We visited Leinster House, the seat of Irish Government, during Open House Dublin 2025. We were lucky to get tickets! Open House Dublin events book out almost immediately.
Leinster House was built from 1745-1752 for James Fitzgerald (1722-1773) 20th Earl of Kildare and first Duke of Leinster.
James Fitzgerald (1722-1773) 20th Earl of Kildare later 1st Duke of Leinster, by Robert Hunter c. 1803, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
James’s father, Robert FitzGerald (1675-1744) 19th Earl of Kildare, made Carton in County Kildare his principal seat and employed Richard Castle (1690-1751) from 1739 to enlarge and improve the house (see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2024/06/04/carton-house-county-kildare-a-hotel/ ). Before that, the Earl of Kildare had lived in Kilkea Castle in County Kildare.
After the destruction of Maynooth Castle, occupied by Earls of Kildare, in 1641, George, 14th Earl of Kildare, resided at Kilkea Castle from 1647-1660, and it continued as the family’s principal seat until Robert, the 19th Earl, built Carton House. [1]
Robert, 19th Earl of Kildare (1675-1744) after Frederick Graves, courtesy of Adam’s auction 15th Oct 2019. Robert FitzGerald, (1675 – 1744) was married to Mary O Brien, daughter of William O’Brien 3rd Earl of Inchiquin. They had 12 children but only 2 survived to majority. They had lived quietly at Kilkea Castle, near Athy, but in 1739 Robert bought back the lease of Carton, in Maynooth, for £8,000. He commissioned Richard Castle, the eminent architect, to reconstruct the existing house. In the pediment over the South front, previously the main entrance, is the coat of arms of Robert FitzGerald and his wife Mary O’Brien. Robert also employed the La Franchini brothers to construct the wonderful ceiling in the Gold Salon. The additions to Carton were not finished when Robert died in 1744 but he left instructions in his will to finish the restoration according to his plans. A monument dedicated to Robert FitzGerald is situated in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. (This portrait hung in Carton until 1949 when the Fitzgerald family sold the estate. It hung in Kilkea Castle until 1960. It was in the FitzGerald family collection in Oxfordshire until 2013.)
The 20th Earl, James, employed Richard Castle from 1745 to build him a new house in the city, which is now called Leinster House, and began to be so called around 1766 when James Fitzgerald was created Duke of Leinster. He was told that this was not a fashionable area to build, as at that time most of the upper classes lived on the north side of the Liffey around Mountjoy Square and Henrietta Street. He was confident that where he led, fashion would follow, and indeed he was correct.
The building as it was originally constructed is a double cube of granite on the east and north fronts and Ardbraccan limestone on the west entrance front. It has a forecourt on the Kildare Street side, which Christine Casey tells us in her Dublin volume of the Pevsner series The Buildings of Ireland is in the French seventeenth century manner, which probably derived via Burlington House in London, a house which would have influenced Richard Castle. The form is Palladian, an eleven bay block of three storeys over basement with a “tetrastyle” (i.e. supported by four columns) Corinthian portico over advanced and rusticated central bays. “Rustication” in masonry is a decorative feature achieved by cutting back the edges of stones to a plane surface while leaving the central portion of the face either rough or projecting markedly, emphasising the blocks. [2]
Casey points to the unusual arrangement of pediments on the windows of the first floor, as an alternating pattern would be the norm, rather than the pairs of segmental (i.e. rounded) pediments flanked by single triangular pediments in the bays to either side of the central three windows. [see 2]
The centre block has a balustraded balcony, and the attic and ground floor windows have lugged architraves: the architrave is the classical moulding around the window and “lug” means ear, so the windows have “ears,” otherwise called shoulders. The term “Lugs” was made famous as a nickname for a policeman in the Dublin Liberties, “Lugs” Branigan, a man known for his sticking-out ears. A heavyweight boxing champion, he had a reputation as the country’s toughest and bravest garda. The ground floor windows have are topped with a further cornice – a horizontal decorative moulding.
Originally, Casey writes, the house was linked to the side walls of the forecourt by low five-bay screen walls with Doric colonneads and central doorcases flanked by paired niches. The colonnade was given a pilastered upper storey in the nineteenth century, and was rebuilt in the 1950s when the colonnade was filled in, Casey explains. The lower storey on the left side when facing the building (north side) still has the colonnade: you can compare the stages of building the colonnades in the pictures below. In fact this colonnade was reinstated after being filled in. It was recently (when written before 2005) reinstated, Casey tells us, by Paul Arnold Architects, and topped with the nineteenthy century screen wall above which we see today.
In the Malton drawing of Leinster house we can see that the side walls of the forecourt had pedimented arches. The present piers, wrought iron gates and railings were added in the 1880s, built by T.N. & T.M. Deane.
To the south of the forecourt lay a stable court, with a stable and coach house block and a kitchen block which was linked to the house by a small yard, which must have been very inconvenient when dinner was served!
The garden front is fully rusticated on the ground floor, with advanced two-bay ends.
The central first floor window has a triangular pediment. The door porch was added in the nineteenth century. The lawn lay on property leased from Viscount Fitzwilliam.
Irish Architectural Archive exhibition about Leinster House.It was designed by Richard Castle (1690-1751) with later input from Isaac Ware (1704-1786) and Thomas Owen (d. 1788). Here we see the location of the Main Hall, Supper Room and Parlour and Drawing room on first floor, Picture Gallery and principal bedrooms on second floor and Nursery and children’s and staff rooms on third floor. There is a separate kitchen and stores block and stable block.
James’s father died in 1744 before his house at Carton was complete, so it was finished for James the 20th Earl. James was the second son of his parents the 19th Earl and his wife Mary (d. 1780), eldest daughter of William O’Brien, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin. His elder brother died in 1740.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that James’s political career began on 17 October 1741, when (then known as Lord Offaly) he entered the Irish house of commons as member for Athy. In 1744 he moved to the House of Lords after he inherited the earldom. [3] It was then that he embarked on his town house in Dublin. Now the houses of parliament are located next to Leinster house, but at the time, they were located in what is now the Bank of Ireland on College Green in Dublin.
Parliament House, Dublin, with the House of Commons dome on fire, 27th February 1792.Parliament Buildings Bank of Ireland, College Green, Dublin, between ca. 1865-1914, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.House of Lords, Parliament Building, Bank of Ireland, Dublin, between ca. 1865-1914, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography continues:
“His seniority in the peerage, popularity, and electoral interests ensured his appointment to the privy council (12 May 1746). He was made an English peer, Viscount Leinster of Taplow, Bucks. (1 February 1747), and appointed lord justice (11 May 1756). Master general of the ordnance (1758–66), he became major-general (11 November 1761) and lieutenant-general (30 March 1770). He was also promoted through the Irish peerage, becoming marquis of Kildare (19 March 1761) and duke of Leinster (26 November 1766).” [see 3]
James married Emilia Mary Lennox (1731-1814) in 1747, two years after Richard Castle began work on James’s townhouse. She was the daughter of General Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. Her grandfather the 1st Duke of Richmond was an illegitimate son of King Charles II of England. Emilia’s sister Louisa (1743-1821) married Thomas Conolly (d. 1803) and lived next to her sister in Carton, at Castletown in County Kildare (see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2024/03/15/castletown-house-and-parklands-celbridge-county-kildare-an-office-of-public-works-property/
Emily Fitzgerald née Lennox (1731-1814) Duchess of Leinster 1770s by Joshua Reynolds.This terrific portrait of William Conolly (1662-1729) of Castletown, County Kildare is in the dining room.
Richard Castle died in 1751 before the town house was complete. He died at Carton, the Earl of Kildare’s country seat, while writing a letter with instructions to a carpenter at Leinster house. Isaac Ware stepped in to finish the house. An exhibition about Leinster House in the Irish Archictural Archive explains that following the death of Richard Castle in 1751, little further about the building is recorded until 1759. By this time, English architect Isaac Ware, famous for his A Complete Body of Architecture published in 1756, had become involved with the project. The Fitzgeralds began to use the house in 1753 while work on the interior continued.
Inside, the house has a double height entrance hall with an arcaded screen of Doric pillars toward the back which opens onto a transverse corridor that divides the front and rear ranges. I found the hall hard to capture in a photograph, especially as we were part of a tour group. The hall reminded me of the double height entrance hall of Castletown, and indeed Christine Casey notes in her Buildings of Ireland: Dublin that the plan and dimensions of Leinster House relate directly to those of Castletown house in County Kildare, which was built in 1720s for William Conolly, and which was probably, she writes, built under the direction of Edward Lovett Pearce, possibly with the assistance of Richard Castle. [2]
It is the double height that reminds me of the great hall in Castletown, although Castletown has a gallery and Leinster house does not. The niches remind me of the similar front hall in Gloster house in County Offaly, which although a private family home, in 2025 is a Section 482 property which you can visit on particular days.
The black and white flooring is original to the house. [see 2] The red marble doorframe was added later.
The coffered ceiling in the Hall in Leinster house is different from the ceilings in the front hall in Castletown or Gloster. The deep coffered cove rises to a plain framed flat panel with central foliated boss. There is an entablature above the Doric columns around the four sides of the hall. The square ovolo framed niches above have statues and above the main door the niches have windows.
The chimneypiece in the front hall, Casey tells us, was originally faced with a pedimented niche on the north wall opposite, flanked by the doorcases. The chimneypiece is of Portland stone, she describes, with ornamental consoles and above the lintel, enormous scrolls flanking a bust pedestal.
The principal stair hall is a two bay compartment north of the front hall. Casey tells us that Isaac Ware inserted an imperial staircase – one in which a central staircase rises to a landing then splits into two symmetrical flights up to the next floor – into a hall compartment which was meant for a three flight open well staircase. The staircase is further marred, Casey tells us, by a later utilitarian metal balustrade. Casey does not mention the plasterwork here, which is very pretty. The wooden staircase is a later addition.
Beyond the stair hall is the former Supper Room, which is now the Library of the Oireachtais, which fills the entire depth of the house. I found the lights rather offputting and think they ruin the intended effect of the room and the ceiling, which Casey tells us derives from Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554), an Italian architect who was part of an Italian team who built the Palace of Fontainbleau, and Tutte l’opere d’architettura et prospetiva (All the Works of Architecture and Perspective) is Serlio’s practical treatise on architecture.
The room has three screens of fluted Ionic columns – one at either end and one in front of the bow at one side of the room. Originally, Casey informs us, there were six fluted columns to each screen, paired at the ends of the room and in the centre of the north bow, but in the 19th century one column was removed from each pair. On the walls the corresponding pilasters would have matched the six columns.
The bow is considered to be the first bow in Dublin, and the design of the house is said to have inspired the design of the White House in Washington DC, designed by a man from Kilkenny, James Hoban.
A pedimented doorcase is flanked by ornate chimneypieces based on a design by William Kent. These are surmounted by Corinthian overmantels after a design by Inigo Jones, possibly made to frame portraits, Casey suggests, of the Earl and Countess of Kildare painted by Reynolds in 1753-54. [see 2]
Next to the Supper Room on the garden front is the large dining room, also designed by Isaac Ware. It is of three bays, and has decorative doorcases and a beautiful ceiling attributed to Filippo Lafranchini.
Christine Casey next describes the Garden Hall, with a more modest shell and acanthus ceiling and a chimneypiece with claw feet. Next is the former Private Dining Room, she tells us, a room from 1760, which has a ceiling with acanthus, rocaille shells and floral festoon forming a deep border to a plain chamfered central panel.
Casey tells us that the Earl of Kildare’s Library is at the southeast corner of the house, and that it has pedimented bookcases. It too was designed by Isaac Ware.
Designs for the ceiling of the Earl of Kildare’s dressing room by Richard Castle, 1745, IIA 96/68.1/1/17, 18, 19. Irish Architectural Archive exhibition about Leinster House.As with the several surviving designs for the front elevation of Leinster House, these three beautifully executed drawings for proposed ceilings in the Earl of Kildare’s dressing room are indicative of the attention to design detail which Richard Castle brought to the project in an effort to satisfy his demanding clients. The third variant shows the ceiling almost as executed.
Before we go into the separate building that holds the current Dáil chamber, let us go up to the first floor. The former gallery now holds the Senate Chamber, and it fills the north end of the eighteenth century house. Both Richard Castle and Isaac Ware prepared plans for this room, but the room was unfinished when the Duke of Leinster died in 1773.
James died on 19 November 1773 at Leinster House and was buried in Christ Church cathedral four days later. His eldest son George predeceased him, so the Dukedom passed to his second son, William Robert Fitzgerald (1748/49-1804). The 2nd Duke completed the picture gallery in 1775 to designs by James Wyatt (1746-1813).
The ceiling as designed by James Wyatt is tripartite. I defer to Christine Casey for a description:
“at its centre a chamfered octagon within a square and at each end a diaper within a square, each flanked by broad figurative lunette panels at the base of the coving and bracketed by attenuated tripods, urns and arabesque finials… It remains among the finest examples of Neoclassical stuccowork in Dublin.“
Irish Architectural Archive exhibition about Leinster House: Sketch showing the interior of the Senate Chamber of Leinster House by Con O’Sullivan, 1930s (IAA 96/145.1). Founded in 1747, Henry Sibthorpe & Co were one of the leading painting and decorating firms in Dublin from the first half of the 19th century to the mid 20th, and they closed in 1970s. Some of its records survive in the National Archives and in the IAA. Drawings showed perspective views of proposed decorative schemes to prospective clients. This dawing by Sibthorpe employee Con O’Sullivan shows a proposed repainting of the Senate Chamber.
Wyatt created an elliptical vault over the principal volume of the room and a half-dome above the bow.
On the inner wall of the room Wyatt places three ornate double-leaf doorcases and between them two large white marble chimneypieces. The chimneypieces have high-relief female figures to the uprights and on the lintel, putti sit “between headed spandrels enclosing urns and confronted griffins.”
Unfortunately with the tour group I was unable to get good photographs of the room, the chimneypieces or the carved doorframes.
At the south end of the ground floor corridor is a top-lit stair hall which leads to the Dáil chamber. This separate building originally housed a lecture theatre, built in 1893 by Thomas Newenham and Thomas Manly Deane. Before this was built, let us look at the rest of the history briefly of the Dukes of Leinster who continued to use the house as their Dublin residence.
The first duke’s wife Emilia went on to marry her children’s tutor, William Ogilvie. This would have caused quite a scandal, and she and her husband lived quietly in Blackrock in Dublin at their house called Frascati (or Frescati), which no longer exists. She and the Duke of Leinster had had nineteen children! She had happy times when the children were young and their tutor would take them bathing in the sea near Frescati house. She and her second husband went on to have two daughters.
Frescati House, County Dublin, photograph by Robert French (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
A younger son of Emilia and the Duke of Leinster, Edward (1763-1798) became involved in an uprising in Dublin, inspired by the French Revolution, and he was put in prison as a traitor and where he died of wounds he’d received while resisting arrest.
Edward Fitzgerald (1763-1798)
Another son, Charles James (1756-1810) served in the Royal Navy. He also acted as M.P. for County Kildare between 1776 and 1790, Commissioner of Customs between 1789 and 1792 and M.P. for County Cavan between 1790 and 1797. He held the office of Muster Master-General of Ireland between 1792 and 1806 and Sheriff of County Down in 1798. He was M.P. for Ardfert between 1798 and 1800 and was created 1st Baron Lecale of Ardglass, Co. Down [Ireland] in 1800. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Arundel in England between January 1807 and April 1807.
A sister of Edward Fitzgerald (1763-1798), Emily Maria Margaret (1751-1818) married Charles Coote 1st Earl of Bellomont, County Cavan.
William Robert Fitzgerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster, K.P. (1749-1804), circle of Joshua Reynolds courtesy of Christie’s Irish Sale 2002.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us about the second duke:
“He was returned as MP for Dublin city in 1767, though he was too young to take his seat, and it was only in October 1769 that he returned to Ireland to sit in parliament. He represented the constituency until 1773, supporting the government for most of this period. On learning that he was a freemason, the grand lodge of Irish freemasons rushed to make him their grand master and he served two terms (1770–72 and 1777–8). On 19 November 1773 he succeeded his father as 2nd duke of Leinster. The family home of Carton in Co. Kildare had been left to his mother but he, somewhat vainly, was determined to own it and purchased her life interest, a transaction that was the major source of his future indebtedness. His aunt, Lady Louisa Conolly, believed that he was ‘mighty queer about money’ and that his ‘distress’ about it was ‘the foundation of all that he does’ (HIP, iv, 160). In November 1775 he married Emilia Olivia Usher, only daughter and heir of St George Usher, Lord St George, a union that helped to ease some of his financial problems.“
HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON portrait of Emilia Olivia née St. George, 2nd Duchess of Leinster courtesy of Bonhams Old Master Paintings 2018.
The 2nd Duke was active in politics. He died in 1804 and is buried in Kildare Abbey.
William Robert Fitzgerald (1749-1804) 2nd Duke of Leinster wearing Order of St. Patrick, by Gilbert Stuart, courtesy Christies.
One of William Robert Fitzgerald’s daughters, Emily Elizabeth (1778-1856) married John Joseph Henry of Straffan house in County Kildare, now the K Club. A son, Augustus Frederick (1791-1874) became the 3rd Duke of Leinster. He sold the town house in 1814. Since the Union in 1801 when there was no longer an Irish Parliament, a townhouse in Dublin was no longer essential. It was purchased by the Dublin Society, a group founded for “improving Husbandry, Manufactures and other useful arts and sciences.”
Augustus Frederick Fitzgerald (1791-1874), 3rd Duke of Leinster, engraver George Saunders after Stephen Catterson Smith, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
From 1815-1922 Leinster House was the Headquarters of the Royal Dublin Society – the “Royal” was added to the Society’s name in 1820. Rooms in the house were used to accommodate the Society’s library and museum as well as offices and meeting spaces. The original kitchen wing of the house was converted to laboratories and a lecture theatre. Gradually more buildings were added around the house, including sheds and halls for the Society’s events, namely the Spring Show and the Horse Show.
Note at Irish Architectural Archive exhibition about the RDS at Leinster House.Irish Architectural Archive exhibition about Leinster House.Configuration of Leinster house as RDS and centre of culture, learning and innovation the site of The Dublin Society (1815-1820) and the RDS (1820-1922). The School of Drawing (1845) was to the left, and later became the Metropolitan School of Art and the National College of Art and Design which continued as the National College of Art on this site until 1980, when it moved to Thomas Street and its facilities were incorporated into the adjacent National Library. The former kitchen and stable block were amended and expanded to host sculpture galleries, a stone yard, laboratories and lecture facilities. It had a 700 seat lecture theatre. To the right, Shelbourne Hall and the Agricultural Hall in the mid 19th century had facilities to display agricultural and industrial products, and it was later the site of the Museum of Archaeology. The Museum of Natural History (1857) and the National Gallery of Art (1860) were first developed for RDS collections, an dwere later expanded in conjunction with the Department of Science and Art/South Kensington and the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction.
Leinster Lawn was the site of industrial and agricultural exhibitions. In 1853, the Great Industrial Exhibition ran on the RDS grounds at Leinster House, just two years after Prince Albert’s Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in London. Constructed of iron, wood and glass, the Irish Industrial Exhibition building was paid for by William Dargan and installed by Richard Turner on Leinster Lawn in a matter of months. Its architect was John Benson, who was knighted for his efforts.
Spring Shows and Industries Fairs (1831-1880) and early Horse Shows (1864-1881) were also held on Leinster Lawn.
Irish Architectural Archive exhibition about Leinster House.Opening of the Dublin Great Exhibition, Illustrated London News 4th June 1853, IIA 80/010.20/1. A successor to the Great Exhibition held in the Crystal Palace, London in 1851, the Great Industrial Exhibition ran on the RDS grounds at Leinster House from 12 May to 31st October 1853. As much a marvel as any of the objects on display was the edifice in which the exhibition was housed. Constructed of iron, wood and glass, the Irish Industrial Exhibition building was paid for by William Dargan and installed by Richard Turner on Leinster Lawn in a matter of months. Its architect was John Benson, who was knighted for his efforts.
The National Museum and National Library were built in 1890, and were designed by Thomas Newenham Deane and his son Thomas Manly Deane.
The museum and library were designed as a pair of Early Renaissance rotundas facing each other. The rotundas have a single storey yellow sandstone Roman Doric colonnade surrounding them. Above is a row of circular niches. Above that are columns framing round headed windows and panels of red and white marble. The pavillions next to the rotundas have a rusticated ground floor, with Venetian windows on first floor level and Corinthian pilasters.
The Lecture Theatre was built in 1893, and was also designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The lecture theatre is a horseshoe shaped top-lit galleried auditorium with a flat west end that originally accommodated a stage and lecture preparation rooms.
Irish Architectural Archive exhibition about Leinster House: The RDS lecture theatre.
Single and paired cast iron Corinthian columns support the gallery in the former theatre. The building was appropriated as a temporary Dáil chamber in 1922 on Michael Collins’s recommendation, and in 1924 the government acquired Leinster House to be the seat of the Oireachtais. The theatre was remodelled: a new floor was inserted over the central block of seats to make a platform for the Ceann Comhairle, the clerk of the Dail, and the official reporters. The lower tier of seating was replaced with rows of mahogany and leather covered seats designed either by Hugh O’Flynn of the OPW, as the exhibition in the Irish Architectural Archive tells us, or by James Hicks & Sons according to Christine Casey, and the upper tiers became the press and public galleries. The stage was closed in and replaced by a press gallery and adjoining press rooms. The gallery was remodelled around 1930.
To enter Leinster house, you go through a security hut upon which a controversial sum was spent by the Office of Public Works. I love the way the hut goes around a large tree. I assume a large part of the cost of the hut was the beautiful marble countertops!
[1] MacDonnell, Randal. The Lost Houses of Ireland. A chronicle of great houses and the families who lived in them. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London, 2002.
[2] Casey, Christine. The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin. The City within the Grand and Royal Canals and the Circular Road with the Phoenix Park. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2005.
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MOLI (Museum of Literature Ireland), Newman House, 85-86 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin
“No. 85 St. Stephen’s Green was built in 1738 by Richard Cassels, architect of Powerscourt House and Russborough House, and is notable for its exquisite baroque plasterwork by the Lafranchini brothers. The adjoining townhouse at No. 86 was constructed in 1765 and features superb examples of rococo stuccowork by the distinguished Dublin School of Plaster Workers.“
85 St. Stephen’s Green was built for Captain Hugh Montgomerie. Robert O’Byrne tells us that Hugh was one of five children born to Sir Thomas Montgomerie and Clemence Hovell. Clemence was married to Charles Stuart, who died in 1709, and her children with Thomas Montgomerie were born before her husband’s death so were illegitimate. [1]
In 1738 Hugh Montgomerie married Mary Bingham, eldest daughter of Sir John Bingham 5th Baronet of Castlebar, County Mayo, and it may have been her wealth that helped to build their new house on St. Stephen’s Green designed by Richard Castle (or Cassels). After Hugh Montgomerie’s death, Mary married Vesey Colclough (1734-1745), whom we came across when we saw Tintern Abbey in County Wexford.
86 St Stephen’s Green is a granite-faced townhouse built in 1765 for Richard Chapel Whaley (d. 1796) who was called “Burn Chapel” Whaley due to his anti-Catholic sentiment. The “Chapel” or “Chapell” was really part of his name, from his mother’s family. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us “he was a fervent priest-hunter, and once while hunting a priest burned down a catholic chapel when he fired his fowling-piece into the roof and the wadding lodged in the thatch. Forever afterwards he was known as ‘Burn-Chapel ’ Whaley.”
It is ironic that Richard Chapel Whaley’s house is now owned by the Catholic university, University College Dublin, and named for Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) who famously converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, and by his example, encouraged many others to convert to Catholicism! The house may have been designed by Robert West, more famous as a stuccadore [2]. Much of the stucco work inside is in the style of Robert West – he may have done some of the work and it is thought that others were involved also. [2]
Richard Chapel Whaley (1700–69) wanted to create a house that dwarfed his neighbour in number 85, which was owned at that time by John Meade, 1st Earl Clanwilliam. 85 St. Stephen’s Green was known as Clanwilliam House.
The two houses, 85 and 86, were joined in the mid 19th century and named after Cardinal Newman (1801-90). Together they contain some of the most spectacular plasterwork in Ireland.
The MOLI website continues: “The building takes its name from the theologian and educationalist Dr. John Henry Newman, who was rector when the Catholic University was founded in 1854. UCD Newman House also boasts many literary and cultural associations. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins lived here during his time as Professor of Classics at the university, and James Joyce was a student here before graduating with a BA in 1902. Other famous Irish writers to have studied at UCD Newman House include Flann O’Brien, Kate O’Brien and Maeve Binchy.
“Explore the stunning surroundings and turbulent history of Numbers 85 and 86 St Stephen’s Green on MoLI’s Historic House Tour.
“These beautiful examples of Georgian opulence – with lavish stuccowork by the famous Lafranchini brothers – have served not only as a university and a museum, but also as the townhouse of Buck Whaley, one of Ireland’s most infamous playboys and adventurers.
“Join your guide as they bring you on a journey through these hidden historic rooms, witness these architectural treasures up close, and learn about the many fascinating characters that have passed through over the centuries.“
86 St. Stephen’s Green is of five bays across, of four storeys over basement. It has a two bay entrance hall flanked by two further rooms, and the service stair is on the transverse axis between the entrance hall and the rear right-hand parlour, Christine Casey tells us. [3]
The stair hall decoration is particularly splendid. Acanthus ornament mixes with Rococo elements such as trophies of musical instruments, asymmetrical scrolls and birds distinctive of the Dublin school of plasterwork.
Richard Chapel Whaley was the father of Thomas “Buck” Whaley (1766-1800). Thomas’s father died when he was only three years old, and Thomas inherited much property and wealth. He gambled away nearly everything he owned and died almost penniless aged just 34. [4] Another house he inherited was Castletown in County Carlow – not to be confused with the more well-known Castletown in County Kildare (or Castletown “Cox” in County Kilkenny), and also Whaley Abbey in County Wicklow. Jimmy O’Toole tells us that his annual income was the equivalent of about £700,000 today. Poor Buck Whaley was a gambler, and he made a bet that he could travel to Israel and back within two years. He won the wager, and £15,000. I read his memoir and he comes across as a lovely man despite his foibles.
Thomas “Buck” Whaley (1766-1800), c. 1780.Buck Whaley’s Memoirs, courtesy Fonsie Mealy auction.The sitter’s maiden name was Maria Courtney but for some seven or eight years before her death in 1798 in Douglas, Isle of Man, she was known as Mrs. Whaley. She was the constant companion of a wealthy and dissolute young Irishman, Thomas, or Buck, Whaley, by whom she had four children: Thomas, Richard, Ann, and Sophia Isabella. They lived in a house Buck Whaley built on the Isle of Man, where this portrait may have hung in the dining room. Portrait is attributed to George Chinnery, c. 1795. Picture courtesy of The Met, New York.
Thomas “Buck” Whaley’s sister Anne married John Fitzgibbon, later 1st Earl of Clare, who became Lord Chancellor of Ireland. After his lover Maria Courtney died, he married Mary Catherine Lawless, sister of Valentine Lawless 2nd Baron Cloncurry.
Valentine Lawless, 2nd Baron Cloncurry, a portrait in 85 St. Stephen’s Green.
The front ground-floor drawing room is, Casey tells us, virtually identical to the now lost French Room at Charlemont House, the home of James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, a house built in 1763. The plaster and timber panels of the walls, Casey writes, appear to emulate the boiserie interiors of mid eighteenth century France.
The Great Room, three bays wide and overlooking St. Stephen’s Green, is not normally part of the MOLI tour, but our guide let us pop our heads in to marvel at the plasterwork. It is let to the School of Music. It has an elaborate and stylized bird ceiling, similar to one by Filippo Lafranchini at 9 St. Stephen’s Green. [see 3].
The Bishop’s Room is to the rear of the house. It has a Rococo ceiling composed of interlocking C-scrolls and acanthus ornament. The front drawing room has a Rococo ceiling with a flock of birds encircling the central boxx, “rocaille-backed scrolls” in the corners, flower baskets and garlands of flowers.
We then went outside on the tour to enter 85 St Stephen’s Green, next door. This is a smaller building, a Neo-Palladian urban palazzo designed by Richard Castle for Captain Hugh Montgomerie (d. 1741), built for entertaining! It has a rusticated granite street front, a Venetian window overhead formed by pedimented openings, and a balustraded parapet. The strict symmetry of the front hides an asymmetrical interior.
85 St. Stephen’s Green is of three bays and two storeys. Its lower floor is rusticated, and the first floor has a central Venetian window. Inside, it has a two bay entrance hall with a screen of two rounded arches opeing to the stair hall behind. On the right is a single bay front parlour, called the Apollo Room. The stair hall is flanked by a back parlour, and their is a service stair behind the stair hall, and a third room projecting out the back. [3] Christine Casey describes the spatial sequence as Baroque, and points out that it shows us the link Castle had to the Vanbrugh-Pearce circle of architects. The hall retains its eighteenth century flagsone, wainscoting and Kilkenny marble chimneypiece.
I don’t think we entered the Apollo room. Christine Casey tells us that it is rich in stucco ornament, which is accepted to be by Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini. Around the walls are high-relief almost Neoclassical figures of the Nine Muses set in moulded rectangular frames. I mistook the picture in Dublin City Library and Archives (below) to be of Riverstown House in County Cork, which is very similar.
Christine Casey tells us that the stair is mahogany with finely crafted Tuscan balusters and carved tread ends. The upper stair hall, she tells us, was much altered in the nineteenth century and a reconstruction of its ceiling and plasterwork was recently installed, based on an outline of the original scheme found behind the nineteenth century plaster.
At the head of the stair is the ante-room to the saloon, which was much altered c. 1830 by Judge Nicholas Ball (the last private owner), who cut through the ceiling and created an elegant top-lit galleried library. A large extension with a canted bow was built across the back wall of the house in the early nineteenth century, creating a new reception room on each floor, blocking the light into the now windowless ground floor parlour and first floor ante-room.
The Great Room or Saloon is the full width of the house and overlooks St. Stephen’s Green. The stucco work is by the Lafranchini brothers Paolo and Filippo. The room is entered by a pair of Corinthian doorcases. It is lit by a central Venetian window flanked by two sash windows, all with Corinthian frames.
Newman House 1953, Dublin City Library and Archives.A layer of plasterwork has been added below the dentil cornice in this photograph, as we can see in my photographs. [2]
The frieze below the dentil cornice was deed relatively recently and was copied from the saloon frieze at Tyrone House. [see 3]
The cove, Christine Casey tells us, is ornamented with six lobed ovals containing figure groups, two on each of the long walls and one at each end. These are linked by a frieze of putti who grasp and swing from the oak garlands!
The figures of Prudence and Justice at each end of the room derive from paintings by Simon Vouet in the Salon de Mars at Versailles, Christine Casey tells us.
[3] Casey, Christine. The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin. The City Within the Grand and Royal Canals and the Circular Road with the Phoenix Park. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2005.
