Courtown House, County Wexford, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 93. “(Stopford, Courtown, E/PB) A C18 house overlooking the sea at Courtown Harbour, much altered and enlarged C19 after being sacked during 1798 Rebellion. The front of the house consisted of a “U” shaped block of two storeys and a dormered attic in the high-pitched, chateau-style roof; the dormers being pedimented. Five bay centre and one bay in the end of each of the projecting wings; the space between the latter being filled, at ground floor level, by a large open porch, fronted by a porte-cochere carried on four piers. The side of the house was of three bays, interrupted by a massive chimney-stack, beyond which was a three storey three sided bow. The side elevation was further prolonged by a two storey block with an ordinary eaved roof on a plain cornice; of three bays in its upper storey, and with a single large three light window, fronted by pilasters and an entablature, below. Large hall with double staircase. Sold post WWII, subsequently demolished.”
Courtown House, County Wexford, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 149. “…Altered and enlarged 1865-1867 to the design of William Burn for the 5th Earl of Courtown. Demolished after the second world war.”
THE EARLS OF COURTOWN WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY WEXFORD, WITH 14,426 ACRES
This family is said to derive its descent from Nicholas de Stockport, Baron of Stockport, one of the eight barons of the county palatine of Chester, created by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, in the reign of WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.
It is probable the family had been settled in that county before the Conquest, and certainly the estate of Salterstown, near Macclesfield, in Cheshire, belonged to the Stopfords from time immemorial.
WILLIAM STOPFORD, of Bispham and Wrightington, Lancashire, was MP for Liverpool, 1558.
WILLIAM STOPFORD, of Ulnes Walton, Lancashire, the representative of a family long settled in the north of that county, married Mary, daughter and eventual co-heir of Henry Farrington, second son of William Farrington, of Worden, and had issue,
JAMES, his heir;
William.
Mr Stopford died in 1647, and was succeeded by his elder son,
JAMES STOPFORD (1620-85), of Saltersford, Cheshire, Captain in the Parliamentary Army which served in Ireland; and upon the restoration of the royal family acquired considerable estates in that kingdom, partly by purchase and partly by grants under the Act of Settlement and the adjudication in favour of the ’49 officers, and took up his abode at New Hall, Meath.
Mr Stopford married firstly, Ellinor, fourth daughter of John Morewood, of The Oaks, Yorkshire, and had issue (with a daughter),
He wedded secondly, Mary, daughter of the Rt Hon Sir Robert Forth, Knight, and had further issue, two daughters.
Mr Stopford was succeeded by his grandson,
JAMES STOPFORD (1668-1721), MP for Wexford Borough, 1703-13, County Wexford, 1713-21, who wedded Frances, only daughter and heir of Roger Jones, and granddaughter and heiress of Thomas Jones, of Courtown, County Wexford.
He was succeeded at his decease by his eldest surviving son,
JAMES STOPFORD (1700-70), MP for County Wexford, 1721-7, Fethard, 1727-58, High Sheriff of County Wexford, 1756, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1758, in the dignity of Baron Courtown, of Wexford; and, in 1762, advanced to the dignities of Viscount Stopford and EARL OF COURTOWN.
His lordship married Elizabeth, only daughter of the Rt Rev Edward Smyth, Lord Bishop of Down and Connor, and had issue,
JAMES, his successor; Edward, lieutenant-general in the army; Thomas(Rt Rev), Lord Bishop of Cork and Ross; Joseph; Philip; Frances; Mary; Anne; Catherine; Charlotte.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
JAMES, 2nd Earl (1731-1810), KP, PC, who was created a peer of Great Britain, in 1794, as Baron Saltersford.
His lordship espoused, in 1762, Mary, daughter and co-heir of Richard Powys, of Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk, by whom he had issue,
The heir apparent is the present holder’s son James Richard Ian Montagu Stopford, styled Viscount Stopford (b 1988).
*****
THE COURTOWNS were a “Patrick Family”, the 2nd and 3rd Earls having been installed as Knights of St Patrick.
The 6th Earl was the last Lord-Lieutenant of County Wexford, from 1901 until 1922.
James Patrick Montagu Burgoyne Winthrop, 9th and present Earl, was a Lord in Waiting (Government Whip), 1995-97; representative peer to the House of Lords, 1999-.
COURTOWN HOUSE, near Gorey, County Wexford, was the 18th century seat of the Earls of Courtown, overlooking the sea at Courtown Harbour.
It was significantly altered and enlarged during the 19th century, following the 1798 rebellion.
The front consisted of a U-shaped block of two storeys and a dormer attic within the high-pitched, château-style roof.
The five-bay centre had a large open porch, with a porte-cochère carried on four piers.
Courtown House was demolished in 1962, having been sold to the Irish Tourist Board in 1948.
After the 2nd World War, the income from the amount of land left in the estate was not enough to keep Courtown House going and it had to be sold.
Marlfield House, once a Dower House on the Courtown estate, dates back to the 1840s.
The Courtown family also had a seat in Cheshire, Beale Hall.
Courtown Woodland was planted with oak and ash back in 1870.
At this time it was part of a typical Victorian estate woodland where exotic conifers and redwoods from California were planted within viewing distance of Courtown House.
Oak plantations were established at some distance.
They were under-planted with shrubs to provide food for pheasants for shooting parties.
The woodland was regularly cleared and used as firewood by local tenants.
During the 1860s and 1870s the 5th Earl established a pinetum, or conifer collection, in the grounds around Courtown House.
A small number of these trees remain today in the Woodland and in property across the river.
First published in January, 2012.
James Stopford (1794-1858) 4th Earl of Courtown, attributed to Joseph Slater, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy auction.Charlotte Albina Montague Scott, married to James Thomas Stopford 4th Earl of Courtown, by Joseph Slater, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy auction.George Dawkings, Courtown House, Wexford, by Charles Hayter, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy auction.
Courtown House, near Gorey, was the seat of the Earls of Courtown. It was significantly altered and enlarged during the 19th century, including work by William Burn. The front consisted of a U-shaped block of two storeys and a dormered attic within the high-pitched, château-style roof. The five-bay centre had a large open porch, with a porte-cochere carried on four piers.
This house, one of several on the Courtown estate, was pulled down in 1962, having been sold to the Irish Tourist Board in 1948. After World War II, the income from the amount of land left in the estate was not enough to keep Courtown House going and it had to be sold.
Featured in The Wexford Gentry by Art Kavanagh and Rory Murphy. Published by Irish Family Names, Bunclody, Co Wexford, Ireland, 1994.
p. 200. Stopford of Courtown
p. 201. The first Stopford to come to Wexford waas James Stopford, the grandson of James a Cromwellian officer who got lands in Meath. Young James married an heiress called Frances Jones. She was the only daughter of Roger Jones and the heiress of Thomas Jones of Courtown.
Thomas Jones was a Captain in the army of the Commonwealth and he bought the lands from Edward Chichester, the grandson of Sir Edward Fisher who had been given them in the Wexford Plantation of 1611 (Fisher was one of the main architects of the Plantation)… [The terms of his title to Courtown specified]: “No Irish Papists are to be employed. Such Protestants as live there are to be within the protection of the garrison of Gorey, and are to bring in their cattle into some place of security, before the Sun goes down and not to drive them out before the Sun be up.”
The early Stopfords for the most part were absentee landlords….Despite beign absentees they were politically inclined and James was an MP for all his adult life. Of course tehre were no elections in those days and the family with the largest resources and therefore the better contacts with the British establishment was an automatic choice for MP. James had a half sister Dorothy, an acquaintance of Dean Swift, who nicknamed her “Countess Doll.”
