1810s

Castle Taylor, Ardrahan, Co Galway  – ruin 

by jenjunebug

Castle Taylor, Ardrahan, Co Galway  – 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.

p. 75. “A massive tower-house with C18 tracery windows, to which a three storey house was added in early c19. The early C19 house was plain except for a stepped battlement and a pair of ables with blind tracery at one side of its front’ it has a curved bow at one end. The home of John Shawe-Taylor, a prominent figure in the Irish Revival at the beginning of this century. Sold 1930s or 40s by his son, Michael Shawe-Taylor; subsequently demolished.” 

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. 69. “…built by the Taylors, incorporating a superb tower house. Now a ruin.”

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

p. 135. Portrait of Captain John Shawe-Taylor… while this man was a member of the upper classes, he was also a catalyst of change in the early 20th century in Ireland. He was well-connected, being a cousin of the famous art-collector Hugh Lane, and a nephew of Lady Gregory of Coole Park. He has been described as an aristocratic nationalist who wanted to bridge the gap between landlords and their tenants. John Shawe-Taylor succeeded in bringing these two fractious sides together, helping to build the foundations of the eventual Land Act of 1903, which allowed tenants to purchase their land. In 1908, when John was painted by William Orpen, it woudl be only three years until his life was extinguished at the young age of 45. It as his early death that threw the affairs of the Castle Taylor estate into disarray. …Today Castle Taylor is a ruin and the unremarkable grave of John Shawe-Taylor in Ardrahan churchyard bears little testament to the character and foresight of this great man. 

The ancestral home of John Shawe-Taylor was Castle Taylor of Ardrahan in Galway, not far from Roxborough, the birthplace of Lady Gregory. Her sister Elizabeth Presse, John’s mother, married Walter Shaw-Taylor in Nov 1864. Walter was the son of Francis Manley Shawe who succeeded to Castle Taylor on the death of his uncle Lt Gen Sir John Taylor. Francis assumed by Royal License dated 1844 the additional name of Taylor. [rather, according to The Peerage, Lt Gen John Taylor was Francis Manley Shaw’s wife’s father]. 

p. 136. The ancestral home in Galway, Castle Taylor, was originally known as Ballymacrath and it was always expected that John [T-S], as the elder son, would inherit the estate. …his brother Francis, who was sometimes known as Frank, became aggrieved in later years that the wills made by his father and brother resulted in him being unable to inherit the Castle Taylor estate. 

The castle in Galway began life as a three-storey 16th century tower house. Over the years, with numerous improvements, the building was enlarged and eventually had a substantial country house attached to it. In 1818 the architect David Laing produced a design for General Sir John Taylor for a spacious mansion that incorporated the original tower house.  It is the robust construction of the tower house that has stood teh test of time and today the more modern extension is languishing in a fragile state. The attractive gate lodge, built around 1820, still guards the entrance to the estate in relatively good order. In the grounds of the castle there was a walled kitchen garden, constructed around 1860, which would help ensure that a house of this size was self-sufficient. Outbuildings were improved in the 1890s when Francis Fitzadelm Presse designed new stables that were erected for Walter Shawe-Taylor with fittings specially designed by Musgrave & Co, Belfast, with air-pump ventilators by Boyle & County. Francis Presse, an architect and brother-in-law of Walter, was the sixth son of Dudley Presse of Roxborough by his second wife, Frances, who came from Castle Corr near Inishshannon in County Cork, and the younger frother of Elizabeth and Augusta (Lady Gregory). In the 1901 census, the castle was listed as having 28 rooms. It is occupied by Walter Shawe-Taylor, who is now a widower, and his six servants. [p. 137]  

p. 137. John Shawe-Taylor came to be recognised nationally when in Sept 1902 he wrote a letter, which was published in the newspapers, calling for a conference to settle the Irish Land Question. He appealed for representatives of the landlords and tenants to meet in a civilised conference and discuss the issues at stake. He felt this would result in a united and national effort to settle the land issues that plagued landlords and tenants at the time. Shawe-Taylor hoped this stategy would bring to an end the agitation which was preventing the economic development of Ireland. At the time of his appeal, John was politically unknown but, as a result of his letter, teh following month, the Earl of Mayo brought the matter before teh Irish Landowners Convention and proposed a motion that such a conference was desirable. The motion was rejected and received opposition but this did not stop a Land Conference Committee beign formed, consisting of the Earls of Dunraven, Meath and Mayo, Viscount Powerscourt, Lord Castletown, Sir Algernon [p. 138] Coote adn others. The Committee sent out papers to 4,000 landlords of which 1,128 voted for and 578 against such a conference. From this ballot, representatives were chosen to represent the tenants and landlords. They met at Molesworth Street in Dublin in December 1902 and deliberated for two weeks with John Shawe-Taylor acting as Honorary Secretary. In Jaunarly 1903, the conference presented its report, and its recommendations were incorporated into the Wyndham Act of 1903. The report had advised that a massive scheme of land purchase with the assistance of Treasury loans be extended to tenants to buy their farm holdings from the landlords. Under this act, tenants were offered favourable terms to buy and there were inducements for landlords to sell. In January 1903 after the report was issued, Captain Shawe-Taylor undertook a five-week tour of America to promote the merits of his actions in Ireland and he met President Roosevelt. 

