Carriglas Manor, Longford

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. 58. “[Newcomen; Lefroy] Originally a manor of the (C of I) Bishops of Ardagh; left to Trinity College, Dublin in C17, and leased by Trinity in C18 to the Newcomen family. Magnificent stables were built here ca. 1790, to the design of James Gandon, extending round two courtyards, with pedimented and rusticated archways; as well as an entrance gateway to the park, also by Gandon. After the failure of the Newcomen bank – which caused the suicide of one member of the family – Carrigglas was leased to Chief Justice Lefroy, who later bought the freehold of the estate, and who rebuilt the house in Tudor-Gothic to the design of Daniel Robertson of Kilkenny, 1837/40. Symmetrical entrance front, with central gable and oriel over porch, flanked by two slender polygonal battlemented turrets. Gables and oriels with Gothic tracery on side elevation; orangery on garden front. Lower service wing. Square entrance hall opening into staircase hall lit by stained glass window; stairs with cast iron handrail. Drawing room, library and dining room en suite along garden front. Drawing room ceiling with plaster Gothic ribs and cornice of foliage, coloured pale blue and gold. Gothic panels to doors. Library with Gothic bookcases of oak. Dining room with Tudor-style ceiling, and cornice of foliage.” 

on An Taisce Buldings at Risk register 

https://www.antaisce.org/buildingsatrisk/carrigglas-manor-carrigglass

• Vacant with no identified new use 

• Suffering from neglect and/or poor maintenance 

Assessment 

• Condition of Structure: Poor 

• Level of Risk: High 

Appraisal 

This building has been vacant for a number of years and does not appear to be maintained. Most of the external fabric remains, but there are obvious signs of deterioration, particularly water penetration, slipped slates and vegetation growth. There is no immediate danger of collapse but the condition is such that unless urgent remedial works are carried out the building will sharply deteriorate. 

Carriglass is an early 19th century Tudor revival house designed by Daniel Robertson and formerly the residence of the Lefroy Family. The late 18th century stable yard and main entrance gates are designed by James Gandon. There have been major residential developments proposed on the site in the past decade, however, it has largely stalled with only the first phase of housing having been constructed on the grounds. The use of main house and stables remains unresolved. According to a local newspaper the estate was sold to the Glennon Brothers in June 2014. This building urgently requires new uses to be identified to prevent further deterioration of its character. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/13401414/carrigglas-manor-carrickglass-demesne-longford-by-county-longford

Detached double-pile five-bay two-storey former country house on complex irregular plan, built between c. 1837 and c. 1845, having two-storey and single-storey wings and projections adjoining to the southwest. Comprises mainly symmetrical main five-bay block to northeast end with central gabled breakfront having castellated canted oriel window over projecting doorcase (on square-plan), flanked to either side at first floor by gabled half dormer bays (bay to the northeast is in the form of an oriel window), and terminated by three-stage towers (on octagonal-plan) having castellated parapets. Castellated three-bay canted projection to the centre of rear elevation (southwest), having two gabled half dormer window openings to either side at first floor level, castellated four-light single-storey box bay window to the southwest side of canted projection at ground floor level. Triple-light box bay window to northeast side elevation of main block having moulded cut stone tracery/mullions with cinquefoil heads and stained glass windows. Single-storey castellated canted bay adjacent to the northeast. Multiple-bay two-storey recessed wing to southwest of main entrance front (northwest) having gabled half dormer window flanked to the southwest by two-storey castellated canted projection, and then with a single-bay two-storey gable-fronted bay and terminated by castellated two-bay single-storey block. Three-bay two-storey block to the southwest end of rear elevation (southeast) of main block having central projecting gable-fronted bay flanked to either side by gabled half dormer openings at first floor level; single-bay two-storey advanced gable-fronted bay adjacent to the southwest. Rear elevation (southeast) terminated to southwest by canted five-bay single-storey conservatory/orangery having curvilinear wrought- and cast-iron roof, glass now missing. Castellated parapet to conservatory, screening roof. Single-storey block to southwest end is partially over basement surrounded and by limestone wall with cut limestone coping over. Pitched natural slate roofs with moulded limestone coping, cut stone kneeler stones and carved limestone finials to gable apexes of gabled bays. Single, double and clustered moulded limestone Tudor style chimneystacks having moulded string courses and cast-iron rainwater goods. Moulded cut limestone console brackets to roofline, between gabled bays and dormers. Ashlar limestone masonry walls over moulded chamfered plinth with moulded string courses between floors to main body of building and separating each stage of towers; carved limestone coats of arms to a number of gables. Engaged moulded limestone buttresses to number of canted bays and to corners of box bay windows, rising to finials over. Square-headed window openings to main block having chamfered limestone surrounds and sills, and having single, paired and multi-pane segmental-headed timber sliding sash windows. Square-headed window openings to service wing (southwest) having single, paired and multipane square-headed timber sliding sash windows. Replacement windows to some openings. Chamfered cut limestone mullions to paired and multi-pane window openings. Cut stone label mouldings over a number of window openings, particularly at ground floor level to main block. Square-headed window openings to towers (northwest elevation) having chamfered surrounds and sills, carved limestone label mouldings over, and segmental-headed tow-over-two-pane timber sliding sash windows. Tudor-arched door opening, set in square-headed limestone surround, to centre of entrance front (northwest) having quatrefoil motifs to head and carved, flanking shafts with label moulding having heraldic label stops, and with timber panelled double doors. Flight of limestone steps to entrance. Square-headed French door opening to central canted projection to rear of main block (southeast) having glazed timber doors. Doorway reached by flight of cut limestone steps flanked to either side by ashlar limestone plinth walls having moulded limestone coping over. Five-bay single-storey conservatory to rear (southeast) at the southwest end having remains of curvilinear cast-and wrought-iron roof with ornate console brackets. Castellated parapets with buttresses between bays rising to gabled finials over. Ashlar limestone masonry with moulded eaves course to castellated parapet. Wide Tudor-arched window openings, some with remains of multi-light timber window fittings. Located in an elevated site within extensive mature parkland grounds, and located to the northeast of Longford Town. Gateway to the southwest of house comprising a pair of outer ashlar limestone gate piers (on octagonal plan) having moulded limestone caps, inner tapered ashlar limestone screen walls having spear-headed cast-iron railings over, and terminating in pair of wrought- and cast-iron openwork piers with double leaf wrought-iron gates. Low ashlar limestone wall to the rear (southeast) of house having gateway comprising a pair of ashlar limestone gate piers (on octagonal-plan) having moulded limestone caps and wrought-iron double gates. 

