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Kinnitty Castle (formerly Castle Bernard), Kinnity, County Offaly
Kinnitty Castle Hotel, 2014, photographer unknown, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. [1]
We treated ourselves to a stay in Kinnitty Castle in February 2023. Formerly a home, it is now a hotel.
The website used to include a history, which told us that the present building was originally built by William O’Carroll on the site of an old Abbey in 1630. The building we see today, however, received a major reconstruction by architect brothers James (1779-1877) and George Richard Pain (1793-1838) in 1833. You can see traces of the Abbey in the courtyard.
In 1641 the castle was confiscated from William O’Carroll, as he must have played a part in the 1641 rebellion. The land was granted in 1663 by King Charles II to Colonel Thomas Winter for his military service.
The Stable yard is in use as a banqueting hall, called the Great Hall of the O’Carrolls, and kitchens.
The website continues, telling us that the Winter family sold the building in 1764 to the Bernards of County Carlow.
Andrew Tierney tells us in his The Buildings of Ireland Central Leinster that Franks Bernard (named after the surname “Franks”), a son of Charles Bernard of Bernard’s Grove, County Laois (now called Blandsfort), leased a small estate here in the early eighteenth century. Either he or his nephew Thomas (d. 1788) probably built the modest T-plan house that forms the core of the castle.
There is another Castle Bernard in County Cork – this seems to have belonged to a different Bernard family.
The castle website tells us that it was Catherine Hely Hutchinson (d. 1844, daughter of Francis Hely Hutchinson, MP for Naas, County Kildare), wife of Colonel Thomas Bernard (d. 1834), who hired the Pain brothers, James and George Pain, to renovate the building, in 1833 (according to Mark Bence-Jones).
James and George Pain were architects of the impressive Mitchellstown Castle, unfortunately no longer existing.
Mitchelstown Castle, County Cork, designed by the Pain brothers, courtesy of the National Library of Ireland, Lawrence PHotographic Collection, photographer Robert French ca. 1865-1914 ref. NLI L_ROY_01072.
James and George were sons of James Pain, an English builder and surveyor. Their Grandfather William Pain was the author of a series of builder’s pattern books, so they had architecture in the blood. According to the Dictionary of Irish Architects, James and his younger brother George Richard were both pupils of John Nash, one of the foremost British architects of his day, responsible for the design of many important areas of London including Marble Arch, Regent Street and Buckingham Palace. He was architect to the prolific lover of architecture the Prince Regent, later King George IV. When Nash designed Lough Cutra Castle in County Galway for Charles Vereker in 1811, he recommended that the two brothers should be placed in charge of the work, so it was at this time that they came to Ireland. Lough Cutra is an amazing looking castle privately owned which is available for self-catering rental (very expensive, I am sure! But for those of you with oodles of money to spend, or for an event that requires nine bedrooms…). [2]
Lough Cutra castle, County Galway, also designed by the Pain brothers, photograph from Lough Cutra website.
James Pain settled in Limerick and George in Cork, but they worked together on a large number of buildings – churches (both Catholic and Protestant), country houses, court houses, gaols and bridges – almost all of them in the south and west of Ireland. [3] In 1823 James Pain was appointed architect to the Board of First Fruits for Munster, responsible for all the churches and glebe houses in the province.
The Pains Gothicized and castellated Dromoland Castle in County Clare at some time from 1819-1838, now a luxury hotel. [4]
Dromoland Castle, County Clare, which was renvoated by the Pain brothers, photo care of Dromoland Castle, for Tourism Ireland 2019, Ireland’s Content Pool.
The Pains took their Gothicizing skills then to Mitchelstown Castle in 1823-25. In 1825 they also worked on Convamore (Ballyhooly) Castle but that is now a ruin. They also probably worked on Quinville in County Clare and also Curragh Chase in County Limerick (now derelict after a fire in 1941), Blackrock Castle in County Cork (now a science centre, museum and observatory which you can visit [7]), they did some work for Adare Manor in County Limerick (also now a luxury hotel), Clarina Park in Limerick (also, unfortunately, demolished, but you can get a taste of what it must have been like from its gate lodge), Fort William in County Waterford, and they probably designed the Gothicization and castellation of Ash Hill Towers in County Limerick (a section 482 property and with lovely tourist accommodation, see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/04/06/ash-hill-kilmallock-co-limerick/), alterations and castellation of Knappogue Castle, County Clare (you can also visit and stay, or attend a medieval style banquet), Aughrane Castle mansion in County Galway (demolished – Bagots used to own it, I don’t know if we are related!), a castellated tower on Glenwilliam Castle, County Limerick and more.
Curragh Chase, County Limerick garden front 1938, also designed by the Pain brothers, like Loughton it is classical rather than Tudor Gothic, photograph from Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.Fortwilliam, Glencairn, Lismore, Co Waterford courtesy Michael H. Daniels and Co., also designed by the Painsin Tudor Gothic style.Knappogue, or Knoppogue, Castle, County Clare, also designed by the Pains.Kinnity Castle (Castle Bernard) County Offaly, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence c. 1865-1914 Photographic Collection National Library of Ireland ref L_Cab_09230.
In his 1988 book A Guide to Irish Country Houses, Mark Bence-Jones writes about Kinnitty Castle, formerly named Castle Bernard, that it is a Tudor-Revival castle of 1833, with impressive entrance front with gables, oriels and tracery windows and an octagonal corner tower with battlements and crockets; all in smooth ashlar.[5]
Kinnitty Castle Hotel, 2014, photographer unknown, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [1])
The National Inventory describes it:
“Ashlar limestone walls with castellated parapet, carved limestone plinth course and continuous string course to parapet. Battered walls to basement level. Square-headed window openings with tooled limestone and sandstone label mouldings, chamfered surrounds and punched limestone sills. Castellated box bay to second bay from north-east rising from basement level to first floor with chamfered stone mullions. Oriel window above entrance added at later date.”
Battered walls at basement are walls that slant outwards. This was a traditional building feature of castles, so that stones could be dropped from above and they would not fall straight down but hit the battered walls and bounce outwards to hit intruders.
Mark Bence-Jones defines an oriel window as a large projecting window in Gothic, Tudor, Gothic-Revival and Tudor-Revival architecture; sometimes rising through two or more storeys, sometimes in an upper storey only and carried on corbelling. This particular window is not carried on corbels.
The National Inventory continues: “Single-storey castellated entrance porch with diagonal buttresses surmounted by pinnacles with crockets and finials. Tudor arched opening to porch with label moulding accessed rendered porch with ribbed ceiling, niches to side walls and tooled limestone bell surround and post box flanking door. Square-headed door opening with chamfered limestone surround and label moulding, sandstone threshold and timber double doors.“
Before he married Catherine, Thomas Bernard, MP for County Offaly, married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Prittie, 1st Baron Dunalley of Kilboy, County Tipperary. She died in 1802 and he married for a second time in 1814. He began building work on his house in 1833 but died the following year.
Thomas and Catherine had several children. Their heir was Thomas Bernard (1816-1882). Other sons were Francis, Richard Wellesley, and John Henry Scrope, and daughter Margaret.
Thomas Bernard (1816-1882), son of Catherine née Hely Hutchinson and Thomas Bernard (d. 1834).
Nearby the Bernard family have an unusual pyramid-shaped mausoleum. Richard Wellesley Bernard (c. 1822-1877) completed his military training in Egypt. He was an architect and engineer and it is said that he built the pyramid between 1830-34 but he would have been only eight years old, so perhaps it was constructed by an earlier Bernard. It is an exact replica of the Egyptian pyramid of Cheop.
The website continues: “The building was burned in 1922 by Republican forces and rebuilt by means of a Government grant of £32,000 in 1927.
The Buildings of Ireland Central Leinster book by Andrew Tierney tells us that the castle was rebuilt by Joseph John Bruntz. He was born in Dublin. The Dictionary of Irish Architects tells us that he was a pupil in his father’s office for four years and remained as an assistant for a further three years. After starting to practise independently as an architect circa 1915, he moved in 1917 or 1918 to Edenderry, Co. Offaly, where he set up an office. From 1922 he held the position of architect and civil engineer to the Co. Offaly Board of Health.
The website continues: “The building became the property of Lord Decies in 1946. He in turn sold it and the estate to the Government of Ireland on 12th December 1951. The State used the castle as a Forestry Training centre from 1955 until it was purchased in 1994 and turned into a 37 bedroom luxurious hotel for all guests both locally and internationally to enjoy.“
Arthur George Marcus Douglas De La Poer Beresford (1915-1992), 6th Lord Decies, bought the property in 1946. He sold it in 1951.
It is a wonderful and affordable hotel, full of character.
[5] p. 62 (under Castle Bernard), 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.
Rockbarton, County Limerick entrance front c. 1900, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 243. “(O’Grady, Guillamore, V/PB1953) A three storey house with a three bay front, C19 in its facing but basically late C18. Centre bay breaking forward; single storey Ionic portico; heavy triangular and segmental pediments on console brackets over windows. Curved bow at side. It originally had a spacious three flight cantilevered stone staircase. Now a ruin.”
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Remains of detached three-bay three-storey former country house and outbuildings, c. 1790, with additions dating to 1833. House formerly with a central bay breakfront with single-storey Roman Ionic portico and a curved bow at side of house. Square-profile dressed limestone entrance piers with decorative carved caps and double-leaf wrought-iron gate.
Appraisal
Rockbarton House was formerly the seat of Lord Guillamore. Although now a ruin, it was a significant house in the area with work carried out in early nineteenth century by the well known architect James Pain. The survival of the attendant structures such as the outbuildings and the lodges is significant. As a group, they are important structures within the architectural heritage of County Limerick.
Rockbarton House was constructed in the late 18th century. It is said to have been a stunningly beautiful residence with exquisite fittings & furniture and a sweeping staircase of portland stone.
Rockbarton House was the main residence of Standish O’Grady (1766-1840) who was the chief prosecuting counsel in the trial of Robert Emmett who was hanged for treason in 1803.
The House was subsequently occupied by the 2nd Lord Fermoy when he married into the O’Grady family in 1877 and finally by Nigel Baring, of the Baring banking dynasty, who married Lord Fermoy’s only daughter, Sybil in 1908.
Nigel Baring spent stg.£30,000 on a major refurnbishment of Rockbarton House and stableyard in 1908. However, within a few short years the Golden Age of Irelands Great Houses came to an end. Ireland became a dangerous place for the ascendancy and Nigel Baring was forced to flee Ireland leaving his beloved Rockbarton Estate behind him. The Estate was divided by the Land Commission in 1922. The house was stripped down and sold off bit by bit. It eventually fell into disrepair and an auction was held to dipose of the remaining fixtures and fittings. The staircase is known to have been sold and installed in a house in London. All that now stands as a testament to the grandure of Rockbarton is its Courtyard where our Garden Centre is located.
The History of Rockbarton & Caherguillamore Houses
By Mary Sheehan
Rockbarton and Caherguillamore were both situated on the same estate and were originally O’Grady houses. Caherguillamore House was the Dower house while Rockbarton was a much larger house. Both houses were occupied by O’Grady’s and those who married into the O’Grady clan.
Rockbarton House was built at the end of the 18th century, when many Irish Country Houses were erected, while Caherguillamore House would already have been in place by this time. All that remains today of these houses are the ruins, the remains of the woodland, the Rockbarton stable yard & workers’ living quarters and the gate lodge. The Caherguillamore/Rockbarton Estate was a very impressive place in the 1920’s when Nigel Baring left Ireland. At that time it had a sophisticated underground drainage system and a water supply from a reservoir situated above Rockbarton House. The golden age of these houses was from the late 1700’s to early 20th century. In the early 1800’s the First Viscount Guillamore took up residence at Rockbarton and his descendants remained there until 1922.
Caherguillamore was situated in a valley and surrounded by rising ground. The house was approached by an avenue of ash and elm., which was almost a mile long. This avenue into Caherguillamore is now known as ‘Burma Road’ and it still retains much of its quaint and ancient atmosphere although several houses have since been erected there. The parkland contained Cedar of Lebanon trees and was well stocked with deer. The demesne is reputed to have been one of the most interesting in the County for Raths and other remaining antiquities.
Rockbarton House was also splendidly furnished having a fine hall with a noble staircase of Portland stone. The house also facilitated large apartments which would have been decorated to the highest standards of the time.
Chief Baron O’Grady – First Viscount Guillamore
In the 1700’s Standish O’Grady married Hanora Hayes who was co-heir to properties at Caherguillamore and in this way the Caherguillamore estate passed into the O’Grady family. Standish O’Grady’s grandson who was also called Standish was born in 1767. He was to become Chief Baron and the First Viscount Guillamore and Rockbarton House was his place of residence. Standish was a lawyer and a contemporary of Daniel O’Connell. His promotion in the legal profession was rapid and in 1803 he was appointed as Attorney General for Ireland. Subsequently, he was the leading officer for the Crown during the prosecution for Treason of Robert Emmet. The government was highly impressed with his conduct of the case and as a result promoted him to Chief Baron of His Majesty’s Court of Exchequer. He was again honoured in 1831 when he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Guillamore.
In legal history of the time he was viewed as a humorist and as a fairly rough character. It is also recorded that he spoke with a broad County Limerick accent which indicates that his links with his Irish roots may have been stronger than his links with the ascendancy. Locally, his reputation for imposing the death penalty as a punishment for trivial offences grew and so he became known as the ‘Bloody Judge’. However, his involvement in the trial of Robert Emmett may be the reason for his unpopularity in local folklore.
His local reputation as the ‘Bloody Judge’ who showed no mercy to anyone is said to by some to be somewhat unfair as, at that time hanging was the penalty for many offences. In fact in many of the recorded cases of the time he was seen to be a fair judge. He was originally Judge in the Case of the Doneraile Conspiracy, which is the subject of Canon Sheehan’s book ‘Glenanaar’ .
In the early 1800’s there would have been a lot of Whiteboy activity around Doneraile and around this time a local landlord’s son was murdered as a result of these activities. In an attempt to solve the case the authorities of the time offered a reward of Stg.£750 for any information given which would lead to convictions. An unsavoury character offered information, which implicated over seventeen men from the Doneraile district. One of the accused, O’Leary, was a man over seventy years old. Chief Baron O’Grady, who was the Judge at the initial assizes, was suspicious of this informer and did not go along with the Crown as he recommended to the Jury that they should not find anyone guilty on the evidence of an informer. Subsequently, two other judges came into the case and the prisoners were found guilty and sentenced to death. Later, Daniel O’Connell came out of retirement to appeal the case and the conspiracy was uncovered.
In local folklore, it is said that the Judge O’Grady condemned a priest to death in Clonmel. The condemned priest cursed O’Grady by saying ‘May you never die’. Later, he suffered from paralysis and it is said that the skin rotted off his body. During this time his greatest wish was to die, but it was not until a Father O’Grady from Bruff prayed over him that he died. His body lay in state for a week in the spacious library at Rockbarton, awaiting the nobility of Ireland to assemble at the funeral. The body was interred in the O’Grady vault at Knockainey Churchyard.Lt. Col. Standish O’Grady – Second Viscount Guillamore
The elder son of the Chief Baron was also known as Standish O’Grady. He commanded the 7th Hussars and fought in the European wars against Napoleon. Upon Napoleons’ return from Elba he sailed for Brussels with his regiment to assist Wellington. When fighting the French at Genappe he secured a safe march to Waterloo for the 7th Hussars, where they were destined to defeat Napoleon. This was considered to have been his greatest military achievement and in recognition he was promoted as Aide-de-Camp to the Queen.
Locally, it is known that he had a beautiful white charger which he rode into battle, but that had never before obliged him by jumping any ditch. However during a retreat from the French this white steed took a great leap over a wide ditch thus saving O’Grady’s life.
Later when O’Grady retired from the army he brought the horse back to Caherguillamore where it was allotted a rich pasture and is reputed to have been buried at the gates of Caherguillamore. During O’Grady’s retirement he married and took up residence at Caherguillamore House. He also became involved in politics and represented Limerick in parliament. He donated the land at Meanus for the building of the Church there. On the death of this father in 1840 he succeeded to the title Viscount Guillamore and he continued to live at Caherguillamore House until his death. As was the case with his father, he was buried in the family vault in Knockainey.Standish O’Grady – 3rd Viscount Guillamore
Information on Standish O’Grady, 3rd Viscount Guillamore is sparse. It is known that he was buried in Knockainey churchyards along with his father and grandfather. According to his headstone he died on April 10th 1860 at the young age of 27. However it is not known what caused his untimely death. On the death of Standish, the 3rd Viscount Guillamore, the Guillamore title passed from the Rockbarton/Caherguillamore branch of the O’Grady’s to the Rathfreda branch. This is due to the fact that he was predeceased by his only son who died in 1856, aged one and a half.
The final holder of the Guillamore title was Standish Bruce O’Grady who died in 1955. Therefore, the title which was created in 1831 for the then Chief Baron O’Gardy who was referred to locally as the ‘Bloody Judge’ lasted a little more than a century.2nd Lord Fermoy
The only surviving child of the 3rd Viscount Guillamore was Cecilia O’Grady. She married the 2nd Lord Fermoy in 1877 and brought the properties of Rockbarton and Caherguillamore to the marriage as both of her parents were dead. Therefore Lord Fermoy came to Rockbarton in 1877.
Lord Fermoy was from Co. Cork and the family name was Roche. The Fermoy’s seem to have had some financial difficulties and Lord Fermoy’s father required his Carrignavar tenants to increase their rents in 1850’s to boost the depleted finances of the Roche family. Their fortunes collapsed completely in the 1870’s. Lord Fermoy’s estate of 19,530 acres estate was then pushed onto the market by Norwich Union Insurance Company. Obviously the marriage to Cecilia O’Gardy had a lot of financial advantages for the Second Lord Fermoy. Fermoy was also known to be very interested in greyhounds. He enjoyed a gamble and is reputed to have lost a fortune on the Waterloo Cup. He had a dog running in the Waterloo Cup which he believed was a ‘dead cert’ to win. The dog was interfered with and Lord Fermoy lost a large sum of money. Lord Fermoy lived at Caherguillamore until his death in 1920. He had one daughter, Ada Sybil, who married Nigel Baring.