While John did not court media attention he woudl again be featured in the press in 1905 when he took action to defend the reputation of his cousin Hugh Lane. At this time a row had broke out over a painting by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot called “Peasants by a Lake.” Some said it was not actually an original work by Corot but was a painting of a lesser known Huguenot artist, Geza Meszoly, as it bore a striking resemblance to a much larger canvas by him. 

p. 139. The picture was one of four paintings presented by the Prince of Wales to support the establishment of a gallery of modern art in Ireland during a visit to Dublin in Feb 1905. The Prince of Wales’s gift included two works by Corot: an early example of his work and one of his later paintings. Hugh Lane was the dealer selling the panting, and some said he was trying to pass of f the work of another artist as an original Corot; no sooner had the Prince of Wales left Ireland than the rumours began to circulate… 

p. 140. In 1906, John hoped that, based on his earlier successes, a political career would materialise. He stood as a Devolutionist for the parliamentary representation of Galway city but was defeated. AFter this he set about encouraging native industries [p. 141] and organised exhibitions of the work, hoping that this woudl lead to economic betterment of his tenants.  

p. 141. Sir Hugh Lane was born Cork in 1875 but raised in England. He became a successful art dealer whose interest in Ireland was cultivated by his aunt, Lady Augusta Gregory. He had wanted to create a national portrait gallery in Ireland as, according to Lane, “so many celebrated men have not been painted or modelled while living.” This idea of painting the eminent figures of Ireland began in 1901 when he went to an exhibition organised by Sarah Puerser, which included the work of John Butler Yeats. He commissioned John, father of the poet William and painter Jack, to paint 25 portraits of a number of distinguished Irish people. Yeats worked slowly and had completed just five portraits in the series by 1907 when he moved to New York. Yeats was replaced by Orpen, who continued painting the series of portraits. Orpen was experiencing financial difficulties and agreed to a fee of £10 per canvas. He found that the commission did not exert his talents but the interactions with the subjects, such as Michael Davitt, interested him. [The portrait of John Taylor-Shawe by Orpen was a gift of Lane to the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, now the Hugh Lane Gallery, in 1908).  

p. 143. John… died in London in 1911 after a brief illness….he suffered an internal haemorrhage after medical treatment in Heidelberg and lapsed into a coma and died. 

p. 143. With John’s early death, the ramifications of Walter’s will [i.e. his father] became apparent. At this time Walter was 79 and was living in teh castle with his son Frank and his family. In September, Walter recorded in his diary that he woudl not remake his will until after the probate of John’s will had been processed. He todl Frank that he intended to remake his will and made adequate provision for him and his wife and their children. However, he did not, despite having adequate time after the grant of probate of John’s will before his own death the following year in 1912. It was said taht after the death of his wife Elizabeth, in 1896 he was committed to a mental asylum “for a short period, his hold on life temporarily damaged.” It appears that Eliza [Persse] had been the dominant force in the management of the estate during her lifetime and that after her death Walter was possibly overwhelmed without her guiding hand. Their son Frank now became involved in the day-to-day running of the estate. 

p. 144. [John’s will left all to his wife, Amy Eleanora, and their children.] Upon Walter’s death the residue of his assets and the Castle Taylor estate passed to Amy Shawe-Taylor, who was named as the universal legatee of her husband. It was the following paragraph that ensured that his living son, Frank, would not inherit his family’s estate: “I hereby devise all my real estate…unto my elder son, John Shawe-Taylor, his heirs…” She acted as trustee until her son Michael came of age. 

Frank had believed that the estate woudl pass to him following his brother’s death, his father having assured him he woudl rework his will in his favour.  

p. 145. Frank inherited lands at Ballymabilla in teh Barony of Kilconnell… In 1920, Frank told a group of locals who wanted him to sell his land that “You will never see a perch of my land.” On 3 March 1920 he was shot while on his way to the fair in Galway. The Castle Taylor estate now rested in the hands of trustees waiting for 13 year old Michael to come of age. 

p. 147. In 1917 Amy was the chief organiser of a local branch of the Red Cross in Ardrahan whose sole purpose was the knitting of socks and the making of shirts for British soldiers. At the second meeting of the Red Cross, a protest was held against Irish girls making socks and shirts for English soldiers, and the branch was disbanded. By 1919, Amy had let Castle Talbot and gone to England and in October 1923 Lady Gregory recorded in her journal that Amy was at Coole and was arranging an auction for Castle Taylor. 

In June 1929, Lady Gregory drove to Castle Taylor to have lunch with Michael, who had now come of age. She recorded that he had carried out a great deal of improvements to Castle Taylor… However, his mother still wished that he might enter the army or take up a job in the city. Despite teh work carried out, Michael’s aspirations of running a financially viable country estate suffered a considerable blow. In July 1929, a number of shots were fired over a 15 minute period at CAstle Taylor when Michael was present in the castle with his grandmother, Mrs. Norman. Michael was the last member of the family to live in the castle.  

[The castle was eventually inherited by (Walter) Michael Shawe-Taylor. He left Ireladn in 1950 when a number fo shots were fired over the Castle. He died afterwards in Trinidad (or Grenada) in 1957.] In June 1951 a sale of furniture was carried out by Joyce, Mackie adn Lougheed, Auctioneers and Valuers, at Castle Taylor under the instruction of W.M. Shawe-Taylor on 5 July 1951. ..The castle was eventually purchased by a local landowner who dismantled it and sold the materials. Today the ruins of Castle Taylor dominate the landscape; however, while the walls of this great building survive, very little of the interior does. The robust 16th century tower stands as it has done for generations while the later 19C house surrounding it is slowly crumbling. The steward’s house, which belonged to the complex of building situated to the rear of the castle, is still in use and has been beautifully maintained.” 