James had a son, also named James who in the mid 1760s was elevated to the Peerage. He was given the titles Baron of Courtown, Viscount Stopford and Earl of Courtown. It was James the 1st Earl who built Courtown House. He died in 1770.
p. 202. His son James the 2nd Earl was the man on whom honours were heaped by the British Royalty. He was Treasurer of the Household in addition to his post as Lord of the Bedchamber [of the Prince of Wales in the mid 1700s]. He was given grants of land in England and elevated to the British peerage as Baron Saltersford of Saltersford, Co Cheshire in 1796. His brother was made a General of the Army as was his son Edward, while his younger sons Robert and Monague were made Admirals. The 2nd Earl commuted regularly to his Courtown home. He set up a barter system in the area by which he paid all his bills with fish. During his lifetime there was an abundance of fish caught in the area. Lord Courtown obtained his supplied of fish by the “castle mease” system, whereby the fishermen paid in fish for the use of the burrows for drying their nets.
p. 203. It was the 4th Earl who was responsible for building the Harbour at Courtown, “in an era when crushing poverty and hardship were the lot of the Irish people.” Mr and Mrs Hall, noted travellers of their time wrote that he was “Oneof the good landlords of the County, who had successfully laboured to introduce improvements among the people.” Notwithstanding those accolades, the Earl opposed the Catholic claim for emancipation.
The 5th Earl: p. 204. In 1883 his estates comprised more than 23,000 acres. He had the bulk of his land in Courtown, over 7000 acres in Carlow and almost 2000 in Cheshire. He vigorously opposed Home Rule and refused to sell his lands to the tenants when the land acts came into force. He died in 1914 at the age of 91 with his estate intact.
p. 205. The sixth Earl was the last to reside in Courtown House. The lands were sold and in 1947 Courtown House was taken over by the Irish Tourist Board. It was later demolished.
Detached three-bay single-storey pedimented gate house, extant 1840, on a symmetrical plan centred on single-bay full-height pedimented breakfront. Refenestrated, —-. Now disused. Pitched (gable-fronted) slate roof extending into lean-to slate roofs with clay ridge tiles, lichen-spotted cut-granite monolithic pediments to gables, and no rainwater goods surviving on cut-granite eaves. Part creeper- or ivy-covered coursed rubble stone walls originally rendered, ruled and lined on cut-granite chamfered plinth with red brick flush quoins to corners; rendered, ruled and lined surface finish (east). Round-headed central carriageway between red brick Flemish bond piers with red brick voussoirs. Square-headed flanking window openings with lichen-spotted cut-granite sills, and red brick block-and-start surrounds framing replacement timber casement windows. Lane fronted at entrance to grounds of Courtown House.
A gate house surviving as an interesting relic of the Courtown House estate following the sale (1947) and subsequent demolition (1948-9) of the eponymous country house (see 15701216) with the architectural value of the composition, one colloquially known as “The Arch”, confirmed by such attributes as the compact symmetrical plan form centred on a shallow breakfront; and the pedimented roofline. A prolonged period of unoccupancy notwithstanding, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with quantities of the original fabric: the introduction of replacement fittings to the openings, however, has not had a beneficial impact on the external expression or integrity of a gate house forming part of a neat self-contained group alongside an adjacent “cottage orné” (see 15701222) and church (see 15701220) with the resulting ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan setting. NOTE: A drawing signed (1844) in an illegible hand outlines an unexecuted proposal to transform the gate house with Georgian Gothic embellishments mirroring the adjacent church (IAA).
Dartrey House (formerly Dawson’s Grove), Co Monaghan
Dartrey, County Monaghan, garden front, 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.Portrait of Thomas Dawson (1725-1813), Lord Dartrey, 1st Viscount Cremorne, miniature, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 100. “(Dawson, Dartrey, E/PB1933) A large Elizabethan-Revival mansion by William Burn, built in 1846 to replace an earlier house of about 1770. This earlier house, described 1778 by Rev Daniel Beaufort…was of three storeys over basement, the entrance front was of seven bays…..The Elizabethan-Revival mansion which took the place of this house, built by Richard Dawson, 3rd Lord Cremorne and later 1st Earl of Dartrey, had long and somewhat monotonous elevations of curvilinear gables, mullioned windows and oriels, with, sporadically, a square turret and cupola. There were numerous Tudor chimneys, a generous application of strapwork and a two-tier terrace along the garden front with many yards of latticed balustrading.
“The quoins were partly curved.
.”.. The house overlooked Lough Dromore, where, on a wooded island, Thomas Dawson, 1st Lord Dartrey and afterwards Viscount Cremorne, built a domed mausoleum ca 1770 in memory of his first wife, Lady Anne, to the design of James Wyatt, containing a dramatic lifesized sculptural group, including an angel with outstretched wings, by Joseph Wilton. The Elizabethan-Revival mansion, after standing empty for some years, was demolished ca 1950; the mausoleum, which had become roofless, so that the monument was suffering from teh weather as well as from vandalism, was repaired by the Irish Georgian Society 1961.”
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.
Also known as Dawson Grove, Dartrey was built in 1846 and designed by William Burn as a large Elizabethan Revivial mansion to replace an earlier house on the site. Built for Richard Dawson, 3rd Lord Cremorne and later 1st Earl Dartry, it had very long façades with legions of mullioned windows, oriel windows, tudor chimneys and curvilinear gables relieved by square turrets with cupolas.
On the garden front (pictured) was a two level terrace facing onto Lough Dromore. On an island in the lake there was also a fine Mausoleum to the design of James Wyatt from around 1770 which was recently restored.
The house was demolished in the 1950s – after remaining empty for many years, the house was lent by the last owner to the RSPCA for a ball after which the County Council demanded rates for the house. All that remains of the estate are various gatehouses, the ruined Mausoleum and a fine stable block built around five sides of an octagon – built around 1850 to the design of William Burn.
THE EARLS OF DARTREY WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY MONAGHAN, WITH 17,732 ACRES
The family of DAWSON was originally from Spaldington, Yorkshire; whence, towards the close 0f ELIZABETH I’s reign, it removed to Ulster.
THOMAS DAWSON, who became, in the following reign, a burgess of Armagh, was grandfather of
JOHN DAWSON, who married into the family of Henry Ussher, Lord Archbishop of Armagh.
Archbishop Ussher was twice married: first about 1573, to Margaret, daughter of Thomas Eliot of Balrisk, County Meath; secondly, to Mary Smith, who survived him. His widow married John Jeeves, of Drogheda, Alderman, by whom she had issue, Anne Jeeves, who married (as his second wife), Walter Dawson in 1660, from which a considerable property in counties Armagh and Tyrone came to the Dawson family.
John Dawson was father of
WALTER DAWSON, of Armagh, who married firstly, Mary, daughter of Edward Dixie, and had issue,
WALTER, his heir; Thomas, ancestor of Catherine, Countess of Charleville; Edward; Margaret; Mary; Elizabeth.
He espoused secondly, in 1680, Anne, daughter of John Jeeves.
Mr Dawson died in 1704, and was succeeded by his elder son,
WALTER DAWSON, who wedded, in 1672, Frances, daughter of Richard Dawson (by which marriage the estate of Dawson Grove, County Monaghan, was conveyed to this family), and had issue,
RICHARD, his heir; Walter; John; Mary; Elizabeth.
Mr Dawson, an officer in Cromwell’s army, died in 1718, and was succeeded by his only surviving son,
RICHARD DAWSON (c1693-1766), of Dawson Grove, an eminent banker, alderman of the city of Dublin, MP for St Canice, 1727-60, Monaghan Borough, 1761-6 (great-grandson of John Dawson, of Armagh, who died intestate).
Alderman Dawson wedded, in 1723, Elizabeth, daughter of the Most Rev Dr John Vesey, Lord Archbishop of Tuam, and sister of Sir Thomas Vesey Bt, Lord Bishop of Ossory, and had issue,
John, died in 1742; THOMAS, his successor; Richard, of Ardee; Frances.
He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
THOMAS DAWSON (1725-1813), of Dawson Grove, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1770, in the dignity of Baron Dartrey, of Dawson’s Grove, County Monaghan; and advanced to a viscountcy, in 1778, as Viscount Cremorne, of Castle Dawson, County Monaghan.
His lordship married firstly, in 1754, the Lady Anne Fermor, youngest daughter of Thomas, 1st Earl of Pomfret, by whom he had a son and a daughter, both of whom died in adolescence.
He wedded secondly, in 1770, Philadelphia Hannah, daughter of Thomas Freame, of Philadelphia, by Margaretta, daughter of William Penn, the celebrated founder of that city, by whom he had another son and a daughter, who also died young.
His lordship, thus deprived of direct descendants, was created, in 1797, Baron Cremorne, with remainder to his nephew, Richard Dawson, and the heirs male of that gentleman.
