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We treated ourselves to a stay during Heritage Week 2022! We had a lovely stay for three nights. It was formerly called Ashill Towers, but since the towers were taken down in the 1960s it is now called Ash Hill.
The website tells us: “Ash Hill is a large, comfortable Georgian estate, boasting many fine stucco ceilings and cornices throughout the house. For guests wishing to stay at Ash Hill, we have three beautifully appointed en-suite bedrooms, all of which can accommodate one or more cots…Open to the public from January 15th through December 15th. Historical tours with afternoon tea are easily arranged and make for an enjoyable afternoon. We also host small workshops of all kinds, upon request…For discerning guests, Ash Hill can be rented, fully staffed, in its entirety [comfortably sleeps 10 people]. Minimum rental 7 days.”
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
“(Evans/Carbery/ Johnson/ Harrington) A C18 pedimented house [the National Inventory tells us it was built in 1781], the back of which was rebuilt in Gothic 1833, probably to the design of James and George Richard Pain [the National Inventory corrects this – it was designs by Charles Frederick Anderson], with two slender round battlemented and machiolated towers. Rectangular windows with wooden tracery. Good plasterwork in upstairs drawing room in the manner of Wyatt and by the same hand as the hall at Glin Castle; saloon with domed ceiling. The towers have, in recent years, been removed. Originally a seat of the Evans family; passed in the later C19 to John Henry Weldon. Now the home of Major Stephen Johnson.” [1]
The website tells us: “In the 1830’s, Eyre Evans employed Charles Anderson, an architect, to build the front of the house in a Gothic style with two large towers on it. There are various Gothic features in this part of the house. Unfortunately, due to excessive rates (a valuation based property tax), some parts of the house, including the towers, were removed in the early 1960s.”
Above is the facade facing in to the courtyard. Mark Bence-Jones refers to this side as the front and the other side as the “back,” the Gothic side with its crenellated roof and limestone hood mouldings over windows and door. The National Inventory refers to this side as the “rear,” it is the north side of the house. It has a central pedimented breakfront and a Venetian window over the door, which is now the main entrance to the house. The doorway has side windows and a fanlight above with cobweb pattern and the door is set between two limestone pilasters. A second door also has similar tripartite setting of fanlight and sidelights. On the other side of the entrance door instead of the second door there is another Venetian window. [2]
“The oldest evidence of habitation at Ash Hill is what is believed to be a long barrow grave dating somewhere between 4000 and 2000 B.C. This was described in letters written by Eileen Foster, an American visiting her ancestral home, Ash Hill, in 1908. Miss Foster wrote “close to the avenue, as they call it, although there are trees on only one side of the road, is a large green mound which is supposed to mark the burial place of one of the Irish chieftains and a number of his followers. It was the custom in those days to bury a dozen or so of his slaves with every chieftain. Father says he would like to explore the spot, but not a man could be found who would put a spade into the sacred earth”.
“Also on the estate, beside the site of an old lake, there are the remains of a crannog (an Irish house built on a small island) usually dating prior to 1000 A.D. The lake was drained in the 1915 and during this process, the remains of numerous Irish Elk (deer from the interglacial period) were discovered.
“Close to the lake, overlooking the town, is the site of Castle Coote, birthplace of Lieutenant General Sir Eyre Coote, conqueror of India. This castle was demolished in the later half of the eighteenth century.
“The courtyard to the main house was built sometime between 1720 and 1740 and it was sympathetically restored in the 1950’s by the late Mrs. Denny Johnson. The present house, which overlooks this courtyard, was built by Chidley Coote in 1781.“
The entrance door faces on to a stable courtyard. The stables have lovely lunette half-moon windows surrounded in red brick.
There are two entrance halls, one for each of the doors facing into the stable yard. Both have beautiful plasterwork.
The website tells us: “The first recorded ownership of Ash Hill was in 1667 when Chidley Coote acquired the property from Catherine Bligh.” [3]
Lt-Col. Chidley Coote (c. 1644-1702) married Catherine Sandys and had a son, who became Reverend Chidley Coote (1678-1730). He lived at Ash Hill. He married Jane Evans, daughter of George Evans (1658-1720) of Bulgaden Hall, County Limerick, MP for Limerick. Jane’s mother was Mary Eyre, of Eyrecourt, County Galway, and it is thanks to her that the name “Eyre” entered the family.