This rambling Tudor Revival or Elizabethan house, with its dramatic roofline of Tudoresque chimneystacks, turrets and gabled projections, is one of the finest houses of its type and date in the country. It is well-built using ashlar limestone masonry and is extensively detailed with carved and cut limestone of the highest quality (the main masonry contractor involved was William Dennin, while Andrew Coffey was responsible for the carved coats-of-arms and much of the detailing). The principal entrance front of the main elevation (northwest) is almost symmetrical, with its central gabled bay flanked to either side by three-stage towers on octagonal-plan, but the other elevations of the main block and to the ancillary wings are irregular, which creates an interesting plan with contrasting elevations and perspectives. Unusually for a country house of its size and date, the service wings are treated with the same architectural flair as the main house, and not hidden within a courtyard to the rear or in the basement as is more commonly encountered. The plan of the building is deceptively simple, the main block is essentially a plain rectangle, which through the addition of soaring towers and lofty Tudor style chimneystacks, acquires an almost theatrical façade. The Tudor Gothic theme culminates in the frivolous and playful conservatory/orangery to the rear. This conservatory, with its arcade of pointed arches, is reminiscent of the later French Gothic style with its towering gabled buttresses, tall wide window openings and thin walls. Carrigglas Manor is a fine example of the nineteenth century penchant for dramatic, sixteenth-century architecture given a romantic interpretation. Carrigglas Manor was built to designs by Daniel Robertson (died 1849), for Thomas Langlois Lefroy (1776 – 1869), Baron of the Court of Exchequer in 1841 and later the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (from 1852). Reputedly, the character Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was based on the Thomas Lefroy (they met in England when Lefroy was attending college there). The architect of Carrigglas, Daniel Robertson, came to Ireland in 1829 after working on a number of Oxford colleges, buildings that are frequently built in the Tudor or Elizabethan style, which must have influenced Robertson’s Tudor-Revival designs of which he is a noted exponent. Robertson received many commissions following his arrival in Ireland, mainly for country house work (mostly in a Tudor style) in the south eastern counties, particularly in Counties Wexford and Carlow. Carrigglas is his only known commission in the north midlands. The present Carrigglas Manor is built on the site (or close to the site) of an earlier house (LF014-116—-). The estate (and house?) was originally a manor of the Church of Ireland Bishops of Ardagh. The estate was left to Trinity College, Dublin, in the seventeenth-century and was later leased by Trinity, c. 1695 (deed), to the Newcomen family (later the Gleadowe-Newcomen family). It appears to have been bought by the Newcomen family in 1772. The owner/resident at the turn of the nineteenth-century, Sir William Gleadowe-Newcomen, commissioned James Gandon (1742 – 1823), the architect responsible for a number of structures at Carrigglas (including the stables (13401415), to design a neoclassical villa for him at Carrigglas. However, he later went bankrupt, following the collapse of the Newcomen Bank, before work could start on this house/villa. The Newcomen family had lived in Longford, (at Mosstown, Keenagh, amongst other places) , from the early-seventeenth century. Carrigglas Manor was leased to, and later bought, by the above Thomas Lefroy, c. 1833 (newspaper). This fine house forms the centrepiece of an extensive collection of related structures at Carrigglas, which represents one of the most important demesnes in north Leinster. The estate remained in the possession of the Lefroy family until c. 2005. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/13401415/carrigglas-manor-carrickglass-demesne-longford-by-co-longford