Nigel Baring was born in Essex in 1870. His father was TC Baring a member of the banking family. His mother, Susan Minturn, was an American heiress. Nigel Baring had a lifelong passion for horses and hunting. He came to Ireland in 1896, and became a famed master of the Duhallow Hounds. His fame was mainly linked to the fact that he bred a pack of hounds for the Duhallows that were famous for their ferocity. His own love of the hunt was also famed as his renowned toast over port was ‘more blood’. He spent 12 years with the Duhallows and was respected both as a huntsman and as a master. In the final season of his mastership he married Sybil Roche and moved to Rockbarton House with his new bride. There he took up mastership of the Limerick Hounds and spent 14 years with them. His retirement from hunting was made necessary due to a hunting accident. Nigel Baring was known to be generous in nature. The late Major Ged O’Dwyer recalled in his memoirs that when he followed the hunt as a young boy on his donkey ‘Bess’ he was looked on with distain by some of the hunting fraternity but was encouraged and befriended by Nigel Baring. It is worth noting that he attributed his love of horses and his success on the International stage to the encouragement he received from Nigel Baring. It is also recorded by Major O’Dwyer how in the early 1920’s he was part of an IRA unit that raided Rockbarton House for ammunition and guns. He stated his case to Nigel Baring and the guns and ammunition were handed over. Nigel Baring, whilst regarded as a member of the landed gentry, was not interested in politics and no intimation was ever given by him to the authorities as to the identity of the raiders.
In 1908 Nigel Baring spent Stg.£30,000 on Rockbarton House and estate, which at that time was a large sum of money. The stable yard was upgraded, an underground drainage system was installed and Italian craftsmen were brought to Rockbarton to decorate the ceilings. A beautiful marble and brass staircase was installed. One can imagine that the Estate must have been considered impressive and it provided employment for a lot of people. When Nigel Baring and his family left Rockbarton in 1922 this source of employment dried up for many people and the nearby town of Bruff went into decline. The 1920’s were a very dangerous time in Ireland for members of the ascendancy and in 1922 Nigel Barings’ horses were stolen. The thieves removed the horse’s shoes and put them on back to front in order to mislead the police. This act of hostility was the catalyst, which led to his decision to leave Ireland.
Nigel Baring was buried in England. His wife Sybil, who died in 1944 was buried in St John’s churchyard in Knockainey. After 1922 the Caherguillamore/Rockbarton Estate was acquired by the Land Commission and divided up into small holdings that were distributed amongst various people of the locality and new families came into the area to work these holdings. Several of the people who worked on the estate received land and houses. Nigel Baring had houses built for the estate workers at Meanus, which were known as ‘The New Houses’.
In 1920 Caherguillamore house was the scene of a bloody massacre at the hands of the Black and Tans. Caherguillamore was burnt out during the troubles and Rockbarton House was sold. It was never again occupied but the house was stripped down and sold off bit by bit. An auction was eventually held and the remaining fittings and furnishings were sold off. The staircase and fountain are known to have been sold and installed in a house in London.
Whilst the houses themselves are now but a memory, the folklore about these houses and their impact on the locality remain. The love of horses and the horse related pursuits which were encouraged by Nigel Baring and the O’Grady’s continue to be a vibrant part of life in County Limerick today.Sources The History of Bruff – Pius Browne History of Limerick – McGregor & Fitzgerald Famous Irish Trials – Hedley McKay History of Limerick and it’s Antiquities – Lenihan Glenanaar – Canon Sheehan Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland Forgotten Dreams – Tom Twomey Topographical Dictionary of Ireland – S Lewis Research on Baring Family in Ireland, Ann Ashton, Anne Baring, Gillian Cooke Memories of Rockbarton recorded by late John Fraher – Alice Fraher.
Mount Shannon, County Limerick entrance front c. 1900, photograph: William Garner, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 216. “(Fitzgibbon/IFR) A two storey C18 house, enlarged and magnificently furnished by John Fitzgibbon, 1st Earl of Clare, Lord Chancellor of Ireland at the time of the Union and one of the most powerful men in the Ireland of his day; remodelled in neo-Classical style post 1813 by Byron’s friend, 2nd Earl, to the design of Lewis Wyatt. James Pain also worked here for second Earl, either supervising the remodelling according to Wyatt’s design, or carrying out subsequent alterations. Seven bay entrance front with pedimented porte-cochere of four giant Ionic columns. Adjoining front of five bays, the end bays breaking forward and having Wyatt windows under relieving arches in their lower storey. Lower service wing. Large rooms, but hardly any internal ornament; fine hall and library; French gilt furniture in the drawing room and morning room. 3rd and last Earl of Clare, who did not have the Government pension which 1st and 2nd Earls had enjoyed, and who was generous in giving financial help to emigrants after the Famine, left the estate impoverished; so that his daughter, who inherited it, was obliged to sell most of the valuable contents of the house 1888. The house itself was sold ca 1893 to the Nevin family; it is now a ruin.”
John Fitzgibbon, 1st Earl of Clare (1749-1802) Date c.1799-1800 by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Irish, 1740-1808, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.John Fitzgibbon (1792–1851), 2nd Earl of Clare by John Jackson, courtesy of National Trust.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
THE EARLS OF CLARE WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LIMERICK, WITH 10,316 ACRES
The Earls of Clare are said to have represented a collateral branch of the Duke of Leinster’s family; the FitzGibbons, the chief of whom was styled “The White Knight“, being descended from the FitzGeralds, Barons Offaly, progenitors of the great houses of KILDARE and DESMOND; as were the Knights of Glin, of the Valley, and of Kerry, titles conferred on junior branches of the house of FitzGerald, by the Earl of Desmond, as Count Palatine.
JOHN FITZGIBBON (c1708-80), of Mount Shannon, County Limerick, fourth son of Thomas FitzGibbon, of Ballyseeda, County Limerick,and his wife, Honor, was an eminent barrister, who published a work entitled “Notes of Cases determined at Westminster”, which was highly spoken of by Lord Chancellor Hardwicke.
He wedded Ellinor, daughter of John Grove, of Ballyhimmock, County Cork, and had issue,
JOHN, his successor; Arabella; Elizabeth; Eleanor.
Mr FitzGibbon was succeeded by his son, THE RT HON JOHN FITZGIBBON (1748-1802), who having been bred to the Bar, was appointed Attorney-General of Ireland, 1784; and, five years later, filled the high office of LORD CHANCELLOR OF IRELAND.
This gentleman was elevated to the peerage, in 1789, in the digniy of Baron FitzGibbon, of Lower Connello, County Limerick.
His lordship was advanced to a viscountcy, in 1793, as Viscount FitzGibbon, of Limerick; and further advanced to the dignity of an earldom, in 1795, as EARL OF CLARE.
He wedded, in 1786, Anne, eldest daughter of Richard Chapel Whaley, of Whaley Abbey, and had issue, JOHN, his successor; RICHARD HOBART, 3rd Earl; Isabella Mary Anne; Louisa; Isabella. His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son, JOHN, 2nd Earl (1792-1851), KP, PC, who espoused, in 1826, Elizabeth Julia Georgiana, daughter of Peter, 1st Baron Gwydyr. The 2nd Earl, Governor of Bombay, 1830-34, Privy Counsellor, 1830, Knight of St Patrick, 1845, Lord-Lieutenant of County Limerick, 1848-51, was succeeded by his brother, RICHARD HOBART, 3rd Earl (1793-1864), who married, in 1825, Diana, daughter of Charles Brydges Woodcock, and had issue, JOHN CHARLES HENRY, styled Viscount FitzGibbon (1829-54); killed in action at the Battle of Balaclava; Eleanor Sophia Diana; Florence; Louisa Isabella Georgina. His lordship, MP for County Limerick, 1818-41, Usher and Registrar of Affidavits in the Irish Court of Chancery 1810-36, Lord Lieutenant of County Limerick, 1831-48 and 1851-64, was pre-deceased by his son, and the titles expired.
On display in the coach-house of Newbridge House is the sumptuous state coach made in London, in 1790, for John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare, Lord Chancellor of Ireland and a relation of the Cobbe family.
The coach had been painted black until restored by the Irish National Museum to its former golden magnificence – even the fresco panels had been painted out, probably for the funeral of Queen Victoria.
MOUNTSHANNON HOUSE, near Castleconnell, County Limerick, was an 18th century mansion, bought from the White family by John FitzGibbon before 1780.
Seven-bay entrance front with pedimented porte-cochere of four massive Ionic columns; adjoining front of five bays.
The rooms were large and spacious, though boasted little internal ornament; a fine hall and library; French gilt furniture in the drawing-room and morning-room.
The 1st Earl was one of the most powerful men in Ireland at the time.
The house was re-modelled in neo-classical style after 1813 to the designs of Lewis Wyatt.
Mount Shannon appears to have been called Ballingown on the Taylor and Skinner map of the late 1770s.
Mark Bence Jones writes that it was enlarged by the 1st Earl of Clare and remodelled by the 2nd Earl.
The contents of the house were sold in 1888 and the house was purchased by the Nevin family ca 1893 (Bence Jones).
The 3rd and last Earl, who didn’t have the government pension that his predecessors enjoyed, and who was most generous in providing financial succour to emigrants after the Irish famine, left the estate impoverished.
As a consequence, his daughter, who inherited the estate, was obliged to sell most of the precious contents of the house in 1888.
Lady Louisa Georgina FitzGibbon, daughter of the 3rd Earl, came into possession of Mountshannon on the death of her father. She was a very extravagant and over-charitable woman who gave lavish banquets and balls at the mansion to which all the aristocracy and landed gentry from Limerick and neighbouring counties were invited…
But the world of reality eventually took control as Lady Louisa frittered away the Fitzgibbon fortune and ran up huge debts in an effort to keep up the grand lifestyle to which she had become accustomed.
She became engaged to a Sicilian nobleman, The Marquis Della Rochella, thinking his wealth would rescue her from financial ruin, only to discover that her betroth was himself almost penniless and was marrying her for the same reason.
During a sumptuous party in the mansion to announce their engagement, the sheriff arrived to seize some of the mansion’s valuable effects.
Two large paintings hanging in the main hall were among the items earmarked for confiscation, but were found to have holes burned through the canvas when the sheriff’s men were removing them. The restored and still very valuable pictures were in later years hung in the hall of Dublin Castle.
It was on this occasion that the Marquis discovered that Lady Louisa, like himself, was bankrupt but, noble gentleman that he was, he went ahead with the marriage – even if it was a misguided union.
The Marquis, unaccustomed to the Irish climate, fell into bad health and died a few years later, still pining for his native sunny Sicily. Still struggling to keep face, Lady Louisa was forced to sell much of the contents of the mansion including the priceless collection of books from the family library.
Soon the lavish entertainment, the sumptuous feasting and the glittering balls were all gone and the magic that once was Mountshannon disappeared. Gone too were Lady Louisa’s wealthy friends, leaving her at the mercy of her creditors who quickly foreclosed on her and she was forced to sell the mansion and the estate.
Lady Louisa left Mountshannon in 1887 and went to live in the Isle of Wight at St. Dominic’s Convent where she spent the rest of her life …. The powerful FitzGibbon line that had stretched across one hundred and twenty years at Mountshannon had finally ended.
The next owner of Mountshannon was an Irishman, Thomas Nevins, who had made a large fortune in America and returned to Ireland with his wife and three daughters and purchased the mansion and estate.
For the Nevins, who were a decent and honest Catholic family, their years at Mountshannon were fraught with trouble and ill-luck, so much so that people said the curse that many believed was on the place must surely have touched on these unfortunate people…
…Tom Nevins, like Lord Clare before him, was thrown from his horse while riding through the estate and died a few months after from his injuries. His body was also placed in the Cooling House, as was his wife’s who died some years later the little building had by then become the family burial chamber …
… So at last the tragic Nevins family rest undisturbed and entombed in what was once the cold storage house for Mountshannon Mansion.
Dermot O’Hannigan was the last owner of Mountshannon and in 1921, during the Troubles, in a spectacular and devastating fire, the flames of which could be seen, it is said, from many parts of Limerick city and county, the beautiful mansion was burned to the ground.
The estate was eventually taken over by the Irish Land Commission and divided up into several farm holdings.
Little remains of Mountshannon Mansion today but the ivy-clad shell of the great house, its four columns at the entrance still stand defiantly against the elements and even time itself, like some battle-scarred warriors still guarding the faded remnants of a grandeur that is no more.
The house was re-modeled in a neo-classical style after 1813 to the designs of Lewis Wyatt. The front 7-bay entrance was adorned by four ionic columns, the rear had a large conservatory. Destroyed by fire in 1920. The rooms were large and spacious, though boasted little internal ornament; a fine hall and library; French gilt furniture in the drawing-room and morning-room.
Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached seven-bay two-storey over basement country house, built c. 1790, having pedimented Ionic portico to front (north) elevation and multiple-bay two-storey extension to east. Remodelled c. 1813. Now in a ruin. Limestone eaves course and rendered chimneystacks. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls. Ashlar limestone portico comprising Ionic columns and Doric pilasters supporting entablature and pediment with dentil motifs. Square-headed openings with limestone sills, some having remains of six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows. Round-headed door openings to ground floor with render surrounds. Limestone thresholds to entrances. Remains of rubble stone walled garden to east.
Appraisal
Built by the FitzGibbon family in the late eighteenth century, Mount Shannon was subsequently enlarged c. 1813 to the design of Lewis Wyatt for John FitzGibbon, first Earl of Clare and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The remains of the imposing two-storey Ionic portico, which dates from this period of construction, constitutes a notable example of the neo-classical style. It has also been suggested that James Pain may have carried out this work. High quality design and execution are apparent in the execution of the portico, which forms the focal point of the structure. The house, however, was burnt down in 1921. The site retains demesne related structures such as the walled garden, gate lodges and the icehouse which later became a mausoleum, all of which provide historical and social context to the composition.
Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Mount Shannon, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.
Given the notoriety of its late 18th century resident, the fate of Mount Shannon, County Limerick seems inevitable. One of the country’s more striking ruins, the house formerly stood at the centre of a 900-acre demesne famous for its trees and gardens: in his 1822 Encyclopedia of Gardening the Scottish botanist and landscape designer John Claudius Loudon specifically cited Mount Shannon as an example of improvements in Ireland, and proposed these had been carried out under the direction of the first Earl of Clare, of whom more anon. Five years later Fitzgerald and McGregor in their study of the history and topography of Limerick city and county likewise refer to Mount Shannon: ‘the plantations are laid out with fine taste, and the gardens are extensive and well arranged.’ Aside from a handful of surviving specimen trees, no evidence of the demesne’s former glories now remains, and much of the land is given over to suburban housing, making it difficult to discern what the grounds must have looked like even a century ago. On the other hand it is still possible to gain a sense of the main house’s former appearance. In 1827 Fitzgerald and McGregor described it as being ‘one of the most superb mansions in the South of Ireland’ and although a hollow shell for over ninety years it clings onto a residue of grandeur.
The original Mount Shannon was built c.1750 by the euphoniously-named Silver Oliver whose family’s main estate was elsewhere in the county at Clonodfoy, later Castle Oliver. Oliver appears to have sold the property to a member of the White family but around 1765 it came into the possession of John Fitzgibbon, supposedly a descendant of the mediaeval White Knights, who had been raised a Roman Catholic but converted to Anglicanism so that he could become a lawyer (Penal Laws then barring this profession to everyone not a member of the established church). Highly successful, he amassed a considerable fortune which when he died in 1780 was passed on to his son, also called John and later first Earl of Clare. It would appear from various references that Lord Clare did much to improve and aggrandise Mount Shannon, not just its demesne but also the house. However the latter’s most striking feature was added by his eldest son the second earl in 1813. The immense Ionic portico with Doric pilasters behind was designed by Lewis Wyatt (a member of the prolific English family of architects and a nephew of James Wyatt), and occupies the three centre bays of the seven-bay north entrance front. Behind three round-headed doors gave access to the hall with the drawing room and other main reception rooms behind. The interiors, as a handful of 19th century photographs show, were chillingly neo-classical with scarcely any ornament. The same was true of the exterior which, as can be seen is constructed of brick with cut limestone dressings. The severity of the south, garden facade was relieved by a very large curved conservatory. To the immediate east of the two-storey over sunken basement house is a long, lower extension which would have been used for services and was originally concealed by a curved screen wall that joined the still-extant wall of the old walled garden.
Many stories are told of John ‘Black Jack’ Fitzgibbon, first Earl of Clare, some of them apocryphal, few of them kind. After studying at Trinity College, Dublin and Christchurch, Oxford he became a lawyer like his father before him. He was first elected to the Irish House of Commons in 1778 and five years later was appointed Attorney General. Appointed Lord Chancellor for Ireland in 1789, he was also received his first peerage, as Baron FitzGibbon, of Lower Connello; he was subsequently advanced to a Viscountcy in 1793 and finally received his earldom in 1795. Four years later he was granted an English peerage (entitling him to a seat in the House of Lords at Westminster), becoming Baron FitzGibbon, of Sidbury in the County of Devon. Unquestionably brilliant, Fitzgibbon was also without doubt bigoted. It has often been noted that he was a hardline Protestant and a member of the Protestant Ascendancy who avidly promoted whatever measures he believed would best preserve that group’s political domination in Ireland. He supported harsh measures against members of the 1798 Rebellion and was openly hostile to Roman Catholicism despite or perhaps because of his father had originally been a member of this faith. When it came to the Act of Union in 1800, of which he was firmly in favour, there was widespread understanding that this would be accompanied by concessions made to Roman Catholics with the Penal Laws being ameliorated. FitzGibbon persuaded George III that any such liberalisation of the status quo would be a violation of the king’s Coronation Oath and thus ensured pro-Emancipation measures were not included in the Union legislation. In so doing he delayed Catholic Emancipation by three decades and encouraged the spread of sectarianism. It is said that FitzGibbon once declared he would make the Irish as ‘tame as a dead cat.’ As a result, there are stories of dead cats being thrown into his coach, and of more of the same being flung into his grave when he died in January 1802 following a fall from his horse at Mount Shannon the previous month.
At the time of the Act of Union, Lord Clare arranged for a handsome pension by way of compensation for the loss of his office as Lord Chancellor which was then abolished; this was to be paid both to him and his immediate heir. Thus the second earl, who died in 1851, enjoyed a handsome income not just from his estates which ran to more than 13,000 acres in Counties Limerick and Tipperary but from the munificence of the British Treasury. A close friend of Lord Byron, with whom he was at school, the second earl later became Governor first of Bombay and later of Bengal; he enhanced Mount Shannon by both the addition of the portico and other improvements, but by adding treasures from India and paintings acquired on his travels around Europe. Since he had no children, his property passed to a younger brother, who duly became third earl. He was to suffer a number of disadvantages, among them the absence of the pension enjoyed by his predecessors, a much depleted income in the aftermath of the Great Famine, and the death of his only son during the Charge of the Light Brigage at the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854: Limerick’s Wellesley Bridge used to feature a handsome statue to the youthful Viscount FitzGibbon until it was blown up by the IRA in 1930. On the death of the third earl in 1864 the title became extinct. His estate was left to the two younger of his three daughters (the eldest, who had caused a scandal by abandoning her own spouse and children to run off with the elderly husband of a half-sister, appears to have been disinherited). While the middle sister took possession of the FitzGibbon silver and, it seems, the greater part of the liquidity attached to the estate, the youngest Lady Louisa FitzGibbon assumed responsibility for Mount Shannon.