A daughter of Lt.-Col. Chidley Coote and Catherine née Sandys, Catherine, married Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon.
Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon by Stephen Slaughter.
Reverend Chidley Coote (1678-1730) and Jane née Evans had a son in 1726, Eyre Coote (ca. 1726-1783), born at Ash Hill which was known as Castle Coote at that time. Castle Coote in County Limerick is not to be confused with Castlecoote in County Roscommon, another Section 482 property that we have yet to visit.
The Ash Hill website tells us: “General [Eyre] Coote went on to become one of the greatest military tacticians of the eighteenth century with numerous victories to his credit, including winning India from the French in the Seven Years’ War and defeating Hyder Ali despite being outnumbered by almost twenty to one. This same victorious pattern was to be repeated in battles throughout the war.“
Lieutenant General Sir Eyre Coote (1726-1783) Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies (1777-1783) by John Thomas Seton, courtesy of the British Library.Eyre Coote (1726-1783) attributed to Henry Robert Morland, c. 1763, National Portrait Gallery of London NPG124.
I am currently reading a book about George Macartney (1737-1806), Earl of Lissanoure, County Antrim, an ancestor of my husband Stephen. He worked for the East India Company for a few years in India and himself and Lieut. Gen. Eyre Coote disagreed with each other and took a dislike to each other!
George Macartney (1737-1806) 1st Earl, by Joshua Reynolds, courtesy of National Trust Petworth House.
As well as Lt-Col Eyre Coote (1726-1783) there were three sons of Reverend Chidley Coote (1678-1730) and Jane Evans: Robert Coote (d. 1745) who married Anne Purdon of Ballyclough, County Cork (now partly demolished); Reverend Charles Coote (1713-1796) who married Grace Tilson; and Thomas Coote who married Eleanor White of Charleville, County Cork.
Reverend Charles Coote (1713-1796) had a son Charles Henry Coote (1754-1823) who became 2nd Baron Castle Coote on 2 March 1802. Another son of Reverend Charles was Lt-Gen. Eyre Coote (1762-1823) who was Governor of Jamaica.
The website continues: “Coote’s nephew, Sir Eyre Coote, who was born at Ash Hill in the late eighteenth century, became the Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica between 1806 and 1808. It has been said that Coote, while living in Jamaica, had a relationship with a slave girl. Although unconfirmed, it is thought that Colin Powell, hero of the Gulf War, may be a descendant of this relationship.“
Major-General Sir Eyre Coote, Governor of Jamaica, date 1805, Engraver Antoine Cardon, After W. P. J. Lodder, Publisher A. Cardon, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Reverend Charles’s daughter Grace Coote (circa 1756-1823) married Reverend Henry Bathurst and their daughter Henrietta married Major Denis Mahon of Strokestown, who was killed by his tenants – see my Strokestown entry.
Robert Coote (d. 1745) and Anne Purdon lived in Ash Hill. They had a son, Chidley Coote (1735-1799) who also lived in Ash Hill. He married twice. By his second wife, Elizabeth Anne Carr, he had several children. His oldest son, Charles Henry Coote (1792-1864) inherited the title of 9th Baronet Coote, of Castle Cuffe, Queen’s County on 2 March 1802.
The Landed Estates database tells us about Ash Hill: “The residence of a branch of the Coote family in the 18th century, possibly held from the Barons Carbery. Ash Hill is referred to by Wilson as the seat of Chudleigh Coote in 1786. Bought by Eyre Evans from Chidley Coote in 1794 (see sale rental 6 July 1878). Eyre Evans held the property in fee throughout the first half of the 19th century.” [4]
Jane Evans who married Reverend Chidley Coote had a brother named Thomas Evans (d. 1753). Another brother was George Evans, 1st Baron Carbery. Thomas Evans, of Millltown Castle, married Mary Waller of County Limerick, and they had a son, Eyre Evans (1723-1773). Eyre of Milltown Castle, married a county Limerick heiress, Mary Williams (d. 1825).
Eyre and Mary had a son also named Eyre Evans (1773-1856). It was he who purchased Ash Hill Towers, and who hired Charles Frederick Anderson to renovate. He married Anna Maunsell of Limerick. This Eyre was Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of County Limerick.
Eyre Evans (1773-1856) and Anna Maunsell had many children. Their son, another Eyre (1806-1852), lived at Ash Hill, and married Sophia Crofton, daughter of Edward Crofton, 3rd Baronet Lowther-Crofton, of The Moate, County Roscommon.
