Open in 2024: Aug 1-31, Sept 1-9, Dec 1-20, 9am-1pm
Fee: adult/student/OAP €8, child €4
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
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!
€10.00
I was excited to visit Turbotstown in County Westmeath because it was owned by the Dease family, and a branch of the Baggot family married into the Dease family, though I have not established that my ancestors were related to this branch of Baggots.
It is currently owned by Peter Bland and his family, and Peter kindly welcomed us and showed us around. Peter’s grandmother was from the Dease family. When Peter purchased the property, which had been sold out of the family, it had been unoccupied, except for grain and sheep!
I only learned upon visiting that the house was designed by Francis Johnston, and has many elements characteristic of his work. The house was built around 1810 and Johnston was carrying out extensive work at nearby Tullynally for the Pakenham Earls of Longford (another Section 482 property, see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2020/11/19/tullynally-castle-and-gardens-castlepollard-county-westmeath/ ). Francis Johnston also worked on Killeen Castle in County Meath and the Dease family intermarried with the Plunkett family, and Johnston built the Protestant church in Castlepollard, Peter told us.
The house is in the Greek Revival style and is composed of a large two storey three bay block, four bays on the side, the front facade’s centre bay breaking forward slightly, with a single storey Ionic portico, and a Wyatt window in the upper storey. There is a two storey service wing to one side, which the owner Peter thinks might be older than the Greek Revival block.
Along with Peter, a donkey came to meet us, walking slowly on his arthritic legs. Later the friendly donkey tried to join us by entering the French doors to the kitchen in the wing of the house!
The Dease family lived in the area since the 1270s. In Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd’s Burke’s Irish Family Records, we are told that an Edmond Dease reportedly purchased Turbotstown in 1272. [1] A James Dease of Turbotstown occured in the roll of gentry of Liberty of Trim in 1436, and a Richard Dease succeeded to Turbotstown around 1568. He was appointed Commissioner for Musters, County Westmeath.
A prominent Catholic family after the Reformation, the Dease family intermarried with the Plunketts and the Nugents who also remained Catholic. For their Catholicism and perhaps loyalty to the Stuart monarchy, the Deases lost their Turbotstown property five times but they always managed to get it back.
Richard Dease married Elizabeth Nugent. He had sons James, Thomas and Lawrence. James and Lawrence had families and the Deases of Turbotstown descended from the elder, James. Another son, Thomas (1568-1652), held the office of Catholic Bishop of Meath between 1621 and 1652. He also, Peter told us, wrote bawdy verse in Irish! He studied in Paris and was also a Rector in the Irish College in Paris.
James lived at Turbotstown and married Margaret Leicester. Their son Richard (1603-1650) was the ancestor of the Deases of Turbotstown. They had several other children. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd tells us that Richard Dease forfeited his estates after the 1641 Rebellion, but bought them back from the Pakenhams with the proceeds of a Cavan property which had been held in trust by the Pollards of Castle Pollard.
During the time of the Penal Laws, the property was held by “Occlusive Trust” i.e. by a Protestant relative, in this case, a Nugent cousin who had converted to the Established religion.
Richard Dease married Mary Browne, and had several children, the ancestor of the Deases of Turbotstown was James (d. 1707) who lived at Turbotstown. His son Richard predeceased him in France and his son William (d. 1751) inherited. William was a Colonel in King Charles’s army, I believe – that must be Charles II’s army. William married Eleanor Nangle and they had several children. The ancestor of the Turbotstown Deases is William and Eleanor’s son Garret Dease (d. 1790).
Garret Dease married Susan Plunkett, daughter of Oliver of Rathmore Castle, Athboy, County Meath.
On his website Meath History Hub, Noel French tells us a lovely story about how Rathmore Castle came into the hands of the Plunkett family:
“Rathmore Castle and Church was built by the de Verdons, the Norman family who conquered this area. They built a church on the site of the present ruin.
“The last de Vernon Lord of Rathmore had only one child, a daughter, Matilda. Sir Christopher Cruise, then an old man held considerable property in the area and had a castle at Cruisetown. Sir Christopher succeeded in winning the hand of Matilda and married her in 1406 and thus acquired Rathmore. Cruise’s nephews regarded themselves as his heir and were very disappointed to see him marry and thus raising the possibility of a son and closer heir. The nephews decided to murder Sir Christopher and his wife. Their hired killers and attacked the couple as they walked along the avenue of Cruisetown Castle. Sir Christopher held off the attackers while his wife made a run for refuge at the castle. Sir Christopher died from his wounds before help arrived but Lady Cruise just made it to the castle before the pursuing murderers. Little did the attackers know but she was carrying her husband’s child at the time.
“Knowing she was in a dangerous situation she packed all the plate and other treasures into strong chests and sunk them in the lake in the grounds of the castle. A report was spread that Lady Cruise was ill and would not survive the night. Men were sent from Rathmore to bear her remains to the home of her father. Her coffin was taken to Rathmore and brought to the castle, but her coffin had airholes in it.
“Gathering all the Rathmore plate and placing it in the coffin Lady Cruise buried it in the graveyard. It was commonly thought for many centuries that there was treasure buried in Rathmore church. In the nineteenth century one man dug up a portion of the floor near the altar one dark night. A ghost priest with robes appeared behind him and the treasure-seeker left in quite a hurry.
“Lady Cruise fled to England with the title deeds of Rathmore and Cruisetown to escape from her husband’s “inheritors”. In London she gave birth to a daughter who was christened Mary Ann Cruise. Lady Cruise’s money and jewels were gradually eroded in her fight to prove her claim and establish her child’s rights. She lost all the cases she brought for the restoration of her property and was eventually forced to find work. The only job she could get was as a washerwoman. Mother and daughter took in washing and washed and bleached the clothes on the banks of the Thames near London Bridge.
“One day Mary Ann had to go wash on her own as her mother was ill. She started to sing a lament in Irish that her mother had composed on the loss of her estates. A passing gentleman stopped and listened to the song. Sir Thomas Plunkett, the third son of the first Baron of Killeen, understood the Irish song and indeed knew the places mentioned in the song. He approached the girl and she told him the full story. He explained that he was a lawyer and Mary Ann took him to her mother where he was shown the title deeds and other papers. Taking the case he won back Rathmore and Cruisestown castles and their estates and also won the heart and hand of Mary Ann Cruise and so the Plunketts became Lords of Rathmore. That is the legend of Rathmore.” [2]
John Baggot of Castle Bagot married Eleanor Dease (d.1843), daughter of Garret Dease of Turbotstown, and his wife Lady Susan Plunkett. John Baggot bought Castle Bagot in Rathcoole, County Dublin, which still stands. I think he was married before, to Mary (Anne) Walsh, and had daughter Anne who married Ambrose More O’Ferrall (1752-1835).
John Baggot and Eleanor Dease’s sons William Gerald Baggot (d. 1821) and James John Baggot (1784-1860) were involved with Daniel O’Connell and the fight for Catholic Emancipation. William Gerald died young, unfortunately, and James John married but had no children, so the Baggot inheritance passed through their half-sister Anne (d. 1810) who married Ambrose More O’Ferrall, of another strongly Catholic family. Ambrose More O’Ferrall went overseas and fought as a Major in the Royal Sardinian Army (1752-1835). His family was from Balyna in County Kildare. The house is now part of the Moyvalley Hotel. [3]
Eleanor Dease’s brother Gerald (1790-1854) inherited Turbotstown. He married Elizabeth O’Callaghan (d. 1846), daughter of Edmond O’Callaghan of Kilgory, County Clare. Interestingly, aforementioned James John Bagot married her sister, Ellen Maria O’Callaghan. Their sister Catherine married Thomas Browne 3rd Earl of Kenmare.
It was Gerald Dease who had the new Greek Revival house built, perhaps added on to an older house.
The interior of Turbotstown surprised us with an inner hall with a circular opening to an upper floor gallery which is toplit by an octagonal shaped lantern skylight not visible from the front of the house, the octagonal walls of the lantern composed of eight by eight panelled windows. This is a Francis Johnston feature. You can see photographs on Robert O’Byrne’s website. [4]
The staircase hall is also rather grand, the cantilevered staircase winding around in a square shape with a lovely stucco ceiling at the top, and a large arched window provides illumination.
A window detail in the main rooms indicates Francis Johnston’s attention to detail, as they slant upwards, letting in more sunlight, and there are lovely sunbursts carved into the corner timber frames. I didn’t take a photograph but they are similar to those in Rokeby in County Louth (another section 482 house, see my entry ( https://irishhistorichouses.com/2020/08/17/rokeby-hall-grangebellew-county-louth/ ). Another house by Francis Johnston is Townley Hall in County Louth.
Some of the rooms have decorative cornices, and they have lovely high ceilings. Another detail is that the door edge is slightly slanted to prevent drafts!
In the older part of the house is a chapel, still consecrated, which was built by the Dease family. Robert O’Byrnes writes that this was presumably where they worshipped prior to providing the land for the construction of a Roman Catholic church nearby.
One of Gerald Dease’s sons, Gerald Richard, went on to live in Celbridge Abbey in County Kildare, a house which when we last saw it was badly in need of repair.
Another son, Edmund Gerald Dease (1829-1904), married Mary Grattan, daughter of Henry Grattan. A son of theirs, Major Edmund James Dease (1861-1945) lived at Rath House, Ballybrittas, County Laois and married Mabel More O’Ferrall, a descendant of aforementioned Ambrose More O’Ferrall of Balyna, County Kildare, Mabel was great-granddaughter of Anne Baggot of Castle Bagot, Rathcoole.
Another son, James Arthur Dease, married Charlotte Jerningham and they went on to have many children, and lived in Turbotstown. Of the two sons, one, Gerald, didn’t have children, the other, Edmond Fitzlaurence, sold Turbotstown after his son Maurice died in 1914 in the First World War.
Peter Bland, the current owner of Turbotstown, is a descendant of Major Edmund James Dease (1861-1945) and Mabel More O’Ferrall! Their daughter Marion (1900-1969) married William Bland (1901-1963) of Blandsfort, Abbeyleix, County Laois, Peter’s grandfather. My Dad also was from Abbeyleix, but his father only moved there after his marriage in 1920. Blandsfort house was built by Blands in around 1715.
Another well-known member of the Dease family is from another branch, from Lisney or Lisanny, County Cavan. William Dease (1752-1798) was one of the founders of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. At the time, surgeons were still members of the “Barber-Surgeons Guild.” The red and white stripes one sees on poles outside barber shops hearkens to this time, and represents blood and bandages! The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that Dease pointed out that people who trained as doctors were not taught surgery, and that they had to go abroad, as he did to France, to learn surgery. He founded the Dublin Society of Surgeons in 1780, and chaired the committee that successfully campaigned for a royal charter, which was granted in 1784, and the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland was established.
There is a prominent crack on the leg of the statue of William Dease in the College of Surgeons. Dease was sympathetic to the rebels cause in 1798 and legend has it that he heard that he was suspected of being a United Irishman. To avoid capture, he is said to have severed his femoral artery, and bled to death. This artery runs along exactly where the crack is in the sculpture! This story is told by Richard Robert Madden who wrote The United Irishmen, their lives and times. [7]
The Dease family died out, Peter told us. The last Dease, Dorothy, granddaughter of Major Edmond James Dease and Mabel née More O’Ferrall, grew up in Rath House, Ballybrittas, County Laois, and married Major George Geoffrey Robert Edward de Stacpoole, 6th Duc de Stackpoole, a Papal Duke. They lived in Errisbeg House in County Galway, now a bed and breakfast run by the 7th Duke and his family. [6]
A branch of the Bland family used to own Derryquin Castle in County Kerry, now the hotel Parknasilla. The hotel website tells us “The Blands of Derryquin Castle Demense were a Yorkshire family, the first of whom Rev. James Bland came to Ireland in 1692 and from 1693 was vicar of Killarney. His son Nathaniel, a judge and vicar general of Ardfert and Aghadoe obtained a grant of land in 1732 which would later become the Derryquin Estate. Derryquin Castle was the third house of the Blands on this land but it is not known when it was first constructed, its earliest written mention being in 1837, however it was indicated some decades earlier by Nimmo in his 1812 map.” [5]
It’s wonderful that a descendant of the Dease family is now living in Turbotstown and has renovated it back into a family home.
[1] p. 132, Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (ed.) Burke’s Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976.
In August 2012, we visited the Catholic church of St. Finian’s in Kilamactalway, near Newcastle-Lyons, to see the baptismal font donated by Ellen Maria Bagot née O’Callaghan in memory of her husband James John Baggot, who died in 1860 and who had lived in Castle Bagot in Rathcoole/ Kilmactalway.
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!
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!
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1. Áras an Uachtaráin, Phoenix Park, Dublin 8:
general enquiries: (01) 677 0095
phoenixparkvisitorcentre@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“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.
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]
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 State Drawing Room is also part of the original house and the its rich gilt ceiling dates from then. The walls are lined with green silk.
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.
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.
The ballroom/state reception room was also added at this time.
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.
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.
Jacob Owen, chief architect of the Board of Works, designed the dining room and matching drawing room in 1849.
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.
The State corridor also has a fireplace by 18th century Italian craftsman, Bossi, whose family knew the secret of how to colour marble.
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).
Kilmokea is listed under section 482 as Tourist Accommodation. The owners open the gardens to the public for a small fee. The stables and coach house have been converted to self-catering rental.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988) that it is a former glebe house, that is, it was on the grounds of the church, built in 1794 (the National Inventory says 1806 – the website explains that it was not finished and occupied until the later date). It served as the residence for the Whitechurch parish Church of Ireland rector. The website for the house tells us that it is located on the site of an ancient monastery.
Kilmokea is on Great Island, which is not actually an island, although it is largely surrounded by water. The website tells us that the River Barrow, which converges with the River Nore just upstream from New Ross, forms the “island’s” western boundary, and the inner reaches of Waterford Harbour border Great Island to the South. The Campile River, to the east, also flows into Waterford Harbour, while the connecting isthmus to the ‘mainland’ of County Wexford is largely low-lying and prone to floods, hence the name Great Island. It was previously known as “Hervey’s Island” as it was part of the barony belonging to Anglo-Norman Hervey de Montmorency.
The National Inventory tells us that the composition of the house is attributed to Francis Johnston (1760-1829) “confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking landscaped grounds with the meandering River Barrow in the near distance; the near square plan form centred on a restrained doorcase; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression.”
It is a two-storey over basement house, roughly square, with a three-bay facade protected by a later porch. The garden front is of four bays and the rooms at the rear are set high above the lawn and treated as a piano nobile.
The National Inventory lists the rectors who lived here: Reverend Thomas Hancock (d. 1836); Reverend Joseph Miller (d. 1838); Reverend John Keefe Robinson (d. 1862); Reverend Edward Moore (d. 1865); and Reverend Robert Gordon Stowell Greer (1871-1929), ‘Rector of [Whitechurch] Parish for 29 years.’
The gardens were created by previous owners David and Joan Price, from whom the current owners purchased the property. The website tells us that when the Prices purchased the property in 1948 it was dilapidated, and they restored and extended the house, removing the external rendering and stripping and waxing the internal joinery by hand.
The subtropical microclimate allows many rare and tender plants to flourish. The Prices surrounded the house with a series of interconnecting garden ‘rooms’ of varying size. Across the road the garden continues with a reconstructed millpond which feeds a small stream, which winds its way through a woodland garden to the River Barrow.
In 1997 Mark and Emma Hewlett purchased the property. They have extended and enhanced both house and garden, and built a new conservatory. Upstairs was completely renovated.
The entrance door inside the porch is topped by a spiderweb fanlight, leading to a generous entrance hall. The National Inventory tells us that the carved timber door surrounds, the moulded plasterwork cornice and acanthus ceiling rose are original to the house.
The National Inventory tells us that the drawing room (north-west) retains a carved timber surround to the door opening framing a timber panelled door, and carved timber surrounds to window openings with framing timber panelled shutters. It retains a cut-black marble Classical-style chimneypiece, and moulded plasterwork cornice to the ceiling centred on “Grape and Vine”-detailed plasterwork ceiling rose.
The National Inventory tells us that the staircase is on a dog leg plan with replacement turned timber “spindle” balusters supporting a carved timber banister terminating in a volute. The study, now an office, has a cut-white marble Classical-style chimneypiece. It retains a picture railing below a moulded plasterwork cornice to the ceiling which is centred on a plasterwork ceiling rose.
There’s even a four poster bed for the children!
Mark showed us the other bedrooms in the renovated coach house and stables.
Some of the trail is geared toward children, to let imaginations populate the woods.
There’s a leisure area in a stone building with an indoor heated swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi, aromatherapy treatments and a gym area. An all weather tennis court and croquet lawn complete these facilities which are for the use of residents.
Kilmokea Country Manor has won numerous awards for its hospitality and fine dining. Kilmokea is also a member of Hidden Ireland and has been recommended by Alastair Sawday’s special places to stay in Ireland, Karen Brown’s Ireland Charming Inns and Itineraries, Georgina Campbell’s guide to Ireland and The Hidden places of Ireland.
In 1847, the Johnson family of Warrenstown changed their surname from MacShane to Anglicized Johnson. Christopher Johnson married Anne, daughter of Michael Warren of Warrenstown, County Meath. Their son John married Catherine Nangle. [1]
K
Robert King (d. 1657) lived in Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon. He married first, Frances, daughter of Henry Folliott, 1st Lord Folliott, Baron of Ballyshannon. Frances gave birth to a son, John King (1638-1676) who became 1st Baron Kingston; a second son, Robert (d. 1707) became 1st Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon.
John King (1638-1676) 1st Baron Kingston married Catherine Fenton who gave birth to their heir, the 2nd Baron Kingston (1657–1693), who died unmarried, so the title passed to John (d. 1727/8) 3rd Baron Kingston.
John (d. 1727/8) 3rd Baron Kingston married Margaret O’Cahan.
The 3rd Baron’s daughter Catherine married George Butler, grandson of Edmund Roe Butler, 4th Viscount Mountgarret. His son James King (1693-1761) became 4th Baron Kingston. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Meade, 1st Bt of Ballintubber, County Cork. She was the widow of Ralph Freke, 1st Bt.
Their daughter Margaret (d. 1763) married Richard Fitzgerald, son of Robert Fitzgerald, 19th Earl of Kildare. A son predeceased him, so on the 4th Baron’s death, the Barony of Kingston became extinct.
Robert King (d. 1707) 1st Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon married Frances Gore, granddaughter of Paul Gore, 1st Baronet Gore, of Magherabegg, Co. Donegal. Their daughter Mary married Chidley, son of Richard Coote, 1st Lord Coote, Baron of Coloony. A son John became 2nd Baronet but died childless and the title passed to his brother Henry (d. 1739/40) who became 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon.
Henry King (d. 1739/40) 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon married Isabella, daughter of Edward Wingfield of Powerscourt, County Wicklow.
Henry King (d. 1739/40) 3rd Baronet and Isabella’s daughter Elinor married William Stewart of Killymoon. Another daughter, Isabella (1729-1794) married Thomas St. Lawrence 1st Earl of Howth, and Anne (d. 1803) married John ‘Diamond’ Knox of Castlerea, Co. Mayo, and Frances (1726-1812) married Hans Widman Wood of Rossmead, County Westmeath. It’s funny looking at their portraits by Robert Hunter – he seems to have used the same picture for each sister except for Frances, with tiny adjustments to the dress and pose!
Henry King (d. 1739/40) 3rd Baronet and Isabella’s son Robert (1724-1755) succeeded as 4th Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon and was created 1st (and last) Baron Kingsborough. Another son, Edward (1726-1797) succeeded as 5th Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon was created 1st Earl of Kingston, and they had another son, Henry.
Edward (1726-1797) 5th Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon, 1st Earl of Kingston married Jane Caulfeild (d. 1784), daughter of Thomas Caulfeild of Castle Donamon, County Roscommon. Their daughter Jane (d. 1838) married Laurence Harman, 1st Earl of Rosse. A daughter Frances married Thomas Tenison (d. 1812). Another daughter, Eleanor, died unmarried, as did her sister Isabella. The heir was Robert (1754-1799) who became 2nd Earl of Kingston.
Robert King (1754-1799) 2nd Earl of Kingston married Caroline Fitzgerald (d. 1823), daughter of Richard Fitzgerald and Margaret King. The latter was daughter of James King, 4th Baron Kingston. Richard Fitzgerald was son of Robert 19th Earl of Kildare.
Caroline née Fitzgerald and Robert King 2nd Earl of Kingston had a daughter Margaret (1773-1835) who married first, Stephen Moore 2nd Earl of Mountcashell and second, George William Tighe. Caroline and Robert 2nd Earl’s son George (1771-1839) succeeded as 3rd Earl of Kingston.