[4] p. 125, O’Toole, Jimmy, The Carlow Gentry: What will the neighbours say! Published by Jimmy O’Toole, Carlow, Ireland, 1993. Printed by Leinster Leader Ltd, Naas, Kildare.
p. 60. “(Talbot de Malahide, B/PB; Fitzgerald, Leinster, D/PB; Nall-Cain, sub Brocket, P/BP) The lands of Carton always belonged to the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare, whose chief castle was nearby, at Maynooth; in C17, however, they were leased to a junior branch of the Talbots of Malahide, who built the original house there.” [1]
The Carton website tells us that the lands of Carton first came into the ownership of the FitzGerald family shortly after Maurice FitzGerald (d. 1176) played an active role in the capture of Dublin by the Normans in 1170. He was rewarded by being appointed Lord of Maynooth, and given an area covering townlands which include what is now Carton. The website goes on to tell us:
“His son became Baron Offaly in 1205 and his descendant John FitzGerald [5th Baron Offaly, d. 1316], became Earl of Kildare in 1315. Under the eighth earl, [Gerald FitzGerald (1455-1513)] the FitzGerald family reached pre-eminence as the virtual rulers of Ireland between 1477 and 1513.“
Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare, “Silken Thomas,” c. 1530 attributed to Anthony Van Dyck.
“However, the eighth earl’s grandson, the eloquently titled Silken Thomas [the 10th Earl of Kildare] was executed in 1537, with his five uncles, for leading an uprising against the English. Although the FitzGeralds subsequently regained their land and titles, they did not regain their position at the English Court until the 18th century when Robert, the 19th Earl of Kildare, became a noted statesman.“
It surprises me that after Silken Thomas’s rebellion that his brother was restored to the title and became the 11th Earl on 23 February 1568/69, restored by Act of Parliament, about thirty years after his brother was executed.
It was William Talbot, Recorder of the city of Dublin, who leased the lands from Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Kildare (1547-1612). William Talbot was created 1st Baronet Talbot, of Carton, Co. Kildare on 4 February 1622/23. He was MP for Kildare in 1613-1615. He built a house at Carton. His son Richard was created 1st Duke of Tyrconnell in 1689 by King James II, after he had been James’s Groom of the Bedchamber. He fought in the Battle of the Boyne and was loyal to the Stuarts, so was stripped of his honours when William of Orange (William III) came to power.
Richard Talbot, Duke of Tyrconnell (1630-1691), courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Frances Talbot (c.1670-1718) by Garret Morphy courtesy National Gallery of Ireland NGI 4150. She was the daughter of Robert Talbot, 2nd Baronet of Carton, County Kildare, who was a brother of the Duke of Tyrconnell, and wife of Richard Talbot (1638-1703) of Malahide.Tyrconnell Tower in grounds of Carton House, photograph 2014 for Tourism Ireland. [2]
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “After the attainder of Richard Talbot, Duke of Tyrconnell, James II’s Lord Deputy of Ireland, Carton was forfeited to the crown and sold 1703 to Major-Gen Richard Ingoldsby, Master-General of the Ordnance and a Lord Justice of Ireland; who added a two storey nine bay pedimented front to the old house, with wings joined to the main block by curved sweeps, in the Palladian manner. In 1739 Thomas Ingoldsby sold the reversion of the lease back to 19th Earl of Kildare [Robert FitzGerald (1675-1744)], who decided to make Carton his principal seat and employed Richard Castle to enlarge and improve the house.“
Richard Ingoldsby (c.1664/5–1712) was the son of George, who came to Ireland with the Cromwellian army in 1651 and became a prominent landowner in Limerick. Richard fought in the Williamite army. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that Richard Ingoldsby purchased Carton House and demesne in Co. Kildare for £1,800 in 1703 from the Talbot family. He also owned a town house in Mary St., Dublin. He married Frances, daughter of Col. James Naper of Co. Meath; they had at least one son, Henry Ingoldsby (d. 1731). Henry lived the high life in London and Carton had to be sold to pay his debts in 1738, and he sold it back to Robert Fitzgerald the 19th Earl of Kildare.
Robert Fitzgerald (1675-1744) 19th Earl of Kildare, after Frederick Graves, courtesy of Adam’s auction 15th Oct 2019.
Robert FitzGerald the 19th Earl of Kildare married Mary O’Brien, daughter of William, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin.
The Archiseek website tells us:
“In 1739, the 19th Earl of Kildare employed Richard Castle to build the existing house replacing an earlier building. Castle (originally Cassels) was responsible for many of the great Irish houses, including Summerhill, Westport, Powerscourt House and in 1745, Leinster House, which he also built for the FitzGeralds.” [3]
Bence-Jones tells us about the rebuilding of Carton by Richard Castle: “Castle’s rebuilding obliterated all traces of the earlier house, except for a cornice on what is now the entrance front and the unusually thick interior walls. He added a storey, and lengthened the house by adding a projecting bay at either end; he also refaced it. He gave the entrance front a pediment, like its predecessor; but the general effect of the three storey 11 bay front, which has a Venetian window in the middle storey of each of its end bays, is one of massive plainness. As before, the house was joined to flanking office wings; but instead of simple curved sweeps, there were now curved colonnades.”
There is a projecting bay on either side of the garden front facade with a Venetian window in the middle storey of either projecting bay. According to Mark Bence-Jones, these were designed by Richard Castle. The flanking wings were joined initially by curved colonnades, later replaced by straight connecting links.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “The work was completed after the death of 19th Earl for his son [James (1722-1773)], 20th Earl, who later became 1st Duke of Leinster and was the husband of the beautiful Emily, Duchess of Leinster [Emily Lennox, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Richmond] and the father of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the United Irish Leader.”
James Fitzgerald, 20th Earl of Kildare, later 1st Duke of Leinster by Robert Hunter, Irish, 1715/1720-c.1803. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Emilia Mary, Countess of Kildare (née Lennox) (1731-1814), Wife of the 20th Earl of Kildare and future 1st Duke of Leinster After Joshua Reynolds, English, 1723-1792, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Emily née Lennox (1731-1814)Countess of Kildare, wife of the 1st Duke of Leinster, by Allan Ramsay (1713-1784). Oil on canvas, painted 1765. Purchased 1951, No. 1356, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK, Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)Emily Fitzgerald née Lennox (1731-1814) Duchess of Leinster 1770s by Joshua Reynolds.Edward Fitzgerald (1763-1798).
They certainly were a rebellious family! It is said that this saved the house from being burnt by Irish rebels in 1920s, as a portrait of Edward Fitzgerald the United Irishman was shown to the would-be arsonists. Emily Lennox’s sister, Louisa, married Thomas Conolly and lived across the parkland in Castletown House. Stella Tillyard writes of the life and times of the sisters, Emily and Louisa and it was made into a mini series for the BBC, entitled “The Aristocrats” which was filmed on site at Carton House. I’d love to read the book and see the movie! She also wrote about Edward FitzGerald.
When the 1st Duke died, Emily married her children’s tutor and lived very happily with him. She had enjoyed spending time with him and the children at their house in Blackrock, Frascati, which no longer exists, and the children swam in the sea.
Emily and the 1st Duke’s heir was William Robert Fitzgerald (1749-1804) 2nd Duke of Leinster. He married Emilia Olivia née Usher St. George (1759-1798).
William Robert Fitzgerald (1749-1804) 2nd Duke of Leinster wearing Order of St. Patrick, by Gilbert Stuart, courtesy Christies.William Robert Fitzgerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster, (1749-1804) Date 1775 by Engraver John Dixon, Irish, c.1740-1811 After Joshua Reynolds, English, 1723-1792. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Hugh Douglas Hamilton portrait of Emilia Olivia née St. George, 2nd Duchess of Leinster courtesy of Bonhams Old Master Paintings 2018.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “3rd Duke, Lord Edward’s nephew, [Augustus Frederick Fitzgerald (1791-1874)] employed Sir Richard Morrison to enlarge and remodel the house ca 1815, having sold Leinster House in Dublin. Morrison replaced the curved colonnades with straight connecting links containing additional rooms behind colonnades of coupled Doric columns, so as to form a longer enfilade along what was now the garden front; for he moved the entrance to the other front [the north side], which is also of 11 bays with projecting end bays, but has no pediment. The former music room on this side of the house became the hall; it is unassuming for the hall of so important a house, with plain Doric columns at each end. On one side is a staircase hall by Morrison, again very unassuming; indeed, with the exception of the great dining room, Morrison’s interiors at Carton lack his customary neo-Classical opulence.”
Augustus Frederick FitzGerald, 3rd Duke of Leinster, (1791-1874) engraver George Sanders, Scottish, 1810 – c.1876 after Stephen Catterson Smith, Irish, 1806-1872. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Archiseek continues: “Carton remained in the control of the FitzGeralds until the early 1920s when the 7th Duke sold the estate and house to pay off gambling debts of £67,500. In 2000, Carton was redeveloped as a “premier golf resort and hotel”. A hotel was added to the main house, and the estate’s eighteenth-century grounds and landscaping were converted into two golf courses.” [3]
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “Beyond the staircase, on the ground floor, is the Chinese bedroom, where Queen Victoria slept when she stayed here; it remains as it was when decorated 1759, with Chinese paper and a Chinese Chippendale giltwood overmantel.” Unfortunately we didn’t get to see this room.
The Chinese Room at Carton House, decorated by Emily, Countess of Kildare in the mid 18th century. Above the chimneypiece is a Chippendale mirror erupting into a series of gilded branches, some of which are sconces. Pub. Orig Country Life 18/02/2009 vol CCIII.
Bence-Jones continues: “The other surviving mid-C18 interior is the saloon, originally the dining room, in the garden front, dating from 1739 and one of the most beautiful rooms in Ireland. It rises through two storeys and has a deeply coved ceiling of Baroque plasterwork by the Francini brothers representing “the Courtship of the Gods”; the plasterwork, like the decoration on the walls, being picked out in gilt. At one end of the room is an organ installed 1857, its elaborate Baroque case designed by Lord Gerald Fitzgerald [1821-1886], a son of the 3rd Duke.“
“The door at this end of the saloon leads, by way of an anteroom, to Morrison’s great dining room, which has a screen of Corinthian columns at each end and a barrel-vaulted ceiling covered in interlocking circles of oak leaves and vine leaves.
Bence-Jones tells us: “The demesne of Carton is a great C18 landscape park, largely created by 1st Duke and Emily Duchess; “Capability” Brown was consulted, but professed himself too busy to come to Ireland. By means of a series of dams, a stream has been widened into a lake and a broad serpentine river; there is a bridge by Thomas Ivory, built 1763, an ornamental dairy of ca 1770 and a shell house. Various improvements were carried out to the gardens toward the end of C19 by Hermione, wife of 5th Duke, who was as famous a beauty in her day as Emily Duchess was in hers; she was also the last Duchess of Leinster to reign at Carton, for her eldest son, 6th Duke, died young and unmarried, and her youngest son, 7th Duke, was unable to live here having, as a young man, signed away his expectations to the “50 Shilling Tailor” Sir Henry Mallaby-Deeley, in return for ready money and an annuity. As a result of this unhappy transaction, Carton had eventually to be sold. It was bought 1949 by 2nd Lord Brocket, and afterwards became the home of his younger son, Hon David Nall-Cain, who opened it to the public. It was sold once again in 1977.”
[1] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
“Castletown is set amongst beautiful eighteenth-century parklands on the banks of the Liffey in Celbridge, County Kildare.
“The house was built around 1722 for the speaker of the Irish House of Commons, William Conolly, to designs by several renowned architects. It was intended to reflect Conolly’s power and to serve as a venue for political entertaining on a grand scale. At the time Castletown was built, commentators expected it to be ‘the epitome of the Kingdom, and all the rarities she can afford’.
“The estate flourished under William Conolly’s great-nephew Thomas and his wife, Lady Louisa, who devoted much of her life to improving her home.
“Today, Castletown is home to a significant collection of paintings, furnishings and objets d’art. Highlights include three eighteenth-century Murano-glass chandeliers and the only fully intact eighteenth-century print room in the country.
“It is still the most splendid Palladian-style country house in Ireland.“
The Conolly familysold Castletown in 1965. Mark Bence-Jones tells us that the estate was bought for development and for two years the house stood empty and deteriorating. In 1967, Hon Desmond Guinness courageously bought the house with 120 acres, to be the headquarters of the Irish Georgian Society, and in order to save it for posterity. Since then the house has been restored and it now contains an appropriate collection of furniture, pictures and objects, which has either been bought for the house, presented to it by benefactors, or loaned. It is now maintained by the Office of Public Works and the Castletown Trust.
William Conolly (1662-1729) rose from modest beginnings to be the richest man in Ireland in his day. He was a lawyer from Ballyshannon, County Donegal, who made an enormous fortune out of land transactions in the unsettled period after the Williamite wars.
William Conolly had property on Capel Street in Dublin, before moving to Celbridge. Conolly’s house was on the corner of Capel Street and Little Britain Street and was demolished around 1770. [2] The Kildare Local History webpage gives us an excellent description of William Conolly’s rise to wealth:
“In November 1688, William Conolly was one of the Protestants who fled Dublin to join the Williamites in Chester alongside his late Celbridge neighbour Bartholomew Van Homrigh.
“On the victory of William III, he acquired a central role dealing in estates forfeited by supporters of James II, commencing his rise to fortune with the forfeited estates of the McDonnells of Antrim.
“In 1691 he purchased Rodanstown outside Kilcock, which became his country residence until he purchased Castletown in 1709.
“A dowry of £2,300 came his way in 1694 when he married Katherine Conyngham, daughter of Albert Conyngham, a Williamite General who had been killed in the war at Collooney in 1691.
“He was appointed Collector and Receiver of Revenue for the towns of Derry and Coleraine on May 2nd 1698.
“Conolly was the largest purchaser of forfeited estates in the period 1699–1703, acquiring also 20,000 acres spread over five counties at a cost of just £7,000.” [3]
He rose to become Speaker of the House of Commons in the Irish Parliament. William Conolly married Katherine Conyngham of Mount Charles, County Donegal, whose brother purchased Slane Castle in County Meath (see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2019/07/19/slane-castle-county-meath/). As well as earning money himself, his wife brought a large dowry.
William Conolly purchased land in County Kildare which had been owned by Thomas Dongan (1634-1715), 2nd Earl of Limerick, in 1709. Dongan’s estate had been confiscated as he was a Jacobite supporter of James II (he became first governor of the Duke of York’s province of New York! The Earldom ended at his death). Dongan’s mother was the daughter of William Talbot, 1st Baronet of Carton (see my entry about Carton, County Kildare, under Places to stay in County Kildare https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/06/08/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-kildare/ ).
The Archiseek website tells us about the design of Castletown House:
“Soon after the project got underway Conolly met Alessandro Galilei (1691-1737), an Italian architect, who had been employed in Ireland by Lord Molesworth in 1718 [John Molesworth, 2nd Viscount, who had been British envoy to Florence]. He designed the façade of the main block in the style of a 16th century Italian town palace. He returned to Italy in 1719 and was not associated with the actual construction of the house which began in 1722. Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (died 1733), a young Irish architect, on his Italian grand tour became acquainted with Galilei in Florence and through this connection he was employed by the Speaker to complete Castletown when he returned to Ireland in 1724. Pearce had first hand knowledge of the work of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) and his annotated copy of Palladio’s Quattro libri dell’architettura survives. It was Pearce who added the Palladian colonnades and the terminating pavillions. This layout was the first major Palladian scheme in Ireland and soon had many imitators.” [4]
Mark Bence-Jones describes Castletown in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses. The centre block is of three storeys over basement, and has two almost identical thirteen bay fronts “reminiscent of the façade of an Italian Renaissance town palazzo; with no pediment or central feature and no ornamentation except for doorcase, entablatures over the ground floor windows, alternate segmental and triangular pediments over the windows of the storey above and a balustraded roof parapet. Despite the many windows and the lack of a central feature, there is no sense of monotony or heaviness; the effect being one of great beauty and serenity.” [5] The centre block is made of Edenderry limestone, and is topped by cornice and balustrade. On the ground floor the windows have frieze, cornice and lugged architrave, and on the first floor, alternating triangular and segmental pediments.
William died in 1729 aged just 67, so he had only a few years to enjoy his house. His wife Katherine lived on in the house another twenty-three years until her death at the age of 90 in 1752. William and Katherine had no children, so his estate passed to his nephew William James Conolly (1712-1754), son of William’s brother Patrick. We came across William James Conolly before in Leixlip Castle (another Section 482 property), which he also inherited. William James married Lady Anne Wentworth, the daughter of the Earl of Strafford. Her father, Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Strafford is not the more famous Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Strafford who was executed (of whom there is at least one portrait in Castletown) but a later one, of the second creation. William James died just two years after Katherine Conolly, so the estate then passed to his son Thomas Conolly (1738-1803).
William Conolly, M.P. (d.1754) by Anthony Lee c. 1727 courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland NGI 421Lady Anne Conolly (née Wentworth) (1713-1797) Attributed to Anthony Lee, Irish, fl.1724-1767. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.She was the wife of William Conolly, M.P. (d.1754).Thomas Conolly (1738-1803) by Anton Raphael Mengs, painted 1758. The German painter Mengs captured Conolly as a 19 year old on his Grand Tour. He is shown posting in front of a Roman sarcophagus, the “Relief of the Muses,” now in the Louvre. He is wearing a rich satin suit with gilt braid, portraying a young cultured aristocrat. In reality he displayed little interest in ancient civilisation, and brought back no souvenirs from Rome save for this portrait. Portrait in the National Gallery of Ireland.
Thomas married Louisa Lennox in 1758, one of five Lennox sisters, daughters of the Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. From the age of eight she had lived at nearby Carton with her sister Emily, who was married to James Fitzgerald, the 20th Earl of Kildare (who became the 1st Duke of Leinster). At Carton, Louisa was exposed to the fashionable ideas of the day in architecture, decoration, horticulture and landscaping. [6] Louisa loved Castletown and continually planned improvements, planting trees, designing the lake and building bridges.
Archiseek continues: “The Castletown papers, estate records and account books, together with Lady Louisa’s [i.e. Louisa Lennox, wife of Tom Conolly] diaries and correspondence with her sisters, provide a valuable record of life at Castletown and also of the reorganisation of the house. Lady Louisa’s letters from the 1750s onwards are revealing of the fashions in costume design, fabric patterns and furniture. She played an important part in the alteration and redecoration of Castletown during the 1760s and 1770s. As no single architect was responsible for all of the work carried out, she supervised most of it herself. Much of the redecoration of the house was done to the published designs of the English architect Sir William Chambers (1723-1796) who never came to Ireland himself. Chambers also worked for Lady Louisa’s brother, the 3rd Duke of Richmond, at Goodwood in Sussex. In a letter, written in July 1759, Lady Louisa mentions instructions given by Chambers to his assistant Simon Vierpyl who supervised the work at Castletown.” (see [6])
Description of the Hall, from Archiseek: “This impressive two-storeyed room with a black and white chequered floor, was designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce. The Ionic order on the lower storey is similar to that of the colonnades outside and at gallery level there are tapering pilasters with baskets of flowers and fruit carved in wood. The coved ceiling has a central moulding comprising a square Greek key patterned frame and central roundel with shell decoration.” [see 6]
Great Hall,photograph by Swire Chin, Toronto, May 2013 flickr constant commons.The Gallery of the Great Hall. Photograph by Swire Chin, Toronto, May 2013 flickr constant commons.Photograph by Swire Chin, Toronto, May 2013 flickr constant commons.
The polished limestone floor with its chequered design and the Kilkenny marble fireplace reflect William Conolly’s desire to build the house solely of native Irish materials. Unfortunately when we visited in October 2022, the hall was half hidden with a large two storey curtain, as the windows are all being repaired. As we can see in the photograph, the room has an Ionic colonnade to the rear, and a gallery at first floor level, and the stair hall is through an archway in the east wall.
From the entrance hall, one enters the magnificent Stair Hall. The Castletown website describes the stair hall:
“The Portland stone staircase at Castletown is one of the largest cantilevered staircases in Ireland. It was built in 1759 under the direction of the master builder Simon Vierpyl (c.1725–1811). Prior to this the space was a shell, although a plan attributed to Edward Lovett Pearce suggests that a circular staircase was previously intended.
The solid brass balustrade was installed by Anthony King, later Lord Mayor of Dublin. He signed and dated three of the banisters, ‘A. King Dublin 1760’. The opulent rococo plasterwork was created by the Swiss-Italian stuccadore Filippo Lafranchini, who, with his older brother Paolo, had worked at Carton and Leinster House for Lady Lousia’s brother-in-law, the first Duke of Leinster, as well as at Russborough in Co. Wicklow. Shells, cornucopias, dragons and masks feature in the light-hearted decoration which represents the final development of the Lafranchini style. Family portraits are also included with Tom Conolly at the foot of the stairs and Louisa above to his right. The four seasons are represented on the piers and on either side of the arched screen.“
“In the following year, Tom Conolly and Lady Louisa employed the Francini to decorate the walls of thestaircase hall with rococo stuccowork; and in 1760 the grand staircase itself – of cantilevered stone, with a noble balustrade of brass columns – was installed; the work beign carried out by Simon Vierpyl, a protégé of Sir William Chambers. The principal reception rooms, which form an enfilade along the garden front and were mostly decorated at this time, are believed to be by Chambers himself; they have ceilings of geometrical plasterwork, very characteristic of him. Also in this style is the dining room, to the left of the entrance hall. It was here that, according to the story, Tom Conolly found himself giving supper to the Devil, whom he had met out hunting and invited back, believing him to be merely a dark stranger; but had realised the truth when his guest’s boots were removed, revealing him to have unusually hairy feet. He therefore sent for the priest, who threw his breviary at the unwelcome guest, which missed him and cracked a mirror. This, however, was enough to scare the Devil, who vanished through the hearthstone. Whatever the truth of this story, the hearthstone in the dining room is shattered, and one of the mirrors is cracked.“
“This room dates from the 1760s redecoration of Castletown undertaken by Lady Louisa Conolly and reflects the mid-eighteenth century fashion for separate dining rooms. Originally, there were two smaller panelled rooms here. It was reconstructed to designs by Sir William Chambers, with a compartmentalised ceiling similar to one by Inigo Jones in the Queen’s House at Greenwich. The chimney-piece and door cases are in the manner of Chambers. Of the four doors, two are false.
“Furniture original to Castletown includes the two eighteenth-century giltwood side tables. Their frieze is decorated with berried laurel foliage similar to the door entablatures in the Red and Green Drawing Rooms. The three elaborate pier glasses are original to the Dining Room. The frames are carved fruiting vines, symbols of Bacchus and festivity. These are probably the work of the Dublin carver Richard Cranfield (1713-1809) who, with the firm of Thomas Jackson of Essex Bridge, Dublin, was paid large sums for carving and gilding throughout the house.“
Between the front of the house, with its Entrance Hall, Stair Hall and Dining Room is a corridor, or rather, two corridors, one to the west and one to the east of the Entrance Hall. This corridor is on every storey, including the basement. To the rear (north) of the house on the ground floor is an enfilade of rooms: the Brown Study to the west end, next to another staircase, then the Red Drawing Room, the Green Drawing Room, the Print Room, the State Bedroom, and then small rooms called the Healy Room and the Map Room.
Next to the Dining Room at the front of the house is the Butler’s Pantry, which contains photographs of the servants of Castletown, and a portrait of a housekeeper, Mrs Parnel Moore (1649–1761). It’s unusual to have a portrait of a housekeeper but perhaps someone painted her because she was a beloved member of the household, as she lived to be at least 112 years! This is a very old portrait dating back to the 1700s.
The Castletown website tells us about the Butler’s Pantry: “The Butler’s Pantry dates from the 1760s and connected the newly created Dining Room with the kitchens in the West Wing. Food was carried in from the kitchens through the colonnade passageway and then reheated in the pantry before being served. The great kitchens were on the ground floor of the west wing, with servants’ quarters upstairs. Upwards of 80 servants would have been employed in the house and kitchens in the late eighteenth century under the direction of the Butler and the Housekeeper.”
A house like Castletown relied on an army of servants and this portrait of former housekeeper Mrs Parnel Moore – aged 112 according to the inscription – dates back to the beginnings of Castletown and is one of the oldest original items in the collection.English servants of Castletown, photograph in Butler’s Pantry of Castletown.Irish servants of Castletown, photograph in Butler’s Pantry of Castletown.Enfilade of rooms on the north side, photograph by Swire Chin, Toronto, May 2013 flickr constant commons.
The Red Drawing Room, description from Archiseek:
“It is one of a series of State Rooms that form an enfilade and were used on important occasions in the eighteenth century. This room was redesigned in the mid 1760s in the manner of Sir William Chambers. The chimney-piece, ceiling and pier glasses are typical of his designs.
“The walls are covered in red damask which is probably French and dates from the 1820s. Lady Shelburne recorded in her journal seeing a four coloured damask, predominently red, in this room. The Aubusson carpet dates from about 1850 and may have been made for the room. Much of the furniture has always been in the house and Lady Louisa Conolly paid 11/2 guineas for each of the Chinese Chippendale armchairs which she considered very expensive. The chairs and settee were made in Dublin and they are displayed in a formal arrangement against the walls as they would have been in the eighteenth century. The bureau was made for Lady Louisa in the 1760s.“
The neoclassical ceiling, which replaced the vaulted original, is based on published designs by the Italian Renaissance architect, Sebastiano Serlio, and is modelled after one in Leinster House (belonging to Lady Louisa’s sister’s husband the Earl of Kildare). The white Carrara chimney-piece came to the house in 1768.
The Green Drawing Room, description from Archiseek:
“The Conollys formally received important visitors to the house in the Green Drawing Room which was the saloon or principal reception room. The room was redecorated in the 1760s and like the other state rooms reflects the neo-classical taste of the architect Sir William Chambers. The Greek key decoration on the ceiling is repeated on the pier glasses and the chimney-piece. Originally these were pier tables with a Greek key frieze and copies of these may be made in the future. The chimney-piece is similar to one designed by Chambers for Lord Charlemont’s Casino at Marino.”
The Castletown website tells us: “The Green Drawing Room was the main reception room or saloon on the ground floor. Visitors could enter from the Entrance Hall or the garden front. Like the other state rooms it was extensively remodelled between 1764 and 1768. The influence of the published designs of Serlio and the leading British architect Isaac Ware can be seen in the neo-classical ceiling, door cases and chimney-piece...The walls were first lined with a pale green silk damask in the 1760s. Fragments of this silk, which was replaced by a dark green mid-nineteenth century silk, survived and the present silk was woven as a direct colour match in 1985 by Prelle et Cie in Lyon, France.”
The Brown Study is at one end of this enfilade of rooms. The website describes it:
“The Brown Study with its wood-panelled walls, tall oak doors, corner chimney-piece, built-in desk and vaulted ceiling is decorated as it was in the 1720s when the house was first built. This room was used as a bedroom in the late nineteenth century and then as a breakfast parlour in the early twentieth century.
Between the windows is a piece of the ‘Volunteer fabric’. Printed on a mixture of linen and cotton in Harpur’s Mills in nearby Leixlip, it depicts the review of the Leinster Volunteers in the Phoenix Park in 1782. Thomas Conolly was active in the Volunteer leadership in both Counties Derry and Kildare. The Volunteers were a local militia force established during the American War of Independence to defend Ireland from possible French invasion while the regular troops were in America. They were later linked to the Patriot party in the Irish House of Commons led by Henry Grattan and to their campaigns for political reform.“
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “The doing-up of the house was largely supervised by Lady Louisa, and two of the rooms bear her especial stamp: the print room, which she and her sister, Lady Sarah Napier made ca. 1775; and the splendid long gallery on the first floor, which she had decorated with wall paintings in the Pompeian manner by Thomas Riley 1776.“
The website tells us about the Print Room, completed in 1769: “More than any other room in Castletown, the Print Room bears the imprint of Lady Louisa, who assiduously collected, cut out, and arranged individual prints, frames and decorations. The prints were glued on panels of off-white painted paper which was later attached to the walls on battens covered with cloth. Lady Louisa thus created an intimate, highly individual room which has survived changing tastes and fashions and is now the only fully intact eighteenth-century print room in Ireland.”
Print rooms were fashionable in the 18th century – ladies would collect their favourite prints and paste the walls with them. Prints featured include Le Bas, Rembrandt and Teniers, the actor David Garrick and Sarah Cibber, Louisa’s sister Sarah, Charles I and Charles II as a boy, with whom Louisa shared a bloodline.
The room was later used as a billiards room, and this helped inadvertedly to save the prints, as our guide told us, as the smoke from their pipes helped to protect against silverfish insects which eat wallpaper.
Next to the Print Room is the State Bedroom. The website tells us:
“In the 1720s, when the house was first laid out, this room, along with the rooms either side, probably formed William Conolly’s bedroom suite. It was intended that he would receive guests in the morning while sitting up in bed or being dressed in the manner of the French court at Versailles. In the nineteenth century, the room was converted into a library and the mock leather Victorian wall paper dates from this time. Sadly, the Castletown library was dispersed in the 1960s and today the furniture reflects the room’s original use.“
Next to the State Bedroom is The Healy Room: “This room originally served as a dressing room or closet attached to the adjoining State Bedroom. It was used as a small sitting room and later became Major Edward Conolly’s bedroom in the mid-twentieth century, as it was one of the few rooms that could be kept warm in winter. It is now known as the Healy room after the pictures of the Castletown horses by the Irish artist Robert Healy (d.1771).”
Upstairs has more bedrooms, and the beautiful Long Gallery. A corridor overlooks the Great Hall.
To one side of the Stair Hall upstairs is Lady Kildare’s Room, named after Lady Louisa’s sister Emily, Countess of Kildare and later Duchess of Leinster, who had raised Louisa and the two younger sisters Sarah and Cecilia at nearby Carton House after their parents’ death. Currently being renovated, in the past the room housed the Berkeley Costume Collection. Made in France, Italy, and England, the dresses on display consist of rich embroidered bodices and full skirts made from silk and gold thread.
Across the upstairs East Corridor from Lady Kildare’s room is the Blue Bedroom. The website tells us that the Blue Bedroom provides a fine example of an early Victorian bedroom. Like the Boudoir, it forms part of an apartment with two adjoining dressing rooms, one of which was upgraded into a bathroom with sink and bathtub. The principal bedrooms, used by the family and honoured guests, were on this floor. Bedrooms on the second floor were also used for guests and for children, while the servants slept in the basement. This room has a lovely pink canopied bed, but we did not see the room when we visited in 2022.
At the front of the house on the other side of the Great Hall upstairs are the Boudoir, and Lady Louisa’s Bedroom, and across the West Corridor upstairs, the Pastel Room. The website tells us:
“The Boudoir and the adjoining two rooms formed Lady Louisa’s personal apartment. The Boudoir served as a private sitting room for Louisa and subsequent ladies of the house. The painted ceiling, dado rail and window shutters possibly date from the late eighteenth century and were restored in the 1970s by artist Philippa Garner. The wall panels, or grotesques, after Raphael date from the early nineteenth century and formerly hung in the Long Gallery. Amongst the items inside the built-in glass cabinet are pieces of glass and china featuring the Conolly crest.
“In the adjoining room, Lady Louisa’s Bedroom, OPW’s conservation architects have left exposed the walls to offer visitors a glimpse of the different historic layers in the room, from the original brick walls, supported by trusses, to wooden panelling to fragments of whimsical printed wall paper that once embellished the room.“
The Pastel Room, the website tells us, was originally an anteroom to the adjoining Long Gallery. It was used as a school room in the nineteenth century and is now known as the Pastel Room because of the fine collection of pastel portraits. The smaller pastels surrounding the fireplace include a pair of portraits of Thomas and Louisa Conolly by the leading Irish pastel artist of the eighteenth century, Hugh Douglas Hamilton.
