, and on his death, which occurred at Brompton, in May 1800, at the age of 90, the property passed to the descendants of his sister, Catherine, wife of Dominick Trant. But at this time the actual occupier was a Mr. Francis Cruise, who had come to reside in 1788, on obtaining a lease for 99 years from John Dillon. The Cruise family remained in possession till 1853, when the interest in the house was acquired by Dr. Evory Kennedy, one of the leading physicians in Dublin, who by purchases in the Landed Estates Court subsequently became absolute owner. He died in 1886, and taking advantage of an option expressed in his will, the residential portion of the Belgard estate was then purchased by his grandson, Sir Henry Hayes Lawrence, Bart., from whose representatives it was lately acquired by Captain Anthony Maude, the present owner.” 

https://planning.southdublin.ie/Home/ViewDocument?fileId=5985512

Mount Panther, County Down 

by jenjunebug

Mount Panther, County Down 

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. 

p. 216. “(Annesley, E/PB; Moore/LGI1912( A noble house of ca 1770. Very fine room with Adamesque plasterwork on the walls and ceiling. Now ruinous.” 

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2013/09/mount-panther.html

New Park, Moville, Co Donegal  

by jenjunebug

New Park, Moville, Co Donegal  

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.  

p. 301. “Montgomery of Alamein, V/PB) A house on the northern shore of Lough Foyle, built 1776 by Samuel Montgomery, a prosperous Derry merchant in wines and spirits. The home of Sir Robert Montgomery, one of the founders of British Rule in the Punjab; also of Bishop Montgomery, father of F.M. Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. Once, when “Monty” came here on leave from the army,  he had a phobia aabout bovine tuberculosis; and attempted to test his mother’s favourite cow by thrusting a thermometer up its hind quarters; the thermometer broke inside the unfortunate beast, which consequently had to be slaughtered; causing the future Field-Marshal’s popularity with his mother to suffer a sharp, if temporary, decline. New Park was sold by Monty’s eldest brother, Harold Robert Montgomery.”  

Kilderry, Co Donegal F93 RX06

by jenjunebug

Kilderry, Co Donegal F93 RX06

Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 

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.  

p. 166. “(Hart/LG1937 supp)A rambling two storey house.” 

Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 

General George Vaughan Hart was born in 1752. He fought in the American War of Independence. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for County Donegal in 1812. He held the office of Governor of Culmore Fort between 1820 and 1832. He held the office of Governor of Londonderry between 1820 and 1832.

His son Captain John Richard James Hart was born on 12 May 1798. He fought in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. He held the office of Magistrate for County Donegal, and lived in Doe Castle in County Donegal.

Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 

The advertisement tells us:

OUTSIDE The Main House was once connected to a cobbled courtyard by curved covered walkways on either side of the main entrance. The walls lead of a former Land Stewart house and the remnants of an old walled garden remain in place offering any new owner, potential to rebuild or extend the existinghouse, subject to planning. There are a number of mowed pathways around Kilderry House that offer a serene and tranquil escape. A pathway leads to Lough Foyle and around the boundary line of Kilderry House.