Dying without an heir in 1813, the viscountcy expired, and the barony of Cremorne devolved upon his great-nephew,
RICHARD THOMAS DAWSON (1788-1827) as 2nd Baron (only son of Richard Dawson, MP for Monaghan), who espoused, in 1815, Anne Elizabeth Emily, third daughter of John Whaley, of Whaley Abbey, County Wicklow, and had issue,
RICHARD, his successor; Thomas Vesey.
His lordship was succeeded by his elder son, RICHARD, 3rd Baron (1817-97), who wedded, in 1841, Augusta, second daughter of Edward Stanley, of Cross Hall, Lancashire, by his wife, the Lady Mary Maitland, second daughter of James, 8th Earl of Lauderdale.
His lordship was installed a Knight of St Patrick, 1855; a Lord-in-Waiting, 1857-66; Lord Lieutenant of County Monaghan, 1871-97.
He was advanced to an earldom, in 1866, in the dignity of EARL OF DARTREY.
By his wife he had issue,
VESEY, his successor; Edward Stanley (1843-1919); Richard Westland Westenra (1845-1914); ANTHONY LUCIUS, 3rd Earl; Mary Eleanor Anne.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
VESEY, 2nd Earl (1842-1920), MP for County Monaghan, 1865-68, High Sheriff of County Monaghan, 1878, who married, in 1882, Julia Georgiana Sarah, daughter of Sir George Ormby Wombwell Bt, and had issue,
Richard George, 1890-94; EDITH ANNE (1883-1974), of Dartrey House; Mary Augusta, 1887-1961.
His lordship died without surviving male issue, when the titles devolved upon his brother,
ANTHONY LUCIUS, 3rd Earl (1855-1933), who wedded, in 1878, Mary Frances, suo jure Baroness de Ros, only child of the 23rd Baron de Ros, and had issue,
Una Mary, Baroness de Ros;Maude Elizabeth; Eleanor Charlotte Augusta.
On the decease of the 3rd Earl, in 1933, the titles became extinct.
The Lady Edith Windham was the last member of the family to live at Dartrey.
The Dartrey Papers contain extensive historical information about the family.
The Earl of Dartrey possessed the following land during the Victorian era:-
DARTREY HOUSE, near Rockcorry, County Monaghan, was a large Elizabethan-Revival mansion by William Burn, built in 1846 to replace an earlier house, known as Dawson Grove, of ca 1770.
It was built for Richard Dawson, 3rd Baron Cremorne and later 1st Earl of Dartrey.
This noble and magnificent demesne is situated on the gorgeous chain of the Cootehill lakes, a few miles east-north-east of Cootehill.
It is separated from the neighbouring demesne of Bellamont forest, County Cavan, only by a narrow belt of one of the main lakes, Dromore Lough.
The mansion had long, monotonous elevations of curvilinear gables, mullioned windows and oriels, with, sporadically, a square turret and cupola.
There were numerous Tudor chimneys, a generous application of strapwork and a two-tier terrace along the garden front with many yards of latticed ballustrading.
The quoins were partly curved.
Dartrey House overlooked Lough Dromore where, on a wooded island (Black Island), the 1st Viscount Cremorne built a domed temple about 1770 in memory of his first wife, Lady Anne Dawson.
The sheer size of Dartrey House proved too much for the 20th-century financial resources of the family.
Most of its contents were sold by auction in 1937 and the entire building was demolished in 1946 by the Hammond Lane Foundry, Dublin, who paid £3,000 for the salvage – a dreadful return on the £30,000 it cost to build the great mansion.
Lady Edith, elder daughter of the 2nd Earl, was the last Dawson to live in Dartrey House, and it was she who was forced to make the decision to demolish it in 1946.
Now, only the magnificent site overlooking Lough Dromore is visible.
The red-brick stable block contemporary with the 1846 house survives, and was renovated by the Irish Georgian Society (presumably at about the same time as Lady Anne’s temple).
There is also a surviving farmyard, in ruinous condition, which seems to be contemporary with (or even earlier than) the early 1770s house.
The following description of the Dartrey Estate near Cootehill, County Monaghan, Ireland, was written in 1773 by the Reverend J Burrows, visiting tutor to the Dawson family:
A thousand acres of lake, three hundred of which flows within a few yards of the house, with hills on each side covered with the most beautiful delicious woods, bring all fairyland to one’s imagination. On the other side of the lake is a large island, wonderfully shaded on all its sides but with a bald pate of open ground on the top, giving a very pleasing and uncommon effect.
Beyond that are woods that lose themselves in the clouds. People who are not used to lakes cannot conceive into what delightful forms they throw themselves, and how much the little islands, here and there interspersed, which contain one or two trees, add to their beauty.
The Dartrey estate, originally known as Dawson Grove, was established by the Dawson family in the 17th century alongside Bellamont Forest, a demesne of similar size – over a thousand acres.
Richard Dawson, a banker and Dublin alderman, built the present (Church of Ireland) church on the Dartrey estate in 1729.
It was established in its own separate parish of Ematris soon after.
The Dawsons added a north gallery to the church in 1769, and much later the Corry family (from Rockcorry) added a south gallery, raised on arches to avoid desecrating the burial ground beneath it.
A fire caused serious damaged in 1811 leaving the church for a period without a roof.
The fine west tower was built in 1840, and the sanctuary apse in 1870.
With the demolition of the Dawson mansion in 1950, and their once thriving estate turned over to forestry, St John’s appears isolated.
However it shares services with St James’ church, Rockcorry some 2½ miles away, which the Dawsons built in 1855, and both churches continue well supported by the local farming community.
But the view from St John’s cemetery across Inner Lough, once described as “one of the best in Ireland”, is currently obscured by conifers.
The Northern Standard, Saturday, 8th March, 1856:-
FIRE AT DARTREY HOUSE
We regret to announce the breaking out of a destructive fire, on Saturday evening last, at Dartrey House, the magnificent residence of Lord Cremorne, in this county.
The fire is supposed to have originated in the flue of one of the rooms in the basement storeys, which broke out near the roof, and before effective aid could be procured, had enveloped the entire of the upper storey of the north-eastern wing of the building.
The existence of the fire was first observed about six o’clock, by Mr. Little, Lord Cremorne’s steward, who hastened with a number of his labourers to render all the assistance within their power.
Mr. Little’s exertions up to the final subduing of the fire were unremitting.
Captain Boyle, of Tanagh, and the Rev. T. A. Robinson, were immediately on the ground, and aided materially in checking the fire, which, however, raged with a great fury until the arrival of the fire engines from Monaghan.
Previous to the arrival of the engines, the exertions of those present were directed to cutting off the communication between what is termed the Old and New House, a strong wall dividing the two portions of the house.
At a few minutes past seven in the evening, a messenger from Dartrey arrived at Mr. McCoy’s, of Monaghan, in whose care the town engine is; fortunately, all Mr McCoy’s staff were about his concern, it being pay night, and were consequently available for immediate work.
Four horses from Campbell’s posting establishment were immediately harnessed to the engine, and it started for Dartrey, where it arrived at nine o’clock.
In the meantime, Mr. McCoy sent a requisition for the Ordnance engine, to the officer commanding the detachment of Militia stationed here.
This engine was placed on a float, and, with a pair of horses from the Canal Stores, proceeded to Dartrey, where it arrived in time to do efficient service, under the directions of Sergeant Crooks, of the Monaghan Regiment, whose exertions elicited the commendation of every person present.
Nothing could exceed his intrepidity and cool daring ; indeed, at one moment it was supposed he had fallen a victim, a large beam having fallen just where he had been standing a second before. A. A. Murray Ker, Esq., Lord Cremorne’s agent, was in Monaghan when intelligence of the fire arrived; he immediately started for Dartrey, where he remained until a late hour on Sunday evening; by his presence and individual exertions he animated the energies of the very many who aided in extinguishing the fire.
Amongst those present who worked with hearty good will were – and certainly first on the list – the Rev. T. A. Robinson, Captain Boyle, Wm. Murray, Esq., Richard Mayne, Esq., (this gentleman, we regret to say, was severely hurt by an accident), Rev. John Wolfe, Subinspectors Kirwan and Fortesque; a number of young gentlemen from Cootehill and Monaghan were also most effectual aids.