Caroline and Robert 2nd Earl’s son Henry (d. 1839) married first Mary Hewitt and then Catherine Philips. Another son, James William King (d. 1848) married Caroline Cleaver. Another son, Robert Edward (1773-1854) was created 1st Viscount Lorton of Boyle, County Roscommon. Another son, Richard Fitzgerald King (1779-1856) married Williamina Ross.
George King (1771-1839) 3rd Earl of Kingston had several illegitimate children with Caroline Amelia Morison, daughter of William Morison, Chief Justice of the Bahamas. The 3rd Earl married Helena Moore (1773-1847), daughter of Stephen Moore, 1st Earl Mountcashell. His son (1795-1837) Edward King, known as Viscount Kingsborough, was imprisoned for his father’s debts and died of typhus in prison. His son Robert Henry King (1796-1867) succeeded 4th Earl of Kingston. He was declared of unsound mind, and had no children. His brother James King (1800-1869) succeeded as 5th Earl of Kingston.
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);
2.Lough Bawn House, Colllinstown, County Westmeath €€
3. Lough Bishop House, Collinstown, County Westmeath€
4. Mornington House, County Westmeath €€
Whole House Rental/wedding venue, County Westmeath:
1. Bishopstown House, Rosemount, County Westmeath – whole house rental (sleeps up to 18 people)
2. Middleton Park, Mullingar, County Westmeath – whole house rental and weddings
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 website tells us: “Trace the footprints of the generations who shaped this place. From early settlements and warring chieftains to foreign invaders and local heroes. This site on the River Shannon is the centre of Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands.
“Over the centuries it has been the nucleus of the Anglo-Norman settlement; a stronghold of the rival local families the Dillons and the O’Kelly’s; the seat of the Court of Claims; the residence of the President of Connaught and the Jacobite stronghold during the sieges of Athlone. After the Siege of Athlone it became incorporated into the new military barrack complex. It remained a stronghold of the garrison for almost three hundred years.
“In 1922 when the Free State troops took over the Barracks from their British counterparts, they proudly flew the tricolour from a temporary flagpole much to the delight of the majority of townspeople.
“In 1967 the Old Athlone Society established a museum in the castle with a range of exhibits relating to Athlone and its environs and also to folk-life in the district. Two years later when the military left the castle it was handed over to the Office of Public Works and the central keep became a National Monument.
“In 1991 to mark the Tercentenary of the Siege of Athlone the castle became the foremost visitor attraction in Athlone. Athlone Town Council (then Athlone UDC) made a major investment in the castle creating a multi-faceted Visitor Centre as it approached its 800th Anniversary in 2010. A total of €4.3million euro was invested in the new facility by Fáilte Ireland and Athlone Town Council and was officially opened by the then Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring T.D. on Tuesday 26th February 2012.“
“Athlone Castle Visitor Centre is now a modern, engaging, fun and unique family attraction which harnesses most significant architectural features, such as the keep, to act as a dramatic backdrop to its diverse and fascinating story.
“It houses eight individual exhibition spaces, each depicting a different aspect of life in Athlone, the Castle and the periods both before and after the famous Siege. Fun, hands-on interactives, touchable objects and educational narratives immerse visitors in the drama, tragedy and spectacle of Athlone’s diverse and fascinating story. 3D maps, audio-visual installations, illustrations and artefacts bring the stories and characters of Athlone to life and The Great Siege of Athlone is dramatically recreated in a 360-degree cinematic experience in the Keep of the castle.“
“As part of Westmeath County Council’s commemoration of Ireland’s world-renowned tenor, John Count McCormack, a new exhibition dedicated to the celebrated singer was opened at Athlone Castle in October 2014.“
Archiseek tells us about Athlone Castle: “Towards the end of the 12th century the Anglo-Normans constructed a motte-and-bailey fortification here. This was superceeded by a stone structure built in 1210, on the orders of King John of England. The Castle was built by John de Gray, Bishop of Norwich. The 12-sided donjon dates from this time. The rest of the castle was largely destroyed during the Siege of Athlone and subsequently rebuilt and enlarged upon. In the early 1800s, during the Napoleonic Wars, the castle was rebuilt as a fortification to protect the river crossing, taking the form we largely see today. The machicolations of the central keep are all nineteenth century. In the interior is an early nineteenth century two-storey barrack building. The modern ramp up to the castle has a line of pistol loops. The castle was taken over by the Irish Army in 1922 and continued as a military installation until it was transferred to the Office of Public Works in 1970.” [8]
2. Belvedere House, Gardens and Park, County Westmeath
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Belvedere in his 1988 book:
p. 39. “(Rochfort, sub Belvedere, E/DEP Rochfort/LGI1912; Marlay/LGI1912; Howard-Bury, sub Suffolk and Berkshire, E/PB; and Bury/IFR) An exquisite villa of ca 1740 by Richard Castle, on the shores of Lough Ennell; built for Robert Rochfort, Lord Bellfield, afterwards 1st Earl of Belvedere, whose seat was at Gaulston, ca 5 miles away. Of two storeys over basement, with a long front and curved end bows – it may well be the earliest bow-ended house in Ireland – but little more than one room deep.”
Bence-Jones continues: “The front has a three bay recessed centre between projecting end bays, each of which originally had a Venetian window below a Diocletian window. Rusticated doorcase and rusticated window surrounds on either side of it; high roof parapet. The house contains only a few rooms, but they are of fine proportions and those on the ground floor have rococo plasterwork ceilings of the greatest delicacy and gaiety, with cherubs and other figures emerging from clouds, by the same artist as the ceilings formerly are Mespil House, Dublin, one of which is now in Aras.” When Robert Rochfort decided to use Belvedere as his principal residence he employed Barthelemij Cramillion, the French Stuccadore, to execute the principal ceilings. The Rococo plasterwork ceilings were completed circa 1760.
Bence-Jones tells of the house’s occupants; “Soon after the house was finished, Lord Bellfield’s beautiful wife [Mary Molesworth, daughter of Richard, 3rd Viscount Molesworth of Swords, Dublin] confessed to him that she had committed adultery with his brother; whereupon he incarcerated her at Gaulston, where she remained, forbidden to see anyone but servants, until his death nearly thirty years later; while he lived a bachelor’s life of great elegance and luxury at Belvedere. Another of his brothers lived close to Belvedere at Rochfort (afterwards Tudenham Park); having quarrelled with him too, Lord Belvedere, as he had now become, built the largest Gothic sham ruin in Ireland to blot out the view of his brother’s house; it is popularly known as the Jealous Wall. In C19, the Diocletian windows in the front of the house were replaced with rectangular triple windows; and the slope from the front of the house down to the lough was elaborately terraced. Belvedere passed by inheritance to the Marlay family and then to late Lt-Col C.K. Howard-Bury, leader of the 1921 Mount Everest Expedition; who bequeathed it to Mr Rex Beaumont.” (see [3])
The jealous wall is rather disappointingly attached to the visitor centre of Belvedere at the entrance to the park.
Robert Rochfort managed to have children despite his antipathy toward his wife. George Rochfort (1738-1814), 2nd Earl of Belvedere inherited Belvedere and other estates when his father died in 1774. He also inherited debts, and sold Gaulston House, the house where his mother had been imprisoned by his father. Unfortunately Gaulston House was destroyed by fire in 1920. George Rochfort built an extension onto the rear of Belvedere but spent most of his time in his townhouse, Belvedere House in Great Denmark Street, Dublin.
The 2nd Earl of Belvedere had no children. His wife inherited his Dublin property but his sister Jane inherited Belvedere. Jane married Brinsley Butler, 2nd Earl of Lanesborough. She inherited Belvedere when she was 77 years old! She had married a second time and the income from the estate allowed herself and her second husband to live in fine style in Florence. The male line of the Earls of Lanesborough died out after two more generations. Jane’s son Robert Henry Butler (1759-1806) 3rd Earl of Lanesborough married Elizabeth La Touche, daughter of David La Touche and Elizabeth Marlay, whom we came across when we visited Harristown, County Kildare (see my entry) and Marlay Park in Rathfarnham, Dublin. The estate passed down to their son, Brinsley Butler, 4th Earl of Lanesborough. The estate then passed through the female line. The 3rd Earl’s sister Catherine married George Marlay (1748-1829), the brother of Elizabeth who married David La Touche.
Catherine and George Marlay had a son, George, who married Catherine Tisdall, and the estate passed to his son, Charles Brinsley Marlay (1831-1912). He was only sixteen when he inherited Belvedere from his cousin the Earl of Lanesborough. It was Charles Brisley Marlay who built the terraces leading down to the lake, in the late 1880s. The twelve stone lions were added later. He spent many hours planning the 60 metre long rockery to the side of the terraces, and also built the walled garden. He was known as “the Darling Landlord” due to his kindness to tenants, and for bringing happiness and wealth back to Belvedere. He was cultured and amassed an important art collection, as well as improving the estate.
The inheritance of Belvedere continues to be even more complicated. It passed via Catherine Tisdall’s family. Her mother Catherine Dawson had married twice. Catherine’s second husband was Charles William Bury (1764-1835), the 1st Earl of Charleville. We came across him earlier, as an owner of Charleville Forest, in Tullamore, County Offaly. Belvedere passed to his descendent, Lt. Col Charles Howard-Bury (1883-1963). The 3rd Earl of Charleville, Charles William George Bury (1822-1859) had several children but the house passed to the fourth child as all others had died before Charles Brinsley Marley died. It was therefore the son of Emily Alfreda Julia Bury (1856-1931) who inherited Belvedere. She married Kenneth Howard, who added Bury to his surname. Their son was Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury.
Charles Howard-Bury left Belvedere to his friend, Rex Beaumont. Eventally financial difficulties caused Mr Beaumont to sell the property, and it was acquired by Westmeath County Council. Two years previously, in 1980, Mr Beaumont sold the contents of the house – I wonder where those things ended up?
The estate is a wonderful amenity for County Westmeath, with large parklands to explore with several follies, as well as the walled garden.
In Belvedere, dining was an opportunity to impress guests not only by the room but by the sumptuous meals, presented by immaculately dressed servants. The rococo ceiling of puffing cherubs and fruits and foliage is attributed to Barthelemji Cramillion, a French stuccodore.
Bence-Jones continues: “The staircase, wood and partly curving, is in proportion to the back of the house.“
Information boards tells us that the Drawing Room was the place for afternoon tea, after-dinner drinks, music and conversation. Belvedere’s last owners, Charles Howard-Bury and Rex Beaumont would have passed many happy hours relaxing and reminiscing about their wartime experiences and travels across the world, as well as planning trips to Tunisia and Jamaica.
Castle, May 2-31, June 1-29, July 4-20, Aug 1-31, Sept 5-21, Thurs- Sat, National Heritage Week, Aug 17-25, 11am-3pm
Garden, May 2-Sept 29, Thurs-Sundays, and Bank Holidays, National Heritage Week, Aug 17-25, 11am-5pm
Fee: castle/garden adult €16.50, child over 10 years €8.50, OAP/student free, garden, adult €8.50, child €4, family ticket (2 adults + 2 children) €23, adult season ticket €56, family season ticket €70, special needs visitor with support carer €4
8. Turbotstown, Coole, Co. Westmeath
Open dates in 2024: Aug 1-31, Sept 1-9, Dec 1-20, 9am-1pm
“The family run Annebrook House Hotel Mullingar opened its doors February 2007. Originally an Old Georgian residence for the local county surgeon, Dr O’Connell, the historic Annebrook House Hotel was purchased by the Dunne family in 2005. With his experience in hospitality and construction Berty Dunne set about creating a hotel as unique as the man who owns it. The Annebrook’s central location, its diverse range of accommodation from 2 bedroomed family suites to executive doubles has made it a very popular location for those coming to experience all that the midlands has to offer.
“Situated in the heart of Mullingar overlooking 10 acres of parkland, the Award Winning 4 star Annebrook House Hotel presents a modern day styling coupled with 17th century heritage. As a family run hotel the Annebrook prides itself on quality and high standards of customer service, working as part of one team to ensure all guests of their best and personal attention at all times. Annebrook House Hotel is steeped in history and enjoys the enviable advantage of being one of the most centrally located hotels in Mullingar town. This unique venue mixes old world charm with modern comfort and has established itself as one of Westmeath’s top wedding venues and was recently voted Best Wedding Venue Ireland by Irish Wedding Diary Magazine. With accommodation ranging from executive hotel rooms, family suites, luxurious champagne suites and apartments, the Annebrook has much to offer those visiting Mullingar. Offering a range of dining options from Berty’s Bar to fine dining in the award winning Old House Restaurant. The four star Annebrook House Hotel offers an excellent service to both its corporate & leisure guests. The hotel is accessible by car just 50 mins from Dublin and is only 10 minutes from the local Train Station.“
2.Lough Bawn House, Colllinstown, Co Westmeath – B&B accommodation €€
“A classic Georgian house in a unique setting. Lough Bawn house sits high above Lough Bane with amazing sweeping views. Nestled in a 50 acre parkland at the end of a long drive, Lough Bawn House is a haven of peace and tranquillity.
“The house and estate has been in the same family since it was built in 1820 by George Battesby, the current occupier, Verity’s, Great Great Great Grandfather. The house is being lovingly restored by Verity, having returned from England to live in the family home. Verity ran her own catering and events company in Gloucestershire for over 20 years. Her passion for cooking & entertaining shines through. Guests enjoy an extensive and varied breakfast with much of the ingredients being grown or reared by Verity herself, and delicious dinners are on offer. Breakfast is eaten in the large newly restored dining room, with wonderful views over the lough and of the parading peacocks on the rolling lawns.“
“Both of the large, en-suite rooms have fine views down the length of Lough Bane and over the wooded hills while the single room and the twin/double room have sweeping views of the surrounding parklands. Guests are warmly welcomed and encouraged to relax in the homely drawing room in front of a roaring fire or to explore one of the many local historical sites, gardens, walks or cultural entertainments on offer.
Several areas of the estate have been classified as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC‘s) due to the incredibly varied and rare flora. Wild flowers can be found in abundance and a charming fern walk has been the created amongst the woodland near the house.“
3. Lough Bishop House, Collinstown, County Westmeath€
“Built in the early 19th Century, Lough Bishop is a charming Country House nestling peacefully into a south-facing slope overlooking Bishop’s Lough in County Westmeath, Ireland.
“Breathtaking scenery in an unspoilt and tranquil setting, amid the rolling farmlands and lakes of Westmeath make Lough Bishop an ideal refuge from the hustle and bustle of modern life. There are family dogs in the background and animals play a large part of life at Lough Bishop House.
“Lough Bishop House is a family run business offering Country House Bed & Breakfast accommodation in a wonderful location in the middle of a working organic farm. We even have a purpose built trailer towed behind the quad bike to give guests a tour of the farm and the opportunity to get up close to the animals.
“Following extensive renovation this attractive Georgian Country Farmhouse offers its guests luxurious bed and breakfast accommodations, peaceful surroundings and fine home cooked food much of which comes from our own farm, garden and orchard.“
4. Mornington House, County Westmeath – B&B accommodation
“Mornington House, a historic Irish Country Manor offering luxury country house accommodation located in the heart of the Co. Westmeath countryside, just 60 miles from Ireland’s capital city of Dublin. Tranquility and warm hospitality are the essence of Mornington, home to the O’Hara’s since 1858.
“Mornington House is hidden away in the midst of a charming and dramatic landscape with rolling hills, green pasture, forests with ancient, heavy timber and sparkling lakes, deep in an unexplored corner of County Westmeath. Nearby are ancient churches, castles and abbeys, and delightful small villages to explore, away from all hustle and bustle of 21st century life, yet just 60 miles from Dublin.
“There has been a house at Mornington since the early 17th century but this was considerably enlarged in 1896 by Warwick’s grandparents. It is now a gracious family home with a reputation for delicious breakfasts which are prepared in the fine tradition of the Irish Country House and really set you up for the day ahead.
“A special place to stay for a romantic or relaxing break Mornington House’s location in the centre of Ireland just an hour’s drive from Dublin and Dublin Airport makes it ideal for either a midweek or weekend country break. Guests can walk to the lake or wander round the grounds. Excellent golf, fishing, walking and riding can be arranged. The Hill of Uisneach, the Neolithic passage tombs at Loughcrew and Newgrange and the early Christian sites at Fore and Clonmacnoise are all within easy reach, as are the gardens at Belvedere, Tullynally and Loughcrew.“
The National Inventory tells us:
“A well-detailed middle-sized country house, on complex plan, which retains its early aspect, form and much of its important early fabric. The ascending breakfronts to the entrance front of this structure adds to the overall form and its architectural impact. The facade, incorporating extensive moulded detailing and a very fine doorcase, is both visually and architecturally impressive and displays a high level of workmanship. The present entrance front (east) is built to the front of an earlier house, the form of which suggests that it might be quite early, perhaps early eighteenth-century in date. The 1896 entrance front was built to designs by W.H. Byrne (1844-1917), a noted architect of his day, best remembered for his numerous church designs. Apparently, Mornington is one of only two domestic commissions that can be attributed to this noteworthy architect, adding extra significance to this structure. The building was completed by 1898 at a cost of £2,400. Mornington House was in the ownership of the Daly Family in the early eighteenth-century and has been in the ownership of the O’Hara Family since 1858. It forms the centrepiece of an interesting, multi-period, complex with the outbuildings, the walled gardens and the fine entrance gates to the south. It represents an important element to the architectural heritage of Westmeath and occupies attractive nature grounds to the east of Multyfarnham.” [9]
Whole House accommodation, County Westmeath:
1. Bishopstown House, Rosemount, Westmeath (sleeps up to 18 people)
“Bishopstown House is a three-storey Georgian house built in the early 1800s by the Casey family. After he passed away, the original owner, Mr. J Casey left Bishopstown to his two daughters, who then sold the house to Mr Richard Cleary in 1895.
“Mr Richard Cleary, formally from the famed lakeside Cleaboy Stud near Mullingar, planned and erected Bishopstown House and Stud. In his younger days he rode horses at Kilbeggan, Ballinarobe, Claremorris and other Irish meetings with varying degrees of success, but as a trainer he knew no bounds. In his later years he devoted his time to breeding and training, and in time he became one of Ireland’s most famous trainers, breeding some excellent horses, including the winner of the 1916 Irish Grand National, Mr James Kiernan’s All Sorts!
“Other famous horses from the Bishopstown stud include Shaun Spada and Serent Murphy who both won the Aintree Grand National in England. Another horse called Dunadry won the Lancashire Steeple Chase. Other stallion winners include Sylvio III, Lustrea and Irish Battle who frequently had their names in the limelight throughout Irish and English racecourses.
“After being left fall into a dilapidated state, the stud farm and house was purchased by Paddy and Claire Dunning, the owners of the award-winning Grouse Lodge Recording Studios and Coolatore House and members of the Georgian society. It was restored to its former glory in 2009 and is now available for rent.“
2. Middleton Park, Mullingar, County Westmeath – wedding venue and accommodation
Middleton Park House featured in The Great House Revival on RTE, with presenter (and architect) Hugh Wallace. The website tells us:
“Carolyn and Michael McDonnell, together with Carolyn’s brother Henry, joined together to purchase this expansive property in Castletown Geoghegan. Built during the famine, the property was last in use as a hotel but it had deteriorated at a surprisingly fast rate over its three unoccupied years.
“Designed by renowned architect George Papworth, featuring a Turner-designed conservatory, Middleton Park House stands at a palatial 35,000sq. ft. and is steeped in history. Its sheer scale makes it an ambitious restoration.
“The trio’s aim is to create a family home, first and foremost, which can host Henry’s children at the weekends and extended family all year-round. Due to its recent commercial use, the three will need to figure out how to change industrial-style aspects to make it a welcoming home that is economical to run.
“Henry will be putting his skills as a contractor and a qualified chippy to use, and Michael will be wearing his qualified engineer’s hat to figure out an effective heating system. Carolyn will be using her love of interiors to work out the aesthetic of the house, and how to furnish a property the size of 35 semi-detached houses in Dublin.“
The trio have now made the house available for accommodation and as a wedding venue.
The National Inventory tells us:
“A very fine and distinguished large-scale mid-nineteenth country house, which retains its early form, character and fabric This well-proportioned house is built in an Italianate style and is elevated by the fine ashlar limestone detailing, including a well-executed Greek Ionic porch/portico and a pronounced eaves cornice. This house was (re)built for George Augustus Boyd [1817-1887] in 1850 to designs by George Papworth (1781-1855) and replaced an earlier smaller-scale house on site, the property of a J. Middleton Berry, Esq., in 1837 (Lewis). The style of this house is quite old fashioned for its construction date and has the appearance of an early-nineteenth/late-Georgian country house. The form of this elegant house is very similar to Francis Johnston’s masterpiece Ballynagall (15401212), located to the north of Mullingar and now sadly in ruins. This house remained in the Boyd-Rochfort family until 1958 and was famously offered as a prize in a raffle in 1986 by its then owner, Barney Curly. This house forms the centerpiece of an important collection of related structures along with the elegant conservatory by Richard Turner (15318024), the service wing to the north (15318020), the stable block to the north (15318022) and the main gates (15318017) and the gate lodge (15318018) to the west. This building is an important element of the built heritage of Westmeath and adds historic and architectural incident to the landscape to the south of Castletown Geoghegan.” [10]
[3] 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.