Tullynisk (or Tullanisk, formerly known as Woodville), County Offaly

by jenjunebug

During Heritage Week in 2025 we were given a wonderful tour by its resident Alicia Clements, daughter of the Earl of Rosse, who married a descendant of Nathaniel Clements who built the Áras an Uachtaráin in the Phoenix Park.

Tullynisk House, County Offaly. Photograph © Jennifer Winder-Baggot, www.irishhistorichouses.com

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. 278. “(Parsons, Rosse, E/PB) A house ca 1815 with a fanlighted Ionic doorway under a giant arch. A Gothic central window was inserted later and the interior remodelled in Gothic, probably for 2nd Earl of Rosse’s two bachelor brothers. Afterwards occupied by agents of subsequent Earls of Rosse.” 

https://theirishaesthete.com/2019/01/12/tullanisk/

The entrance front of Tullynisk, County Offaly. Dating from the early 19th century and replacing an older property on the site, the house is a mixture of the classical and gothic, the former evident in the doorcase with its Ionic columns, the latter in the window directly above. The combination of the two is as unselfconsciously assured as the sheep grazing in the immediate vicinity. 

See Robert O’Byrne, The Irish Country House, A New Vision. With photographs by Luke White. Rizzoli, New York, Paris, London, Milan, 2024.

“In 1620 Sir Laurence Parsons, who had followed the example of his elder brother William by moving from England to Ireland, came to live in Birr Castle, then a dilapidated fortress. Originally constructed by the once-powerful Ely O’Carroll family, the property and surrounding 1.277 acres were among the lands wrested from them by the English government and granted to Sir Laurence, at the time receiver general of Crown Lands. Demonstrating a determination that he and his descendants would remain living on the site, he renamed the place the Manor of Parsonstown.

Sir Laurence did not enjoy possession of his Irish property for long since he died in 1628. His elder son followed a few years later, after which Birr Castle was inherited by a younger son William. He is remembered for being a doughty soldier, governor of the surrounding territory, who survived a fifteen month siege of the castle during the Confederate Wars of the 1640s. And although eventually obliged to surrender, the family was later able to return to Birr and repair the building, which remains their home to the present day.

At the start of the nineteenth century, Birr Castle was extensively remodelled and enlarged by architect John Johnson in a fashionable castellated Gothic style for Sir Laurence Parsons, future second Earl of Rosse. The work undertaken here may have inspired the earl’s two younger sons, John Cleare Parsons and Laurence Parsons, when they were given the opportunity to overhaul a villa owned by the family on the edge of the town. Originally called Woodville but now known as Tullanisk, it had been built in the midst of ancient oak trees around 1810 as a dower house, the design attributed to local architect Bernard Mullins. Three years after a fire in the building in 1820 had left it badly damaged, the Parsons siblings chose to put their own stamp on the place. The result is a house that fearlessly, yet successfully, mixes the classical with the Gothic, reflecting gradual shifts in taste during the period in which it was renovated.

While the Parson brothers might have had a hand in Tullanisk’s design – as their father had at neighbouring Birr Castle two decades earlier – there is some debate over who might have been the architect employed here. The most likely candidate is Richard Morrison, responsible for a number of other country houses with similar features in the same part of the country: Tullanisk’s garden front, for example, has a three-bay central bow almost identical to that seen at Cangort Park, another property designed by Morrison, some ten miles to the south. Of two storeys over basement, Tullanisk’s garden front conforms to classical expectations, as do the building’s elevations to the southeast and northwest. The appearance of the entrance front, on the other hand, is somewhat unexpected. Of five bays, that in the centre takes the form of a recessed arch, its outline traced by clustered shafts. Within this enclosure is an Ionic doorcase with side- and fanlight and then, somewhat surprisingly, a tripartite Gothic window on the floor above.

The Gothic influence continues inside the house, beginning with the entrance hall that has a vaulted ceiling with bosses, all supported by slender wall shafts. In style, this is a simplified version of the Gothic saloon created in Birr Castle by John Johnston, and so too are the narrow flanking passages that leaad to Tullanisk’s main reception rooms. Further Gothic inspiration was emplyed for the narrow spiralling staircase, reminiscent of those found in medieval castles, which climbs to the bedroom floor where, as below, the corridors are vaulted.

Returning downstairs, classicism reigns in the principal rooms, perhaps because they were too large to accommodate the same Gothic motifs, perhaps because the Parson brothers recognised that they lived in a house and not a castle. In consequence, the only variation found in these rooms comes from the different motifs employed in the cornicing.

While Laurence Parsons lived to be almost ninety and enjoyed two marriages, his elder brother was not so lucky. In 1828, a week shy of his twenty-sixth birthday, John Cleare Parsons died of scarlet fever. As for the building they had renovated, it served a variety of uses, including for many years as residence for the agents of the Birr Castle estate and, during the 1990s, as a popular guesthouse. In more recent years, it has once more become home to a member of the Parsons family, Lady Alicia Clements, daughter of the present Earl of Rosse, and her husband Nat Clements, together with their children. Ireland’s foremost decorative artist, Nat Clements has been responsible for giving Tullanisk its present appearance, from the faux-stone blocking in the entrance hall to the dragged paint walls of the saloon. As for the pictures and furnishings, they are a happy blend of items inherited from both of the couple’s families, together with new acquisitions, joyously married to form a unified whole.”

[picture caption p. 188] Immediately inside the front door… sit busts of Robert Bermingham Clements, Viscount Clements and William Markham, Archbishop of York.

p. 190 caption. The drawing room bookcase came from the now demolished Ashfield Lodge, County Cavan. Above it hangs a portrait of of the house’s former chatelaine, Catherine Markham, wife of Henry Theophilus Clements. .. The sofa came from the former Clements estate, Lough Rynn, County Leitrim. The chandelier os old Murano glass.