Lady Louisa was as dogged by bad luck as her father. Her eldest son died at the age of twenty, followed by her first husband and then the Italian Marchese she married in expectation of his money turned out to be as penniless as herself. With the advent of the Land Wars rents ceased to be paid, portions of the estate had to be sold, what remained was mortgaged, and money borrowed at high interest rates. All to no avail: Lady Louisa’s creditors demanded satisfaction, following litigation a receiver was appointed, and in the course of a sale lasting several days during June 1888 Mount Shannon was stripped of its contents including a very valuable library. Here is a small quote from the fascinating catalogue compiled by Limerick auctioneer John Bernal: ‘The Family Paintings are Chef Douvres [sic], by the first artist of the period, when they were taken, some of the Paintings, see page 42, were placed in the house about 1790, and will afford the connoisseur and speculator a good chance of getting a valuable Old Master on good terms. There are also some replicas from the Dresden gallery.’ The first such melancholy event of its kind in Ireland, a prelude to many more to follow over the coming decades, the Mount Shannon excited huge interest, with special trains and catering arrangements being laid on. Lady Louisa FitzGibbon spent the remainder of her days in a Dominican convent on the Isle of Wight, an establishment founded by the Roman Catholic convert wife of her uncle, the second Lord Clare; this was something of an irony given the first earl’s virulent hatred of all Catholics. Five years after the sale, Thomas Nevins, who had been born in Mayo but made a fortune in the United States as a tram and railway contractor, bought Mount Shannon where he died in 1902, just like the first earl following a bad fall from a horse. His widow only survived until 1907 after which the place passed through various hands before what remained of the estate was bought in 1915 by David O’Hannigan of County Cork for £1,000. He did not have long to enjoy Mount Shannon since it was burned down in June 1920 during the War of Independence, the light of the flames apparently seen in Limerick city. The house remains a shell. To walk through it today is to have a sense what it must have been like visiting a site such as the Baths of Caracalla in the aftermath of Imperial Rome’s collapse, especially as this immense structure is now surrounded by others domestic buildings of infinitely smaller dimensions and aspirations. Even in its present broken-down state Mount Shannon continues dominate the area and to exude an air of greater distinction than any of its neighbours.
Not all anniversaries are necessarily cause for celebration. Today marks the centenary of the burning of Mount Shannon, County Limerick, one among the first wave of Irish country houses to be burnt during the War of Independence, followed by many more over the course of the Civil War. Dating from the mid-18th century, Mount Shannon was originally built for the Oliver family but by 1765 it had been acquired by John FitzGibbon, who had converted from Roman Catholicism to the Established Church in order to practice law. This move ultimately also converted him into a wealthy man, so understandably the same profession was also followed by his son, another John FitzGibbon, who became known as ‘Black Jack’ for his hostility to the faith of his forebears and his advocacy of the 1800 Act of Union. Prior to that event, he served as last Lord Chancellor of Ireland and was rewarded with a peerage, becoming Earl of Clare in 1795. While he improved Mount Shannon and the surrounding demesne, it was his son the second earl who did most work on the place, not least by enhancing the façade with the addition of its great Ionic portico, designed by architect Lewis William Wyatt. Thanks to a pension secured by his father, he was also able to fill the interior with furniture and works of art collected during his travels in Europe, and from time spent in India as Governor of Mumbai (then called Bombay). Having no children, when he died in 1851 both title and estate passed to a younger brother.
The third Earl of Clare did not benefit from a government pension such as that enjoyed by his late brother, nor did he lead as charmed a life; in 1854 his son and heir, 25-year old Viscount FitzGibbon, was reported missing, presumed dead, after leading his troop of Royal Irish Huzzars at the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. His body was never recovered. So, when the third earl in turn died a decade later, Mount Shannon passed to the youngest of his three daughters, Lady Louisa FitzGibbon who likewise suffered various misfortunes: her first husband died, as did her son, and then her second husband – a Sicilian marchese – proved to be as just as impoverished as was she. Already in debt, the onset of the Land Wars finished off her prospects and in 1888 Lady Louisa’s creditors forced a sale of Mount Shannon and its contents. The house had two more owners before its eventual destruction, the first being Thomas Nevins, who had been born in Mayo but made a fortune in the United States as a tram and railway contractor. He lived at Mount Shannon for less than a decade because in 1902, exactly a century after the first Earl of Shannon had died following a fall from a horse, Mr Nevins suffered the same fate. His wife followed him a few years later, and Mount Shannon was back on the market. Most of the land was divided up between local farmers and in 1915 the house and immediate surroundings were bought for £1,000 by one David O’Hannigan, who already owned a fine property some thirty miles to the south, Kilbolane House, County Cork (since demolished). However, he was unable to enjoy his new home for very long because on the night of June 14th 1920 Mount Shannon was set on fire by a local band of the IRA, leaving the building completely gutted; it is believed flames from the blazing site could be seen in Limerick city more than five miles away. What remains of the house has stood a ruin ever since. Over the next three years, there will be many more such centenaries to recall.
Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. An older castle was demolished and it was rebuilt, as we see in this photograph, in the 1770s by Caroline Fitzgerald and her husband Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston.
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 207. “(Fitzgibbon/IFR; King, Kingston, E/PB; Webber/IFR) Orignally the stronghold of that branch of the Geraldines which held the title of White Knight; passed to the Kings after the death of Maurice Oge FitzGibbon, 12th white Knight, whose niece married Sir John King, 1st Lord Kingston. By 1750, 4th Lord Kingston had a house here with a two storey hall, its upper storey surrounded by a “handsome corridor,”…
John King 1st Baron Kingston married Catherine Fenton, whose mother was Margaret Fitzgibbon.
Robert King (1657–1693), 2nd Baron Kingston by John Michael Wright courtesy of Ulster Museum.He was the son of 1st Baron and Catherine née Fenton.Margaret O’Cahan (c. 1662-1721), standing in a black habit, and holding a string of rosary beads, Attributed to Garret Morphy (c.1655-1715), courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 she married James King 3rd Baron Kingston, a brother of the 2nd Baron.Jeremiah Barrett (d.1770) A conversation portrait of the Children, William, Elizabeth and Margaret King, of James 4th (last) Baron Kingston of Mitchelstown with a pet doe and dog courtesy of Adam’s 6 Oct 2009. The surviving daughter Margaret, daughter of Elizabeth Meade (Clanwilliam), inherited the vast Mitchellstown Estate of the White Knights. She married Richard Fitzgerald of mount Ophanlis, and their only daughter Caroline married, as arranged, the 2nd Earl of Kingston thus uniting the two branches of the King family. Life at Mitchellstown was recorded by two famous employees of the Kings, Arthur Young the agriculturalist and Mary Wollstonecruft who probably sketched out the basis of Vinchication of the Rights of Women whilst governess to the King children. It was not without excitement, in 1799 Lord Kingston shot dead Colonel Fitzgerald, his wife’s illegitimate half-brother in the hotel in Mitchellstown for abducting his 17 year old daughter Mary Elizabeth and his eldest daughter Margaret having married the 2nd Earl of Mount Cashell left him to befriend Shelley in Italy and is The Lady in ‘The Sensitive Plant’ by Shelley. Provenance: Rockingham House.Edward King 5th Baron Kingston 1764 standing in peers robes, courtesy of Adams auction 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter. He was later created 1st Earl of Kingston.He was the son of Henry King, 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey.Edward King (1726-1797), 5th Baronet of Boyle Abbey and eventually, 1st Earl of Kingston.Edward King, later 1st Earl Kingston courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. Mitchelstown Castle hall, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Portrait almost certainly of Anne King, daughter of Sir Henry King and sister of 1st Earl of Kingston, married John ‘Diamond’ Knox of Castlerea, Co. Mayo courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).Isabella King, daughter of Sir Henry King and sister of 1st Earl of Kingston, wife of Thomas, 1st Earl of Howth courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).Eleanor King, daughter of Sir Henry King 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey and sister of Edward 1st Earl of Kingston, with her son James Stewart (of Killymoon) holding a dog courtesy of Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).
A new house was built by 2nd Earl of Kingston 1776, it was in this house that his daughter, Margaret, was taught revolutionary ideas by her governess, Mary Wollstonecraft; she afterwards married Lord Mount Cashell, who lived nearby at Moore Park, but left him and settled in Italy, where she befriended Shelly, who wrote of her as “The Lady” in The Sensitive Plant. Margaret’s sister, Mary, eloped 1797 with a cousin, who was a married man; her father afterwards shot him dead at an hotel near Mitchelstown and was consequently tried by his peers for murder, but acquitted.
Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.Caroline, née Fitzgerald, Countess of Kingston, wife of Robert King 2nd Earl of Kingston, by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.
In 1823, 3rd Earl, known as “Big George”, demolished his father’s house and commissioned James and George Richard Pain to build him a castle which he stipulated should be bigger than any other house in Ireland; it had, moreover, to be ready to receive George IV on his next Irish visit; one of the towers was to be called the Royal Tower and contain a bedroom for ths King. The castle was finished in two years, at a cost of £100,000; it did not quite manage to be larger than any other house inIreland, but it was one of the largest and most successful of the earlier Gothic Revival castles. …
George King (1779-1839), later 3rd Earl of Kingston, painting by Romney.Mitchelstown Castle in Co Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
In the end, George IV never came, but Big George entertained as though he had a royal house-party the whole time. Even complete strangers were received with hospitality at the castle; there were sometimes as many as 100 people staying. All were dazzled by the splendour, by the display of plate and the army of servants…. Then, in 1830, his tenants’ failure to vote for the candidate of his choice in a by-election drove Big George out of his mind and he was taken to London, where he died 1839. His son, 4th Earl, continued to keep open house at Mitchelston until 1844, when he suffered a financial crash. The earl and his house party closed the doors of the castle against the bailiffs and stood siege for a fortnight, then the creditors took possession and much of the estate was sold up. Like his father,the 4th Earl went mad. The castle and the reduced estate was eventually inherited by the 5th Earl’s widow, who married, as her second husband, W.D. Webber. Henceforth, economy reigned at the castle…. The castle was burnt 1922, and the ruin was afterwards demolished; the ashlar having been bought by the monks of Mount Melleray for their new church.”
Drawing Room in Mitchelstown Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Courtesy Mark Bence-Jones.Anna née Brinkley, wife of the 5th Earl of Kingston, who lived in Mitchelstown.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
THE EARLS OF KINGSTON WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CORK, WITH 24,421 ACRES
The family of KING was originally of Feathercock Hall, near Northallerton, Yorkshire.
The first of its members we find upon record in Ireland is
SIR JOHN KING, Knight (c1560-1637), who obtained, from ELIZABETH I, in requital of his military services, a lease of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon; and, from JAMES I, numerous valuable territorial grants, and several of the highest and most lucrative political employments.
He married Catherine, daughter of Robert Drury, and grand-niece of the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir William Drury, and had, with other issue,
ROBERT, his heir; John; Edward; Dorothy; Mary.
Sir John was succeeded by his eldest son,
SIR ROBERT KING, Knight, of Boyle Abbey, Muster Master-general of Ireland, who wedded firstly, Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Folliott, 1st Baron Folliott, of Ballyshannon, and had, with other children,
Sir Robert died in 1657, and was succeeded by his youngest son,
THE RT HON ROBERT KING (c1625-1707), of Rockingham, County Roscommon, MP for Ballyshannon, 1661-6, County Roscommon, 1692-9, and for Boyle, 1703-7.
Mr King was created a baronet, 1682, designated of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon.
He wedded Frances, daughter and co-heiress of Colonel Henry Gore, and died in 1707, leaving issue, his eldest surviving son,
SIR JOHN KING, 2nd Baronet (1673-1720), MP for Boyle, 1695, 1703, and 1713, and for County Roscommon, 1715-20, who espoused Elizabeth, daughter of John Sankey, of Tennalick, County Longford, and dsp 1720, when the title devolved upon his brother,
SIR HENRY KING, 3rd Baronet (1680-1739), PC, MP for Boyle, 1707-27, and for County Roscommon, 1727-40, who married, in 1722, Isabella, who was 13th in descent from EDWARD III, and sister of 1st Viscount Powerscourt, by whom he had issue,
ROBERT, created Baron Kingsborough;
EDWARD, 1st Earl of Kingston;
Isabella; Anne.
The eldest son,
SIR ROBERT KING, 4th Baronet (1724-55), was raised to the Peerage, in 1748, in the dignity of BARON KINGSBOROUGH, but died unmarried in 1755, when that dignity expired, while the baronetcy devolved upon his brother,
SIR EDWARD KING, 5th Baronet (1726-97), created Baron Kingston, 1764, Viscount Kingsborough, 1766, and EARL OF KINGSTON, 1768.
He wedded, in 1752, Jane, daughter of Thomas Caulfeild, of Donamon, County Roscommon, and had, with other issue,
Robert Henry Ethelbert King-Tenison, 10th Earl (1897–1948);
Barclay Robert Edwin King-Tenison, 11th Earl (1943–2002);
Robert Charles Henry King-Tenison, 12th Earl (b 1969).
The heir apparent is the present holder’s son Charles Avery Edward King-Tenison, styled Viscount Kingsborough (b 2000).
MITCHELSTOWN CASTLE was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Kingston.
It was one of the largest Gothic-Revival houses in Ireland, a noble and sumptuous structure of hewn stone, in the castellated style, erected after a design by Mr Pain, of Cork, at an expense of more than £100,000.
Mitchelstown is about thirty miles north of the city of Cork.
The buildings occupied three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth being occupied by a terrace, under which are various offices.
The principal entrance, on the eastern range, was flanked by two lofty square towers rising to the height of 106 feet, one of which was called the White Knight’s tower, from its being built on the site of the tower of that name which formed part of the old mansion.
At the northern extremity of the same range were two octagonal towers of lofty elevation.
The entrance hall opened into a stately hall or gallery, eighty feet in length, with an elaborately groined roof, richly ornamented with fine tracery, and furnished with elegant stoves of bronze, and with figures of warriors armed cap-a-pie; at the further extremity was the grand staircase.
Parallel with the gallery, and forming the south front and principal range, were the dining and drawing-rooms, both noble apartments superbly fitted up and opening into the library, which was between them.
Entrance Hall
The whole pile had a character of stately baronial magnificence, and from its great extent and elevation formed a conspicuous feature in the surrounding scenery.
Near the Castle was a large fish-pond, and from a small tower on its margin, water was conveyed to the baths and to the upper apartments of the castle, and across the demesne to the gardens, by machinery of superior construction.
The gardens were spacious and tastefully laid out, the conservatory 100 feet in length and ornamented with a range of beautiful Ionic pilasters.
The parkland, which comprised 1,300 acres, was embellished with luxuriant plantations, and included a farming establishment on an extensive scale, with buildings and offices of a superior description, on the erection of which more than £40,000 was expended.
It was estimated that the castle, with the conservatories, farm, and the general improvement of the demesne, cost its noble proprietor little less, if not more, than £200,000 (£8.3 million today).
“Big George”, the 3rd Earl, was renowned for his extravagant hospitality.
The 4th Earl continued to entertain his visitors regally at Mitchelstown.
One of the under-cooks was a young man called Claridge.
Lord Kingston suffered a financial downfall: His lordship – and house guests – locked the doors against the bailiffs and were besieged therein for a fortnight, until finally the Castle was possessed, creditors satisfied and much of the estate was sold.
What remained of the estate was inherited by the 5th Earl’s widow. Thereafter, Economy reigned.
The house was looted and burned in 1922 by the IRA, which had occupied it for the previous six weeks.
The order to burn the building, to prevent the newly established Irish Free State army from having use of it, was made by a local Republican commandant, Patrick Luddy, with the approval of General Liam Lynch.
It is clear that one of the motivations for the burning was to try to cover up the looting of the castle’s contents, including large amounts of furniture, a grand piano, paintings by Conrad, Beechy and Gainsborough.
Many of these objects have come up for sale in recent years and some, such as the piano, are still kept locally.
The Castle was severely damaged by the fire.
However, it is clear from documents in the National Archives of Ireland that, for example, in places where the fire had not reached, ‘mantelpieces had been forcibly wrenched from the walls and carted.’
As this episode took place at the height of the Irish Civil War, there was no appetite afterwards to prosecute anyone for their role in the looting and burning.
The ashlar limestone of the castle was later removed to build the new Cistercian abbey at Mount Melleray, County Water.
The site of the building is now occupied by a milk powder processing plant and the surrounding 1,214 acre demesne (private park) of the castle has been destroyed.
Lord Kingston’s town residence between 1826-32 was 3 Whitehall Place, London, now part of the Department of Energy & Climate Change.
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 220. “(Conner/IFR) A late-Georgian house built 1826 by Daniel Conner to the design of James and George Richard Pain; consisting of a main block of two storeys with a three storey tower at one corner. Both the tower and the main block have eaved roofs; the tower has a window flanked by sidelights in its top and bottom storeys, with a single window in the middle storey. The house was gutted by fire 1963, but afterwards rebuilt.”
Not in national inventory The Buildings of Ireland. Cork City and County. Frank Keohane. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. 2020. p. 228. Built for Daniel Connor c. 1824 to designs by George R. Pain, in a Claudian Italianate manner akin to Nash’s villa at Cronkill, Shropshire. The builder was Jeremiah Calnan. Asymmetrical two-storey entrance front with regular sash windows, an enclosed porch of sandstone ashlar (formerly clad with trellis) and a three-storey corner tower with tripartite windows on alternating storeys. South or view front of three bays to one side of the tower. The rendered walls are deeply incised to resemble ashlar. Hipped roofs with Tudor-style brick chimneys. Geometric stair rising around three sides of teh entrance hall. Two drawing rooms fill the view front. Dining room with a sideboard recess framed by Ionic pilasters. Lower service wing.