We do not know the names of the Cootehill gentlemen or we would gladly give them. Amongst those from Monaghan we noticed Messrs. Watkins, Lewers, and Campbell.
The Constabulary from the surrounding stations to a man exerted themselves in a most praiseworthy manner, both by individual exertion and protection of property.
Amongst the most exertive and daring of them was one named Kinsella, from Cootehill station.
The costly furniture, pictures, and mirrors were all saved, with the exception of such injuries as their removal caused.
On learning the existence of the fire, our own chief anxiety was as to the safety of an exquisite group of statuary, “Cupid and Psyche”, which stood in the vestibule of the Grand Staircase; – this beautiful piece of art, though in extreme danger, escaped with but the fracture of one of the arms of the descending figure; the injury is not material, and can be remedied.
The portion of the building entirely destroyed consists of Lord and Lady Cremorne’s private apartments, Drawing-room, and her ladyship’s Boudoir, both of which were magnificent apartments; the cut stone walls seem safe; all the apartments over the east point are destroyed; the Grand Hall, Billiard-room, and Drawing-room are safe, as is also the entire of the basement storey.
The fire continued smouldering and occasionally to blaze out up to five or six o’clock on Sunday evening.
The assurance on the house was heavy, and will more than cover the estimated damages; but much depends on the decision architects arrive at as to the state of the outer walls.
It is, on the whole, surprising that the damage done is not of much greater extent, when the means of overcoming it were so distant.
The tenantry in the neighbourhood all assembled on Tuesday with carts and horses, and cleared away all the debris of the fire, before the arrival of Lord and Lady Cremorne.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN STANDARD
Sir, Allow me, through your paper, to render Lord Cremorne’s grateful thanks to all those who used such strenuous exertions in checking the conflagration at his Lordship’s beautiful mansion on last Saturday night.
The Assurance Companies concerned have every reason to be thankful, (and indeed have already expressed themselves to that effect), to the assembled multitude who lent their best exertions towards arresting the progress of the flames, and saving such a large amount of property.
It would be impossible to personally thank each and all of those I saw distinguishing themselves, for their name was “Legion”.
The constabulary were early on the ground from Rockcorry, and very shortly after from Cootehill, Drum, and Newbliss, and were most efficient and steady.
The fire engines from Monaghan arrived in quite the brigade style, and certainly deserve especial consideration.
The Corporation engine, under the direction of Mr. McCoy and his very active and intelligent workmen, and the Barrack engine, managed by Sergeant Crooks, who most creditably kept up the character of his regiment by his cool and daring conduct.
The tenantry to a man worked with a will. I could name hundreds who were towards morning nearly – and often quite – exhausted and faint.
Nothing could exceed the care taken of the furniture, pictures, and mirrors, in their removal, and wonderfully little damage has been done.
I am happy to say that the Assurances cover the loss and damage to both building and furniture – and again thanking most sincerely those who so kindly gave their valuable aid in time of need.
I remain, your obedient servant, A A Murray Ker, Newbliss.
Henry Skeath has sent me interesting information with regard to Dartrey:
I have attached an article (above) from The Northern Standard about a serious fire at Dartrey House in 1856 just ten years after the place was built.
Two good articles on Dartrey appeared in recent editions of the Clogher Record.
In 2004 June Brown detailed the rise and fall of the estate. June was friendly with Lady Edith, the last of the family at Dartrey, and keeps in touch with her descendants.
The 2009 edition contains a well-researched article by June’s granddaughter, Victoria Baird, about Lady Augusta wife of the 1st Earl of Dartrey.
Lady Augusta endowed St. James’s in Rockcorry where a photograph of her still hangs.
St. John’s Church is affectionately known as St. John’s in the Wood.
The Dawson gallery contains a fireplace for the comfort of the family.
In 1996 St. John’s celebrated 275 years of worship and the Rev. J. T. Merry, rector, produced a short history of the parish.
The Dartrey Heritage Group is undertaking wonderful refurbishment work on the mausoleum which was designed by James Wyatt.
The building has been stabilised and a new domed roof erected.
The Rev. Daniel Beaufort visited in 1780 and noted that the sculptural group within, by Joseph Wilton, had cost £1,000.
The quarterly bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society for Jan-Mar 1961includes an article on it.
Wilton’s work suffered at the hands of vandals but there are ambitious plans for restoration.
In 2008 the Heritage Group completed the restoration of a 60-foot column, also designed by James Wyatt, erected in 1807 to the memory of Richard Dawson who was elected to five successive Parliaments.
It stands prominently along the main road.
The 1846 stable block, five sides of an octagon, restored by the Irish Georgian Society in 1961, has been allowed to fall into disrepair again in recent years.
Of Dartrey House, hardly a vestige remains.
Parts of the basement can be seen and the once-graceful terraces on the garden front can still be traced.
It was once one of the finest estates in Ireland.
London residence ~ 30 Curzon Street.
First published in September, 2011. Dartrey arms courtesy of European Heraldry.
The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland tells us that County Monaghan is an inland county, in the centre of the south of the historic province of Ulster.
It is bounded, on the north, by Tyrone; on the east, by Armagh; and on the west, by Cavan and Fermanagh.
“A noble and magnificent demesne, the property of the Viscount Cremorne [later Earl of Dartrey], on the southern margin of the barony of Dartrey, is situated on the gorgeous chain of the Cootehill lakes, 1½ miles from Cootehill; and is separated from the rival demesne of Bellamont Forest in County Cavan, only by the narrow belt of one of the main lakes called Dromore.”
“From the contiguity of Dawson Grove and Bellamont Forest, and the beautiful natural lakes which in many places form their line of demarcation, they may be said in various instances to reflect each other.”
“Separately they are splendid residences; conjointly they form a rich combination of many of the elements of landscape.”
On Saturday afternoon four of us met Noel Carney, of Dartrey Heritage Association, who took us to see Dartrey demesne, former seat of the extinct Earls of Dartrey.
This was my first visit to Dartrey, once a very large estate comprising almost 18,000 acres, with extensive boundary walls and picturesque gate lodges (there were eight in total) carrying on interminably.
We stopped off en route at the main entrance lodge of ca1847, fully restored, extended, and inhabited, once incorporating the estate post office.
This lodge is made of ashlar stone, with a Tudor-style entrance surmounted by a blank shield.
Several hundred yards further along the main public road we turned into another driveway, which eventually led us to the “new” stable block, a large, impressive, grand affair comprising five sides in red brick.
This derelict stable block was constructed in the 1840s to replace an older block.
The standard of craftsmanship by masons was remarkable, as Noel pointed out to us.
The bricks were made in situ, and even straw marks could be seen on the ones that had dried on the ground.
The New Stable Block is not in a good state, although it’s not beyond redemption for another purpose, such as apartments or business premises, or units.
It was practically ruinous several decades ago, and today at least it’s in better condition than that.
There used to be a large clock encased in a circular stone feature in the middle of the block, though it has disappeared.
A short distance further on we stopped off at the original, or “Old” stable block of, it is thought, the 1770s.
It, like its younger sibling, is privately owned and closed off.
THEREAFTER we drove through overgrown estate tracks to the Island Bridge, also known as the Iron Bridge, which connects the estate to Black Island.
This is a single-arch bridge, erected in the 1840s, which leads to the glorious mausoleum or temple dedicated to the Lady Anne Dawson.
The skill of the blacksmiths and stonemasons can be admired on this little bridge, with its superbly carved stone abutments and wrought-iron handrails.
When we crossed the bridge we caught a glimpse of the remains of the great mansion house of Dartrey. All that’s left of it today is the basement and rubble.
Dartrey House (or Castle) was demolished in 1946, because the last member of the Dawsons to live there, Lady Edith, simply couldn’t afford to maintain it, and couldn’t find a buyer.
From the edge of the lake, not far from the Iron Bridge, we could see the site of Dartrey House (or Castle), a very large mansion which was built in 1846.
The Dartrey Estate lies in County Monaghan, though straddles the neighbouring county of Cavan.