The small medallion in the centre is Lady Louisa by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.The one of the two girls on the right is of Louisa Staples and her sister, by Hugh Douglas Hamilton. William James Conolly (1712-1754) was the nephew of William Conolly who built Castletown, and he inherited the estate. He was the father of Thomas Conolly (1734-1803). Thomas’s sister Harriet married John Staples, and their daughter was Louisa Staples. Louisa married Thomas Pakenham (1757-1836). It was their son, Edward Michael (1786-1849) who inherited Castletown, and added Conolly to his surname, to become Pakenham Conolly.The pastel on the top left is Thomas Conolly (1734-1803), Louisa’s husband.The parents of Louisa and Emily: Sarah Cadogen (1705-1751) and Charles Lennox (1701-1750) 2nd Duke of Richmond.Pastel of Lady Louisa Lennox, from the circle of Geoge Knapton, c.1747, it depicts Lady Louisa at the tender age of four. Louisa was the daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and his wife, Lady Sarah Cadogan. Her parents died when she was eight years old, and both she and her two younger sisters, Sarah and Cecilia, went to live with their older sister Emily, Countess of Kildare, in Ireland.
From the Pastel Room, we enter the Long Gallery. The website tells us about this room:
“Originally laid out as a picture gallery with portraits of William Conolly’s patrons on display, its function and layout changed under Lady Louisa. In 1760, she had the original doorways to the upper east and west corridors removed, replacing them with the central doorway above the Entrance Hall. The new doorcases as well as new fireplaces at either end were designed by leading English architect, Sir William Chambers, while the actual execution was overseen by Simon Vierpyl. The Pompeian style decoration on the walls dates from the 1770s and was inspired by Montfaucon’s publications on the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum and by Raphael’s designs for the Vatican. The murals were the work of an English artist and engraver Charles Ruben Riley (1752–98). The Long Gallery became a space for informal entertaining and was full of life and activity as the following excerpt from one of Louisa’s letters suggests: “Our gallery was in great vogue, and really is a charming room for there is such a variety of occupations in it, that people cannot be formal in it. Lord Harcourt was writing, some of us played at whist, others at billiards, Mrs Gardiner at the harpsichord, others at chess, others at reading and supper at one end. I have seldom seen twenty people in a room so easily disposed of.”
“…measuring almost 80 by 23 feet, with its heavy ceiling compartments and frieze dates from the 1720s. Originally there were four doors in the room and the walls were panelled in stucco similar to the entrance Hall. In 1776 the plaster panels and swags were removed but traces of them were found behind the painted canvas panels when they were taken down for cleaning during recent conservation work.”
Archiseek continues: “In the mid 1770s the room was redecorated in the Pompeian manner by two English artists, Charles Reuben Riley (c.1752-1798) and Thomas Ryder (1746-1810). Tom and Louisa’s portraits are at either end of the room over the chimney-pieces and the end piers are decorated with cyphers of the initals of their families: The portrait of Lady Louisa is after Reynolds (the original is in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard) and that of Tom after Anton Raphael Mengs (the original is in the National Gallery of Ireland).
Archiseek tells us: “The subjects of the wall paintings were mostly taken from engraving in d’Hancarville’s Antiquites Etrusques, Greques, et Romaines (1766-67) and de Montfaucon’s L’antiquite expliquee et representee en figures (1719). The busts of the poets and philosophers are placed on gilded brackets designed by Chambers. In the central niche stands a seventeenth-century statue of Diana. Above is a lunette of Aurora, the godess of the dawn, derived from a ceiling decoration by Guido Reni, the seventeenth century Bolognese painter.
“The three glass chandeliers were made for the room in Venice and the four large sheets of mirrored glass came from France. In the 1770s the Long Gallery was used as a living room and was filled with exquisite furniture. Originally in the room, there were a pair of side tables attributed to John Linnell, with marble tops attributed to Bossi, a pair of commodes by Pierre Langlois, that were purchased in London for Lady Louisa by Lady Caroline Fox and a pair of bookcases at either end of the room.
“In 1989 major conservation work was carried out on the Long Gallery. The wall paintings that had been flaking for many years were conserved. The original eighteenth-century gilding has been cleaned and the chandeliers restored. The project was funded by the American Ireland Fund, the Irish Georgian Society and by private donations.“
Mark Bence-Jones tells us: “The gallery, and the other rooms on the garden front, face along a two mile vista to the Conolly Folly, an obelisk raised on arches which was built by Speaker Conolly’s widow 1740, probably to the design of Richard Castle. The ground on which it stands did not then belong to the Conollys, but to their neighbour, the Earl of Kildare, whose seat, Carton, is nearby. The folly continued to be a part of the Carton estate until 1968, when it was bought by an American benefactress and presented to Castletown. At the end of another vista, the Speaker’s widow built a remarkable corkscrew-shaped structure for storing grain, known as the Wonderful Barn. One of the entrances to the demesne has a Gothic lodge, from a design published by Batty Langley 1741. The principal entrance gates are from a design by Chambers.“
The Obelisk, or Conolly Folly, was reputedly built to give employment during an episode of famine. It was restored by the Irish Georgian Society in 1960.
As Bence-Jones tells us, Castletown was inherited by Tom Conolly’s nephew, Edward Michael Pakenham, who took the name of Conolly, to become Pakenham Conolly. Thomas and Louisa had no children, and Thomas’s sister Harriet married John Staples, and their daughter was Louisa Staples. Louisa married Thomas Pakenham (1757-1836). It was their son, Edward Michael (1786-1849) who inherited Castletown.
The house then passed to his son, another Thomas Conolly (1823-1876). He was an adventourous character who travelled widely and kept a diary. Stephen and I recently attended a viewing of portraits of Thomas and his wife Sarah Eliza, which are to be sold by Bonhams. His diary of his trip to the United States during the time of the Civil War is being published.
Sarah Eliza was the daughter of a prosperous Celbridge paper mill owner, Joseph Shaw. Her substantial dowry helped to fund her husband’s adventurous lifestyle! A photograph album which belonged to her brother Henry Shaw, of a visit to Castletown, was rescued from the rubble of his home in London when it was destroyed by a German bomb in 1944. Sadly, he died in the bombing. The photograph album is on display in Castletown.
Thomas Conolly (1823-1876)and his wife Sarah Eliza.
Sarah Eliza and Thomas had four children. Thomas, born in 1870, died in the Boer War in 1900. William died at the age of 22. Edward Michael (Ted), born in 1874, lived until his death in Castletown, in 1956. Their daughter Catherine married Gerald Shapland Carew, 5th Baron Carew, the grandson of Robert Carew, 1st Baron Carew of Castleboro House, County Wexford (today an impressive ruin), and son of Shapland Francis Carew and his wife Hester Georgiana Browne, daughter of Howe Peter Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo.
Sarah Eliza sits reading while her daughter Catherine descends the stairs.Photographs of the Conolly family. Thomas Conolly who died in the Boer War is pictured on the left in the striped cap.View of Castletown House from the meadow from Henry Shaw’s album.Sarah Eliza with Catherine and her children seated at the table in the Dining Room.William Francis in foreground.
Catherine’s son, William Francis Conolly-Carew (1905-1994), 6th Baron Carew, inherited Castletown, and added Conolly to his surname.
[2] p. xiii, Jennings, Marie-Louise and Gabrielle M. Ashford (eds.), The Letters of Katherine Conolly, 1707-1747. Irish Manuscripts Commission 2018. The editors reference TCD, MS 3974/121-125; Capel Street and environs, draft architectural conservation area (Dublin City Council) and Olwyn James, Capel Street, a study of the past, a vision of the future (Dublin, 2001), pp. 9, 13, 15-17.
[5] p. 75. 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.
[6] p. 129. Great Irish Houses. Forewards by Desmond FitzGerald, Desmond Guinness. IMAGE Publications, 2008.
[3] p. 8, Living Legacies: Ireland’s National Historic Properties in the Care of the OPW. Government Publications, Dublin 2, 2018.
Having recently revisited the wonderful Casino (“little house”) in Marino, my entry for the Dublin Office of Public Works properties is becoming too long so I have to split it up into several entries, starting today with my entry for the Aras an Uachtaráin, the House of the President, in Phoenix Park. I will be publishing my updated Casino entry soon.
I haven’t been visiting Section 482 properties in the past two months, as I was experiencing “burnout.” As lovely as it is to visit historic properties, it is difficult arranging visits with owners. I feel like I am treading on toes, especially because I will be publishing about my visit, which I can understand alarms owners. It is so much easier visiting public properties. I am also still catching up writing about properties which I visited during the year, and sending entries to owners before publication, seeking approval.
Every weekend which passes, however, without a visit to a Section 482 property is an opportunity missed, and I do hope that the properties which I will not have time to visit this year will continue to be on the Section 482 list next year! Already since I started this project in 2019, some properties have dropped off the list and I have missed the chance to visit.
I’m already excited about the 2024 list, and I will be creating my calendars next year for the 2024 Section 482 properties, which will be available to purchase via this website. Unfortunately the Revenue does not publish the list until late February, so I won’t be able to have the calendars ready at the beginning of the new year. However, I have calendars for sale currently which do not list opening dates for the properties but have all of the pictures of the properties, and which can be used in any year. They would make a good Christmas present!
Section 482 any year calendar A5 size
2024 Diary of Irish Historic Houses (section 482 properties)
To purchase an A5 size 2024 Diary of Historic Houses (opening times and days are not listed so the calendar is for use for recording appointments and not as a reference for opening times) send your postal address to jennifer.baggot@gmail.com along with €20 via this payment button. The calendar of 84 pages includes space for writing your appointments as well as photographs of the historic houses. The price includes postage within Ireland. Postage to U.S. is a further €10 for the A5 size calendar, so I would appreciate a donation toward the postage – you can click on the donation link.
€20.00
Office of Public Works Properties in Dublin:
1. Áras an Uachtaráin, Phoenix Park, Dublin
2. Arbour Hill Cemetery, Dublin
3. Ashtown Castle, Phoenix Park, Dublin – closed at present
4. The Casino at Marino, Dublin
5. Customs House, Dublin
6. Dublin Castle
7. Farmleigh House, Dublin
8. Garden of Remembrance, Dublin
9. Government Buildings Dublin
10. Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Dublin
11. Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Dublin
12. Iveagh Gardens, Dublin
13. Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin
14. National Botanic Gardens, Dublin
15. Phoenix Park, Dublin
16. Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin
17. Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin – historic rooms closed
18. St. Audoen’s, Dublin
19. St. Enda’s Park and Pearse Museum, Dublin
20. St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin
donation
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
“Áras an Uachtaráin started life as a modest brick house, built in 1751 for the Phoenix Park chief ranger. It was later an occasional residence for the lords lieutenant. During that period it evolved into a sizeable and elegant mansion.
“It has been claimed that Irish architect James Hoban used the garden front portico as the model for the façade of the White House.
“After independence, the governors general occupied the building. The first president of the Republic of Ireland, Douglas Hyde, took up residence here in 1938. It has been home to every president since then.” [1]
Phoenix Park was originally formed as a royal hunting Park in the 1660s, created by James Butler the Duke of Ormond. A large herd of fallow deer still remain to this day. Since it was a deer park it needed a park ranger. One of the park chief rangers was Nathaniel Clements (1705-1777), who was also an architect, and it was he who built the original house in 1751 which became the Aras. He was appointed as Ranger and Master of the Game by King George II in 1751. Clements was also an MP in the Irish Parliament.
Photograph from the National Library, from when the building was the Vice Regal Lodge.This is the front which faces Chesterfield Avenue.Photograph is by Robert French, and the photograph is part of the Lawrence Photographic Collection, Date: between circa. 1865-1914, NLI Ref: L_ROY_00335The Vice-Regal Lodge (Lord Lieutenant’s Residence), Phoenix Park, Dublin After John James Barralet, Irish, 1747-1815, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Clements accumulated much property including Abbotstown in Dublin, and estates in Leitrim and Cavan. In Dublin, he developed property including part of Henrietta Street, where he lived in number 7 from 1734 to 1757. For more about him, see Melanie Hayes’s wonderful book The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents, 1720-80 published by Four Courts Press in 2020. Another house he designed, which is sometimes on the Section 482 list, is Beauparc in County Meath, and another Section 482 property, Lodge Park in County Kildare. Desmond Fitzgerald also attributed Colganstown to him, a house we visited in 2019, though this is not certain. [2]
7 Henrietta Street, recently for sale, photograph courtesy of myhome.ie, built for Nathaniel Clements, who also built the house that has become Aras an Uachtarain.Number 7 Henrietta Street, from myhome.ie. The interior retains an original double-height open-well staircase and early dog-leg closed-string service stair with original plasterwork and joinery throughout. Laid out by Luke Gardiner in the 1720s, Henrietta Street is a short cul-de-sac containing the finest early Georgian houses in the city, and was named after Henrietta Crofts, the third wife of Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton and Lord Lieutenant in 1717-1721.
We attended a few of President Higgins’s summer parties at the Aras. These are open to the public, by booking tickets.
The Entrance Hall of the Áras dates from 1751 from the time of Nathaniel Clements, and features a magnificent barrel-vaulted ceiling with plaster busts in the ceiling coffers.
The Council of State Room is part of the original 1751 house. The ceiling, installed by Nathaniel Clements in 1757, is by Bartholomew Cramillion and depicts three of Aesop’s Fables – the Fox and the Stork, the Fox and the Crow and the Fox and the Grapes.
The administration of the British Lord Lieutenant bought the house from Nathaniel Clements’ son Robert 1st Earl of Leitrim in 1781, to be the personal residence for the Lord Lieutenant. In 1781 the Viceroy, or Lord Deputy, was Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle. The building was rebuilt and named the Viceregal Lodge. At first it served as a summer residence, while the Viceroy stayed in Dublin Castle for the winter. The first “Lord Lieutenant” was his successor, William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland.
The house was extended when acquired for the Viceroys to reflect its increased ceremonial importance. Mark Bence-Jones tells us that after being bought by the government, the house was altered and enlarged at various times. David Hicks tells us in his Irish Country Houses, A Chronicle of Change that all those who were awarded the position of Lord Lieutenant were from titled backgrounds and accustomed to grand country houses in England, so they found the Viceregal Lodge to be unimpressive. The 3rd Earl of Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, was the first Lord Lieutenant after the Act of Union in 1800, in 1801-1806. Yorke supported Catholic emancipation. In 1802 Yorke employed Robert Woodgate, a Board of Works architect, to make some alterations to the house, adding new wings to the house.
Photograph from the National Library of Ireland.This is the garden side of the house.The double height pedimented portico of four gian Ionic columns was added in 1815 by architect Francis Johnston.Photograph is by Robert French, and the photograph is part of the Lawrence Photographic Collection, Date: between circa. 1865-1914, NLI Ref: L_CAB_02652.Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke, (1757-1834), Former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Date 1836 Engraver William Giller, British, c.1805-after 1868 After Thomas Lawrence, English, 1769-1830, photograh courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Additional work was carried out by Michael Stapleton – who was an architect as well as noted stuccadore – and Francis Johnston. In 1808, when Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond was Lord Lieutenant, Johnston added a Doric portico to the entrance front, and the single-storey wings were increased in height.
In 1815, Johnston extended the garden front by five bays projecting forwards, and in the centre of this front he added the pedimented portico of four giant Ionic columns which is the house’s most familiar feature.
It was not until the major renovations in the 1820s that the Lodge came to be used regularly by Lord Lieutenants. In the 1820s the Lord Deputy was Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington, brother of the Duke of Wellington of Waterloo fame. See my footnotes for some portraits of Vicereines and Viceroys who may have lived in the Aras.
Richard Colley Wellesley (1760-1842), 2nd Earl of Mornington and 1st Marquess Wellesley by John Philip Davis courtesy of National Portrait Gallery in London NPG 846.
Maria Phipps née Liddell, Marchioness of Normanby (1798-1882),Vicereine 1835-39, laid out the gardens along with Decimus Burton in 1839-40. Decimus Burton also designed many gardens in London including St. James’s Park, Hyde Park Corner and Regent’s Park. He was also an architect.
In 1849 the east wing was added, which houses the new State Dining Room. The financing of any royal visit was a matter of concern for Lord Lieutenants as they had to finance any improvements to the Viceregal Lodge. It was during the tenure of George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870), that Queen Victoria visited, with the idea that this would boost morale after the famine.
Queen Victoria planted a Wellingtonia Gigantea tree which is still standing (others have planted trees also, including Queen Alexandria and Barak Obama, Charles de Gaulle, John F. Kennedy, Pope John Paul II and King Juan Carlos of Spain).
In 1854 the west wing was added, also designed by Jacob Owen. Queen Victoria visited again in 1853, and at this time the Viceregal Lodge was connected to the public gas supply, in order to illuminate the reception rooms and also to provide public lighting throughout Phoenix Park.
A new part of the West Wing was added for the visit of George V in 1911, during the Lord Lieutenancy of John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair.
The office of Lord Lieutenant was abolished in 1922 when the Irish Free State came into being. From 1922 until 1932 it was the residence of the Governor General of the Irish Free State. In 1922 Tim Healy was sworn in as Governor General. Over the following weeks, the former Viceregal Lodge was attacked and came under heavy fire on regular occasions.
The State Dining Room contains furniture by James Hicks of Dublin. The early 19th century fireplaces were originally a gift to Archbishop Murray of Dublin in 1812 “by his flock” for his residence at 44 Mountjoy Square, and were brought to the house in 1923, upon the sale of the house in Mountjoy Square, by the first Governor General of the Irish Free State, Tim Healy.
In 1937 when the office of President of Ireland was established, the house became the house of the president. The first President was Douglas Hyde (President of Ireland 1938-1945).
During the incumbency of President Sean T. O’Kelly, in 1948, a mid-C18 plasterwork ceiling attributed to Cramillion representing Jupiter and the Four Elements, with figures half covered in clouds, was brought from Mespil House, Dublin, which was then being demolished, and installed in the President’s Study, one of the two smaller rooms in the garden front of the original house, which we did not see.
The Mespil House ceiling was brought here at the instigation of Dr. C.P. Curran, who was also instrumental in having casts made of the plasterwork by the Francini, or Lafranchini, brothers, at Riverstown House, Co. Cork, which then seemed in danger; and which have been installed in the ballroom and in the adjoining corridor.
The State Reception Room (formerly the ballroom) features a plaster cast of a Lafranchini panel in the ceiling. The Lafranchini brothers were 18th century Swiss stuccodores who also worked on Carton and Castletown Houses. See my entry about Riverstown House https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/10/05/__trashed/.
The State Corridor, also called the Lafranchini Corridor, leads from the Entrance Hall past the State Reception Room. This corridor was originally part of the orchestra pit for the adjoining ballroom. It was created as a corridor in the 1950s. One side of the corridor is lined with bronze busts of Irish Presidents mounted on marble columns and the other side features stucco panels showing classical figures. These too are casts taken from Riverstown House.
Later additions to the gardens were carried out by Ninian Niven, who designed Iveagh Gardens in Dublin. The gardens contain many Victorian features including ceremonial trees, an arboretum, wilderness, pleasure grounds, avenues, walks, ornamental lakes and a walled garden, which contains a Turner peach house and which grows the food and flowers organically.
Some of the Viceroys and Vicereines who lived there may include (portraits below are from the 2021 exhibition of Vicereines that took place in Dublin Castle): William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck the 3rd Duke of Portland and his wife Dorothy (Viceroy 1782), George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 11st Marquess of Buckingham (Viceroy 1782), Charles Manners the 4th Duke of Rutland (1754-1787), Viceroy 1784-87, and his wife Mary Isabella, Charles Lennox the 4th Duke of Richmond and his wife Charlotte (Viceroy 1807-1813), Hugh Percy 3rd Duke of Northumberland and his wife Charlotte Florentia (Viceroy 1829-30), Constantine Henry Phipps 1st Marquess of Normanby and his wife Maria Phipps (Viceroy 1835-39), James Hamilton 1st Duke of Abercorn and his wife Louisa (Viceroy 1866-68 and 1874-76), Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, 3rd Baron Grantham, 6th Baron Lucas and his wife Henrietta Cole from Florence Court, County Fermanagh (Viceroy 1841-1844), Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry and his wife Theresa (Viceroy 1886-89), John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer (Viceroy 1868-74 and 1882-5), John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair (Viceroy 1886 and 1905-1915)and Ivor Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne (Viceroy 1915-1918).
2025 Diary of Irish Historic Houses (section 482 properties)
To purchase an A5 size 2025 Diary of Historic Houses (opening times and days are not listed so the calendar is for use for recording appointments and not as a reference for opening times) send your postal address to jennifer.baggot@gmail.com along with €20 via this payment button. The calendar of 84 pages includes space for writing your appointments as well as photographs of the historic houses. The price includes postage within Ireland. Postage to U.S. is a further €10 for the A5 size calendar, so I would appreciate a donation toward the postage – you can click on the donation link.
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Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
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I have been working to save all my photographs on USB sticks so do not have a new property to post, although I have lots to write up. I am therefore reposting this entry.
On the map above:
blue: places to visit that are not section 482
purple: section 482 properties
red: accommodation
yellow: less expensive accommodation for two
orange: “whole house rental” i.e. those properties that are only for large group accommodations or weddings, e.g. 10 or more people.
green: gardens to visit
grey: ruins
Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow are the counties that make up the Leinster region.
As well as places to visit, I have listed separately places to stay, because some of them are worth visiting – you may be able to visit for afternoon tea or a meal.
For places to stay, I have made a rough estimate of prices at time of publication:
€ = up to approximately €150 per night for two people sharing (in yellow on map);
www.burtownhouse.ie Open dates in 2025: June 4-7, 11-14, 18-21, 25-28, July 2-5, 9-12, 16-19, 23-26, 30-31, August 1-2, 6-9, 13-24, 27-30, Sept 3-6, 10am-2pm
Fee: adult €10, OAP/student/child €5
Burtown House and Gardens, Athy, Co Kildare, photograph by Sonder Visuals, 2022, Courtesy Failte Ireland.
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us:
“Ballytore, in County Kildare, was a stronghold of the Irish Quakers and the centre of a sizeable Quaker community. One of their members, Robert Power, built Burtown House as the hub of a two thousand acre farming enterprise in the 1720s. His Georgian villa, shown on early maps as “Power’s Grove,” was only one room deep so wings were added later in the century. These were subsequently removed, though their faint outlines can still be identified and Burtown was further extended in the early nineteenth century when a full height bow was added on the garden front.
“The new extension provided a bow ended room on the garden front, a large bedroom above and a grand staircase, lit by a tall round-headed window. Pretty plasterwork in the manner of James Wyatt was also introduced at the time, most notably in an arched alcove in the bow-ended room, which is likely to have been the original dining room. The alcove is filled with a shallow fan, and delightfully cursive sprays of vine leaves, and is flanked by a pair of classical vases on pilasters of foliage with naive Corinthian capitals.
“Burtown has never been sold in all its three hundred years. The house passed from the Power family to the Houghtons and thence to the Wakefields, who gave it a new roof with widely projecting eaves in the early nineteenth century. They also lengthened the sash windows, installed a new front door with a fanlight in a deep recess, and carried out a number of other alterations.
“When Mr. Wakefield was killed playing cricket Burtown passed to his sister, who had married a fellow Quaker from County Tipperary, William Fennell. Their son, William James was a keen horseman but “was asked to leave the Quaker congregation because of his fondness for driving a carriage with two uniformed flunkeys on the back”.
“Today Burtown is in the midst of two hundred acres of parkland, including ten acres of lush flower, vegetable and woodland gardens with many fine walks. The house has now been home to five generations of the Fennell family, and to the acclaimed botanical artist and illustrator, Wendy Walsh. Coincidentally, the leading Irish botanical artist of the early twentieth century, Lydia Shackleton, also came from the same small Quaker community.” [1]
“Donadea Forest Park includes Donadea Castle and estate, the former home of the Aylmer family up until 1935. There are many historical features including the remains of the castle and walled gardens, St. Peter’s church, an ice house and boat house. The Lime tree avenue planted in the 19th century formed the original entrance to the estate. Another feature of the park is the 9/11 Memorial, a scaled replica of the twin towers carved in limestone. The small lake is brimming with ducks, waterhens and has a beautiful display of water lilies in the summer. There is a café open throughout the year.“
In 1581 Gerald Aylmer, (1548-1634), Knight, of Donadea, son of George Aylmer, of Cloncurry, and grandson of Richard Aylmer, of Lyons, built a new tower in Donadea, not fully completed until 1624 and it is now the oldest part of the Castle. [2]
In 1626, he repaired the medieval Church in Donadea and built a new extension in which he established his family burial plot. In the extension he also constructed an Altar Tomb monument as a burial memorial for his family. Gerald was titled by the Crown and became the first Baronet of Donadea.
The Aylmers were connected with the various conflicts and rebellions over the next two centuries. During the wars of the 1640s, Sir Andrew, 2nd Baronet (c. 1610-c. 1671), supported the rebels and was imprisoned at the beginning of the war.
Although he was a brother-in-law of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, there were no favours granted to him. The Aylmers rebuilt the castle after it was burned by James Butler’s troops.
In 1689, after the battle of the Boyne, Lady Helen Aylmer, widow of the 3rd Baronet, (born Plunkett, daughter of Luke Plunkett 3rd Earl of Fingall) was in charge of the Castle. She was outlawed due to her support for James II, but she managed to hold on to the Castle and lands under the terms of the Treaty of Limerick.
In 1736, Sir Gerald, 5th Baronet, died leaving an only son FitzGerald who became the 6th Baronet.
He was only one year old when his father died and was subsequently raised by his mother (Ellice or Ellen, daughter of Gerald Aylmer, 2nd Baronet of Balrath, County Meath) and her relatives who were members of the established church. FitzGerald subsequently conformed to the established religion. In 1773, he built a new house in front of the Castle and incorporated the Tower in his new residence.
Gerald, 8th Baronet, held the lands of Donadea between 1816 and 1878 and he is accredited with most of the construction work that is visible in Donadea demesne today. He began his building program in the 1820s by re-routing the roads away from the Castle and the construction of a high wall enclosing the demesne. Gate lodges were then built at all the entrances.
He also built a new grand entrance known as the Lime Avenue.
In 1827 he completely remodelled the front of the Castle which gave it an attractive bow shaped appearance. It has been suggested that he employed the renowned architect Richard Morrison to design this new structure.
The older cabin-type dwellings close to the castle were demolished and new estate houses built at the Range. To the west of the Castle he built an eight acre area of gardens and paddocks, surrounded and sub-divided by walls. In the Castle yard he built dwellings for staff and elaborative farm buildings. He also constructed the artificial lake and the Ice House. Large areas of the demesne were planted and, by the time of his death, Donadea demesne was listed as one of the finest parkland settings in the county.
Outside the demesne he was involved in numerous construction projects including the famous ‘Aylmer Folly’, viz. the Tower on the summit of the hill of Allen. (see [2]) Sir Gerald’s grandson Justin, 10th Baronet, died unmarried in 1885. His sister Caroline inherited the castle and much of the demesne, while the baronetcy passed to a cousin. Caroline Maria Aylmer, who was the daughter of Sir Gerald George Aylmer, 9th Baronet, was the last Aylmer to live at Donadea. She died in 1935, leaving the estate to the Church of Ireland who, in turn, passed it bequeathed to the Irish state.
The castle remained unoccupied and its roof was removed in the late 1950s.
For more on the Aylmer family, see The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of County Kildare by Turtle Bunbury & Art Kavanagh (published by Irish Family Names, 2004).
Farmersvale House, County Kildare, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Open dates in 2025: Jan 6-21, Mar 3-6, July 18-31, Aug 1-26, 9.30am-1.30pm
Fee: adult €5, student/child/OAP €3, (Irish Georgian Society members free)
7. Griesemount House, Ballitore, Co KildareR14 WF64– section 482
www.griesemounthouse.ie Open dates in 2025: Feb 9-28, May 11-30, June 23-30, July 1-4, Aug 16-24, 2pm-6pm
Fee: adult €6, OAP/child/student €5
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us:
“In 1685, the village of Ballitore on the river Griese in the southern corner of County Kildare became the first planned Quaker village in England and Ireland. The Shackleton family from Yorkshire settled here some decades later and besides establishing wool and corn mills, founded the famous village school in 1726. Thanks to an entry by Mary (née Shackleton) Leadbetter in her ‘Annals of Ballitore’, we know that the first stone of Griesemount House (also known as Ballitore Hill House) was laid on Midsummer Day in 1817. While the three-bay side elevation is symmetrical, the two-bay front façade with the front door under the left window is quite modest, as was often the case with Quaker houses. It was built by George Shackleton, who had grown up in Griesebank House beside the now-ruinous Ballitore Mills on the river just below. He married Hannah Fisher and they raised 13 children in the new house, including the noted botanical artist Lydia Shackleton, the first artist-in-residence at the Botanic Gardens in Dublin. One of her first recorded sketches is of the house. The family lived here until the early 20th century; the house then changed hands several times. It was briefly owned and restored by the mother of mezzosoprano Frederica von Stade, and has recently come into new ownership.” [3]
Open in 2025: May 17-31, Aug 12-31, Sept 7-16, Dec 17-31, 9am-1pm
Fee: adult €8, student/OAP/child €5
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us:
“The forebears of the Greenes of Millbrook House in the far south of County Kildare lived at Kilmanaghan Castle and Moorestown Castle [now a ruin] in County Tipperary. A great grandson of the family patriarch Captain Godfrey Greene moved up to settle near Carlow. William Nassau Greene (1714-1781) was a businessman and magistrate, and built a residence known as Kilkea Lodge (c. 1740) adjacent to the ancient Fitzgerald seat at Kilkea Castle, where his descendants are still resident. A younger son, John (1751-1819), who became High Sheriff of Kildare and Captain of the Castledermot Yeomanry, built a neighbouring house at Millbrook with the help of his father. It was completed in 1776 with its attendant mill and millrace off the River Griese, which had replaced an earlier mill in the nearby Kilkea Castle demesne. The house passed through generations of the family until finally the mill ceased operating under Thomas Greene (1843-1900), a poet and author who was made High Sheriff of Kildare in 1895. The house was left by inheritance to one of the cousins from Kilkea Lodge, father of the present owner. Throughout WWII, he had served as a frontline doctor in the 4th Indian Division in North Africa, Italy and Greece, and returned with his wife in 1950 to an utterly neglected house. Millbrook is still in the process of being restored to its former state.” [5]
Open dates in 2025: Jan 13-17, 20-24, 27-31, Feb 4-7, 10, May 1-2, 6-18, 26-30, July 1-11, Aug 16-24, 8am-12 noon
Fee: adult €6, OAP/student/child €3
16. Steam Museum Lodge Park Heritage Centre, Lodge Park, Straffan, Co. Kildare– section 482
www.steam-museum.com Open dates in 2025: Apr 19-21, 26-27, May 3-5, 10-11, 17-18, 24-25, 31, June 12, 14-15, 18, 21-22, 28-29, July 5-6, 12-13, 19-20, 26-27, Aug 2-4, 9-10, 16-24, 30-31, Sept 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, 27-28, Oct 5,12, 19, 26-27, 1pm-5pm
Fee: Garden and Museum, adult/OAP €15, €20 with steam, student/child free
Lodge Park, photograph courtesy of Historic Houses of Ireland.