Convamore House, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 89. “(Hare, Listowel, E/PB; Hirsch, sub Inchcape, E/PB) A large plain two storey early C19 house, partly by James Pain, standing above one of the most beautiful reaches of the river Blackwater. The entrance front has a single-storey Doric portico; the front facing the river is punctuated with Doric pilasters. The block which contained the principal rooms is faced with Victorian stucco and had plate glass windows; the long office range keeps its late Georgian character and had windows with astragals. Burnt 1921, now a ruin almost totally submerged in undergrowth. Down river from the house, close to the entrance to the demesne, is the old Roche castle of Ballyhooly, the upperrooms of which were restored in Baronial style ca 1860 and used by 3rd Earl and Countess of Listowel for entertaining. The walls of the castle are still stained with tar from a beacon that was lit when Edward VII paid a visit as Prince of Wales. The castle was acquired by the Hirsch family, and a gabled fishing lodge was built adjoining it.”
William Hare (1833-1924), 3rd Earl of Listowel by Herbert Watkins, National Portrait Gallery NPG P301(10).Convamore House, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
“Very plain 19C classical house designed by James Pain for the Earl of Listowel. Burnt in 1921. Now a ruin.”
In Blake, Tarquin. Abandoned Mansions of Ireland II: More Portraits of Forgotten Stately Homes. Collins Press, Cork, 2012.
JOHN HARE, having eventually inherited the estates of his brother, Sir Nicholas, became of Stow Bardolph.
He had a numerous family, seven sons and three daughters.
Of the former,
RICHARD, the eldest, was ancestor of the HARES of Stow Bardolph, raised to the degree of Baronet in 1641; and
JOHN HARE, the youngest, a bencher of the Middle Temple, wedded Margaret, daughter of John Crouch, of Cornbury, Hertfordshire, and had a son,
HUGH HARE, a faithful adherent of CHARLES I, by whom he was created, in 1625, BARON COLERAINE, of County Londonderry.
His lordship married and was father of
HENRY, descended the Lords Coleraine; and from a younger son, HUGH, sprang the HARES of Listowel, the representative of which branch,
RICHARD HARE, of Ennismore (third son of John Hare, of Cork, a native of Norfolk), the immediate founder of this family, married Catherine Maylor, and had issue,
WILLIAM, his successor; John, died unmarried, 1774; Mary; Margaret Anne.
The elder son and successor,
WILLIAM HARE(1751-1837), represented Cork and Athy in the Irish parliament from 1796 until the final dissolution of that assembly.
Mr Hare was elevated to the peerage, in 1800, in the dignity of Baron Ennismore; and advanced to a viscounty, in 1816, as Viscount Ennismore and Listowel.
His lordship was further advanced to the dignity of an earldom, in 1822, as EARL OF LISTOWEL.
He married firstly, in 1772, Mary, only daughter of Henry Wrixon, of Ballygiblin, County Cork, and aunt of Sir William Wrixon-Becher Bt, and had issue,
RICHARD, father of WILLIAM, 2ND EARL; William Henry; Margaret Anne; Mary; Louisa; Catharine.
He espoused secondly, in 1812, Anne, second daughter of John Latham, of Meldrum, County Tipperary.
The heir presumptive is the present holder’s brother, the Hon Timothy Patrick Hare (b 1966).
*****
THE PRINCIPAL family seat was Convamore, County Cork, though they were also seated at Ennismore Park, County Kerry, which was sold by the Bailey family to the Hares in the late 18th century.
William, 1st Earl of Listowel, built a new house beside the River Blackwater in the early 19th century.
He was residing at Convamore in 1814.
It remained the family seat in 1894.
The house was burned in 1921 and is now a ruin.
The family’s town residence was Kingston House, Knightsbridge, London. The 3rd Earl, the then owner of the Kingston House estate, was admitted as copyholder and secured the ground’s enfranchisement from manorial control.
In 1855, the substantial portion of the estate built up with houses and stables in the 1840s and early 1950s was sold by the 2nd Earl, but the greater part, including Kingston House itself, remained in the possession of the Hare family until shortly before the Second World War.
With the death of the 4th Earl in 1931, the estate passed not to his eldest son, the socialist 5th Earl, but on trust to a younger son, the Hon John Hare, later 1st Viscount Blakenham.
The 3rd Earl died at Kingston House in 1924, and the last occupant was his widow, who in turn died there in 1936. In March, 1937, the contents were sold and that autumn the house itself was demolished for the building of flats.
CONVAMORE HOUSE was a large and plain two-storey early 19th century mansion, situated above a fine stretch of the River Blackwater in County Cork.
The entrance front had a single storey Doric portico; while the block with the main rooms was faced with Victorian stucco and plate-glass windows.
The walls of the old Roche castle are said to be stained with tar from a beacon that was lit when EDWARD VII paid a visit as Prince of Wales.
The castle belonged lately to a Major Hirtch, whose father built a gabled fishing lodge beside it.
These decorative cast-iron entrance gates and finely carved piers of solid limestone blocks exhibit high levels of craftsmanship.
The gateway to Convamore House was erected for a visit by the Prince of Wales in 1886.
Listowel arms courtesy of European Heraldry. First published in February, 2012.
Detached three-bay two-storey former steward’s house, built c. 1880, now in use as private house. Formerly having entrance front to north elevation, south elevation now being front elevation. Central hipped roof projection to north, with flat-roofed extensions to each side. Hipped slate roof, front elevation end bays being half-hipped and central entrance bay having gablet, with central rendered chimneystack having six ceramic pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods. Rubble limestone walls with roughly dressed quoins. Round-headed window opening to first floor of entrance bay with dressed limestone jambs and voussoirs, square-headed elsewhere, having six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows to first floor of front and to side elevations, and replacement timber tripartite windows to ground floor front, latter with dressed limestone jambs and voussoirs, all windows having limestone sills. Segmental-headed door opening flanked by cut limestone Doric-style pilasters with moulded capitals, plinth and cornice, with timber panelled door, fanlight and moulded limestone step. Boundary to yard to front of house comprises dressed limestone piers with cut-stone caps and moulded plinths having ornate cast-iron railings on limestone plinths, and having flight of moulded limestone steps to lawned area. House set inside east side of gateway comprising dressed limestone piers with plinths and caps, now with sheet metal double-leaf gate, set in coursed rubble stone walls. Entrance gates to main road comprise pair of square-profile dressed limestone piers with plinths and caps, latter having decorative wrought-iron finials, with curving recent rubble stone walling having some decorative spearhead railings, with double-leaf decorative cast-iron gate.
Appraisal
This former steward’s house was built as a formal entrance to the farm buildings on the Convamore estate. The rear elevation became the present handsome front elevation, this being an unusual occurrence. It retains interesting historic fabric, such as the grouped chimneystack, slate roof and varied timber sliding sash windows. This building is an important historic component of the large Convamore estate.
Farmyard complex, built c. 1835, comprising south-east courtyard immediately to west of ruinous Convamore House, with second larger farmyard to north-west. Small courtyard enclosed by two-storey ranges, seven-bay to centre, east, range, six-bay flanking ranges, and detached five-bay west range. Hipped slate roof, pitched to west ends of lateral ranges, with cast-iron rainwater goods, and having square-plan cupola with metal clock to east range. Coursed ashlar limestone walls with plinth course to interior elevations, coursed rubble limestone and sandstone to exterior elevations with dressed limestone quoins. Two symmetrical pairs of segmental-arched vehicular entrances to east elevation, having raised surrounds. Segmental-arch carriage entrances to north-west and south-west corners of yard, connecting west range with lateral ranges, and having ashlar limestone walling with string course over arch, one with double-leaf wrought-iron gate. Square-headed window openings, some retaining six-over-six timber sliding sash windows and others timber louvers and battened fixings, and with pitching door to centre of lateral ranges, all with limestone sills. Square-headed door openings with chamfered raised limestone surrounds, some with timber panelled doors. North gable of west range has pitching door with slated gablet and timber battended door with lozenge vent holes. North-west farmyard enclosed by rubble stone walls, entered through segmental carriage arch set in south wall and having dressed limestone walling and cut-stone coping with finial. L-plan single-storey farm building to south-west corner having hipped slate roof and coursed rubble limestone and sandstone walls with dressed limestone quoins, segmental-arched vehicular and pedestrian entrances with dressed sandstone voussoirs, and having slit vents to front wall. Two-storey gable-fronted farm building to west side. Pitched slate roof, cut-stone copings and bellcote and bell to west gable, cut-stone eaves course to side walls, carried through to give open-bed pediment detail to gable-front. Coursed rubble limestone walls with dressed quoins and cut-stone dressings to openings. Date plaque and integral carriage arch to east gable. Timber king-post truss roof to interior. Access to yard via avenue from north. Walled garden to north. Detached four-bay two-storey former gardener’s house to north-west of farmyards, built c. 1860, having integral former vehicular entrance, and recent flat-roofed extension to rear. Now in use as private house. Hipped slate roof with cast-iron rainwater goods, recent ceramic ridge tiles and recent rendered chimneystack to rear. Rubble limestone walls with limestone eaves course, cut-stone quoins and cut-stone voussoirs and jambs to window and door openings. Square-headed window openings with replacement timber windows. Segmental-arched former vehicular entrance to south end of façade, with recent timber doors. Square-headed main door opening with recent timber door.
Appraisal
This fine farmyard complex retains superb limestone ashlar façades to inner elevations with details around doors, windows and integral arches exhibiting high levels of craftsmanship. The cupola with clock is a rare survival. The second yard to the north-west is also interesting with the handsome gable-fronted farm building dated 1838 with its timber king-post roof. Set to the west of the now ruined main house, these farm buildings are an integral part of Convamore estate and are an important remains of the social and economic history of the area. The attractive former gardener’s house stands on the west side of the walled garden and retains high quality stonework, as exhibited in the cut-stone sills, integral archway and quoins.
Detached T-plan three-bay single-storey former gate lodge with gabled porch, built c. 1880, now in use as private house, having lower lean-to addition to north-west angle, and recent conservatory and other flat-roofed single-storey extension to north-west corner. Pitched slate roof with projecting bracketed eaves, rendered chimneystack and cast-iron rainwater goods. Rendered walls with render eaves course and cut limestone plinth. Render open-bed pediment detail to north gable. Shallow window projections to end bays of façade, containing square-headed window openings with chamfered surrounds, moulded cornices, limestone sills and replacement uPVC windows, having cast-iron spearhead railings to northern window. Square-headed entrance door opening with moulded cut limestone shouldered surround, timber panelled door, overlight, render pediment detail to gable, cut limestone plaque to gable with coronet above, and limestone step. Single-storey rubble-stone built outbuilding with pitched slate roof and brick chimneystack to rear.
Appraisal
This ornamental lodge set inside the robust entrance gates and piers form an impressive entrance to the now ruined Convamore House. It was built to provide a new entrance to the house for a royal visit by the Prince of Wales in 1885. The centrepiece of the lodge is the porch with the finely cut limestone shouldered door surround and Lord Listowel’s coronet on the plaque over. It retains its historic form and much of its historic fabric such as limestone sills, door surround, plinth, slate roof with bracketed eaves, and render detail around the windows. The lodge and entrance is an important landmark feature and successfully announces the presence of a grand country house beyond.
Blackrock Castle, Cork, from the National Library of Ireland, flickr constant commons.
The Archiseek website tells us:
“Blackrock Castle lies on the shore of the river Lee, in the city of Cork, in County Cork in Ireland.
“The circular watchtower of Blackrock Castle was built in 1604, on the site of an earlier fort. With its 2.2 meter thick walls, it was designed to withstand cannon fire. It was built to defend the city against attacks from pirates and the Spanish, who had landed at Kinsale 3 years earlier. But it also served to protect the English Lord Deputy Mountjoy against the citizens of Cork, who had been slow to acknowledge King James I.
“Later Blackrock Castle was used by the Mayors of Cork for the Admiralty Court. Also known as the Maritime Court, it exercised jurisdiction over all maritime caes and offences.
“In 1827 the castle was gutted by fire following the annual Corporation banquet. Two years later, in 1829, it was rebuilt and enlarged in Gothic Revival style.
“Later it was used as a meeting place, a private residence, a restaurant and commercial offices before it was acquired by the Cork City Council in 2001. At present the castle houses an astronomy center/museum especially aimed at children.” [1]
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.Blackrock Castle from Views in Ireland after Thomas Sautelle Roberts courtesy Adams Irish Old Masters 15 May 2025
1829 – Blackrock Castle, Co. Cork
Architect: James Pain
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy Archiseek.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy Archiseek.Blackrock Castle and the River Lee, County Cork 1796, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Detached castellated fortification, re-constructed 1829, having circular five-storey crenellated tower to the north-west on to the Lee River with two crenellated towers to south set in courtyard bounded by curtain wall with single- and two-storey buildings. Retaining elements of earlier phases of building. Restored and converted to use as an observatory with a new building constructed to the south-east, c.2005. Squared coursed limestone walling with cut limestone crenellations, capping stones and stringcourses. Double lancet windows in square-headed openings with hood mouldings to the second and third floors of the north side of the large tower having stone mullions and tracery. Smaller lancet and narrow square-headed window openings to the remainder of the buildings having small pane timber casements and some hood mouldings. Replacement sheeted timber door to depressed three-centred-arched opening and two glazed and timber doors in elliptical-arched openings, all leading on to courtyard. Pointed arch gateway to river set in gatehouse with cut limestone crenellated turrets to corners. Rubble limestone curtain wall with remnants of lime render to southern wall. Pedestrian gateway to east set in crenellated limestone surround. Crenellated gateway in south wall comprising Tudor-arched opening set in ashlar limestone crenellated wall flanked by ashlar limestone crenellated towers with timber gates. Pedestrian gateway to east. Set on south bank of river, overlooking the harbour.
Appraisal
This landmark building has undergone a number of reconstructions since the first tower was built on this site, c.1582. The present building mainly dates from 1828-29 when the building was rebuilt under the direction of James and George Richard Pain. The castle embodies a huge amount of architectural and social history gathered over five centuries during which time the building was used as a defence fortification to guard the river, a sentinel tower to guide shipping, a light house, a private residence, a restaurant and now an observatory. The limestone construction displays fine craftsmanship in its stonemasonry with different techniques and phases of development visible throughout the building.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Freestanding ashlar entrance gateway, built c.1825. Central carriage arch comprises four-centred Tudor-style arch surmounted by crenellated parapet with square-profile ashlar crenellated turrets having single blind arrow loops supporting arch and flanking recent double-leaf timber gate. Four-centred Tudor-style arch to pedestrian entrance with segmental coping adjoining single store gatehouse to the east. Rubble stone wall surmounted by recent railings to the west. Commemorative plaque on western turret records the rebuilding of the castle in 1828.
Appraisal
The entrance to the castle is an early-nineteenth-century interpretation of a medieval castellated gateway. Executed in high quality stonework, the composition is balanced and the four-centred arch is an attractive centrepiece. It was probably designed by George Richard and James Pain, architects to the Admiralty Court of the City Corporation, who were responsible for the restoration work at the castle at the time.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Staggered single-bay single-storey former gate lodge, built 1828, to east of southern gateway into castle. Flat roof hidden by crenellated parapet. Rubble limestone walls with cut limestone string course and copings to crenellations. Square-headed openings with bipartite windows having one-over-one timber sliding sash windows. Recent glazed extension facing courtyard, now in use as café.
Appraisal
The castle, originally built in 1604 by Lord Deputy Mountjoy to protect the passage to the city along the river, was restored in 1828 to a design by George Richard and James Pain at the behest of the Admiralty Court of the City Corporation. It was used as a banqueting room and to hold court sessions. It is an important landmark in the defensive architecture of Cork Harbour. The restoration is a fine example of an early nineteenth century interpretation of a late medieval fortified watch tower enclosure. The craftsmanship of the ashlar parapets and entrance is reserved for these areas so as to reinforce the appearance of strength of the main walls.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
‘About half-past two o’clock on Tuesday morning, Blackrock Castle was observed to be on fire, and in a few minutes presented a very imposing sight. The waters were illuminated, and the surrounding hills completely lit, presenting more the appearance of noon-day than of a dark night. Immediately after the cupola blazed with the greatest splendour, the heavy leads caught fire and sent to the river a liquid body of burning lead, the concussion between the red-hot lead and water sending forth a crash resembling the noise of artillery; the rain which fell about the time on the burning lead roof, yielding a noise like the fire of musketry. The whole presented a grand and awful sight, and continued burning with unabated fury for upwards of three hours. The roof has completely disappeared, and the timbers in the wall were burning this morning at seven o’clock. Fortunately, the inmates escaped unhurt. Had the wind been in another direction, the surrounding houses would probably have been destroyed. The fire is supposed to have been caused by a slate having broken the glass of the river light which is kept on Blackrock Castle for the use of ships, and the fire caught the roof.’ Dublin Morning Register, March 2nd 1827.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Located on a limestone outcrop in the river Lee to the immediate east of Cork city, Blackrock Castle was originally built in the early 1580s and maintained by the local burghers according to a contemporary document, ‘to resist pirates and other invasion’ (it should be remembered that as late as 1631, the coastal village of Baltimore, further to the west was sacked by pirates and more than 100 of its residents carried off into slavery in Algiers). The first castle was little more than a watch tower which also served to help guide ships into Cork harbour. However, in the early 17th century, Ireland’s Lord Deputy Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy caused the building to be enlarged and reinforced, with walls over seven feet thick and the main circular tower having a diameter of some 34 and a half feet. Returned by James I to the citizenry of Cork in 1608, this structure held artillery intended to repel any would-be invaders venturing up the river. In 1722, the castle was damaged by fire and, according to Charles Smith’s Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork (1750), the corporation spent £296 refurbishing the building, this work including the creation of ‘a very handsome octagon room, from whence is a delightful prospect of the harbour, from Passage to Cork.’ Here, according to Smith, ‘the mayors of Cork hold an admiralty court, being, by several charters, appointed admirals of the harbour.’ In addition, on the first day of August each year, the mayor and corporation held an ‘entertainment’ in the building, ‘at the charge of the city.’ Such remained the case until February 27th when a serious fire, as described above in the Dublin Morning Register, largely destroyed the old castle.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
In December 1827, Cork Corporation voted a sum of £800, and the Harbour Commissioners a further £200 towards the cost of rebuilding Blackrock Castle. The job was entrusted to architect siblings James and George Pain, both pupils of John Nash, who had each come to Ireland during the previous decade and established thriving practices. As designed by the Pains and completed within two years, Blackrock Castle looks like a medieval fortress, its dominant feature being a large circular tower to which is attached a much more slender and somewhat taller turret: the latter continued to have navigation lights on its roof to aid shipping. Around the tower, a series of battlemented walls enclose a courtyard, helping to confirm the image of a romantic gothic castle. Despite being described in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society in 1914 as ‘one of the prettiest and most striking objects to be seen on the river Lee’, the building thereafter suffered from neglect for much of the last century,. It was leased to a professor of botany in the 1930s and then sold in the 1960s to a group of local businessmen, after which it served as a bar, a restaurant, commercial offices and, for one period, as a private residence. In 2001 Blackrock Castle was bought back by Cork Corporation for IR£825,000 and a programme of restoration was undertaken. For almost 20 years, the building has housed an observatory run by Munster Technological University and laboratories staffed by astronomical researchers from the same institution. Although open to the public and hosting exhibitions, because the castle always served practical purposes, internally there is little of decorative interest, other than a fine limestone chimneypiece from the second quarter of the 17th century and originally in a since-demolished house called Ronayne’s Court. Better to rejoice in the handsome exterior, with the waters of the river Lee washing against a sequence of towers and turrets.