Dartey: Basement Cellar (Image: Henry Skeath, 2002)
All that remains of the house are the ruins of the basement and cellars, so it’s almost invisible at ground level from a distance.
Dartrey: Basement Cellar (Image: Henry Skeath, 2002)
The Land Acts deprived great estates like Dartrey and Lough Fea of their income and, when the 2nd Earl of Dartrey died in 1920, without a male heir, the estate was inherited by his eldest daughter, Lady Edith.
Dartrey: Ruins (Image: Henry Skeath, 2002)
Crippled by the immense cost of maintaining Dartrey, its outbuildings, gate lodges, stable block, and everything else, Lady Edith decided initially to sell the contents of the house.
A four-day auction of the contents, including thousands of books from the library, and valuable old-master paintings, was held in 1937.
Lady Edith Windham (1883-1974) couldn’t afford the exorbitant rates bills, and found it impossible to find a buyer for the house, so made the decision to salvage what she could of it, including the slates, staircases, and doors, wooden casings etc, before Dartrey House was finally demolished in 1946.
By this stage Lady Edith was living in the former land steward’s house, not far from the big house itself.
The Dawson family of County Monaghan came from Yorkshire to Ireland during the reign of Elizabeth I, Thomas Dawson becoming a Burgess of Armagh. Subsequently Richard Dawson, a Cromwellian cornet of horse, assembled the nucleus of the family’s estate in the 1650s and 1660s through the acquisition of thirty-one townlands, based around a property called Dawson’s Grove on the banks of a chain of lakes separating counties Cavan and Monaghan. Richard Dawson’s only child, a daughter named Frances, married her cousin Walter Dawson. Their son Richard was an Alderman of Dublin, an MP for County Kilkenny and the owner of a family bank. He further expanded the estates both in County Monaghan and elsewhere. With his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam, he had four children, their third son being Thomas Dawson born in 1725. After coming into his inheritance the latter built a new house at Dawson’s Grove in the early 1770s and also bought and redeveloped a residence in London, Cremorne House, Chelsea where the garden designer Nathaniel Richmond was commissioned to lay out the grounds (although the house is long gone, this is now the site of Cremorne Gardens, just down river from Battersea Bridge). In May 1770 Thomas Dawson was created Baron Dartrey of Dawson’s Grove, and in June 1785 Viscount Cremorne.
In August 1754 Thomas Dawson married Lady Anne Fermor, youngest daughter of the first Earl of Pomfret, with whom he had two children before she died in March 1769. Her husband’s grief was considerable, but not so great as to prevent his marrying just over a year later Philadelphia Hannah Freame. She was the granddaughter of William Penn, whose family owned land in County Cork but who is better known as the founder of Pennsylvania. By his second marriage to Hannah Callowhill William Penn had eight children one of whom, Thomas Penn, married Lady Juliana Fermor, eldest daughter of Lord Pomfret. This explains how Thomas Dawson should have met his second wife Philadelphia, whose mother Margaret Freame, was another of William Penn’s children. In other words, he married his first wife’s niece. And, as her name indicates, she was born in the city of Philadelphia in 1740.
Philadelphia Freame’s marriage to Thomas Dawson was marked by the building of a house for the Dartrey estate’s agent, Charles Mayne, which was then given the name Freame Mount. Lady Anne Fermor, however, was commemorated in a more original fashion with the construction of a mausoleum which stands in the middle of Black Island on raised ground facing the former site of Dawson’s Grove. Based on a surviving elevation for the west front which shows the inspiration of the Pantheon in Rome, the design of the Dartrey Mausoleum has been attributed to James Wyatt, making it the English architect’s first commission in Ireland and contemporaneous with Wyatt’s Pantheon, the famous assembly rooms on London’s Oxford Street. The building in Monaghan is a tall, square block built of locally-fired red brick raised on a limestone plinth. The exterior, featuring a sequence of blind windows and oculi, is relieved on the western front (which would have been visible from Dawson’s Grove) by a shallow tetrastyle portico with four pilasters (note their unusual fluted capitals) beneath a pedimented entablature. Above this cube rises a dome, its open centre providing the only light for the interior which would have been even more dramatic when viewed on nights with a full moon.
In August 1774 the Dublin Hibernian Journal reported, ‘A few days ago was landed in Dublin a beautiful Marble Monument done by Joseph Wilton, Esq., of Portland Street, London, which Lord Dartrey is to erect in a Temple at his seat in Co. Monaghan, to the memory of his late wife, Lady Anne Dawson, daughter of the late Earl of Pomfret.’ The London-born Wilton, a founder-member of the Royal Academy, had in 1764 been appointed ‘Sculptor to his Majesty’ by George III. His funerary monument in the Dartrey Mausoleum, for which he was paid 1,000 guineas, is the only commission he received in Ireland; during the same period he also sculpted a bust of Thomas Dawson, now in the Yale Center for British Art. Like that piece, Wilton’s work inside the mausoleum is carved in Carrara marble and was installed against the eastern wall above a plain altar. A plaque recalls both Lady Anne, described as possessing ‘all the external Advantages which contribute to form a shining Distinction on Earth’, and the couple’s prematurely deceased daughter Henrietta Anne ‘who lived long enough to justify all the fairest Hopes of a Mother.’ To one side of a large funerary urn are the lifesize figures of Lady Anne’s grieving husband and their young son clinging to his father in both terror and sorrow; the pair of them gaze up at the hovering form of an interceding angel. It is a remarkably theatrical piece of work, and must have been especially effective when seen by moonlight.
The subsequent fortunes of the Dartrey Mausoleum have been mixed. At some date in the 19th century, the dome was taken, or fell, down and replaced with a shallow slated pyramidal roof, and the brick walls plastered. The last member of the Dawson family to live at Dartrey, Lady Edith Windham, eldest child of the second Earl of Dartrey, sold the estate in 1946 to the Irish Forestry Commission (now Coillte) which continues to own the land on which the mausoleum stands. Dawson’s Grove, rebuilt in the 1840s as Dartrey Castle, was demolished and the view across to Black Island obscured by dense planting of evergreen woodland. Meanwhile the mausoleum was left to languish and although the Irish Georgian Society undertook some repairs in the 1960s, the building succumbed to decay, its roof was lost and the sculptural group – as can be seen in photographs above – seriously vandalised. Such might have remained the case, had it not been for the energy, imagination and commitment of a local group, the Dartrey Heritage Association which over the past decade has steadily worked to ensure the restoration of this outstanding monument. Securing funding from a variety of sources, including the local County Council, the Heritage Council and once more the Irish Georgian Society, together with monies raised by other means, the DHA has now almost completed this project. The building is once more intact and with a domed roof, and inside the sculptural group has been repaired with missing sections scrupulously replaced. The entire project is a wonderful testament to what can be achievied by a local voluntary body with sufficient determination and persistence, and ought to serve as an example for others throughout the country. Above all the restoration of the Dartrey Mausoleum shows that nothing is beyond salvation, provided the will is there.
In the late 18th century, Thomas Dawson, Viscount Cremorne, passed responsibility for his Irish estate Dawson’s Grove, County Monaghan to his heir and nephew, Richard Dawson. To the dismay of his uncle, Richard – who served as a local MP in the Irish parliament – proved to be something of a radical and in 1799 consistently voted against the Act of Union. In the event, he died eight years later (predeceasing Lord Cremorne) after which he was remembered as being ‘the most active in promoting improvements, the most useful and the most popular man this country ever knew.’ As evidence, in the aftermath of his death, a fifty-eight foot high limestone Doric column surmounted by a funerary urn was erected on the edge of the Dawson’s Grove demesne. The arms of the Dawson family appear on two sides of the monument’s square base plinth and the following inscription on the other two sides: ‘This column was erected by the free and independent electors of the county of Monaghan to perpetuate the memory of Richard Dawson Esq., who was unanimously returned by them to five successive parliaments. He died their faithful representative on 3 September 1807, aged 44 years.’ The column, its design attributed to James Wyatt, has been restored in recent years. Dawson’s Grove was eventually inherited by Richard Dawson’s son, another Richard, who in 1813 became Baron Cremorne.
“Lough Rynn Castle Hotel Estate & Gardens is one of the top luxury castle hotels to stay in. Located in County Leitrim, Lough Rynn Castle exceeds expectations as one of the most preferred hotels in Ireland.