Farmyard complex and stable block associated with Carrigglas Manor (13401414), built c. 1792 and c. 1800, comprising two courtyard enclosures, arranged along the same axis, with arched carriage arches. Complex of two-storey ranges to the northeast formerly in use as stableyard, complex of single-and two-storey outbuildings to the southwest formerly in use as agricultural yard. Two-storey workers houses to site. Currently out of use. Complex to the northeast comprises two-storey entrance range with central pedimented breakfront having round-headed carriage arch, hipped natural slate roof with rendered chimneystack. Coursed rubble limestone masonry walls to exterior, dressed ashlar limestone to interior. Pedimented breakfront consisting of ashlar limestone over chamfered impost course with rusticated limestone masonry to plinth. Chamfered pediment with carved dentils over sculpted limestone plaque (rectangular) having guttae to base. Round-headed groin-vaulted arch (brick) with timber panelled doors. Square-headed window openings to northeast side (exterior) having two-over-two timber sliding sash windows with limestone sills. Segmental-headed openings to interior of courtyard (southwest), ground floor having replacement timber windows with limestone sills and timber battened doors. Square-headed openings to first floor, some with two-over-two timber sliding sash windows and all retaining limestone sills. Multiple-bay two-storey ranges to the southeast and northwest sides of yard (northeast courtyard) having hipped natural slate roofs with brick chimneystacks to south-east range. Ashlar limestone masonry walls. Segmental-headed window openings to ground floors having six-over-six timber sliding sash windows, some with fixed glazed windows. Square-headed windows openings to first floor some with three-over-three timber sliding sash windows, all with limestone sills. Serliana/Venetian-type window openings to northeast side elevations of southeast and northwest ranges. Segmental-headed door openings to ground floors (main axis of southeast and northwest ranges, inner faces) with timber battened half doors having cut limestone thresholds. Round-headed openings to end-bays leading to flight of steps to first floor of southeast and northwest ranges. Two-storey range to southwest side of northeast courtyard (range dividing the two courtyards) comprising three-bay two-storey central block with pedimented breakfront flanked by single-storey recessed sections with round-headed openings and terminated to either side by two-bay two-storey end blocks. Hipped natural slate roofs with brick chimneystacks to outer blocks. Ashlar limestone masonry with string course and blank roundel to pediment. Square-headed window openings to breakfront at first floor level with six-over-three timber sliding sash windows having limestone sills. Three elliptical-headed carriage arches to central breakfront with ashlar voussoirs and projecting keystones, and having timber battened double doors. Middle range (range dividing two courtyards) rendered to southwest elevation with central pedimented half dormer opening above central carriage arch. Central block flanked to either side by three-bay two-storey blocks with hipped slate roofs, cut limestone eaves course and brick chimneystacks. Segmental-headed window and door openings at ground floor level to both blocks, square-headed window openings over, outer openings blocked. Single-storey ranges to northwest and southeast sides of courtyard (southwest courtyard) having three-bay pedimented breakfront s with lunette windows to pediments to centre of each range. Hipped corrugated-metal and natural slate roofs. Painted render over coursed rubble limestone masonry walls with ashlar quoins to corners and flush ashlar plinth. Lunette windows with rusticated limestone surrounds to west end-bay of southeast range over square-headed openings with ashlar block-and-start limestone surrounds having timber battened half doors, and with round-headed openings over with rusticated ashlar surrounds. Square-headed window openings to west end-bay of northwest range having replacement glazed windows with limestone sills. Square-headed door openings with ashlar block-and-start limestone surrounds, some retaining timber battened half doors. Central pedimented three-bay blocks having central round-headed openings with recessed ashlar limestone round-headed insets to ground floors with heavy limestone block-and-start surrounds. Flanked by round-headed openings having limestone block-and-start surrounds and continuous carved limestone impost course and ashlar quoins. Arcades to southwest end-bays of southeast and northwest ranges having round or elliptical-headed arches with ashlar limestone surrounds. Five-bay single-storey section to the northeast end of northwest range having square-headed door and window openings with ashlar surrounds and timber fittings. Five-bay single-storey section to the northeast end of southwest range having square-headed door and window openings with ashlar surrounds and timber fittings. Round-headed lunette openings over door openings having ashlar surrounds. Round-headed openings over with ashlar surrounds Southwest range comprising central three-bay two-storey breakfront with stepped ashlar limestone bellcote, flanked to either side by slightly recessed single-storey ranges with arcades of four elliptical-headed carriage arches with ashlar limestone surrounds. Hipped corrugated-metal roof to two-storey section, hipped natural slate roofs to single-storey sections to either side. Ashlar limestone round-headed openwork stepped bellcote with bell to centre of breakfront, above elliptical-headed entrance arch with ashlar limestone surrounds. Ashlar limestone masonry walls to ground floor with carved impost course and painted render over coursed rubble limestone masonry walls to first floor having limestone quoins to corners. Square-headed window openings at first floor level with limestone block-and-start surrounds having six-over-six timber sliding sash windows and limestone sills. Southwest range, southwest (outer) elevation comprises central single-bay block with projecting rusticated limestone masonry walls with carved impost course and recessed central elliptical-headed carriage arch with metal sheeted double doors. Single-storey rubble stone walls to either side. Located with the grounds of Carrigglas Manor, to the west of the main house, and to the northwest of Longford Town centre. 

Appraisal 

These two courtyards of outbuildings associated with Carrigglas Manor (13401414) represent one of the best examples of their type in Ireland. They were designed by James Gandon (1742 – 1823) and were constructed between c. 1792 and c. 1804. This complex comprises an elegantly proportioned walled rectangle divided into two courtyards with a stable block to the northeast and a more architecturally plain and rustic, but nevertheless, impressive, agricultural/farmyard complex to the southwest. The differing architectural treatment of the yards has been interpreted as a metaphor for the superior status of the horse over agricultural/farmyard activity (Craig 1982, 240). Casey and Rowan (1993, 180) suggest that the stableyard was constructed first, c. 1792 and that the farmyard was added later. Entrance to the yards is through arched gateways that act as a central focus to the complexes. The arched entrance to the central range dividing the two courtyards, formerly had a cupola over, now no longer extant. The highest quality materials have been used throughout the fabric of these structures and they survive in good condition despite being out of use for a considerable period, which is testament to the quality of the original construction. The classical language of Gandon’s architecture is given free reign in these functional yet highly refined structures. The entrance ranges are distinguished from the side ranges, which housed the stables, animal houses and possibly also accommodation for farm workers, by the austere pedimented breakfronts with limited ornamentation. The relative scarcity of decoration lends a force and gravity to Gandon’s architecture that is immediately apparent when compared to the picturesque and frivolous Carrigglas Manor, an Elizabethan or Tudor-Gothic revival house, designed by a leading proponent of the style, Daniel Robertson (died c. 1849) c. 1837. This complex was commissioned by Sir William Gleadowe-Newcomen, the owner of Carrigglas Demesne at the time of construction. Gleadowe-Newcomen also commissioned Gandon to design a neoclassical villa for him at Carrigglas. However, Gleadowe-Newcomen later went bankrupt, following the collapse of the Newcomen Bank, before work could start on this house/villa. This impressive complex forms an integral element of a group of related structures associated with Carrigglas Manor (13401414), which represents one of the most important demesnes in north Leinster. 