[4] p. 136. O’Reilly, Sean. Irish Houses and Gardens. From the Archives of Country Life. Aurum Press Ltd, London, 1998.
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:
“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 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]
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.
Kildare:
2.Castletown House and Parklands, Celbridge, County Kildare.
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.
3.Maynooth Castle, County Kildare:
General information: 01 628 6744, maynoothcastle@opw.ie
“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.
I have noticed that an inordinate amount of OPW sites are closed ever since Covid restrictions, if not even before that (as in Emo, which seems to be perpetually closed) [these sites are marked in orange here]. I must write to our Minister for Culture and Heritage to complain.
I have written to Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin and received a response in June 2022:
“I wish to acknowledge receipt of your recent correspondence to Catherine Martin, TD. Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in connection with OPW Sites.
OPW Sites would fall under the remit of Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan and the Department of Office of Public Works. Minister of State O’Donovan’s office can be reached at ministersoffice@opw.ie and should be able to assist you with your query.“
Well, I have another email to write! I’ll keep you posted…
Dublin:
1. Aras an Uachtarain, 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!
€10.00
1. Aras an Uachtarain, Phoenix Park, Dublin 8:
general enquiries: (01) 677 0095
phoenixparkvisitorcentre@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“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]
General enquiries: (01) 821 3021, superintendent.park@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“The military cemetery at Arbour Hill is the last resting place of 14 of the executed leaders of the 1916 Rising. It is therefore a place of pilgrimage for students and aficionados of this tempestuous moment in Irish history.
“There is an adjoining church, the chapel for Arbour Hill Prison. At the rear of the church lies the old cemetery, containing fascinating memorials to British military personnel.
“The clear focus of Arbour Hill, however, is the legend of the rising. Among those buried here are Patrick Pearse, James Connolly and Major John MacBride. Their bodies were put into an unmarked pit and covered with quicklime, but their grave has now been saved from obscurity with an impressive memorial inscribed in English and Irish.
“Arbour Hill Cemetery is at the rear of the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, where you can currently find a large display of 1916-related material.“
3. Ashtown Castle, Phoenix Park, Dublin:
Ashtown Castle is in the Phoenix Park. From the OPW website:
“Ashtown Castle is a tower house that probably dates from the seventeenth century, but may be as early as the fifteenth.
“For years it was completely hidden within the walls of a Georgian mansion once occupied by the under-secretary for Ireland. When that house was demolished in the late 1980s, the castle was rediscovered. It has since been fully restored and now welcomes visitors.”
The National Inventory tells us:
“The castle was dated to the early seventeenth century on the basis of surviving fragments of a roof truss found in the wall during the restoration project in the early 1990s. There is in the stonework some suggestion of a further wing to the north, but no archaeological evidence was found, leaving this section unresolved. The builder is unknown, but in 1641 the estate was in the ownership of John Connell, a distant ancestor of Daniel O’Connell. Curiously the Civil Survey, 1654, lists him as a Protestant. Stone from a quarry at Pelletstown owned by Connell was used in the building of the original wall of the Park. The castle and its lands were purchased for the crown by the Duke of Ormonde in 1663 and it became the official residence of the second Keeper of the Park, Sir William Flower, who assigned it to a subordinate. The building was extended to become the Under Secretary’s residence in the late eighteenth century. After Independence it served as the residence of the Papal Nuncio. The later extension was demolished in the 1980s and the site was briefly considered for an official Taoiseach’s residence, the brief requiring the restoration of the castle. Although heavily restored, it is a rare surviving example of a fortified tower house close to the capital city.“
The land at Ashtown was granted to the Hospital of St. John the Baptist in the 12th century by Hugh Tyrrell, 1st Baron of Castleknock. Restoration of the castle began in 1989.
4. The Casino at Marino, Cherrymount Crescent, Malahide Road, Marino, Dublin 3
General enquiries (01) 833 1618, casinomarino@opw.ie
From the website:
“The Casino is a remarkable building, both in terms of structure and history. Sir William Chambers designed it as a pleasure-house for James Caulfeild, first earl of Charlemont, beside his residence in what was then the countryside. It is a gem of eighteenth-century neo-classical architecture. In fact, it is one of the finest buildings of that style in Europe.
“The term ‘casino’ in this case means ‘little house’, and from the outside it gives an impression of compactness. However, it contains 16 rooms, each of which is finely decorated and endlessly rich in subtle and rare design. The Zodiac Room, for example, has a domed ceiling which represents the sky with astrological symbols modelled around its base.“
General enquiries: 086 606 2729, customhousevc@opw.ie
From the website:
“This architectural icon stands on the Liffey quays, which were once Ireland’s major trade route to the wider world. The architect James Gandon completed the building, a masterpiece of European neoclassicism, in 1791. Admire the decorative detail of Edward Smyth’s beautifully executed stonework carvings on the exterior and the famous carved keystones depicting the terrible heads of the river gods. There are 14 of these – one for every major river of Ireland.
“The Custom House witnessed not only the development of a great city, but also some of the most turbulent milestones in its history. The building was destroyed by burning in 1921 and later restored to its former splendour.
“The stories of the building, burning and restoration of Dublin’s Custom House are now brought to life in a new and fascinating exhibition, revealing a rich, many-layered story that spans over 200 years.“
A previous Custom House was located further up the river at Essex Quay, built in 1707. By 1780 it was judged to be unsafe for ships to come all the way up the river to that point, where the Clarence Hotel is now located, and a new building was required. John Beresford (1738-1805) determined position for the new Custom House against much objection as its position affected property prices – raising prices in the area and lowering the value of properties nearer the previous Custom House. Beresford sought to move the city centre eastwards from the Capel Street-Parliament Street axis towards College Green. The new Custom House was built on land reclaimed from the estuary of the Liffey. He wanted to shift the city near to his developer brother-in-law’s estate, the Gardiner estate, where Luke Gardiner Ist Viscount Mountjoy had developed an exclusive area for the gentry to inhabit. Both Luke Gardiner and John Beresford married sisters, daughters of William Montgomery of Magbiehill, 1st Baronet of England, who served as an MP in Ireland.
John Beresford was the son of Marcus Beresford 1st Earl of Tyrone and Catherine De la Poer of Curraghmore in County Waterford.
James Gandon was an English-born architect who settled in Dublin in 1781 and was responsible for three major public buildings there – the Custom House, the Four Courts, and the King’s Inns – as well as for Carlisle Bridge and for extensions to the Parliament House. He also designed Emo in County Laois for John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington (formerly 2nd Viscount Carlow). He was apprenticed to William Chambers, who designed on the Casino at Marino.
The Custom House has four different but consistent facades, linked by corner pavilions. The south facade is of Portland stone, the others of mountain granite. The exterior is adorned with sculptures by Thomas Banks, Agnostino Carlini and Edward Smyth. Smyth carved the series of sculpted keystones symbolising the rivers of Ireland: the Bann, Barrow, Blackwater, Boyne, Erne, Foyle, Lagan, Lee, Liffey, Nore, Shannon, Slaney and Suir. On the north face are personifications of the four continents of world trade: Africa, America, Asia and Europe. [4]
During the Irish Civil War, the buildings was engulfed in flames and the interior destroyed. The dome was rebuilt with Ardbraccan limestone instead of Portland stone.
6.Dublin Castle, Dame Street, Dublin:
General Enquiries: 01 645 8813, dublincastle@opw.ie
From the website:
“Just a short walk from Trinity College, on the way to Christchurch, Dublin Castle is well situated for visiting on foot. The history of this city-centre site stretches back to the Viking Age and the castle itself was built in the thirteenth century.
“The building served as a military fortress, a prison, a treasury and courts of law. For 700 years, from 1204 until independence, it was the seat of English (and then British) rule in Ireland.
“Rebuilt as the castle we now know in the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Dublin Castle is now a government complex and an arena of state ceremony.
“The state apartments, undercroft, chapel royal, heritage centre and restaurant are now open to visitors.“
What is called “Dublin Castle” is a jumble of buildings from different periods and of different styles. The castle was founded in 1204 by order of King John who wanted a fortress constructed for the administration of the city. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, the castle contained law courts, meeting of Parliament, the residence of the Viceroy and a council chamber, as well as a chapel.
The oldest parts remaining are the medieval Record Tower from the thirteenth century and the tenth century stone bank visible in the Castle’s underground excavation.
The first Lord Deputy (also called Lord Lieutenant or Viceroy) to make his residence here was Sir Henry Sidney (1529-1586) in 1565. He was brought up at the Royal Court as a companion to Prince Edward, afterwards King Edward VI. He served under both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth I. He spent much of his time in Ireland expanding English administration over Ireland, which had reduced before his time to the Pale and a few outlying areas.
In 1684 a fire in the Viceregal quarters destroyed part of the building. The Viceroy at the time would have been James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond. He moved temporarily to the new building of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. New designs by the Surveyor General Sir William Robinson were constructed by October 1688, who also designed the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. He designed the State Apartments, originally to be living accommodation for the Lord Lieutenant (later known as the Viceroy), the representative for the British monarch in Ireland. [7] Balls and other events were held for fashionable society in the Castle. The State Apartments are now used for State occasions such as the Inauguration of the President. The Castle was formally handed over to General Michael Collins on 16th January 1922, and the Centenary of this event was commemorated in January 2022.
The Bedford Tower was constructed around 1750 along with its flanking gateways to the city. The clock tower is named after the 4th Duke of Bedford John Russell who was Lord Lieutenant at the time.
The Chapel Royal, renamed the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in 1943, was designed by Francis Johnston in 1807. It is built on the site of an earlier church which was built around 1700. The exterior is decorated with over 100 carved stone heads by Edward Smyth, who did the river heads on Dublin’s Custom House, and by his son John. They are carved in Tullamore limestone, and represent a variety of kings, queens, archbishops and ‘grotesques’. A carving of Queen Elizabeth I is on the north façade and Saint Peter and Jonathan Swift above the main entrance. The interior of the chapel has plasterwork by George Stapleton and wood carving by Richard Stewart. What looks like carved stone is actually limestone ashlar facing on a structure of timber, covered in painted plaster. Plasterwork fan vaulting, inspired by Henry VII’s chapel at Westminster Abbey, is by George Stapleton (1777-1841) while a host of modelled plasterwork heads are by the Smyths, likely the work of John (the younger) after the death of his father in 1812. [9] The Arms of all the Viceroys from 1172-1922 are on display.
The Viceroy at the time of Francis Johnston’s work on the chapel would have been Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond.
The State Apartments consist of a series of ornate decorated rooms, stretching along the first floor of the southern range of the upper yard.
The State Corridor on the first floor of the State Apartments is by Edward Lovett Pearce in 1758.
The Drawing room was largely destroyed in a fire in 1941, and was reconstructed in 1968 in 18th century style. It is heavily mirrored with five large Waterford crystal chandeliers.
The Throne Room, originally known as Battleaxe Hall, has a throne created for the visit of King George IV in 1821. The walls are decorated with roundels painted by Gaetano Gandolfi, depicting Jupiter, Juno, Mars and Venus. The Throne Room was created by George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham, the viceroy of the day.
Next to the Throne Room is the Portrait Gallery, where formal banquets took place at the time of the Viceroys.
The following is a list of the Lord Lieutenants of Ireland (courtesy of wikipedia):
Under the House of Anjou
Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath: 1172–73
William FitzAldelm: 1173
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (Strongbow): 1173–1176
William FitzAldelm: 1176–1177
Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath: 1177–1181
John fitz Richard, Baron of Halton, Constable of Chester and Richard Peche, Bishop of Lichfield, jointly: 1181
Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath and Hubert Walter, Bishop of Salisbury, jointly: (1181–1184)
Philip de Worcester: 1184–1185
John de Courcy: 1185–1192
William le Petit & Walter de Lacy: 1192–1194
Walter de Lacy & John de Courcy: 1194–1195
Hamo de Valognes: 1195–1198
Meiler Fitzhenry: 1198–1208
John de Gray, Bishop of Norwich: 1208–1213
William le Petit 1211: (during John’s absence)
Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin: 1213–1215
Geoffrey de Marisco: 1215–1221
Under the House of Plantagenet
Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin: 1221–1224
William Marshal: 1224–1226
Geoffrey de Marisco: 1226–1228
Richard Mor de Burgh: 1228–1232
Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent 1232 (held the office formally, but never came to Ireland)[3]
Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Lord of Offaly: 1232–1245
Sir John Fitz Geoffrey: 1246–1256
Sir Richard de la Rochelle 1256
Alan de la Zouche: 1256–1258
Stephen Longespée: 1258–1260
William Dean: 1260–1261
Sir Richard de la Rochelle: 1261–1266
David de Barry 1266–1268
Robert d’Ufford 1268–1270
James de Audley: 1270–1272
Maurice Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald: 1272–1273
Geoffrey de Geneville: 1273–1276
Sir Robert D’Ufford: 1276–1281
Stephen de Fulbourn, Archbishop of Tuam: 1281–1288
John de Sandford, Archbishop of Dublin: 1288–1290
Sir Guillaume de Vesci: 1290–1294
Sir Walter de la Haye: 1294
William fitz Roger, prior of Kilmainham 1294
Guillaume D’Ardingselles: 1294–1295
Thomas Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald: 1295
Sir John Wogan: 1295–1308
Edmund Butler 1304–1305 (while Wogan was in Scotland)
Piers Gaveston: 1308–1309
Sir John Wogan: 1309–1312
Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick: 1312–1314
Theobald de Verdun, 2nd Baron Verdun: 1314–1315
Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick: 1315–1318
Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March: 1317–1318
William FitzJohn, Archbishop of Cashel: 1318
Alexander de Bicknor, Archbishop of Dublin: 1318–19
Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March 1319–1320
Thomas FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Kildare: 1320–1321
Sir Ralph de Gorges: 1321 (appointment ineffective)
John de Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth: 1321–1324
John D’Arcy: 1324–1327
Thomas FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Kildare: 1327–1328
Roger Utlagh: 1328–1329
John D’Arcy: 1329–1331
William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster: 1331–1331
Anthony de Lucy: 1331–1332
John D’Arcy: 1332–1338 (Lords Deputy: Sir Thomas de Burgh: 1333–1337 and Sir John Charlton: 1337–1338)
Thomas Charleton, Bishop of Hereford: 1338–1340
Roger Utlagh: 1340
Sir John d’Arcy: 1340–1344 (Lord Deputy: Sir John Morice (or Moriz))
Sir Raoul d’Ufford: 1344–1346 (died in office in April 1346)
Roger Darcy 1346
Sir John Moriz, or Morice: 1346–1346
Sir Walter de Bermingham: 1346–1347
John L’Archers, Prior of Kilmainham: 1347–1348
Sir Walter de Bermingham: 1348–1349
John, Lord Carew: 1349
Sir Thomas de Rokeby: 1349–1355
Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare: 1355–1355
Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond: 1355–1356
Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare: 1356
Sir Thomas de Rokeby: 1356–1357
John de Boulton: 1357
Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare: 1357
Almaric de St. Amaud, Lord Gormanston: 1357–1359
James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond: 1359–1360
Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare: 1361
Lionel of Antwerp, 5th Earl of Ulster (later Duke of Clarence): 1361–1364
James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond: 1364–1365
Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence: 1365–1366
Thomas de la Dale: 1366–1367
Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond: 1367–1369, a.k.a. Gearóid Iarla
Sir William de Windsor: 1369–1376
James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond: 1376–1378
Alexander de Balscot and John de Bromwich: 1378–1380
Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March: 1380–1381
Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March: 1382 (first term, aged 11, Lord Deputy: Sir Thomas Mortimer)
Sir Philip Courtenay: 1385–1386
Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland: 1386
Alexander de Balscot, Bishop of Meath: 1387–1389
Sir John Stanley, K.G., King of Mann: 1389–1391 (first term)
James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond: 1391
Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester: 1392–1395
Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March: 1395–1398 (second term)
Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey: 1399
Under the Houses of York and Lancaster
Sir John Stanley: 1399–1402 (second term)
Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence: 1402–1405 (aged 13)
James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond: 1405
Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Earl of Kildare: 1405–1408
Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence: 1408–1413
Sir John Stanley: 1413–1414 (third term)
Thomas Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin: 1414
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury: 1414–1421 (first term)
James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond: 1419–1421 (first term)
Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March: 1423–1425
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury: 1425 (second term)
James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond: 1425–1427
Sir John Grey: 1427–1428
John Sutton, later 1st Lord Dudley: 1428–1429
Sir Thomas le Strange: 1429–1431
Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley: 1431–1436
Lionel de Welles, 6th Baron Welles: 1438–1446
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury: 1446 (third term)
Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York: 1447–1460 (Lord Deputy: Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Kildare)
George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence: 1462–1478 (Lords Deputy: Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond/Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Kildare)
John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk: 1478
Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York: 1478–1483 (aged 5. Lord Deputy:Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare)
Edward of Middleham: 1483–1484 (aged 11. Lord Deputy:Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare)
John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln: 1484–1485
Under the House of Tudor
Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford| 1485–1494 (Lord Deputy:Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare)
Henry, Duke of York: 1494–?1519 (Aged 4. Lords Deputy: Sir Edward Poynings/Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare/Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare)
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk: 1519–1523 (Lord Deputy:Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey)
Lords Deputy
Under the House of Tudor
The Earl of Ossory: 1523–1524
Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare: 1524–1529
The Duke of Richmond and Somerset: 22 June 1529 (aged 10)
Sir William Skeffington: 1529–1532
Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare: 1532–1534
Sir William Skeffington: 30 July 1534
Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane: 23 February 1536 – 1540 (executed, 1540)
Lords Justices: 1 April 1540
Sir Anthony St Leger: 7 July 1540 (first term)
Sir Edward Bellingham: 22 April 1548
Lords Justices: 27 December 1549
Sir Anthony St Leger: 4 August 1550 (second term)
Sir James Croft: 29 April 1551
Lords Justices: 6 December 1552
Sir Anthony St Leger: 1 September 1553 – 1556 (third term)
Viscount FitzWalter: 27 April 1556
Lords Justices: 12 December 1558
The Earl of Sussex (Lord Deputy): 3 July 1559
The Earl of Sussex (Lord Lieutenant): 6 May 1560
Sir Henry Sidney: 13 October 1565
Lord Justice: 1 April 1571
Sir William FitzWilliam: 11 December 1571
Sir Henry Sidney: 5 August 1575
Lord Justice: 27 April 1578
The Lord Grey de Wilton: 15 July 1580
Lords Justices: 14 July 1582
Sir John Perrot: 7 January 1584
Sir William FitzWilliam: 17 February 1588
Sir William Russell: 16 May 1594
The Lord Burgh: 5 March 1597
Lords Justices: 29 October 1597
The Earl of Essex 12 March 1599
Lords Justices: 24 September 1599
The Lord Mountjoy (Lord Deputy): 21 January 1600
Under the House of Stuart
The Lord Mountjoy (Lord Lieutenant): 25 April 1603
Sir Arthur Chichester: 15 October 1604
Sir Oliver St John: 2 July 1616
Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland: 18 September 1622
Lords Justices: 8 August 1629
The Viscount Wentworth later The Earl of Strafford: 3 July 1633 (executed May 1641)
The Earl of Leicester (Lord Lieutenant): 14 June 1641
The Marquess of Ormonde: 13 November 1643 (appointed by the king)
Viscount Lisle: 9 April 1646 (appointed by parliament, commission expired 15 April 1647)
The Marquess of Ormonde: 30 September 1648 (appointed by the King)
During the Interregnum
Oliver Cromwell (Lord Lieutenant): 22 June 1649
Henry Ireton (Lord Deputy): 2 July 1650 (d. 20 November 1651)
Charles Fleetwood (Lord Deputy): 9 July 1652
Henry Cromwell (Lord Deputy): 17 November 1657
Henry Cromwell (Lord Lieutenant): 6 October 1658, resigned 15 June 1659
Edmund Ludlow (Commander-in-Chief): 4 July 1659
Under the House of Stuart
The Duke of Albemarle: June 1660
The Duke of Ormonde: 21 February 1662
The Earl of Ossory (Lord Deputy): 7 February 1668
The Lord Robartes: 3 May 1669
The Lord Berkeley of Stratton: 4 February 1670
The Earl of Essex: 21 May 1672
The Duke of Ormonde: 24 May 1677
The Earl of Arran: 13 April 1682
The Duke of Ormonde: 19 August 1684
Lords Justices: 24 February 1685
The Earl of Clarendon: 1 October 1685
The Earl of Tyrconnell (Lord Deputy): 8 January 1687
King James II himself in Ireland: 12 March 1689 – 4 July 1690
King William III himself in Ireland: 14 June 1690
Lords Justices: 5 September 1690
The Viscount Sydney: 18 March 1692
Lords Justices: 13 June 1693
The Lord Capell (Lord Deputy): 9 May 1695
Lords Justices: 16 May 1696
The Earl of Rochester: 28 December 1700
The Duke of Ormonde: 19 February 1703
The Earl of Pembroke: 30 April 1707
The Earl of Wharton: 4 December 1708
The Duke of Ormonde: 26 October 1710
The Duke of Shrewsbury: 22 September 1713
Under the House of Hannover
The Earl of Sunderland: 21 September 1714
Lords Justices: 6 September 1715
The Viscount Townshend: 13 February 1717
The Duke of Bolton: 27 April 1717
The Duke of Grafton: 18 June 1720
The Lord Carteret: 6 May 1724
The Duke of Dorset: 23 June 1730
The Duke of Devonshire: 9 April 1737
The Earl of Chesterfield: 8 January 1745
The Earl of Harrington: 15 November 1746
The Duke of Dorset: 15 December 1750
William Cavendish (1720-1764) 4th Duke of Devonshire: 2 April 1755
The Duke of Bedford: 3 January 1757
The Earl of Halifax: 3 April 1761
The Earl of Northumberland: 27 April 1763
The Viscount Weymouth: 5 June 1765
The Earl of Hertford: 7 August 1765
The Earl of Bristol: 16 October 1766 (did not assume office)
The Viscount Townshend: 19 August 1767
The Earl Harcourt: 29 October 1772
The Earl of Buckinghamshire: 7 December 1776
The Earl of Carlisle: 29 November 1780
The Duke of Portland: 8 April 1782
The Earl Temple: 15 August 1782
The Earl of Northington: 3 May 1783
The Duke of Rutland: 12 February 1784
The Marquess of Buckingham: 27 October 1787
The Earl of Westmorland: 24 October 1789
The Earl FitzWilliam: 13 December 1794
The Earl Camden: 13 March 1795
The Marquess Cornwallis: 14 June 1798
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Under the House of Hannover
The Earl of Hardwicke: 27 April 1801
The Earl of Powis: 21 November 1805 (did not serve)
The Duke of Bedford: 12 March 1806
The Duke of Richmond: 11 April 1807
The Viscount Whitworth: 23 June 1813
The Earl Talbot: 3 October 1817
The Marquess Wellesley: 8 December 1821
Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey (1768-1854): 27 February 1828
The Duke of Northumberland: 22 January 1829
Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey (1768-1854): 4 December 1830
The Marquess Wellesley: 12 September 1833
The Earl of Haddington: 1 January 1835
The Earl of Mulgrave: 29 April 1835
Viscount Ebrington: 13 March 1839
The Earl de Grey: 11 September 1841
The Lord Heytesbury: 17 July 1844
John William Brabazon Ponsonby (1781-1847) 4th Earl of Bessborough, County Kilkenny: 8 July 1846
The Earl of Clarendon: 22 May 1847
The Earl of Eglinton: 1 March 1852
The Earl of St Germans: 5 January 1853
The Earl of Carlisle: 7 March 1855
The Earl of Eglinton: 8 March 1858
The Earl of Carlisle: 24 June 1859
The Lord Wodehouse: 1 November 1864
The Marquess of Abercorn: 13 July 1866
The Earl Spencer: 18 December 1868
The Duke of Abercorn: 2 March 1874
The Duke of Marlborough: 11 December 1876
The Earl Cowper: 4 May 1880
The Earl Spencer: 4 May 1882
The Earl of Carnarvon: 27 June 1885
The Earl of Aberdeen: 8 February 1886
Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1852-1915), 6th Marquess of Londonderry: 3 August 1886
The Earl of Zetland: 30 July 1889
The Lord Houghton: 18 August 1892
The Earl Cadogan: 29 June 1895
Under the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (later Windsor)
The Earl of Dudley: 11 August 1902
The Earl of Aberdeen: 11 December 1905
The Lord Wimborne: 17 February 1915
The Viscount French: 9 May 1918
The Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent: 27 April 1921
There are many other important rooms, including the Wedgwood Room, an oval room decorated in Wedgwood Blue with details in white, which was used as a Billiards Room in the 19th century. It dates from 1777.