In the dining room, the table is a modern piece, made from a single yew tree that blew down in the storm of 1988, and in keeping with all the doors in Tullanisk that are of the same wood. .. The bronze horse is by local scuptor Siobhan Bulfin.

The bedroom corridor continues the Gothic theme found on the floor below, the vaulted ceilings ribs meeting a plaster bosses in the manner of a medieval cloister.”

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/14935003/tullynisk-house-woodfield-or-tullynisk-co-offaly

Tullynisk House, WOODFIELD OR TULLYNISK, County Offaly 

Detached five-bay two-storey over basement country house, built c.1810, with recessed central blind arch to façade and full-height bow to rear elevation. Set within its own grounds. Hipped slate roof with oversailing eaves having stone brackets, terracotta ridge tiles, rendered chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast rendered walls with tooled stone plinth course, string course and quoins. Moulded tooled stone surround to recessed segmental-headed bay at façade. Timber sash windows with chamfered tooled stone surrounds and keystones. Tripartite timber sash window to first floor of façade’s recessed bay having pointed-segmental-headed mullions. Segmental-headed door opening to façade with coved and fluted archivolt, engaged Ionic columns, glazed and panelled timber double doors, fanlight and sidelights, accessed by tooled stone steps. Brick-lined servants’ tunnel to rear. Square-headed ashlar limestone gate piers to road with fluted capitals, plinth walls with spear-headed cast-iron railings and gates. Stone outbuildings with hipped and pitched slate roofs to north-west adjacent to walled garden with stone and yellow brick walls. Late twentieth-century bungalow constructed within walled garden. 

Appraisal 

Annotated as Woodfield on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map and as Woodville on the nineteenth-century second edition of the Ordnance Survey map, this country house is now known as Tullynisk House. Belonging to the Rosse Estate at Birr, it is part of the architectural and historical heritage of that town. Its design is striking and although unproven, has been attributed to Richard Morrison. The garden front of Tullynisk House is similar in design to the rear elevation of Cangort Park, with the unusual chamfered window architraves. Incorporating limestone dressings, a Gothic inspired central window and a splendid doorcase with leaded lights, the decorative detailing at Tullynisk creates drama within the symmetrical façade. Its rear, being equally as pleasant, is enriched with bowed central bays that look out onto a lawn. The site is completed by highly crafted entrance gates, an attractive gate lodge and outbuildings. Of particular note is the walled garden, situated to the north-east of the house. Now housing a modern bungalow, the impressive stone and yellow brick walls enclose a large area. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/14935013/tullynisk-house-woodfield-or-tullynisk-co-offaly

Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, c.1810. Hipped slate roof with paired timber modillions at eave course. Rendered walls with square-headed door and window openings with timber casement lattice windows and stone sills. Set behind square-headed ashlar limestone gate piers with fluted capitals, plinth walls with spear-headed cast-iron railings and gates. 

Appraisal 

This highly crafted gate lodge forms part of a group of attendant structures within the Tullynisk House demesne. Annotated as Woodfield on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map and as Woodville on the nineteenth-century second edition of the Ordnance Survey map, this country house is now known as Tullynisk House. Belonging to the Rosse Estate at Birr, it is part of the architectural and historical heritage of the town. 

e: clements888@gmail.com 

https://www.ihh.ie/index.cfm/houses/house/name/Tullanisk

A little over a mile north of Birr, in County Offaly, surrounded by a demesne of magnificent oak trees, Tullanisk, formerly known as Woodville, was built in about 1810 as the dower house for Birr Castle to the designs of Bernard Mullins. Despite its relatively modest size the house is remarkable for its regularity, with four formal fronts, and for its architectural ingenuity. The central feature of the five bay facade is part gothic, part Regency, all recessed within a giant arch. Otherwise the exterior is typically late-Georgian. The interior is partly classical and part gothic, with a wealth of innovative details and decoration, and craftsmanship and materials of the highest quality. 

https://theirishaesthete.com/2019/01/12/tullanisk/

A Confident Blend of Styles

by theirishaesthete


The entrance front of Tullynisk, County Offaly. Dating from the early 19th century and replacing an older property on the site, the house is a mixture of the classical and gothic, the former evident in the doorcase with its Ionic columns, the latter in the window directly above. The combination of the two is as unselfconsciously assured as the sheep grazing in the immediate vicinity.

Ballymore Castle, Laurencetown, Co. Galway 

by jenjunebug

Ballymore Castle, Laurencetown, Co. Galway 

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. 25. [Seymour, sub Hale] “An old tower house with a two storey, wide-eaved, bow fronted house of ca 1800 built against the front of it; curved fanlighted doorway and bow.” 

Ballymore, County Galway, from Irish Tourist Association Photographic Collection c. 1943, NLI ref NPA ITA 480 box iii.

Knockmaroon, Castleknock, Co Dublin 

by jenjunebug

Knockmaroon, Castleknock, 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. 179. [Guinness, Moyne, B/PB] A plain two storey late-Georgian house, with a long service wing.”  