Blackrock Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Aughrane Castle, also known as Castle Kelly, Ballygar, Co Galway – demolished 1951
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses.[originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978; Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.]
p. 15. “(O’Kelly/LG1863; Bagot/IFR) A castellated house of c19 appearance; little bartizans at corners, plain windows with hood mouldings, simple battlemented porch. Gabled range at one end and gabled towers behind.”
A 16th century tower house with 19th century additions. Castle-Kelly is recorded by Wilson as the seat of Denis Kelly in 1786. Lithographs of the entrance to Castle Kelly, Castle Kelly and Ballygar town are included in the sales rental of 1863. It was bought by the Bagots, sold by them to the Department of Agriculture in 1910 and demolished in 1919. Parts of the demesne are now owned by Coillte, the Forestry Service.
Castle Kelly alias Aughrane Castle. Image: courtesy of Dr. Patrick Melvin & Eamonn de Burca/Skehana & District Heritage
The house consisted of an ancient, perhaps 16th century, tower which was extended in later centuries. The three-storey block with a great gable end rising into a stack of five conjoined chimneys represents an 18th century addition. The house was then turned into a ‘beautiful and commanding modern Mansion’ by further battlemented additions in the mid 19th century, reputedly by James Pain of Limerick for Denis Kelly. It is said that debris from a nearby monastic site was used as building stone, although the surface was of new cut ashlar. The house had little bartizans at the corners, plain windows with hood moulds and a simple battlemented porch. The estate was sold by the Encumbered Estates Court in 1863, and thereafter the house was known as Aughrane Castle. A gate lodge was designed by James Forth Kempster in 1871-72 for Christopher Neville Bagot, the new owner, at a cost of £300. In 1904, when the house was advertised for sale, it was noted that the old castle ‘has some interesting old decorated ceilings and oak floors’. The accommodation then comprised an entrance porch and inner hall with Gothic grand staircase; spacious drawing room, library, dining room, writing room, eight family bedrooms, bath room, dressing room, and thirteen servants’ bedrooms, as well as the usual domestic offices.
In 1909, following a disastrous bog slide on the estate, in which one person was killed and eight families were rendered homeless and unemployed, the estate was sold to the Estates Commissioners, and a school of forestry was established in the house and surrounding grounds by the Board of Agriculture. On 15 May 1921, however, the house was burned down by a gang of 30 armed men, who evacuated the caretaker at gunpoint and then systematically doused the furniture with petrol; only the external walls were left standing. The Board of Agriculture filed a claim for £10,000 compensation under the Malicious Injuries Act, but it not clear whether this was ever paid.
Descent: Timothy O’Kelly (fl. 1566); to son, Rory O’Kelly (fl. 1590); to son, Capt. Colla O’Kelly (d. 1615); to son, Col. John Kelly (d. 1674); to son, Col. Charles Kelly; to son, Capt. Denis Kelly (d. 1740); to kinsman, John Kelly (d. 1748); to son, Denis Kelly (d. 1794); to son, John Kelly (d. 1813); to brother, Rev. Andrew Armstrong Kelly (1763-1849); to son, Denis Henry Kelly (1797-1877); sold in Encumbered Estates Court, 1863, to Christopher Neville Bagot (d. 1877); after lengthy legal proceedings to brother, John Lloyd Neville Bagot (1814-90); to son, Thomas Lloyd Neville Bagot (1848-90); to son, Milo Victor Neville Bagot (1880-1913); sold to Estates Commissioners, 1909, and handed over to Board of Agriculture, 1909; burned 1921.
THE BAGOTS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY GALWAY, WITH 19,303 ACRES
The direct ancestor of this family was SIR ROBERT BAGOD, born in 1213, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1274, who obtained a grant of the manor of The Rath, near Dublin (known today as Baggotrath; and also the lands of Baggotstown in County Limerick.
Sir Robert died after 1298.
His lineal descendant,
EDWARD BAGOT (1620-1711), of Harristown, King’s County, and Walterstown, County Kildare, Royal Commissioner for King’s County, 1663, High Sheriff of County Kildare, 1677, King’s County, 1680, married, in 1659, Catherine, daughter of William Colborne, of Great Connell, County Kildare, and had issue,
MILO, his heir; Arthur; Christopher; Elizabeth.
The eldest son,
COLONEL MILO BAGOT (1660-1730), of Ard, Newtown, and Kilcoursey, wedded, in 1700, Margaret, daughter of Edmond and sister of Colonel Andrew Armstrong, of Mauricetown, County Kildare, and had issue,
JOHN, his heir; Michael; Charles, ancestor of BAGOT of Kilcoursey; Elizabeth; Mary.
The eldest son,
JOHN BAGOT (1702-60), of Ard, King’s County, espoused, in 1728, Mary Herbert, of Durrow Abbey, King’s County, and had issue,
Milo, dsp; William, dsp; Charles, dsp; JOHN LLOYD, of whom hereafter; Thomas, dsp; Mary, dsp; Margaret.
The fourth son,
JOHN LLOYD BAGOT, of Ard and Ballymoe, Captain, 37th Foot, ADC to Lord Cornwallis during the American war, wedded, in 1775, Catherine Anne, daughter of Michael Cuffe, of Ballymoe, a descendent of James, Lord Tyrawley, and of Elizabeth Cuffe, alias Pakenham, created Countess of Longford.
He died in 1718, leaving issue,
John Cuffe, dsp; William, dsp; THOMAS NEVILLE, of whom we treat; Cordelia; Louisa; Maria.
He was succeeded by his third son,
THOMAS NEVILLE BAGOT (1784-1863), of Ard and Ballymoe, who espoused, in 1811, Ellen, daughter of John Fallon, of County Roscommon, and had issue,
JOHN LLOYD NEVILLE BAGOT, his heir; Bernard William; Charles Augustus; Christopher Neville, of Aughrane Castle; Letitia Mary; Ellen; Catherine.
The eldest son,
JOHN LLOYD NEVILLE-BAGOT JP (1814-90), of Ballymoe, married, in 1843, Anne Georgina, daughter of Edward Henry Kirwan, of Ballyturin Castle, County Galway, and had issue,
EDWARD THOMAS LLOYD, his heir; Edward Henry Kirwan; John Christopher, of Ballyturin House; Charles Henry, of Curraghmore; Anna Isabella; Ellen Georgina.
Mr Neville-Bagot was succeeded by his eldest son,
EDWARD THOMAS LLOYD NEVILLE-BAGOT (1848-90), of Ballymoe and Aughrane, County Galway, who married, in 1876, Ellen, daughter of Francis Meagher, of Ballinderry, County Tipperary, and had issue, an only child,
MILO VICTOR NEVILLE-BAGOT (1880-), of Ballymoe and Aughrane, and Turin, Italy, who married, in 1908, Maria, only daughter of Signor Boccacio, of Turin, Italy, in a childless marriage.
Photo Credit: Dr Patrick Melvin & Eamonn de Burca
AUGHRANE CASTLE (or Castle Kelly), near Ballygar, County Galway, was a castellated house of 19th century appearance.
It had small bartizans at the corners; plain windows with hood mouldings; and a simple, battlemented porch.
There was a gabled range at one end; a gabled tower behind.
It is said that the Bagot family played a very passive role in the life of the area, other than to collect rents due.
Christopher Bagot spent very little time on the estate and left the management to his two brothers, Charlie and John.
Christopher Bagot bought a house in a fashionable part of London, and entertained fairly lavishly.
Through these parties he came to know a young society lady of great charm and beauty called Alice Verner.
Within a short time they were married – believed to be in 1874.
In due course a son was born to them.
Mrs Christopher Bagot continued to have a high life and relations between herself and her husband soon became strained.
They returned to Castle Kelly in 1876, and some time later he banished her and their young son from his home.
He subsequently drew up a will leaving his entire estate to his brother, John Bagot.
His health failed rapidly and he died in 1877.
Mrs Bagot contested the last will made by her husband, and a much-publicised trial ensued at the Probate Court in Dublin.
The trial lasted for a month, and the court found in favour of Mrs Bagot and her son.
The Court administered the estate on their behalf until the young heir came of age.
The entire estate was offered for sale in 1903.
The Irish Land Commission was the purchaser, and later the Irish Forestry Commission acquired Castle Kelly and the 1,600 acres surrounding it.
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
2026 Diary of Irish Historic Houses (section 482 properties)
To purchase an A5 size 2026 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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Wexford:
1. Ballyhack Castle, Co. Wexford – open to publicOPW
“Ballymore is an old family property located away from main routes in a particularly scenic part of North Wexford. It retains many features which have survived from past periods of occupation in an attractive setting of mature trees, ordered landscape and views of the surrounding countryside.“
It is a country house erected by Richard Donovan (1697-1763). The National Inventory tells us it is:
“an estate having long-standing connections with the Donovan family including Richard Donovan (1752-1816); Richard Donovan (1781-1849) ‘of Ballymore’ (cf. 15612001); Richard Donovan (1819-84) ‘late of Ballymore Camolin County Wexford’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1885, 217); Richard Donovan JP DL (1858-1916), ‘Gentleman late of Ballymore County Wexford’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1916, 172); Richard Charlie Donovan (1898-1952); and Richard Alexander Donovan (1927-2005).“
Ballymore, photograph courtesy of National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.The house itself is not open to the public.The house was built in 1721.
“A large scale map indicates the route visitors are requested to follow. This route allows a leisurely ramble around several interesting features including the tea room, the museum, art gallery and display of old farming equipment in part of the farmyard. The residence itself is private and not open to the public.
“In the surrounding grounds you will find the church and ancient graveyard, holy well, former site of a 1798 rebel camp and the 14th century Norman castle ruins, which now is a simple labyrinth.
“The present church was built in 1869 on the site of a medieval building, of which nothing now survives except a carved wooden door lintel which can be seen at the museum.
“The holy well is covered completely by a large boulder. This was done some centuries ago to discourage its continued use for prayer and devotion.“
Ballymore, photograph courtesy of National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
“The castle mound is all that remains of the 14th century motte built by Norman settlers. The ruins of the stone-built tower were pulled down in the 19th century.
“The large reconstructed greenhouse is the setting for the tea room. Its design copies the original greenhouse built around 1820, along with the walled garden behind it.
“The museum and display area open out from the small courtyard. The museum itself is in a large converted hayloft in a period farmyard building. The contents of the museum are from the family home and farmyard. They illustrate many different aspects of earlier occupation and activity. Another feature is the old water wheel now on display in the same farm building.
“The old dairy room will take you back in time. It adjoins the 1798 Room, containing a display of items from this period and from the house and family records. The further display area includes pieces of older farm equipment and hand tools used when the horse was the only source of motive power.“
Ballymore, photograph courtesy of National Inventory of Architectural Heritage – the house is not open to the public.
“The art gallery is located below the museum in what was the farm stables. It displays a selection of paintings and drawings of local scenes and activities by the much admired artist Phoebe Donovan.
“Take one of our exclusive tours, which encompasses many features including the museum of local and family history spanning over 300 years, dairy and farming display, 1798 memorabilia room and the Phoebe Donovan art gallery.
“Venture out into the surrounding grounds and you will find the ruins of a Norman castle dating back to the 14th century, Ballymore Church and graveyard (1869), and a former 1798 rebel camp site. You may even spot a buzzard or some of the other varied wildlife in the area.
“Finally, relax and enjoy a beverage in our greenhouse tea room.Ballymore Historic Features is also part of the Wexford Heritage Trail.”
Berkeley Forest House, photograph courtesy of the house’s website.
This website tells us:
“Berkeley Forest is unusual as a period house as it has a bright and uncluttered look with a strong Scandinavian flavour -painted floors, hand stencilled wallpaper and bedcoverings designed by artist Ann Griffin-Bernstorff who lives and works here during part of the year.
“The house offers a beguiling experience. With a beautiful faded brick walled garden with a terrace, summer house and an outdoor fireplace, it is a delight throughout the day.
“In easy reach of the Wexford beaches to the South and East and the picturesque villages of Inistioge, Thomastown and Graiguenamanagh, the cities of Kilkenny (Medieval) and Waterford (Viking) are also nearby. Just off the N30, less than 2 hours from Dublin Airport, 45 mins from Kilkenny, 20 mins from Wexford or Waterford, the house is perfectly situated to visit a host of interesting historical, cultural or sporting amenities, or to hide away in complete peace and quiet.
“The house was once the home of the family of 18th century philosopher George Berkeley. It also houses a 19th Costume museum which was created by Ann Griffin-Bernstorff and is available to costume and fashion students on request (her original 18th century Costume Collection is now to be seen at Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin) She is also the designer of the internationally acclaimed Ros Tapestry.“
Berkeley Forest House, photograph courtesy of the house’s website.Berkeley Forest House, photograph courtesy of the house’s website.
“The property consists of the main house, lawns and gardens; beyond that are pasture and woodland, some mature, some more recently planted; as well as original farm buildings. All of which ideal for exploring and wandering. There is a beautifully proportioned upper drawing room (28ftx18ft) which is suitable for music rehearsal, fine dining and specialist conferences.”
Berkeley Forest House, photograph courtesy of the house’s website.George Berkeley (1685-1753), Philosopher; Bishop of Cloyne, by John Smibert 1730 courtesy of National Portrait Gallery NPG 653.
Enniscorthy castle, Co Wexford_Courtesy Patrick Brown 2014, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. [1]
The website tells us:
“Enniscorthy Castle, in the heart of Enniscorthy town, was originally built in the 13th century, and has been ‘home’ to Norman knights, English armies, Irish rebels and prisoners, and local merchant families. Why not visit our dungeon to see the rare medieval wall art –The Swordsman, or our battlements at the top of the castle to marvel at the amazing views of Vinegar Hill Battlefield, Enniscorthy town, and the sights, flora and fauna of the surrounding countryside. Enniscorthy Castle explores the development of the Castle and town from its earliest Anglo-Norman origins, with a special focus on the Castle as a family home. Visitors can also view the ‘Enniscorthy Industries ‘exhibition on the ground floor from the early 1600’s onwards when Enniscorthy began to grow and prosper as a market town. Visitors can explore the work of the renowned Irish furniture designer and architect Eileen Gray (born in 1878 just outside the town). The roof of the castle is also accessible, with spectacular views of the surrounding buildings, Vinegar Hill, and countryside. Note that access to the roof is only possible when accompanied by a staff member. Tours of the Castle are self guided. Last admission is 30 minutes before closing. Our facilities include: craft and gift shop, toilets and baby changing area, wheelchair access to all floors (including roof) , and visitor information point (tourist office for town). We look forward to welcoming you to our town’s most public ‘home’.“
Enniscorthy castle, Co Wexford_Courtesy Patrick Brown 2014, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. [1]
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 121. “(Wallop, Portsmouth, E/IFR) A C13 four-towered keep, like the ruined castles at Carlow and Ferns, restored at various dates and rising above the surrounding rooftops of the town of Enniscorthy like a French chateau-fort, with its near row of tourelles. Once the home of Edmund Spenser, the poet. Now a museum.” [2]
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage tells us that it is a two-bay three-stage over basement castle, built 1588, on a rectangular plan with single-bay full-height engaged drum towers to corners on circular plans. [3]
Enniscorthy, Co Wexford_Courtesy Celtic Routes 2019, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [1])Enniscorthy, Co Wexford_Courtesy Celtic Routes 2020, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [1])
The website tells us more about the history of the castle:
“Maud de Quency (granddaughter of the famous Strongbow) marries Philip de Prendergast (son of Anglo-Norman Knight Maurice de Prendergast) and they reside at Enniscorthy Castle from 1190 to his death in 1229. From then until the 1370’s, their descendants, and other Anglo-Norman families rule the Duffry and reside in Enniscorthy Castle.
“In 1375: The fief (a defined area of land or territory) of the Duffry and Enniscorthy Castle are forcefully retaken by Art MacMurrough Kavanagh who regains his ancestral lands. This marks a time of Gaelic Irish revival. The MacMurrough Kavanagh dynasty rule until they eventually surrender the Castle and lands to Lord Leonard Grey in 1536. At this time Enniscorthy Castle is reported be in a ruined condition.
Enniscorthy, Co Wexford_Courtesy Celtic Routes 2020, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [1])
“In 1569, The Butlers of Kilkenny and the Earl of Kildare lead a raid on Enniscorthy town on a fair day, killing numerous civilians and burning the castle.In 1581, The poet Edmund Spenser leases the Castle but never lives in it. Historians speculate that this was because Spenser feared the MacMurrough Kavanaghs.
“In 1585, Henry Wallop receives ownership of the Duffry by Royal Appointment. He exploits the dense forests (the Duffry, An Dubh Tír in Irish, meaning “The Black Country”) surrounding Enniscorthy which brings considerable wealth to the town, and funds the rebuilding of Enniscorthy Castle which we see standing today. Enniscorthy begins to rapidly develop as a plantation town.
“1649: Oliver Cromwell arrives in Co. Wexford. Enniscorthy Castle is beseiged by his forces; its defenders surrender, leaving it intact. In December of the same year the Castle once again fell to the Irish (under Captain Daniel Farrell), but two months later Colonel Cooke, the Governor of Wexford, reoccupied the castle.
“1898: The Castle is leased by Patrick J. Roche from the Earl of Portsmouth. P.J. Roche restores and extends the Castle making it into a residence for his son Henry J. Roche.
“1951: Roche family leaves.