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us about Lodge Park:
“Lodge Park, overlooking a fine stretch of the River Liffey, was built by Hugh Henry who had married his cousin, Lady Anne Leeson from Russborough [daughter of Joseph Leeson 1st Earl of Milltown]. Completed in about 1776, the centre block forms the core of an unusual composition with curved quadrants leading to a pair of two-storey wings, both attached to two further pavilions by curtain walls to form a unique elongated ensemble of five interconnected buildings, “perhaps the most extreme example of the Irish Palladian style.”
“Henry’s father was the merchant banker Hugh Henry, who had purchased the entire Straffan estate with 7,000 acres. Lodge Park was long thought to be the last building by Nathaniel Clements, who died in 1777, but has now been attributed to John Ensor. The hipped roof is surrounded by a granite-topped parapet, and the walls are finished in rough cast, with ashlar block quoins and granite window surrounds with detailing. It is Ireland’s best exampe of concatenation, having curtain walls attached to the main house, leading to two pavilions, attached by two gateways to two further buildings. Hugh’s son Arthur built the Victorian walled garden, now beautifully restored and open to the public, as well as the fine gate lodge. The house was bought by the Guinness family in 1948.
The walled garden has been beautifully restored while a disused Victorian church has been re-erected in the grounds to house a magnificent Steam Museum with early inventor’s models, scientific engineering models and historic works of mechanical art. The Power Hall displays six huge stationary steam engines, which are run on special occasions.” https://www.ihh.ie/index.cfm/houses/house/name/Lodge%20Park
“Balyna House lies to the south of Moyvalley Bridge over the Grand Canal, about half way between Enfield and Kinnegad on the old Dublin — Galway road. The house lies in the centre of the estates 500 acres. Balyna Estate was granted in 1574 by Queen Elizabeth I to the O’Moore family because they had lost their land in Laois and were reinstated in Balyna.
“Major Ambrose O’Ferrall married Letitia More in 1796. Their eldest son Richard More O’Ferrall was born in 1797. [ I don’t think this is correct. I believe that Letitia More married Richard O’Ferrall (1729-1790) and that their son was Ambrose More O’Ferrall who married Ann Baggot daughter of John Baggot of Castle Baggot, Rathcoole. Richard More O’Ferrall (1797-1880) was their son]. He is reputed for having been responsible for the erection of the Celtic cross which now stands to the rear of the house. It is said that this Cross, along with another was transported from Europe, the two being encased in wooden crates and towed behind the ship on a barge. Legend has it that one was lost at sea, but its twin survives to this day.“
p. 30. [More O’Ferrall] “The ancestral home of the O’More family, the land having been granted to them by Eliz I as a small compensation for their forfeited territories in Laois… A new house was built 1815, which was burnt 1878; this was replaced by the present house, built 1880s. It is slightly Italianate, with a Mansard roof carried on a bracket cornice; of 2 storeys with a dormered attic. Entrance front with two 3 sided bows and a single-storey Ionic portico, 5 by garden front with pediment, the windows on either side being larger than those in the centre. Imposing staircase with handrail of decorative ironwork; ceiling of staircase hall has modillion cornice. Chapel in garden. Sold 1960s, subsequently owned by Bewleys Oriental Cafe Ltd” [6]
The website continues: “The first real record of any house dates from 1815 when Ambrose built a large mansion. That Georgian house was burned down and replaced in the 1880’s by the present Italianate mansion.
“The estate was a refuge for bishops and priests for centuries and Dr. Forstall, Bishop of Kildare, ordained priests here in the year 1678 — 1680. For this loyalty, the family was granted Papal permission to build a private Chapel on the estate (located to the rear of the house) and up to approximately 1914 Sunday Mass was offered. It was only used intermittently after that, with the last occasion being in the summer of 1959.
“The estate remained in the More O’Ferrall family until May 1960 when it was sold to the Bewley family (of Café fame). The wonderful milk and cream in the Cafes came from the pedigree Jersey herd at Balyna. In 1984 the estate was sold to Justin Keating; it was sold again in 1990-1991 to George Grant. Moyvalley was developed into a Hotel & Golf Resort in 2007.
“Balyna House consists of 10 luxurious ensuite bedrooms, 3 reception rooms to cater for up to 100 guests, Balyna Bar and Cellar Bar. The house is available exclusively for private events and weddings.
“In 2014 the resort was purchased by the late Oliver Brady (well-known horse trainer from Co. Monaghan) with his business partner a well know entrepreneur Rita Shah owner of Shabra Recycling Plastic’s Group, Thai business woman Jane Tripipatkul and her son Mark McCarthy who are based in London.
“It is likely that several Irish and European military campaigns were discussed and argued over at Balyna, as apart from the fierce-some O’More’s and the well documented Irish battles in which they took part, several later generations saw service in European armies. All three sons of Richard and Letitia O’Ferrall saw service abroad. The eldest, Ambrose, and his youngest brother, Charles, rose to the rank of Major in the Royal Sardinian Army, while the middle brother, James attained the rank of Major General in the Austrian Hohenzollern Army.“
Incidentally, there was a Bagot family of “Castle Baggot” in Rathcoole, and neither son had children so all the Bagot property, which included land around Smithfield in Dublin and extensive property in County Carlow, passed to the daughter, Ann, who married the above-mentioned Ambrose More O’Ferrall.
“As a digression, it is worth noting that Rory O’ More’s eldest daughter, Anne, married Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan and famous military leader. His father in law was the man behind the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
“King James had adopted the policy of remodelling the Irish army so as to turn it from a Protestant-led force to a Roman Catholic led one, and Sarsfield, whose family were Roman Catholics, was selected to assist in this reorganisation. Colonel Sarsfield went to Ireland with Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell , who was appointed commander-in-chief by the king.“
Barberstown Castle, photograph courtesy of barberstowncastle.ie
Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988): p. 31. “A tower-house with a long plain 2 storey wing attached. In 1814, the residence of Jos Atkinson, in 1837, of Capt Robinson.”
The website gives a timeline:
“1288: Nicholas Barby built the original Castle towards the end of the 13th Century on the land which was originally owned by the Great Norman family the Fitzgerald’s.
“1310: The Castle was built as a fortress to protect the village and people of Barberstown from the attack of the rebellious Ui Faolain tribesmen who tried to burn the town (among others) in 1310. It has traditionally found itself in the middle of political struggle and local wars which generally resulted in change of ownership.
“Retaining Ownership: Some of its previous owners have gone to extreme lengths to retain ownership. Just how far some went is illustrated by the story of the body that is said to be interred in the tower of the Castle Keep (the original part of the Castle). His fate can be explained by reading the lease on the Castle at the time in which was written that the lease would expire when he was buried underground (ie. his death). The ending of a lease normally resulted in an increase in rent so after the man’s death he was buried in the tower above the earth which ensured the family continued to hold the lease to the Castle!
“The walls of the Castle Keep walls slope inwards so as to prevent an enemy getting out of range by closing up to the building. Ironically however the rooms on the upper floors of the Castle are larger than those on the ground level as their walls are somewhat thinner.
“Penal Times: The neighbouring village of Straffan is named after St. Straffan, one of the early sixth century missionaries. Its close linkages with the local town and people were proven when an underground tunnel from the Church in Straffan to the Castle was found in 1996 during renovations. A ‘Priest’s Hole’ can be also found in the Castle which was originally made to protect the priests of the town during Penal Times.
“1630: William Sutton of one of the most important families in the area owned the property. The population of Barberstown at the time was 36!
“1689: Lord Kingston [I’m not sure who they mean here – Robert King (d. 1693) was the 2nd Baron of Kingston at the time] had his ownership confiscated by Earl of Tyrconnell after the accession to power of James 11 of England. It was around this time that it fell into the less glamorous hands of the Commissioners of the Revenue who let it out to a Roger Kelly for £102 annual rent in the late 1600s.
“1703: It was purchased by Bartholomew Van Homreigh in 1703 for £1,033 the sixth owner in six years. At the time the property was 335 acres. Van Homreigh had been mayor of Dublin in 1697 and his greatest ‘claim to fame’ lies in the fact that he was the father of Vanessa of whom Swift wrote so passionately about. He sold it to the Henrys who were prone to excessive spending at the time….
“1830: The Henry’s had no option but to sell it to Mr. Hugh Barton [1766-1854] who completed the last wing of the house in the 1830s which added to the present day unique architectural status of Barberstown. He is also famed for constructing Straffan House known today at the K-Club.
“1900: As the property became too expensive to retain as a residence, the Huddlestons who owned Barberstown Castle in the 1900s sold it to Mrs. Norah Devlin who converted it into a hotel in 1971. Barberstown was one of the first great Irish country houses to display its splendour to the outside world when it opened as a hotel in 1971. It has maintained the elegance of design over the centuries by sympathetically blending its Victorian and Elizabethan extensions with the original Castle Keep.
“1979: The acclaimed Musician, Singer, Songwriter & Record Producer Mr. Eric Clapton CBE purchased the property in 1979 and lived in the property until 1987. Music sessions took place in the Green Room and original Castle Keep during the time Eric lived here with many famous Rockstars from all over the world coming here to stay.
“1987 to Present Day: Upon purchasing Barberstown Castle from Eric Clapton in 1987, this beautiful historic house has since been transformed from a 10-bedroom property with three bathrooms to a 55-bedroom Failte Ireland approved 4 Star Hotel. They are a proud member of Ireland’s Blue Book of properties and Historic Hotels of Europe.
“Since 1288 Barberstown has had 37 owners all of whom had the foresight to protect its heritage and character. Look out for the names of all the owners of Barberstown Castle painted on the bedroom doors of the hotel!“
3. Batty Langley Lodge, Celbridge, County Kildare€€
One of the entrances to the Castletown demesne has a Gothic lodge, from a design published by Batty Langley (1696-1751) 1741. Batty Langley was an English garden designer who produced a number of engraved “Gothick” designs for garden buildings and seats. He was named “Batty” after his father’s patron, David Batty. He also published a wide range of architectural books.
“The Village at Lyons, County Kildare is often described as a restoration but to be frank it is more a recreation. By the time the late Tony Ryan bought the estate in 1996, the buildings beside the Grand Canal, which had once included a forge, mill and dwelling houses, were in a state of almost total ruin. Therefore the work undertaken here in the years prior to his death in 2007 involved a great deal of architectural salvage, much of it brought from France, although some Irish elements were incorporated such as a mid-19th century conservatory designed by Richard Turner, originally constructed for Ballynegall, County Westmeath. Today the place primarily operates as a wedding venue, providing an alluring stage set for photographs but bearing little resemblance to what originally stood here.”[9]
The entrance front of Lyons House, designed by Oliver Grave for Nicholas Lawless, 1st baron Cloncurry circa 1786 and remodelled by his son Richard Morrison in 1802-05. Pub Orig Country Life 16/01/2003, vol. CXCVII by Photographer Paul Barker. (see[7])
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Lyons:
p. 196. “(Alymer/IFR; Lawless, Cloncurry, B/PB1929; Winn, sub St. Oswalds, B/PB) Originally the seat of the Aylmer family. Sold 1796 by Michael Aylmer to Nicholas Lawless,the 1st Lord Cloncurry, son of a wealthy blanket manufacturer, who had a new house built in 1797, to the design of an architect named Grace.
“Three storey block with a curved bow on either side of its entrance front, joined to two-storey wings by curved sweeps. About 1801, shortly after his release from the Tower of London, where he had been imprisoned for two years on account of his advanced political views and friendship wiht some of the United Irishmen, the 2nd Lord Cloncurry hired Richard Morrison to undertake improvements and alterations to his father’s house, work continuing till 1805.
“During this period, Lord Cloncurry was in Italy, collecting antiques and modern sculpture for the house; he also acquired three antique columns of red Egyptian granite from the Golden House of Nero, afterwards at the Palazzo Farnese, which were used as three of the four columns in a single-storey portico at Lyons, with a triangular pediment surmounted by a free-standing coat-of-arms.The other notable alteration made to the exterior of the house at this time was the substitution of straight colonnades for the curved sweeps linking the main block to the winds, a change similar to that which Morrison made a few years later at Carton. Also the main block and wings were faced with rusticated ashlar up to the height of one storey on the entrnace front. The hall was given a frieze of ox-skulls and tripods based on the Temple of Fortuna Virilis in Rome, doorcases with fluted entablatures and overdoor panels with classical reliefs; a pair of free-standing antique marble Corinthian columns were set against one wall, and vaarous items from Lord Cloncurry’s collection fo sculpture disposed around the other walls. The walls of the dining room and music rom were painted with Irish waterfalls – and other enchanting decoration by Gaspare Gabrielli, an artist brought by Lord Cloncurry from Rome. The bow-ended dining room was also decorated with a wall painting, of Dublin Bay; and was adorned with reliefs of the story of Daedalus.”
The garden front of Lyons House, The new orangery and pool house are the single-storey buildings flanking the central block. Pub Orig Country Life 16/01/2003, vol. CXCVII by Photographer Paul Barker. (see [7])GASPARE GABRIELLI A Group of Five Mythological Landscapes a preparatory scheme for the murals at Lyons, County Kildare courtesy Adams Irish Old Masters 15 May 2025
Bence-Jones continues: “The seven-bay garden front was left fairly plain, but before it a vast formal garden was laid out, with abundant statuary and urns and an antique column supporting a statue of Venus half way along the broad central walk leading from the house to what is the largest artificial lake in Ireland. Beyond the lake rises the wooded Hill of Lyons.
“The Grand Canal passes along one side of the demesne, and there is a handsome Georgian range of buildings beside it which would have been Lord Cloncurry’s private canal station. A daughter of 3rd Lord Cloncurry was Emily Lawless, the poet, a prominent figure in the Irish Revival of the early yars of the present century. Her niece, Hon Kathleen Lawless, bequeathed the Lyons estate to a cousin, Mr G M V Winn, who sold it about 1962 to University College, Dublin, which has erected a handsome pedimented arch from Browne’s Hill, Co Carlow at one of the entrances to the demesne.”
Art Kavanagh’s book on the Landed Gentry and Aristocracy: Meath, volume 1, tells us more about the Aylmers of Balrath. During the reign of Henry VI, Richard Aylmer of Lyons was a Keeper of the Peace for both Dublin and Kildare. He was in charge of protecting the settler community from attack by the neighbouring O’Toole and O’Byrne septs. The family rose to become one of the most prominent families in Meath and Kildare and key figures in the Dublin administration. Before the end of the 16th century they had established two independent branches at Donadea in Kildare and Dollardstown in County Meath.
The first Aylmer of real significance, Art Kavanagh tells us, was John Aylmer (c. 1359 – c. 1415) who married Helen Tyrell of Lyons, an heiress, at the end of the 14th century, and so the family acquired Lyons. [p. 1, Kavanagh, published by Irish Family Names, Dublin 4, 2005]
9. The K Club, Straffan House, County Kildare
Straffan House, the K Club, courtesy of the K Club Resort, 2005.
The Straffan estate formed part of the original land grant bestowed upon Maurice Fitzgerald by Strongbow for his role in the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169. In 1679, the property was purchased by Richard Talbot, the Duke of Tyrconnell who commanded the Jacobite army in Ireland during the war between James II and William of Orange. Tyrconnell’s estates were forfeited to the crown in the wake of the Williamite victory. In about 1710, the property was purchased by Hugh Henry, a prosperous merchant banker, who also owned Lodge Park. He married Anne Leeson, a sister of Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown. Straffan passed to their son, Joseph, who travelled in Europe and collected art. In April 1764 he married Lady Catherine Rawdon, eldest daughter of the 1st Earl of Moira.
Joseph Henry of Straffan, Co. Kildare by Francis Hayman, R.A. (c. 1708-1776) courtesy of Christies Irish Sale 2001.
Their son John Joseph (1777-1846) married Lady Emily Fitzgerald, the 23-year-old daughter of the 2nd Duke of Leinster. He was an extravagant spender and had to sell Straffan in 1831.
Hugh Barton (1766-1854) acquired Straffan House from the Henry family in 1831 and his descendents remained there until the 1960s. The Barton family were part of the Barton & Guestier winemakers. Hugh soon commissioned Dublin architect, Frederick Darley, to build a new house, based on Madame Dubarry’s great Château at Louveciennes to the west of Paris. [10] The house passed through many hands subsequently.
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Straffan House (1988):
p. 266. “(Barton/IFR) An imposing C19 house in a style combining Italianate and French chateau. Main block of two storeys with an attic of pedimented dormers in a mansard roof; seven bay entrance front, the centre bay breking forward and having a tripartite window above a single-storey balustraded Corinthian portico. Entablatures on console brackets over ground-floor windows; triangular pediments over windows above and segmental pediment of central window. Decorated band between storeys; balustraded roof parapet; chimneystacks with recessed panels and tooth decoration. The main block prolonged at one side by a lower two storey wing, from which rises a tall and slender campanile tower, with two tiers of open belvederes. Formal garden with elaborate Victorian fountain. Capt F.B. Barton sold Straffan ca 1949 to John Ellis. It was subsequently the home of Kevin McClory, the film producer, and later owned by Mr Patrick Gallagher, who restored the main block to its original size.”
10. Kilkea Castle, Castledermot, Kildare – hotel
Kilkea Castle County Kildare by Elena on flickr constant commons 2005.
p. 167. “(Fitzgerald, Leinster, D/PB) A medieval castle of the FitzGeralds, Earls of Kildare, especially associated with C16 11th Earl of Kildare, the most famous “wizard Earl.” [Gerald (1525-1585)] After Carton became the family seat in C18, it was leased to a succession of tenants; one of them being the Dublin silk merchant, Thomas Reynolds, friend of Lord Edward Fitzgerald through whom he became a United Irishman, only to turn informer when he realised the full aims of the movement. His role as informer did not prevent the unhappy Reynolds from having the castle, which he had only recently done up in fine style, sacked by the military; who tored up the floorboards and tore down the panelling on the pretext of searching for arms. Subsequent tenants caused yet more damage and there was a serious fire 1849; after which the third Duke of Leinster resumed possession of the castle and restored and enlarged it as a dower-house for his family. The work was sympathetically done, so that the tall grey castle keeps its air of medieval strength with its bartizans and its massively battered stone walls; though its battlements and its rather too regularly placed trefoil headed windows are obviously C19. AT one side of the caslte a long, low, gabled office range was added, in a restrained Tudor Revival style. The interior is entirely of 1849, for the lofty top storey, where the principal rooms were originally situated, was divided to provide a storey extra. The ceilings are mostly beamed, with corbels bearing the Leinster saltire. In 1880s the beautiful Hermione, Duchess of Leinster (then Marchioness of Kildare) lived here with her amiable but not very inspiring husband [Gerald the 5th Duke of Leinster]; finding the life not much to her taste, she composed the couplet “Kilkea Castle and Lord Kildare/are more than any woman can bear.” After the sale of Carton 1949, Kilkea became the seat of the 8th and Present Duke of Leinster (then Marquess of Kildare), but it was sold ca 1960 and is now an hotel.”
11. Leixlip Manor hotel (formerly Liffey Valley House hotel, formerlySt. Catherine’s Park), Leixlip, Co Kildare
The house that stood before the current Manor House was taller and was tenanted by the Earl of Lanesborough. Then in 1792, it was occupied by David La Touche, of the Huguenot banking family. It shortly thereafter burned to the ground and in around 1798 a new house, also called St Catherine’s Park, was built in the same townland to the design of Francis Johnston; it is now Leixlip Manor Hotel & Gardens.
Rt. Hon. David La Touche of Marlay (1729-1817) Date c.1800 by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Irish, 1740-1808, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
12. Martinstown House, Kilcullen, Co Kildare – accommodation
Martinstown House 2012, photograph courtesy of Martinstown House on flickr constant commons.
featured in Great Irish Houses. Forewards by Desmond FitzGerald, Desmond Guinness. IMAGE Publications, 2008.
p. 232. “Martinstown House is one of the finest cottage ornee style buildings in Ireland today. Originally part of the huge estates of the Dukes of Leinster, this fine house was commissioned by Robert Burrowes [d. 1850, son of Kildare Dixon Borrowes, 5th Baronet] and completed by the Burrowes family between 1832 and 1840, when decorative effects such as thatched roofs, undressed stonework and verandahs made of free growing branches were being incorporated into rural Irish dwellings. While experts feel the house was built in 1833, it may have been started years earlier, with many of the outbuildings including stables and also the walled gardens dating to some time between 1815 and 1820.” The book’s authors add that Decimus Burton was involved in the creation of this house.
“Beautiful self catering, Georgian Manor centrally located in the hearth of Kildare in a very private setting. De Burgh Manor comprises of 15 bedrooms all ensuite. The ground floor consists of a double reception room, drawing room, dining room, bar, library , breakfast room and kitchen. Situated on c. 6 acres of grounds overlooking the River Barrow.“
The website also tells us about the history:
“De Burgh Manor was built circa 1709 [the National Inventory says it was built around 1780] by Thomas Burgh [1670-1730] of Oldtown [built ca 1709 by Thomas Burgh (1670-1730), MP, Engineer and Surveyor-General for Ireland, to his own design. The centre block was burned 1950s. A house has now been made out of one of the wings. He also designed Kildrought house, a Section 482 property] for his brother William Burgh later known as Captain William De Burgh and who became Comptroller and Auditor General for Ireland. Thomas Burgh was Barracks Overseer for Ireland from 1701 and was also responsible for [building] – the Library at Trinity College Dublin, Collins Barracks Dublin – now a museum – and Dr Steeven Hospital Dublin.
“William De Burgh was born in 1667 and had a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Elisabeth. Thomas, born in 1696, eventually became a Member of Parliament for Lanesboro, Co. Longford. Freeman of Athy Borough and Sovereign of Athy, in 1755 he married Lady Ann Downes, daughter of the Bishop of Cork & Ross. Her mother was a sister to Robert Earl of Kildare. Her brother, Robert Downes, was the last MP for Kildare in 1749 and was Sovereign of Athy.
“Thomas had two sons, William and Ulysses [Ulysses was actually the grandson of Thomas, son of another Thomas]. William born in 1741 went on to represent Athy as an MP in Parliament between 1768 and 1776. A monument to his memory by Sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott, a statue of faith, which depicts him with a book in one hand and a scroll in the other and stands in York Minster. He wrote two books on religion and faith.
“Ulysses, born in 1788succeeded to the title of Lord Downes [2nd Baron Downes of Aghanville] on the death of his cousin William Downes who was made Lord Chief Justice in 1803 and created Lord Downes on his retirement in 1822. It was Ulysses De Burgh who presented the Town Hall Clock to Athy in 1846 and it was he who had the wings added to Bert House. [Mark Bence-Jones writes of Bert: “enlarged early in C19 by the addition of two storey Classical overlapping wings, of the same height as the centre block; which is of three storeys over basement with two seven bay fronts.”]
“Ulysses’ daughter Charlotte was the last of the De Burgh’s to call Bert House home with her husband Lt. General James Colbourne [2nd Baron Seaton of Seaton, co. Devon]. Charlotte and James came to Bert House in 1863 as Lord and Lady Seaton after the death of Lord Downes. It was sold by them in 1909 to Lady Geoghegan who then sold it onto her cousin, Major Quirke.“
2. Firmount, Clane, County Kildare – whole house or weddings
“Firmount House is a unique and stunning venue just outside Clane in County Kildare, only 40minutes from Dublin city centre. Lovingly restored by the owners, the house is known for flexibility and creativity and is now open for weddings, private parties, film shoots, yoga retreats and corporate events. Enjoy visiting the Firmount website and see for yourself the lifelong journey these restoration warriors have taken to provide you with the perfect location in a wonderful, natural setting.
“This fabulous house consists of a sitting room, breakfast room and dining room downstairs reached from a large hallway, alongside a commercial kitchen and butlers pantry. The first floor consists of seven large and sumptuous bedrooms – five doubles and two twin rooms with plenty of room for two travel cots which are also provided. There are also six bathrooms. Heated by oil fired radiators, there are also two stoves in the main entertaining space.
“Firmount House has a colourful history dating from the 13th century when there was reputed to be a fortified house on the current site. The Down Survey of 1655 seems to show a house on the land (then known as Keapock). In the 18th century the house was owned by the Warburtons and sat on extensive grounds. The story of the current house really begins in 1878 when Hugh Henry Snr having married his cousin Emily Henry (of Lodge Park, site of the current K-club) bought Firmount house and renovated it extensively. It seems he took what was a Georgian house, wrapped it in concrete (one of the first houses of it’s kind) and added a Victorian wing to the South.
“The estate consisted of 409 acres at that point. Hugh Henry’s son, imaginatively named Hugh Jr, inherited the house in 1888 and lived there until 1917. It is rumoured that his wife, Eileen, had nightmares of the house going down in flames – although given it was made of concrete, we think she would have been ok. The house became a WWI hospital in 1917 and 390 soldiers were treated there until 1919, with no deaths registered – thank goodness for that. However the next decades were not so lucky for the house. In 1929 the house was bought by Kildare County Council and turned into a TB sanatorium. It ran as such until 1961. There are local stories of movies being run in the ballroom for patients with the now Mayor of Clane, at the projector. And of patients sitting on the elevated banks at the very front of the house on the roadside, watching life on the road go by but being unable to participate. 1964 brought the purchase of the house by the Department of Defence who ran it as a Control Centre for Nuclear Tracking and named it Section Seven Regional Control.
“Here things get really interesting as the basement of the house was intended to house senior officials, media and communications personel in the event of nuclear fall out. It is rumoured the Taoiseach (Irish prime-minister) was supposed to have a bunker on site and the house can still be found on Russian nuclear maps! This picture shows one of the several signs found in the house. The downside of government and county council ownership is that many original period features were lost through ignorance, neglect and the reinforcement of windows, floors, porticos and doors with concrete.
“The current “madthings” bought the house in 2012 with the aim of slowly bringing Firmount house back to life, window by window and floor by floor aswell as bringing Firmount forward into a gathering place with a welcome for all.“
3. Griesemount House, County Kildare, whole house rentals– see above
[6] 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.
Open dates in 2025: May 1-3, 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29-31, June 5-7, 12-14, 19-21, 26-27, July 3-5, 10-12, 17-19, 24-26, 31, Aug 1-2, 7-9, 14-24, 28-30, Sept 4-6, 2pm-6pm
Fee: adult €10, OAP €7, student €5
donation
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
The Swiss-Italian stuccadores were brought to Ireland from England in 1738 by Robert Fitzgerald (1675-1744) 19th Earl of Kildare, who built both Leinster House in Dublin (first known as Kildare House until his son was raised to be Earl of Leinster) and Carton House.
Going back to its origins, the estate of Riverstown was purchased by Edward Browne (b. 1676), Mayor of Cork. He married Judith, the heiress daughter of Warham Jemmett (b. 1637), who lived in County Cork. The present house possibly dates from the mid 1730s, Frank Keohane tells us in Buildings of Ireland: Cork City and County. [2] A hopper with the date 1753 probably records alterations, when the gable end at one side was replaced by full-height canted bays.
Mark Bence-Jones describes Riverstown in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
“…The house consists of a double gable-ended block of two storeys over a basement which is concealed on the entrance front, but which forms an extra storey on the garden front, where the ground falls away steeply; and a three-storey one bay tower-like addition at one end, which has two bows on its side elevation. The main block has a four bay entrance front, with a doorway flanked by narrow windows not centrally placed.” [3]
The tower-like third storey on part of the house was possibly added by architect Henry Hill around 1830, Keohane tells us. Henry Hill was an architect who worked in Cork, perhaps initially with George Richard Pain, and later with William Henry Hill and Arthur Hill.
As Riverstown and its plasterwork was described in 1750 in Smith’s History of County Cork, it must have been created before this, perhaps when Browne’s son Jemmet Browne was elevated to the position of Bishop of Cork in 1745. He later became Archbishop of Tuam.
Reverend Jemmett Browne at a meet of Foxhounds by Peter Tillemans, courtesy of Yale Centre for British Art.
Reverend Jemmett Browne gave rise to a long line of clerics. He married Alice Waterhouse, daughter of Reverend Thomas Waterhouse. His son Edward (1726-1777) became Archbishop of Cork and Ross, and a younger son, Thomas, also joined the clergy.
A portrait of Alice Waterhouse, wife of Bishop Jemmett Browne.
Edward Archbishop of Cork and Ross named his heir Jemmett (1753-1797) and he also joined the clergy. He married Frances Blennerhassett of Ballyseede, County Kerry (now a hotel and also a section 482 property, see my entry). If the tower part of the house was built in 1830 it would have been for this Jemmett Browne’s heir, another Jemmett (1787-1850).
In BeautiesofIreland (vol. 2, p. 375, published 1826), James Norris Brewer writes that: “the river of Glanmire runs through the gardens banked with serpentine canals which are well stocked with carp,tench, etc. A pleasant park stocked with deer, comes close to the garden walls. The grounds of this very respectable seat about in aged timber and the whole demesne wears an air of dignified seclusion.”
The first Jemmett Browne was friendly with Laurence Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy. The bawdiness of the novel demonstrates that clerics at the time led a different life than those of today! Jemmett Browne’s interest in fine stucco work was probably influenced by fellow clerics Bishop George Berkeley, Samuel “Premium” Madden and Bishop Robert Clayton. Samuel Madden recommended, in his Reflections and Resolutions Proper to the Gentlemen of Ireland that stucco is substituted for wainscot. [4] Bishop Clayton owned what is now called Iveagh House on St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin (see my entry, https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/09/23/open-house-culture-night-and-heritage-week-dublin-visits/ ).
Portrait c. 1740 of Archbishop Robert Clayton (1695–1758) and Katherine née Donellan by James Latham, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland. Known for his unorthodox views, at the time of his death Robert Clayton was facing charges of heresy.George Berkeley (1685-1753), Philosopher; Bishop of Cloyne, by John Smibert 1730 courtesy of National Portrait Gallery NPG 653.He was a friend of Reverend Jemmett Browne.
The stucco work is so important that the Office of Public Works feared it would be lost, as the house was standing empty in the 1950s before being purchased by John Dooley, father of the current owner, in around 1965. Under the direction of Raymond McGrath of the Office of Public Words, with advice from Dr. C. P. Curran, the authority on Irish decorative plasterwork, moulds were taken in 1955-6. The moulds are now displayed prominently in the home of Ireland’s President, Áras an Uachtaráin. (see my entry on the Áras in the entry on Office of Public Works properties in Dublin, https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/01/21/office-of-public-works-properties-dublin/ )
Shortly after John Dooley purchased the property, the members of the Irish Georgian Society decided to help to restore the plasterwork.
The book published on the 50th anniversary of the Irish Georgian Society, by Robert O’Byrne, has part of a chapter on Riverstown and the Irish Georgian Society’s role in restoration of the Lafranchini plasterwork in the 1960s.
The book published on the 50th anniversary of the Irish Georgian Society has part of a chapter on Riverstown and the Irish Georgian Society’s role in restoration of the Lafranchini plasterwork in the 1960s. By this time, John Dooley had purchased Riverstown, after it has been standing empty. At the time, Dooley had not yet moved in, and the dining room was not preserved to the standard the Georgian Society would have liked. The book has a photograph of potatoes being stored in the dining room.
Photograph from Irish Georgian Society, by Robert O’Byrne. The photograph was published in the Cork Examiner in February 1965.We don’t know of course how temporary this storage was.