Seaforde House, County Down

by jenjunebug

Seaforde House, 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. 256, “(Forde/IFR) A severe but impressive early C19 block, faced in cream-coloured ashlar. Built 1816-20 by Col Mathew Forde, replacing an earlier house burnt 1816; thought to be by the English architect Peter Frederick Robinson. Of three storeys over a basement, the top storey being treated as an attic above a dentil cornice. Five bay entrance front; entablatures on console brackets over downstairs windows. The fanlighted entrance door was originally under a gracefully-curving single-storey portico with coupled Ionic columns; but in second half of C19 this gave place to a large enclosed pilastered porch, added by Col Rt Hon W.B. Forde, MP, who also added to the austerity of the facades by putting in plate glass windows. Five bay side elevation; garden front with one bay on either side of a wide curved bow; the windows in the side bays, and also the centre windows of the bow, being tripartite, except in the attic storey, those in the side bays being set in shallow recesses beneath relieving arches. Magnificent Grecian-Revival interior. Large and deep hall, with a fireplace on either side and a screen of stone columns, of the Tower of the Winds order. Staircase with handsome brass balusters in separate hall at side. Bow-fronted saloon, flanked by dining room and library. The library is a room of rare beauty, its decoration completely unaltered; the architecturally treated bookcases keeping their original graining, of a delighteful faded brown; above them are Grecian friezes of figures in low relief, made of cut paper, like the friezes in the oval drawing room at Caledon, in their original colouring of grey-green on a biscuit background. The house stands in a wonderful position between an artificial lake and an natural lough, surrounded by glorious parkland and woods with the Mourne Mountains as backdrop. At the entrance to the demesne is a Grecian triumphal arch, with a pediment and acroteria.” 

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2013/12/seaforde-house.html

Carrowdore Castle, Donaghadee, County Down

by jenjunebug

Carrowdore Castle, Donaghadee, 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. 58. “(De la Cherois-Crommelin, sub Stone/IFR) A Georgian Gothic castle built 1818 by Nicholas de la Cherois-Crommelin. three storey; four bay front with four slender polygonal turrets; Gothic portico. Round tower at one end. Very graceful Gothic plasterwork fretting on hall ceiling. Subsequently the home of May de la Cherois-Crommelin, traveller and author of The White Lady and other books.” 

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2014/08/carrowdore-castle.html

Ballywillwill House, County Down 

by jenjunebug

Ballywillwill House, 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. 30. “A handsome two storey house built 1815-6 by Rev G.H. McD. Johnson. Five bay front; Wyatt windows in outer bays and centre of upper storey. Unusually long single-storey portico, supported by ten Doric columns, with urns and a large recumbent lion on its entablature; the centre four columns breaking forward. The centre bay in the upper storey is framed by Ionic pilasters; the three inner bays being framed by bands of rusticated quoins.” 

Ballywalter Park, Newtownards, Co Down 

by jenjunebug

Ballywalter Park, Newtownards, Co 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. 28. “(Mulholland, Dunleath, B/PB) Ireland’s finest C19 Italian palazzo; in the words of Dr Rowan, “a building with a metropolitan air and all the architectural trappings of a London club.” Built ca 1846 for Andrew Mulholland, Mayor of Belfast 1845 and chief owner of the great York Street Flax Spinning Mills, to the design of Charles Lanyon; incorporating an earlier house of ca 1810, formerly belonging to the Matthews family and known as Springvale; though the existence of this earlier structure is not now apparent, except in the basement. Main block of three storeys over basement, with single-storey overlapping wings; entrance front of five bays in main block plus one additional bay in each wing; the end bays of the main block in the two lower storeys and also the wings having tripartite windows; those in the wings being framed by pedimented Corinthian aedicules. Large single-storey port-cochere with coupled Doric columns and end piers, surmounted by latticed balustrade; also latticed balustrade round area. Eaved roof on bracket cornice on main block; balustraded roof parapets on wings. On the garden front, the main block is of six bays and the wings end in shallow curved bows. Spacious and sumptuous interior. Entrance hall, panelled in mahogany. Vast and magnificent two storeyed central hall, 60 feet in length, with Doric columns below, supporting the gallery, and Corinthian columns and pilasters marbled porphyry balustrade; surrounded, in the upper storey, by arcades lighting the bedroom corridors, and niches with sculptures. Theother end, separated from the staircase by a screen of columns, is treated below as a saloon – its walls hung with scarlet brocade – and as a picture gallery above. Drawing room with screen of Corinthian columns at one end and elaborate coved and coffered ceiling. In 1863 Andrew Mulholland added a single storey billiard room wing, prolonging the garden front; with, at right angles to it, a large and splendid conservatory, also designed by Lanyon, with Corinthian columns along its front and a glass dome. Andrew Mulholland’s son, 1st Lord Dunleath, installed the ornate pedimented bookcases in the library, which, like the drawing room, has a coved ceiling. 2nd Lord Dunleath added a service wing ca. 1902, to the design of W.J. Fennell, of Belfast; he later enlarged this wing, in order, as is said, to put up the visiting XI during his cricket week. After World War II, this wing was curtailed. The garden front of the house overlooks wide-spreading lawns with paths and statues, beyond which is a noteable collection of ornamental trees and shrubs.” 

https://ballywalterpark.com

Ballywalter Park is the home of Lord & Lady Dunleath and it has been in their family for 170 years.

The Mansion House was built in the Italianate Palazzo style by the eminent architect Sir Charles Lanyon and has been afforded Grade A* listing as being of exceptional architectural importance. The house is surrounded by 30 acres of pleasure grounds and is situated within the walled demesne of some 270 acres. The total Estate runs to over 1200 acres and is home to one of Northern Ireland’s largest dairy herds and it also includes significant acreages of arable crops and mixed woodland.

In 1846 Andrew Mulholland, great, great, great grandfather of the present owner, bought an 18th century two-storey over basement house, then called Springvale along with 270 acres of land of land for £23,500.