Beyond the Wedgwood Room is the Gothic Room, and then St. Patrick’s Hall. It has two galleries, one at each end, initially intended as one for musicians and one for spectators. There are hanging banners of the arms of the members of the Order of St Patrick, the Irish version of the Knight of the Garter: they first met here in 1783. The room is in a gold and white colour scheme with Corinthian columns. The painted ceiling, commissioned and paid for by the viceroy George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham in 1788, is by Vincenzo Valdre (c. 1742-1814), an Italian who was brought to Ireland by his patron the Marquess of Buckingham. In the central panel, George III is between Hibernia and Brittania, with Liberty and Justice. Other panels depict St. Patrick, and Henry II receiving the surrender of Irish chieftains.
The hall was built originally as a ballroom in the 1740s but was damaged by an explosion in 1764, remodelled in 1769, and redecorated in the 1780s in honour of the Order of St Patrick.
Located around the castle within the castle grounds are the Coach House Gallery, Garda Museum, the Revenue Museum, the Hibernia Conference Centre and the Chester Beatty Museum and Dubh Linn Gardens, which are located on the original “dubh linn” or black pool of Dublin.
7. Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park, Dublin, July 2015:
General enquiries: (01) 815 5914, farmleighguides@opw.ie
Farmleigh was originally a two storey Georgian house, belonging first to the Coote family and then to the Trenches, then bought by the 1st Earl of Iveagh in 1870. He enlarged it and added a third storey, using designs first by James Franklin Fuller and later by William Young.
From the website:
“Farmleigh is a 78-acre estate inside Dublin’s Phoenix Park. The government bought it in June 1999 to provide accommodation for high-level meetings and visiting guests of the nation.
“Farmleigh is a unique representation of its heyday, the Edwardian period. Edward Cecil Guinness [(1847-1927) 1st Earl of Iveagh], great-grandson of Arthur Guinness (founder of the brewery), constructed Farmleigh around a smaller Georgian house in the 1880s. According to his tastes, the new building merged a variety of architectural styles.
“Many of the artworks and furnishings that Guinness collected remain in the house. There is a stunning collection of rare books and manuscripts in the library. The extensive pleasure-grounds contain wonderful Victorian and Edwardian ornamental features, with walled and sunken gardens and scenic lakeside walks. The estate also boasts a working farm with a herd of Kerry cows.” [11]
One is not allowed to take photographs inside the house but you can see pictures of the house and take an online tour on the website. It operates as the official residence for guests of the Irish state, which is why photography is not allowed inside.
“Farmleigh was purchased by Edward Cecil Guinness (1847-1927) on his marriage to his cousin, Adelaide Guinness, in 1873. A great-grandson of Arthur Guinness, founder of the eponymous brewery, Edward Cecil became the first Earl of Iveagh in 1919. The first major building programme was undertaken in 1881-84 to designs by Irish architect James Franklin Fuller (1832-1925), who extended the House to the west, refurbished the existing house, and added a third storey. In 1896 the Ballroom wing was added, designed by the Scottish architect William Young (1843-1900).
“With the addition of a new Conservatory adjoining the Ballroom in 1901, and increased planting of broadleaves and exotics in the gardens, Farmleigh had, by the early years of the twentieth century, all the requisites for gracious living and stylish entertainment. Its great charm lies in the eclecticism of its interior decoration ranging from the classical style to Jacobean, Louis XV, Louis XVI and Georgian.
“Farmleigh was purchased from the Guinness family by the Irish Government in 1999 for €29.2m. The house has been carefully refurbished by the Office of Public Works as the premier accommodation for visiting dignitaries and guests of the nation, for high level Government meetings, and for public enjoyment.” [12]
“Edward’s main residence at the time was 80 St. Stephen’s Green (now Iveagh House, the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs – see my entry under places visited at Open House) and he viewed Farmleigh as ‘a rustic retreat’. In 1886 Edward Cecil Guinness floated the brewery on the Stock Exchange increasing his wealth and social standing and this reflected in an extensive rebuild of Farmleigh. Despite this work, Edward and his wife Adelaide spent relatively little time there. Their primary residence was in London, but when in Dublin, they stayed mostly at 80 St. Stephen’s Green. The family only stayed in Farmleigh for short periods of a couple of weeks, mainly in the spring and summer months.
“After Edward Cecil’s death in 1927, his eldest son, Rupert, became the second Earl of Iveagh and inherited Farmleigh and 80 St Stephen’s Green. The latter he presented the Irish State in 1939. Rupert, who was a British MP for Southend at the time, ceased to be an MP when he succeeded to his father’s earldom. His wife The Countess of Iveagh, Gwendolen Guinness, won the Southend by-election in November 1927 to replace her husband as MP. She served until her retirement in 1935.
“Rupert gave Farmleigh to his grandson and heir, Benjamin (Rupert’s eldest son and Benjamin’s father, Arthur, was killed in WWII). Farmleigh became a family home for Benjamin (3rd Earl of Iveagh) and Miranda Guinness, and their children. Benjamin became a keen bibliophile and collector of rare books, parliamentary and early bindings, as well as first editions of the modern poets and playwrights. The library in Farmleigh in now dedicated to Benjamin Iveagh and his wonderful collection of books.
“Benjamin died in 1993 in London and in 1999, his son Arthur Guinness (4th Earl of Iveagh), sold Farmleigh to the Irish State.” [12]
Connemara marble dominates the Entrance Hall. The immediate front hallwas is toplit by roundels set in the ceiling of the hallway/porte cochere. The stairwell is toplit also. The Dining Room panelling was designed by decorators Charles Mellier & Co to incorporate four late seventeenth century Italian tapestries which once belonged to Queen Maria Christina of Spain. One of the former drawing rooms is now called the “Noble Room” and honours the memory of Ireland’s four Nobel Laureates for literature: George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney.
The suite for state guests, which is not included in the house tour, is inspired by designs of Irish modernist Eileen Gray (you can see examples of her work in the Museum at Collins Barracks in Dublin).
The house also contains the Benjamin Iveagh Library, donated by the Guinness family to Dublin’s Marsh’s Library and on permanent display in Farmleigh. Scholars can access material from the collection by arrangement.
The grounds contain a clock tower, a large classical fountain in the Pleasure Grounds, an ornamental dairy, garden temple and four acre walled garden and sunken garden. The outbuildings have been adapted to house an art gallery and a theatre and a courtyard for additional state accommodation. The Boathouse now houses a cafe overlooking the lake.
“Sunken gardens in various formal styles were popular in the early twentieth century… This one is in the Dutch of Early English style and was created some time after 1907, probably by Edward Cecil Guinness. The design has some similarities with the sunken pond garden at Hampton Court, which dates from the original Early English period, and may relate to his connections with the British Royal family.
“An ornamental gate leads into the rectangular garden, which was designed with three descending brick terraces leading to an oval pool in the centre, with a marble fountain of carved putti figures. The fountain has been restored under the direction of OPW and the Carrara marble exposed. Fine topiary peacocks and spirals surround this fountain on two levels. A brick wall enclosing the garden is paralleled by a high yew hedge, which leads the eye to the two conifers framing the view to the small apple orchard beyond.” [13]
“The Walled Garden covers about four acres and is sloped ideally towards the south. A fine pair of highly decorative wrought iron gates lead into a diagonal walk with double herbaceous borders backed by high yew hedges. South of the main crosswalk is a small orchard and potager, while north of it there is a small rose and lavender garden. The Walled Garden dates from the early nineteenth century, when Charles Trench owned Farmleigh; it is shown on the 1837 Ordnance Survey map as having a diagonal layout with seven squares and glasshouse. Later that century it had an extensive range of glasshouses on the south wall for many plants grown in typical Victorian fashion to support large-scale bedding schemes as well as producing exotic fruit and flowers and foliage, particularly orchids and ferns, for year round display in the house.
“Among the additions made by Edward Cecil Guinness were the small Victorian fernery under glass and grotto nearby with two old ogee windows from St Patrick’s Cathedral in the end wall of the garden. He also erected a number of glasshouses, including a fine three quarter span cast-iron vinery behind the high yew hedge, the potting shed, and the gardener’s house and pump house which were built in the Arts and Crafts style. His daughter in-law, Gwendolen, Lady Iveagh, subsequently created a compartmentalised layout, which was fashionable in the early twentieth century along with renewed interest in old style garden plants and herbaceous borders. A new traditional path led from the wrought iron gateway connecting the Walled Garden to the broad walk at the back of the house. This new axis of the garden was reinforced by tall yew hedges backing the long double herbaceous borders which she also planted.
“A stone temple was created as a focal point of the garden by Benjamin and Miranda Guinness in 1971: it has six antique columns of Portland with a copper roof and ornamental weather vane. The main cross path either side of the temple has metal structures designed by Lanning Roper for climbing roses and wisteria similar to those in the famous Bagatelle Garden in Paris. A paved rose garden was laid out to the north east of the temple backed by a yew hedge and looking across a lawn to the small orchard and potage. Lanning Roper suggested planting a quince, a mulberry, a catalpa, and a magnolia, to complete what he described as a Carolingian Quartet on this lawn. Lady Iveagh subsequently planted the double herbaceous borders, which include yuccas, phormiums, paeonies, astilbe and euphorbias.” [14]
8.Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin 1:
General enquiries: (01) 821 3021, superintendent.park@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“This beautiful garden in the centre of the city was designed by architect Dáithí Hanly and dedicated to the memory of ‘all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish freedom’.
“The garden was officially opened on the fiftieth anniversary of the 1916 Rising.
“The focus point is a magnificent sculpture by Oisín Kelly, based on the legend of the Children of Lir, in which four children are transformed into swans and remain so for 900 years before becoming human again. A poem by Liam Mac Uistin is inscribed on the wall behind the sculpture. It concludes: ‘O generations of freedom remember us, the generations of the vision.’
“The garden is intended as a place of quiet remembrance. It is a perfect place to enjoy some respite from the clamour of the city.“
and
“In the eighteenth century, it was the location of pleasure gardens which were intended to raise funds for the maternity hospital to the front of Rutland (now Parnell) Square. In the late nineteenth century, thesegardens contained a large temporary building which was used as a hall, and called Rotunda Rink.
“It was at Rotunda Rink in 1913 that the Irish Volunteers were formed, at a meeting reportedly attended by around 7,000 people. In 1916, the Rotunda gardens were also where many of the leaders of the Easter Rising were held, before being taken to Kilmainham Gaol for execution. The site for the Garden of Remembrance was bought from the hospital in 1939, and a competition for its design was announced the year after.” [15]
“Architect Daithí Hanly (1917-2003) was responsible for the design of the Garden. The centre of the plan contains a large cross-shaped pool, with a tiled mosaic pattern as its base. The tiles show a picture of swords, shields, and spears thrown beneath waves; this is a nod to the Celtic custom of casting weapons into water once a battle had ended. Important objects from the history of prehistoric and medieval Ireland were woven into the structure of the Garden elsewhere; in the railings can be seen the shapes of the Trinity College (Brian Boru) harp, the Loughnashade trumpet, and the Ballinderry sword.” [15]
Commemorated by the Garden of Remembrance are:
the 1798 rebellion of the Society of United Irishmen
the 1803 rebellion of Robert Emmet
the 1848 rebellion of Young Ireland
the 1867 rising of the Fenian Brotherhood
the 1916 Easter Rising
the 1919-21 Irish War of Independence
9.Government Buildings Dublin:
General Inquiries: 01 645 8813
From the OPW website:
“The imposing complex of Government Buildings on Upper Merrion Street, next door to Leinster House, was the last major public building the British constructed in Ireland. It was intended as accommodation for the Royal College of Science and various departments of the administration.
“Fortuitously, it was complete by 1922. When independence dawned, the new Free State government moved in.
“In more recent times, Taoiseach Charles Haughey converted and entirely refurbished the building to form state-of-the-art accommodation for a number of departments, including the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Finance and the Office of the Attorney General. Despite criticism of the expenditure involved, the renovated building won awards for its architectural design when it opened in the 1990s.
“There are free guided tours every Saturday, although they are subject to occasional cancellation for urgent government business.“
The building was constructed between 1904 and 1922 as a combination of Government offices and Royal College of Science, which occupied the centre block. My father went to college there! The function is represented by statues of William Rowan Hamilton, a mathematician, and Richard Boyle, the scientist, in niches flanking the entrance. The architects were Sir Aston Webb of London (who also designed Admiralty Arch in London’s Trafalgar Square) and Sir Thomas Manley Dean, from Cork. 1,000 people were at the opening ceremony. George V knighted the Architects on the day.
Internally the building was one of the most modern of its day. The floors were made of concrete and all the corridors were paved with marble tiles. Many rooms were fitted with fireplaces but it was mainly central heating that was used. Electricity was installed throughout and there was also a lift. Fans ventilated the rooms. It was one of the first colleges to admit women to its privileges.
The College was taken over by University College Dublin in 1926. In 1989 U.C.D. vacated the premises and moved to Belfield. Between January December 1990 and December 1991 the building was renovated by architects of the Office of Public Works to house the Department of the Taoiseach which had previously occupied as side wing. It was occupied by the Department in January 1991.
Stephen and I took the tour of the buildings in 2020 but one is not allowed to take photographs. We were excited to stand in the Office of the Taoiseach – who was Leo Varadkar at the time.
10. Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin 7:
General enquiries: (01) 821 3021, superintendent.park@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“The largest military cemetery in Ireland, Grangegorman is a stone’s throw from the landmark Phoenix Park.
“The graveyard was opened in 1876 as a resting place for service personnel of the British Empire and their families. It contains war graves from both world wars, as well as the graves of some of the British soldiers who lost their lives during the 1916 Rising.
“A simply designed screen-wall memorial, built of Irish limestone and standing nearly 2 metres high, commemorates those war casualties whose graves lie elsewhere in Ireland and can no longer be maintained.
“Mature trees and well-maintained lawns cast a sombre and reflective atmosphere over this restful place.” [16]
The cemetery adopts the “garden cemetery” styple promoted by J.C. Louden, the Victorian botanist and garden designer.
11. Irish National War Memorial Gardens, Islandbridge, Dublin:
General enquiries: (01) 475 7816, parkmanager@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“These gardens in Islandbridge, a Dublin suburb, are one of the most famous memorial gardens in Europe. They are dedicated to the memory of the 49,400 Irish soldiers who died in the First World War. The name of every single soldier is contained in the sumptuously illustrated Harry Clarke manuscripts in the granite bookrooms.” They were created in the 1930s, with the stipulation that labour would be divided with fifty percent coming from ex-soldiers of the British army and fifty percent from ex-soldiers of the Irish army.
“These gardens are not only a place of remembrance; they are also of great architectural interest and beauty. The great Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) designed them. Lutyens was a prolific garden designer, especially of war memorials, but nonetheless lent his expertise to only four gardens in Ireland.
“Sunken rose gardens, herbaceous borders and extensive tree-planting make for an enjoyable visit in any season. The solemn, serene atmosphere of this elegant garden makes it a perfect place in which to relax and reflect.“
“The site chosen for the Gardens lies on the banks of the River Liffey, and was known as Longmeadows. It is around fifty acres in size. Its location next to this section of the Liffey meant that it was an important ancient and medieval fording point. The earliest Viking burials were discovered in the vicinity in the early nineteenth century. The most recent excavations in 2008 uncovered a grave which contained a sword, spearhead, and ringed pin. In an era when the Liffey was unconstrained by its modern quays, and spread far wider than it does today, Islandbridge was the first navigable point. The Irish National War Memorial Gardens therefore occupy a space that was important at many different points in Irish history.
“Today, the location of the Gardens mean that they are a popular recreational destination for both the local community and international visitors alike. The pathways between the rose gardens, tree avenues, and herbaceous borders allow for pleasant walking. The presence of many boatclubs, mainly along the north side of the Liffey, mean that the park is a significant hub for rowing, and other water sports, in Dublin. The 250m-long weir, dating to the 13th century, attracts a steady stream of anglers who fish its salmon and trout.” [17]
12.Iveagh Gardens, Clonmel Street, Dublin 2:
General Enquiries: 01 475 7816, parkmanager@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“Tucked away behind the National Concert Hall, the Iveagh Gardens are among the finest, but least known, of Dublin’s parks and gardens.
“They were designed by Ninian Niven in 1865 as the grounds for the Dublin Exhibition Palace – a space ‘where the citizens might meet for the purposes of rational amusement blended with instruction’.
“The gardens contain a unique collection of features, which include rustic grottos, sunken formal panels of lawn with fountain centrepieces, woodlands, a maze, a rosarium, the American garden, rockeries and archery grounds.