Eyre and Sophia’s son Elystan Eyre Evans (1845-1888) inherited Ash Hill. His father died when he was just seven years old.
The Landed Estates database tells us “Elystan Eyre Evans of Ash Hill Towers owned 2,148 acres in county Cork and 264 acres in county Limerick in the 1870s. Over 500 acres in counties Cork and Limerick including Ashhill Towers and demesne were advertised for sale in June 1877.” [5]
Elystan Eyre Evans married Isabella Smith in 1876, widow of Richard Beardsley, U.S. Consul General in Egypt, but they had no children.
The Ash Hill website continues: “At about the time of the Famine, ownership of the estate passed out of the Evans family and, in 1858, part of the estate was acquired by Thomas Weldon. In 1860, another part of the estate was acquired by Captain Henry Frederick Evans. In 1880, Evans’ widow sold her interest in the estate to John Henry Weldon, a son of Thomas Weldon.
“The Evans family was a large family with many branches that emigrated to New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England, Canada and U.S.A. One of the branch that emigrated to New Zealand was a prolific writer and much or possibly all of his writings were donated to the Alexander Turnbull library in Wellington, New Zealand.
“The estate passed out of the Weldon family to P.M. Lindsay in 1911. Captain Lindsay sold Ash Hill to Mrs. Denny Johnson in 1946.
“After Denise Johnson bought the property in 1946 she ran it as a successful stud, and she was a successful point-to-point rider with over 50 wins to her name. In 1956 she married Stado Johnson. After many falls she was told to “take up a safer sport then point-to point riding” by her doctor, she took up 3-day eventing and represented Ireland at an international level.
“Today, Ash Hill has been opened to the public and sees a great many people of varied interests. From architects to historians interested in taking a peek at Ireland’s unique past, all are welcome. Ash Hill is still owned by the Johnson family who enjoy sharing their love of history and the outdoors with the public. Most days, Simon and Nikki Johnson can be found wandering around the estate tending to the garden and pastures. For those interested, Simon can be happily talked into a full tour.“
Upstairs, there is another sitting room with another impressive ceiling – this one currently in a state of repair. Mark Bence-Jones says the ceiling is by the same hand as the one in Glin Castle. This is said to be possibly attributable to the Dublin stuccodores Michael Stapleton or Charles Thorpe and dates from 1780s. [6]
The website tells us: “During the “troubled times” the house was occupied by three sets of troops who looted and vandalized the property, using ancient family portraits for target practice. As these “troubled times” were ending, Michael Collins, the Irish leader at the time, visited the house on his way south to what would be his violent and untimely demise at the hands of his enemies. There is a considerable amount of graffiti left on the walls of the top floor rooms which were occupied by both troops and prisoners.” We didn’t see this graffitti!
We had a beautiful stay – you can see how relaxing it is in the surroundings. Nicole was very hospitable and one evening we sat in the drawing room downstairs and shared a great chat. It is a wonderful base for explorations of the countryside.
[1] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988, Constable and Company Ltd, London.
[3] “The first recorded ownership of Ash Hill was in 1667 when Chidley Coote acquired the property from Catherine Bligh.” I think this was either Chidley Coote (d. 1668) son of Charles Coote (d. 1642), 1st Baronet Coote, of Castle Cuffe, Queen’s County, or his son Chidley Coote who died in 1702.
Charles Coote (1581-1642) was born in England and joined the military, held command of an infantry company in Munster from 1601 until some time after 1603. He was granted a reversion to the post of provost marshal of Connacht in June 1605. He built up land possession in Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo. By 1617 he had married Dorothea, probably the younger daughter of Hugh Cuffe, plantation undertaker in Co. Cork, who brought property in Co. Cork and in Queen’s County to the marriage. He was created 1st Baronet Coote, of Castle Cuffe, Queen’s Co. [Ireland] on 2 April 1621. He had four sons and one daughter; the eldest son, also Charles (c. 1605-1661), became 1st earl of Mountrath.
He had another son, named Chidley (c. 1608-1668). Chidley married a daughter of Francis Willoughby, and secondly, married Alice Philips, by whom he had a son, Lt-Col Chidley Coote (c, 1644-1702), and another son, Philips Coote (b. 10 March 1658).