ACCOMMODATION Ground Floor Entrance Hall 3.73m x 2.65m (12’3″ x 8’8″) Tiled floor. Feature curved doorwith glazed side panels. Inner Hall 4.63m x 2.74m (15’2″ x 9′) Carpet flooring. Stairs to first floor. WC and WHB 2.31m x 2.26m (7’7″ x 7’5″) Linoleum flooring. Windowshutters. Sitting Room 6.90m x 4.99m (22’8″ x 16’4″) Carpet flooring. Decorativecornicing and ceiling rose. Mahogany fireplace and over mantle mirror, tileinsert and hearth. Electric fire insert. Overlooking front lawn. Summer Room 4.66m x 4.56m (15’3″ x 15′) Carpet flooring. Triple aspect.Large windows, 4m / 13 ft high ceiling with feature ceiling rose Bedroom 2 3.93m x 2.43m (12’11” x 8′) Carpet flooring. Door to bathroom. Bathroom 3.78m x 1.51m (12’5″ x 4’11”) Bath, WC and WHB. Bedroom 3 2.95m x 2.90m (9’8″ x 9’6″) plus 2.04m x 1.10m (6’8″ x 3’7″)Carpet flooring. Open fireplace. View of Lough Foyle. Inner Hall 4.47m x 1.39m (14’8″ x 4’7″) Carpet flooring. Bedroom 4 3.68m x 2.14m (12’1″ x 7′) Carpet flooring. View of LoughFoyle. Bedroom 5 3.69m x 2.47m (12’1″ x 8’1″) Carpet flooring. View of LoughFoyle. Reception Room 5.32m x 3.41m (17’5″ x 11’2″)plus 4.51m x 1.81m (14’10″x 5’11”) Floor to ceiling windows overlooking Lough Foyle. Bedroom 6 3.71m x 2.43m (12’2″ x 8′) Carpet flooring. View of LoughFoyle. Kitchenette 3.62m x 1.69m (11’11” x 5’7″) Linoleum flooring. Stainlesssteel sink unit, drainer and water heater. View overlooking Lough Foyle. Bathroom 1.43m x 1.37m (4’8″ x 4’6″)plus 1.44m x 1.34m (4’9″ x 4’5″)Bath, WC and WHB. Carpet flooring. Primary Bedroom 5.02m x 4.95m (16’6″ x 16’3″) Solid timber floors. Builtin wardrobe. Incorporating En-Suite Shower Room. Fully tiled walls andfloors and an electric Triton T90i shower unit. WC and WHB Bedroom 8 5.00m x 2.48m (16’5″ x 8’2″) Laminate flooring. Open fireplace. Bedroom 9 3.62m x 2.44m (11’11” x 8′) Laminate flooring. Bedroom 10 2.35m x 2.27m (7’9″ x 7’5″)plus 1.77m x 1.37m (5’10” x 4’6″)Laminate flooring. Bathroom 2.26m x 1.31m (7’5″ x 4’4″)plus 1.13m x 0.77m (3’8″ x 2’6″)plus1.59m x 0.55m (5’3″ x 1’10”) PVC panelled walls. Bath, WC and WHB. Basement 17.78m x 4.31m (58’4″ x 14’2″)plus Kitchen 4.93m x 3.07m (16’2″x 10’1″) Rubble stone construction and cobbled floor. Dry useful storagespace.

ADDITIONAL RESIDENCE There is an additional derelict property situated adjacent to Kilderry Housewhich is also available to purchase at an additional price.

Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 
Kilderry, Co Donegal  courtesy of Kiara Rainey, Rainey Estate Agents. 

Culdaff House, Carndonagh, Co Donegal  

by jenjunebug

Culdaff House, Carndonagh, Co Donegal  

Culdaff House, County Donegal courtesy of Mark Bence-Jones.

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.  

p. 285. “(Young/LGI1958) A three storey five bay gable-ended house built 1779 for George Young. Top storey treated as an attic, above the cornice. Elegant surround to central window, with keystone and scrolls, combined with pedimented Tuscan tripartite doorcase. Quoins; high roof; parapet with die and similar raised sections at either end. Service wing running back from centre of house. The house was burnt 1922; there is an account of the burning in Twilight of the Ascendancy by Mark Bence-Jones. It was rebuilt 1926 and greatly reduced in size 1950, when the main block was demolished, leaving only the service wing, at one end of which the original doorcase was re-erected on a projecting porch.”  

Culdaff House, County Donegal, photograph by Robert French, [between ca. 1865-1914], Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2022/01/culdaff-house.html

  

Ballymacool, Letterkenny, Co Donegal – ruin  

by jenjunebug

Ballymacool, Letterkenny, Co Donegal – ruin  

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.

p. 24. “(Boyd/LGI1958) A house said to have been originally built ca 1770, but rebuilt in Tudor-Revival early to mid-C19. Two storey with a gabled and dormer gabled attic; symmetrical entrance-front, with projecting porch-gable between two wider gables; rectangular mullioned windows with hood mouldings over them, corbelled oriel above entrance door. Side elevation with two dormer gables and a gable, and a single-storey three sided bow. Other side with narrow tower-like projection, surmounted by small gable and finial. Single storey wing at back. 

Ballymacool House, County Donegal, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.

In Blake, Tarquin. Abandoned Mansions of Ireland II: More Portraits of Forgotten Stately Homes. Collins Press, Cork, 2012. 

Coleraine Manor House (formerly Jackson Hall), Coleraine, County Derry 

by jenjunebug

Coleraine Manor House (formerly Jackson Hall), Coleraine, County Derry 

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.

p. 88. “A house of two storeys over a basement with a dormered attic, and six bays, originally built 1680; but enlarged and remodelled 1770s by R. Jackson, who gave it an unusual roof parapet of curving open-work, in the Chinese taste; with what look like miniature open porches, surmounted by ball finials, in front of all the dormers. At the same time, the windows were given octagonal glazing. The house was originally faced in brick, but was cement rendered in 1920s; the windows have mostly been re-glazed and the parapet balustrading has gone. It is now the County Council offices.” 