“This oasis of tranquillity and beauty, just a stone’s throw from the city centre, can justly claim to be the capital’s best-kept secret.“
The website gives us a wonderfully informative history of the garden:
“In 1777, Harcourt Street was built southwards from the south-west corner of St Stephen’s Green. The following year, its first residence was completed – Clonmel House – now number 17 Harcourt street. The proprietor was John Scott (1739 – 1798), 1st Earl of Clonmell, whose country estate was Temple Hill House in Blackrock, Co Dublin. A lawyer by profession, Scott was a friend, collaborator, and fellow-scoundrel of the infamous ‘Buck’ Whaley (whose house at number 85 St Stephen’s Green backed onto Leeson’s Fields).” John Scott, or “Jack,” was the original “Copper Faced Jack,” so called because of his face red from alcohol.
“Scott bought eleven acres of Leeson’s Fields as a garden for Clonmel House. Because Harcourt Street separated the two, a subterranean passage was built (believed to be extant), from one of the now-demolished wings of Clonmel House, with two entrances in the garden. In a map of 1789 this site is named ‘Lord Earlsfort’s Lawn’ after Scott’s first title Baron Earlsfort. In the 1790s he became Earl of Clonmell, to which he added an ‘L’ (Clonmell).
“In 1817 this private land was leased, made public, and renamed the ‘Cobourg Gardens’, a name probably suggested by recent events on the Continent. For a brief period the Cobourg Gardens, barely altered from their time as the lawn of Clonmell House, enjoyed a very fashionable position among Dublin’s upper-class society…“
“By the 1830s the popularity of the Cobourg Gardens had declined sharply. In 1836, the ground reverted to Thomas, Earl of Clonmell, who seems to have encouraged plans to build a new street across the Garden, parallel to St Stephen’s Green to be called Clonmel Street.
“The gardens … were badly neglected until bought by Benjamin Lee Guinness from John Henry, [3rd] Earl of Clonmell, in 1862.
“Benjamin Lee Guinness acquired the land to act as a garden for his town house mansion Iveagh House (numbers 80 and 81 St Stephen’s Green), which he acquired in 1856. Being characteristic of his conscientious and philanthropic family, he became a trustee of the Dublin Exhibition Palace and Winter Garden Company, established in 1862.
“He sold the land bordered by Harcourt Street, St Stephens Green south, Earlsfort Terrace and Hatch Street, to the Company for the price he had paid for it. This was to be the location of the Company’s planned recreational and cultural centre for Dublin’s citizens…
“Meanwhile, considerable labour was required in the pleasure grounds of the Exhibition Palace. Ninian Niven, famed landscape gardener and former Director of the Botanic Gardens Glasnevin (1834 – 1838), designed the layout…” [you can see a picture of the Exhibition building on the OPW website]. The gardens combined the “French formal” style with “English landscape.” Niven also designed the gardens at a Section 482 property, Hilton Park in County Monaghan, as well as the National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin at gardens at Aras an Uachtarain.
“The heir to the throne, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, to rapturous enthusiasm, performed the grand opening, on 9 May 1865. In all a huge 930,000 visitors attended the Exhibition between 9 May and 9 November. The Company arranged special railway and other concessions and the Palace was equipped with a telegraph centre, post office branch, railway office, and facilities for a large number of international newspapers.“
The gardens remained open to the public until the exhibition building was sold and then, the land made private again in 1883. They opened again to the public in 1941, first as part of University College Dublin.
“The Gardens feature a unique collection of landscape features, which include a Rustic Grotto and Cascade, sunken formal panels of lawn with Fountain Centre Pieces, Wilderness Woodlands, a Maze, Rosariurn, American Garden, Archery grounds, Rockeries and Rookeries. Happily, many of these features were still visible when the gardens transferred into State care in 1991.
“Accordingly, a plan was put in place immediately to undertake restoration and conservation works to the gardens. Looking around the gardens the fruits of this work are visible, in features such as the Yew maze and the Rosarium with its period collection of roses pre-dating 1865. The two fountains, restored in 1994, form a magnificent centerpiece in the gardens.” [18]
Legend tell us that an elephant is buried near the sunken lawn. It may have been used for dissection in the medical school or by a veterinarian, or else could have died in Dublin zoo. However, no remains have ever been found so its presence may be an urban myth.
13.Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin:
General Enquiries: 01 453 5984, kilmainhamgaol@opw.ie
from OPW website:
“Kilmainham Gaol is one of the largest unoccupied gaols in Europe. It opened in 1796 as the new county gaol for Dublin and finally shut its doors as such in 1924. During that period it witnessed some of the most heroic and tragic events in Ireland’s emergence as a modern nation.
“Among those detained – and in some cases executed – here were leaders of the rebellions of 1798, 1803, 1848, 1867 and 1916, as well as members of the Irish republican movement during the War of Independence and Civil War.
“Names like Henry Joy McCracken [founder of the United Irishmen. He entered the Gaol on the 11th of October 1796 and was hanged two years later], Robert Emmet [United Irishman, hung in 1803], Anne Devlin [friend of Robert Emmet, spent two years in Kilmainham Gaol] and Charles Stewart Parnell [leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party at Westminster, and many of his fellow MPs were detained in Kilmainham after their open rejection of the Land Act introduced by the British government in 1881. Parnell was imprisoned in Kilmainham from October 1881 to May 1882] will always be associated with the building. Not to be forgotten, however, are the thousands of men, women and children that Kilmainham held in its capacity as county gaol.
“Kilmainham Gaol is now a major museum. The tour of the prison includes an audio-visual presentation.“
The Gaol was closed as a convict prison in 1910 and handed over to the British Army. It was closed for good as a prison in 1924.
“The Easter Rising of 1916 was devised to take place at a time when the British were distracted by fighting the Great War on the continent. Led by members of the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, with support from the Irish Citizen Army, the Irish Volunteers, and Cumann na mBan, the rebels seized key sites in Dublin on the 24th of April 1916. It began with a reading of the Proclamation of the Republic by Patrick Pearse. Fighting lasted for six days, until the British Army suppressed the rebellion and Pearse surrendered.
“James Connolly was badly wounded and brought to Dublin Castle. Patrick Pearse was brought to Arbour Hill, before transferring to where the rest of the leaders were located, in Richmond Barracks. There they were court-martialled and sentenced to death. They were transferred to Kilmainham Gaol. Here, they were visited by loved ones, and wrote their final goodbyes. It was also here that another leader, Joseph Plunkett, married Grace Gifford in the Gaol chapel the night before he was shot. Between the 3rd and 12th of May 1916, fourteen men were executed by firing squad in the Stonebreakers’ Yard of Kilmainham Gaol. Seven of them had been the signatories of the Proclamation. These were Thomas Clarke, Seán Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDonagh, Patrick Pearse, Éamonn Ceannt, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett.” [23]
14.National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9:
General enquiries: (01) 804 0300, botanicgardens@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“The National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, just 3 kilometres from Dublin city centre, are renowned for the exquisite plant collections held there. They are home to over 15,000 plant species and cultivars from a variety of habitats from all around the world.
“The jewel in the gardens’ crown is a set of exquisitely restored and planted historic glasshouses. Most notable among these are Richard Turner’s Curvilinear Range and the Great Palm House, both winners of an award for excellence in conservation architecture.
“Conservation plays an important role in the life of the gardens and Glasnevin is home to over 300 endangered plant species, 6 of which are already extinct in the wild.
“The gardens have been closely associated with their counterpart in Kilmacurragh, County Wicklow, since 1854. Unlike the Wicklow branch, though, they provide a calm and beautiful green space in the midst of the nation’s capital.“
“In 1790, the Irish Parliament, with the active support of the Speaker of the House, John Foster, granted funds to the Dublin Society (now the Royal Dublin Society), to establish a public botanic garden.
“In 1795, the Gardens were founded on lands at Glasnevin…The original purpose of the Gardens was to promote a scientific approach to the study of agriculture. In its early years the Gardens demonstrated plants that were useful for animal and human food and medicine and for dyeing but it also grew plants that promoted an understanding of systematic botany or were simply beautiful or interesting in themselves.
By the 1830s, the agricultural purpose of the Gardens had been overtaken by the pursuit of botanical knowledge.
“This was facilitated by the arrival of plants from around the world and by closer contact with the great gardens in Britain, notably Kew and Edinburgh and plant importers such as Messrs. Veitch. By 1838, the basic shape of the Gardens had been established. Ninian Niven as Curator had, in four years, laid out the system of roads and paths, and located many of the garden features that are present today. [Niven had formerly been head gardener at the Chief Secretary’s Lodge in the Phoenix Park, now the residence of the American Ambassador to Ireland).
“The ever increasing plant collection, and especially plants from tropical areas, demanded more and more protected growing conditions and it was left to Niven’s successor, David Moore, to develop the glasshouse accommodation. Richard Turner the great Dublin iron-master, had already supplied an iron house to Belfast Gardens, and he persuaded the Royal Dublin Society that such a house would be a better investment than a wooden house. So indeed it has proved.
“…Moore used the great interest in plants that existed among the estate owners and owners of large gardens in Ireland to expand trial grounds for rare plants not expected to thrive at Glasnevin. The collections at Kilmacurragh, Headford, and Fota, for example, attest to this.
“It was David Moore who first noted potato blight in Ireland at Glasnevin on 20th August 1845, and predicted that the impact on the potato crop would lead to famine in Ireland….
A development plan for the Gardens, published in 1992, led to a dramatic programme of restoration and renewal.
“Primary amongst these was the magnificent restoration of the Turner Curvilinear Range of glasshouses completed for the bicentenary of the Garden in 1995. A new purpose-built herbarium/library was opened in 1997. The 18th century Director’s House and the Curator’s House have been refurbished. New service glasshouses and compost storage bays have been built. Additional lecture rooms for the Teagasc Course in Amenity Horticulture were opened in 1999. Improved visitor and education facilities have been provided in a new Visitor Centre. In tandem with the restoration and expansion of the buildings, upgrading of the collections and displays has also been in progress. The work of plant identification and classification, of documenting, labelling and publishing continues, as does that of education and service to the visiting public.
“The Botanic Gardens came into state care in 1878 and since then have been administered variously by the Department of Art and Industry, the Department of Agriculture, Dúchas the Heritage Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage the Gaeltacht and the Islands, and the Office of Public Works (OPW), which currently has responsibility for the Gardens.” [20]
The gardens include an extensive arboretum as well as rockery, herbaceous border, alpine house, rose garden and woodland garden.
15.Phoenix Park, Dublin:
General Enquiries: 01 821 3021, superintendent.park@opw.ie
One would think it was named for the bird that rose from the flames, but in fact its name comes from the Irish phrase “Fionn Uisce” meaning “clear water.”
From the OPW website:
“It was originally formed as a royal hunting Park in the 1660s [by James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, for King Charles II] and opened to the public in 1747. A large herd of fallow deer still remain to this day. The Park is also home to the Zoological Gardens, Áras an Uachtaráin, and Victorian flower gardens. The Phoenix Park is only a mile and a half from O’Connell Street. Both passive and active recreational pursuits may be viewed or pursued such as walking, running, polo, cricket, hurling, and many more. The Glen Pond is set in very scenic surrounds in the Furry Glen. There are many walks and cycle trails available to the public.
“The Phoenix Park is open 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, all year round.”
“The 4th Earl of Chesterfield [Philip Stanhope] was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in January 1745, and is credited with initiating a series of landscape works, many of which were probably not completed until after his short tenure, having been recalled to London more than a year later. These included considerable replanting of the Park as well as planting of trees on either side of the main avenue and the erection of the Phoenix Column in 1747. He is also credited with opening the Park to the public.
“The dominant eighteenth-century managerial and infrastructural characteristics of the Phoenix Park were reflected in the extensive use of the Park by the military and the number of lodges used by government officers and other lesser officials involved in Park management. Apart from the use of the Park for military manoeuvres and practices, there were also a number of military institutions which included the Royal Hibernian Military School (1766) for children who were orphaned, or whose father was on active military service abroad. The Magazine Fort, constructed in 1736 with additions in 1756, was a major military institution from which small arms, munitions and gunpowder were distributed to other military barracks in the Dublin area. Mountjoy Cavalry Barracks (formerly the home of Luke Gardiner, one of the Keepers of the Park) and the Royal Military Infirmary were two further buildings constructed during the eighteenth century, in 1725 and 1786 respectively. The role of the Salute Battery (for firing cannon on Royal and other special occasions), situated in the environs of the Wellington Testimonial, was discontinued, and the lands it occupied within the Park subsequently became known as the Wellington Fields, and on which the Wellington Testimonial was erected.
“All the important lodges and accompanying demesnes, which were originally occupied by Park Rangers or Keepers, were purchased for Government use as private dwellings for the chief officers of state. These included the Viceregal Lodge for the Lord Lieutenant (now Áras an Uachtaráin), the Chief Secretary’s Residence (now the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland [called Deerfield]) and the Under-Secretary’s Residence (subsequently the Papal Nunciature and now the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre [Ashtown Castle, next to a Victorian walled kitchen garden]).
“The beginning of the nineteenth century saw the Park in a much-neglected state with poor drainage, the roads in bad order, and most of the trees very old and/or in a state of decay. However with the Commissioners of Woods and Forests taking over the management of the public areas of the Park and the employment of the renowned architect/landscape architect, Decimus Burton, all this was about to change. Burton produced a master plan for the Park which included the building of new gate lodges, the removal and levelling of old hedgerows and shooting butts, tree planting in strategic locations, drainage, the restoration of the boundary wall, creation and realignment of the Park roads, which included Chesterfield Avenue. This latter project involved the relocation of the Phoenix Column on the main avenue. Burton’s involvement for nearly two decades represents the greatest period of landscape change since the Park’s creation by the Duke of Ormond.
“…From the 1830s and particularly after the 1860s, sporting and recreational activities became prominent. The Royal Dublin Zoological Society opened Dublin Zoo in 1830. The Promenade Grounds opened in 1840 (later to be known as the People’s Garden) and were considerably improved in the 1860s with the addition of a Head Gardener’s House, rock garden, and horticultural facilities to allow for flower production for planting in the Gardens. Between the People’s Garden and Dublin Zoo, a bandstand and tearooms were built in the final decade of the nineteenth century.” [21]
and the People’s Flower Garden:
“A 9-hectare section of the massive Phoenix Park is given over to this enclosed and immaculately manicured Victorian flower garden.
“The garden was laid out and opened in the mid-nineteenth century as the Promenade Grounds. It provides an opportunity to enjoy the horticulture of that era at its best. A large ornamental lake with various fowl, a children’s playground, picnic areas and Victorian bedding schemes are just some of the attractions you will come across here.
“Whether you’re looking to relax in the sun, have a picnic or simply take a pleasant walk, don’t miss this enchanting portion of the capital’s largest green space.“
16.Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin:
General Enquiries: 01 493 9462, rathfarnhamcastle@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“The castle at Rathfarnham dates back to the Elizabethan period. It was built [around 1583] for Adam Loftus, a Yorkshire clergyman and politician [1533-1605]. Loftus was ambitious and eventually rose to become Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
“Loftus’s castle, with its four flanker towers, is an excellent example of the Elizabethan fortified house in Ireland. In the late eighteenth century, the house was remodelled on a splendid scale employing some of the finest architects of the day including Sir William Chambers and James ‘Athenian’ Stuart. The collection includes family portraits by Angelica Kauffman, Sir Peter Lely, and Hugh Douglas Hamilton.
“Loftus wanted the Castle to be a grand and impressive home which would reflect his high status in Irish society. He also needed it to be easily defended against attack from hostile Irish families such as the O’Byrnes based in the mountains to the south. The design was radically modern for the time and based on recent continental thinking about defensive architecture. The angled bastion towers located at each corner of the building were equipped with musket loops which allowed a garrison of soldiers to defend all approaches to the castle.” He married Jane Purdon. He was also the Provost of Trinity College Dublin, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. They had many children, who married very well. [He died while he was Archbishop of Dublin, in the old Palace of St. Sepulchre beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which until recently was the Garda barracks on Kevin Street, now housed in a new building. I hope they will make something of the historic old archbishop’s palace now, which could be a great museum!]
Loftus had previously lived in an archiepiscopal palace in Tallaght, and it had been sacked by the O’Byrnes and O’Tooles from the Wicklow mountains, which is why he ensured that his new house in Rathfarnham had strong defenses. The Bishop’s Palace in Raphoe, now a ruin, is similarly shaped.
Maurice Craig points out in his The Architecture of Ireland from the earliest times to 1880 that there are a group of similar buildings, built over a period of fifty years or more: Rathfarnham; Kanturk for MacDonagh MacCarthy, before 1609; Portumna for the Earl of Clanrickarde, before 1618; Manorhamilton for Sir Frederick Hamilton, probably around 1634; Raphoe, for Bishop John Leslie (the “Fighting Bishop” – see my entry on Castle Leslie https://irishhistorichouses.com/2020/08/07/castle-leslie-glaslough-county-monaghan/) in 1636, and Burntcourt for Sir Richard Everard before 1650. Manorhamilton is a section 482 ruin which I will be writing about, and we visited Portumna in County Galway – see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/02/14/office-of-public-works-properties-connacht/. The buildings resemble a fort, such as Mountjoy Fort in County Tyrone built 1600-1605. Killenure, County Tipperary, is similar but has cylindrical flankers, Craig tells us. This last was unroofed by 1793.
The Rathfarnham website continues: “[Adam Loftus’s] son Dudley (1561-1616) married Anne Bagenal, daughter of Nicholas Henry Bagenal, Marshal of Ireland. The castle passed to his son, Adam Loftus (1590-1666), who married Jane Vaughan of Golden Grove, County Offaly. Their son Arthur Loftus (1616-1659) married Dorothy Boyle, daughter of Richard Boyle the 1st Earl of Cork. They had a son, Adam Loftus (1632-1691) who became the 1st and last Viscount Lisburne. His only son died in infancy. Viscount Loftus was killed at the Seige of Limerick.
Another son of Dudley and Anne Bagenal was Nicholas Loftus (1592-1666), the ancestor of Henry Loftus, the Earl of Ely. Nicholas’s second son Henry (1636-1716) lived in Loftus Hall in County Wexford, and was the father of Nicholas Loftus, 1st Viscount Loftus of Ely. He married Anne Ponsonby, daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Duncannon, and they had, first, the son Nicholas Loftus (1708-1766), who became the 1st Earl of Ely, and who added Hume to his surname after marrying Mary Hume, daughter of Gustavus Hume, 3rd Baronet of Castle Hume, County Fermanagh.
Nicholas Loftus 1st Earl of Ely and his wife Mary Hume gave birth to Nicholas Loftus Hume, 2nd Earl of Ely (1738-1769).
Henry Loftus (1709-1783) pictured below. He married first, Frances Monroe of Roe’s Hall, County Down, (pictured below), who died in 1774, then married secondly Anne Bonfoy. He purchased Ely House in Dublin (built 1770) from Sir Gustavus Hume, 3rd Baronet.
Rathfarnham Castle remained in the hands of the Loftus family and their heirs until it was purchased in 1723 by Speaker William Conolly of Castletown, Co Kildare, for £62,000. It returned to ownership of the Loftus family in 1767 when it was purchased by Nicholas Hume-Loftus.
Speaker Conolly never resided at Rathfarnham, leasing it instead to Joan Hoady, Archbishop of Dublin, from 1730-1742, who began the series of alterations that were to transform the castle into a modern country residence. He gave it to his son-in-law Bellingham Boyle.
The castle returned to the ownership of the Loftus family in 1767 when it was purchased by Nicholas Hume-Loftus. Nicholas never married and on his death in 1769 the Castle passed to his uncle, Henry Loftus (created Earl of Ely in 1771). Henry continued the remodelling of the castle and the works were completed by the time of his death in 1783.
Henry Loftus (1709-1783) commissioned Sir William Chambers to remodel and redecorate Rathfarnham Castle. There are also several rooms which are attributed to architect and designer James “Athenian” Stuart. Much of the neo-classical design of the Castle today can be attributed to these two architects. Externally, the window openings were enlarged, and a new stone Tuscan entrance portico added, probably to the designs of William Chambers. The original battlements were removed and the new parapet was embellished with ball finials and urns some of which also serve as chimneys. On the south front new garden steps were added, while on the east front a three bay bow had been added by 1774. Most of the main interiors can now be attributed with certainty to James Stuart, whose best work in Ireland is the Temple of the Winds at Mount Stewart, County Down, and Sir William Champbers. Stuart was employed at Rathfarnham from at least 1769 and was responsible for the design of the ground floor gallery and two rooms above it. He was also involved in the decoration of some interiors at the family townhouse, Ely House, Dublin. Chambers was responsible for the small drawing room ceiling, back staircase lobby, the ante room and ballroom above, the entrance hall on the first floor, and the octagonal room in one of the towers.