Lt-Col Chidley Coote (c. 1644-1702) married Catherine Sandys and had a son, who became Reverend Chidley Coote (1678-1730). He lived at Ash Hill. He married Jane Evans, daughter of George Evans (1658-1720) of Bulgaden Hall, County Limerick, MP for Limerick. Jane’s mother was Mary Eyre, of Eyrecourt, County Galway, and it is thanks to her that the name “Eyre” entered the family.
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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!
We visited Mount Trenchard during Heritage Week 2022. The owner is in touch with the original occupants of the house, the Spring Rice family, and they visited several times.
The Landed estates database tells us:
“Lewis described this mansion formerly called Cappa as “beautifully situated on the banks of the Shannon”. Marked as “Cappo” on the Taylor and Skinner map of the 1770s. Home of the Rice/Spring Rice family in the 19th century, valued at £40 in the 1850s and at £54 in 1906. Occupied by the Military in 1944, sold to Lady Holland in 1947 and to the Sisters of Mercy in 1953 who opened a school.” [1]
The National Inventory tells us that the house was built in 1777, and it was originally a three bay three storey over basement house. [2] It has two bays in front, with an entrance door in a later added doorcase of Ionic pillars and a pediment, and a similar window case above. The door is surmounted by a fanlight. The centre window of each bow on the second storey is blocked up. The facade is of limestone, with cut cut limestone platbands to dividing storeys.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988) that there are Victorian additions either side of the main block and that the front entrance doorcase was a later addition. [3]
When we were inside the house we were able to go out onto the stone balustraded balcony that is on top of this addition. It gives a lovely view over the gardens.
The estate was initially granted to Frances Trenchard on 20 June 1612 by a charter of King James I. He built a house there. The property was later owned by the Rice family.
Stephen Rice (1637-1715), Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and a supporter of James II, wedded Mary, daughter of Thomas FitzGerald, of County Limerick. Stephen Rice came from Dingle, County Kerry and was Catholic. He was a lawyer and had many landholders as his clients, including several from County Limerick. After the battle of the Boyne (1 July 1690), Rice accompanied King James II to France, although he was soon back in Ireland, in January 1691. [4] I am not sure when the property passed from Trenchard to Rice hands.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that an incomplete patent conferring the title of Baron Monteagle on Rice was allegedly found among the papers of James II after the battle of the Boyne. The title was revived in September 1839 and granted to Thomas Spring Rice (1790–1866) of Mount Trenchard, Co. Limerick, who became Baron Monteagle of Brandon.
Portrait of Thomas Spring Rice, MP (1790-1866), Chancellor of the Exchequer, later 1st Baron Monteagle, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
It was Stephen’s son, Thomas, who had Mount Trenchard built much as we see it today, in 1777. Thomas married another Mary Fitzgerald, this one was daughter of Maurice the 14th Knight of Kerry. Thomas was also a lawyer. They had a son, Stephen Edward Rice (d. 1831). He married, in 1785, Catherine, only child and heiress of Thomas Spring, of Castlemaine, County Kerry.
Stephen Edward and Catherine Rice had a daughter Mary who married Aubrey De Vere, 2nd Baronet of Curragh Chase, Co. Limerick. [5]
Their son was Thomas Spring-Rice (1790-1866). He married in 1811 the Lady Theodosia Pery, second daughter of Edmund, 1st Earl of Limerick. She brought with her a large dowry. Thomas Spring-Rice was Member of Parliament (M.P.) (Whig) for Limerick between 1820 and 1832, and served in many positions in government, including Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1835 and 1839.
As well as his property in County Limerick, he had property in London, Dublin and Kildare.
Thomas Spring-Rice actively sought to improve the welfare of tenants and of the underprivileged. He led an inquiry into the alleged ill-treatment of inmates in Limerick Lunatic Asylum. He also advocated the end of slavery. He also brought improvements to Limerick, such as having a new bridge built over the River Shannon. He was a supporter of Catholic Emancipation. There is a statue of him Pery Square in Limerick, which looks down on the People’s Park, which was erected due to gratitude for his work toward Catholic Emancipation.
He lost his seat in 1832 but was returned for a seat in Cambridge, so he sat in Parliament in England. Although he supported Catholic emancipation didn’t support repeal of the Act of Union, which disappointed many of his supporters. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that he referred to himself as a West Briton, and may have coined this phrase.