The entrance hall of Riverstown is also impressive, and the members of the Georgian Society also helped to clean the plasterwork in this room. The walls curve, and the room has an elegant Neoclassical Doric frieze and shapely Corinthian columns.
Mark Bence-Jones decribes: “The hall, though of modest proportions, is made elegant and interesting by columns, a plasterwork frieze and a curved inner wall, in which there is a doorcase giving directly onto an enclosed staircase of good joinery. To the left of the hall, in the three storey addition, are two bow-ended drawing rooms back to back. Straight ahead, in the middle of the garden front, is the dining room, the chief glory of Riverstown.”
The Lafranchini work in the dining room derives from Maffei’s edition of Agostini’s Gemme AnticheFigurate (1707-09). Frank Keohane notes that the Maffei’s engravings were also used for the decoration of the Apollo Room in 85 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, also by the Lafranchini brothers.
The ceiling at Riverstown: winged figure of Father Time, rescuing Truth from the assaults of Discord and Envy, taken from the allegorical painting by Nicholas Poussin which he painted on the ceiling in France for Cardinal Richelieu in 1641 and now hangs in the Louvre, Paris.
C. P. Curran tells us that the history of the Lafranchini brothers is obscure, but they “represent one of the successive waves of stuccodores who from quite early periods swarmed over Europe from fertile hives in the valleys of either side of the Swiss Italian Alps….They worked in some unascertained way side by side with local guildsmen and introduced new motifs and methods. Their repertory of ornament was abundant and they excelled in figure work.” [4] They executed their work in Carton in 1739, Curran tells us, and in 85 St. Stephen’s Green in 1740.
Keohane tells us that the simple eighteenth century black-marble slab chimneypiece was installed in the 1950s when the house was saved by the Dooley family from ruination. It replaced a remarkable overmantel, now in an upper room, with great scrolled jambs garlanded with flowers and tufted with acanthus, and a comic mask in the centre of the frieze which possibly depicts Bishop Browne.
The work by the members of the Irish Georgian Society on the dining room in Riverstown was complete by the end of 1965. John Dooley continued the restoration of the rest of the house, and it is now kept in beautiful condition by his son Denis and wife Rita, with many treasures collected by the Dooleys. A 1970 Irish Georgian Society Bulletin, Robert O’Byrne tells us, reported further improvements made by the Dooleys. It tells us that one of the house’s two late-eighteenth century drawing rooms adjoining the dining room:
“has been given a new dado, architraves, chimney-piece, overdoors and overmantel. These have been collected by John Lenehan of Kanturk, who rescued them from houses in Dublin that were being demolished and inserted them at Riverstown.”
The two drawing rooms do indeed have splendid over mantel and overdoors. The drawing room has been hung with green silk wall covering. The Dooleys have shown fine taste for the decoration and maintenance of the rooms and I suspect John Dooley knew what he was doing when he purchased and thus saved the house.
A fine wooden staircase brings us upstairs to a spacious lobby containing a Ladies’ conversation chair. Keohane suggests the stair may have originally been open to the front hall, but is now hidden by a screen wall. He writes that this arrangement probably dates from c. 1784, when Phineas Bagnell was granted a long lease of the house.
The owners’ bedroom has an extraordinary carved marble mantel. It was probably originally in the room with the Lafranchini stuccowork. It has great scrolled jambs garlanded with flowers and tufted with acanthus, and a comic mask in the centre of the frieze which possibly depicts Bishop Browne, Frank Keohane tells us.
The Dooleys have a garden centre, which is situated behind the house. They maintain the gardens with its rolling lawns beautifully. The Glanmire river passes by the bottom of the garden.
[1] https://repository.dri.ie/catalog [2] p. 556, Keohane, Frank. Buildings of Ireland: Cork City and County. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2020.
[3] Bence-Jones, Mark A Guide to IrishCountryHouses. (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
[4] Curran, C.P. RiverstownHouseGlanmire, County Cork and the Francini. A leaflet given to us by Denis Dooley.
I have been dividing previous entries that were divided by Province into division by county as my entries were too long!
On the map above:
blue: places to visit that are not section 482
purple: section 482 properties
red: accommodation
yellow: less expensive accommodation for two
orange: “whole house rental” i.e. those properties that are only for large group accommodations or weddings, e.g. 10 or more people.
green: gardens to visit
grey: ruins
As well as places to visit, I have listed separately places to stay, because some of them are worth visiting – you may be able to visit for afternoon tea or a meal.
For places to stay, I have made a rough estimate of prices at time of publication:
€ = up to approximately €150 per night for two people sharing (in yellow on map);
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
We visited in March 2023. The house was built in 1779 for Samuel Hayes and may have been designed by James Wyatt (1746-1813), or by Samuel Hayes himself. It then passed to the Parnell family and was the birthplace of the politician Charles Stewart Parnell. In 1904 the state purchased the Avondale Estate to develop modern day forestry in Ireland.
Avondale, County Wicklow, photograph by Robert French [between ca. 1865-1914], Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 15. “A square house of two storeys over basement, built 1779 for Samuel Hayes, a noted amateur architect who possibly designed it himself. Five bay entrance front, the three centre bays breaking forward under a pediment; small Doric porch with paired columns, Coade stone panels with swags and medallions between lower and upper windows. Garden front with central bow; the basement, which in the entrance front is concealed, is visible on this side with its windows have Gibbsian surrounds. Magnificent and lofty two storey hall with C18 Gothic plasterwork and gallery along inner wall. Bow room with beautiful Bossi chimneypiece. Dining room with elaborate neo-Classical plasterwork on walls and ceiling; the wall decorations incorporating oval mirrors and painted medallions. Passed to William Parnell-Hayes, brother of the 1st Baron Congleton, and grandfather of Charles Steward Parnell, who was born here and lived here all his life with his mother and elder brother. Now owned by the dept of Lands, Forestry Division, which maintains the splendid demesne as a forest park…The house has in recent years been restored by the Board of Works.” [1]
Samuel Hayes who built the house also planted a forest. He was an expert on trees and wrote books and planted experimentally to see what trees grow best in Ireland. Hayes wrote A practical treatise on planting and the management of woods and coppices (1794). Intended to be a practical guide to the planting of trees and the managing of wood for timber, it was in fact Ireland’s first full-length book on trees. It is fitting that the property is now owned by Coillte, and that they also grow trees and ran the “Great Tree Experiment” here at Avondale. For several years after the house passed into the ownership of the state a forestry school was located in the property.
Avondale, County Wicklow, photograph by Robert French [between ca. 1865-1914], Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.Avondale, County Wicklow, photograph by Robert French [between ca. 1865-1914], Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.Avondale, County Wicklow, photograph by Robert French [between ca. 1865-1914], Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.Avondale, County Wicklow, photograph by Robert French [between ca. 1865-1914], Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.
The house contains Gothic features in the front hall, especially in the stuccowork. The front hall is double-height and has an overlooking balcony.
Samuel Hayes was the great grandson of Thomas Parnell (1625-1686), the first of the Parnell family to come to Ireland, and from whom Charles Stewart Parnell was also descended. Thomas’s son John (1680-1727) became Judge of the Court of King’s Bench and built a house at Rathleague in County Laois. According to the family tree framed in the Drawing Room, John had a daughter Anne who married John Hayes and gave birth to the builder of Avondale, Samuel Hayes.
In 1766 Samuel Hayes married Alice Le Hunt, daughter of Thomas Le Hunt, MP and wide streets commissioner of Dublin, but he died childless. The estate was initially inherited by Sir John Parnell (1744–1801), 2nd baronet. John Parnell (1680-1727) married Mary Whitshed, daughter of Thomas, Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Carysfort, County Wicklow between 1692 and 1698. Their son John (d. 1782) became 1st Baronet Parnell, of Rathleague, Queen’s County in 1766, after being High Sheriff for County Laois and MP for Maryborough in Laois (now Portlaoise).
1st Baronet Parnell married Anne Ward from Castle Ward in County Down. They had a son John (1744–1801), 2nd Baronet. He married Laetitia Charlotte Brooke, daughter of Arthur, 1st Baronet Brooke, of Colebrooke, Co. Fermanagh.
Portrait of John Parnell, 2nd Baronet, by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, from National Trust, Castle Ward.
By the terms of Hayes’s will, Avondale passed from the 2nd Baronet to his son William Parnell (1777–1821), writer, landlord, and MP. Hayes stipulated in his will that rather than being inherited by the eldest son of the family, the estate would be inherited by a younger son. William was the younger brother of John Augustus, 3rd Baronet, who was disabled and died childless, and of Henry Brooke Parnell, who became 4th Baronet Parnell and later, 1st Baron Congleton, of Congleton, Cheshire, which had been the birthplace of the original Thomas Parnell who emigrated to Ireland.
As a result of his inheritance of Avondale, William Parnell assumed the name ‘Parnell-Hayes.’ [2] William married Francis Howard, granddaughter of Ralph Howard, 1st Viscount Wicklow. They had a son John Henry, who was Charles Stewart Parnell’s father. Charles Stewart Parnell inherited Avondale as he also was not the oldest son, but the seventh of eleven children. It was an unusual stipulation that Samuel Hayes made.
Delia was a member of the Plymouth Brethren, and converted a building on the property into house for worship. The 2nd Baron Congleton also converted to the Plymouth Brethren who met in Aungier Street in Dublin.
When Charles Stewart Parnell inherited Avondale estate, it was mired in debt. He sought to increase his income by mining the local area. He became a politician chiefly, our tour guide told us, to earn money to support the estate. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us:
“Parnell invested heavily in mining and quarrying ventures in Wicklow, in particular stone quarrying at Big Rock, near Arklow, from which he supplied paving setts to Dublin corporation. He expended money and effort in seeking to revive the old lead mine and to relocate the lodes of iron and seams of copper that had formerly been worked in the vicinity of Avondale. Through the late 1880s his chief recreation was the quest for gold in Wicklow, assaying samples of ore in his workshops successively at Etham and Brighton.” [3]
He may have been influenced in his politics by his mother’s Republican views, i.e. anti-monarchy. He sought home rule for Ireland and was President of the Land League, which sought to enable tenants to own the land on which they worked. He was arrested for this and put in rather luxurious quarters in Kilmainham Gaol, where he was incarcerated for six months.
By this time he was having an affair with Katherine O’Shea who was called “Kitty” in the press in order to belittle her. She was the wife of another MP who allowed the affair, presumably to maintain his position in parliament as Parnell commanded wide support. He fathered three children with Katherine and when her husband divorced her, they married, but she was unable to inherit Avondale, which passed to Parnell’s older brother.
The Irish turned against Parnell due to his affair, as discussed in James Joyces’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man where Stephen Daedalus’s father and aunt argue about Parnell and Stephen’s father laments “Ireland’s poor dead King.” There is a lengthy biography about him in the Dictionary of Irish Biography.
“Katharine Parnell lived on in deteriorating circumstances and died in Littlehampton, Sussex, on 5 February 1921. After Claude Sophie, who died shortly after her birth, Parnell and Katharine had two further daughters, Clare (1883–1909) and Katharine (‘Katie’) (1884–1947). Clare, who bore a haunting resemblance to Parnell, died in labour. Her son Assheton Clare Bowyer-Lane Maunsell, a lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers, died of enteric fever in India on 29 July 1934, aged 24. As Parnell’s biographer F. S. L. Lyons wrote, ‘the line of direct descent from Parnell therefore ends in a cemetery in Lahore.’ “
The forest planted by Samuel Hayes mostly did not last, as we see from a photograph from 1900. However, the forestry school reinstated the forest, now owned by Coillte.
There are many walks on the estate, including a “tree top walk” and a viewing tower, which has a large enclosed screwshaped slide, which Stephen and I could not resist sliding down! Be prepared to lose all control to speed!
[1] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
5. Corke Lodge, Co Wicklow A98 X264 – gardens open to visitors
www.corkelodge.com Open dates in 2025: June 2-27, Mon-Fri, July 1-26, Tue-Sat, Aug 4-24, 10am-2pm
Fee: adult €10, entrance fee is a voluntary donation in honesty box at door
No pets allowed.
The website tells us:
“The house was built on and incorporates the remains of an older structure, visible on the 1750 maps of Dublin. Situated on the lands owned by Hannagh Tilson Magan it was commissioned by her or by her son William Henry Magan between 1815 and 1820.
“William Magan is known to have employed the Architect William Farrell to design a country house, Clonearl, in Co. Offaly in 1815. This house was destroyed by fire in the 1840’s but it is clear from the surviving plans that the distinctive pillastered design is mirrored in both Killyon manor, Co. Meath another Magan/Loftus house and in Corke Lodge. Unusual fenestration and similar door treatments also link the two surviving properties. Close by the church at Crinken, endowed by Hannagh Magan was also designed by Farrell. So it would not be unreasonable to assume that Corke Lodge, which has all the hallmarks of an architectural ‘capriccio’ is by the same hand. The main façade and the two front reception rooms are in the classical style. The rooms at the back and above have gothic detailing.
“The last Magan owner of this property as well as the other huge Magan/Tilson/Loftus estates was Augusta. Her eccentricities and reclusive life are said to have inspired Charles Dickens, who visited Dublin, in his creation of Miss Haversham, in the Great Expectations.
“The most striking feature of the house is the bold architectural treatment of the classical facade, a miniature of the two great houses mentioned above. By contrast, the back elevations are in a flat gothic stile reflecting the romantic nature of the planted ‘wilderness’. The interiors retain all their original features in terms of marble mantle pieces, pillared architraves and plasterwork. Although the house originally would not have been used for more than a few days a year by the Magans when bathing in the nearby sea or visiting the family tombs at Crinken, it has been continuously inhabited since its incorporation into the Woodbrook estate By Sir Stanley Cochrane in 1906. Sir Stanley, heir to a mineral water fortune, was an accomplished athlete and opera singer who created on his estate championship cricket pitches a golf course and the Laurel Park Opera House, precursor of Glyndebourne, and where Dame Nellie Melba sang.
“The house as it presents itself today was restored and furnished in 1980 by architect Alfred Cochrane. It pioneered the current trends in historicist restoration of country houses and was featured in a number of local and international publications.“
Opening (if Covid allows) April 2nd to July 1st, 2022. By appointment only.
“The gardens surrounding this late eighteenth century house (c.1790) were laid out towards the end of the nineteenth century with plantings of many fine specimens including Rhododendron arboreum, Magnolia soulangeana ‘Alba’, and Camellia japonica. Also included are a number of specimen mature trees, including a fine Chilean myrtle, Luma apiculata, planted c. 1880. When the Butler family acquired the property, a white garden in a sheltered enclosure behind the house was added together with a wild meadow which reaches its peak in mid June.
“The indefatigable Mrs Delany, eighteenth century social commentator, diarist, artist and friend of Dean Jonathan Swift commenting on Rossanagh demesne on which Dower House was built wrote: ‘It is a very pretty place… neatly kept’. As early as 1733, A.C. Forbes noted that the largest tree in Ireland, a Spanish chestnut flourished in the demesne. It was under this tree that Methodist preacher, the Reverend John Wesley preached during one of his many visits in June, 1789. Rossanagh holds links to many well known ‘personalities’ of the day including musician/composer, Thomas Moore, artists, George Romney, Maria Spilsbury-Taylor, politicians, Henry Grattan and William Pitt, the Younger together with Patrick Bronte, father of distinguished English novelists, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Described as one of ‘Wicklow’s finest gardens’ (Jane Powers), the gardens are open each year in aid of The Wicklow Hospice.“
7. Greenan More, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow– section 482
www.greenanmore.ie Open dates in 2025: May 31, June 1, 4-8, 11-15, 18-22, 25-29, July 2-6, 9-13, 16-20, 23-27, 30-31, Aug 1-3, 6-10, 13-24, 10am-3pm
Fee: adult €6, OAP €5, child €3, student free
8. Huntingbrook, County Wicklow – gardens open to public
The Gardens open Wednesday 6th April until Saturday 24th September 2022
Hours Wednesday – Saturday 11am–4pm
“Designed to be a thoroughly immersive experience, the gardens are home to one of Ireland’s largest private collections of plants. A riot of colour, shape and texture, the gardens are always on the move with fresh surprises at every visit.”
www.killruddery.com Open dates in 2025: Apr 1-6, 8-13, 15-20, 22-27, 29-30, May 1-11, 13-18, 20-25, 27-31, June 1-8, 10-15, 17-22, 24-29, July 1-6, 8-13, 15-20, 22-27, 29-31, Aug 1-10, 12-24, 26-31, Sept 2-7, 9-14, 16-21, 23-28, 30, Oct 1-5, 7-12, 14-19, 21-31, Nov 1-2, Apr, Oct, Nov, 9.30- 5pm, May-Sept 9.30am-6pm
Fee: adult house and garden tour €15.50, garden €10.50, OAP/student house and garden tour €13, garden €9.50, house and garden child 4-12 years €13, garden €4, concession-members garden entry free and house tours €6
www.powerscourt.ie Open in 2025: Jan 1-Dec 24, 27-31, house and garden, 9.30am-5.30pm, ballroom and garden rooms, 9.30am-1.30pm
Fee: Jan-Oct, adult €14, OAP, €12, student €10.50, child €5.50, family €20, Nov-Dec, adult €10.50, OAP €9.50, student €9, child €5.50, Jan- Oct, concessions-family ticket 2 adults and 3 children under 18 years €33, concession-Nov-Dec family 2 adults and 3 children under 18 €25
15. Russborough, The Albert Beit Foundation, Blessington, Co. Wicklow W91 W284 – section 482
Russborough House, County Wicklow, photography by Chris Hill 2015 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. [2]
“The very best gardens intrigue and restore us, and so it is with June Blake’s garden which is a rare fusion of inspired design and painterly planting. Situated in the townland of Tinode in west Wicklow, and spread over three rural acres, it wraps itself around June’s home, a handsome Victorian farm-steward’s cottage surrounded by a huddle of austerely beautiful, granite-stone farm buildings, one of which -the Cow House- has recently been the subject of an award-winning, modern architectural conversion.In a previous life, Blake was a gifted jewellery maker. Those same carefully honed skills- a razor sharp eye and keen attention to detail, an artist’s deep appreciation of colour, texture and form, as well as the ability to take a raw, unpolished material and expertly craft it into something aesthetically deeply satisfying- still shine through brightly in her excitingly contemporary country garden. Within it are many different areas of interest. These include intricately planted borders of gem-like beauty, swathes of naturalistic, prairie-style planting, sculptural landforms, a flower meadow that comes to life in spring with sprinkles of crimson red Tulip ‘Red Shine’, generous stretches of woodland intersected by curving cobble paths and filled with choice shade-lovers, and a formal, rectangular pool whose silver sliver of water is a mirror to the cloud-streaked Wicklow sky.Each one is so thoughtfully, imaginatively and expertly executed that it would be enough by itself to bring joy to the heart of any gardener. But it is when they are combined together as a whole that they form what is, without doubt, a truly remarkable garden.” Fionnuala Fallon.
The house was designed by William Caldbeck in 1864. Tinode House was burned to the ground in 1922 by the IRA, and has since been partially rebuilt.
“Ballyknocken House, Farm and Cookery School – Scenically located on 280 acres only 47 km south of Dublin City Centre in County Wicklow, Ireland. Our charming 4* Victorian style farm guesthouse offers 7 guest bedrooms plus a 3-bedroom Milking Parlour apartment, surrounded by scented kitchen gardens, offering a farm to fork experience. Home to celebrity chef and award-winning food writer, Catherine Fulvio, we pride ourselves on continuing the family tradition of providing B&B accommodation for over fifty years here in County Wicklow.
“We offer an intimate, cosy, warm and friendly experience not only for individual guests for Foodie Short Breaks and for visiting Wicklow but we also welcome private parties, whether it’s a corporate, friend and family gathering or hen party. Ballyknocken can be booked exclusively for accommodation, cookery events and onsite activities for your company day out or your celebration.“
2. Bel Air Hotel (formerlyCronroe), Ashford, Co Wicklow
“Bel-Air is an old Manor House Hotel on 200 acres farm and parkland. The house and stable yard are in the middle of the estate, with the land surrounding it in all directions. There is wonderful parkland to the front of the house looking out to the coast, while the tillage land is behind the house. In the centre of the estate is old woodland, which has lovely jumping lanes. In the spring, bluebells and wild garlic bring colour and aroma to the tracks and trails. And the heady scent and sight of the vibrant yellow gorse makes your heart sing.
“The stable yard is from ca 1750 and the current house was built in 1890. Both the house and the yard are listed for preservation and wherever you look you find evidence of the old days.
“Even though we are less than an hour from Dublin, you feel like you are miles from anywhere and you also take a leap back in time. Bel-Air is not just a place – it’s a way of life!“
3. Brook Lodge and Macreddin Village, County Wicklow
“Relax and unwind at The Wells Spa, a designated ‘resort spa’. Dine at The Strawberry Tree, Ireland’s first certified Wild and Organic Restaurant, or La Taverna Armento, a Southern Italian style bistro. We also host Actons Country Pub, The Orchard Café, an Organic Bakery, a Smokehouse and a Wild Food Pantry and much more. Macreddin Golf Course designed by European Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley is a short stroll from BrookLodge.
“Macreddin Village has twice won AA Hotel of the Year, Ireland’s Culinary Hotel of the Year and Ireland’s Luxury Eco-Friendly Hotel. Other recent awards for The Strawberry Tree Restaurant include titles such as Best Restaurant and Best Organic Restaurant.“
“Clone House, first built around 1650, is surrounded by five acres of private land and gardens.
“Based in the heart of vibrant and beautiful County Wicklow, just an hour south of Dublin, Clone House offers a unique holiday experience and quality accommodation for up to 26 guests.
“We cater for events such as family reunions, corporate events, hens & stags and small weddings.“
“Clone House was originally built by the O’Byrne family in the 1650’s. Back then it was the Manor House on a large estate stretching across Moneyteigue, Clone and Coolahullen. The house’s history is as grand and interesting as its demeanor. Clone House provided refuge to the famous Billy Byrne of Ballymanus, was burnt down in the 1798 Rebellion, restored around 1805 and nowadays functions as a beautiful guesthouse.“
5. Croney Byrne, Rathdrum, Co Wicklow – courtyard accommodation
“Wicklow is a great holiday destination and you will love staying in our luxurious Self Catering Holiday Homes in one of the most beautiful locations in Irelands Ancient East. Croneybyrne Courtyard is a family friendly destination where children love our park with playground and collecting their eggs for breakfast from our hens and geese. See our accommodation page for more details. A mere 1 hour drive from Dublin city it is a great escape with many acres of wilderness on our doorstep including Clara Vale Bird Sanctuary and Wildlife Reserve where you can spend hours exploring without seeing another soul or hearing the sound of modern distractions. There you will see Sika Deer as well as Badger, Fox, Rabbits and the occasional Hare, not to mention the myriad of Birds, including the spectacular Red Kite and Spotted Woodpecker.
“There are forest and mountain walks, we are near the Avonmore Trails and within easy reach of the Wicklow Way and the beautiful Vartry Tracks and Trails. Or for the more adventurous, there are challenging Rock Climbing activities as well as hiking on the highest mountain in Wicklow Lugnaquilla or the many mountain tops in the area. If you are looking for a Walking Holiday in Wicklow see our Walking/Hiking pages for a list of our top walks in the area.“
6. Druid’s Glen hotel and golf club (formerly Woodstock), Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Woodstock, which has now been converted to Druid’s Glen hotel:
p. 287. “(Tottenham, sub Ely, M/PB) A three storey five bay block of ca 1770, with single-storey five bay block added ca 1840 by Rt Rev Lord Robert [Ponsonby] Tottenham [1773-1850], Bishop of Clogher [son of Charles Tottenham Loftus 1st Marquess of Ely], who bought the property after 1827; it had previously been rented for a period by the Lord Lieutenant, Marquess Wellesley. The centre block has a one bay breakfront and a die which was probably added by Bishop Tottenham at the same time as the single-storey Ionic portico, which is by Sir Richard Morrison. Giant blind arches in end pavilions; balustraded parapets on wings. Garden front with curved bow in central breakfront; now asymmetrical because of projecting C19 wing on one side and other additions. Hall running through the full depth of the house, divided by a screen of columns from the staircase, which is of fine solid C18 joinery; rococo plasterwork in the manner of Robert West in panels on the walls above the staircase, and curving round the apse at the back of the hall in the bow of the garden front; similar plasterwork on the ceiling of the staircase and landing. Dining room with rococo plasterwork in centre of ceiling. Large and lofty drawing room in right hand wing with frieze and cornice of elaborate C19 plasterwork, rather in the manner of Sir Richard Morrison. Handsome C19 room with bold cornice and ceiling medallion in wing flanking garden front. Sold 1947, afterwards the home of Mr and Mrs G. Van den Bergh. It is now the home of Mr and Mrs William Forwood, who have carried out a most sympathetic restoration of the house, with the help of Mr Jeremy Benson.”
The National Inventory tells us:
“Detached five-bay three-storey over basement former country house, built in 1770, now in use as a hotel / country club. The original house was probably to designs by Robert West the eminent Irish stuccodore. Two-storey wing additions added in c.1830 to designs by Sir Richard Morrison. There are later additions to the rear elevation. The walls are finished in painted lined render. A short flight of stone steps rises to the front door; it has a four-pane fanlight and is flat-headed. This is set within a projecting portico with Ionic columns. Window openings are flat-headed and have moulded surrounds; those to the piano nobile also have blocking courses and projecting cornice. The hipped roof is finished with natural slate and cast-iron rainwater goods. Chimneystacks are rendered with plain caps and clay pots. Much of the late Georgian interior has been retained; this includes rococo plaster work to the hallway, the original stair and fireplaces to principal rooms. The building is set within a large demesne which is now in use as a golf course.” [3]
7. Hunter’s Hotel, County Wicklow
Hunter’s Hotel is open for Accommodation, Breakfast, Morning Coffee, Afternoon Tea & Dinner every day. We serve Lunch on Saturdays & Sundays. http://www.hunters.ie/index.html
8. June Blake’s Garden, Turkey House and Cow House, Tinode, Blessington, Co Wicklow – June Blake’s Garden, see above
It was built around 1750 as stables and converted in 1798. The range consists of four wings based around a large courtyard with the main wing to the front (west) having two-storey projections to its north and south ends.
The website tells us: “Rathsallagh House has been owned and run by the O’Flynn family for over 30 years, it has a happy and relaxed atmosphere with log and turf fires in the bar and drawing rooms. The food at Rathsallagh is country house cooking at its best, Game in season and fresh fish are specialities. Breakfast in Rathsallagh is an experience in itself and has won the National Breakfast Awards a record four times.
“Rathsallagh also has conference and meeting rooms, Spa room, billiard room, and tennis court and is surrounded by the magnificant Rathsallagh Golf Club.“
Joanna and David at Rathsallagh, photograph courtesy of Rathsallagh House.RathsallaghHouse, County Wicklow, photograph courtesy of Rathsallagh House.Rathsallagh, photograph courtesy of Rathsallagh House.J Channing RS Rooms, Rathsallagh, photograph courtesy of Rathsallagh House.Rathsallagh, photograph courtesy of Rathsallagh House.
The website tells us: “Summerhill House Hotel is where glamour and the countryside blend in one of Ireland’s prettiest villages. Our location in the cosy village of Enniskerry is a gloriously refreshing antidote to city living or stressful lives. Reconnect with family and friends and let the kids run free. Lose track of time as you breathe in clean air, stride for miles through nature walks on your doorstep, stargaze under big skies, and, most importantly – relax, with a dose of the finest Wicklow hospitality.“
11. Tinakilly House, Rathnew, Co Wicklow – country house hotel
“Set in 14 acres of mature landscaped gardens overlooking the Irish Sea Tinakilly offers peace and tranquillity yet is only 45 minutes from Dublin. This stunning award winning Country House Hotel in Wicklow is steeped in history and oozes charm and sophistication.“
Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988):
p. 304. “A house of 1870 by James Franklin Fuller, built for Commander Robert Charles Halpin, RN, who commended the steamship Great Eastern when she laid the first Atlantic cable. In vaguely Queen Anne revival style; entrance front with two bay centre between three sided bows; pedimented porch. Roof on bracket cornice with central dormer. Side elevation with central three sided bow. Very impressive central hall, an early example of the hall-cum-living room which was to become an almost obligatory feature of late Victorian and Edwardian country houses; with an imperial staircase rising to a bridge gallery which continues around two of the walls. The ceiling is elaborately coved and coffered; the soffits of the stairs and gallery are richly ornamented with plasterwork. The fireplace is surmounted by a triple window, so that the flue appears to vanish; a conceit which, like the “living hall” itself, became increasingly popular towards the turn of the century. Halpin died 1894; his widow was living at Tinakilly 1912.”
The website gives us the history:
“Tinakilly House was constructed for Captain Robert Halpin, who was born in Wicklow Town and who succeeded in becoming Commander of The Great Eastern when it laid most of the world’s transoceanic telegraph cables. The cable connecting Europe to America was laid in 1866 from Valentia Bay in Ireland to Hearts Content in Canada. A section of this cable and a fine colour print of The Great Eastern can be seen today in Tinakilly Country House Hotel & Gardens. Most of Captain Halpin’s memorabilia is in the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.
“Halpin is reputed to have been given an open cheque by the British Government to build his new mansion in gratitude for his contribution to improving world communications and thereby world trade. He recruited the then very fashionable Irish architect, James Franklin Fuller, to design the house. The timber, which is so evident and gives such character, was selected in London by Halpin. The doors on the ground floor are of Burmese mahogany with many panels of different woods, the best of which are in “birds eye” maple. The architraves window shutters and stairs are in American pitch pine. Fireplaces were imported from Italy with the exception of the drawing room where a fine Georgian one graces the room.
“In 1870 the land extended to 400 acres, two Head Gardener’s were employed, one for inside the walled garden to grow fruit and vegetables and the other to supervise the seven acres of pleasure gardens. There are fine stands of beech eucalyptus and evergreen oak while two giant sequoias (American Redwood) are at either end of the old tennis court. The site chosen for the house is on elevated ground two miles north of Wicklow Town, overlooking Broadlough Bird Sanctuary and the Irish Sea.
“Halpin married the daughter of a wealthy Canadian whaling merchant. They had three daughters, the youngest of whom, Belle, lived in Tinakilly until the early 1950’s. Captain Halpin died at the young age of 58 from blood poisoning after cutting his toe.
“In 1949 the house and lands were purchased by Augustus Cullen, a Wicklow solicitor. The Trustee’s sold on condition that Belle Halpin retain the house for her lifetime, which she did until 1952. Rumour has it that her ghost continued to occupy the house as well as Miss Halpin’s housekeeper – hence the Cullen’s never took occupation. During the last six years of Mr Cullen’s ownership, the house was only used in the summer when it was rented by a group of Jesuit priests for summer retreats. Any ghosts quickly departed.
“In 1959 the house and lands were sold to Mr Gunther Smith whose nephew, Mr Heinrich Rolfe, inherited the property in 1962. His wife ran the house as a guesthouse while Mr Rolfe concentrated on farming. A colourful Frenchman called Jean Claude Thibaud then rented the house and ran it as a “Restaurant Francais”. A thatched cottage bar was constructed in the hall while stucco plaster on the dining room walls appeared to give an effect of “waves by the sea”. One day Jean Claude discovered his kitchen chimney was blocked by the home of a family of building crows. Not wishing to climb out onto the roof to discover which of the 36 chimney pots needed freeing, he took a sledgehammer to a top floor bedroom and through the flue of a fireplace allowing the smoke into the bedroom. He then opened the window and closed the door. A French solution to an Irish problem.