“1962: Castle opens as Wexford County Museum.“
Enniscorthy, Co Wexford_Courtesy Celtic Routes 2020, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. (see [1])
Open dates in 2026: Feb 4-5, 8-11, Mar 11-12, 16-19, May 10-11, 22-31, July 4-5, 13-14, Aug 3-30, Dec 19-22 12 noon-4pm
Fee: adult €10, student/OAP €5, child free
9. Kilmokea Country Manor & Gardens, Great Island, Campile, New Ross, Co. WexfordY34 TH58– section 482, gardens open to public
The main lawn at the rear of the house at Kilmokea – surrounded by perenniel borders – and some fine topiary, photograph 2014 by George Munday/Tourism Ireland. (see [1])
Newtownbarry House, County Wexford, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.Newtownbarry House, County Wexford, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Contact: Clody and Alice Norton
Tel: +353 (0) 53 937 6383
Email: clodynorton@gmail.com
Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988): p. 225. “(Barry/IFR; Maxwell, Farnham, B/PB; Hall-Dare;IFR) The estate of Newtownbarry originally belonged to a branch of the Barrys; passed to the Farnhams with the marriage of Judith Barry to John Maxwell, afterwards 1st Lord Farnham, 1719. Subsequently acquired by the Hall-Dare family, who built the present house 1860s, to the design of Sir Charles Lanyon. It is in a rather restrained Classical style, of rough ashlar; the windows have surrounds of smooth ashlar, with blocking. Two storey; asymmetrical entrance front, with two bays projecting at one end; against this projection is set a balustraded open porch. Lower two storey service wing. Eaved roof on plain cornice. Impressive staircase.”
Newtownbarry House, County Wexford, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The National Inventory tells us that it is a five-bay (five-bay deep) two-storey country house, built 1863-9, on an L-shaped plan off-centred on single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to ground floor abutting two-bay two-storey projecting end bay; eight-bay two-storey rear (south) elevation. It continues:
Newtownbarry House, County Wexford, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.Newtownbarry House, County Wexford, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
“A country house erected for Robert Westley Hall-Dare JP DL (1840-76) to a design by Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon (formed 1860) of Belfast and Dublin (Dublin Builder 1864, 66) representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one succeeding the eighteenth-century ‘Woodfield…[a] mansion of long standing and of cottage-like character in the Grecian style of architecture’ (Lacy 1863, 485), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on panoramic vistas overlooking the meandering River Slaney with its mountainous backdrop in the near distance; the asymmetrical footprint off-centred on an Italianate porch; the construction in a rough cut granite offset by silver-grey dressings not only demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also providing an interplay of light and shade in an otherwise monochrome palette; and the slight diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a feint graduated visual impression. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior arranged around a top-lit staircase hall recalling the Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon-designed Stradbally Hall (1866-7), County Laois, where contemporary joinery; Classical-style chimneypieces; and plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the considerable artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings; walled gardens; all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having historic connections with the Hall-Dare family including Captain Robert Westley Hall-Dare JP DL (1866-1939), one-time High Sheriff of County Wexford (fl. 1891); and Robert Westley Hall-Dare (1899-1972).”
Open dates in 2026: Mar 13-15, 20-22, 27-29, April 3-6, 10-12, 24-26, May 1-4, 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, June 4-7, 11-14, 25-28, July 2-5, 9-12, 16-19, 23-28, Aug 1-3, 6-9, 13-23, 27-30, Sept 4-6, 11-13, 18-20, 25-27, 12noon-5pm
Fee: adult €12, child/OAP/student €10, groups of 6 or more €10 per person
“Wells House has a stunning Victorian Terrace garden, parterre garden and arboretum designed by the renowned architect and landscape designer, Daniel Robertson.
“The terraced gardens which have been restored to their former glory sit beautifully into the large setting of his vast parkland design which spans for acres in the stunning Co. Wexford landscape.
“With two woodland walks, a craft courtyard, adventure playground, restaurant and a busy calendar of events this is a perfect day out for all the family. “
and “Discover the 400-year-old history of Wells House & Gardens by taking a guided exploration of the house. Our living house tour and expert guide in Victorian dress will bring you back to a time. To a time when the magnificent ground floor and bedrooms witnessed the stories of Cromwell, Rebellions and the Famine. Uncover the everyday lives of the wealthy, powerful families who lived in the estate and their famed architect Daniel Robertson. All giving you a unique insight into the life of previous generations all the way up until the current owners of Wells House.“
Places to Stay, County Wexford
1. Artramon House, Castlebridge, Co Wexford – B&B
Artramon House, County Wexford, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.Artramon House, County Wexford, photograph from Artramon website.
Mark Bence-Jones writes: p. 12. “(Le Hunte/LGI 1912; Neave, Bt/Pb) A late C18 house, remodelled after being burnt 1923. 2 storey; entrance front with pediment of which the peak is level with the coping of the parapet, and the base is well below the level of the main cornice. In the breakfront central feature below the pediment are two windows and a tripartite Venetian doorway; two bays on either side of the central feature.”
Artramon – by Ulrike von Walderdorff in Wexford / Ireland
The National Inventory tells us it is a five-bay two-storey country house, rebuilt 1928-32, on an L-shaped plan centred on single-bay two-storey pedimented breakfront; seven-bay two-storey side (west) elevation… “A country house erected for Richard “Dick” Richards (Wexford County Council 17th June 1927) to a design by Patrick Joseph Brady (d. 1936) of Ballyhaise, County Cavan (Irish Builder 1928, 602), representing an important component of the domestic built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one retaining at least the footings of an eighteenth-century house destroyed (1923) during “The Troubles” (1919-23), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking gently rolling grounds with ‘fine views of the estuary, harbour and town of Wexford’ as a backdrop (Fraser 1844, 118); the symmetrical frontage centred on a curiously compressed breakfront; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the monolithic parapeted roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; reclaimed Classical-style chimneypieces; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (extant 1840); and a substantial walled garden (extant 1840), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having historic connections with the Le Hunte family including Captain George Le Hunte (d. 1799); William Augustus Le Hunte (1774-1820), one-time High Sheriff of County Wexford (fl. 1817); George Le Hunte (1814-91), ‘late of Artramont [sic] County Waterford [sic]’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations (1892, 481); and the largely absentee Sir George Ruthven Le Hunte KCMG (1852-1925), one-time Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Trinidad and Tobago (fl. 1908-15); and Major Sir Arundell Thomas Clifton Neave (1916-92), sixth Baronet.“
2. Ballytrent House, Broadway, Co Wexford– one wing rental.
p. 28. “Redmond/Hughes. A two storey Georgian house, 5 bays, projecting ends, each with a Wyatt window in both storeys. Adamesque plasterwork. Home of John Redmond MP, leader of Irish Parliamentary Party.”
The website tells us:
“Welcome to the Ballytrent website. Visitors to Wexford seeking a quiet, secluded location,could not choose a better location than Ballytrent. Ballytrent is a magnificent 18th century heritage house set in extensive grounds overlooking the sea towards Tuskar Rock Lighthouse.
“In the grounds of the house is located a Ráth or earthen mound dating back to prechristian times and, measuring 650 yards in circumference, is reputed to be the largest in Europe. The grounds also contain a large flag pole that was once the tallest mast in the British Isles. The Rath garden is a haven for songbirds & a visit, either early morning or late evening, is pure magic!
“Ballytrent is tranquil and secluded. The garden & lawns cover three acres and include some rare plants. Our farm is a mix of cattle, cereals and root crops. We extend a warm welcome to those interested in visiting the farm. We are fortunate in having the best weather in Ireland – the annual rainfall is approximately 35 inches and each year the Weather Station at Rosslare records the highest mean sunshine hours. We are indeed the Sunny South East!
“Situated in St Helen’s E.D., Ballytrent, with its double ringed ráth, is an 18th century home set in extensive ground. The history of Ballytrent is a collection of works and illustrations put together after several years of research by Mary Stratton Ryan, wife of the present owner, James Power Ryan.
“A brief look at this work could keep the most avid historian content for quite a while. It is from this book that the following list of names and facts are taken, all having connections to Ballytrent.
Aymer De Valance; Earl of Pembroke, buried in Westminster Abbey, London.
Robert Fitzstephens; Ballytrent bestowed on him by Strongbow.
John le Boteller (Butler); Constable of the Kings Castle at Ballytrent.
John Sinnot; Listed as a Juror of the Inquisition at Wexford (c1420).
Patrick Synnot; In a 1656 Curl Survey of Ireland shown as owner of 96 acres 24 perches at Ballytrent.
Abraham Deane; Given Ballytrent by Cromwell.
Sarah Hughes; Daughter of Abraham Deane.
Walter Redmond; Purchased Ballytrent from Henry Hughes.
William Archer Redmond MP; Father of John and William – both also MP’s.
John Redmond (1856-1918) by Harry Jones Thaddeus, 1901, National Gallery of Ireland NGI889.
John Edward Redmond MP; Represented North Wexford, succeeded Parnell as leader of the Nationalist Party.
William Hoey Kearney Redmond MP; MP for Wexford and Fermanagh.
John H. Talbot (the younger); Inherited Ballytrent from his sister Matilda Seagrave.
William Ryan; Grandson of Sir James Power. Purchased Ballytrent from Emily Talbot (nee Considine).
James Edward Power Ryan; Present owner and grandson of William Ryan.
“This clearly illustrates the influence and power that is part of the documented history of Ballytrent, without even considering the possibilities of the time when the ráth was in its prime.”
3. Bellfry at Old Boley, County Wexford – self catering
The website tells us: “Clonganny House is a fine country Georgian residence originally erected for Hawtry White (1758-1837) and sympathetically restored in the late twentieth century. Retaining many original features, Clonganny is a fine example of late Georgian architecture. Set in eight acres embracing gently rolling lawns, serene woodland, and a stunning walled garden, Clonganny House is only a short drive to a beautiful, award winning coastline and miles of golden sandy beaches.“
6. Dunbrody Park, Arthurstown, County Wexford – accommodation
Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988): p. 114. “(Chichester, Templemore, B/PB; and Donegall, M/PB) A pleasant, comfortable unassuming house of ca 1860 which from its appearance might be a C20 house of vaguely Queen Anne flavour. Two storey, five bay centre, with middle bay breaking forward and three-sided single-storey central bow; two bay projecting ends. Moderately high roof on bracket cornice; windows with cambered heads and astragals. Wyatt windows in side elevation.”
Dunbrody House, courtesy of their website.Dunbrody House, courtesy of their website.
The National Inventory tells us:
“nine-bay two-storey country house with dormer attic, extant 1819, on an E-shaped plan with two-bay two-storey advanced end bays centred on single-bay two-storey breakfront originally single-bay three-storey on a rectangular plan. “Improved”, 1909-10, producing present composition…A country house erected by Lord Spencer Stanley Chichester (1775-1819) representing an integral component of the domestic built heritage of south County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one sometimes known as “Dunbrody Park” (Lacy 1863, 516) or “Harriet’s Lodge” after Lady Anne Harriet Chichester (née Stewart) (c.1770-1850), suggested by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking gently rolling grounds with Waterford Harbour as a backdrop; the near-symmetrical frontage centred on a truncated breakfront; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the decorative timber work embellishing the roofline: meanwhile, a photograph (30th August 1910) by A.H. Poole of Waterford captures recent “improvements” to the country house with those works ‘[presenting the] appearance [of] a twentieth-century house of vaguely “Queen Anne” flavour’ (Bence-Jones 1978, 114). Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original or sympathetically replicated fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; Classical-style chimneypieces; and sleek plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (extant 1840); a private burial ground; and distant gate lodges, all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having historic connections with the Barons Templemore including Henry “Harry” Spencer Chichester (1821-1906), second Baron Templemore ‘late of Great Cumberland-place Middlesex’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1907, 508); Arthur Henry Chichester (1854-1924), third Baron Templemore; Arthur Claud Spencer Chichester (1880-1953), fourth Baron Templemore; and Dermot Richard Claud Chichester (1916-2007), fifth Baron Templemore.“
7. Fruit Hill Cottages, Fruit Hill House, Campile, New Ross, County Wexford
“Set in the landscaped grounds of 18th Century Fruit Hill House, these traditional self-catering farm cottages make an ideal base for touring South-East Ireland.“
“The Crosbies take special care of people and justifiably garnered much praise in various publications and tour guides for the splendour and comfort of its rooms, and the hospitality of its proprietors, Tom and Ann. Glendine House was presented with Georgina Campbell’s Irish Farmhouse/Guesthouse of The Year award for 2006. This much-coveted accolade confirms Glendine’s status as the establishment par excellence. Glendine Country House has also been featured in the Irish Times, Sunday Independent, Food and Wine Magazine and several other publications.
Glendine Country House is a family run period house set on its own grounds and overlooking the Barrow Estuary on the Hook Peninsula. The 18th Century former Dower House of the Marquis of Donegal was built in 1830. It was first occupied by the Chichester family and later by land agents. Home to the Crosbie family for over 70 years, Glendine retains many of its original 1830 features and is full of old world charm. The House is set high up over the village of Arthurstown and all of the rooms are stylishly beautiful and have magnificent sea views.“
9. Killiane Castle, County Wexford– B&B and self-catering
The website tells us: “The castle history is a remarkable tale of survival. Killiane Castle, a landmark in this cornerstone of Ireland’s Ancient East, has been in the Mernagh family for over one hundred years. However, its origins date back to medieval times to the Norman conquests and possibly even further to the early Irish settlers 500 years ago.
“The name ‘Killiane’ derives from ‘Cill Liadhaine’ in Gaelic, meaning the church of St Leonard which lies within the grounds of the Castle. “
Killiane Castle, courtesy of their website.
Medieval Times
“Pre-dating the castle history, it is likely that there was some form of native Irish settlement here before the Normans. However, the first recorded owner of the lands wasRichard de Hayin the 13th century. Richard de Hay came over with Fitzstephen in the first Norman invasion.
“The Norman tower house is approximately 50ft high and measures 39ft x 27ft externally. The walls are between 4ft and 9ft in thick. The Normans built the tower around 1470. It is most likely one of the “£10 castles”. King Henry VIII awarded a grant of £10 for the building of fortresses in his kingdom that became known as the “£10 castles”. In recent years, an Australian visitor brought us a photo of the original deeds for Killiane Castle signed by King Henry VIII no less!
“Thomas Hay, a descendant of Richard, probably built the tower in the late 15th century c.1470. The present castle and surrounding walls bear testimony to the building genius of the Normans, over 500 years old and quite sound! Built in a prominent position, the tower most likely overlooked a harbour. However, in the intervening years, reclaimed land replaced the harbour. The surrounding lands feature a canal, slob lands and slightly further down the coast, Rosslare strand.
Local Legend…
“Legend has it that below the ground floor underneath the stair way is a dungeon leading to a passageway to a doorway that no longer exists.
“In the early 16th century c.1520, Killiane passed to the Cheevers family by marriage. They continued to fortify the site. By 1543 one Howard Cheevers held Killiane, 2000 acres of land and the office of Mayor of Wexford. The ‘Laughing Cheevers’, as they were then known, held prominence in Wexford for another 100 years until the great rebellion. They built the house sometime in the early 17th century.
“The 17th century was a tumultuous part of the castle history. George Cheevers took part in the Irish Rebellion of 1641. He played a role in both the Siege of Duncannon, and the Confederation of Kilkenny. Following the Sacking of Wexford, Cromwell dispossessed him for his part in these rebellions. Georges son, Didicus, was a blind Franciscan monk. Infamously, several clergy were murdered in Wexford town’s Bullring at this time. Didicus was one of them. Sent to Connaught by Cromwell, the Cheevers family left Killiane. Just a few remained as tenants. The last of the them, an old man, who died in 1849.
“Nearby stands the ruins of the small medieval church of Saint Helen which was in ruins by 1835. Enclosed by a wall is the adjoining cemetery. It is reputed to be the burial place of the Cheevers family.”
Killiane Castle, courtesy of their website.Killiane Castle, courtesy of their website.
Cromwell’s Rule
“In 1656 the property, along with 1500 acres, was granted to one of Cromwell’s soldiers, a Colonel Bunbury. He sold it on to his friends, the Harveys of Lyme Regis. The first of these, Francis Harvey, became MP for Clonmines and Mayor of Wexford, positions his son John also held. A famous beauty known as the Rose of Killiane, a daughter of the Harveys, married the Dean of Dublin in 1809.
Victorian Times
“As time went by, the Harveys increasingly became absentee landlords. They leased the land to their tenants. Both the condition of the castle and the size of the estate materially diminished during this dark time in the castle hsitory.
“Throughout the 19th century there are references to tenants ‘Aylward’, ‘Elard’ and ‘Ellard’, possibly all the one family. By this time, the Harveys overwintered in their townhouse in Wexford at 38 Selskar Street. The family considered Killiane Castle too damp to stay at in winter.
“In 1908 Crown Solicitor, Kennan Cooper, bought the property for £1515. Cooper, a renowned character, kept racehorses and the 1911 census shows Killiane occupied by his tenant, George Grant and family. The census records Grant’s occupation as a ‘Horse trainer/jockey’.
“In 1920John Mernagh, father of Jack the present owner, bought Killiane with 230 acres for £2000. At that time there was no roof on the tower-house. Ivy covered it. John re-roofed it and used it to store grain and potatoes. Today the castle is home to Jack & Kathleen Mernagh who run the property along with their son Paul & his wife Patrycja and their family.
The Structure of the Building
Original Norman Features
“The castle still contains one original window that dates from the 15th century. The original window is an ogee style window featuring two lights. Over the years, incumbents replaced the other windows. The main entrance to the castle was originally on the east side. It provided an adjoining door to the house at one time. The original door is bricked-up. On the south side of the tower a new door has been opened.
Murder Holes!
“Looking at the front of the castle. There are murder holes over each of the doors on the ground floor. Perfectly located to pour hot tar over any unwelcome visitors! This practice, we assure you, is not in place today!
“The third floor contains a fine granite fireplace. Small smooth stones from the beach line the chimney rising on the outer wall. Also in evidence on this floor, is a cupboard recess.
“Corrugated iron replaced the original slate roof. The parapet consists of large sloping slabs. The battlements are of the steeply stepped type. There is a square turret on each corner. On the outside of the southern turret is a carved head.
“The large bawn has a round tower on the south east corner and a square tower on the south west corner, castle occupying the north west corner. The north east tower has been removed. In order to accommodate the facade of the house, the northern apron wall was taken down.
Original 17th Century House
“The original 17th century house consisted of two storeys with a garret on top. The incumbents raised the roof at a date unknown to us. This action incorporated the original dormer windows of the garrets,converting it into a third storey. Furthermore, they also reduced the great slant on the original 17th-century roof. The staircase of the house is of a simple very wide design, typical of the 17th century. “
9. Kilmokea Country Manor & Gardens, Kilmokea, Great Island, Campile, New Ross, Co. Wexford – accommodation
The main lawn at the rear of the house at Kilmokea – surrounded by perenniel borders – and some fine topiary, photograph 2014 by George Munday/Tourism Ireland. (see [1])
Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.