Thomas was elevated to the peerage in 1839 to become 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon, County Kerry. The Dictionary of Irish Biography gives us a good summary of his subsequent views:
“With his removal to the lords, Monteagle took little part in public life till roused by the famine. An improving, paternalistic landlord, during the crisis years he was characterised by his concern for his tenants, energetic attempts to influence policy, and a mounting bitterness towards the government. His correspondence with the treasury and board of works is of considerable value in helping to elucidate the official government position. His letters and speeches in the lords were studded with rhetorical invective against Britain’s long mistreatment of Ireland. Holding landlords to be as much victims of British mismanagement as tenants, he rejected forcibly any claim that they should be held responsible and continually advocated state intervention, though he felt it should not be limited to road works, but extended to agricultural improvements. He did not accept fixity of tenure, since he felt Irish peasants too prone to subletting. His own experience as a landlord bore this out and he considered overcrowding as the principal evil of Irish agriculture. A strong advocate of state-assisted emigration, he was successful in bringing the lord lieutenant, Lord Clarendon, over to his viewpoint, but not the government as a whole. He personally assisted numerous tenants to emigrate and then acted as mediator between them and their families still on his estate.” [6]
Mount Trenchard, 2022.Mount Trenchard, County Limerick, August 2022.
Thomas Rice Spring’s son Stephen died tragically at sea in 1865, and thus a grandson, Thomas (1849-1926) inherited the family property and the title to become 2nd Baron Monteagle in 1866.
Portrait of Thomas Spring Rice (1849-1926), 2nd Baron Monteagle, by Charles Wellington Fursecourtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
The caretaker Tommy showed us the family bible, which follows the tradition of writing births and deaths in the family inside the covers. Here we can see the births recorded of Stephen and his wife, Ellen Mary Frere. They had many children. A daughter Mary married Edward William O’Brien of Cahermoyle House in County Limerick, whose father was the politician, Nationalist and leader of the Young Irelander movement William Smith O’Brien (1803–64).
Thomas (1849-1926) was popular with the locals and helped to promote the Co-operative Creamery Movement in Limerick, and was a friend of Horace Plunkett. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.) of County Limerick.
Thomas the 2nd Baron married Elizabeth Butcher in 1875, daughter of the Bishop of Meath. Their daughter Mary (1880-1924) became a passionate advocate of Irish independence. She was influenced by her cousin Nelly O’Brien, from Cahermoyle House in County Limerick. She learned Irish and hired a native speaker from Kerry to teach classes in the local national school. [7] The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that she was an early member of the United Irishwomen, founded in 1910 as a sister organisation to the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society (IAOS) of Horace Plunkett, to encourage countrywomen’s industries and handicrafts. In 1911 she was on the executive of the Limerick branch of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association.
Most famously, she was involved with bringing guns from Germany into Ireland with Erskine Childers in his boat the Asgard. Her Asgard diary was published in Martin, Howth gun running (1964). Mount Trenchard was used as a safe house for member of the IRA during the War of Independence. There are tunnels underground which could lead down to the Shannon estuary.
In 1940 the house was let and occupied by a unit of the Irish Army, and they remained there for the duration of WWII.
The 3rd Baron Monteagle did not marry, and his uncle, Francis Spring Rice (1852-1937) became 4th Baron Monteagle of Brandon, of Brandon, Co. Kerry in 1934. He gained the rank of Commander in the Royal Navy. In 1882 he married Elizabeth Ann Fitzgerald, daughter of Peter George, 1st Baronet FitzGerald, of Valencia, Co. Kerry (son of the 18th Knight of Kerry). It was their son Charles who became 5th Baron Monteagle. The 4th Baron later married his wife’s sister, after his wife died. She was the widow of Stephen Edward Spring Rice (1856-1902), grandson of 1st Baron Monteagle.
Charles Spring Rice (1887-1946) joined the military and fought in WWI. When the 5th Baron Monteagle of Brandon died in 1946, the estate was sold. In 1954, the Sisters of Mercy acquired the estate and ran it as a private boarding school for girls, called Stella Maris. [8] It was later sold again, and is now being renovated. The caretaker gave us a wonderful tour of the house and showed us details of renovation, as well as bringing us out to the walled garden, where he has done great work.
It’s a lovely walk from the back garden up to the walled garden. Our tour guide also does the gardening and the walled garden is productive as well as beautiful.
[3] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988, Constable and Company Ltd, London.