Henry Loftus was succeeded by his nephew Charles Tottenham who did little beyond the erection in 1790 of the Gothic or Back Gate, now almost competely demolished to make way for a road.
“The Loftus family left Rathfarnham Castle in the 19th century and it was ultimately sold to the Blackburne family in 1852 (Francis Blackburne 1782-1867) who lived there until 1911. Coincidentally almost in the footsteps of Adam Loftus who built Rathfarnham Castle, Francis Blackburne became Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College. The Society of Jesus then acquired the building and for much of the remainder of the 20th century it was used as a Retreat House for lay visitors as well as accommodation for seminarians attending college in the city. Following the departure of the Jesuits in 1985, the Castle came into the care of the state and a great deal of restoration work has been carried out. Most of the rooms have been restored to their 18th century state and several are furnished with a collection of fine eighteen and nineteenth century pieces from continental Europe, Britain and Ireland.”
“This room is believed to have been built to a design by the influential architect Sir William Chambers (1723-1796). Despite never visiting Ireland, Chambers left a significant mark on Dublin where he also designed the Casino at Marino, Charlemont House on Parnell Square, and much of Front Square in Trinity College. The floor and free standing Doric columns are in Portland stone. The painted glass panels featuring fruit and flowers are believed to be by the Dublin Huguenot artist Thomas Jervais (d. 1799). The marble relief busts on the walls depict well known figures from the Classical and Renaissance past, including the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and Italian poet Dante. These sculptures seem to have been acquired in Italy and would have been incorporated into the design of the Entrance Hall to signal the taste and refinement and learning of the Loftus family. The original eighteenth century marble fireplace was replaced with a painted timber one in around 1913. It was one of several of the original fireplaces which were removed and sold when the Blackburne family left the castle in 1911.“
The Dining Room. “This room remains unrestored which allows us to see the changes and alternations which were made to the building over the years. The door on the left-hand (northern) wall is typically eighteenth century in style and decoration. However to the left of it a trace of the original Elizabethan doorway is visible. It was blocked up during the 18th century refurbishments. The bow extension to the eastern side of the building is another change dating to that period which added space and brought more light into these rooms. The 18th century timber wall panelling and lining paper survives in this room. It is likely that the walls were covered with silk. Although designed as a dining room, in the 20th century the Jesuits used this room as a library.“
17. Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Military Road, Dublin 8:
General Enquiries: 01 643 7700, rhktours@opw.ie
In Irish, ‘Kil Maignenn’ means Maignenn’s church, and the area takes its name from that saint, who established a church and monastery here around AD 606. After Strongbow’s arrival in Ireland, the land was granted to the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem, who established a priory here.
From the OPW website:
“The building as we know it today was begun in 1680. Leading architects such as William Robinson, Thomas Burgh and Francis Johnson made it the starting point for Dublin’s development into a city of European standing.
“Inspired by Les Invalides in Paris, the building was to be a retirement home for old soldiers. Over the next 247 years, thousands of army pensioners lived out their final days within its walls.
“In 1991, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham became home to the Irish Museum of Modern Art.” [22]
The building was founded by King Charles II in 1679 to accommodate 300 soldiers. The idea of an institution to accommodate old soldiers was first proposed by Arthur Forbes, later earl of Granard, in the 1670s, and construction began when Ormond was viceroy. The building is arranged around four sides of a cloistered courtyard. Three of these wings house the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
In the fourth wing, and not generally open to the public, is the splendid Robinson’s Chapel with a baroque plaster ceiling, carved oak and beautiful stained glass window, and the Geat Hall. You can see an online tour at https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=ce2pG4J1huc&mls=1
The Great Hall contains portraits that have hung here since 1713, and splendidly carved trophies over the doors remind me of those at Beaulieu in County Louth. The portaits include Queen Anne, Queen Mary, William III, Narcissus Marsh, Charles II, James 1st Duke of Ormond and the Earl of Arran and Earl of Ossory (sons of the Duke of Ormond), amongst others. A library which belonged to the original hospital is also cared by the OPW. The northern wing also contains the Master’s Lodgings, made for the Master of the Royal Hospital.
18. St. Audoen’s, Dublin
General Enquiries: 01 677 0088, staudoenschurch@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“Nestled in the heart of the walled medieval city of Dublin, St Audoen’s Church is the only remaining medieval parish church in the capital. It is dedicated to the seventh-century bishop of Rouen and patron saint of Normandy.
“St Audoen’s Church was crucial to the life of the medieval city. Here papal bulls were pronounced and public penances carried out. The Guild Chapel of St Ann houses an award-winning exhibition on the importance of St Audoen’s to medieval Dublin.
“Visitors to St Audoen’s can examine the part of the church still in use by the Church of Ireland. They can also view the stunning fifteenth-century tomb to Baron Portlester and his wife.“
The church is dedicated to St Ouen the 7th century bishop of Rouen and patron saint of Normandy, and was built in 1190 to replace an earlier structure. It is said to have the oldest bells in Ireland with three bells dating from 1423 hanging in the tower. In the main porch is stored an early Christian gravestone known as the Lucky Stone which has been kept here since 1309.
The OPW restored and re-roofed St Anne’s Guild Chapel, which had been without a roof since 1826. This chapel dates back to the time of Henry VI of England, who in 1430 authorised the erection of a chantry here, to be dedicated to St. Anne. The story of this Guild is fascinating as it had most of Dublin’s most important businessmen as its members. After Henry VIII made Protestantism the state religion, the Catholic members of St Anne’s Guild had to have meetings and Catholic masses in secret. They held much property, as wealthy patrons gave land to the church and guild as a way to curry favour in heaven, and so Guild members took to hiding the property deeds to the St Anne’s Guild.
An article written for the OPW tells us more about St. Anne’s Guild:
“Medieval Christians believed that only the truly saintly would enter heaven after death. Others had to spend time in purgatory to purify their souls. The idea of purgatory became widely accepted after 1290, when a chantry house or lay religious guild was established after the death of Queen Eleanor of Castile to pray for her soul. Masses sung or said for a person after death, especially on the anniversary of their death, would speed the journey through purgatory and into heaven. People regularly left money in their wills to provide for these masses.
“Christians came together in sodalities and fraternities to support each other in praying for their dead relatives. St Anne’s Guild, based in St Audoen’s Church, grew out of this movement. There were about six religious guilds in medieval Dublin. St Anne’s is the most well known and probably the most long lived of these.The guild was formally established by charter in 1430, but property deeds relating to the work of the guild go back as far as 1285. The purpose of the guild was to fund chaplains in St Audoen’s church to pray for dead guild members’ souls. Financial support for St Anne’s guild during a person’s lifetime or in their will, was a form of spiritual insurance; your soul would be cared for after your death...
“…All masters and wardens were drawn from the elite of medieval Dublin; Mayors of Dublin, Alderman of Dublin Corporation, Recorders of Dublin (chief magistrates), freemen, citizens, chaplains, knights or merchants. This connection to powerful people was one of the factors that enabled the guild to survive and thrive even through the Reformation.
“…Some of the wealthier members of the guild paid fees to St Audoen’s church so that they could be buried within the walls of the church.
“…Perhaps the most well know endowment at St Audoen’s church was from Sir Roland FitzEustace, Lord of Portlester in 1482. He funded a private chapel to the south east of the church, which was named the Portlester Chapel. FitzEustace was Lord Chancellor of Ireland and it is said he made the donation in thanks for being saved during a perilous sea journey. He also bequeathed a life size cenotaph of himself and his wife Margaret, least anyone forget his generosity. Probably as a gesture of appreciation, St Anne’s guild granted him a messuage; this medieval term referred to a property with buildings, outbuildings, a garden and an orchard. It was located close to St Audoen’s Church and was granted for his and his son’s lifetime.” [23]
The roof of the Portlester Chapel was removed in the 17th century, and the tomb was removed and can be seen in the main porch. The church still holds a weekly Church of Ireland service.
The OPW arcticle continues:
“In 1534, the guild acquired Blakeney’s Inn, located to the east of St Audoen’s Church. The guild purchased the Inn from James Blakeney of Rykynhore in exchange for cash and lands at Saucereston, near Rykynhore in the parish of Swords. The Inn is described as having a garden and a turret. It had been the home of the Blakeney family whose ancestors John and James Blakeney had been among the founders of the guild over a hundred years before. The building was renamed the College of St Anne and was used as accommodation for the guild chaplains. Parts of the College were also rented out to raise income.
“The building is long gone and St Audoen’s Catholic church stands in its place today.
“…From 1541, the new Protestant religion was promoted in Ireland. Henry VIII abolished lay religious guilds across England. Many in Ireland, including St Anne’s Guild, managed to survive. The new Protestant religion, with King Henry VIII at its head, rejected the doctrine of purgatory. This had been a core part of the existence of St Anne’s Guild. Many of the rituals at the core of St Anne’s Guild, such as veneration of shrines, were called into question by the new religion. With the dissolution of the monasteries (1536-41), St Anne’s guild lost some of its properties, such as the lands rented from St Mary’s Abbey. However, they did manage to salvage some lands in Kilmainham that were leased out to the prior of the Hospital of St John.
“Wealthy parishioners continued to support St Anne’s guild and leave money and property in their wills. Chaplains continue to be appointed each year and the property portfolio continued to grow. Affiliation to St Anne’s guild was initially able to transcend the differences between Catholics and Protestants; the guild was able to accommodate both. St Audoen’s Church had been appropriated for Anglican services after 1540s and Catholic services were fully transferred to St Anne’s College by 1611. St Anne’s College was later appropriated by the St Audoen’s Protestant parish clergy and renamed St Audoen’s College.“
“..Conscious that they were coming under attack from the state and established church, the guild recorded the minutes of their meetings meticulously. From 1591, measures were taken to secure all the property deeds of the guild. They were put in a stout chest locked with three keys. The keys were held by the wardens and a senior guild member; all three needed to be present to open it...
“There were many Catholics and recusants, those who refused to adopt the new state Protestant religion, among the membership of the guild. Walter Sedgrave, guild master in 1593, had been arrested for supporting the rebellion of Viscount Baltinglass in the early 1580s and was known to protect priests in his home. Michael Chamberlain, guild master from 1598, and Matthew Handcock, guild warden in 1593, were imprisoned for their recusancy in 1605-6, having refused an order to accompany the governor to Protestant divine service. Catholics Edmund Malone and Nicholas Stephens held guild wardenships from 1605. Stephen’s execution was ordered in 1613 for his leading role in the riot in Dublin after the overturning of the parliamentary election. He was reprieved. Handcock, Malone and Stephens spent the early months of 1606 in prison in Dublin Castle. Guild member, William Talbot, lost his position as Recorder of Dublin because of his refusal to take the Oath of Supremacy. All of these attacks on guild members hindered the administration of the guild. As the guild came under attack, they employed the services of the Lawyer, Henry Burnell. Burnell was also recusant.
“…The decision to refurbish the guild altar in St Audoen’s in 1597 and again in 1605, shows that the shrine was still important to guild members. The hall of St Anne’s college was refurbished in the following years and in 1618 it was said that masses were conducted there – despite being outlawed by the state. Masses were also said in the houses of guild members. It is likely that money paid to Catholic priests was not recorded in the guild accounts. Members of the Sedgrave, Browne and Malone families worked as priests in the Dublin area from 1600-1630 and all had kinfolk in the guild.
“In 1611, the state brought proceedings against the continued existence of St Anne’s Guild, with a view to acquiring the guild’s extensive property portfolio. John Davis, the Attorney General, filed a case against Mathew Hancock, Master, and Nicholas Stephens and Edmond Malone, wardens of St Anne’s Guild. Davis was challenging the practices of St Anne’s Guild; demanding to know the legal basis on which they were founded and challenging their corporate status. The guild successfully relied on the original 1430 charter to defend its right to exist, arguing these rights had been exercised uninterrupted since 1430. The Attorney General argued that this was insufficient to protect their property being seized by the King. But the case seemed to rest there and no action was taken.
“…The argument that the guild was being used to support Catholic members, Catholic priests and ultimately a restoration of the Catholic religion was revived in 1634 when the Anglican Vicar of Christchurch, Reverend Thomas Lowe presented his case to the Archbishop of Dublin. Lowe claimed that a Papal Bull from Pope Pius V dating to 1568-9 was found in the papers of Richard and Christopher Fagan; directing the assets of St Anne’s guild be applied only to the benefit of Catholics. He revived the argument that the guild assets were being divided between it’s own members, Jesuit priests and popish friars. He also accused the guild of swallowing up all the church means to the detriment of the parish church that was in need of funds.
“Lowe delivered the documents as proof of wrong-doing to The Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth, in Dublin Castle. Wentworth had already been involved in a wholesale attempt to seize the assets of Irish Catholics. He sought to have these ‘secret misappropriated livings’ returned to the Anglican church. He ordered that the records of the guild be inspected to investigate their expenditure since 1603. The records showed that St Anne’s guild had investments worth over 800 pounds and were only giving a small part of that to the parish church. They attempted to seize some of the guild property for use by the parish church and imposed thirty Protestant luminaries as members of the guild. They also seize the property of St Anne’s College for the use of Anglican priests and renamed it St Audoen’s College. This attempted coup of St Anne’s Guild failed, probably because of the religious upheaval throughout the country at the time. While this attempt to close the guild failed, the membership was now mostly Protestant.
“Lord Deputy Wentworth was recalled to London for ‘high misdemeanours’ and the charges against him specifically refer to his treatment of St Anne’s Guild. Within months, he was taken to the Tower of London where he was executed on the 12th May 1641. Despite the fate of Lord Deputy Wentworth, Reverend Lowe continued his persecution of St Anne’s Guild.
“…After 1690, Catholics were excluded from holding the roles of master or warden of the guild. In 1695, the assets of the guild were handed over to four trustees; Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, Rev. John Finglass, William Molyneux and Christopher Usher. The trustees later sold a large part of the property portfolio to the Wide Streets Commission for clearance prior to the layout of new wider streets in Dublin.
“The Charitable work continued through this time with funds used for the relief of poverty, the upkeep of the Blue Coat school, the upkeep of the church and the freeing of Christian slaves in Algeria and the Turkish Empire.
“Throughout the 18th century, the guild continued its charitable works under the watchful eye of the prebend of St Audoen’s Church. They met every year on the 26th July for their members banquet. Membership remained principally Protestant, although some small number of Catholic families continued to be members. The bonds of friendship between the families still in the guild remained strong and they continued to dispense relief from poverty and distress in a spirit of civic welfare and solidarity.
“The Accounts of the Guild of St Anne shows that guild members continued to collect rents and pay out grants up to 1779. The final property transaction in their records dates to 1817, although some small number of their properties were retained by St Audoen’s Church right up to recent years. In 1773, the parish clergy ordered the removal of the roof at the east side of the chapel, including the Portlester Chapel; the cost of maintaining the building was beyond the means of the church. In 1820, they removed the roof from St Anne’s Chapel for the same reason. In 1835, an act of parliament abolished what remained of the medieval guilds but by then St Anne’s had already ceased operation.” [23]
General Enquiries: 01 493 4208, pearsemuseum@opw.ie
From the OPW website:
“The Pearse Museum in St Enda’s Park is where the leader of the 1916 Rising, Patrick Pearse, lived and operated his pioneering Irish-speaking school from 1910 to 1916.
“Set in nearly 20 hectares of attractive parkland in Rathfarnham, Dublin, the museum tells the story of Patrick Pearse and his brother Willie, both of whom were executed for their part in the 1916 Rising. Here you can peruse a fascinating exhibition on Pearse’s life and wander through the historic rooms where he, his family and his students once lived and worked.
“The romantic landscape surrounding the museum contains a wild river valley, forested areas and some enchanting eighteenth- and nineteenth-century follies.” The follies were built by two generations of the Hudson family.
and
“Edward Hudson, the State Dentist and a Doctor of Physic, signed a lease on the lands known as the ‘Fields of Odin’ in Rathfarnham which were owned by Thomas Connolly of Castletown House in Co. Kildare on 2 April, 1786. He had a home and business premises on St. Stephen’s Green but he also built the house which now houses the Pearse Museum as a country retreat and appropriately named it ‘The Hermitage’.“
We stayed in the country house of Edward Hudson in Cork in 2020, Glenville Park, which later became the home of Mark Bence-Jones.
The website continues:
“Across the road was The Priory, the home of the famous lawyer John Philpot Curran. His daughter, Sarah, was the sweetheart of the rebel Robert Emmet. Legend has it that Hudson allowed the two young lovers to meet in the grounds of the Hermitage away from the disapproving stares of her father. It was this story which first drew Pearse to this area of Rathfarnham in the summer of 1910.
“Edward Hudson was a very learned man with a passionate interest in science and the ancient past. This interest is reflected in the garden monuments and follies which are dotted around the park, many of which were built in imitation of ancient Irish field monuments, including the ogham stone which bears his name. His son William Elliot shared his father’s fascination with Irish history, and in particular the Irish language. He was a founder of the Celtic Society and was a friend of Thomas Davis. He was a lawyer and was involved in the defence of the Young Irelanders, Thomas Francis Meagher and William Smith O’Brien, following their rebellion in 1848. He sold The Hermitage to a legal colleague, Justice Richard Moore, in 1847. Ironically it was Moore who eventually passed sentence on Meagher and Smith O’Brien.
“From Justice Moore the property came into the ownership of Major Richard Doyne, a veteran of the Crimean War, who purchased it in 1859. It was then inherited by his son, Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Kavanagh Doyne, who spent much of his life serving with the British Army in India. In 1898, two years before his death, he sold The Hermitage to William Woodbyrne who had made his fortune in the diamond mines of South Africa. Woodbyrne made many improvements to the grounds, including the creation of the ornamental lake. He never lived in the house as his wife contracted tuberculosis and they had to move to a warmer climate. Instead he rented the house to a series of tenants, including Pearse.
“One other tenant of particular note was Sir Neville Chamberlain, a former officer in the British army in India and the person credited with the invention of the game of snooker. He moved into The Hermitage in 1900 when he was appointed Chief Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary, the police force of Ireland at the time. In an amazing historic coincidence, Sir Neville was head of the RIC in 1916 when Pearse led the Rising against British rule in Ireland!
“Surrounded by fifty acres of landscaped parkland, the museum is located in the former home and school of Patrick Pearse, the leader of the 1916 Rising. He founded his school, Scoil Éanna, in 1908 in Cullenswood House, Ranelagh. His initial interest in education stemmed from his involvement in the Gaelic League and the Irish language movement. However he very quickly became passionate about education and its possibilities. His ideas were progressive and radical and he had little time for the exam-focused education system of the time. He felt that schools should nurture the talents of all their pupils, even if those talents lay outside the traditional school subjects.
“For Pearse the key to real learning was inspiration, and he felt that to be a success his school needed a suitably inspiring setting. He was anxious to find a home for his school which would allow his pupils direct access to the natural world. He discovered The Hermitage in Rathfarnham in 1910 while on a historical pilgrimage of sites associated with the revolutionary Robert Emmet. Nestled in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, it was the ideal location for his school.
“The house was also Patrick Pearse’s family home. His mother, brother and sisters all assisted in the running of the school. In 1916 he and his brother William left to fight in the 1916 Rising, never to return. Pearse was the leader of the uprising and the author of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. He also oversaw the surrender once all hope of victory was lost. While revolution was raging in Dublin, his mother and sisters waited for news in Rathfarnham. It was there that they heard that both brothers were to be executed. His mother and eldest sister lived on in the house and ran the school there until 1935. Following the death of Pearse’s last surviving sister in 1968, the house and grounds were handed over to the state with the provision that they be used as a memorial to the lives of Patrick and William Pearse. The Pearse Museum was then opened to the public in 1979.” [25]
20.St. Stephen‘s Green, Dublin:
General Enquiries: 01 475 7816, info@heritageireland.ie
from the OPW website:
“In the very centre of Dublin’s shopping district lies one of Ireland’s best-known public parks.
“Lord Ardilaun [Arthur Edward Guinness, 1st and last Baron Ardilaun of Ashford (1840-1915)] opened it for the citizens of the city in 1880. This 9-hectare green space has been maintained in its original Victorian layout, with extensive tree and shrub planting and spectacular spring and summer bedding. The herbaceous border provides vibrant colour from early spring to late autumn.
“It boasts over 3.5 kilometres of accessible pathways. The waterfall and Pulham rockwork on the western side of the green are well worth a visit. So is the ornamental lake, which provides a home for waterfowl. Several sculptures are located throughout the green, including the James Joyce Memorial Sculpture and a fine specimen by Henry Moore.
“A children’s playground in the park is always popular and, if you visit at lunchtime during the summer months, you might even catch a free concert.”
“The name St Stephen’s Green originates from a church called St Stephen’s in that area in the thirteenth century. Attached to the church was a leper hospital. Around this time the area was a marshy piece of common ground, which extended as far as the River Dodder and was used by the citizens of the city for grazing livestock.