Ballywalter Park can be found some 20 miles from Belfast on the County Down coast, looking out over the Irish Sea to the coast of Scotland to the east and the Isle of Man to the south. In 1846 Andrew Mulholland, great, great, great grandfather of the present owner, bought an 18th century two-storey over basement house, then called Springvale along with 270 acres of land of land for £23,500. The Mulhollands, an Irish family, had made their fortune by owning cotton and then linen mills in Belfast. Andrew had also served as Lord Mayor of Belfast and felt that the existing house was not grand enough to reflect his perceived status. He brought in the well-known Irish architect Charles, later Sir Charles, Lanyon to come up with something rather grander.

Rather than demolish the existing house, Lanyon built around it, adding a single-storey south bow wing, housing the Library and the Drawing Room and a two-storey north bow wing to accommodate the Garden Room and the Round Bedroom above. He also added a new second floor, which provided accommodation for the children and a School Room. Lanyon then returned to add the magnificent domed Conservatory which Andrew’s son, John Mulholland, later the 1st Baron Dunleath, linked to the house with the Billiard Room. The house continued to be used to the full until the start of the Second World War, after which, like so many houses in the British Isles, it fell into a managed decline, with a lack of money to maintain it and ever fewer staff to serve it. The house was undoubtedly saved when Sir John Betjeman visited in 1961, when he extolled the quality of this Victorian Italian-style Palazzo improbably located in the Irish countryside.

This encouraged the current owner, Henry, the 4th Baron Dunleath, to embark on the long process of restoration. In this, they were hampered by an almost disastrous fire in 1973 and seemingly endless outbreaks of dry rot. By the early 1990s, almost all the major reception rooms had been restored and the kitchens had been moved up from the basement to the ground floor. Henry, however, died tragically young in 1993, bringing that phase of the restoration works to an end. Brian, the 6th Baron Dunleath, moved into the house in 1997 and he and his wife, Vibse, embarked on the next phase of restoration in 2000. At the time, there were only four bedrooms that were habitable and a distinct lack of bathrooms. The derelict top nursery floor was restored, new kitchens were installed, and the exterior of the house completely re-rendered and painted. Subsequent restoration works have included the Billiard & Smoking Rooms in 2004/5 and the Conservatory – a massive undertaking – in 2008/9. As a result of these major projects and others carried out when time and funds allowed, the house is now fully equipped for the 21st century.

The four bedrooms have now become twelve, two twins and eight doubles en-suite and the other two doubles each with their own private bathroom. Since 2021, the house has become carbon-neutral with electricity, heat and hot water all coming from the anaerobic digester over at the farm. In 2002, Brian and Vibse decided that Ballywalter Park should start to earn its keep and they began by getting approval from Tourism Northern Ireland and from the Food Standards Agency to provide both accommodation and lunches and dinners. To preserve the exclusive and special nature of the house and demesne, they restrict it to corporate use, such as residential conferences, product launches and photo shoots, top end groups staying whilst on visits to the Historic Houses of Ireland and as a film location. They do not provide facilities for private parties or for weddings. Over the years, they have welcomed British and Foreign Royalty, film and television stars and visitors from all corners of the globe.

Why Not Come And Join Them?

Ballywalter Park is a Grade A listed Italianate Palazzo that has been in the ownership of the Mulholland Family and Lord & Lady Dunleath since 1846.

Andrew Mulholland and his successors have added considerably to the original two storey over basement Georgian Springvale House.

Over the past 40 years it has undergone major restoration and is now a very comfortable Home, without losing any of its original historical grandeur. Tours of the house and of the gardens are available for interested groups on a by appointment basis only and are normally led by Lord or Lady Dunleath. The property is not open on a casual basis, and we cannot accommodate evening tours or tours on Saturdays or Sundays.

The tours of the main reception rooms in the house take some 60 to 90 minutes, depending on the interests of the Group and end in the magnificent Conservatory, designed by Sir Charles Lanyon and Thomas Turner. By prior arrangement, refreshments can be provided in the Conservatory at the end of the tour. The gardens and pleasure grounds comprise some 30 acres, including the Walled Garden of 2.8 acres, which includes the original ranges of seven glasshouses and the potting sheds. The grounds are the home to an outstanding collection of specimen trees and a notable collection of rhododendrons, including Rh Lady Dunleath, which was propagated by the 3rd Lord Dunleath.

Paradise Garden Club

The gardens were always known as the Pleasure Grounds. Hardly surprising as they have given so much pleasure to members of the family and in the years we have been here to many visitors.

My gardening career at Ballywalter Park started when I saw a tree, precisely framed by the kitchen table; where I stand to knead my bread dough. It looked like a blob. It is a Quercus ilex which has an untidy habit; it puts its branches down to the ground where they root and start a new tree which eventually splits the original trunk. I gathered what equipment I needed and started the job by giving the tree a fringe cut from inside the canopy. This revealed a beautiful trunk, many branches that had rooted as explained and a 50 old oak. The trunk was incredibly beautiful, a proper tree. It is a tree I look at daily and it gives me immense pleasure.

For many years my husband and I worked on the very overgrown parkland. Every year for about 6-8 weeks from the 1st of February till the end of March, we would cut and pull away branches recreating the vistas planned by our forebears. This is the policy we still follow. We are lucky to have the garden diaries of the 3rd Lord Dunleath who was an exceptional dendrologist. His plans and methods are used to inform the choices we now make in the Pleasure Grounds. These have all the features you would expect of an 18th and 19th century garden. There are many walks created to show off the most beautiful rhododendrons, shrubs and trees. During lockdown we recreated two walks that had become overgrown over the decades since 3rd Lord Dunleath’s death in 1956. One walk has the very uninviting name of Swamp Ride. It is quite swampy during the winter but in May – June it has a spectacular wetland with wild irises that flower all at once.