Bowen’s Court, Kildorrery, Co Cork – demolished 1961 

by jenjunebug

Bowen’s Court, Kildorrery, Co Cork – demolished 1961 

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. 

p. 46. “A classic example of the tall and square C18 Irish house. Built by Henry Bowen and completed by 1776, the work having allegedly taken ten years; replacing an earlier house built by the Nash family, who from 1697 leased the estate which had been granted to the Cromwellian Col Henry Bowen – according to the family tradition, he was offered as much Irish land as his pet hawk could fly over, and it flew so far that people believed he had made a pact with the devil. The house is attributed to Isaac Rothery…Owing to rising costs of upkeep, Miss Bowen was obliged to sell Bowen’s Court 1959; it was demolished by its subsequent owner ca 1961.” 

https://archiseek.com/2016/1770-bowens-court-kildorrery-co-cork/

1770 – Bowen’s Court, Kildorrery, Co. Cork 

Architect: Isaac Rothery 

Bowen’s Court, County Cork, courtesy Archiseek.
Bowen’s Court, County Cork, courtesy Archiseek.
Bowen’s Court, County Cork, courtesy Archiseek.

Constructed in the early 1770’s for the Bowen family who owned the house until it was sold by the author Elizabeth Bowen in 1959. Bowen wrote a history of the house, entitled Bowen’s Court, in 1942 and it is featured in her 1929 novel The Last September. A local businessman bought it at auction, sold off most of the mature woodlands for timber, and then demolished the house in 1960. Only a gateway remains. 

The architect Isaac Rothery completed Mount Ievers, Co. Clare which was begun by his father John Rothery. He is also believed to be responsible for two other houses in Co. Cork – Newmarket Court and Doneraile Court. 

Featured in Irish Country Houses, Portraits and Painters. David Hicks. The Collins Press, Cork, 2014. 

p. 79. “Financial pressure in the 1950s brought [Elizabeth Bowen] to sell the house to an Irishman with a large family whom she thought would make it his home. She was to be sorely disappointed as Bowen’s Court was demolished soon after it was sold. 

Elizabeth was the first female to inherit the Bowen ancestral home in Co Cork. 

Bowen’s Court was part of a 6,740 acre estate of which the bulk was located in Tipperary. …p. 80. The site of the former house is located in the village of Farahy, which is not far from Kildorrery on the Mitchelston Road, 21 km from Mallow and 1.5km from Fermoy. 

Bowen’s Court was built of limestone in the classical style and completed in 1775 by Henry Bowen. He built the house after his marriage and the three storey-over basement structure had a commanding presence in the surrounding countryside. The estate land was granted to the first Henry Bowen, a colonel in Cromwell’s army in the mid-17th century. According to a story handed down through the generations to Elizabeth, Cromwell was responsible for the death of one of Bowen’s hawks and to make amends he was offered as much land as a second hawk could fly over. The hawk reputedly flew and circled 800 acres of land, wiht some saying that Henry’s success was thanks to a pact he made wiht the devil. Col. Bowen set up home in a castle that was situated on the banks of the Farahy River. A portrait of the colonel wiht his hawk hung at the top of the stairs at Bowen’s Court until it sale in the 1950s. 

It was the colonel’s great grandson Henry who built the house that became known as Bowen’s Court. His wife, Margaret, preferred the house built by a family called Nash at Farahy in the 1760s and she saw no need for a new house. This older house supposedly stood on a site immediately to the rear of the 1775 house. She worried about Herny’s grandiose architectural plans for its replacement. At this time they were living in a house called Annabella, which Henry had leased in Mallow. Henry wished not to argue with his wife over retaining the existing house so he sent her away on an extended vist and during this time he had the house pulled down. Margaret returned to find a pile of rubble and had no choice but to agree to the construction of a new home. The architect of Bowen’s Court is believed to be Isaac Rothery. The house took ten years to build…soon Henry ran out of money. P. 81. In order to finish the job, money was borrowed and economies were implemented which reduced the size of the planned house. Henry hoped taht future generations woudl be able to complete the house and fix the mixtakes of his hurried build. 