The website tells us:
“Marlfield House is renowned for its hospitality and service, welcoming guests for over 40 years, and is recognised as one of the most luxurious boutique hotels in Wexford, Ireland with the focus on environmentally sustainable practices. All rooms and suites at Marlfield House luxury hotel in County Wexford, Ireland are styled to provide you with elegant, comfortable interiors, furnished with antiques and paintings. Set in 36 acres of woodland, ornamental lake, rose, vegetable and herb gardens, it is a haven of tranquillity, with peacocks, hens, dogs and ponies waiting to greet you on your garden walk.“
Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.
“The house is set in 40 acres of manicured gardens, encompassing a large kitchen garden, woodland walks, lake and fowl reserve, lawns and herbaceous borders. The interior bears all the signs of a much loved house filled with fresh flowers, gleaming antiques and mirrors, blazing fires and period paintings.“
Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Marlfield (1988):
Supplement
P. 299. (Stopford, Courtown, E/PB) “A three storey Regency house of random stone with brick facings; four bay front with two bay breakfront centre, eaved roof on bracket cornice, massive chimneystacks. Originally the dower house of the [Stopford] Earls of Courtown, it eventually replaced Courtown House as their Irish seat. Sold in 1979 to Mary Bowe, who has opened it as an hotel. As an extension to the dining room, a veranda and an elegant curvilinear conservatory were added to the front of the house 1983; the architects of this addition being Messrs Cochrane, Flynn-Rogers and Williams.”
Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.
The National Inventory tells us it is a four-bay (two-bay deep) three-storey land agent’s house, built 1852, on a T-shaped plan; four-bay three-storey rear (south) elevation centred on two-bay full-height breakfront. Occupied, 1901; 1911. In occasional use, 1916-75. Vacated, 1975. Sold, 1977. Modified, 1989, producing present composition to accommodate continued alternative use… “A land agent’s house erected by James Thomas Stopford (1794-1858), fourth Earl of Courtown (Walsh 1996, 68), representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of the outskirts of Gorey with the architectural value of the composition, one succeeding an adjacent house occupied by Reverend James Bentley Gordon (1750-1819), author of “History of the Rebellion in Ireland in the Year 1798” (1803), confirmed by such attributes as the compact plan form centred on a much-modified doorcase; the construction in an ochre-coloured fieldstone offset by vibrant red brick dressings producing a mild polychromatic palette; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the monolithic timber work embellishing the roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including some crown or cylinder glazing panels in hornless sash frames: meanwhile, contemporary joinery; Classical-style chimneypieces; and the decorative plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (extant 1904); a walled garden (extant 1904); and a nearby gate lodge (see 15700718), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained estate having historic connections with Colonel Robert Owen (1784-1867) and Charlotte Owen (1796-1853) ‘late of Marlfield County Wexford’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1870, 447); and the Stopford family following the sale (1947) and demolition (1948-9) of Courtown House (see 15701216) including James Walter Milles Stopford (1853-1933), sixth Earl of Courtown; Major James Richard Neville Stopford DL OBE (1877-1957), seventh Earl of Courtown; and Brevet Colonel James Montagu Burgoyne Stopford OBE (1908-75), eighth Earl of Courtown.“
Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.Marlfield House, photograph courtesy of the website.
Monart Spa Wexford Annica Jansson 2016, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool.
Nestled in over 100 acres of lush countryside in County Wexford, Monart offers two types of accommodation, 68 deluxe bedrooms with lake or woodland views and two luxurious suites located in the 18th century Monart House.
Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988): p. 208. “Cookman/IFR) A three storey mid-C18 house of sandstone and limestone dressings Five bay front with breakfront centre; Venetian windows in centre of middle storey, with Diocletian windows over it; modified Gibbsian doorcase. Later additions.”
The National Inventory tells us:
“A country house erected by Edward Cookman JP (d. 1774), one-time High Sheriff of County Wexford (fl. 1763), representing an important component of the eighteenth-century domestic built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, ‘a handsome mansion pleasantly situated on a gentle eminence above the Urrin [River] in a highly improved and richly wooded demesne’ (Lewis 1837 II, 385), confirmed by such attributes as the neo-Palladian plan form centred on a Classically-detailed breakfront; the construction in an ochre-coloured fieldstone offset by silver-grey granite dressings not only demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also producing a mild polychromatic palette; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the parapeted roofline. Having been sympathetically restored following a prolonged period of unoccupancy in the later twentieth century, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including crown or cylinder glazing panels in hornless sash frames: meanwhile, contemporary joinery; Classical-style chimneypieces; and “bas-relief” plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of a country house having historic connections with the Cookman family including Nathaniel Cookman (—-); Edward Rogers Cookman JP (1788-1865) ‘late of Monart House in the County of Wexford’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1865, 70); Nathaniel Narcissus Cookman JP DL (1827-1908), ‘Country Gentleman late of Monart House Enniscorthy County Wexford’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1908, 96; cf. 15701922); and Captain Nathaniel Edward Rogers Cookman JP DL (1894-1983); and a succession of tenants including Lowry Cliffe Tottenham (1858-1937), ‘Gentleman [and] District Inspector of Royal Irish Constabulary’ (NA 1911).”
“Located in the heart of the lush Waterford countryside, on the grounds of the historic 18th-century Mount Congreve estate, this tastefully restored gate lodge is the perfect choice if you’re looking for a luxury self-catering stay in Ireland.
“Originally built in 1775, the newly renovated Gate Lodge at Mount Congreve is home to a fully fitted galley kitchen with marble countertops, a living room with a 19th-century French walnut fold-out day bed, two mustard wingback armchairs, Smart TV, an antique bio-ethanol stove, and a bathroom complete with a walk-in shower.”Originally built in 1775, the newly renovated Gate Lodge at Mount Congreve is home to a fully fitted galley kitchen with marble countertops, a living room with a 19th-century French walnut fold-out day bed, two mustard wingback armchairs, Smart TV, an antique bio-ethanol stove, and a bathroom complete with a walk-in shower.
“With two cosy double bedrooms (sleeping up to four adults*), the Gate Lodge is the perfect choice if you’re looking for a luxury self-catering stay in Ireland.“
13. Rathaspeck Manor “doll’s house” gate lodge, County Wexfordand the Manor B&B
“Rathaspeck Manor Georgian House Wexford was built between 1680-1720 by the Codd Family who came to Ireland circa 1169. William Codd’s son Sir Osborne Codd settled at Rathaspeck and erected a castle there in 1351.
“A descendant Loftus Codd was succeeded by daughters, one of whom, Jane Codd, married Thomas Richards. The Richards Family came to Ireland in 1570 approx. It was this marriage which placed Rathaspeck in the Richards Family.
“Jane and Thomas had 6 sons and 2 daughters. The eldest son Thomas, born 1722 had a Family of two daughters, the oldest Martha married Count Willimsdorf from the Kingdom of Hannover in 1802. This couple had one son, Thomas William Fredrick Von Preberton Willimsdorf who died in 1834 unmarried. There were also three daughters, one of whom Elizabeth, born in 1778, died in 1863 in Holland.
“Elizabeth married Count Von Leinburg Slirrin on April 15th 1802 and they proceeded to have a Family of ten children born between 1803 and 1820 . It is believed that sometime after this the family moved to Holland. Rathaspeck was in the hands of an English Family called Moody after this until the early 1900’s. The Moody built the present gate lodge – or “Doll’s House” in 1900.
“The Meyler Family came to Rathaspeck in 1911 when it was offered for sale and it was from the Meyler Family that the Manor passed to the Cuddihy Family.
“The site of the original Castle is unknown, but it is considered that the present Rathaspeck Manor Georgian Country Home, Ireland is built on the site.
“Rath” means Fort , so the name of Rathaspeck stems from the Gaelic Ratheasbuig , meaning “Fort of the Bishop”. “
14. Riverbank House Hotel, The Bridge, Wexford, Ireland Y35 AH33
“Rosegarland Estate offers visitors a unique opportunity to stay on an extremely old and unspoilt country estate. It allows you to step back in time when you walk along the avenues, woodland paths and old bridle paths which pass through the ancient woodlands and beside the River Corach.
“Relax and unwind in one of our luxury self-catering cottages in Rosegarland Estate. Our four cottages are registered with Failte Ireland (the Irish Tourist Board) and have been awarded a 4 star rating. Old world charm has been combined with modern day luxury in the cottages which are set in a picturesque courtyard. A welcome basket of home baked goodies will greet you when you arrive.
“All the cottages have complimentary WiFi and satellite television channels which can be enjoyed in front of a Waterford Stanley wood burning stove.“
Rosegarland Estate, courtesy of website.Rosegarland Estate, courtesy of website.
Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988):
p. 245. “(Synnott/IFR; Leigh/IFR) An early C18 house of two storeys over a high basement was built by Leigh family, close to an old tower house of the Synnotts, the original owners of the estate. Later in C18, a larger two storey gable-ended range was added at right angles to the earlier building, giving the house a new seven bay front, with a very elegant columned and fanlighted doorway, in which the delicately leaded fanlight extends over the door and the sidelights. There is resemblance between this doorway and that of William Morris’s town house in Waterford (now the Chamber of Commerce) which is attributed to the Waterford architect, John Roberts; the fact is that it is also possible to see a resemblance between the gracefully curving and cantilevered top-lit staircase at Rosegarland – which is separated from the entrance hall by a doorway with an internal fanlight – and the staircase of the Morris house, would suggest that the newer range at Rosegarland and the Morris house are by the same architect. At the back of the house, the two ranges form a corner of a large and impressive office courtyard, one side of which has a pediment and a Venetian window. In another corner of the courtyard stands the old Synnott tower house, which, in C19, was decorated with little battlemented turrets and a tall and slender turret like a folly tower, with battlements and rectangular and pointed openings; this fantasy rises above the front of the house. The early C18 range contains a contemporary stair of good joinery, with panelling curved to reflect the curve of the handrail. The drawing room, in the later range, has a cornice of early C19 plasterowrk and an elaborately carved chimneypiece of white marble. The dining room, also in this range, was redecorated ca 1874, and given a timber ceiling and a carved oak chimneypiece.”
Rosegarland House, courtesy of National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The National Inventory tells us:
“A country house erected by Robert Leigh MP (1729-1803) representing an important component of the eighteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one attributable with near certainty to John Roberts (1712-96) of Waterford, confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking gently rolling grounds and the meandering Corock River; the symmetrical footprint centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase not only demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also showing a pretty fanlight; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression. A prolonged period of unoccupancy notwithstanding, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior including not only crown or cylinder glazing panels in hornless sash frames, but also a partial slate hung surface finish widely regarded as an increasingly endangered hallmark of the architectural heritage of County Wexford: meanwhile, contemporary joinery; ‘elaborately carved chimneypieces of white marble’ (Bence-Jones 1978, 246); plasterwork enrichments; and a top-lit staircase recalling the Roberts-designed Morris House [Chamber of Commerce] in neighbouring Waterford (Craig and Garner 1975, 68), all highlight the considerable artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, an adjacent stable complex (see 15704041); a walled garden (see 15704042); a nearby farmyard complex (extant 1902; coordinates 685132,615236); and a distant gate lodge (extant 1840; coordinates 685381,616928), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having long-standing connections with the Leigh family including Francis Robert Leigh MP (1758-1839); Francis Augustine Leigh (1822-1900), ‘late of Rosegarland County Wexford’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1900, 277); Francis Robert Leigh DL (1853-1916), ‘late of Rosegarland Wellington Bridge County Wexford’ (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1916, 371); Francis Edward Leigh (1907-2003); and Robert Edward Francis Leigh (1937-2005).“
16. Wells House, County Wexford – self-catering cottage accommodation, see above
Woodbrook, County Wexford, courtesy Hidden Ireland.
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us:
“Nestling beneath the Backstairs Mountains near Enniscorthy in County Wexford, Woodbrook, which was first built in the 1770s, was occupied by a group of local rebels during the 1798 rebellion. Allegedly the leader was John Kelly, the ‘giant with the gold curling hair’ in the well known song ‘The Boy from Killanne’. It is said that Kelly made a will leaving Woodbrook to his sons but he was hanged on Wexford bridge, along with many others after the rebels defeat at Vinegar Hill. He was later given an imposing monument in nearby Killanne cemetery.
“Arthur Jacob, who originally came from Enniscorthy and became Archdeacon of Armagh, built Woodbrook for his daughter Susan, who had married Captain William Blacker, a younger son of the family at Carrigblacker near Portadown. The house was badly knocked about by the rebels and substantially rebuilt in about 1820 as a regular three storey Regency pile with overhanging eaves, a correct Ionic porch surmounted by a balcony and three bays of unusually large Wyatt windows on each floor of the facade.“
Woodbrook House, photograph courtesy of Woodbrook website.Woodbrook House, photograph courtesy of Woodbrook website.
“Woodbrook lay empty for some years after E. C. Blacker’s death in 1932. The house was occupied by the Irish army during the Second World War and was then extensively modernised when his nephew Robert moved back to County Wexford with his wife and family after the sale of Carrickblacker in the 1950s. Eventually sold in the mid 1990s, Woodbrook and the remains of a once substantial estate was bought by Giles and Alexandra FitzHerbert in 1998. They continue to live in the house with their family today.” https://www.ihh.ie/index.cfm/houses/house/name/Woodbrook
19. Woodlands Country House, Killinierin, County WexfordB&B
“Relax in comfortable old world charm in the heart of the Wexford Countryside at Woodlands Country House, a magnificently well preserved Georgian House with beautiful antiques. It is a charming and intimate place to relax, where fine food and furnishings are matched by warm and impeccable service that says you are special.
“Woodlands Country House Bed & Breakfast is ideally situated near the market town of Gorey and the picturesque seaside resort of Courtown Harbour on the Wexford/Wicklow border in South East Ireland. The Country House B&B is only 1 hour from Dublin off the M11 making it an ideal location for touring the South East of Ireland.“
Whole House rental County Wexford:
1. Ballinkeele, whole house rental(sleeps up to 19 people)
Ballinkeele House, photograph courtesy of website.Ballinkeele House, photograph courtesy of website.
The website says:
“Make yourselves comfortable in your grand home from home. This Irish country house was built to entertain and is perfect for gathering family & friends together for a holiday, a special birthday or anniversary. With 7 bedrooms and dining table for 19 guests – there’s space for everyone. You’ll be the hero for booking Ballinkeele!
“Built in the 1840s by your host’s family, it’s a the perfect blend of modern and antique with a bespoke modern kitchen, WiFi and (Joy of Joys!) a modern heating system!”
Ballinkeele House, photograph courtesy of website.
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us:
“In the first quarter of the 19th century the Maher family, who were famous for their hunting and racing exploits in County Tipperary, moved to County Wexford. They purchased Ballinkeele, near Enniscorthy, from the Hay family, one of whose members had been hanged for rebellion on Wexford bridge in 1798. John Maher, MP for County Wexford, began work on a new house in 1840 and Ballinkeele is one of Daniel Robertson’s few houses in the classical taste. The other was Lord Carew’s magnificent Castleboro, on the opposite side of the River Slaney, sadly burnt by the IRA in 1922 and now a spectacular ruin.
“The house is comprised of a ground floor and a single upper storey, with a long, slightly lower, service wing to one side in lieu of a basement. The facades are rendered with cut-granite decoration, including a grandiose central porch, supported by six Tuscan columns and surmounted by an elaborate balustrade, which projects to form a porte cochère.”
Ballinkeele House, photograph courtesy of website.
“The garden front has a central breakfront with a shallow bow, flanked by wide piers of rusticated granite. These are repeated at each corner as coigns.
“The interior is classical, with baroque overtones, and is largely unaltered with most of its original contents. The hall runs from left to right and is consequently lit from one side, with a screen of scagliola Corinthian columns at one end and an elaborate cast-iron stove at the other.
“The library and drawing room both have splendid chimneypieces of inlaid marble in the manner of Pietro Bossi, while the fine suite of interconnecting rooms on the garden front open onto a raised terrace.”
Ballinkeele House, photograph courtesy of website.
“The staircase hall has a spectacularly cantilevered stone staircase, with decorative metal balusters. As it approaches the ground floor the swooping mahogany handrail wraps itself around a Tuscan column supporting a bronze statue of Mercury, in a style that anticipates Art Nouveau by more than forty years.
“Outside, two avenues approach the house, one which provides a glimpse of a ruined keep reflected in an artificial lake, while both entrances were built to Robertson’s designs.
The present owners are Valentine and Laura Maher who live at Ballinkeele with their children.”
“Horetown House is a private country house wedding venue in County Wexford in the South-East corner of Ireland. Situated among rolling hills in the heart of rural Wexford, Horetown House is the perfect venue for a stylish, laid back wedding. Our charming country house is yours exclusively for the duration of your stay with us.
“Family owned and run, we can take care of everything from delicious food, bedrooms and Shepherds huts, to a fully licensed pub in the cellar. Horetown House is perfect for couples looking for something a little bit different, your very own country house to create your dream wedding.“
Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988): p. 155. “(Davis-Goff, Bt/PB) A three storey Georgian house. Front with two bays on either side of a recessed centre. Triple windows in centre and pillared portico joining the two projections.”
The National Inventory tells us it is:
“A country house erected to designs signed (1843) by Martin Day (d. 1861) of Gallagh (DIA; NLI) representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one succeeding a seventeenth-century house (1693) annotated as “Hoarstown [of] Goff Esquire” by Taylor and Skinner (1778 pl. 149), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on panoramic vistas overlooking gently rolling grounds; the symmetrical frontage centred on a pillared portico demonstrating good quality workmanship in a silver-grey granite; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the parapeted roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; restrained chimneypieces; and decorative plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, a nearby quadrangle erected (1846) by ‘S.D. Goff Esq Architect [and] Johnson Builder’ continues to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having historic connections with the Goff family including Strangman Davis Goff (né Davis) (1810-83) ‘late of Horetown House County Wexford’ (Calendars of Wills and Administration 1883, 318); and Sir William Goff Davis Goff (1838-1918) of Glenville, County Waterford; a succession of tenants including Joseph Russell Morris (NA 1901) and Edward Naim Townsend (NA 1911); and Major Michael Lawrence Lakin DSO (1881-1960) and Kathleen Lakin (née FitzGerald) (1892-30) of Johnstown Castle.”
“A stunning period house set on its own 16 acres of gardens and woodland on the outskirts of Wexford Town and within 2 hours from Dublin.