“In 1978 an Irish couple, Dermot & Anne Garland, who had experience in running the Pembroke Restaurant in Dublin, swapped with the Thibauds and completed a purchase agreement for Tinakilly House. The Garland’s redecorated Tinakilly and ran a successful restaurant. Dermot tragically died leaving Anne to struggle on with their two young sons.
“In 1982 Tinakilly sold to William & Bee Power, who decided to develop a full hotel putting bathrooms ensuite and installing a modern fully equipped kitchen. Redecorating and furnishing of the hotel was undertaken by William & Bee to ensure the homely Victorian character so evident to the visitor today. Great care has been taken in all reconstruction work to maintain the nautical theme. Bedrooms were named after ships.
“In 1991 the Power’s constructed 15 suites all overlooking the Irish Sea and Broadlough Bird Sanctuary. Sunrise is a spectacle to behold. The Victorian Halpin Suite was developed to cater for conferences and weddings.
“In 1997 the East wing was extended northwards with the addition of 24 suites and a lift, bringing the total compliment of bedrooms to 51. Also in that year, a new dining room, the Brunel, was built to the west of the house. All of this work has been architect controlled to ensure the true character of Tinakilly is maintained. In January 2000, Tinakilly was taken over by William & Bee’s son and daughter-in-law, Raymond & Josephine.
“In 2013 Tinakilly House changed hands again, the owners are passionate about this grand country manor, adding refreshing touches through out the house but always in keeping with the character. The Great Hall is alive again with chatty conservations over afternoon tea, the Brunel restaurant and menus are refreshing, wedding guest fill the house with laughter and joy. So check back with us to see the old and new meld to give this beautiful Victorian manor a new chapter in history.“
The website tells us: “Tulfarris Hotel & Golf Resort is a luxury 4 star retreat situated in the garden of Ireland, County Wicklow. Perched on the banks of the Blessington Lakes against the backdrop of the Wicklow mountains, yet only 45 minutes drive from Dublin. Offering delicious food, relaxed bars and deluxe guest accommodation, the views are breathtaking and the golf course is immense. Step back in time as you enter the 18th century Manor House which stands imposingly at the heart of our 200 acre resort. Get married, get your colleagues together or get some rest and relaxation. Tulfarris Hotel in Wicklow is yours to enjoy.“
The website tells us of the history of the house:
“Tulfarris House derives its name from the land it is situated on. Tulfarris comes from the Gaelic ‘Tulach Fherghuis’ meaning Fergus’ Hill.
“From a document known as the Faints, which contains legal judgements from the Tudor period, it is clear that the lands known as Tulfarris were included with the manor of Rathmore, Co. Kildare. This estate was in the possession of Gerald Fitzgerald (Garret Oge), 9th Earl of Kildare. Until 1534, the Fitzgerald dynasty dominated both the lands and events that occurred in much of Ireland. The rebellion of Gerald’s son Thomas, popularly known as Silken Thomas, resulted in the confiscation of the entire estate by the crown. In 1541, the crown to Walter Troot, Vicar of Rathmore, leased the manors of Rathmore, including Tulfarris.“
Gerald Fitzgerald (1487-1534) 9th Earl of Kildare
“Shortly afterwards in 1545, the lands were granted in full to Sir John Travers, a knight from Monkstown, Co. Dublin. Sir John Travers had an heir by his first marriage, Henry. Henry married Gennet Preston [d.1599], daughter of the third Viscount of Gormanstown [Jenico Preston, d. 1560]. Henry however, died young leaving two daughters, Mary & Catherine. John Travers died in 1562 and the lands were inherited by Henry’s daughters, Mary & Catherine.
“Mary married James Eustace, 3rd Viscount of Baltinglass. After James played a leading role in the Desmond Rebellion of 1579, The Baltinglass estate including Mary’s share of Rathmore, were confiscated by the crown. Mary managed to have her share of the estate returned to her in her husband’s lifetime.
“Her sister Catherine married John Cheevers of Macetown, Co. Meath. Catherine’s share of the Rathmore Estate included Tulfarris and was inherited by Catherine’s son Henry. Henry in turn married Catherine Fitzwilliam and their son Walter inherited the title to Tulfarris. Inquisitions dated 24th September 1640, detail the size of the estate at the time of Henry Cheever’s death. According to this document, Tulfarris contained one ruined Castle, 20 messuages, 70 acres of land and a manor.
“Tulfarris’ turbulent history continued and in a list of outlaws intended for the House of Lords and dated 1641-1647, five entries for Tulfarris were found. During that time, the crown again confiscated Tulfarris.
“Tulfarris and other properties were granted to Colonel Randall Clayton on 15th October 1667, in trust for the officers of the Cromwellian soldiers of 1649. Tulfarris was subsequently granted to Captain John Hunt of the Cromwellian soldiers of 1649. His son, Vere Hunt, later sold the land to John Borrowes of Ardenode, Co. Kildare. In 1713, Robert Graydon of Russellstown held Tulfarris. The means of transfer of ownership between Borrowes and Graydon is uncertain, however, Borrowe’ss niece and granddaughter both married Graydons.
“Much of the house’s more recent history is associated with the Hornridge family who held the land from the early eighteenth century until the 1950’s. James Hornridge came to Ireland from Gloucester with Cromwell’s parliamentary Army in 1659 and settled in Colemanna in Co. Carlow.
“The Historical information regarding how the Hornridge’s came to own Tulfarris is unclear. His son Richard Hornridge married Hester Hogshaw of Burgage, Blessington Co. Wicklow in 1699. It is most likely that Tulfarris came into the Hornridge’s possession through this marriage.”
13. Wicklow Head Lighthouse, Dunbur Head, County Wicklow € for 4
Gatelodge, Woodenbridge, photograph courtesy of airbnb site.
“Beautifully restored small Castle situated in the Vale of Avoca, within walking distance of the Golf Club. Only 4km from Arklow Town and only 3km from the stunning Avoca Village. The Castle is ideal for those who are looking for a relaxing break to take in the beautiful scenery, walk ways, fishing and golfing.
“The space If you choose to book the Gatelodge, you and your guests will have full use of the Small Castle.“
[1] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
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Cork:
1. Annes Grove Gardens, County Cork – OPW
2. Ashton Grove, Ballingohig, Knockraha, Co. Cork – section 482
2. Ashton Grove, Ballingohig, Knockraha, Co. Cork – section 482
Open dates in 2025: Jan 7-10, 14-17, 21-24, Feb 10-14, 18, 25, Mar 4, May 1-5, 8-11, 13, 15-16, 20, 22-23, June 3-8, 10-15, 17-20, Aug 16-24, 8am-12 noon
Fee: adult €6, child €3, student/OAP free
The property has a facebook page and a contact email on it:
The Landed Estates database has an entry for Ashton Grove:
“This house is marked Ashton Grove on the first Ordnance Surve map. John Cotter was the proprietor of Ashton, Cork, in 1814 and T. Cleary of Ballingohig in 1837. Thomas J. Cleary held the property from Henry Braddell at the time of Griffith’s Valuation when the buildings were valued at £22. Cleary held a cornmill from Braddell in the townland of Kilrussane. James Fitzgerald held 122 acres of untenanted land and buildings valued at £26+ in 1906.” [2]
Under the Braddell family, the landed estates database tells us:
“This family appear to be descended from the Reverend Henry Braddell of Raheengraney, county Wicklow. Henry Braddell held land in the parish of Mallow, county Cork, from at least the early 19th century. Henry Braddell may have been agent to the Earl of Listowel. His nephew John Waller Braddell certainly fulfilled this role in the 1850s and early 1860s until he was murdered in 1863. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation Matthew Braddle held land in the parish of Mourneabbey, barony of Barretts, and Henry Braddle held land in the parishes of Mallow, barony of Fermoy, Castlelyons and Knockmourne, barony of Condons and Clangibbon, Killaspugmullane, barony of Barrymore, county Cork. In the 1870s Henry Braddell of Modelligo, Fermoy, owned 1,872 acres in county Cork.“
and about the Cleary family:
“Thomas J. Cleary held land in the parish of Killaspugmullane, barony of Barrymore, county Cork, at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. In January 1866 the estate of John Thomas Clery at Ashton Grove, Ballingohig, barony of Barrymore, was advertised for sale. His brother Henry Clery was selling his share of Ashton Grove in June 1866. Under tenure in this sale rental a detailed history of the Clerys’ land holding is given. By a fee farm grant dated December 1850 Henry Braddell granted the lands of Kilrossane and Ballingohig to Thomas John Clery, who by his will dated 6 February 1851 left his property divided between his six sons, John Thomas, Henry, Charles, William, George and Richard. In the 1870s William Henry Cleary of Cork owned 2,534 acres in the county.“
An article published on June 2nd 2013 in the Irish Examiner by Peter Dowdall gives a wonderful description of the garden. He writes:
“From tiny little details, such as a glimpse of a marble seat in the distance through an accidental gap in a hedge, to a perfectly-positioned specimen tree, this garden needs senses on high alert.
“If I am to be honest, I was expecting a garden recreated by the book and with a certain degree of interest from the owner. What I discovered was a garden being recreated by a man who is now thinking of the future generations and recreating this garden with a passionate attention to detail. Every plant that goes in is carefully considered; every stone and brick that went into creating an orangery from a derelict pig shed and a belfry from a cowshed were reused from the estate. Fallen slates, which weren’t good enough to use on buildings, create an edge around the rose beds.
“What I love about the place is that the rule book is not evident, trial and error is the order of the day, which to me is real gardening. Except when it comes to the meticulous planning of the box hedges in the potager and the Horological Maze, which at this stage is on its third planting because the original Taxus (yew) failed due to a blight which struck again a few years later. The maze was replanted using Lonicera and is thriving, though it will be a few years before it is truly at its best…I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to spend a Sunday than roaming through the ‘garden rooms’ here.
“Looking down on this garden, which is next to the maze, from an elevated platform you could imagine yourself in the south of France, except for the single-figure temperatures. Other features to admire include the fantastic Anglo-Chinese Regency-style bridge, constructed by the owner’s brother, and the pergola, which has been planted with several climbers including Jasminum, Laburnum, David Austin roses, Wisteria and Passiflora.
“However, no account of a visit to this garden is complete without mentioning the Horological Maze.
“What, I hear you ask is a Horological Maze? Well it’s a design centred on a French mantle clock, which is surrounded by interlocking cog-wheels, pinions and coil springs, all inspired by the workings of a typical mechanism. It also reflects the owner’s interest in horology and provides a balance in its garden sculpture to the turret clock presiding over the courtyard.
“The owner took his inspiration for this creation from visits to Blenheim Palace and Weston Park in England, Shanagarry and Faithlegg in Ireland, and the Summer Palace in Vienna.” [3]
Ballymaloe House, 2017, photograph for Failte Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. [4]
The website tells us:
“Ballymaloe House is a family run Country House Hotel and restaurant on 300 acres of farmland located in beautiful East Cork countryside. Internationally recognised as the birthplace of Modern Irish Cuisine, Ballymaloe House offers you the very best of Irish hospitality and seasonal locally sourced or homegrown food. A unique Irish Country House experience.”
Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. [5]
Mark Bence-Jones writes in A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 24. “[Boyle, Cork and Orrery, E/PB; Corker sub. Corcor/LGI1912] A castle built towards the end of C16 by the FitzGeralds of Imokilly, enlarged 1602 by Sir John FitzEdmund FitzGerald [b. 1555]; confiscated by Cromwell; occupied for a period after the Restoration by William Penn [1644-1718], of Pennsylvania, when he was managing his father’s estate at Shanagarry, nearby; subsequently occupied by 1st Earl of Orrery [Roger Boyle (1621-1679)], presumably while he was repairing and improving his nearby seat of Castle Martyr; acquired towards end of C17 by Lt-Col Edward Corker; sold by him ante his death 1734 to Hugh Lumley, who added some new buildings to the castle some time ante 1750. As a result of Lumley’s additions, Ballymaloe is now predominantly early C18 in character; consisting of a plain two storey six bay range with an old tower built into one end of it, and a three storey gable-ended range at right angles to the two storey range, and joined to it by a return; forming a house on a “L”- plan. Some of the windows have thick early C18 glazing-bars. A staircase with thin turned balusters rises from the inner end of the hall, which has a ceiling with simple Adamesque decoration. The large room to the right of the hall has simple Adamesque frieze. Ca 1800, Ballymaloe was the residence of the Penn Gaskell family, who were descended from William Penn. In 1814, it was the residence of William Abbott. In 1837, it was owned by a Mr Forster; in 1908, it was occupied by William Litchfield. Until ca 1947, it was the home of Mr and Mrs J.M. Simpson; since then, it has been the home of Mr and Mrs Ivan Allen.” [6]
Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (see [5])
The Ballymaloe website elaborates the history:
“Ballymaloe was a castle of the Imokilly Geraldines. Richard FitzMaurice FitzGerald was a son of the Knight of Kerry, who was appointed as Seneschal, or governor, of the area by the Earl of Desmond in 1440. The original castle was probably built by him shortly after that time. By the time of the Desmond rebellion, the occupant was John FitzEdmund FitzGerald who was known as ‘the Queen’s John FitzEdmond’ to distinguish him from the Seneschal of the same name who was a leader of the Insurrection and owned nearby Castlemartyr.“
“John FitzEdmund of Ballymaloe castle was an illegitimate son of Edmund by Honor Ni Donagh, ‘a woman of Muskerry’ and was well up in the list of efficient contrivers and gatherers of land of his time. John FitzEdmund appointed himself Sheriff of Cork in 1570 and during the Desmond rising he ‘dyd hang his (legitimate) brother James FitzEdmund’ in 1582. John refused to join O’Neill in 1599 and his lands were devastated, but he survived to be knighted by Mountjoy at Cloyne for his faithfulness in 1602.“
“Despite their differences, the close ties to the Geraldines were apparent when John FitzEdmund’s son, Edmund, was married to Honora, widow of his namesake, the late Seneschal. In 1611 this Edmund died and she was a widow again so old Sir John leased her the lands at a nominal rent before he died the following year aged 85.
“A daughter of her rebellious father, she housed the homeless friars at Ballymaloe. Her son John moved to Ballymaloe where he died in 1640.
“By the time of the Confederate War in 1641, the owner was her grandson, another Edmund and he lost the lands for taking the ‘rebel’ side. They passed to Broghill, (Roger Boyle, son of the Earl of Cork; newly-created Earl of Orrery, but living on a narrow edge of survival since he had escaped a charge of treason in London. Broghill lived at Ballymaloe after his enforced retirement as President of the court of Munster in 1672 before making his last home at Castlemartyr.“
Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (see [5])
“By the middle of the 18th Century, the occupier was Abraham Forster, and early in the 19th century, his grandson demolished parts of the old castle. It was he who largely build the house into its present form. Sometime later it passed to the Litchfield’s, and in 1924 Simpson, a nephew of the latter family came into possession. Mr. Simpson sold the house and farm to Myrtle and Ivan Allen in 1948 and it remains owned by the Allen family to this day.“
Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (see [5])
“Myrtle and Ivan Allen bought Ballymaloe in 1948 from the Simpson family. The Simpsons were known in the area for their parties and Myrtle and Ivan had, in fact, met at Ballycotton Lifeboat fundraising dinner at Ballymaloe a few years previously. Ivan had wide farming interests, growing tomatoes and cucumbers in glasshouses and mushrooms in dark wooden sheds at nearby Kinoith as well as managing the orchards there.
“However, Ivan longed for a mixed farm and when Ballymaloe came up for sale he decided to buy it. Myrtle and Ivan spent the next sixteen years farming and bringing up their children. The farm was a success producing milk, butter, cream, eggs, home raised pork and veal as well as fruit and vegetables. Myrtle became highly knowledgeable about cooking their produce and began writing a cookery column in the Irish Farmers Journal.“
“In 1964, Myrtle, encouraged by Ivan, decided to open Ballymaloe as a restaurant. The children were growing up and she could see a different future ahead of her:
“On a winter’s day I sat by the fire alone and wondered what I would do in this big house when they were all grown up – Then I thought about a restaurant.”
“Her aim was to emulate the best Irish Country House cookery. Myrtle and Ivan then placed an advert in the Cork Examiner: Dine in a Historic Country House. Open Tuesday to Saturday. Booking essential. Phone Cloyne 16.
“So Myrtle scrubbed down the kitchen table, and with the help of two local women she began. They cooked on an Aga at first and she was helped front of house by Ivan and their daughter Wendy. Their shepherd Joe Cronin ran the bar.
“The food was good and the restaurant flourished. They cooked using their own produce- unpasteurised milk and cream, veal, pork, homemade sausages and black puddings, herbs, fruit and vegetables. Ivan went to Ballycotton every day for the fresh catch. Local beef and lamb came from Mr.Cuddigan, the butcher in Cloyne. Myrtle also encouraged local farmers’ wives to bring in their surplus produce and blackberries, elderflowers and watercress were brought in by children for pocket money.
“Although times have changed at Ballymaloe, the essential spirit of the place is rooted in these improvised beginnings and in the relationship of the farm to the table which underlies the elegance of Irish Country House cooking.“
Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (see [5])
The National Inventory describes it: “Detached six-bay two-storey country house, built c. 1780, with four stories to rear (north) elevation, three bays to rear forming central projection and having single-storey additions to rear. Tower house, c.1450, incorporated into west elevation and taller L-plan three-storey house c. 1730 to east, five-bay two-storey hipped-roofed block with slightly projecting east bay to north-east corner…The fascinating multiphase construction is evident in the variety of styles and blocks which form the house. Formerly the seat of the FitzGeralds of Imokilly, it was enlarged by Sir John FitzEdmund FitzGerald. It was occupied at one time by William Penn of Pennsylvania and by First Earl of Ornery. Its impressive size is enhanced by fine proportions and by the retention of various timber sliding sash windows. The central doorcase and large petal fanlight form the main artistic focus and enhance the impressive and symmetrical façade. The other blocks add tremendous context. The tower house incorporated into the main house is a very notable archaeological feature. The house retains much early fabric and forms a group with related outbuildings and gate lodge.” (see [5])
Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (see [5])Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (see [5])Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (see [5])Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (see [5])Ballymaloe House, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (see [5])
Bantry House, County Cork, photograph 1989 from the National Library, flickr constant commons.Bantry House, County Cork, photograph by Chris Hill, 2016 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])
Open dates in 2025 but check website in advance as it may be closed for an event: Apr 12-30, May 1-16, 18-30, June 1-30, July 1-11, 13-24, 26-31, Aug 1-31, Sept 1-26, 28-30, 10am-5pm
Fee: adult €14, OAP/student €11.50, child €5, any other concessions groups 8-20 people €10 and groups of 21or more people €9
Barryscourt Castle by Julia Delio, flickr constant commons, August 2009.
6. Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork
Blackrock Castle, Cork, from the National Library of Ireland, flickr constant commons.
The Archiseek website tells us:
“Blackrock Castle lies on the shore of the river Lee, in the city of Cork, in County Cork in Ireland.
“The circular watchtower of Blackrock Castle was built in 1604, on the site of an earlier fort. With its 2.2 meter thick walls, it was designed to withstand cannon fire. It was built to defend the city against attacks from pirates and the Spanish, who had landed at Kinsale 3 years earlier. But it also served to protect the English Lord Deputy Mountjoy against the citizens of Cork, who had been slow to acknowledge King James I.
“Later Blackrock Castle was used by the Mayors of Cork for the Admiralty Court. Also known as the Maritime Court, it exercised jurisdiction over all maritime caes and offences.
“In 1827 the castle was gutted by fire following the annual Corporation banquet. Two years later, in 1829, it was rebuilt and enlarged in Gothic Revival style.
“Later it was used as a meeting place, a private residence, a restaurant and commercial offices before it was acquired by the Cork City Council in 2001. At present the castle houses an astronomy center/museum especially aimed at children.” [7]
Blackrock Castle and the River Lee, County Cork 1796, from Views in Ireland after Thomas Sautelle Roberts, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
www.brideweir.ie Open dates in 2025: May 3-4, 10-11, Aug 1-31, Sept 1-30, Nov 1-7, 9am-1pm
Fee: adult €10, child/student €5, OAP free
Brideweir House, County Cork, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The website tells us: “Every house has its tales to tell and Brideweir House in Conna, Co Cork is no exception. In the year 1822 famine had hit Ireland. In Conna the local Reverend Ludlow Tonson chaired a meeting of the parish on 29th July in favour of constructing a bridge over the River Bride.
“Its purpose was “to facilitate communications in the area, and to offer employment”. A petition was sent to Dublin Castle and the rest, as they say, is history. The bridge still has pride of place today over the River Bride.
“But it’s safe to say that the reverend Tonson must have had a vested interest in seeing the bridge built. It was to be just a stone’s throw from the location of his two storey over basement rectory, Brideweir House, built in 1822, the same year he helped raise the petition.
“The Reverend’s house, completed for the princely sum of £923 (thanks to a gift and a grant, both of £300 from the Board of First Fruits), was situated on a glebe of seven acres and boasted a fine coach house and stables, all still in existence today.“
10. Burton Park, Churchtown, Mallow, Co. Cork– section 482
“Fota House was designed by 19th century architects Richard and William Morrison. From the beautifully proportioned rooms with exquisite plasterwork, to the preserved service wing and kitchens, Fota House offers visitors an intimate look at how life was lived in the past, for the cooks, butlers, footmen and maids who supported the lavish lifestyle of the gentry. Our painting collection is considered to be one of the finest collections of landscape painting outside the National Gallery of Ireland and includes works by William Ashford PRHA, Robert Carver, Jonathan Fisher and Thomas Roberts.” [8]
Garrettstown House, County Cork, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his 1988 A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 132. “(Cuthbert-Kearney/LG1863; Franks/IFR) Some time ante mid-C18, the Kearney family – who, like other families along the south-west coast of Ireland, are reputed to have become rich through smuggling – began building themselves a grand house with two wings facing each other across a forecourt in the Palladian manner; levelling a site for it out of the solid rock above the sea at great expense. The two wings, of an attractive golden stone, their handsome pedimented facades, each with a rusticated doorway, facing each other across the forecourt, fwere completed. But whether the house itself was actually built is uncertain; though Charles Smith (writing 1750) implies that it was. If it existed, it cannot have survived very long; for one of the wings subsequently became the house, being enlarge dfor this purpose…Towards the end of C19, Garrettstown was inherited by the Franks family, who sold it ca 1950. It is now ruinous.” It is no longer ruinous and has undergone major renovation.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage gives the following appraisal:
“Built by the Kearney family between the years 1702 and 1720, with changes and additions being made until 1740, this building was originally a wing of a substantial country house. The main house was never started due to financial reasons and this, one of the flanking buildings, was subsequently turned into a stable block. The money saved by not building the main house was spent on improving the gardens and grounds. The house was passed down through the female line, staying within that lineage until 1950 when it was sold to the Land Commission. Although now in use as offices, the building retains much of its original form and character seen in the tooled limestone detailing and its grand scale. The retention of many of the original outbuildings and the extensive gardens on the site give further evidence to the wealth and status of this former country house.”
Inish Beg estate, Baltimore, County Cork, photograph by George Karbus 2016 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool (see [4])
The website tells us:
“Inish Beg, Irish for “small island”, is the most northerly of the Carbery Hundred Islands of County Cork Ireland and lies in the unspoilt tidal estuary of the Ilen River. There is a bronze age Cromlech (boulder burial) within the grounds, as well as a tree covered Lissaghaun (little fort or fairy mound) in front of the main house.The local saint, St. Fachtna is recorded as having been given the “Book of Dues” on the island in the 6th century.The island belonged to a Richard White in the 17th Century and was acquired by the MacCarthy Morrough family in 1830. Initially used as a sporting estate, the main house was finally finished in 1899.The population of the island followed a familiar pattern to that of much of the rural west of Ireland. Lewis quotes 109 inhabitants in 1837, but the numbers then declined to 11 by 1901 following the famine years of the mid nineteenth century and the agricultural depression of the 1880’s.
“In 1908 Kay Summersby was born at Inish Beg House. She came to notoriety as a close companion of Dwight D. Eisenhower.“
Inish Beg estate, Baltimore, County Cork, photograph by George Karbus 2016 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool (see [4])Inis Beg House, County Cork, photograph by Robert French (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Inish Beg Estate comprises 97 acres;
42 of these are birdsong-filled woodlands which are sympathetically managed and include exceptional tree ferns, bamboo, several ponds, bird hides and carriage drives,
42 acres are green fields sweeping down to the Ilen Estuary where sheep and ponies graze, for this is a working farm run on organic principles.
the remaining 13 acres is taken up with buildings, a walled garden with glass house and fruit cages, a sunken garden with fountain, a cherry drive, an orchard, a daffodil lined avenue and two woodland gardens.
Open dates in 2025: March 18-19, 21, 24, 26-27, April 2, 4-7, 9, 11-13, 21, 23, 25, May 12, 14, 16-17, 19, 21, 23-26, 28, 30, June 2, 4, 6-9, 11, 13, 16, 25, 27-29, July 2, 4-7, 14, 16, 18-20, 28, 30, Aug 1- 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15-25, Sept 18, 20, 22-25, 27, 29, 8.30am-3pm,
Fee: adult €14, OAP €12, student €10, child €8
22. Liss Ard Sky Garden, County Cork
Liss Ard estate is now a hotel, but you can book lunch and a visit to the Sky Garden, and wander around the gardens of the estate. The hotel is surrounded by miles of trails, which weave whimsically and which reveal magical settings with artfully placed walls and steps. It is also the site of a ring fort: the Irish “Lios Aird” means high fort. For more about the hotel, see the accommodation section below.
The art dealers/collectors Claudia and Veith Turske purchased Liss Ard estate and in the 1990s and created public gardens with waterfalls, an arboretum with 10,000 newly-planted trees and had plans to create further land artworks after James Turrell’s installation, which was created in 1992. The property has since changed hands. It first came to my attention when a music festival was held in its grounds.
The website describes James Turrell’s The Irish Sky Garden
“For over half a century, the internationally renowned landscape artist James Turrell has worked directly with light and space to create artworks that engage viewers with the limits and wonder of human perception. New Yorker critic Calvin Tompkins writes, “His work is not about light, or a record of light; it is light — the physical presence of light made manifest in sensory form.” ”
The Sky Garden at Liss Ard by James Turrell.
The Irish Public Art directory describes the Sky Garden:
“The ‘Irish Sky Garden’ is a giant earth and stone crater embedded into the landscape of the Liss Ard Estate gardens. The artwork consists of an archway, a long megalithic-like passage, and stairs leading to an oval shaped, grass-lined crater, which measures 50 x 25 metres.In the centre of the crater’s ‘bowl’ is a large stone ‘vault purchase’ or plinth (not unlike an Egyptian sarcophagus). This is where the visitor should lie back and look at the sky, which is framed by the edges of the elliptical crater.
”The most important thing is that inside turns into outside and the other way around, in the sense that relationships between the Irish landscape and the Irish sky changes” (James Turrell).”
Open dates in 2025: May 1-3, 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29-31, June 5-7, 12-14, 19-21, 26-27, July 3-5, 10-12, 17-19, 24-26, 31, Aug 1-2, 7-9, 14-24, 28-30, Sept 4-6, 2pm-6pm
The website tells us: “Ballinacurra House is an elegant Georgian Mansion built c.1770 which has been fully renovated and upgraded over the past 20 years. The Estate consists of the main Manor House, Stone Cottage and Coach House – set behind 10 foot high stone walls with lawns, fields, river jetty and forest – and only 5 minutes’ drive from Ireland’s premier tourist town of Kinsale. Whether it’s for a holiday or some type of event … we’ve got you covered. The Owners’ 30 years of experience in event management is one of the reasons that Ballinacurra House is known as Ireland’s Premier Events House with a guarantee of privacy, discretion and style. And is the ideal venue for corporate retreats, client hosting, birthday parties, team-building events, golf groups, family reunions, private parties, friend gatherings and … weddings with a difference.
“For the first time we are now opening up the property to give groups of various sizes the opportunity to enjoy the uniqueness of the property! So depending on the size of your family or group, we have developed a range of options for self-catering (minimum 3 days) and our fully staffed and catered premium product for Private Groups (price on request). So now you can choose from:
Estate Cottage 1 – The Coach House – up to 7 people – Self Catering – from €1,200 A 3 bedroom/4 bathroom separate 1,200 square foot home with a private outdoor dining terrace. This building has been renovated from the original coach house for the main manor house – and perfect for up to 7 people.
Estate Cottage 2 – The Stone Cottage – up to 10 people – Self Catering – from €2,200 A stand-alone 1,800 square foot home with 4 bedrooms/4.5 bathrooms with its own private garden. This building was the original gardener’s cottage for the main manor house – now fully renovated that will sleep up to 10 people comfortably.
Manor House (Partial) – up to 20 people – Self Catering – from €8,800 You will enjoy private use of Two Wings of the Manor House including 8 ensuite bedrooms and a range of living rooms, dining rooms, country style kitchen and outdoor dining options (can be catered or staffed by request).
Manor House (Whole) – from 28 to 36 people – Full Catered & Staffed Only – on request There are 14 Bedrooms in the Manor House that can accommodate up to 36 adults + 3 children sharing and a whole range of living and entertainment spaces. Due to the numbers, this is only available on a fully catered and staffed basis.
Whole Estate – from 44 to 54 people – Fully Catered & Staffed Only – on request The entire Estate consisting of the Manor House, Stone Cottage and Coach House for your private and exclusive use. A total of 22 ensuite bedrooms which is fully staffed and catered. This can cater for up to 54 adults + 4 children sharing.”
4. Ballinterry House, Rathcormac, Co Cork – accommodation
Ballinterry House, County Cork, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.Ballinterry House, County Cork, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Frank Keohane writes in his Buildings of Ireland: Cork City and County that:
p. 21. “After the Williamite wars, landowners had the confidence to invest in their property and improve their estates, building new houses and offices, and creating enclosed landscaped demesnes. Of the minor gentry, most aspired to nothing more than a house that was solidly built, symmetrical and convenient. At first, middling houses were unsophisticated in their form and planning, often only one room deep but sometimes having a return containing a staircase or service rooms, thus forming an L-plan or T-plan. Steep gable-ended roofs were almost universal, hipped roofs and the use of parapets the exception. This arrangement continued throughout the 18th century for gentry houses, and well into the C19 for larger farmhouses. Early examples include Ballinterry (Rathcormac), Velvetstown (Buttevant), Rosehill at Ballynacorra (Midleton) and Aghadoe at Killeagh.” [9]
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Ballinterry House in A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 290. “(Barry/IFR) An early C18 house built on the site of a castle which in 1699 belonged to Andrew Morrough or Murragh, an attainted Jacobite; the house was until comparatively recently surrounded by old fortifications including four round towers, of which one and the fragments of another survive. Gable ended main block of two storeys with attic lit by windows in gable-ends; five bay front, originally seven bay, the windows on either side of the centre having been blocked up; presumably in the late Georgian period, when the other windows of the front appear to have been reduced in size and the interior walls rearranged. Simple fanlighted doorway. Original grass terrace with flagged pavement along front. Two storey return wing; central projection at rear of main block containing late-Georgian stairs with balustrade of plain sturdy wooden uprights. Stairs now open to hall; formerly separated from it by screen of C18 panelling with Gothic fanlight, now removed to first floor lobby of wing. Bought 1703 by the 4th Earl of Barrymore [James Barry (1667-1747)]; afterwards passed to the Ross family and then by marriage and descent to the Ryders and Henleys successively. From 1821 to 1862 the home of Archdeacon (“Black Billy”) Ryder, remembered for his part in the “Gortroe Massacre” in 1834, a tragic episode of the Tithe War. Ballinterry is now the home of Mr Hurd Maguire Hatfield, the stage and screen actor, who has carried out a sympathetic restoration of the house [who sold it to the current owners, Michael and Anne in 2007].”