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
We visited The Turret during Heritage Week 2022. It’s a very old building as evidenced by the date 1683 on the gable, under the date 1890. However, the foundations of the building may be older still and might date back to the 1100s and the Knights Templar.
The arms of Major John Odell are on the gable with the 1683 date. The Odell arms look rather Arabic, so the priest who renovated the building to make it into a presbytery in 1890 put a cross on the building. The National Inventory tells us that the early stone date plaque was said to have been moved from the chimneystack to its present position. [1]
The Dutch gable masks a roof ridge which is at right angles to the ridge of the main block. It’s a lovely gable in the Dutch Billie style.
Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.
The current owner, Donal, told us that it is thought that the house was built on to the turret of an old Hospitaller habitation. He told us that a Cistercian abbey was founded in the area in 1198 by the Fitzgerald family.
The Knights Hospitaller were related to the Knights Templar. I see that there is a book published about the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller in Ireland which would be a fascinating read! It is edited by Martin Brown OSB and Colmán Ó Clabaigh OSB, Soldiers of Christ: the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller in medieval Ireland. A book review of this book in History Ireland tells us that both of the orders started out in the Near East, as part of the crusade to protect Jerusalem and the holy places. The Templars got their name from the Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, which the westerners called ‘Solomon’s Temple’, whereas the Hospitallers became associated with the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, founded by Italian merchants for the care of pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land, though they too had a military role to play in safeguarding roads and protecting religious sites. Started in the eleventh century, both orders took a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience. [2]
The book review tells us that the Templars, in particular, came into Ireland under the protection of the English crown and acted on behalf of the king against the native Irish. Because they often formed part of the royal administration, knights often gained high office in the government of Ireland while also attending to their own affairs.
There was a settlement of the Knights Hospitaller in Hospital, Any, County Limerick. Another Section 482 property which we have yet to visit which also has a link to the Knights is Temple House in County Sligo. The book review tells us that it was a Templar foundation, patronised by the de Burghs, but when that order was dissolved by papal decree it was not, unlike the others, transferred to the Hospitallers but rather to the Crutched Friars.
There is a ring fort on the property at The Turret, which is clearly visible on the Ordinance Survey map. The De Lacy family seems to have established Knights Templar in the area – Donal also brought us to see the nearby De Lacy castle.
The National Museum of Ireland tells us that the Ballingarry castle may have been built by the Knights Templar, and was then occupied by the De Lacys. [3] It is situated on Knights Street in the village of Ballingarry. This place was called ‘Le Garth’ in 1291, or ‘Garthbyboys’ in 1319. Ballingarry ‘had evidently belonged to the Byboys family’; they witnessed charters, suits and other disputes here during the 13th century. [4] It was also known as Garthocconnyll from its central position in O’Connell country. This oblong tower was known as ‘Parsons Castle’ for a period after being repaired and modernised as a dwelling house for Reverend Gibbons in 1821.
I found a very interesting article on JStor, “Notes on the Family of De Lacy in Ireland” by Nicholas J. Synnott, published in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Sixth Series, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Dec. 31, 1919), pp. 113-131. In it, Synnott states that it seems that the Limerick De Lacys are not related to the more famous Meath De Lacy family. The Limerick Lacy origin may come from the family of De Lees, a name which occurs in documents for County Limerick from the early Norman period down to the reign of King Henry VI. The Lacys of Bruff, Bruree in County Limerick spelt their name in the sixteenth century as “Leash” and “Leashe” as well as “Lacy.”
Samuel Lewis writes that a perceptory was built where the Turret stands now in 1172. Donal believes that the current building was probably built on the foundations of that early structure!
Some research that Donal shared with me tells us that the Knights Templar were disbanded circa 1310, and after that it would have been the Knights Hospitaller who occupied the building.
The National Museum website tells us that in 1408-22 the town of Ballingarry was walled under a grant by Henry IV, after it was destroyed by Irish and English rebels. In 1513 the town was burned by Piers Butler.
In 1541 with the suppression of the monasteries, the Hospitallers in Any and also at The Turret were disbanded.
By 1570 the castle and lands were owned by John Lacy. Lacy was pardoned after the Desmond Rebellion in 1584, but land in Knight Street was granted to Henry Billingsley.
In 1612 the castle, lands and manor of Ballingarry were regranted by James I to William Lacy. In 1691 Ballingarry Castle was burned by Irish Jacobite forces during the Williamite War.