“Newbay House has been lovingly restored to blend its historic past with a dash of contemporary elegance. Once through the doors, it shares its elegant character and friendly hospitable atmosphere that combines informality with quality.
“In addition to boasting the most intimate of atmospheres and dedication to traditional hospitality and service, this cherished period house is sure to capture your heart.“
History:
“According to Hore’s History of Wexford there was a township called ‘Newbane’ consisting of a castle and 60 acres of land in the tenure of Patrick Roche and belonging to the Prioy of Selskar situated at what we now call Newbay. Around 1641 198 acreas of land at Newbane was owned by John Roche but ended up forfeited to Cromwell and was given to one of his officers Colonel Thomas Scott who still had possession up to 1674. In 1715 Henry Hatton, a former Mayor of Wexford, owned Newbay and it remained in the Hatton family for the next century.
“Newbay House as it is now was the product of Architect John Meason whom worked on the house for Henry Hatton between June 29th 1822 and November 13th 1824. Notable additions during this time were the present front avenue and gatelodge. However by 1853 it was now owned by the Dowager Countess of Donoghmore and consisted of 138 acres leased to four tenants with Henry Lyster residing in the big house. The Countess herself lived at Belmont.
“Thomas Jefferies of Carne House purchased the house, offices and land at Newbay on Friday 16th July 1869 when he paid £1030 for it at a public auction in the Landed Estates Court in Dublin. He officially gained ownership on November 1st 1869. Jeffries added a wing to the house circa 1886. Jefferies daughter Annie Elizabeth married George Arthur French in 1899 and it was via this matrimony that the house and lands now passed to the French family.
“Circa 1952 the porch was taken down and the door was replaced by the existing front facing window. The present porch was built from the doors and windows of the old one and the same granite steps.
“Also around this time mains electricity was brought to the house and it was in 1955 that drinking water was provided from a well dug in the garden. (Prior to this it had been brought by pony and cart to Newbay from Clonard Hill).
“In 1959 a flat was made for Mrs French who was the first member of the French family to be born in Newbay – on March 11th 1870. She died September 3rd 1963.
“Mrs French was the last surviving member of the family of seven. Mrs French was described as “one of the most beautiful women in County Wexford in the last century and she retained her lovely looks right up to the end of her long and very Christian life” in her obituary in The Free Press (September 6th 1963). Mrs French’s last surviving son, Lieutenant-Colonel George French died at Newbay in 1979. Four years later his two son’s Dominic and Arthur sold the house to Paul Drumm from Dublin. Drumm opened the house and began accommodating guests and tourists.
“In 1996 Jane Coyle purchased and refurbished Newbay House, reopening its doors as a country house hotel in 1999.“
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[2] 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.
An information board in the museum tells us that Geoffrey and Maurice Esmonde were the estate’s first owners, who arrived as part of the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169. Geoffrey Esmonde built the original Johnstown Castle, which was a plain and modest tower house. His son Maurice built a second tower house at Rathlannon Castle, the remains of which are on the grounds to this day.
Information board at Johnstown Castle.
Our guide Mary told us that the Esmondes tower house used to stand in front of the current Johnstown Castle, but it was taken down. See below an old photograph – the old tower is the part covered in ivy in the photo.
The Esmondes lived here for 500 years until they lost their lands during the invasion of Oliver Cromwell, as they were Catholics. Our guide Mary told us that Cromwell slaughtered over 3000 people in Wexford.
There is a chapter on the Esmonds of Ballynastragh in The Wexford Gentry by Art Kavanagh and Rory Murphy. They tell us that it is believed that Geoffrey de Estmont was one of the thirty knights who accompanied Robert FitzStephen to Ireland in 1169 when the latter lead the advance force that landed at Bannow in county Wexford. Geoffrey built a motte and baily at Lymbrick in the Barony of Forth in Wexford, and his son Maurice built a castle on the same site. After Maurice’s death in 1225 the castle was abandoned and his son John built a castle on a new site which was called Johnstown Castle. John died in 1261. [2]
James Esmonde, an early Esmonde living at Johnstown Castle, married Isabel Rosseter, daughter of Thomas Rosseter who owned Rathmacknee Castle in County Wexford – this is a tower house that still stands and is a National Monument. It remained occupied until 1760s and in the nineteenth century it was restored by Hamilton Knox Grogan-Morgan who also owned Johnstown Castle.
James’s grandson, Walter or William, married Margaret Furlong, daughter of Michael of Horetown, County Wexford. They had several children. Their younger son Patrick held the office of Sheriff of Carlow in 1627. He married Katherine Gough and their son Laurence (about 1570-1645) was created 1st Lord Esmonde, Baron of Lymbrick, Co. Wexford, for his services to the crown.
It was an elder son of Walter or William Esmonde and Margaret Furlong, Robert, who inherited the Johnstown estate, which then passed to Robert’s son William. William was MP for Wexford in 1634. However, in the following decades the Esmondes lost the estate.
Lieutenant Colonel John Overstreet was granted Johnstown Castle estate in 1652 in lieu of payment for fighting in Cromwell’s army. When Overstreet died, his wife married another Cromwellian, Edward Withers, who took over the ownership of the castle as Overstreet had no offspring. Withers and his new wife also had no children. Withers and his wife sold the castle to John Reynolds, who had married a niece of John Overstreet, Elizabeth Lacy.
John Reynolds and his wife had three daughters, who were co-heirs to the Johnstown estate. Their daughter Mary married John Grogan (1653-1720), and this is how the property passed into Grogan ownership in 1692. [3]
John Grogan was the son of Cornelius Grogan, a yeoman who brought some property in the town of Wexford. [see 3]
The Grogan family and their descendants lived at Johnstown Castle until 1945 when it was handed over to the state. Our guide told us that it was given in lieu of death duties. Nearly all of the furniture was sold, but fortunately some has been recovered.
John Grogan (1653-1720) and Mary Reynolds had a son Cornelius (1687-1724). Cornelius’s son John (1717-1783) married an heiress, Catherine Knox of Rathmacknee, County Wexford. Catherine’s father was Andrew Knox, and her mother was Mary Grogan, daughter of John Grogan (1653-1720) who had acquired Johnstown Castle by his wife, Mary Reynolds. Mary Grogan was John’s daughter by his second wife, Anne Livingston.
After Mary’s husband Andrew Knox died, she married a second and third time. Her second husband was William Hore (1680-1745) of Wexford, whose first wife had been Dorothy Ponsonby, daughter of William, 1st Viscount Duncannon. After William Hore died, Mary née Grogan married Charles Tottenham (1685-1758, Tottenham “in his boots” as he was called for once wearing his boots into parliament, since he was running late).
Charles Tottenham “in his Boots”, 1731 by James Latham, National Gallery of Ireland 411. He married Mary née Grogan after her previous husband died.In 1731 a proposal that an Irish tax surplus be given to the British treasury caused consternation, and Tottenham, though ill, rode up to Dublin from County Wexford as he was MP for New Ross and he was anxious to vote on the proposal. A serjeant-at-arms tried to stop Tottenham from entering the Parliament house in his muddy boots but Tottenham strode inside, ever after being given the nickname “Tottenham in his boots.”
Another daughter of John and Anne née Livingston was Sarah (1699-1777). She married William Morgan, Mayor of Waterford. They had a son, Samuel, who left a fortune to a later occupant of Johnstown Castle, as we shall see later.
John Grogan (1717-1783) and Catherine Knox had a son Cornelius (1738-1798) who succeeded to the family estates and served as high sheriff of County Wexford and from 1783-1790, MP for Enniscorthy in the Irish parliament.
Cornelius had a bridge built, Wexford bridge, and charged a toll from those crossing. During the rebellion of 1798 Cornelius joined the insurgents, the United Irishmen and he was beheaded for his treason in 1798 and his head was hung on Wexford bridge, along with two other landlords turned rebels, John Henry Colclough and Bagenal Beauchamp Harvey.
The Johnstown estate was restored to his younger brother, John Knox Grogan (1760-1814), on payment of a heavy fine.
Information board at Johnstown Castle.
The information board tells us that the younger brother John Knox Grogan (1760-1814) set about rebuilding and enlarging the castle, and laying out the ornamental gardens. According to the National Inventory, he hired James Pain (1779-1877) of Limerick and work was carried out from 1810-1814.
Second, John Knox Grogan (1760-1814) married Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of James Stephen Fitzgerald of Ballythomas, County Laois.
Following John Knox Grogan’s death, his son Hamilton Knox Grogan (1808-54) continued the building works. He hired Daniel Robertson, who created the castle as we see it today.
In 1827 Hamilton Knox Grogan inherited more land from a cousin of his father, Samuel Morgan (1737-1827) of Ardcandrisk, County Wexford (see above; the house has been demolished). He added Morgan to his surname then, to become Hamilton Knox Grogan-Morgan, becoming the largest landowner without a title in Ireland.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us about Johnstown Castle (1988):
p. 161. “(Esmonde, bt/PB; Grogan-Morgan; LG1863; Forbes, Granard, E/PB; FitzGerald, sub Leinster, D/PB) An old tower house of the Esmondes, engulfed in an impressively turreted, battlemented and machicolated castle of gleaming silver-grey ashlar built ca 1840 for Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan [1808-54], MP, to the design of Daniel Robertson [d. 1849], of Kilkenny. The entrance front is dominated by a single frowning tower with a porte-cochere projecting at the end of an entrance corridor and a Gothic conservatory at one end.”
“Detached three-bay three-storey over basement country house, built 1836-72, on an asymmetrical plan centred on single-bay full-height breakfront with single-bay (four-bay deep) single-storey projecting porch-cum-“porte cochère” to ground floor; five-bay three-storey Garden Front (south) with single-bay four-stage turrets on circular plans centred on single-bay full-height bow on an engaged half-octagonal plan…A country house … enveloping a seventeenth-century house remodelled (1810-4) by James Pain (1779-1877) of Limerick (DIA), confirmed by such attributes as the asymmetrical plan form centred on ‘a splendid porch…formed by beautiful Gothic arches with neat light groinings’ (Lacy 1852, 259); the construction in a blue-green rubble stone offset by glimmering Mount Leinster granite dressings not only demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also producing a sober two-tone palette; the diminishing in scale of the multipartite openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with the principal “apartments” defined by a polygonal bow; and the battlemented turrets producing an eye-catching silhouette: meanwhile, aspects of the composition clearly illustrate the continued development or “improvement” of the country house ‘under the munificent and highly-gifted Lady Esmonde who never tires of affording employment to the skilful artisans whom she herself has trained’.”
Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan married Sophia Maria Rowe (1805-1867), daughter of Ebenezer Radford Rowe of Ballyharty, County Wexford.
Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan’s daughter Jane inherited the estate. Sophia and Hamilton were not happily married, our guide told us. They had no sons, just two daughters. After Hamilton died his wife remarried in 1856, this time to Thomas Esmonde (1786-1868) 9th Baronet of Ballynastragh, County Wexford.
Sophia Maria Knox Grogan Morgan née Rowe (1805-1867) and her second husband, Thomas Esmonde (1786-1868) 9th Baronet.
Sophia was allowed to remain living in the house, and her husband moved in with her.
There is a story that in order to inherit the estate, the daughters were made to run a race to see who would win, and thus inherit! Jane won the race.
The other daughter of Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan, Elizabeth Geraldine, married Robert Tilson FitzMaurice Deane (1826-1857), son of Matthew Fitzmaurice Deane, 3rd Baron Muskerry of County Cork. In 1854 his name was legally changed to Robert Tilson FitzMaurice Deane-Morgan by Royal Licence.
Jane married George Arthur Forbes (1833-1889), 7th Earl of Granard, County Longford. Jane did not get along well with her mother. Her mother was a Protestant, and Jane and her husband converted to Catholicism. They built a church in Newtown Forbes in Longford. Jane’s mother tried to disinherit her but her new will was signed with an “x” and the judge said it didn’t stand up in court.
Jane Colclough Grogan-Morgan (1834-1872), and next to her picture is George Arthur Forbes (1833-1889) 7th Earl of Granard.
Jane was charitable and on her death there was a headline announcing “death of princess,” our guide told us. The Earl of Granard married a second time after Jane died, and had several more children. He lived in Castle Forbes in County Longford. He married Frances Mary Petre, daughter of William Bernard Petre, 12th Baron Petre of Writtle, Co. Essex in England.
Jane and George Arthur had two daughters, Sophia Maria Elizabeth and Adelaide Jane Frances. Sophia married Henry Christopher Grattan-Bellew, 3rd Baronet Bellew, of Mount Bellew, Co. Galway. Adelaide married Maurice Fitzgerald (1852-1901), son of the 4th Duke of Leinster, of Carton House in County Kildare. They inherited the estate at Johnstown Castle.
Maurice Fitzgerald (1852-1901)and his wife, Adelaide.Henry Grattan Bellew, 3rd Baronet, b.1860, married Sophia Forbes, daughter of the Earl of Granard, by Dermod O’Brien, courtesy of Adam’s auction 10 Oct 2017. He represented one of the few Catholic aristocratic families who survived Cromwellian deportation to Connaught. Mount Bellow was an architecturally significant house with a fine library of books; the former destroyed, the latter dispersed.Information board at Johnstown Castle.
Adelaide (1860-1942) converted to Protestantism to marry the Maurice Fitzgerald (1852-1901). Like her mother, she undertook much charity work. She brought the first motorised ambulance to County Wexford.
Adelaide and Maurice had four children: Geraldine (1881-1954), Gerald Hugh (1886-1914), Kathleen (1892-1930) and Marjorie (1896-1899).
Geraldine married Gerald More O’Ferrall (d. 1951) of Lissard House, County Longford (now demolished). Adelaide and Maurice’s son Gerald died in WWI in France. He had married Dorothy Violet Charrington from England. After his death, she remarried, to Thomas William Jefferies of Wexford.
A daughter of Maurice Fitzgerald and Adelaide Jane, Geraldine, married Gerald More O’Ferrall.
Kathleen married Major Michael Lakin (1881-1960) of Horetown House, County Wexford, and it was their son Maurice Victor Lakin (d. 1919) who inherited the estate. His brother Gerald fought in World War II and died in Africa in 1943. Kathleen died tragically in a horse riding accident when she was just 37 years old.
Wedding photograph of Michael Lakin (1881-1960) of Horetown House who married Kathleen Fitzgerald (1892-1930) in 1914. He is next to Inez Charlotte Grace Casberd-Boteler, I presume as she is listed as Lady Henry Fitzgerald, and Henry was another son of Charles William Fitzgerald, 4th Duke of Leinster. She is next to the wife of Maurice Fitzgerald, Adelaide Jane Frances née Forbes, who is next to Captain Gerald Fitzgerald (1851-1893), 5th Duke of Leinster. Is the centre is Captain Michael Lakin’s father, also Michael, 1st Baronet Lakin, of The Cliff, Co. Warwick. He is next to Bell Irvine, best man, who is next to Miss C. Paget (bridesmaid), and Miss. D Charrington. The page is Andrew Horsburgh Porter, and Kathleen the bride is seated.Horetown House, County Wexford, photograph courtesy of Horetown website.
Maurice Victor Lakin, pictured below, was the last man to privately own the castle and estate before handing it over to the state.
Johnstown Castle, County Wexford.
Maurice Victor Lakin gifted it to the state in 1945.
The Grogan-Morgan family tree.Explanation of the handover to the state and Department of Agriculture.
After walking through the entrance corridor a room is reached called the “Apostles’ Hall” due to the wooden carvings. The National Inventory continues:
“A prolonged period of unoccupancy notwithstanding, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where encaustic tile work; the so-called “Apostles Hall” with ‘oak panelling and carving of the most costly description’ (Lacy 1852, 268); contemporary joinery ‘by poor Mooney who may be said to have lived and died in the employment of the munificent proprietor [and who was] succeeded by another native genius [named] Sinnott’ (ibid., 269); restrained chimneypieces in contrasting neo-Classical or Egyptian Revival styles; and geometric ceilings recalling the Robertson-designed Wells House (1836-45), all highlight the considerable artistic significance of the composition.“
From the Apostles Hall you enter a top-lit three storey galleried space. Our guide told us that this used to be a music room. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes it: “top-lit triple-height “Grand Hall” on a square plan retaining tessellated “Asphaltum” tiled floor, clustered colonette-detailed carved timber surrounds to door openings framing Gothic-style timber panelled doors, arcaded galleries (upper floors) with carved timber hand rails, and fan vaulted plasterwork ceiling centred on replacement glass block-filled mass concrete dome.” [4]
As well as hosting musical events in this space, tenants would be given Christmas dinner here. Mary told us that the owners were good to their tenants.
The next room is the: “bow-ended dining room (south) retaining clustered colonette-detailed carved timber surround to door opening framing timber panelled door with clustered colonette-detailed carved timber surrounds to opposing window openings framing Gothic-style timber panelled shutters on Gothic-style timber panelled risers.”
The National Inventory tells us that Armorial panels over the glazed-in carriageway and on the dining room chimneypiece show a coat of arms combining three bears heads couped and muzzled [Forbes] centred on a griffin sergeant [Morgan] representing the marriage of George Arthur Hastings Forbes (1833-89), seventh Earl of Granard, and Jane Colclough Morgan (1840-72) with Order of Saint Patrick motto “QUIS SEPARABIT MDCCLXXXIII [Who Will Separate Us 1783]” recognising the earl’s investment as a Knight of the Order of Saint Patrick (K.P.) in 1857.
After giving the property to the state, the Lackin family moved to France. They retained the hunting, fishing and burial rights to the property. Recently Victor Lackin’s grandson visited, and he fished in the lake, and had his photograph taken by his ancestor’s portrait. He is very like Hamilton Knox Grogan-Morgan!
The castle hosted students from the Botanic Gardens from 1949-56. Our guide told us about Tom Walsh, I jotted down a note that he was the first agricultural student in Ireland, who sent students to America. They returned and took soil samples, and now we have the best quality beef and dairy industry in the world, due to the work done with soil. It was another Tom Walsh who started the Wexford Opera Festival.
Information board at Johnstown Castle.Information board at Johnstown Castle.
After learning about the agricultural work carried out in Johnstown Castle we went to the basement to see the kitchen and servants areas.
We left the castle through the servants and goods entrance, a tunnel from the basement that is 85 metres long! It is the longest such tunnel in Ireland.
The National Inventory continues: “Furthermore, a “Terrace Garden”; a stable complex; folly-like towers and turrets overlooking an artificial lake ; a walled garden; and nearby gate lodges, all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a largely intact estate.“
Irish Historic Houses 