…p. 82. Margaret had fourteen children seven whom survived birthy. The new house was filled with furniture and silver from Cork city emblazoned with a hawk, a tribut e to their ancestral story. In 1788 blood poisoning, caused by a scratch, lead to Henry’s arm being amputated and the shock of the operatino killed him. His eldest son, also named Henry, inherited teh property. 

p. 84. In he 1860s, Bowen’s Court had eight indoor servants and it was at this time that Elizabeth’s grandfather made many improvements on the house. As a result of his marriage (and his wife’s dowry) he added teh ‘tower’ to the house…The house passed down through the generations to Elizagerth’s father, Henry Cole Bowen, a barrister-at-law…who secured a large practice. He wrote an exhaustive book dealing with the Land Purchase Act and acted as counsel to the Pembroke Estates. In 1890 he married Florence, daugther of the late Henry Fitz-George Colley, of Mount Temple, County Dublin. The Colley family at one time had an estate in Kildare – Castle Carbery [p 85] but it had lain in ruins for many years and the fmaily now lived at Mount Temple, a Victorian house in Clontarf.  

p. 85. Elizabeth’s father had a mental breakdown when she was a child and as a result of his uncontrolled rages she and her mother moved to England. Elizabeth’s mother died of cancer in 1912, having been predeceased by her sister from consumption and her brother on the Titanic in the same year. P. 86. Elizabth and her mother spent their last summer togetherat Bowen’s Court, their first lengthy stay there for five years. When her mother died, Elizabeth was 13 and she was brought up by aunts who were dispersed between Ireland and England. In a newspaper report in 1904 it is noted that “Miss Cole-Bowen, of Bowen’s Court, County Cork, has got over her recent delicacy, and will stay at Kingstown with her aunt, Mrs Disney, during the early winter months.” Elizabeth was educated at boarding schools in England and, in an effort to console herself from the previous traumatic years, she began to write storeis, encouraged by her headmistress. Elizabeth returned to Cork on occasions and was at Bowen’s Court when the Great War broke out. It was in this summer that her father had a number of the rooms redecorated and Elizabeth’s aunt Sarah looked after the house. In the same year she attended a garden party at Mitchelstown Castle. However, the onset of war heralded the end of a way of life for hte Anglo-Irish. 

When she was in her 20s Elizabeth lived in London where she began her writing career, introduced into literary circles by the novelist Rose Macaulay. In 1023, her first book, a collection of short stories, was published and she married Alan Cameron. During her early married life, her literary career began to flourish. [p. 87. She and her husband lived in Oxford following Alan’s appointment to the City of Oxford Education Committee in 1925. When his career took them to London in the 1930s, her stature in literary circles grew. Elizabeth drew on her Anglo-Irish backgound as the basis for her writings, the culmination fo which was the publication in 1942 of a history of Bowen’s Court and her family. Between 1923 and 1968 she wrote ten novels, many newspaper and magazine articles, essays and more than 80 short stories, a sginificant nubmer of which were written to boost her finances after she inherited Bowen’s Court. 

During teh spate of house burnings in the late 1920s, the family portraits from Bowen’s Court and other valuables were removed from the hosue and stored in a nearby cottage. Her father had written to Elizabeth and warned her hat Bowen’s Court would probably be burnt down. The hosue was spare but, at one time, it was occupied by Republicans whose intention was to blow it up. It was the thought of the destructino of Bowen’s Court at this time that inspired the imaginary house called Danielstown in her 1929 novel, The Last September. In 1928 Elizabeth’s father retired and returned to live in Bowen’s Court but died there in 1930. Elizabeth, being his only child, inherited the hosue and she concentrated her efforts on trying to bring the house into the 20th century by having a telephone and electricity installed. Eliz continued to live in England, spenidng summers in Ireland, until interrupted by the second World War. 

It was not until 1952 when her husband retired that they returned to live full tiem at Bowen’s Court. Up to this time, the house was looked after by a single servant, Sarah, who had served three generations of the Bowen family. Roms were closed off and, during her time, Sarah had seen the number of servants decline from eight until there was only herself. The Second World War made it impossible for Elizabeth to visit the house. However, after 1945 it began to be used again [p. 88] 

p. 89. Elizabeth’s husband died in 1952, and she struggled to keep the house going for another seven years…Elizabeth moved to England. 

https://theirishaesthete.com/2019/06/22/13343/

Patrick Hennessy’s 1957 portrait of Elizabeth Bowen presides over a room dedicated to her memory in Doneraile Court, County Cork (her own home, nearby Bowen’s Court, was irresponsibly demolished in 1961). After being closed to the public for the past 25 years, Doneraile Court has once more been taken in hand by the Office of Public Works and officially reopens today. The decoration and furnishing of the ground floor rooms displays terrific flair, with a wonderful mixture of items, some in state ownership, others on loan from private collections, all blended together with aplomb. Having woken from its quarter-century slumber, Doneraile Court proves to be the sleeping beauty of Irish country houses: visits are strongly urged. 