“Typical of Gandon’s manner are the shallow mutules below the pediment cornice and the blank tablet with guttae set above the arch.” (Buildings of Ireland p. 180) 

Casey, Christine and Alistair Rowan. The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster. Penguin Books, London, 1993.  

p. 179 

“Two highly distinctive periods of Irish architecture and two of its most distinguished personalities are represented by the buidings at Carriglass. The stables, farmyard and triumphal arch entrance were designed by James Gandon between 1792 and 1804; and the house was built to the designs of Daniel Robertson from 1838-1845. Gandon is Ireland’s greatest classicist, and Robertson the undisputed master of the picturesque manor house. ..The estate, which appears as both Carrickglass and Kerryglass, belonged to the Gleadowe-Newcomen family. Gandon’s client in 1792 was Sir William Gleadowe-Newcomen, a banker whose buisiness kept him principally in Dublin and who, with characteristic practicality, developed the stabels, gardens and farm buildings of the estate before tackling the house. Gandon drew up plans for an unusal neoclassical villa,.. But the design was never built. His stables and farmyard capture something of the severe excellence promised in his villa scheme. They are laid out axially as two large interconnecting courtyards, with arched gateways set acress the longer central axis. The stable yard, at the north end, is of ashlar limestone, while the farmyard, to the south, uses a more rustic effect, with rendered, lime-washed walls, set off with dark limestone trim. This yard is surrounded by long low buildings, while the stableyard is of uniform two-storey blocks. The contrast probably means that the stables were built [p. 180] on their own around 1792, and that the farmyard was added later, certainly by 1804. The stylistic difference has also bee interpreted (by Maurice Craig and the Knight of Glin) as a metaphor for the superior status accorded to the horse over mere agricultural activity, a distinction which is carried through to the archways that give entrance to the yards. Teh stable arch is heroic, a cubic mass of stone pierced by a wide round-headed opening with a shallow pediment above. Typical of Gandon’s manner are the shallow mutules below the pediment cornice and the blank tablet with guttae set above the arch.” 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/13401409/carrigglas-manor-carrickglass-demesne-ardagh-by-co-longford

Gateway serving Carrigglas Manor (13401414), built c. 1795, comprising central round-headed triumphal arch flanked to either side (east and west) by screen walls with integral pedestrian entrances and terminated by single-storey gate lodges. Now out of use. Triumphal arch constructed of ashlar limestone with carved limestone entablature having dentils and roundel motifs with sculpted swags. Projecting impost course over carved plaques and having round-headed niches to lower parts of piers. Double-leaf wrought- and cast-iron gates to archway. Gateway flanked to either side by ashlar limestone walls having cut limestone coping over and with square-headed pedestrian openings having single leaf wrought- and cast-iron gates. Three-bay single-storey gate lodges to east and west, aligned north to south with single-bay end elevation to front (south) having hipped natural slate roofs with brick chimneystacks. Ashlar limestone walls (dressed walls below string course, smooth finish over) over projecting ashlar limestone plinth with flush ashlar quoins to corners, cut limestone string course over window openings, and with cut limestone eaves course. Segmental-headed window openings having carved limestone sills, some openings with remains of six-over-six timber sash sliding windows. Segmental-headed door openings having remains of timber doors. Set back from the road to the northeast of Longford. Located to the southeast of Carrigglas Manor, at the start of long approach avenue to the house through wooded parkland. 

Appraisal 

This elaborate and impressive gateway, incorporating two gate lodges, constitutes the main entrance to Carrigglas Manor (13401414), and acts as a fitting prelude to this important demesne. The gateway is attributed to the renowned classical architect James Gandon (1742 – 1823), the architect responsible for the designs of a number of structures at Carrigglas (including the stables (13401415) built between 1792 and 1804, and designer of both the Custom House and the Four Courts in Dublin. Indeed the form of this gateway is quite similar in style to those found along the screens to the front of the Four Courts (Casey and Rowan 1993) and at the Custom House. The gateway makes a strong, formal architectural statement with its central triumphal arch surmounted by a heavy entablature having symmetrical, flanking walls. The decoration is secondary to the architecture of the structure, but is nonetheless refined and skillfully executed. The gateway retains its ornate double leaf wrought- and cast-iron gates and flanking single leaf gates, which are a fine examples of the quality of metal work being produced at the time. This gateway was built at the expense of Sir William Gleadowe-Newcomen, the owner of the Carrigglas Manor at the time of construction. He later went bankrupt, following the collapse of the Newcomen Bank, and before work could start on a neoclassical villa that Gleadowe-Newcomen commissioned Gandon to design. Carrigglas Manor was leased to, and later bought, by Thomas Lefroy, a distinguished lawyer, in the early-nineteenth century, and it was Lefroy who built the present Carrigglas Manor (13401414) from c. 1837. This gateway and the gate lodges forms part of an extensive collection of structures associated with Carrigglas Manor, which is one of the most important demesnes in north Leinster. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/13400911/carrigglas-manor-corradooey-co-longford

Detached three-bay two-storey former gardener’s house associated with Carrigglas Manor (13401414), built c. 1800, having lean-to single-bay single-storey extensions to either gable end (southwest and northeast), set flush with front elevation (southeast). Single-storey lean-to outbuilding attached to the rear (northwest). Now ruinous and out of use. Pitched natural slate roofs with raised tooled cut limestone verges and red brick chimneystacks to gable ends, cast-iron rainwater goods and having a tooled cut limestone eaves course. Constructed of red brick (Flemish bond). Square-headed window openings to first floor with semi-circular/lunette window opening to centre-bay, all having tooled limestone sills. Round-headed window openings to the ground floor set in round-headed recessed arches having tooled limestone sills. Remains of three-over-three pane timber sash windows at first floor level and round-headed timber sliding sash windows at ground floor level. Remains of three-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows to the rear elevation (northwest) at first floor level; ground floor openings to rear now blocked. Remains of panelled timber shutters to interior. Round-headed doorway to the centre of main elevation (southeast) set in round-headed recess having battened timber door with cast-iron fittings and the remains of timber fanlight over. Located within walled garden (13400913) formerly associated with Carrigglas Manor (13401414). Gateway to the east comprising a pair of dressed limestone gate piers (on square-plan) having moulded capstones and wrought-iron double gates. 