“In 1663 the City Assembly decided that the plot of ground could be used to generate income for the city and a central area of twenty-seven acres was marked out which would define the park boundary, with the remaining ground being let out into ninety building lots. Rent generated was to be used to build walls and paving around the Green. Each tenant also had to plant six sycamore trees near the wall, in order to establish some privacy within the park. In 1670 the first paid gardeners were employed to tend to the park.“
“The Green became a particularly fashionable place during the eighteenth century, owing mainly to the opening of Grafton Street in 1708 and Dawson Street in 1723, and the construction of desirable properties in and around this area. The Beaux Walk situated along the northern perimeter of the park became a popular location for high society to promenade. Lewis’ Dublin Guide of 1787 describes the Beaux Walk as being a scene of elegance and taste. Other walks found in the park included the French Walk found along the western perimeter of the park, and Monk’s Walk and Leeson’s Walk located along the eastern and southern boundaries of the park respectively.
“By the nineteenth century the condition of the park had deteriorated to such an extent that the perimeter wall was broken, and many trees were to be found in bad condition around the park. In 1814 commissioners representing the local householders were handed control of the park. They replaced the broken wall with ornate Victorian railings and set about planting more trees and shrubs in the park. New walks were also constructed to replace the formal paths previously found in the park. However with these improvements, the Green then became a private park accessible only to those who rented keys to the park from the Commission, despite the 1635 law which decreed that the park was available for use by all citizens. This move was widely resented by the public.“
“Sir Arthur Guinness, later known as Lord Ardilaun, grew up in Iveagh House located on St Stephen’s Green, and came from a family well noted for its generosity to the Dublin public. In 1877 Sir Arthur offered to buy the Green from the commission and return it to the public. He paid off the park’s debts and secured an Act which ensured that the park would be managed by the Commissioners of Public Works, now the OPW.
“Sir Arthur’s next objective was to landscape the park, and provide an oasis of peace and tranquility in the city. He took an active part in the design of the redeveloped park, and many of the features in the park are said to have been his suggestions. The main features of the redeveloped park included a three-acre lake with a waterfall, picturesquely-arranged Pulham rockwork, and a bridge, as well as formal flower beds, and fountains. The superintendent’s lodge was designed with Swiss shelters. It is estimated the redevelopment of the park cost £20,000.
“After three long years of construction work, and without a formal ceremony the park reopened its gates on 27th of July 1880, to the delight of the public of Dublin.” [26]
[6] p. 8, Marnham, Niamh. An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of Dublin South City. Published by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, 2017.
[8] p. 6, Marnham, Niamh. An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of Dublin South City. Published by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, 2017.
[10] p. 9, Marnham, Niamh. An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of Dublin South City. Published by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, 2017.
Bibliography: Berry, H. (1904) History of the Religious Guild of St Anne in St Audoen’s Church Dublin 1430- 1740, Taken from its records in the Haliday collection, R.I.A. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature. Volumn 25 (1904/1905) pp. 21- 106. Empey, A. (2002) The layperson in the parish: the medieval inheritance, 1169-1536 , in The Laity and the Church of Ireland 1000-2000 eds. Gillespie,R. and Neely, W.G. Four Court Press, Dublin Lennon, C. (2017) Charitable Property: The Manuscripts of St Anne’s Guild, Dublin. RIA lecture available: https://www.ria.ie/charitable-property-manuscripts-st-annes-guild-dublin Lennon, C. (2011) ‘The Fraternity of St Anne in St Audoen’s parish, Dublin’, in Salvador Ryan & Brendan Leahy (eds), Treasures of Irish Christianity: people and places, images and texts (Dublin: Veritas, 2012), pp 116–18. Lennon, C. (1990) The Chantries in the Irish Reformation: the case of St Anne’s Guild, Dublin, 1550-1630 in Comerford, R.V., Cullen, M, Hill, J and Lennon, C. Religious Conflict and Coexistence in Ireland, 1990 published by Gill and Macmillian Ltd. Dublin McMahon, M (2006) St Audoen’s Church, Cornmarket, Dublin: Archaeology and Architecture. The Stationary Office, Dublin ‘The Case of St Anne’s Guild’ from National Library of Ireland LO2337
www.markreecastle.ie Open in 2024: June, July, Aug, 12 noon-4pm – check in advance, as it is an event and wedding venue. Fee: Free to visit
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During Heritage Week in 2021, Stephen and I went to County Sligo. We stayed in wonderful B&B accommodation in a historic house, Annaghmore, near Collooney, owned by the O’Haras, who have owned the estate in County Sligo for centuries.
We learned that the O’Haras and the Coopers, who own Coopershill, another section 482 property which we visited during Heritage Week, are related, and Coopers also owned Markree Castle until very recently. In 1989, Charles Cooper, having worked in the hotel business all his life, came back to Markree to renovate the castle and run it as a hotel. In 2015, the Corscadden family purchased the castle and undertook further renovations. This is the same Corscadden family who own Cabra Castle in County Cavan, who so generously upgraded Stephen and me to the honeymoon suite when we stayed! The Corscaddens also own Ballyseede Castle hotel in Tralee, County Kerry (also section 482) and Bellingham Castle in County Louth, which is available as a venue for weddings and events, with accommodation. Unfortunately Markree Castle is too expensive for us to stay in, except perhaps as a very luxurious treat, but I contacted the hotel and we made a date for my visit. When we arrived, however, we were told that they were in the middle of an event and we were asked to return in an hour or two. We took the time to explore the outside, although we were unable to access the gardens, which seem to be only accessible through the castle.
We wandered across the Unsin River to the stable complex, which has also been renovated for rental accommodation. We learned later that this accommodation is not part of Markree Castle hotel. In Mark Bence-Jones’s entry in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (published in 1988), he writes in the supplement that Edward Cooper and his wife moved into a new Georgian style house in the yard. The stables are now called Markree Homefarm Apartments and are available for rental accommodation. [2]
The castle replaced an earlier residence, which the Landed Estates website of National University of Ireland Galway tells us was called Mercury. [3] The first Cooper to own the property was Edward Cooper (died 1676), an officer in Lord Collooney Richard Coote’s regiment in Oliver Cromwell’s army. He was given the land at Markree, previously owned by the McDonaghs, as payment for his soldiering. He married the widow of an O’Brien killed by Cromwell’s army. She was called Mary “Rua” (Red Mary), and she probably married Cooper in order to protect her sons from the Cromwellians. According to the history board outside the castle, Red Mary and Edward Cooper lived first in Luimneach Castle (Luimneach is the Irish for Limerick), which one of her sons inherited, while the other inherited Markree. In his online blog, Patrick Comerford identifies Mary Rua’s husband as Conor O’Brien, and writes that it was Dromoland Castle that Mary Rua’s son inherited. [4] In the family tree on the information boards, Edward Cooper also married Margaret Mahon, from County Roscommon. This accords with The Peerage website, but according to that website, Arthur, Edward’s son who inherited Markree, was Margaret Mahon’s son and not the son of Red Mary. According to The Peerage, Edward’s son Richard lived in Knocklong, County Limerick. [5]
During the Williamite wars at the end of the 17th century, Markree Castle was occupied by the army of James II. The Coopers returned after William III’s victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
The Coopers intermarried with other prominent local families, including the Cootes, Wynnes and Synges, and by the 1720s, Joshua Cooper (1694-1757) was one of the largest landowners in Co Sligo, with over 40,000 acres.
Arthur Cooper, who inherited Markree from his father Edward who fought in Cromwell’s army, had a daughter named Anne who married John Perceval (1700-1743) of Temple House in County Sligo, another Section 482 property, which unfortunately we did not get to visit this year. I hope to be able to visit next year! In 1881 Alexander Perceval of Temple House married Charlotte Jane O’Hara of Annaghmore, so the owners of our accommodation are cousins of the owners of Temple House. Furthermore, we visited two other Section 482 properties in Sligo during Heritage Week: Coopershill and Newpark, both of which are also owned by cousins of the O’Haras of Annaghmore!
It was Arthur’s great-great-grandson Joshua Edward Cooper (about 1759-1837) who built the castle in 1802 around an earlier structure. Arthur’s son Joshua (1694-1757) married Mary Bingham from Newbrook, County Mayo. His son, another Joshua (1730-1800), was MP for County Sligo and opposed the Act of Union, which abolished the Irish Parliament, so that Ireland was run by the Parliament in London. He married Alicia Synge, daughter and heiress of Edward Synge, Bishop of Elphin, and she brought him a large fortune. [6]
His son Joshua Edward Cooper (about 1759-1837) was also MP for County Sligo in the Irish House of Commons, and after the Act of Union he sat in the House of Commons in London until 1806. According to the Dictionary of Irish Biography, he replaced Catholic leaseholders with Protestants to acquire more voting power, which caused considerable resentment and which may have been the reason that his house was sacked in 1798 during the Rebellion. This may be why he commissioned Francis Johnston to enlarge Markree in 1802, to make it into a castle – it may have needed repair. We came across the work of Francis Johnston (1760-1829) when we visited Rokeby in County Louth. Johnston had been a pupil of the architect Thomas Cooley. At the time when he was commissioned by Joshua Edward Cooper, Johnston had been working on Townley Hall in County Louth, which I was lucky enough to visit recently during the annual Adams auction viewing that is held in the house. It has an amazing staircase and domed rotunda.
Johnston also Gothicized Tullynally Castle in County Westmeath, 1801-1806, and enlarged Killeen Castle in County Meath 1802-1813. He also designed Ballynegall House (1808-1816) in County Westmeath, sadly now just a ruin, and Ballycurry House, County Wicklow (1807), along with many ecclesiastical and civic buildings, including the General Post Office on O’Connell Street in Dublin, in 1814.
The castle is a stone twelve-bay, three-storey over raised basement mansion which contains parts of earlier houses. [7] The bays are easier to count at the back (i.e. the garden front) of the castle. According to Mark Bence-Jones, the original seventeenth century house was rebuilt in the eighteenth century as a three storey block, with a five bay front and a three bay breakfront, and a garden front of one bay on either side of a curved bow. The castle was enlarged in 1802 to a design by Francis Johnston, and then in 1866 enlarged again, to a design by James Maitland Wardrop of Edinburgh. I found it impossible to work out what part of the castle was built when, so I defer to Mark Bence-Jones:
In 1802, Joshua Cooper commissioned Francis Johnston toenlarge this house and transform it into a castle of the early, symmetrical kind. Johnston extended the front of the house to more than twice its original length to form a new garden front with a central curved and Irish battlemented tower; the end bay of the original front and the corresponding bay at the end of Johnston’s addition being raised to give the impression of square corner-towers. The entrance was in the adjoining front, where Johnston added a porch; the garden front, with its bow, was not altered as far as its plan went; but an office wing was built at one side of it, joined to it by a canted link. In 1866, the castle was further enlarged and remodelled by Lt-Col. E.H. Cooper, MP, to the design of Wardrop, of Edinburgh. The garden front bow was replaced by a massive battlemented and machiocolated square tower, increasing the side of the dining room; a new entrance was made at this side of the castle, under a porte-cochere at the end of a 2 storey wing with Gothic windows which was built jutting out from this front. Johnston’s porch was replaced by a 2 storey battlemented oriel, and mullioned windows to match were put in on this and the new entrance front. A Gothic chapel was built where Johnston’s office wing had been. [8]
One enters through the arched doorway in the battlemented vaulted stone portico. The doorway leads to a straight flight of stone stairs leading up to the main floor, under an impressive vaulted ceiling.
Joshua Edward Cooper (1761-1837) became unwell and his brother Edward Synge Cooper (1762-1830) took over the running of the estate in Sligo and became MP for County Sligo in 1806. Joshua Edward Cooper and his wife Elizabeth Lindsay, daughter of Robert Lindsay, MP, from County Tyrone, had no children, so Edward Synge Cooper’s son, Edward Joshua Cooper (1798-1863), inherited Markree when Joshua Edward Cooper died in 1837. As well as serving in the House of Commons in the UK, Edward Joshua Cooper was an astronomer, who created Markree Observatory. He was influenced by childhood visits to the Armagh Observatory.
Edward Joshua Cooper (1798-1863) had no son, only daughters, so his nephew Edward Henry Cooper (1827-1902), son of his brother Richard Wordsworth Cooper (1801-1850), inherited Markree. When he inherited, he then put his stamp on the castle by having it further enlarged (the Wardrop enlargement).
Wardrop also added the Gothic chapel.
At the top of the vaulted entrance staircase one can go through to the main reception, or to the left, to the chapel.
Edward Henry Cooper (1827-1902) was an Irish officer in the British Army, and a Conservative politician in the House of Commons in the UK. He was defeated in the 1868 election by the Liberal candidate Denis Maurice O’Conor from Clonalis in County Roscommon (another section 482 property still owned by its original family). When he died, Markree was inherited by his grandson Bryan Ricco Cooper (1884-1930), who was born in Simla in India. He was an MP for South Country Dublin (1910) at Westminster, and was involved in the Gallipoli landings during World War I. During the Irish Civil War in the 1920s, Markree Castle was occupied briefly by the Irish Free State army. Bryan Ricco Cooper was elected to Dail Eireann after Independence. He sold much of the estate’s land but continued to live at Markree.
The Castle stood empty and derelict for several years after World War II, and featured on the front cover of The Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland in 1988, illustrating the decay of many great houses at the time. Charles Philip Cooper, a grandson of Bryan Ricco, who had worked in the hotel industry, converted Markree into a hotel in 1989.
The reception hall is surrounded by a carved wooden gallery and contains a Victorian double staircase of oak, lit by a heraldic stained glass window illustrating the family tree with portraits of ancestors and monarchs.
According to Mark Bence-Jones, the great top-lit galleried hall with a timbered roof is located where Johnston’s staircase used to be.
It was hard to capture it all in photographs, there were so many details!
A long library divided by pairs of grey marble Ionic columns has been formed out of Johnston’s entrance.
The large drawing room in Johnston’s round-faced tower in the middle of the garden front, and the ante-room adjoining it, which are now the dining room, were redecorated between 1837 and 1863 by Edward Joshua Cooper, MP, in an ornate Louis Quatorze style, with much gilding and “well-fed” putti in high relief supporting cartouches and trailing swags of flowers and fruits.
Unfortunately nobody could explain the fabric of the building and its stages of renovation and enlargement and the manager was unable to identify the portraits on the walls. However, we asked to see inside a bedroom, and were taken down to the basement to see the honeymoon suite. The basement is the oldest part of the castle.
[8] p. 201. Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. Originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978; Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
Castle, May 2-31, June 1-29, July 4-20, Aug 1-31, Sept 5-21, Thurs- Sat, National Heritage Week, Aug 17-25, 11am-3pm
Garden, May 2-Sept 29, Thurs-Sundays, and Bank Holidays, National Heritage Week, Aug 17-25, 11am-5pm
Fee: castle/garden adult €16.50, child over 10 years €8.50, OAP/student free, garden, adult €8.50, child €4, family ticket (2 adults + 2 children) €23, adult season ticket €56, family season ticket €70, special needs visitor with support carer €4
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.
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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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We visited Tullynally Castle and Gardens when we were staying near Castlepollard with friends for the August bank holiday weekend in 2020. Unfortunately the house tour is only given during Heritage Week, but we were able to go on the Below Stairs tour, which is really excellent and well worth the price.
In 2021 I prioritised seeing Tullynally during Heritage Week, and we went on the upstairs tour!
According to Irish Historic Houses, by Kevin O’Connor, Tullynally Castle stretches for nearly a quarter of a mile: “a forest of towers and turrets pierced by a multitude of windows,” and is the largest castle still lived in by a family in Ireland [1]. It has nearly an acre of roof! It has been the seat of the Pakenham family since 1655. I love that it has stayed within the same family, and that they still live there. I was sad to hear of Valerie Pakenham’s death recently – she wrote wonderful books of history and on Irish historic houses.
The current incarnation of the Castle is in the romantic Gothic Revival style, and it stands in a large wooded demesne near Lake Derravaragh in County Westmeath.
We stayed for the weekend even closer to Lake Derravaragh, and I swam in it!
The lands of Tullynally, along with land in County Wexford, were granted to Henry Pakenham in 1655 in lieu of pay for his position as Captain of a troop of horse for Oliver Cromwell. [2] [3] His grandfather, Edward (or Edmund) Pakenham, had accompanied Sir Henry Sidney from England to Ireland when Sir Sidney, a cousin of Edward Pakenham, was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland. [4]
A house existed on the site at the time and parts still exist in the current castle. It was originally a semi-fortified Plantation house. When Henry Pakenham moved to Tullynally the house became known as Pakenham Hall. It is only relatively recently that it reverted to its former name, Tullynally, which means “hill of the swans.”
Henry was an MP for Navan in 1667. He settled at Tullynally. He married Mary Lill, the daughter of a Justice of the Peace in County Meath and left the property to his oldest son by this marriage, Thomas (1649-1706) who became a member of Parliament and an eminent lawyer. Henry remarried after his first wife died, this time to Anne Pigot and he had at least two more children with her.
Thomas, who held the office of Prime Sergeant-at-law in 1695, married first Mary Nelmes, daughter of an alderman in London. Thomas married a second time in 1696 after his first wife died, Mary Bellingham, daughter of Daniel, 1st Baronet Bellingham, of Dubber, Co. Dublin. His oldest son, by his first wife, Edward (1683-1721), became an MP for County Westmeath between 1714 and 1721. A younger son, Thomas (d. 1722) lived at Craddenstown, County Westmeath.
Edward (1683-1721) married Margaret Bradeston and was succeeded by his son, Thomas Pakenham (1713-1766) [see 3]. After her husband died in 1721, Margaret married Reverend Ossory Medlicott. Edward’s younger son George Edward (1717-1768) became a merchant in Hamburg.
Thomas (1713-1766) married Elizabeth Cuffe (1719-1794), the daughter of Michael Cuffe (1694-1744) of Ballinrobe, County Mayo. Her father was heir to Ambrose Aungier (d. 1704), 2nd and last Earl of Longford (1st creation). Michael Cuffe sat as a Member of Parliament for County Mayo and the Borough of Longford. In 1756 the Longford title held by his wife’s ancestors was revived when Thomas was raised to the peerage as Baron Longford. After his death, his wife Elizabeth was created Countess of Longford in her own right, or “suo jure,” in 1785.
Michael Cuffe had another daughter, Catherine Anne Cuffe, by the way, who married a Bagot, Captain John Lloyd Bagot (d. 1798). I haven’t found whether my Baggots are related to these Bagots but it would be nice to have such ancestry! Even nicer because his mother, Mary Herbert, came from Durrow Abbey near Tullamore, a very interesting looking house currently standing empty and unloved.
Thomas’s son, Edward Michael Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford (1743-92) had Pakenham Hall enlarged in 1780 to designs by Graham Myers who in 1789 was appointed architect to Trinity College, Dublin. Myers created a Georgian house. The Buildings of Ireland website tells us that the original five bay house had a third floor added at this time. [5]
The oldest parts still surviving from the improvements carried out around 1780 are some doorcases in the upper rooms and a small study in the northwest corner of the house. We did not see these rooms, but Christine Casey and Alistair Rowan tell us that the study has a dentil cornice and a marble chimneypiece with a keystone of around 1740. [see 2] The oldest part of the castle is at the south end, and still holds the principal rooms.
Edward Michael Pakenham, 2nd Baron Longford, married Catherine Rowley, daughter of Hercules Langford Rowley of Summerhill, County Kilkenny, in 1768. He was in the Royal Navy but retired from the military in 1766, when he succeeded as 2nd Baron Longford. He was appointed Privy Counsellor in Ireland in 1777.
Admiral Thomas Pakenham (1757-1836), a younger brother of Edward Michael Pakenham, the 2nd Baron Longford, built another house on the Tullynally estate, Coolure House, around 1775, when he married Louisa Anne Staples, daughter of John Staples (1736-1820), MP for County Tyrone and owner of Lissan House in County Tyrone – which can now be visited, https://www.lissanhouse.com/ . Their son Edward Michael Pakenham (1786-1848) inherited Castletown in County Kildare and he legally changed his name to Edward Michael Conolly. Louisa Anne Staples’s mother was Harriet Conolly, daughter of William Conolly (1712-1754) of Castletown, County Kildare.
Edward Michael Pakenham 2nd Baron Longford and his wife Catherine née Rowley had many children. Their daughter Catherine (1773-1831) married Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, but it was an unhappy marriage. The daughter of the current occupant of Tullynally Thomas Pakenham and his wife Valerie, Eliza Pakenham, published Tom, Ned and Kitty: An Intimate History of an Irish Family, about the Duke of Wellington and the family’s relation to him. Kitty fell for the local naval man, Arthur Wellesley, but the family refused to let her marry him. He promised her that he would return and marry her. He went off to sea, and she was brokenhearted. He returned as the Duke of Wellington and did indeed marry her. He, however, was not a very nice man, and is reported to have said loudly as she walked up the aisle of the church to marry him, “Goodness, the years have not been kind.”