We also recreated a walk in what used to be known as Rose Hill. This area was so overgrown by invasive species it could not be cleared as a one off project. Instead the garden team created a romantic walk through what used to be the west side of the Rose Hill and now ensure it is maintained, whilst still cutting back and expanding the work started in 2020. It is now a charming walk with areas opened up giving view points where you glimpse a rare or overgrown specimens that has not been seen for years or further views of the Pleasure Grounds. The reflection pools and streams have in the last few years been weeded in the autumn with the aim of allowing the stream to look beautifully overgrown in the summer. This creates a habitat that benefits biodiversity both in the water and on land. In winter it does what it was designed for, reflect the trees and shrubs planted along the edges. We have a very diverse wildlife here. Ottars swim up the culvert from the Irish Sea and feed on the eels that swim through in the winter months. In the spring they galumph around the rockery looking for ground nesting ducks which offers a delicious morsel of duck egg. The Rose Hill is home to our hedgehogs and migrating and native birds sing their hearts out all year round but mostly in spring.

The Walled Garden is a particularly special sanctuary. In my research as a food historian I discovered that the word paradise is Pashto for walled garden. This is a paradise for humans as well as insects and birds. Not only do we grow all the fruit and vegetables that we need in the house we also sow and plant in such a way that we support a number of beehives. We have created pollinator bed with flowers that keep our biodiversity healthy. We use no spray, artificial fertiliser or fungicides to improve the environment and we have not for 6 years. From time to time we supply some of the restaurants in Belfast, mostly when we have a glut of produce. Like any garden it is in constant development which is one of the special joys of gardening… it is never ending.

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2013/12/ballywalter-park.html

  

White Hall, Aghadown, Co Cork  

by jenjunebug

White Hall, Aghadown, Co Cork  

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. 284. “(Townshend/IFR; Alleyne/LGI1958) A two storey four bay late-Georgian house.” 

Waterloo, Mallow, Co Cork

by jenjunebug

Waterloo, Mallow, Co Cork

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. 282. “(Longfield/IFR; Hope-Johnstone, sub Linlithgow, M/PB) A two storey five bay late-Georgian house with a low pediment, a pillared porch and urns on the roof parapet. Projection with three sided bow at side and other additions. Castellated tower by entrance gates. A seat of the Longfield family, by whom it was sold ca 1946. Subsequent owners have included Mr E.W. Hope-Johnstone and Mr and Mrs E. Nelson.” 

http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-list.jsp?letter=W

Reputedly built circa 1815 for Henry Longfield, fifth son of John Longfield of Longueville, following his marriage to Mary Powell, heiress of Sea Court, county Cork. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation it was held by Henry Longfield in fee and valued at £37. Henry’s son John Powell Longfield sold Waterloo to his first cousin Richard Longfield of Longueville who left it to his third son Augustus Henry Longfield. Augustus H. Longfield extended the building. The house was sold to Mr E. W. Hope-Johnstone in 1946. It is still a fine residence.   

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025

8 beds7 baths619 m2

€2,000,000

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.

Savills proudly presents Waterloo House, a wonderful period home set out in two storeys over basement dating back to C. 1815. The property is in fine fettle and is situated on about 52 acres of grounds which create a strong sense of privacy and ample room for equestrian usage.

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.


Upon arrival, you are greeted by a recessed entrance with electric gates and a beautiful Neo Gothic gate lodge with castellated turret. The lodge has an open plan living/kitchen/dining room, shower room and two overhead rooms accessed via a spiral staircase. It is in good decorative order and utterly charming. The lodge enjoys its own outside space and parking area.

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.


Making your way up the gradually ascending driveway passing a c.500-year-old Oak tree, you are guided up the enchanting driveway which is bounded by a collection of post and rail paddocks and mature spruce pine trees. As Waterloo House comes into view, you get the sense that you are approaching a very special property. The driveway offers ample parking to the front or indeed via the rear archway to the first stable yard.

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.


Making your way up the limestone steps and stepping over the threshold via the solid wood door with overhead fanlight, you are greeted by a welcoming and hugely impressive reception area with 11’2 ft high ceilings. Here, you will find original plasterwork and cornicing and the original pitch pine staircase which brings you to the first floor via its gradually ascending steps.
The ground floor offers a beautiful drawing room with feature open fireplace, a captivating dining room that looks onto the grounds and down the driveway, a billiards room with adjoining a bar room, a relaxing TV room, a homely kitchen/breakfast room that looks onto the walled garden, large laundry room and a guest lavatory. Whilst upstairs offers 6 bedrooms, a bathroom and two shower rooms. An easily accessed basement which gains good natural light offers a gym, wine cellar, a living room, a service room and a WC. This area can be independently accessed allowing for this level to potentially be self-contained.

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.


Waterloo House has a choice of gardens and grounds to be explored and enjoyed. The main garden is located just off the kitchen/breakfast room and accessed via the adjoining TV room. This garden is bounded by original stone walls and mature planting, there is a calming water feature, a large, lush lawn and recently rebuilt greenhouse to be enjoyed. An enclosed deck offers an ideal outdoor dining area that overlooks the garden which is home to a variety of tree life such as fig, peach, bramley, cherry and apricot. A second walled garden is home to apple trees (eaters and cookers) estimated to be c. 100 years old. 

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.
Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.


Making your way into the first stable yard you will find a series of large stables, tack room and a self-contained one-bedroom apartment. Making your way further into the yard you will find a second block of horse stables and an enclosed arena built in the 1990’s. This large indoor arena also provides a collection of stables. A second vehicular entrance can be found at the rear of the property and benefits from an electric gate.