Appraisal 

This interesting, well-proportioned and sophisticated structure was probably originally built as a gardener’s house associated with the oval-shaped walled garden (13400913) in which it still forms the visual focus. Although ruinous and out of use, it retains its early form and character. The proportions and architectural language is classical, and it is unusually grand for a building of its type. The attention to detailing in its design is exhibited through features such as the shallow recessed window and door surrounds to the ground floor and the semi-circular/lunette window to the centre-bay at first floor level. The red brick front façade blends in with the surrounding brick-lined walled garden, which almost acts like quadrant walls/wings. This building originally served the Carrigglas Demesne and it forms part of an extensive collection of related structures associated with this country house. The accomplished classical architecture of this building suggests that it may have been built to designs by James Gandon (1742 – 1823), the foremost architect working in Ireland at the time, and the architect who designed the very fine complex of outbuildings and stable block (13401415) and the triumphal arch (13401409) at Carrigglas Manor for the Glendowe-Newcomen family (built between c. 1792 and 1804). This building, although now sadly ruinous, is an important element of the built heritage of Longford. The well-crafted gateway to the east adds to the setting. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/13401412/carrigglas-manor-carrickglass-demesne-longford-by-co-longford

Detached two-bay single-storey with attic storey former gate lodge serving Carrigglas Manor (13401414), built c. 1840, having castellated open porch with Tudor-arch to end-bay, front elevation (south), castellated bay window with mullions to west elevation (road) and flat roofed extension to rear elevation (north). Pitched natural slate roof with central rendered chimneystack (modern) and ornate timber bargeboards. Timber brackets under eaves. Ashlar limestone masonry walls over chamfered plinth course. Square-headed window openings having segmental-headed multi-pane timber sliding sash windows; chamfered limestone mullions, surrounds and sills, and with cut stone label mouldings over. Tudor-arched opening to open porch with chamfered ashlar limestone surround, and having chamfered string course to castellations. Square-headed entrance to west side of open porch with timber battened door. Gable end faces the road. Located adjacent to entrance gates (13401411) serving southwest entrance to Carrigglas Manor, and to the northeast of Longford Town. 

Appraisal 

This castellated gate lodge is situated at the southwest entrance to Carrigglas Manor (13401414), and is designed in the Tudor Revival or Elizabethan style, mirroring the architecture of the main house itself. This is a sophisticated interpretation of an essentially sixteenth-century style of architecture, constructed with fine ashlar limestone masonry and with good quality cut stone detailing throughout. The windows are in the Tudor style with limestone mullions complete with carved limestone label stops. The bay window with castellations, is another Tudor or Elizabethan motif which adds further interest to the gable end facing the road. This gate lodge is attributed to Daniel Robertson (died c. 1849), a Scottish architect who designed Carrigglas House in the Tudor Revival or Elizabethan style for The Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Thomas Langlois Lefroy, between 1837 and 1845. This appealing building forms part of a group of structures related to Carrigglas Manor, and forms part of a pair with the attendant gateway (13401411) to the south. 

Christine and Alistair Rowan. The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster. Penguin Books, London, 1993. 

p. 181. “The new house occupies an elevated site and is designed to group effectively from a variety of angles. In contrast to the late Georgian ideal, which sought to minimize the impact of the servants’ quarters, these rooms are now on a level with the rest of the house, not hidden underneath it, and are employed to add picturesque effects and incident to the design. The composition is clever, for though the principal facades are both intrinsically symmetrical, the silhouette of teh house is constantly changing, with a variety of intriguing patterns. 

The key to the entrance front is the pair of tall octagonal turrets, 3 metres in diamter, at the corners of the facade.These would be common enough in many early C19 Tudor designs, but Robertson gives them dramatic impact by placing them, not at either end of a battlemented facade of much the same height, but as twin towers which rise a full storey above the slates of a low two-storey block. A gable containing the front door surmounted by an oriel window projects from the centre of the facade, with simple mullioned windows on either side and half-dormers above. One of these projects and the other is flush with the wall. The garden front uses dormers again, two on either side of a broad bay window, with large three-light mullioned windows below. Here absolute symmetry is avoided by projection the mullioned window, which lights the dining room on the west, while its pair, whigh lights the drawing room on teh east, is flush with the wall. The east, or end, elevation of the house is quite asymmetrical: two gables side by side, one projected and narrower than the other, with a square bay-window squashed against it and containing a large cupsed Perp window to light the landing of the stairs. The kitchen wing and offices extend as low gabled additions at the far end of the house. A four-bay Tudor-arched conservatory screens the service yard on the garden front. 

p. 182. “the interiors have much of the charm of Regency Gothic continuing in the early Victorian age. Wide four-centred archways in the inner hall or gallery spring from cluster shafts with C16 profiles. The doors have Perp panelling and are set stilted square arches. The ceilings are flat, with plaster ribs, miniature bosses and cavetto cornices, filled appropriately with roses and lilac in teh drawing room, oakleaf and holly in the library, and grapes and vineleaves in the dining room. Stained glass fills the smaller panels in the windows. The chimneypieces are Perp-panelled, shallow late Gothic designs in marble. [note, p. 548:Perp (Perpendicular): historical division of English Gothic architecture covering the period from c. 1335-50 to c. 1530.] 

in Irish Castles and Historic Houses by Brendan O’Neill 

Irish Historic Houses, by Kevin O’Connor 

Ownership, Mr. and Mrs J.G. Lefroy 

The Irish seat of the Huguenot Lefroy family, Carriglas Manor was designed by Daniel Robertson [of Scotland] and built in 1837 for Thomas Lefroy, Lord Chief justice of Ireland, a youthful inamorato of Jane Austen. Indeed it is claimed by some of her biographers that she based Darcy on the dashing young Thomas Lefroy. 

The exterior of the house is Tudor Gothic Revival in style, with gables, oriels and polygonal battlemented turrets in delighful profusion [oriel is a projecting window on an upper floor, carried on corbels, which are stone projections acting as support]. 

Inside, the three main reception rooms interconnect and all have ceilings adorned with plaster ribs and elaborate cornices of flowers and foliage. The drawing-room, which was the main target of recent burglary, has been refurnished with some fine, recently designed ‘Irish’ pieces replacing the magnificent collection of early 18th century continental furniture which was stolen in 1995. 