When Edward died in 1792 his son Thomas (1774-1835) inherited, and became the 3rd Baron Longford. When his grandmother Elizabeth née Cuffe, who had been made the Countess of Longford in her own right, died in 1794, Thomas became 2nd Earl of Longford.
Tullynally was gothicized by Francis Johnston to become a castle.
We came across Francis Johnson (1760-1829) the architect when I learned that he had been a pupil of Thomas Cooley, the architect for Richard Robinson, Archbishop of Armagh (who had Rokeby Hall in County Louth built as his home). Johnston took over Cooley’s projects when Cooley died and went on to become an illustrious architect, who designed the beautiful Townley Hall in County Louth which we visited recently. He also enlarged and gothicized Markree Castle for the Coopers, and Slane Castle for the Conynghams. His best known building is the General Post Office on O’Connell Street in Dublin. We recently saw his house in Dublin on Eccles Street, on a tour with Aaran Henderson of Dublin Decoded.
Thomas the 2nd Earl sat in the British House of Lords as one of the 28 original Irish Representative Peers. Casey and Rowan call Francis Johnston’s work on the house “little more than a Gothic face-lift for the earlier house.” He produced designs for the house from 1794 until 1806. On the south front he added two round towers projecting from the corners of the main block, and battlemented parapets. He added the central porch. To the north, he built a rectangular stable court, behind low battlemented walls. He added thin mouldings over the windows, and added the arched windows on either side of the entrance porch.
Terence Reeves-Smyth details the enlargement of Tullynally in his Big Irish Houses:
“Johnson designed battlements and label mouldings over the windows, but as work progressed it was felt this treatment was too tame, so between 1805 and 1806 more dramatic features were added, notably round corner turrets and a portcullis entrance, transforming the house with characteristic Irish nomenclature from Pakenham Hall House to Pakenham Hall Castle.”
“During the early nineteenth century, a craze for building sham castles spread across Ireland with remarkable speed, undoubtedly provoked by a sense of unease in the aftermath of the 1798 rebellion. Security was certainly a factor in Johnson’s 1801 to 1806 remodelling of Tullynally, otherwise known as Pakenham Hall, where practical defensive features such as a portcullis entrance were included in addition to romantic looking battlements and turrets. Later enlargements during the 1820s and 1830s were also fashioned in the castle style and made Tullynally into one of the largest castellated houses in Ireland – so vast, indeed, that it has been compared to a small fortified town.”
Thomas married Georgiana Emma Charlotte Lygon, daughter of William Lygon, 1st Earl Beauchamp (UK) in 1817. He was created 1st Baron Silchester, County Southampton [U.K.] on 17 July 1821, which gave him and his descendants an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
According to Rowan and Casey it may have been his wife Georgiana Lygon’s “advanced tastes” that led to the decision to make further enlargements in 1820. They chose James Sheil, a former clerk of Francis Johnston, who also did similar work at Killua Castle in County Westmeath, Knockdrin Castle (near Mullingar) and Killeen Castle (near Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath).
At Tullynally Sheil added a broad canted bay window (a bay with a straight front and angled sides) towards the north end of the east front, with bartizan turrets (round or square turrets that are corbelled out from a wall or tower), and wide mullioned windows under label mouldings (or hoodmouldings) in the new bay.
Sheil also decorated the interior. We shall now go inside to take a look.
We entered through the big red door in the entrance porch.
One enters into a large double height hall. It is, Terence Reeves-Smyth tells us, 40 feet square and 30 feet high. I found it impossible to capture in a photograph. It has a Gothic fan vaulted ceiling, and is wood panelled all around, with a fireplace on one side and an organ in place of a fireplace on the other side.
The hall, Casey and Rowan tell us, has a ceiling of “prismatic fan-vaults, angular and overscaled, with the same dowel-like mouldings marking the intersection of the different planes…The hall is indeed in a very curious taste, theatrical like an Italian Gothick stage set, and rendered especially strange by the smooth wooden wainscot which completely encloses the space and originally masked all the doors which opened off it.” [6] As this smooth wainscot and Gothic panelled doors are used throughout the other main rooms of the house and are unusual for Sheil, this is probably a later treatment.
Terence Reeves-Smyth describes the front hall:
“Visitors entering the castle will first arrive in the great hall – an enormous room forty-feet square and thirty feet high with no gallery to take away from its impressive sense of space. A central-heating system was designed for this room by Richard Lovell Edgeworth, who earlier in 1794 had fitted up the first semaphore telegraph system in Ireland between Edgeworthstown and Pakenham Hall, a distance of twelve miles. In a letter written in December 1807, his daughter Maria Edgeworth, a frequent visitor to Pakenham Hall, wrote that “the immense hall is so well warmed by hot air that the children play in it from morning to night. Lord L. seemed to take great pleasure in repeating twenty times that he was to thank Mr. Edgeworth for this.” Edgeworth’s heating system was, in fact, so effective that when Sheil remodelled the hall in 1820 he replaced one of the two fireplaces with a built-in organ that visitors can still see. James Sheil was also responsible for the Gothic vaulting of the ceiling, the Gothic niches containing the family crests, the high wood panelling around the base of the walls and the massive cast-iron Gothic fireplace. Other features of the room include a number of attractive early nineteenth century drawings of the castle, a collection of old weapons, family portraits and an Irish elk’s head dug up out of a bog once a familiar feature of Irish country house halls.” [see 1]
There is a long vaulted corridor that runs through the house at first-floor level which Rowan and Casey write is probably attributable to Sheil.
From the Great Hall we entered the dining room, which used to be the staircase room.
The dining room, drawing room and library were all decorated in Sheil’s favoured simple geometrical shaped plasterwork of squares and octagons on the ceiling. [6]
We can see that the windows in the dining room are in the canted bow which was added by James Shiel. The room is hung with portraits of family members. The ceiling drops at the walls into Gothic decoration ofprismatic fan-vaults with dowels similar to those in the Hall, though less detailed.
Georgina née Lygon, wife of the 2nd Earl, was well-read and wealthy. She and her husband were friendly with the Edgeworths of nearby Edgeworthstown. She was responsible for developing the gardens, planting the trees which are now mature, and creating a formal garden. Her husband died in 1835 but she lived another forty-five years, until 1880. She and her husband had at least eight children. Their son Edward Michael Pakenham (1817-1860) succeeded to become 3rd Earl of Longford in 1835 while still a minor.
We then went to the library. The library was started by Elizabeth Cuffe, wife of the the 1st Baron Longford, and continued by Georgiana, wife if the 2nd Earl. Again, it’s hard to capture in a photograph, while also being on a tour.
The portrait over the fireplace in the library is Major General Edward Michael Pakenham (1778-1815), brother of the 2nd Earl of Longford. Major General Pakenham (whose sword in the red sheath is in the front Hall) was killed in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, between Britain and the United States of America, in the “War of 1812.”
Another brother of the 2nd Earl of Longford was Lieutenant General Hercules Pakenham (1781-1850). He married Emily Stapleton, daughter of Thomas Stapleton, 13th Lord le Despenser, 6th Baronet Stapleton, of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. Hercules inherited Langford Lodge in County Antrim, from his mother Catherine Rowley (it no longer exists). Hercules served as MP for Westmeath.
A selection of books by the prolific Pakenham family are on the table in the library.
We next visited the drawing room.
When he reached his majority, the third Earl, Edward Michael, who was called “Fluffy,” along with his mother, made further enlargements from 1839-45 with two enormous wings and a central tower by another fashionable Irish architect, Sir Richard Morrison. The wings linked the house to the stable court which had been built by Francis Johnston. The addition included the large telescoping octagonal tower.
Terence Reeves-Smyth writes:
“More substantial additions followed between 1839 and 1846 when Richard Morrison, that other stalwart of the Irish architectural scene, was employed by the Dowager Countess to bring the house up to improved Victorian standards of convenience. Under Morrison’s direction the main house and Johnson’s stable court were linked by two parallel wings both of which were elaborately castellated and faced externally with grey limestone. Following the fashion recently made popular by the great Scottish architect William Burn, one of the new wings contained a private apartment for the family, while the other on the east side of the courtyard contained larger and more exactly differentiated servants’ quarters with elaborate laundries and a splendid kitchen.”
Casey and Rowan describe Morrison’s work: “On the entrance front the new work appears as a Tudoresque family wing, six bays by two storeys, marked off by tall octagonal turrets, with a lower section ending in an octagonal stair tower which joins the stable court. This was refaced and gained a battlemented gateway in the manner of the towers that Morrison had previously built as gatehouses at Borris House, County Carlow [see my entry on Borris House] and Glenarm Castle, County Antrim. The entrance porch, a wide archway in ashlar stonework, with miniature bartizans rising from the corners, was also rebuilt at this time. Though Morrison provided a link between the old house and the family wing by building a tall octagonal tower, very much in the manner of Johnston’s work at Charleville Forest, County Offaly [see my entry Places to visit and stay in County Offaly], the succession of facades from south to north hardly adds up to a coherent whole. The kitchen wing, which forms an extension of the east front, is much more convincingly massed, with a variety of stepped and pointed gables breaking the skyline and a large triple-light, round-headed window to light the kitchen in the middle of the facade.“
On the tour, our guide told us of the various additions. She told us that “Fluffy” lived with his mother and chose to follow the fashion of living in an apartment in a wing of the house.
We explored these wings further on the tour of the “downstairs” servants area.
The courtyard created by the Morrison wings is very higgeldy piggeldy.
On the “downstairs tour” we toured the wings of the castle that had been added by Fluffy and his mother. A wing was built for the staff, and it was state of the art in the 1840s when Richard Morrison built these additions. Fluffy never married, and unfortunately died in “mysterious circumstances” in a hotel in London.
When Fluffy died his brother William (1819-1887), an army general in the Crimean War and long-serving military man, became the 4th Earl of Longford.
Terence Reeves-Smyth continues:“After the third Earl’s death in 1860 his brother succeeded to the title and property and proceeded to modernise the castle with all the latest equipment for supplying water, heat and lighting. Except for a water tower erected in the stable court by the Dublin architect J. Rawson Carroll in the 1860s, these modifications did not involve altering the fabric of the building, which has remained remarkably unchanged to the present day.”
The further additions in 1860 are by James Rawson Carroll (d.1911), architect of Classiebawn, Co Sligo, built for Lord Palmerston and eventually Lord Mountbatten’s Irish holiday home in the 1860s.
The 4th Earl married Selina Rice-Trevor from Wales in 1862. Her family, our guide told us, “owned most of Wales.” His letters and a copy of his diary from when he arrived home from the Crimean War are all kept in Tullynally.
We can even read his proposal to Selina:
William the 4th Earl installed a new plumbing system. He also developed a gas system, generating gas to light the main hall. The gas was limited, so the rest of the light was provided by candles, and coal and peat fires. His neighbour Richard Lovell Edgeworth provided the heating system.
The next generation was the 5th Earl, son of the 4th Earl, Thomas Pakenham (1864-1915). He was also a military man. He married Mary Julia Child-Villiers, daughter of Victor Albert George Child-Villiers, 7th Earl of Island of Jersey and they had six children.
The family are lucky to have wonderful archives and diaries. Mary Julia Child-Villiers was left a widow with six children when her husband died during World War I in Gallipoli. The downstairs tour shows extracts from the Memoir of Mary Clive, daughter of the 5th Earl of Longford.
Since 1915 the family have been writers (before that, they were mostly military). Edward the 6th Earl (1902-1961) was a prolific playwright who restored the Gate Theatre in Dublin and taught himself Irish, and with his wife Christine, created the Longford Players theatrical company which toured Ireland in the 30s and 40s. He served as a Senator for the Irish state between 1946 and 1948.
His sister Violet Georgiana, who married Anthony Dymoke Powell, wrote many books, and her husband was a published writer as well. Another sister, Mary Katherine, who married Major Meysey George Dallas Clive, also wrote and published. Their sister Margaret Pansy Felicia married a painter, Henry Taylor Lamb, and she wrote a biography of King Charles I.
A brother of Edward, Frank (1905-2001), who became the 7th Earl after Edward died in 1961, and his wife Elizabeth née Harman, wrote biographies, as did their children, Antonia Fraser, Rachel Billington and Thomas Pakenham the 8th Earl of Longford. Antonia Fraser, who wrote amongst other things a terrific biography of Marie Antoinette and another wonderful one of King Charles II of England, is one of my favourite writers. She is a sister of the current Earl of Longford, Thomas, who lives in the house. They did not grow up in Tullynally, but in England. Thomas’s wife Valerie has published amongst other books, The Big House in Ireland.
There was a handy chart of the recent family on the wall in the courtyard café:
Stephen noted with satisfaction that Thomas Pakenham does not use his title, the 8th Earl of Longford. That makes sense of course since such titles are not recognised in the Republic of Ireland! In fact Stephen’s almost sure that it is against the Irish Constitution to use such titles. This fact corresponds well with the castle’s change in name – it was renamed Tullynally in 1963 to sound more Irish.
When we visited in 2020 we purchased our tickets in the café and had time for some coffee and cake and then a small wander around the courtyard and front of the Castle. One enters the stable courtyard, designed by Francis Johnston, to find the café and ticket office.
I didn’t get to find out what is in every tower and behind every window, and I suspect it’s a place to get to know by degrees!
The coach was passed down to Olive Pakenham-Mahon of Strokestown, Roscommon (another section 482 property, see my entry), who was Dean Henry’s great granddaughter. Olive sold it to her cousin Thomas Pakenham, the present owner of Tullynally. It was restored by Eugene Larkin of Lisburn, and in July 1991 took its first drive in Tullynally for over a hundred years. Family legend has it that the coach would sometimes disappear from the coachhouse for a ghostly drive without horses or coachman! It was most recently used in 1993 for the wedding of Eliza Pakenham, Thomas’s daughter, to Alexander Chisholm.
The tour brought us through the arch from the first courtyard containing the café, into a smaller, Morrison courtyard.
Richard Morrison spent more time working on the laundry room than on any other part of the house.
It was at this time that the “dry moat” was built – it was not for fortification purposes but to keep the basements dry.
Our guide described the life of a laundress. After the installation of the new laundry, water was collected in a large watertank, and water was piped into the sinks into the laundry.
A laundry girl would earn, in the 1840s (which is during famine time), €12/year for a six day week, and start at about fourteen years of age. A governess would teach those who wanted to learn, to read and write, so that the girls could progress up in the hierarchy of household staff. There was even a servants’ library. This was separate of course from the Pakenham’s library, which is one of the oldest in Ireland. There was status in the village to be working for Lord Longford, as he was considered to be a good employer. His employees were fed, clothed in a uniform, housed, and if they remained long enough, even their funeral was funded. There was a full time carpenter employed on the estate and he made the coffins.
The laundry girls lived in a world apart from household staff. They ate in the laundry. Their first job in the morning would be to light the fire – you can see the brick fireplace in the first laundry picture above. A massive copper pot would be filled with water, heated, and soap flakes would be grated into the pot. The laundry girls would do the washing not only for their employers but also for all of the household staff – there were about forty staff in 1840. As well as soap they would use lemon juice, boiled milk and ivy leaf to clean – ivy leaves made clothes more black. The Countess managed the staff, with the head housekeeper and butler serving as go-between.
William, the 4th Earl of Longford, had a hunting lodge in England and since he had installed such a modern laundry in Tullynally, he would ship his laundry home to Pakenham Hall be washed!
Next, the washing would be put through the mangle.
The girls might have to bring laundry out to the bleaching green. A tunnel was installed so that the girls avoided the looks and chat of the stable boys, or being seen by the gentry. William also developed a drying room. Hot water ran through pipes to heat the room to dry the clothes.
There was also an ironing room.
The next room was a small museum with more information about the castle and family, and included a receipt for the iron end of a mangle, purchased from Ardee Street Foundry, Brass and Iron Works, Dublin. We live near Ardee Street!
This information board tells us details about the staff, as well as giving the layout of the basement:
By 1860 Pakenham Castle was run in the high Victorian manner. The Butler and Housekeeper managed a team of footmen, valets, housemaids and laundry maids, whilst Cook controlled kitchen maids, stillroom maid and scullery maids. A stillroom maid was in a distillery room, which was used for distilling potions and medicines, and where she also made jams, chutneys etc. There was also a dairy, brewery and wine cellar. The Coachman supervised grooms and stable boys, while a carpenter worked in the outer yard and a blacksmith in the farmyard. Further information contains extracts from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1859), detailed duties of a housemaid, a laundry-maid, and treatment of servants. The estate was self-sufficient. Staff lived across the courtyard, with separate areas for men and women. There were also farm cottages on the estate. Servants for the higher positions were often recruited by word of mouth, from other gentry houses, and often servants came from Scotland or England, and chefs from France.
We are also given the figures for servants’ wages in 1860.
Next, we headed over toward the kitchen. On the way we passed a water filter system, which was a ceramic jar containing an asbestos and charcoal filter system. However, staff were given beer to drink as it was safer at the time than water. We saw a container used to bring food out to staff in the fields – the food would be wrapped in hay inside the container, which would hold in the heat and even continue to cook the food. We stopped to learn about an ice chest:
The ice chest would be filled with ice from the icehouse. We were also shown the coat of a serving boy, which our tour guide had a boy on the tour don – which just goes to show how young the serving boys were:
A serving boy wearing this uniform would carry dishes from the kitchen to the dining room, which was as far from the kitchen as possible to prevent the various smells emanating from the kitchen from reaching the delicate nostrils of the gentry. The serving boy would turn his back to the table, and watch mirrors to see when his service was needed at the table, under the management of the butler. Later, when the ladies had withdrawn to the Drawing Room, to leave the men to drink their port and talk politics, the serving boy would produce “pee pots” from a sideboard cupboard, and place a pot under each gentleman! Our guide told us that perhaps, though she is not sure about this, men used their cane to direct the stream of urine into the pot. The poor serving boy would then have to collect the used pots to empty them. Women would relieve themselves behind a screen in the Drawing Room.
In the large impressively stocked kitchen, we saw many tools and implements used by the cooks. Richard Morrison ensured that the kitchen was filled with light from a large window.
This kitchen was used until around 1965. The yellow colour on the walls is meant to deter flies. Often a kitchen is painted in blue either, called “Cook’s blue,” also reputed to deter flies. Because this kitchen remained in continuous use its huge 1875 range was replaced by an Aga in the 1940s.
The cookware is made of copper, and you can see by the stove a large ceramic vessel topped with muslin for straining jams.
Candles were made from whale blubber. Candles made from blubber closer to the whale’s head were of better quality.
The housekeeper would have her own room, which our guide told us, was called the “pug room” due to the, apparently, sour face of of the housekeeper, but also because she often kept a pug dog!
Next we were taken to see Taylor’s room. Taylor was the last Butler of the house. We passed an interesting fire-quenching system on the way.
Next, the tour guide took us to see the servants’ staircase and set of bells. We passed the mailbox on the way:
This would normally be the end of the tour, but since we were such a fascinated, attentive group, the guide took us into the basement to see the old servants’ dining hall.
The gardens, covering nearly 30 acres, were laid out in the early 19th century and have been restored. They include a walled flower garden, a grotto and two ornamental lakes.
Here is the description of the gardens, from the Irish Historic Houses website:“The gardens, illustrated by a younger son in the early eighteenth century, originally consisted of a series of cascades and formal avenues to the south of the house. These were later romanticised in the Loudonesque style, with lakes, grottoes and winding paths, by the second Earl and his wife [Thomas (1774-1835) and Georgiana Lygon (1774-1880)]. They have been extensively restored and adapted by the present owners, Thomas and Valerie Pakenham, with flower borders in the old walled gardens and new plantings of magnolias, rhododendron and giant lilies in the woodland gardens, many collected as seed by Thomas while travelling in China and Tibet. He has recently added a Chinese garden, complete with pagoda, while the surrounding park contains a huge collection of fine specimen trees.” [7]
I befriended the resident cat.
Goodbye Tullynally! I look forward to visiting again.
[1] Reeves-Smyth, Terence. Big Irish Houses. Appletree Press Ltd, The Old Potato Station, 14 Howard Street South, Belfast BT7 1AP. 2009
[2] p. 525. Casey, Christine and Alistair Rowan. The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster. Penguin Books, London, 1993.
[3] p. 135. Great Houses of Ireland. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd and Christopher Simon Sykes. Laurence King Publishing, London, 1999.
I would like to share with you some examples of the houses in Wicklow listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (photographs are all taken from the National Inventory):
i. Avondale, open to the public. Built in 1779, designs may have been by James Wyatt. It was the home of Charles Stewart Parnell, the Nationalist leader in Ireland.