“It is the ancestral home of the Clements family and the legendary Lord Leitrim. Our magical Irish castle hotel has been transformed from an incredible ancestral home into a place where old world elegance mixes seamlessly with unimaginable modern hotel luxury.
“Staying in a luxurious Castle Hotel in Ireland is a once in a lifetime experience and one that deserves to take place at a location full of history, luxury and charm. Take a step back in time as you approach imposing entrances at Lough Rynn Castle which offers acres of breathtaking scenery, historical sites and walled gardens. Our entire Irish castle hotel’s estate comprises of over 300 acres of land that is idyllic, rich in history and charmed with natural beauty. Take a romantic walk in our walled gardens overlooking our lough and come back to the castle hotel for some exquisite dining in our restaurant or drinks at the Dungeon Bar. Relax and take in the authentic Irish castle atmosphere in the Baronial Hall or in the John McGahern Library.“
Mac Raghnaill family (1210 –1621)
“The current Lough Rynn estate is built on the ancestral lands of Clan Maelsechlainn-Oge Mac Raghnaill, the pre-Conquest rulers of this part of County Leitrim known as Muintir Eolais. The Annals of Loch Cé and Annals of Connacht refer to “the crannóg of Claenloch” (Lough Rynn) in the High Middle Ages, 1247AD, with the structure marked on some maps as “Crannoge” or “Crane Island”, while the medieval Mac Raghnaill‘s Castle is mentioned in 1474AD.
“The ruins of the Mac Raghnaill‘s Castle are located close to the lake and some 500 meters from the existing Lough Rynn Castle. The historian, Fiona Slevin, describes the structure of the Mac Raghnaill castle as “fairly standard for the time, but it did have a few unusual – and clever – features. Although a square shape, the castle had rounded corners that made it more impervious to artillery attacks and it had a straight stairway carved into the hollow of a wall, rather than the more usual spiral stair in one corner.”
“The Mac Raghnaill family had played an important role in the Nine Years War on the side of Aodh Mór Ó Néill resisting the English conquest of Ireland.
Crofton family (1621–1750)
“In the English Plantation of 1621, the Mac Raghnaill lands in Lough Rynn were confiscated and granted to an English family named Crofton. The Croftons brought British Protestant settlers with them and in the 1620s and 1630s the native Irish were gradually removed from the land.
“In 1749, a wealthy landowner named Nathaniel Clements purchased around 10,000 acres in the Mohill area of County Leitrim. Upon doing so, his son Robert became the 1st Earl of Leitrim. On their new estate, the Clements family took up residence in a modest dwelling already on the estate. However, they had their eyes on building a far more impressive residence worthy of their name and their stature – a magnificent castle.
Robert Clements, later First Earl of Leitrim, by Pompeo Batoni, about 1753–1754, Hood Museum of Art.Robert Clements (1732-1804) 1st Earl of Leitrim by Gilbert Stuart courtesy of Christie’s Irish Sale 2001.
“By the start of the 19th century, work had begun on the Clements family’s new home under the watchful eyes of the Earl. Sometime in 1839, Robert Clements died both suddenly and young, which passed the management of the estate to his brother William Sydney Clements. Although Sydney worked with his brother managing the build of Lough Rynn, as a second son, he never expected to inherit the lands or titles. However, in 1854, that’s exactly what he did, taking full ownership of the estate on the death of his father, thus becoming the 3rd Earl of Leitrim or Lord Leitrim as he preferred.
Clements family (1750–1978)
“In 1750 the Croftons were replaced by another English family named the Clements. Daniel Clements, an officer in Oliver Cromwell‘s army, had been granted land in County Cavan which had been confiscated from the Irish following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. In 1750 Nathaniel Clements acquired the Lough Rynn estate, while remaining on his lands in Cavan. Nevertheless, the Clements started to become more involved in political life in Leitrim with Robert Clements becoming sheriff for the county in 1759. In 1795 Robert Clements became the first Earl of Leitrim. In 1833, Robert Bermingham [Clements (1805-1839)], Viscount Clements [grandson of the 1st Earl of Leitrim], built a mock Tudor revival house overlooking Lough Rynn. It is this property which is the basis for the current Lough Rynn Castle.
“Upon Robert’s death in 1839, management of Lough Rynn estate passed to his brother, William Sydney Clements [(1806-1879) 3rd Earl of Leitrim]. In 1854, when their father Nathaniel Clements, 2nd Earl of Leitrim, died William Sydney Clements became the 3rd Earl of Leitrim. He inherited an estate of a massive 90,000 acres which stretched across four counties. From around this time Sydney Clements asserted his control over the estate in an authoritarian manner which won him many opponents among the tenantry. He was unpopular in the locality and in Ireland, his assassination received widespread publicity in Ireland and abroad, with proponents of land reform using it as evidence of the need to protect tenants from the abuses of tyrannical landlords. His funeral in Dublin was marked by further riots, while none of the three assassins were convicted of his death.
“The inheritor of the Lough Rynn estate was Sydney Clements’ English-educated cousin who lived in Cavan, Colonel Henry Theophilus Clements [1820-1904], rather than the heir presumptive to the title who lived in England. This Colonel Clements embarked on an extensive expansion and refurbishment of the castle. He added a new wing, built a Baronial Hall designed by Thomas Drew with heavy plaster cornices, a large ornate Inglenook fireplace, and a fretted ceiling and walls wainscoted in solid English oak. Upon its completion in 1889, the principal floor of the house contained a main hall, Baronial Hall, chapel, reception room, living room and dining room. Two pantries, a kitchen, study, smokehouse and store were accessed by a separate entrance. In the basement there were stores and a wine cellar. There were fourteen bedrooms and four bathrooms upstairs.
“By 1952, when Marcus Clements took over the Lough Rynn estate, most of it had been sold off to former tenants under the land acts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Clements lived there until the 1970’s. The estate remained largely empty until 1990 when it was purchased by an Irish-American investor, for a short time it was open to visitors but it was still in need of more investment and care.
Hanly Family (2001- Present)
“In 2001 Lough Rynn estate was purchased by the current owners, the Hanly family. They invested substantially in the castle and the grounds. In September 2006 when Lough Rynn Castle finally opened as a hotel, the estate extended to three hundred acres. Local father and son Alan and Albert Hanly purchased the castle and grounds. Over the seven years that followed, they lovingly brought it back to its former glory, so that it’s magic, luxury and history could be embraced.
Lough Rynn, County Leitrim, Irish Tourist Collection NLI ref NPA ITA 1377 (Box VII).
“A secluded location, standard-setting craftsmanship, breathtaking views and the perfect blend of old-world elegance and new-world luxury, has turned Lough Rynn Castle into a truly magical destination.“
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. 193. “(Lucas-Clements/IFR; Clements/IFR) A simple two storey Tudor-Revival house of cut stone, with gently sloping gables, mullioned windows, hood-mouldings and tall chimneys; built 1833 for Robert, Viscount Clements, probably to the design of William Burn; to which a wing in the same style but higher, and on a grander scale, was added 1889 to the design of Sir Thomas Drew for Col H.T. Clements, who inherited the estate from his cousin, William Clements, 3rd Earl of Leitrim. The 1833 range contains pleasant rooms with simple late-Georgian cornices, the later wing contains an oak panelled hall and a very large and impressive drawing room or ballroom in the Norman Shaw style; with oak panelling, a heavy plaster cornice, a fretted ceiling and a vast and ornate inglenook fireplace. Stables with high pitched roofs om French Renaissance style also by Drew. Heavily wooded demesne extending round the lough from which the estate takes its name. Walled garden with terrace above the water’s edge, the parapet adorned with urns and sculpture.”