The house is surrounded by 18th century parkland and a charming woodland water garden. The grand Georgian stable and farm yards were designed by James Gandon [in 1790 (architect of the Custom House and Four Courts) is the only surviving example of his agricultural work, and now houses a fascinating costume and lace museum – Brendan O’Neill]… The buildings extend around two courtyards with pedimented and rusticated archways. 

[Irish Castles and Historic Houses. ed. by Brendan O’Neill, intro. by James Stevens Curl. Caxton Editions, London. 2002: The beautifully restored interiors of the house have some charming plasterwork ceilings with appropriate symbolism: grapes and vines – the symbol of a good table – in the dining-room; oak leaves for wisdom in the library; and roses and lillies in the drawing-room. 

https://www.geni.com/projects/Historic-Buildings-of-County-Longford/29631

Carrigglas Manor House - Tudor Revival style manor house built with blue-grey limestone in 1837 by Thomas Langlois Lefroy of Huguenot descent and is still owned by the Lefroy family. The house is a private residence.  

Falling Apart

The main entrance gates to Carrigglas Manor, County Longford. These were designed c.1795 for the estate’s then-owner Sir William Newcomen whose family owned one of Ireland’s most successful private banks. The gateway was part of a large scheme for Carriglas commissioned from James Gandon, of which only this and the interlinked stable and farmyards were actually built. Sir William’s son, Sir Thomas Gleadowe-Newcomen lacked his father’s acumen and when the bank collapsed in 1825 he shot himself. Carrigglas then passed into the ownership of a clever lawyer, Thomas Lefroy, today best-remembered as the possible object of Jane Austen’s amorous intentions. His descendants remained at Carrigglas until 2005 when the estate was sold to a property company called Thomas Kearns Developments which proceded to wreak havoc on the place, cutting down large swathes of ancient woodland and throwing up cheap housing before – like Sir Thomas Gleadowe-Newcomen – going bust. Three years ago Carrigglas was bought by a local company, Glennon Brothers, but since then little seems to have happened other than that the existing buildings around the estate have deteriorated further. Such is the case with the entrance, a triumphal arch flanked by low walls that conclude in a pair of lodges: stylistically it has many similarities with the entrances to the Four Courts in Dublin, also designed by Gandon. Unfortunately neglect in recent years means the ashlar blocks are beginning to shift, thereby putting the entire ensemble at risk. The structure is, of course, listed for protection. 

Sense and Insensibility

Almost big enough to serve as a punchbowl, this exquisitely simple piece of Irish silver dates from 1778 and was made in Dublin by Matthew West, a member of the family which continued operating as the country’s oldest jewellers until its Grafton Street premises closed two years ago. Due to be auctioned by Adam’s on Tuesday, the bowl is one of a number of lots coming from Carrigglas Manor, County Longford. 
Like a great many Irish houses, the Carrigglas estate has had what can best be described as a chequered history. Originally part of the estates of the Bishop of Ardagh, the lands were acquired by Trinity College, Dublin before passing into the hands of the Newcomen family who operated one of 18th century Ireland’s most successful banks; designed in 1781 by Thomas Ivory, its former premises still stands on Lord Edward Street, Dublin, albeit enlarged in size. Clearly the Newcomens appreciated fine architecture since they commissioned a range of new buildings on their Carrigglas estate from the greatest architect of the period, James Gandon, responsible for both the Custom House and the Four Courts in Dublin. Unfortunately, of Gandon’s designs only the main entrance gates and the double stable yard were completed before the Newcomen Bank went into decline; on its ignominious collapse in 1825, the institution’s head, Sir Thomas Gleadowe-Newcomen, 2nd Viscount Newcomen, shot himself in his office. 

Following this catastrophe, Carrigglas was acquired by a successful Irish barrister called Thomas Lefroy. Today Lefroy is best remembered as the possible object of Jane Austen’s amorous attentions and, arising from this, as inspiration for the character of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice; in the rather fanciful 2007 film Becoming Jane, Lefroy was played by James McAvoy. He certainly knew and saw a great deal of Austen in 1796, being mentioned several times in her letters and on one occasion was described by her as ‘a very gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man’ with whom she admitted to having flirted. However, the following year he became engaged to Mary Paul, sister of a college friend, marrying her on completion of his legal studies in 1799. Ultimately becoming Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in 1852, some fifteen years earlier Lefroy had requested architect Daniel Robertson to design a new house for him at Carrigglas in the Tudoresque idiom. This remained in the hands of successive generations of the family, finally being inherited in the mid-1970s by Jeffry and Tessa Lefroy. Like many other people in their position, they struggled with managing the place and trying to make it generate sufficient income. To this end, they opened the house to day visitors and paying guests. But by the start of the present millennium it was clear the battle for survival was never going to be won and in 2005 the Lefroys sold Carrigglas to a property company which trumpeted its intentions to preserve the estate. Writing in The Times in March that year, Tessa noted that many old Irish houses had been lost over the previous decades but ‘thankfully, Carrigglas’ future is secure: it is going to be turned into a country house hotel development with new homes in the grounds. The planning laws are now so strict that the house and yards must be restored to their former glory.’ 
Would that this had been the case. Far from taking care of the main house, stable yards and so forth, the only thing Carrigglas’ new owners, Thomas Kearns Developments, did was to strip large stretches of the parkland of trees and start throwing up rows of houses notable for their lack of sympathy with the surroundings. And before this work could be completed, the company ran into financial trouble; by autumn 2007 sub-contractors on the site had withdrawn their labour. The following spring the Bank of Ireland, which had advanced €35 million, called in accountants to assess the project’s viability. It was glaringly obvious this scheme had no future, especially after Thomas Kearns Developments went into liquidation and Carrigglas went into a limbo from which it may never emerge. Over the intervening four years, as these photographs make plain, the place has been allowed to suffer neglect, almost the only attention it receives coming from vandals. 