James Barry (1667-1747) Lieutenant Colonel and 4th Earl of Barrymore, National Trust, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The interior extensively damaged by a fire in 1991. Michael and Anne bought the period propety as a restoration project and realised it would be suitable for taking guests. An article in the Irish Times on Oct 3 2013 by Ellen Lynch tells us about the renovation:
“Michael and Ann spent three years taking up rotting floors, dismantling partitions, uncovering windows and other original features, and taking the house “back to the future” by renovating and modernising it in a way which was wholly sympathetic to its origins.
“In December 2007, without power and with no floorboards, the couple had no choice but to decamp with their young children to a cottage in outbuildings on the property. They moved back in during the spring of 2009.
“They managed to complete the work with the help of a conservation architect and the encouragement and blessing of Cork County Council’s conservation officer, Mona Hallinan. The Georgian Society declared it one of the most sympathetic restorations they’ve seen.
“Ann credits Michael’s unerring eye for detail and his capacity for hard work in bringing everything together to make Ballinterry House what it is today – a splendid country house with a truly authentic feel. “
5. Ballymacmoy, Killavullen, Co Cork – coach house airbnb €
The website tells us: “Ballymacmoy is the estate of origin of the wild geese family, the Hennessy’s of Cognac and is still owned and inhabited by their descendants. 40 kilometres from Cork International Airport, Ballymacmoy is a 23 acre estate located at the edge of the little village of Killavullen (200 inhabitants). It is made up of grasslands and wooded areas with 3.5 miles of exclusive fishing rights along the Blackwater river, it includes a 1 acre walled garden and a unique prehistoric private cave reserved for guests.”
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Ballymacmoy in A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 24. “[Hennessy/IFR] A two storey late-Georgian house on a rock overhanging the River Blackwater. Entrance front of three bays and curved bow; Wyatt windows, subsequently reglazed with central mullions; fanlighted doorway now obscured by plain porch. Simple battlemented arch at opposite end of house. Hall with elaborate early to mid-C19 plasterwork; reeded cornice with rosettes, central oval of acanthus. Partly curving stair with slender wooden balusters at inner end of hall beyond arch with rope ornament. Fine doorcases with Doric entablatures and rope ornament on architraves. Cornices of oakleaves in drawing room and ante room. Bow-ended ballroom with higher ceiling than the other principal rooms and simpler and presumably earlier C19 plasterwork; oval moulding in centre of ceiling, with flat pan pendentives at corners. Fluted pilasters on walls. Oak chimneypiece in the “Arts and Crafts” style, with overmantel incorporating needlework panel, carved in 1905 by Harriette, widow of J.W. Hennessy. There is a similar oak fireplace in the dining-room, which has been entirely done over in Edwardian Tudor; with a beamed ceiling, timber-studded walls and painted coat-of-arms. Sold 1932 by Mr. C.J. Hennessy to his kinsman, the late Monsieur J.R. Hennessy, of La Billarderie, Cognac. Recently tenanted by Mr. Ian Sherriff, who ran it as a guest house.”
6. Ballymaloe, Cloyne, Co Cork – accommodation – see above€€
Open dates in 2025: April 1-Sept 30, Jan, Feb Mar, Nov, Dec 3-20 Wed-Sat, Oct Tue-Sat
Fee: adult €7, family €18-2 adults and 3 children Although listed under Accommodation Facility they have a fee on this listing so if you contact them in advance perhaps they will give you a tour.
Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])
The website tells us: “Welcome to Ballyvolane House, a historic Irish country house of extraordinary warmth, style and comfort that provides luxury manor house accommodation, bespoke intimate weddings, glamping and private house parties/exclusive house rentals, located in the beautiful North Cork countryside of southern Ireland. Ballyvolane House is also home to Bertha’s Revenge Gin.“
Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])
The National Inventory describes the house: “Ballyvolane House is a fine example of the Victorian Italianate domestic architecture, in this case being applied to a house which was originally a three-storey early eighteenth-century structure. The top storey was removed when the house was remodelled in 1847. The classically proportioned façade is enlivened by the decorative render dressings including oak-leaf brackets to the eaves, window surrounds and heavy continuous sill course. The porch constitutes the decorative focus of the house and is articulated by pilasters. The doorway is flanked by skillfully carved marble engaged columns with ornate foliate capitals which add further artistic interest to the façade. The block to the west was built to house the servants and is of a simpler design and treatment. This building, together with extensive outbuildings and walled gardens, adds valuable context to the site.“
Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])
The website tells us about the history:
“There is an inescapable air of frivolity at Ballyvolane – the name itself means ‘the place of springing heifers’ and is testament to the fertility, richness and natural diversity of the land on which the estate lies.
“Originally built in 1728 by Sir Richard Pyne, a retired Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Ballyvolane was designed in the classic Georgian country house style with three storeys… An amorous descendent, Arthur Pyne, acquired sufficient capital from his marriage to three wealthy women to have the house considerably enlarged in the early 19th century.
“The three-storey house was again modified in 1872 by George Pyne. He had the building pulled apart and then, by removing the top storey, recreated a two-storey house rendered in Italianate style, with an extensive west end wing.“
Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])
The website continues: “Recent research carried out Terence Reeves-Smyth unearthed tender documents for the remodelling of Ballyvolane from this time – the architect was Richard Rolt Brash (1817-1876), a Cork architect, whose father and brother were well known builders in the city. RB Brash is better known as a very active antiquarian and friend of John Windele – he was especially interested in round towers.
“The rebuilding/remodelling in the early 1870s followed the re-acquisition of the house and demesne by the Pyne family in 1869. Arthur Pyne (1747-1839) who probably built the present house around c1800 and laid out the present parkland (which looks Regency in date), was succeeded by his eldest son Jasper Pyne. Unfortunately, when Jasper died in 1860-1 he left no male heirs and as a result his wife and daughters did not inherit the property (the estate had been left by his father Arthur entailed for a life and could only be inherited by male issue). Consequently, following a big court case in May 1861 the property passed to Jasper’s younger brother, the Rev. William Masters Pyne, Rector of Oxted in Surrey. In March 1864 the Rev Pyne put the place on the market through the Encumbered Estates Courts. It remained on the market until bought by another member of the Pyne family in January 1869.
“It appears that Ballyvolane was originally purchased by Sir Richard Pyne in 1702-3 for £696; prior to this it had been the property of Sir Richard Nagle and Edmond Barry, but had been granted (forfeited lands) to Viscount Sidney. At the same time Sir Richard Pyne also purchased three other Co Cork properties from the Commissioners for Sale of Forfeited Estates; one was Blarney, the others were the estates of Ballinaneala and Ardra. He also in England bought Great Codham Hall in Essex, where the family continued to live well into the 19th century.“
“The Pynes built the present house and lived here until 1953, when it was bought by the late Cyril Hall Green (known as Squirrel Green) and his wife Joyce (née Blake), on their return from Malaya, where Squirrel had managed rubber plantations since the 1920’s. Ballyvolane was passed on to Squirrel’s son, Jeremy, who ran it as a mixed tillage and dairy farm until the mid 1980’s when it became one the founding members of the Hidden Ireland group, an association of town and country houses offering a unique and exclusive style of accommodation and chosen for their architectural merit and interesting characteristics.
“Ballyvolane was managed as a successful country house bed and breakfast by Jeremy and his wife, Merrie until January 2004, when the reins were handed to his son Justin and his wife, Jenny. Justin and Jenny are experienced hoteliers having gained international management experience in some of the best hotels in the world namely Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, The Legian in Bali, Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai and prior to moving home, Justin was GM of Babington House (part of Soho House) in Somerset. Three generations of the Green Family now live at Ballyvolane.“
Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])Ballyvolane, County Cork, photo taken 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [4])
8. Bantry House & Garden, Bantry, Co. Cork– see above €€
Bantry House, County Cork, photograph from the National Library of Ireland, flickr constant commons.
9. Blairscove House, County Cork: accommodation in the Piggery, Smoke House and Loft. Also weddings€
“Blairscove House is situated on the picturesque inlet of Dunmanus Bay in West Cork on the Wild Atlantic Way. Not touched by mass tourism, it appeals to visitors who want to get away ‘far from the madding crowd,’ yet desire premium facilities in terms of service and food, with home from home comforts in terms of welcome and accommodation.
“Around the courtyard of a Georgian House, beautifully restored with cobbled paths, shrubs and flowers, are the restaurant and four stylish suites or small apartments which can be rented on a bed and breakfast or self-catering basis. Formerly a piggery, coach house and servants’ quarters, each suite is individually and very lovingly decorated with a quirky mix of contemporary and antique furnishings.
“We also have another holiday cottage on Dunmanus Pier in West Cork, just 12km from Blairscove, in the direction of Mizen Head, again on the Wild Atlantic Way driving route.“
Mark Bence-Jones writes in 1988 of Castle Martyr in A Guide to Irish Country Houses:
p. 72. “(Boyle, Cork and Orrery, E/PB; Boyle, Shannon, E/PB; Arnott, Bt/PB) Originally an old castle of the FitzGeralds, Seneschals of Imokilly, to which an early C17 domestic range was added by Richard Boyle, the “Great” Earl of Cork, who bought it from Sir Walter Raleigh, to whom it had been granted, along with other confiscated Geraldine estates. Having been damaged during the Civil Wards, it was repaired and made “English like” by Lord Cork’s third son, 1st Earl of Orrery, to whom it had passed; only to suffer worse damage in the Williamiate War, after which it was left a ruin, and a new house built alongside it early in C18 by Henry Boyle, who became Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and eventually 1st Earl of Shannon. The house was greatly enlarged by 2nd Earl between 1764/71, and further remodelled in late-Georgian period. While giving it an abnormally long facade, the subsequent additions did not take away from the house’s early C18 character, beign on the same scale and in the same style as the original building. Entrance front of two storeys and 17 bays, consisting of a five bay recessed centre with a giant pedimented portico between projecint wings, the forward-facing one bay ends of which are prolonged by a further five bays on either side. The ends of the projecting wings on either side of the centre are framed by rusticated pilasters, and formerly had Venetian windows in their lower storey, which have now been made into ordinary triple windows; there is also a rusticated pilaster at either end of the facade. The front is unusual in having three entrance doorways, of similar size, one under the portico and one in the centre of the five outer bays on either side; originally these doorways had plain architraves, but they were replaced by rusticated doorcases early this century. High-pitched, slightly sprocketed roofs. Irregular garden front; range of three bays on either side of a curved central bow, then a four bay range set slightly back with a balustraded colonnade of coupled Doric columns along its lower storey, then a range set further back again, of the same height as the rest of the facade but of one storey only, with three tall windows. Long, narrow and low-ceilinged hall with bifurcating wooden staircase at one end; late-Georgian frieze. A wide pilastered corridor runs from the staircase end of the hall, opening into a series of reception rooms along the garden front’ they are of modest size, low-ceilinged and simply decorated. In contrast to them is the magnificent double cube saloon or ballroom at the opposite end of the hall., which rises the full height of the house and is lit by the three tall windows in the single-storey part of the garden front. It has a coved ceiling with splendid rococo plasterwork in the manner of Robert West – birds, swags, flowers, foliage and cornucopiae in high relief – and a doorcase with fluted Ionic columns and a broken pediment. This room was one of 2nd Earl’s additions; it was finished by 1771, when it was seen by Arthur Young, who considered it to be the best room he had seen in Ireland. It certainly rates among the dozen or so finest Irish country house interiors; or anyhow whould have done when it had its chimneypiece and its original pictures and furnishings. The entrance front of the house overlooks a sheet of water which is part of the remarkable artificial river made ante 1750 by 1st Earl; it winds its way between wooded banks through the demesne and round the neighbouring town of Castlemartyr; broad and deep enough to be navigable by what was described in C18 as “an handsome boat.” The entrance gates from the town are flanked by tall battlemented walls shaped to look like Gothic towers; from the side they reveal themselves to be no more than stage scenery. Castle Martyr was sold early in the present century to the Arnott family; it was subsequently re-sold and is now a Carmelite College.”
Note that Henry Boyle (1682-1764), 1st Earl of Shannon, who owned Castlemartyr, also owned a townouse at 11 Henrietta Street in Dublin. See Melanie Hayes’s wonderful book The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents, 1720-80 published by Four Courts Press, Dublin 8, in 2020.
Henry Boyle, M.P. (1682-1764), Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, later 1st Earl of Shannon Date: 1742, Engraver John Brooks, Irish, fl.1730-1756 After Unknown Artist, England, 18th century, English, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
We visited the Castle of Castletownshend when on holidays in County Cork in June 2022. The Castle is a hidden gem, full of history. We definitely look forward to a return visit, to stay in the Castle.
“In the picturesque village of Castletownshend, past ‘The Two Trees’ at the bottom of the hill, you’ll find our family-run boutique B&B. Nestled at the edge of a scenic harbour and natural woodlands for you to explore, The Castle is a truly unique place to stay. It has the warm, homely feel of a traditional Irish B&B, but with a few extra special touches.
The airbnb posting tells us you can rent a room in the house:
“A beautiful Georgian house set in wonderful countryside, amongst old and established trees with lawns and a walled vegetable garden with exceptional views overlooking the Nagle Mountains and the Blackwater River running below.
“Situated between Mallow and Fermoy approx 12 miles from either with three local villages Killavullen, Castletownroche and Ballyhooly each a 2.5 miles away. Cork city is 45 minutes drive.
The space
“This is the perfect place to relax, unwind or position yourselves for a weekend of fishing and relaxation. You are welcome to walk around the grounds, relax in the sitting room in front of the fire read or watch TV.
Guest access
“The double bedroom is comfortable and spacious with a king size bed with en suite bathroom which has been recently upgraded.“
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage tells us: “This solid and handsome country house was built by Richard Martin on a prominent position overlooking the River Blackwater. It developed over the centuries, as evidenced by the various additions. The house is notable for the quantity and quality of historic fabric retained such as the varied small-paned sash windows and slate roof, helping to maintain the integrity of the composition. The cut limestone piers with pineapple caps are a most decorative feature.”
13. Drishane House whole house rental and holiday cottages – see above
The Hidden Ireland website tells us: “An elegant Italiante style Manor house in mature beech woodland and gardens close to Cork City (15km).
“The house is spacious and bright and beautifully decorated and it is set in 12 acres of mature beech woodland and landscaped gardens. Accommodation is exceptionally generous and gracious with antique furnishings, a grand piano and full-sized billiard table.
“Situated 9 miles from Blarney, 38 miles from Killarney and 10 miles from Cork city and airpor, this is an ideal location for touring both Cork and Kerry and perfect for family reunions / anniversaries. It is available for self catering and catered rental, with accommodation for up to 16 people. Perfect for vacation rentals.Ten 18-hole golf courses are within 25km. Children welcome.“
17. Galley Head Lighthouse Keepers House, County Cork € for 3-4
“A fantastic option for travellers looking for a quiet stay, in a strategic location, to explore Kinsale, West Cork and beyond. We offer Warm hospitality with a romantic and relaxed atmosphere.
“Our facilities are fully equipped with all the comforts you need, as well as beautiful formal gardens with a Lavender walk, Partier and Rose Garden. We have areas for walks, an enclosed garden for our dog guests, and easy access to the main tourist attractions of Blarney, Kinsale and West Cork.
“Under the hospitable ownership of Gill and Caroline, this classically proportioned Georgian Rectory has been providing a restful retreat for guests since 1989, and everybody loves it for its genuine country house feeling and friendliness.
“Spacious reception rooms have the feeling of a large family home, and generous, stylishly decorated bedrooms have good bathrooms, fast Internet connection, and tea/coffee making facilities. The Rose Room, on the ground floor, has French doors to the garden.
“Set in two acres of beautiful, well-tended gardens (including a productive kitchen garden), this charming old rectory near Kinsale has a lovely wisteria over the front door and it is a place full of interest.
“Check in is between 4.00pm and 6.00pm when Complimentary Afternoon Tea is served. Please let us know if you require check in at a different time and we can arrange it.”
19. Glenlohane, Kanturk, Cork – B&B accommodationand self-catering cottage€€ in house; Pink Cottage € for 3-5 for one week
Glenlohane, County Cork, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The website tells us: “Desmond, Melanie and their son, Gordon, run Glenlohane as an extremely private house with an air of friendly informality so unique to Irish Country House Bed and Breakfasts. Certainly not considered a ‘room for the night’ type of B&B, there are no public signs at the roadside to draw the attention of casual visitors. Guests are welcomed on a pre-arranged basis and know where they are going by the detailed directions in this web site. There are no public and private quarters as in a professional place and guests may use facilities of the entire house as if staying with friends.
“There are family dogs and a cat in the background and animals play a large part of life at Glenlohane. Less than a quarter of a mile away, and still on the farm, is a Self Catering Cottage that can be rented on a weekly basis. Apart from farm animals, there are also horses, ponies, fantail pigeons and bantam hens in the traditional stable yard.
“Whether it be at Glenlohane for B&B or Glenlohane Cottage for self catering, staying is for the discerning visitor who wishes to learn more about Ireland’s history and culture through personal contact with the owners. One is also well positioned for sightseeing throughout the Scenic Southwest of the country.“
“Glenlohane Cottage has been part of the Sharp Bolster family who are celebrating 275 years in Glenlohane House in 2016. It is an exceptional period cottage built in the 1600’s and added onto over the centuries. Centered in the Glenlohane farm estate, this geographic location is one of the very best locations for touring the Scenic Southwest of Ireland. The Wild Atlantic Way, the Burren, Cliffs of Moher, Dingle, Rock of Cashel, Cork City, Blarney, Ring of Kerry, Killarney, Kinsale, Bantry & the Beara, and even Schull are all easy day trips.“
Glenlohane, County Cork, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The Glenlohane website gives us a history of the house:
“Glenlohane Country House was built by Desmond’s antecedents in 1741. Your hosts, Desmond, Melanie and their son Gordon represent the 9th and 10th generations of the same family living at Glenlohane since its inception. Surrounded by terraced lawns overlooking a park like setting, the house was built by John Sharp, of Mount Conway, near Cork City in 1741. Mount Conway still stands.
“Early records show the Sharp family in the parish of St. Katherine, Dublin in 1535. As a prominent Quaker family that became eminently successful in the woolen industry in the mid 1600’s, they also built Roundwood House in Co Laois at the same time that Glenlohane was being built in Co Cork. Anthony Sharp was reputed to employ 500 people at the time, which would have made him one of Ireland’s largest employers. For Dublin, that is a sizeable concern even by today’s standards! As sizeable land owners, the Bolsters have been within 5-6 miles of Glenlohane since Elizabethan times and John Hawkes Bolster of Egmont House, Churchtown, Co Cork married Sarah Sharp of Glenlohane in the early 1800’s. The house was extended to its present size shortly thereafter. We now have the opportunity to share our family’s heritage by offering guests Irish Country House Accommodation in the heart of the Co Cork countryside.“
Glenlohane, County Cork, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
20. Glenville Park, Glenville, County Cork (previously known as The Manor and as Mount Pleasant) – accommodation €
This is the home of the late Mark Bence-Jones, whom I refer to so much on this website! Stephen and I were very excited to discover that his daughter rents rooms in the house for visitor accommodation.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us:
p. 139. (Hudson-Kinahan, sub Kinahan/IFR; Bence-Jones/IFR) Originally a two storey five bay C18 house, of rendered rubble with block window surrounds of cut stone; it was fronted by a semi-circular forecourt or enclosure, with a gate at either end. The seat of a branch of the Coppinger or Copinger family, the estate having originally belonged to the O’Keefes. Bought between 1776-1788 by Dr Edward Hudson, who built a new house a short distance from the old one, and at right angles to it; consisting of three storey three bay gable-ended centre, with a fanlighted doorway, and two storey one bay gable-ended wings. This house was the home of Dr Edward Hudson’s son, William Elliot Hudson [1796-1853], composer, collector of ancient Irish music and Irish patriot [his Dublin home was St. Enda’s in Rathfarnham, previously called The Hermitage and Fields of Odin]. The estate eventually passed to Wm Elliot Hudson’s nephew, Sir Edward Hudson-Kinahan, 1st Bt [the son of William Elliot’s sister Charlotte, who married Robert Henry Kinahan], who enlarged and remodelled the house to the design of Sandham Symes 1887. A new two storey front was built onto the house, making it twice as deep, other additions were built at the back, and the original part of the house was reconstructed with two storeys instead of the original three, so as to make the rooms as high as those in the new additions. The new front is in the Victorian-Georgian style, faced in grey cement and of considerable length; it has a small pedimented breakfront with a pair of round-headed windows above a balustraded and fanlighted porch. On either side of the centre is a three sided bow between two bays; the façade being prolonged at one end by an additional bay, beyond which is a three storey one bay wing set back.“
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “Entablatures on console brackets above ground floor windows, shouldered window surrounds in upper storey, parapeted roof. At the back of the house is a bow fronted pavilion like wing, containing a single large room, joined to the main building by a corridor. Long hall running the full depth of the house, with staircase at its inner end, behind an arch with plasterwork mouldings; modillion cornice. Doorcases with segmental pediments in the hall and principal receptions rooms, which have Victorian plasterwork cornices of flowers and foliage; the drawing room has an original C19 wallpaper in faded lemon and grey. Spacious landing or upper hall at head of stairs.”
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us: “The Hudson-Kinahan family died out with the third baronet, Sir Robert, and the house became the home of Colonel Philip Bence-Jones and his wife, who purchased Glenville from the trustees in 1949. The Bence-Jones family, who originally came from Lisselane, near Clonakilty in West Cork, were looking for a new home after their house, Annemount on Cork Harbour, had been destroyed by fire.” [12]
Mark Bence-Jones continues his description: “Walled garden with old beech hedges and walls of faded pink brick; the back of the Coppinger house being at one side of it. Glen garden containing a noteable collection of rhododendrons and other shrubs and trees; long flight of steps down hillside to formal pool. Bought 1949 from the trustees of Sir Robert Hudson-Kinahan, 3rd Bt, by Col Philip Bence-Jones, who carried out various alterations to the house and threw three small rooms together to make a chapel, which has stained glass windows by Mr Stanley Tomlin and Mr Patckick Pollen, and a stone altar by the late Seamus Murphy, above which is a statue of the Madonna which survived the fire at Annemount.”
Once one of a number of bothies stretching along this quiet country lane, Killee Cottage and its neighbour are now the only two thatched cottages remaining.
“The beautiful Kilmahon House, built in 1780, is a fully restored Georgian Country House offering elegant Bed & Breakfast accommodation. The house is also available for smaller events on special request. Just 30 minutes from Cork airport and the Historic city of Cork, Kilmahon is situated in the East Cork Village of Shanagarry. It is only a short walk to Ballymaloe Cookery School and the blueflag beaches along Ballycotton Bay.
“Kilmahon is an impressive listed Glebe Heritage House of Ireland and has been lovingly restored over a number of years. The result is a seamless blend of original period features and modern facilities, set within the idyllic coastal surroundings of County Cork’s nature.
“Spending a few days in this secluded ancient environment offers a chance to rejuvenate in comfort and peace. Weather with a good book in front of a warm fire or a stroll through the old gardens, you will find yourself uplifted and reset from the stresses of everyday life.
THE GROUNDS
“While the house was restored so too were the gardens surrounding it. The walled rose garden has been brought back to life and is a feast of colour through the summer months; a perfect and private space for guests to relax in. An expansive lawn to the front provides a large open space and stunning views over fields toward the ocean, while old stone walls and mature trees in abundance maintain the sense of privacy at Kilmahon.
THE RECEPTION ROOMS “Period fireplaces with log fires set a welcoming tone in each of the elegant reception rooms in Kilmahon House. Rooms are tastefully furnished with antiques and original art work effortlessly combining style and comfort. Large Georgian windows provide idyllic views onto the formal gardens below and Ballycotton Bay beyond.
THE BEDROOMS
“A wonderful nights rest in one of the six individually designed en-suite bedrooms awaits guests at Kilmahon House. Recent restorations allow for the inclusion of modern power showers and super-king beds whilst still enjoying the ambience of antique furniture, sumptuous furnishings and spectacular scenic views.
BOOKING YOUR STAY
“Kilmahon offers guests luxury Bed & Breakfast accommodation or the house also can be taken for exclusive rental where guests can enjoy staying in this outstanding Georgian house and its beautiful surroundings. Julia will be happy to organise with you any catering requirements you have. Kilmahon House is an ideal setting for family breaks. Contact the house directly to check availability.“
24. Kilshannig, County Cork holiday accommodation – see above
We visited Liss Ard in June 2022, in order to see the Sky Garden by James Turrell. James Turrell is a “light artist” and a Quaker, and his works aim to cause contemplation. I was excited to see his work, and to see Liss Ard. The house has been converted to a hotel but still has the feel of a historic house, while at the same time being modern, stylish and spacious.
Upon our visit I learned that there is more to the gardens than the Sky Garden. The hotel is surrounded by miles of trails, which weave whimsically and which reveal magical settings with artfully placed walls and steps. It is also the site of a ring fort: the Irish “Lios Aird” means high fort.
The website invites us to “Escape to 163 acres of pristine nature with manicured gardens, a 40 acre private lake and James Turrell’s renowned Irish Sky Garden. The Estate features 26 unique guest rooms in the heart of West Cork, the culinary capital of Ireland.” For more about the Sky Garden and the garden trails, see my entry above, in Places to Visit.
We booked in for lunch, in order to make a booking to spend time in the Sky Garden. The house is two storey over basement, built in 1853. The National Inventory describes it as a fine early Victorian country house built by H.W. O’Donovan, who succeeded his brother as “The O’Donovan” in 1870. The Victorian Lake House, also available to guests, was built in 1870.
The garden front has a central canted bay. The inventory suggests that the house was reoriented and extended in the nineteenth century.
“Longueville House is a stunning 302 year old listed Georgian Country House hidden in the heart of a 400-acre wooded estate overlooking The Blackwater Valley, County Cork – the scenic gateway to the Southwest of Ireland.
“Steeped in history and packed with character, this owner-occupied 4-star Country House Hotel operates in two distinctly different ways.
“Firstly Longueville House warmly welcomes overnight guests for weekend and midweek stays with various themed and seasonal breaks to experience.
“Secondly, Longueville House may be booked privately for Small themed groups, multigenerational families and Corporate delegates who prefer the privacy and pace of an Exclusive Hire Venue. Longueville House sleeps 2 – 29 guests at full capacity.
“Longueville is a family story where for generations The O’Callaghans have preserved and merged their passion for the house, the land, food and entertaining, with the kitchen garden being at the heart of it all.
“Maintaining and modernising the house and grounds has been a labour of love for William and Aisling your hosts. A home-from-home, classic but informal, where open log fires crackle in vintage hearths and intriguing heirlooms jostle with fresh flowers from the garden.
“For years The O’Callaghans have made an ongoing commitment to only using home grown and local produce, celebrating the seasons, incorporating the most authentic and freshest of ingredients, thus enabling William to create menus bursting with flavour. What’s not grown or reared in Longueville is sourced from local farms and artisan suppliers.
“Our ethos is simple, our style is unstuffy, less formal. Conserving the beauty of Longueville through generations of love, to be shared with future generations to come.”
Longueville House, photograph from myhome.ie
Mark Bence-Jones tells us of Longueville:
p. 191. “(Longfield/IFR) A three storey five bay C18 block, enlarged by the addition of two storey three bay wings in the late Georgian period, probably between 1800-5 by John Longfield, MP; the centre being refaced and some of its windows altered at the same time so as to make the front uniform. One bay central breakfront, Wyatt windows in two upper storeys above a fanlighted doorway beneath a single-storey portico. One of the wings was extended at right angles to the front ca 1866, and a charming Victorian conservatory of curved ironwork was added, probably at the same time. The principal reception rooms, which have simple early C19 plasterwork and doors of inlaid mahogany, extend on either side of the entrance hall, which has a floor of Portland stone. Behind is the staircase hall, with bifurcating staircase which is most unusual in rising to the top of the house; the central ramp and two returns being repeated in the storey above. Longueville was sold by the Longfields to the late Senator William O’Callaghan, whose son and daughter-in-law have opened it as an hotel.”
The National Inventory tells us of the Turner conservatory:
“Constructed in 1862, this glasshouse was the last designed by Richard Turner, whose portfolio includes the conservatory at the famous Kew Gardens in London. The cast-iron framework and attractively flawed glass are of considerable technical interest and create a focal point for Longueville House, to which it is attached.“
27. Lough Ine House and Lodge, Skibereen, County Cork– whole house or gate lodge€€€ for two, € for 5-8; or gate lodge €
“This beautiful holiday house and cottage are set on stunning Lough Ine sometimes spelt Lough Hyne – which is well known as one of the most romantic spots in West Cork.
“Just 85km from Cork airport, Lough Ine is easily accessible but also far enough off the beaten track to be the perfect place to get away for either a romantic break or a fabulous family holiday.“
The House: “This elegant Regency house was built in 1830 as a hunting lodge for Lord Carbery and maintains several original features to this day. It is surrounded by its own 15 acre estate on the edge of Lough Ine and includes a patio garden, beautiful walkways through the woods and gardens and a private shingle beach. The Lough is a famous beauty spot 5km from Skibbereen and 4km from Baltimore in West Cork, Ireland. The estate is located in a conservation area of outstanding natural beauty.
“Elegantly furnished for comfortable country life, polished oak floors and period furniture add to the unique charm of this house. The unique vine-filled conservatory has a large breakfast area and elegant seating area with rattan furniture. Sun pours through the French windows in the interconnecting reception rooms, offering spectacular views of the garden, lough and surrounding hills.
“From the elegant panelled hall, a striking curved staircase leads you to the first floor where you will find 3 double bedrooms and a large bathroom. The two front bedrooms overlook the sea and are elegantly decorated with material on the walls and fine furniture. One has an eighteenth century four-poster bed, the others have twin beds. The charming third room overlooks the gardens. The bathroom is worth noting for its historic bathtub, which used to belong to Winston Churchill!
“On the ground floor there are two further wood panelled twin bedrooms each with their own bathroom containing bathtub and shower. The rowing boat is at your disposal to explore the island where you can see the remains of an O’Driscoll castle and picnic on the beach, or visit the shoreline and rapids that lead out to the sea.“
The Gate Lodge: “The gate lodge is an 18th Century, small cosy house at the entrance of the property on the edge of the lough, with wonderful view of the sea, the island and the fields.
“The ground floor is an open plan living room with a large fireplace, a dining area, a kitchenette and a spiral staircase leading to a twin bedroom overlooking the lough, a single bedroom and a bathroom with basin, W.C, bath and shower.“
“The Courtyard, Mallow has been lovingly renovated and is at the rear of the main Georgian house which was built in 1780 and was the original home of the Carpenter family. The Courtyard, Mallow is situated on a working farm and equestrian centre.