Entrance Hall c. 1930, Bowen’s Court, County Cork. Photograph: Mrs Simms Collection. 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.

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/20901807/bowens-court-farahy-co-cork

Entrance gateway, erected c. 1850, to now demolished Bowen’s Court country house, now entrance to recent house. Gateway comprising square-profile cut limestone inner and outer piers joined by curved snecked cut limestone walls with copings. Decorative cast-iron railings with cut limestone plinths, flanked by decorative cast-iron piers in turn flanking pedestrian and double-leaf vehicular gates. Detached five-bay single-storey former gate lodge of c. 1870, opposite gates and having porch, now in ruins, with pitched roof (slate removed) with overhanging eaves, decorative bargeboards to gable ends, and rendered chimneystacks, rendered random rubble stone walls, segmental-headed stone dressed openings having six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows and stone sills. One of three gate lodges for Bowen’s Court demesne. 

This well-maintained entrance of cut limestone and cast-iron exhibits the fine quality of materials and craftsmanship that were employed in the nineteenth century both in stonework and ironwork. The lodge plays an important role in closing the vista to the south and is an integral part of the main entrance to one of the most important country houses in the area where the author Elizabeth Bowen resided. This country house entrance makes a notable landmark on this busy road. 

Bowen’s Court, County Cork, courtesy National Inventory.

Crosshaven House, Crosshaven, Co. Cork

by jenjunebug

Crosshaven House, Crosshaven, Co. Cork – whole house rental

Crosshaven House, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the houses’s website https://www.crosshavenhouse.ie

https://www.crosshavenhouse.ie/

“Crosshaven House is an elegant eighteenth century country house set in the picturesque village of Crosshaven, overlooking Currabinny Wood and Cork Harbour. It is where the spaci

“Crosshaven House, sited in Knocknagore townland, was in the ownership of the Hayes family since the lands were first purchased by Richard Hayes of Cork City in 1656 from Peyton Le Hunte, a Cromwellian grantee. The land was bought for a sum of £247 and 10 shillings. Richard Hayes built a residence, which stood from 1656 until 1769, when a descendant in line, William Hayes II, decided to demolish this old mansion, and construct a new one a short distance away. This became known as Crosshaven House. 

Crosshaven House, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.

“Crosshaven House was built by the Sardinian architect Daviso de Arcort, who was better known as Davis Ducart. Well known in Ireland for his work in smaller country houses, large houses and civic buildings around Ireland, prior to designing aesthetically pleasing grand buildings, Ducart was involved in industrial construction, most notably the Newry Canal completed in 1741, the first inland waterway to be constructed on the British Isles. Ducart was responsible for the design of the Limerick Custom House in 1765; Castletown Cox, Co Kilkenny built in the 1760s for Michael Cox, Archbishop of Cashel; Kilshannig, Co. Cork, commenced in 1756; the Mansion House, Cork, was commissioned by the City Corporation in 1765; and Lota House, Cork in 1765. 

“Although built in 1769, as indicated on the datestone inscribed “W. Hayes 1769” which is fixed to the wall surface of the attic with iron pegs, the interior of Crosshaven House was left unfinished until 1810. A study of the Hayes family-tree offers a possible explanation for the difference in date of the basic structure and the interior of Crosshaven House. The original owner of Crosshaven House, William Hayes II, died unmarried in 1770, just one year after its construction. His new mansion and estate of 1,571 acres passed to his brother Richard who was established in business in Cork City and did not marry until 1776. 

“Upon his death, Richard’s youngest son Thomas inherited the House, married in 1807 and died in 1817. 

“This fact conforms to the stylistic evidence which suggests the House was not finished until the time of his marriage in 1807 or soon after. In the past, access from the main part of the house was available to the two stable wings through a tunnel. Since there was no service yard around the north of the main block, the tunnel was used to bring in supplies. There was evidence that another tunnel was used in the original house in 1659 for smuggling purposes, but no evidence for this remains today. 

“Most of the decorative interior details of Crosshaven House, such as the ceiling plasterwork and cornicing, the joinery and ironmongery date from circa 1810. Expert Italian craftsmen carried out the plasterwork at the beginning of the nineteenth Century, and this was carefully conserved and restored in 2006. The last member of the Hayes family to have possession of Crosshaven House was Colonel Hayes, until he sold it in 1973 to Mr Graham Flint of Florida. In recent years the house was meticulously restored to its former glory while enjoying the comforts of contemporary living.”