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage classifies the complex of inter-related structures at Carrigglas as representing ‘one of the most important demesnes in north Leinster.’ This designation did not stop the authorities of Longford County Council from granting permission for the estate’s irrevocable despoilment with that addition of over 300 residential units, a hotel, spa and inevitable golf course. Nor, it would appear, have the same authorities shown much concern for the preservation of what remains, not least the important group of Gandon buildings which are without peer anywhere else in the country. The silver bowl being auctioned on Tuesday will no doubt find a new owner and be much cherished. Regrettably the same good fortune cannot be hoped for Carrigglas. To paraphrase Jane Austen, It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an estate in the possession of a receiver, must be in want of a saviour. 

With thanks to Brendan Harte and Mary Morrissey for their photographs.  

*Insufficiently dispirited by what you have read and seen here? Watch John O’Neill’s short film showing the present wretched condition of Carrigglas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYDKZ33pWX8&feature=plcp 

Addendum: the bowl sold for €4,200.00 at Tuesday’s sale. What price Carrigglas? 

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2014/07/carrigglas-manor.html

THE LEFROYS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LONGFORD, WITH 4,229 ACRES 

The LEFROYS are of Flemish extraction, and emigrated from Cambrai to England in the time of the Duke of Alva’s persecutions, settling at Canterbury, Kent. 

The first settler, about 1559, was 

 
ANTOINE LEFROY, a native of Cambrai, who settled in Canterbury ca 1587, where his descendants followed the business of silk dying. 

His descendent in the fourth generation,  

THOMAS LEFROY (1680-1723), of Canterbury, married Phœbe, daughter of Thomas Thomson, of Kenfield, by Phœbe his wife, daughter of William Hammond, of St Alban’s Court, Kent, and granddaughter of the Rt Hon Sir Dudley Digges, of Chilham Castle, Kent, Master of the Rolls, and had a son, 

ANTHONY LEFROY (1703-79), of Leghorn and Canterbury, who married, in 1738, Elizabeth, sister of  Benjamin Langlois MP, many years Under Secretary of State, and had (with one daughter, Phoebe, married to an Italian nobleman), two sons, 

ANTHONY PETER; 

Isaac Peter George. 

The elder son,  

ANTHONY PETER LEFROY (1742-1819), Lieutenant-Colonel, 9th Dragoons, married, in 1765, Anne, daughter of Colonel Gardiner, and had issue, 

THOMAS LANGLOIS, of whom hereafter; 
Anthony, an army captain; 
Benjamin, ancestor of Jeremy John Elton Lefroy MP; 
Christopher; 
Henry (Rev), Vicar of Santry. 

The eldest son,  

THE RT HON THOMAS LANGLOIS LEFROY  (1776-1869), of Carrigglas Manor, LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF IRELAND, espoused, in 1799, Mary, only daughter and heir of Jeffry Paul, of Silver Spring, County Wexford, member of the younger branch of the family of Sir Robert Paul Bt, and had issue, 

ANTHONY, his heir; 
THOMAS PAUL, succeeded his brother; 
Jeffry (Very Rev), Dean of Dromore; 
George Thomson; 
Jane Christmas; Anne; Mary Elizabeth. 

Lord Chief Justice Lefroy, one of the most distinguished lawyers of his time, was called to the Bar in 1797, and appointed a Bencher of the King’s Inn, 1819. 

He was MP for Trinity College, Dublin, from 1830 until his elevation to the Bench, which took place in 1841, when he was appointed a Baron of the Exchequer. 

He was appointed Lord Chief Justice in 1852. 

The eldest son, 

ANTHONY LEFROY JP DL (1800-90), of Carrigglas Manor, MP for Trinity College, Dublin, 1858-70, County Longford, 1830-47, High Sheriff of County Longford, 1849, married, in 1824, Jane, eldest daughter of Robert Edward, 1st Viscount Lorton, and granddaughter of Robert, 2nd Earl of Kingston, and had issue, 

Thomas, died an infant; 
Frances Jane; Mary Louisa. 

Mr Lefroy was succeeded by his brother, 

THOMAS PAUL LEFROY QC (1806-91), of Carrigglas Manor, County Court Judge of Down, Chancellor of the Diocesan Court of Down, Connor and Dromore, Bencher of the King’s Inns, who wedded, in 1835, the Hon Elizabeth Massy, daughter of Hugh, 3rd Baron Massy, and had issue, 

THOMAS LANGLOIS HUGH, his heir; 
AUGUSTINE HUGH, successor to his brother; 
Anthony William Hamon (Rev); 
Charles Edward; 
George Henry; 
Alfred Henry; 
Margaret Everina; Mary Georgina; Millicent Elizabeth; Grace Elizabeth; Frances Anna. 

Judge Lefroy was succeeded by his eldest son, 

THOMAS LANGLOIS HUGH LEFROY JP DL (1836-1902), of Carrigglas Manor, High Sheriff of County Longford, 1892, Barrister, who espoused, in 1894, Dorothy Winifred, daughter of Robert Carreg DL, of Carreg, Carnarvonshire. 

He dsp 1902, and was succeeded by his brother, 

 
AUGUSTINE HUGH LEFROY JP DL (1839-1915), of Carrigglas Manor and The Lodge, Boxted, Colchester, Essex, High Sheriff of County Longford, 1909, who wedded, in 1878, Isabel Mary, eldest daughter of John Hebblethwaite, of St Clair, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and had issue, 

HUGH PERCIVAL THOMSON, his heir; 
Augustine George Victor; 
Mary Elizabeth; Kathleen Grace. 

The eldest son, 

 
HUGH PERCIVAL THOMSON LEFROY DSO MC (1880-1954). 

It is believed that Jeffry and Tessa Lefroy were the last of the family to live at Carrigglas. 

They had moved in to the house in 1976 and opened to visitors in 1985. 

Sadly, the cost of maintaining the mansion house was unsustainable and, after twenty-nine years, they sold the estate in 2005. 