“Comprising of two 2-bedroomed self-catering apartments, and one 1-bedroomed self-catering apartment we can provide for couples and friend/family groups alike. Your home-from-home, each apartment at The Courtyard is equipped with all cooking facilities that you need, WiFi, and television sets with endless channels and movies to choose from. Catering and shopping is available upon prior request and subject to availability.“
All three apartments have been recently refurbished and each apartment is elegantly decorated with its own unique style and story. We have scoured vintage and antique shops around the country to add that extra flare and individuality to the living spaces of The Courtyard apartments. We use White & Green luxury organic cotton bed linen on all beds and Dalkey liquid handmade soap to ensure our guests can fully unwind during their stay. All bedrooms are ensuite for your comfort and privacy.
29. Maryborough, Douglas, Co Cork – Maryborough Hotel€€
“Located in the leafy suburbs of Douglas, yet minutes from Cork City Centre, The Maryborough has a character and style all of its own. Set in 18 acres of 300-year-old listed gardens and woodland, our family-owned boutique hotel affords guests an experience in luxury itself and is among the top hotels in Cork. The Maryborough Hotel is unique with its charming 18th Century Mansion accompanied by the creatively designed contemporary extension. All of this combined makes The Maryborough the perfect destination.
“The hotel delivers a unique experience in an exceptional atmosphere. From the moment you enter, we will guarantee you a level of personal service and care designed to match the exquisite surroundings of our 300-year-old listed gardens. Guests can enjoy an award-winning restaurant in Cork, state of the art Leisure Club and luxurious ESPA spa.
Our History
“The Maryborough Hotel & Spa is one of the most renowned 4 star hotels in Cork today. The Maryborough’s Georgian Manor House was built in 1710 by Mr Richard Newenham [note that a Richard Newenham of Maryborough married Sarah Devonsher, niece of Abraham Devonsher of Kilshannig]. Descendants of the Newenhams as well as other families lived there up until the 1990s when it was purchased by the O’Sullivan family. In 1997 the family opened what is now The Maryborough Hotel, a 4 star luxury hotel in Cork with 93 bedrooms.
“Since becoming a hotel, the Mansion House has fortunately retained its striking original architectural features. Some of the rooms at The Maryborough still showcase Adam style decoration – notably the entrance hall and some mantelpieces. This adds to the historical relevance of the manor house and contributes to the decadence and luxury of this boutique hotel in Cork.
“The former eighteenth-century stately home is set amid acres of woods and beautiful gardens, just south of Cork’s historical city centre in Douglas. John Newenham, a younger brother of the last Newenham owner of The Maryborough was a great gardener and collector of trees. Thanks to his inspired work the gardens at The Maryborough still host quite a collection, in particular of rhododendrons, making it one of the reasons for The Maryborough being one of the best hotels in Cork.
“The Maryborough works to continually develop a deluxe guest experience merging the hotels history with beautifully appointed accommodations. In order to incorporate the elegant grandeur of the old house into the hotel, several splendid suites were built on the upper floors of the Mansion House. Read more about our luxury suites in Cork.
“To compliment the opulent charm of the old house, the hotel’s contemporary extension was built. It is here you will find our Deluxe, Executive and Family Rooms. Spectacular architecture blended with effortless service and genuine hospitality makes the Maryborough one of the top hotels in Cork.“
“Take an elegant townhouse in a spectacular location, add a gourmet cafe with a mouth watering array of local produce, mix well with the locals who love the atmosphere here, bring it all together with a very warm welcome and a pinch of kinsale humour… and you’ll have the Old Bank Townhouse.
“Set in the heart of Kinsale, this beautifully renovated Bank House is both elegant and welcoming. Just a short walk from the of world renowned restaurants, inviting bars and interesting boutiques of Kinsale… yet only 25 minutes from cork city, the Old Bank Townhouse is popular with golfers and those with a passion for food.
“Steeped in history, this Kinsale accommodation was originally the Munster & Leinster Bank.The beautiful Georgian facade with impressive sash windows used to front a waterway for passing ships that berthed in the quays running from the site of on old mill.“
31. Orchard Cottage, Dunowen House, Co Cork(sleeps 5)€
“Orchard Cottage is a beautifully refurbished three bedroom house nestled within the peaceful one acre walled garden of Dunowen House.
“This characterful old building, dating back to the 1800’s, has been sympathetically restored to a very high standard. It has three cosy bedrooms, two bathrooms, a wood burning stove and an open plan kitchen living area, offering accommodation for up to five guests. The cottage is suitable for up to three children within that number.
“Orchard Cottage is available to rent with Dunowen House or on its own as a cute tranquil hideaway for short-breaks or longer holidays.“
“Perryville House is an elegant and distinctive period townhouse overlooking Kinsale Harbour, County Cork in the south of Ireland. Originally built in 1820 and lovingly restored by us, Perryville House is now a warm, gracious and light-filled boutique guesthouse.
“True to its original role as a private residence, Perryville House welcomes guests from all over the world to share and enjoy the finest Irish hospitality and luxury accommodation in Kinsale — your first stop on the Wild Atlantic Way. We invite you to savour a one-of-a-kind, historic hotel experience.
“A masterpiece of Georgian architecture with later Victorian embellishment, Perryville House was built in 1820 by Captain Adam Warren Perry for his family whose ancestors continued to reside here until the late 1950s. It had various owners from then until 1997 when fired by the beauty, character and history of this lovely house, Andrew & Laura Corcoran undertook the mammoth task of refurbishing and bringing it back to its former glory. Situated in the heart of Kinsale, overlooking the harbour, Perryville House welcomes guests from April to October each year.“
33. Rincolisky Castle, Whitehall, co Cork – renovated, whole house€€€ for 2, € for 5.
“Rincolisky Castle, sometimes also called Whitehall Castle, lies on a hill on the southern shore or Roaringwater Bay, in County Cork in Ireland.
“Rincolisky Castle, originally a 5 storey high, square tower house was built in 1495 by the powerful local O’Driscoll clan.
“In 1602, after the Battle of Kinsale, the castle was easily taken by English forces. It was then given to Sir Walter Coppinger. He changed the name of the castle into Whitehall, after the townland in which it is situated. The Coppingers lost their possessions in 1690 for supporting James II.
“It was then given to Samuel Townsend. The Townsends built a new mansion nearby; Whitehall House. They removed the 3 upper floors of Rincolisky Castle to provide building material for their new mansion. From then on the truncated 2 storeys high remnant of Rincolisky Castle fell to ruin. It is said that there is a tunnel leading from the castle to the mansion. One of the Townsends sent his little page boy down the passage to see if it was clear. The boy was never seen again.
“In 2000, the ivy covered ruin of Rincolisky Castle was restored and made habitable again.” [13]
34. Seaview House Hotel(formerlyBallylickey House), Bantry, Co Cork – hotel €€
“Welcome to Seaview House Hotel, a delightful 4 star country house hotel full of character, set in private and well tended grounds in the quiet village of Ballylickey beside Bantry in the heart of West Cork.
“Offering award-winning cuisine, luxurious B&B and a modern Spa & Bath House.“
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Ballylickey House in A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 290. “(Petty-Fitzmaurice, Lansdowne, M/PB) A two storey house of mid C19 appearance; pillared porch between two three sided bows, the front being prolonged on one side by a similar bow, and on the other by a lower service wing ending in a gable. Orignally a shooting box of the Marquesses of Lansdowne (see Derreen); acquired by the Graves family who made a noteable garden here and added an extra storey to the house ca 1950 when they turned it into a hotel. After a serious fire 1984, the house was rebuilt without the additional storey, regaining its original C19 character.”
35. Southernmost House, Cape Clear Island, County Cork€
“A unique Irish cottage for two overlooking the beautiful seascapes and landscape of Cape Clear Island. Cape Clear Island is located off the coast of West Cork on the Wild Atlantic Way. The Island could be considered as part of the Hidden Ireland that is rarely encountered by visitors to the West of Ireland. The house is situated in a secluded location overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Mizen Head, Roaring Water Bay and the South Harbour of Cape Clear.
“Built pre-famine in approximately 1830 and occupied until 1890-1894. It was subsequently used as a cow house for many years before being restored in the mid 1990’s. There are no other houses between Southernmost House and the Atlantic Ocean, which suggests that the house is the most Southerly house in Ireland.
“Beautiful sunrises to the East and unsurpassed sunsets to the West are daily occurrences at Southernmost House. The natural night time light and early morning light give another dimension to the magnificent views from each window. The landscape and seascapes never fail to captivate during all seasons of the year. There is always a magical aura to the regular cloudless starry nights. Southernmost House is a unique haven, offering guests among other things an opportunity to regain and engage in the quiet and simple enrichment of body and soul.
“Southernmost House has been prepared specifically for the enjoyment and pleasure of one or two people. The house comprises a large sitting area with an open turf fire and large sun receiving windows. A dining area with panoramic views and a loft over in the traditional Irish style. A study for scripting reflective thoughts. A meditation room, to embrace calmness and serenity. Kitchen with all necessary cooking and storage facilities. Bathroom with bath and power shower. One double bedroom with traditional style super king bed and high quality bed linen. The house is presented and furnished in an authentic manner to reflect the resources available locally and with an aesthetic sympathic to the simple origins of the house.
“There is no television in Southernmost House. There is a mobile internet ‘dongle’ available if required and a music unit with radio and c d player. A cross section of c d’s are on hand as well as selection of board and card games. Also a selection of Irish and classic books. There are two restaurants and two pubs on the Island. Costs include linen, heating, gas, turf and kindling etc for the open fire. We will be on hand to render assistance at any stage. A few non perishable cupboard basics are provided. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate children or pets. The house is strictly ‘no smoking’. A full list of terms and conditions will be available before confirmation of booking.“
“Tucked away amid tranquil woodlands , Springfort Hall Country House Hotel is a hotel for all seasons . The gardens and lawns at this 4 Star Hotel are a delight during the Summer , while in the Winter months, there’s no better place to relax with a glass of red wine than in The Baltydaniel Bar. Add to this , impeccably maintained 4 Star Accommodation and Sumptuous dining in The Limetree Restaurant and you will discover a wonderful 18th Century Country House Hotel Countryside. Explore one of the finest 4 Star Springfort Hall Country House Hotel.“
Mark Bence-Jones tells us Springfort is (1988):
“(Foott/LGI1912; Grove-White/IFR; Clarke/IFR) A two storey early C19 house with two deep curved bows on each side of its two principal fronts. Open porch with square piers on entrance front, between the two bows and below a central Wyatt window; large triple windows in lower storey of bows. Service wing at side. Spacious bow-eded reception rooms; ceilings and surrounds of early C19 plasterwork. Plaster Gothic vaulting in staircase hall.”
37. Vienna Woods Hotel (formerly Lota Lodge), Glanmire, Co Cork €
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Lota Lodge (1988): p. 191. “(Sharman-Crawford/LGI1912) A two storey Regency house with circular projections and iron veranda. Eaved roof. Partly destroyed by fire 1902, rebuilt 1903.”
The website tells us:
“Cork’s Vienna Woods Country House Hotel has a history as dramatic as the rich mustard tone that sets the building apart from the surrounding woodlands on the peaks of Glanmire, Co. Cork.
“The building, perched on a height overlooking the Glashaboy River, has stood proudly since 1756. Built by Davis Ducart as a summer leisure lodge for Lord Barrymore, the building was designed in the Regency Style, a style that was very popular in the latter part of the 18th century.
“Characteristic traits of the Regency Style include an emphasis on the classical form, and the forging of a close relationship between structure and the landscape, evident in The Vienna Woods Country House Hotel, which nestles in to the surrounding mountainous woodlands.
“Vienna Woods, or Lota Lodge as it was originally titled, forms part of a collection of grand country houses in the Glanmire area of Cork, like; Dunkathel House, Glenkeen, Glyntown House, Lauriston House and Brooklodge House.
“The house was home to AF Sharman Crawford and his family from 1875-1946, who was thankfully here to restore the house to its original glory after a fire in the early 1900s destroyed some of the original building. Crawford was a managing director of the Beamish and Crawford Brewery, (which was founded by his uncle, William Crawford II), and the city of Cork benefited from his philanthropic disposition, particularly in the arts; in fact the Crawford family funded the establishment of the Crawford Art Gallery and the Crawford School of Art.
“As with so many other grand houses in 20th century Ireland, the building was purchased by a religious order in 1951, and was used as a seminary for 13 years, until it was converted into a hotel in 1964 by Joan Shubuek renamed the building ‘Vienna Woods’, because of the parallels she drew between the area, and the Austrian capital city where she had lived for a number of years.
“The Fitzgerald family along with Michael Magner, bought the hotel in 2006 and renamed it ‘The Vienna Woods Country House Hotel’. Michael Magner, one of the co-owners, is also the General Manager of the hotel, and this close level of personal care and involvement is most evident in the building’s most dramatic makeover to date, which has taken almost fifteen years to complete. The Fitzgeralds/Magners have lovingly and painstakingly restored much of the original protected features of the building.“
38. Willowhill, Carrigaline, County Cork – airbnb €
“Our home Willowhill House is nestled in the Cork countryside, surrounded with beautiful rolling green fields and farmland. We are only 20 mins from Cork Airport, and 10 minutes from stunning coastline. We welcome you to come and stay with us and enjoy our home.
“Willowhill House is an old country residence., dating back to 1791. We have 4 rooms available to rent, all are double rooms, So we can accommodate up to 8 people. All of our rooms are en suite. We have baths and showers in three of these, and one without a shower and bath only .
“We have a sunroom which is beautiful in the summer, a drawing room to relax and read by the fire and a dining room where we will serve you a light breakfast in the morning. We also have beautiful gardens and an old wall garden that you are welcome to wander around.“
Whole House Rental County Cork:
1. Ballincurra House, County Cork – coach house, estate cottages, and whole house rental– see above
2. Barnabrow, Cloyne, Co Cork – accommodation(22 bedrooms)
The website tells us: “Barnabrow Country House: in idyllic East Cork is discreet – it is like a secret garden that beckons. Visitors may happen upon it nestled in the rolling hills of East Cork with distant but tantalising glimpses of Ballycotton Bay. At first glance it appears contained – its banqueting hall, high on the hill, is not obvious, the twenty-two bedrooms are tucked away in various courtyards and the cottages are not apparent.
“The meandering passages entice the curious to explore, its various decks with their pleasing views invite others to relax while the menagerie of animals offers solace. Combined, these elements make Barnbrow Country House an atmospheric, intimate setting where memories, that last a lifetime, are created.
“Barnabrow Country House in East Cork is one of the most idyllic locations for romantic weddings, corporate events, special celebrations and group gatherings.
“The family and staff at Barnabrow are proud to act as caretaker of this lovingly-restored manor house and 30-acre estate which dates back to the 17th century. A recurrent comment of our guests is an appreciation of the relaxed and warm atmosphere here. Primarily we wish to share this great house with you.
“For the past four years, Head Chef, Stuart Bowes, who is Michelin Star-trained, has ensured a new level of excellence in our food: jus is prepared over three days, handmade sweets are on the pillows, herbal aromas pervade the air.
“Mary Russell’s discerning eye adds an artistic dab here and there to enhance the visual feast that Barnabrow has gradually become. Liam Irwan, our steadfast gardener, preserves its organic nature and tends to the donkeys, goats and fowl that so add to its ambiance.“
Mark Bence-Jones writes in A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 32. “A three storey 3 bay double gable-ended C18 house with single-storey 2 bay C19 wings. Wyatt windows in 2 lower storeys of C18 block. In 1814 the residence of Timothy Lane; in 1837, of J.R. Wilkinson; in recent years, of Lt-Cmdr and Mrs Whitehouse.”
3. Blackwater Castle (Castle Widenham, or Blackwater Valley Castle) Castletownroache, Co Cork, Whole House Rental
“A medieval Castle for rent in Ireland, the spectacular home of the former Viscount of Fermoy and Lords of the Barony of Fermoy, is a truly unique heritage site of international significance. Blackwater Castle, with a history extending back some 10,000 years to the Mesolithic period, is available to hire as a private Castle experience for exclusive Castle weddings, private parties, and family gatherings.
“The Castle was first erected in the twelfth century on the site of the Bronze Age fortress of Dún Cruadha, an inland promontory fort which was established some 2,500 years ago or more on a rocky outcrop on the banks of the River Awbeg. Beautifully appointed suites, welcoming reception rooms, historical tours, and extensive activities from zip-lining to fly fishing are all on offer at one of Ireland’s more interesting and best preserved castles set on a 50 acre estate of mature native Irish trees with a private stretch of the River Awbeg.
“Visitors gracing the Castle down through the centuries include Early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, Druids and Chieftains, Strongbow’s Men at Arms, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Michael Jackson while Oliver Cromwell and his army also laid siege to the Castle. More recently we have received the President of Ireland Uachtarán Michael D. Higgins who described the Castle as a “beautiful place” and set in “a majestic and pastoral environment”. This exquisite Castle is available for private exclusive hire as the perfect venue for castle weddings, private parties and self catering holiday vacation rentals. Guesthouse options are also available for group bookings.
“The Castle is a highly recommended venue with a coveted 5 star rating on Tripadvisor where we rank as the Best Speciality Accommodation in Cork. We were winners of the Best Hospitality, Tourism and Food Venue in the North Cork Business Awards 2017 while we have been selected for five consecutive years by One Fab Day as one of the best wedding venues in Ireland. in October 2015 The Irish Times listed us among the top ten Castles in Ireland while The Irish Examiner declared on 6 May 2015 that Blackwater Castle was one of only six Irish wedding venues you ever need in your “wedding venue little black book”.
“Blackwater Castle is the original seat of the FitzHugh/Roche Family who travelled to Ireland with Strongbow in the late twelfth century. The Castle is located on an elevated site (and former inland promontory fort) above the River Awbeg with magnificent views of the surrounding countryside from the Norman Tower which is reputed to be one of the best preserved medieval keeps in Ireland. Blackwater Castle is blessed with a rich historical legacy the traces of which, dating from the early Mesolithic period or some 10,000 years ago, are visible today and are entertainingly and enthusiastically revealed and interpreted via guided tour with the owner Patrick Nordstrom.“
Mark Bence-Jones also tells us of the castle (1988):
p. 79. Castle Widenham: “(Roche of Fermoy, V/DEP; Brasier-Creagh/IFR; Smyth/IFR; Cotter, Bt/PB)
The old castle of the Viscounts Roche of Fermoy, on a rock high above the Awbeg River; consisting of a tall keep and a baily enclosed by a curtain wall with bastions and other fortifications. During the Civil War the castle was heroically defended against the Cromwellian forces by the Lady Roche of the time but she was eventually obliged to surrender. The estate was confiscated and granted to the Widenham family [to Colonel John Widenham in 1666, when it became known as Castle Widenham]; Lord Roche failed to recover it after the Restoration and was reduced to dire poverty. Later, in C17 or early C18 a house of two storeys and an attic was built onto the keep, incorporating some of the walls of the old castle; it stood within the bailey, the wall of which was still intact 1790s. Ca 1820s, Henry Mitchell Smyth [1795-1870, from Ballynatray, the gardens of which are on the Section 482 listing], whose wife Patricia (nee Brasier-Creagh) [1802-1837]was the eventual heiress of the Widenhams [via her mother, Elizabeth Widenham], castellated the house and extended it at the opposite end to the old keep; giving it a skyline of battlements and machiolations and a turreted porch on its entrance front. Probably at the same time, the bailey wall was largely demolished; though parts of it still survive, together with some of the outworks and a detached building which is thought to have been a chapel. A terrace ws built along the garden front later in C19 by H.J. Smyth. The rooms of the house have plain cornices and charming Georgian-Gothic shutters in the deep window recesses; the drawing room has segmental pointed doorways with rope ornament. The principal staircase has slender turned balusters, there is also a delightful little spiral staircase of wood, rather similar to that at Dunsany Castle, which goes up to the attic storey, whence a door leads into an upper room of the keep. From ca 1963-76, Castle Widenham was the home of Sir Delaval Cotter, 6th and present Bt [6th Baronet Cotter, of Rockforest, co. Cork] – whose old family seat, Rockforest, was nearby. Sir Deleval and Lady Cotter carried out an admirable restoration of the castle, which was in poor condition when they bought it; the rooms, as redecorated by them, were greatly improved and gained much from their fine furniture and the Cotter family portraits. They also made a garden in the outworks of the castle and opened up the views down to the river, which had become completely overgrown. Unfortunately, in 1976, circumstances oblighed them to sell it and move to England.”
4. Blairscove House, County Cork: accommodation in the Piggery, Smoke House and Loft. Also weddings.
“Blairscove House is situated on the picturesque inlet of Dunmanus Bay in West Cork on the Wild Atlantic Way. Not touched by mass tourism, it appeals to visitors who want to get away ‘far from the madding crowd,’ yet desire premium facilities in terms of service and food, with home from home comforts in terms of welcome and accommodation.
“Around the courtyard of a Georgian House, beautifully restored with cobbled paths, shrubs and flowers, are the restaurant and four stylish suites or small apartments which can be rented on a bed and breakfast or self-catering basis. Formerly a piggery, coach house and servants’ quarters, each suite is individually and very lovingly decorated with a quirky mix of contemporary and antique furnishings.
“We also have another holiday cottage on Dunmanus Pier in West Cork, just 12km from Blairscove, in the direction of Mizen Head, again on the Wild Atlantic Way driving route.“
“Careysville House sits on an escarpment overlooking the fishery, with stunning views of the Blackwater valley. Guests can look out of their bedroom window and see one of the most stunning stretches of salmon fishing in Ireland, not to mention watch the salmon jumping in the pools below. It was built in 1812 in the Georgian style, on the site of the old ruined Ballymacpatrick Castle.“
Mark Bence-Jones writes in A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 56. “[Montgomery of Killee; Cavendish, Devonshire] “A C18 house of 2 storeys over a high basement and 5 bays, above the River Blackwater. Subtly spaced windows. The seat of the Carey family; passed by inheritance to the Montgomery family, from whom it was bought by the Duke of Devonshire, whose Irish seat, Lismore Castle, is a few miles further down the river.”
The National Inventory tells us: “Built on the site of Ballypatrick Castle, this house has been used as a fishing lodge by the Duke of Devonshire for many years. It is a substantial house with elegant proportions and articulated by its cut limestone plinth course. The building retains many notable features and materials such as the varied timber sash windows and slate roof. The classically inspired porch retains its timber panelled doors and flanking pilasters. The different window treatments to the side and rear provide further interest to the house. The site retains associated structures such as the solidly constructed outbuildings, which provide valuable context to the side. The piers are finely crafted and indicative of the quality of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century craftsmanship.”
6. Crosshaven House, Crosshaven, Co. Cork – whole house rental
“Crosshaven House is an elegant eighteenth century country house set in the picturesque village of Crosshaven, overlooking Currabinny Wood and Cork Harbour. It is where the spaci
“Crosshaven House, sited in Knocknagore townland, was in the ownership of the Hayes family since the lands were first purchased by Richard Hayes of Cork City in 1656 from Peyton Le Hunte, a Cromwellian grantee. The land was bought for a sum of £247 and 10 shillings. Richard Hayes built a residence, which stood from 1656 until 1769, when a descendant in line, William Hayes II, decided to demolish this old mansion, and construct a new one a short distance away. This became known as Crosshaven House.
“Crosshaven House was built by the Sardinian architect Daviso de Arcort, who was better known as Davis Ducart. Well known in Ireland for his work in smaller country houses, large houses and civic buildings around Ireland, prior to designing aesthetically pleasing grand buildings, Ducart was involved in industrial construction, most notably the Newry Canal completed in 1741, the first inland waterway to be constructed on the British Isles. Ducart was responsible for the design of the Limerick Custom House in 1765; Castletown Cox, Co Kilkenny built in the 1760s for Michael Cox, Archbishop of Cashel; Kilshannig, Co. Cork, commenced in 1756; the Mansion House, Cork, was commissioned by the City Corporation in 1765; and Lota House, Cork in 1765.
“Although built in 1769, as indicated on the datestone inscribed “W. Hayes 1769” which is fixed to the wall surface of the attic with iron pegs, the interior of Crosshaven House was left unfinished until 1810. A study of the Hayes family-tree offers a possible explanation for the difference in date of the basic structure and the interior of Crosshaven House. The original owner of Crosshaven House, William Hayes II, died unmarried in 1770, just one year after its construction. His new mansion and estate of 1,571 acres passed to his brother Richard who was established in business in Cork City and did not marry until 1776.
“Upon his death, Richard’s youngest son Thomas inherited the House, married in 1807 and died in 1817.
“This fact conforms to the stylistic evidence which suggests the House was not finished until the time of his marriage in 1807 or soon after. In the past, access from the main part of the house was available to the two stable wings through a tunnel. Since there was no service yard around the north of the main block, the tunnel was used to bring in supplies. There was evidence that another tunnel was used in the original house in 1659 for smuggling purposes, but no evidence for this remains today.
“Most of the decorative interior details of Crosshaven House, such as the ceiling plasterwork and cornicing, the joinery and ironmongery date from circa 1810. Expert Italian craftsmen carried out the plasterwork at the beginning of the nineteenth Century, and this was carefully conserved and restored in 2006. The last member of the Hayes family to have possession of Crosshaven House was Colonel Hayes, until he sold it in 1973 to Mr Graham Flint of Florida. In recent years the house was meticulously restored to its former glory while enjoying the comforts of contemporary living.”
7. Drishane House whole house rental and holiday cottages – see above
8. Dunowen House, Co Cork, and Orchard Cottage – Blue Book Accommodation, Whole House Rental(sleeps 16)
“Dunowen House is a luxury 18th Century Private Rental Property, situated in a stunning coastal location ten minutes from vibrant Clonakilty town. Surrounded by private coves and sandy beaches, it offers guests the chance to totally escape and experience West Cork life.
“When you book Dunowen House it is yours exclusively making it perfect for extended families, groups of friends, bespoke celebrations and intimate weddings.
“It offers the comforts of a luxury small hotel with the privacy of an historic country estate – all to yourself.”
“Orchard Cottage is a beautifully refurbished three bedroom house nestled within the peaceful one acre walled garden of Dunowen House.
“This characterful old building, dating back to the 1800’s, has been sympathetically restored to a very high standard. It has three cosy bedrooms, two bathrooms, a wood burning stove and an open plan kitchen living area, offering accommodation for up to five guests. The cottage is suitable for up to three children within that number.
“Orchard Cottage is available to rent with Dunowen House or on its own as a cute tranquil hideaway for short-breaks or longer holidays.“
8. Longueville, Mallow, Co Cork – Blue Book accommodation(2-29 people), €€€
[6] 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.
Just to finish up my entries about Office of Public Works properties: Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow are the counties that make up the Leinster region.
Carlow:
1. Altamont Gardens
Kildare:
2. Castletown House, County Kildare
3. Maynooth Castle, County Kildare
Carlow:
1. Altamont House and Gardens, Bunclody Road, Altamont, Ballon, County Carlow:
Altamont House and Gardens, photograph by Sonder Visuals, 2015, for Tourism Ireland, from Ireland’s Content Pool. [1]
“A large and beautiful estate covering 16 hectares in total, Altamont Gardens is laid out in the style of William Robinson, which strives for ‘honest simplicity’. The design situates an excellent plant collection perfectly within the natural landscape.
“For example, there are lawns and sculpted yews that slope down to a lake ringed by rare trees and rhododendrons. A fascinating walk through the Arboretum, Bog Garden and Ice Age Glen, sheltered by ancient oaks and flanked by huge stone outcrops, leads to the banks of the River Slaney. Visit in summer to experience the glorious perfume of roses and herbaceous plants in the air.
“With their sensitive balance of formal and informal, nature and artistry, Altamont Gardens have a unique – and wholly enchanting – character.” [2]
From “In Harmony with Nature, The Irish Country House Garden 1600-1900” in the Irish Georgian Society, July 2022, curated by Robert O’Byrne.Altamont, photograph by Sonder Visuals 2017 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. [see 1]
From Living Legacies: Ireland’s National Historic Properties in the care of the OPW, Government Publications, Dublin, 2018:
“Altamont House was constructed in the 1720s, incorporating parts of an earlier structure said to have been a medieval nunnery. In the 1850s, a lake was excavated in the grounds of the house, but it was when the Lecky-Watsons, a local Quaker family, acquired Altamont in 1924 that the gardens truly came into their own.
“Feilding Lecky-Watson had worked as a tea planter in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where he nurtured his love of exotic plants, and of rhododendrons in particular. Back in Ireland, he became an expert in the species, cultivating plants for the botanical gardnes at Glasnevin, Kew and Edinburgh. So passionate was he about these plants that when his wife, Isobel, gave birth to a daughter in 1922, she was named Corona, after his favourite variety of rhododendron.” [3]
Altamont House and Gardens lake, photograph by Sonder Visuals, 2015, for Tourism Ireland, from Ireland’s Content Pool. [see 1]
Around the lake are mature conifers that were planted in the 1800s, including a giant Wellingtonia which commemorates the Battle of Waterloo. [3] Corona continued in her father’s footsteps, planing rhododendrons, magnolia and Japanese maples. Another feature is the “100 steps” hand-cut in granite, leading down to the River Slaney. There are red squirrels, otters in the lake and river, and peacocks. Before her death, Corona handed Altamont over to the Irish state to ensure its preservation.
The Temple,Altamont House and Gardens, photograph by Sonder Visuals, 2015, for Tourism Ireland, from Ireland’s Content Pool. [see 1]
Kildare:
2.Castletown House and Parklands, Celbridge, County Kildare.
Castletown House, County Kildare, Photo by Mark Wesley 2016, Tourism Ireland, from Ireland’s Content Pool. [see 1]
The Obelisk, or Conolly Folly, was reputedly built to give employment during an episode of famine. It was restored by the Irish Georgian Society in 1960.
“This majestic stone castle was founded in the early thirteenth century. It became the seat of power for the FitzGeralds, the earls of Kildare, as they emerged as one of the most powerful families in Ireland. Garret Mór, known as the Great Earl of Kildare, governed Ireland in the name of the king from 1487 to 1513.
Maynooth Castle was one of the largest and richest Geraldine dwellings. The original keep, begun around 1200, was one of the largest of its kind in Ireland. Inside, the great hall was a nerve centre of political power and culture.
Only 30 kilometres from Dublin, Maynooth Castle occupies a deceptively secluded spot in the centre of the town, with well-kept grounds and plenty of greenery. There is a captivating exhibition in the keep on the history of the castle and the family.“
[3] p. 8, Living Legacies: Ireland’s National Historic Properties in the Care of the OPW. Government Publications, Dublin 2, 2018.
[4] p. xiii, Jennings, Marie-Louise and Gabrielle M. Ashford (eds.), The Letters of Katherine Conolly, 1707-1747. Irish Manuscripts Commission 2018. The editors reference TCD, MS 3974/121-125; Capel Street and environs, draft architectural conservation area (Dublin City Council) and Olwyn James, Capel Street, a study of the past, a vision of the future (Dublin, 2001), pp. 9, 13, 15-17.
[7] p. 75. 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.
[8] p. 129. Great Irish Houses. Forewards by Desmond FitzGerald, Desmond Guinness. IMAGE Publications, 2008.
Irish Historic Houses 