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.


The property has been very well maintained and improved in its current ownership. It has benefited from works such as installation of 20 solar panels to generate hot water, attic insulation, installation of an EV charging point, re-roofing works of the main house and gate lodge and 5G broadband aswell as the construction of the additional stables and indoor arena which can be separately accessed from a rear entrance.
Waterloo House is an exceptionally rare offering to the open market, contact us today to discuss this wonderful opportunity.

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/20903232/waterloo-house-gearanaskagh-mallow-co-cork

Detached five-bay two-storey over basement house, built c. 1815, facing south, having two-bay side elevations, and with porch with portico to front. Further additions and outbuildings to east and west form overall composition with house façade and comprise four-bay single-storey outbuilding attached to west being blank to south and having multiple-bay two-storey outbuilding attached to west and having pedimented end wall to south; two-storey block to north end of east elevation of house having canted end and with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projection to angle and multiple-bay single-storey outbuilding to east having pedimented south end. Hipped skirt slate roof to main block, having rendered chimneystacks with terracotta chimney pots and some cast-iron rainwater goods. House has pedimented parapet to façade with render crest and urn finials, and moulded cornice to front and side elevations and to canted addition. Painted rendered walls, ruled and lined to basement. Camber-headed timber sliding sash windows throughout with painted sills, having six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows to first floor, nine-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows to ground floor and six-over-three pane to basement. Rear elevation also has round-headed nine-over-six pane and one two-over-four pane window. Canted addition and front of addition to angle, have one-over-one pane windows. Latter addition has square-headed quadripartite transomed and mullioned casement window. South end of eastern outbuilding has similar casement window with coloured-glass overlights. Single-storey outbuilding to west has round-headed niche to south and square-headed eight-pane double timber casement windows to north. Two-storey outbuilding to west has Venetian-style recess with round-headed twenty-pane false window. Entrance porch projects over basement area and has flat roof with rnedered parapet and moulded cornice, rear half of porch slightly projecting laterally from rest of porch, having render quoins and square-headed one-over-one pane timber sliding sash windows with round-headed fanlights, moulded imposts and archivolts. Front half of porch is distyle portico with limestone columns and rear pilasters. Round-headed door opening with double-leaf carved timber panelled door and fanlight, having painted render surround with pilasters having moulded caps, and with moulded archivolt and cornice. Porch approached by flight of diminishing tooled limestone steps with curving decorative wrought-iron railings. Decorative wrought-iron railings on rubble stone polinths to front of basement area. Square-headed timber battened doors to rear to rear elevation. Curved stone wall to edge of lawn to front of house, with urn pediments to each side of pedestrian steps to terraced lawns. Curved entrance to road over wide dry moat having limestone ashlar boundary walls terminating in square plan piers with wrought-iron double-leaf gates and having gate lodge. Two yards of outbuildings to north of house. First range has hipped slate roofs and roughcast rendered walls. Nine-bay two-storey west range with hipped slate roof having some cast-iron rainwater goods, square-headed fixed timber windows to first floor and one-over-one pane timber windows to ground floor, square-headed timber battened doors, and elliptical-arched vehicular entrance to south end. Twelve-bay single-storey north range has square-headed windows and timber battened halved doors, central elliptical-arched vehicular entrance. Six-bay single-storey east range converted to domestic accommodation, has rendered chimneystack with terracotta pots, and square-headed windows and recent hipped-roof porch. Yard further to north accessed via arch in north range of south yard. South range is replacement timber-clad stables with pitched corrugated-iron roof. Multiple-bay west range with pitched slate roof. Seven-bay single-storey east range with hipped slate roof, coursed rubble stone walls rendered to south end, square-headed windows and timber battened doors. Detached outbuilding to north with pitched corrugated-iron roof. Coursed rubble stone walled orchard to north-east, having vehicular entrance to south side with freestanding cast-iron gate post.

Appraisal

This country house is elevated above other typical early nineteenth-century examples by the inclusion of many ornate features including the entrance porch projecting over the basement area, and the pediments and recesses to the overall façade composition, all of which serve to enliven the underlying regular classical form. The inclusion of the Longueville crest in the façade reinforces the connection with the nearby Longueville House, Waterloo House being believed to have been built as a dowager house for Longueville. The house, its yards and extensive outbuildings form an attractive and interesting group on a slightly elevated site in the landscape.

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/20903231/waterloo-house-gearanaskagh-mallow-co-cork

Detached gate lodge, built c. 1815, comprising circular-plan two-stage tower, facing north, with two-bay single-storey wing attached to rear, built c. 1815. Painted rendered castellated parapet to tower with continuous corbel table, and pitched artificial slate roof to addition. Roughcast rendered walls with smooth rendered plinth. Pointed arch window openings to tower, having limestone sills and hood-mouldings, with replacement timber windows. Pointed arched door opening moulded limestone surround and hood-moulding and replacment glazed timber door. Square-headed window openings to addition having replacement timber fittings.

Appraisal

This unusual demesne gate lodge forms a quirky introduction to the presence of the country house beyond. The building takes the form of a diminutive round medieval donjon and is enhanced by its pointed arch openings, with good quality limestone details.

Waterloo House, Navigation Road, Mallow, Co Cork, P51 XK60 courtesy Savills February 2025.

Tina-Marie O’Neill writes in the Business Post January 26-7, 2025, that the house was built the same year as Napolean’s battle of Waterloo, hence its name. Longueville house was built in 1720, by the Longfield family, who were high sheriffs of County Cork.