CARRIGGLAS MANOR, near Longford, County Longford, is one of the larger and more impressive country estates still extant in that county. 

It features buildings from two distinct periods and in two different architectural styles. 

The present manor house is built on, or close to, the site of an earlier house. 

The estate was originally a manor of the Anglican Bishops of Ardagh. 

It was left to Trinity College, Dublin, in the 17th century and was later leased by Trinity College, ca 1695, to the Newcomen family (later the Gleadowe-Newcomen family). 

The estate appears to have been later bought by the Newcomens in 1772. 

The owner or resident at the turn of the 19th-century, Sir William Gleadowe-Newcomen, commissioned the eminent neoclassical architect James Gandon (1742-1823) to design for him an unusual house/villa. 

Gleadowe-Newcomen later went bankrupt, following financial troubles that led to the eventual collapse of the Newcomen Bank, before work could start on this house/villa. 

However, a magnificent stable block and farmyard with central pedimented archways, and an elegant triumphal arch gateway incorporating gate lodges to either side, designed by Gandon were built at Carrigglas. 

An unusual walled garden on oval-plan and a gardener’s house may also have been built to designs by Gandon. 

Carrigglas was leased to, and later bought by, Thomas Lefroy (1776-1869) ca 1833. 

Reputedly the character Mr Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was based on Judge Lefroy (they met in England when Lefroy was attending college there during the late-18th century). 

Lefroy engaged the architect Daniel Robertson (d 1849) to design a new house for him at Carrigglas, ca 1837, demolishing the earlier country house to site. 

Robertson designed the new house in an Elizabethan/Tudor architectural idiom, creating a highly picturesque building with a dramatic roof-line of tall Tudoresque chimney-stacks, crenellated turrets and gabled projections that ranks as one of the finest buildings of its type in Ireland. 

Robertson was also an accomplished landscape architect, well-known for his work on the Italian gardens at Powerscourt, and he also carried out extensive landscaping at Carrigglas. 

The Lefroy family remained at Carriglass Manor until about 2005, when they sold the estate and grounds.  

http://davidhicksbook.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-04-10T03:25:00-07:00&max-results=7&start=59&by-date=false 

THURSDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2012 

Yesterday when I seen that Carriglass Manor was for sale it reminded of when I met the original owners of this house at my book signing in Slane Castle a few weeks ago..  The developer that purchased this estate a number of years ago has left the main house in a terrible condition with half built houses and a hotel in the grounds. This house is an architectural jewel and has connections with Jane Austin. 
 
Back in 2004 it was unveiled as the site for a new €100m tourism project which would have been the largest of its kind in Longford. Now the 605-acre Carrigglas Demesne is being put up for sale in the hope that a leisure operator might come up with a new vision or a farmer might return it to its former glory. 

About two-thirds of the land is in farmland, parkland or mature woodland with the remainder containing buildings or various stages of the development with its Retief Goosen designed golf course. Agents Lisney have not declared a guide price. 

 
In May this year another large Longford estate, the 214-acre Ardagh Demesne, sold at auction for €1.36m or about €6,355 per acre. 
 
That average price was below the average of €7,500 per acre which smaller tracts of good land made in the county last year. 
 
However, it is higher than the €4,000 to €5,000 per acre quoted for marginal land in the county. 
 
At an average round price of €5,100 for farmland, Carrigglas could generate bids of around €3m, but about a third of the land is in various stages of development which means the value really depends on the ambitions of possible buyers. 
 
Carrigglas is located only 4km from Longford town and it benefits from an attractive 11-bedroom manor house. 
 
Two of the other five houses are in reasonable condition, while three of them, gate lodges, need refurbishment. 
 
A 96-bedroom wing for a proposed hotel has been partly-built, as have 37 courtyard houses beside the R194 route, 59 village houses and a 21-hole championship golf course. 
 
Foundations have been laid for a golf clubhouse. It also benefits from stables designed by the famous architect Gandon. 
 
Lisney has set December 7 as the closing date for expressions of interest. 
 
Originally the Kearns family company, Kearns Developments, had envisaged the leisure attraction including a four-star hotel, a romantic woodland walkway and a selection of exclusive homes. 

In 2006, the then Finance Minister Brian Cowen performed the sod-turning ceremony for what its developers hailed as “one of the most important developments ever to take place in Longford”. 

– Donal Buckley 

SUNDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2012 

  

  

Carriglass Manor Longford 

 
http://youtu.be/LYDKZ33pWX8 
 
Please click on the above link to see the current state of Carrigglass Manor in Co. Longford. The ancestral home of the Lefroy family. This weekend I was signing books at the Adams Country House Sale at Slane Castle and I had the pleasure of meeting its former owner Jeffery Lefroy who sold the estate in 2005. A number of items in the auction were some of the original contents of his former home in Longford which he was now reluctant to sell, however needs must. Jeffery was saddened by the current state of his former home which is now in the hands of Nama who are doing very little to protect the structure. The developer who purchased the property had the intention of developing a hotel in the house and building houses in the grounds of the estate. Neither of these enterprises succeeded and now the whole estate is a desolate place. 

The once beautiful dining room that contains lots for sale in the Adams Auction 

The Drawing Room 

  

Located five kilometers north of Longford Town on the T15 stands stately Carrigglas Manor. A once beautiful Gothic Revival style Manor house built by Thomas Lefroy in 1837 and was the Lefroy family seat until 2005. Chief Justice Thomas Lefroy who built the house was a one time love of the novelist Jane Austen, it being frequently suggested that the character Darcy in Pride and Prejudice was modelled on him. Carrigglas Manor was built to designs by Daniel Robertson (died 1849). The stableblock situated near the house was designed by the famous architect James Gandon. However these structures are not protected by the state and are now falling into dereliction, how can this be allowed to happen. Have we not learned from the mistakes from previous generations, do we have to wait for Carriglass to be be a roofless ruin before we lament its loss? Action needs to be taken now.