Lough Rynn, County Leitrim, photograph courtesy of Mark Bence-Jones, A Guide to Irish Country Houses.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached seven-bay two-storey over basement Tudor Revival country house of irregular plan, built in 1832, extended to east in 1889. Multiple pitched slate roofs with cut stone chimneystacks to eastern block, cut stone finials to gables, cast-iron and lead rainwater goods. Cut limestone walls with string courses. Square-headed chamfered mullioned windows with label mouldings. Drew’s addition contains floor to ceiling windows to ground floor containing much elaborate stained glass. Canted-bay window to garden elevation. Gable-fronted entrance porch with segmental-headed opening, tooled moulded stone surrounds, date ‘1889’ above door in decoratively carved panels, surmounted by finely carved crest containing word ‘Salve’. Timber door with iron studs and wrought-iron handle. Limestone slabs to entrance. Doorbell set within carved circular panel. Limestone steps to entrance landing. Original round-headed entrance with block-and-start tooled moulded surround, timber battened door and stone steps to entrance. Cut stone wall to east with terracotta railings and decorative wrought-iron gates. House abutted by cut stone outbuildings to west.
Appraisal
This substantial house, designed by William Burn and extended by Sir Thomas Drew is situated within a large estate containing many buildings and features of notable architectural quality such as stables, coachyard, farmyard, boathouse, walled gardens, viewing tower as well as church, school, dispensary and a number of lodges and estate cottages. These buildings combine to form an estate of major significance within Leitrim and indeed Ireland.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached eight-bay two-storey stable block, built in 1833, with stone walls surrounding yard. Currently disused. Pitched slate roof with dormer window below eaves and stone coping to gable ends. Coursed squared cut stone walls with square-headed window and door openings. Timber casement windows with stone sills. Timber and glazed doors with overlights. Pair of segmental-headed carriage openings. Red brick structure with corrugated lean-to roof to north. Cut stone slabs in circular pattern surrounding former well. Random coursed stone wall to garden. Cut stone piers with cast-iron gates give access to site. Subsequent stable block to west.
Appraisal
This stable yard, which appears to date to the first period of construction at Lough Rynn is of a pleasant design and retains many original features and materials. It forms an interesting group with the related demesne structures comprising Lough Rynn Estate. This group exhibits varied architectural styles, features and materials that are representative of nineteenth-century demesne architecture.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached multiple-bay two-storey L-plan former stable block, built in 1858. Currently disused. Steeply-pitched roofs with gabled dormers, cut stone chimneystacks, stone coping to gables with wrought-iron finials. Random coursed stone walls with cut stone detailing to opening surrounds. Variety of window openings with timber sash and casement windows with stone sills. Slate canopy over four-centred integral carriage arches with timber and glass double doors. Buttress to rear supporting chimneystack. Site bounded by random coursed stone walls with cut stone piers and cast-iron gates. Cast-iron piers with wrought-iron gates situated to west of stable block. This stable block lies to the west of another.
Appraisal
This stableyard, designed by Benjamin Rogers, forms part of an impressive group of demesne-related structures that comprise Lough Rynn Estate. The stunning design of these buildings reflects a standard set amongst the various other structures in the estate. These stables and associated demesne structures are important contributors to the architectural heritage of County Leitrim.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Walled garden complex, built in 1859 to a design by the firm of Deane and Woodward, comprising four separate gardens, terraced towards Lough Rynn and bounded by random coursed stone walls. Access to first garden through cut stone piers with hipped slate canopy supported on timber brackets with limestone corbels. Garden contains stone outbuildings with slate roofs to south wall. Entrances in south wall to remaining three gardens. Pointed-arched openings with sandstone voussoirs and block-and-start surrounds. South-west garden contains glass house with castellated stone plinth walls. Three southern gardens have limestone steps leading between them descending westwards. Two-storey octagonal viewing turret or summer house, built in 1867 at north-west corner of south-east garden. Slate roof with cast-iron weather vane. Random coursed stone walls. Pointed-arched openings with dressed stone surrounds. Two cast-iron balconies. Steps leading from gardens to lakeside terminating in pointed-arched and segmental-headed openings with timber battened doors.
Appraisal
These walled gardens are a reminder of the past horticultural traditions associated with country houses. Their scale and the views they command over the lake make them a notable part of the estate. The glass house would have represented a significant technical achievement in its time. The summer house, which was designed by J.E. Rogers, is an appealing design with its finely executed stonework and cast-iron balconies adding artistic interest to the site. The notice board on site indicates that the garden designs were by Deane and Woodward.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Farmyard complex, built c.1840 and extended in 1858. Currently disused. Comprises four detached outbuildings around central courtyard, with further enclosed courtyard to north-west, accessed through cast-iron gates. Pitched slate roofs with cut stone chimneystacks, cast-iron rainwater goods and dormer windows and rooflights. Random coursed limestone walls with dressed quoins. Block-and-start surrounds to windows and some doors. Timber sash and casement windows with block-and-start surrounds. Variety of timber doors. Cut stone bellcote to gable of north-west range with cast-iron weathervane. Complex bounded by random coursed cut stone walls with cut stone piers and cast-iron gates. Further cast-iron gates lead to a walled garden.
Appraisal
This farmyard is one of a group of structures that form the immediate setting of Lough Rynn House. Extended in 1858 by renowned architects Deane and Woodward the buildings display well-executed stonework which enhances their appeal as an aesthetic as well as functional complex.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached two-pile two-bay one-storey with attic former estate office, built c.1850, recently used as restaurant but now disused. Pitched slate roofs with brick chimneystacks, timber bargeboards, cast-iron rainwater goods and cast-iron finials to gables. Random coursed cut stone walls with dressed limestone quoins. Timber casement windows with brick surrounds and limestone sills. Sash windows to first floor. Timber battened door with pointed arch brick surround and limestone keystone to north. Dormer and oriel windows to east elevation. Glazed timber porch with monopitched slate roof to south elevation. Set at edge of farmyard with stone walls separating.
Appraisal
This former estate office, designed by Mathew Digby Wyatt in the 1850s, is embellished by varied colourful materials such as finely-executed stone walls and dressings, yellow brick surrounds and painted timber bargeboards. It forms an attractive part of the farmyard of the Lough Rynn Estate.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached three-bay two-storey former forge, built c.1840, with two-bay single-storey extension to east. Now disused. Pitched slate roof with stone and rendered chimneystacks to rear, timber bargeboards and some cast-iron rainwater goods. Random coursed cut stone walls. Block-and-start surrounds to timber windows with limestone sills. Block-and-start surrounds to square-headed integral carriage arches with cut stone voussoirs. This building is separate from the main outbuilding complex of estate. Adjacent to forge is a stone lined well with cut stone cover with remains of stone mortice.
Appraisal
This former forge forms part of a complex constituting the utilitarian buildings of Lough Rynn Estate. This simple structure is enhanced by the quality of its stonework, a prevailing feature of the buildings on the estate, especially those closest to the main house. The survival of many original features further enhances this structure, which contributes to the striking group of structures comprising Lough Rynn Estate.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached four-bay single-storey former dispensary, built c.1850, now derelict. Hipped slate roof with red brick chimneystacks. Random coursed stone walls with tooled quoins. Timber casement windows with limestone sills, lintels and block-and-start surrounds. Projecting gable-fronted ashlar porch with decorative timber bargeboard and shouldered-arched opening. Timber battened door with limestone steps. Random coursed stone outbuilding to rear. Site bounded by rubble stone wall.
Appraisal
This former dispensary forms part of a group of demesne-related structures associated with Lough Rynn Estate. Though fallen into disrepair, this building has retained its original form, features and materials. It is similar in design and detail to various lodges, houses and other structures on the estate, while the quality of craftsmanship maintains the same high level. This former dispensary is a socially- and architecturally-significant structure within the estate.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached four-bay single-storey with attic former primary school, built c.1870, now in domestic use. Pitched slate roof with decorative timber bargeboards and brick chimneystacks. Random coursed stone walls with cut stone quoins. Window openings to gable end with red brick surrounds. Stone and timber lintels to façade and rear elevation with replacement uPVC windows. Projecting gable-fronted porch to façade with shoulder-arched opening, brick surround and stone steps to entrance. Replacement uPVC door. Original entrance to site was over single-span stone bridge.
Appraisal
This former school, possibly by the architect Sir Andrew Drew, is an attractive and decorative building situated on the Lough Rynn Estate. Similar in style to various lodges and estate workers cottages, with its finely-tooled shoulder-arched openings and gable windows with brick surrounds, the school is an architecturally- and socially-significant structure within the estate.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached two-bay single-storey with attic gable-fronted former gate lodge, built c.1850, now in domestic use. Pitched slate roof with decorative timber bargeboards, oversailing eaves and catslide roof to porch. Cut stone chimneystack with terracotta pots. Random coursed stone walls with cut stone quoins. Square-headed window openings with yellow brick surrounds having chamfered reveals and chamfered tooled limestone sills. Casement windows and side-sliding timber sash windows. Shouldered-arched opening to entrance with timber battened door and stone steps. Stone outbuilding to rear of site with pitched slate roof. Site bounded by random stone wall with tooled stone piers.
Appraisal
This attractive lodge is one of three very similar lodges giving access to Lough Rynn Estate. The finely-tooled stonework to the shouldered-arched entrance and the window to the front gable with its brick dressings are found on various structures throughout the estate, echoing the architecture of Lough Rynn House.
Lough Rynn Castle, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached single-bay single-storey with attic gable-fronted former lodge, built c.1850, now a house. Pitched slate roof with catslide roof to porch and oversailing eaves, timber bargeboards to gables and cut-stone chimneystacks. Random coursed limestone walls with sandstone foundation. Side-sliding timber sash windows with tooled limestone lintels, sills and brick surrounds. Porch to east with shouldered-arched opening and brick surround with timber panelled door. Set behind random coursed limestone wall with soldier course forming coping at entrance to Lough Rynn Estate.
Appraisal
This attractive former gate lodge is one of three similar lodges dotted around the periphery of Lough Rynn Estate. The similar plan of these lodges is highlighted by subtle decorative features which vary between the individual structures. The finely-tooled shouldered-arched entrance mirrors that of other structures found within Lough Rynn. Further decorative enrichments include the dressed lintels, brickwork and treatment of the roof.
Detached two-bay single-storey with attic gable-fronted former gate lodge, built c.1850, now vacant. Pitched slate roof with oversailing eaves, cut stone chimneystack and decorative timber bargeboards. Random coursed stone walls. Tooled limestone lintels to side-sliding timber sash windows with limestone sills and brick surrounds. Projecting lean-to entrance porch to east with shouldered-arched opening with cut stone lintel, red brick surround and timber battened door. Stone outbuilding with pitched slate roof to north-west. Set behind random coursed stone wall with rock-faced cut stone piers to estate.
Appraisal
This former gate lodge is one of three such giving access to Lough Rynn Estate. The lodges follow a similar plan with subtle decorative features distinguishing them from one another. The style echoes the architecture and skilled craftsmanship visible around Lough Rynn. The red brick to the window openings here add an interesting deviation and some colour to an otherwise stone façade.
Detached four-bay single-storey with attic former estate worker’s house, built c.1860, with return and extension to rear. Now in domestic use. Pitched slate roof with rebuilt chimneystack and rooflights. Random coursed sandstone walls with dressed quoins. Block-and-start window surrounds to replacement windows. Projecting stone porch with catslide roof and replacement timber battened door. Stone outbuilding to east side, now connected to house.
Appraisal
This attractive former estate worker’s cottage displays well-executed stonework mirroring the standard set amongst other buildings on the estate. Although modernised it is similar in style to these other buildings and forms a charming addition to Lough Rynn.
Detached three-bay two-storey T-plan former steward’s house, built c.1850 in a Tudor Gothic style. Now used as a private house. Multiple pitched slate roofs with cut stone, rendered and brick chimneystacks. Cut stone coping to gables. Random coursed cut stone walls with plinth. Projecting entrance porch with monopitched slate roof. Square-headed and Tudor-arched window openings with tooled stone surrounds, timber casement and uPVC windows. Gablet window to rear elevation. Tudor-arched door openings with tooled stone surrounds, timber panelled door to porch and replacement battened door, sidelight and overlight to rear. Stone and timber sheds to rear of site. Site bounded by random rubble wall and set within mature gardens. Lead water tank to rear of site.
Appraisal
This steward’s house, located near the farm complex, is a highly attractive structure, designed by the architect M.D. Wyatt. Situated on an elevated position, the fine dwelling retains much original fabric and character. This house is an important and imposing structure within Lough Rynn Estate.
Lough Rynn was built in the early 1830s by Robert, Viscount Clements, heir to the 2nd Earl. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation it was valued at £40. In 1906 it is recorded as the property of Col. H.T. Clements and has a valuation of £100. It is still extant. In 2006 it opened as a luxury hotel. For more information see http://www.loughrynn.ie and http://www.loughrynn.net.
Lough Rynn, one of Ireland’s most luxurious castle hotels, was once the ancestral home of the Clements family and the legendary Lord Leitrim. This secluded lakeside retreat offers you contemporary luxury steeped in history. Set inside a 300-acre estate, Lough Rynn offers you breathtaking scenery, lush green pastures, ancient forests and a magnificent Victorian walled garden. Lough Rynn Castle retains a splendour befitting its history. Dine in the 2AA Rosette awarded Sandstone Restaurant where a menu lovingly prepared, focuses on home-grown produce. A simply magical experience awaits you.
Lough Rynn Castle, Restored Castle. Now a luxury castle hotel on the shores of Lough Rynn situated on the historic grounds of the medieval castle and estate of the Mac Raghnaill family of Muintir Eolais. The current Lough Rynn estate is built on the ancestral lands of the Mac Raghnaill family. See Mac Raghnaill’s Castle below. In the English Plantation of 1621, the Mac Raghnaill lands in Lough Rynn were confiscated and granted to an English family named Crofton. The Croftons brought British Protestant settlers with them and in the 1620s and 1630s the native Irish were gradually removed from the land. In 1750 the Croftons were replaced by another English family named the Clements. Daniel Clements, an officer in Oliver Cromwell’s army, had been granted land in County Cavan which had been confiscated from the Irish following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. In 1750 Nathaniel Clements, 2nd Earl of Leitrim KP PC acquired the Lough Rynn estate, while remaining on his lands in Cavan started to become more involved in political life in Leitrim with Robert Clements becoming sheriff for the county in 1759. In 1795 Robert Clements became the first Earl of Leitrim. In 1833, Robert Bermingham, Viscount Clements, built a mock Tudor revival house overlooking Lough Rynn, which is the basis for the current Lough Rynn Castle. When Robert died management of Lough Rynn passed to his brother, William Sydney Clements, 3rd Earl of Leitrim. In 1854, when their father Nathaniel Clements, 2nd Earl of Leitrim, died William Sydney Clements became the 3rd Earl of Leitrim. He inherited an estate of 90,000 acres which stretched across four counties. The inability of tenants to pay rent during and after An Gorta Mór provided him with an opportunity to clear his estate and introduce more productive farming practices. In 1858, in a nationally reported event, Clements assembled one thousand armed military and police to repossess the local Gortletteragh Church for non-payment of rent, (his liberally-minded father had refused to take rent). About six thousand men turned up from Longford, Westmeath, Roscommon and across Leitrim to defend the church, forcing Clements to back down. By 1860 Sydney Clements had become a staunch supporter of the Conservatives. In 1870 he spoke out vehemently against William Gladstone’s first Irish Land Act, believing it to be an encroachment on the rights of property owners. During the 1860s hatred towards Sydney Clements grew in the surrounding area and stories began to be told of his mistreatment of the wives and daughters of local men. In September 1860 James Murphy from Mohill fired a loaded pistol at him, two days after sending him a note challenging him to a duel to ‘take satisfaction for your ruffianly conduct towards my wife’. An additional attempt to shoot him followed in the 1860s. In 1878 Sydney Clements engaged in a wholesale eviction of his tenants in County Donegal, many of whom were starving as a result of the famine. On 2 April 1878 three men, Michael Heraghty, Michael McElwee and Neil Sheils, ambushed and killed William Sydney Clements, 3rd Lord Leitrim, at Cratlagh Wood near Milford, County Donegal. His funeral in Dublin was marked by further riots, while none of the three assassins were convicted of his death. Lough Rynn Castle Hotel now has forty-two bedrooms, a baronial hall, a library named after John McGahern, drawing room, piano room, bar, the award-winning Sandstone restaurant, as well as conference, bar and wedding facilities for up to three hundred guests in an adjoining function room.
Irish Historic Houses 