In 1667 Major John O’Dell (1620- c. 1700) was given land in Ballingarry. Documents that Donal shared with me tell us that Lewis writes that the Turret was erected by a branch of the De Lacy family and that John O’Dell repaired the building in 1683. The Ordnance Survey Field Name Book refers to an inscription on the wall of the building which recorded the O’Dell family inhabiting the building in 1683.
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
“(Odell/LGI1958) A three storey house, one room deep, with a curvilinear gable at one end of its front; built 1683 by Major John Odell; said to have incorporated a turret surviving from an old house of the Knights Hospitallers, hence its name. Became a presbytery at the end of C19, when an enclosed porch was added on the front and a wing at the back.” [5]
The house looks very large from the front since it is three storeys high, but it is not large inside, since it is only one room deep, although there is an extension in the back built in 1890. The walls are one and a half metres thick in some parts.
Major John Odell was High Sheriff for County Limerick from 1678 to 1679 and held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Askeaton Borough in 1692. [6] Donal’s notes tell us that John and Elizabeth O’Dell gifted a silver chalice to the church, where it remains today!
John and Elizabeth had several children. A son, also named John, married Constance Fitzmaurice, daughter of William, 18th Baron of Kerry and Lixnaw. The Odells were from Bealdurogy, and another son of Major John, named William, lived in Bealdurogy, and was a Justice of the Peace.
The house is spread over five levels.
On the ground floor there is a large kitchen and living room with wood burning stove, as well as the utility room and a wood panelled office.
Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.
The main bathroom and walk in hot press are on the lower return. On the first floor there are interconnecting dining room and drawing room with a fine marble fireplace as well as a wood panelled library.
Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.The beautiful chimneypiece in the Turret.Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.
On the top floor, there are three double bedrooms, and a master bedroom beside the second bathroom on the upper return.
Photograph courtesy of Sherry Fitzgerald Stack estate agents, June 2023.
A daughter of Major John, Judith, married Captain Charles Conyers of Castletown, County Limerick. The National Inventory tells us about Castletown Conyers, which still stands, that it has a traceable history stretching back to the to the medieval period with the ruins of a castle within the estate, the property was originally known as Castletown McEnery, becoming Castletown Conyers in 1697 when it was sold to Captain Charles Conyers from Charles Odell. The house that stands there now was built in 1710. [7]
It is a descendant of Major John’s son William who we find later living in The Turret. William, who died before 1722, married Anne Hunt. His son John, who also became High Sheriff for County Limerick and lived in Bealdurogy, married twice. First he married Elizabeth Fennell from Curraghbane, County Cork, in 1748, with whom he had two daughters. He then married Jane Baylee, in 1751.
His son William became an MP and and held the office of Lord of the Admiralty. He lived in The Grove nearby. Another son, Thomas, was Colonel in the Connell’s Light Horse and lived in The Turret.
Colonel Thomas married Sarah Elizabeth Westropp. They had many children. Colonel Thomas died in 1830. I’m not sure who lived in the The Turret after him but it was sold in 1887 to a Father Shanahan, according to Donal’s notes.
One of Colonel Thomas and Sarah Elizabeth’s sons added Westropp to his surname to become Edmond Odell Westropp.
Extracts from the Ballingarry Vestry Book include several entries about members of the Odell family. In 1803 an Alexander Odell lived in The Turret, along with Colonel Thomas Odell. In 1826 Alexander Odell lived in nearby Odellville (a property we have yet to visit! He lived 1808-1847 and married a cousin, Catherine Odell), and William Odell in The Grove, who was an MP for County Limerick. In 1837 Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary lists The Grove of Major Thomas Odell (probably Colonel William and Aphra Crone’s son, b. 1778, a Barrister); Odellville of T.A. Odell (Thomas Alexander, 1772-1842); Fortwilliam of T. H. O’dell and Ballykevin of Crone Odell.
There are some Odell graves in the graveyard next to the church nextdoor.
[5] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988, Constable and Company Ltd, London.
Open dates in 2025: Apr 1-30, May 1-31, June 3-10, Tue-Sat, Aug 16-24, 9.30am-1.30pm
Fee: adult/OAP/student €5, child free
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We visited Glenville during Heritage Week 2022. Owen and his wife were very welcoming! There was one other couple who joined us on our tour.
We drove up a long drive with fields on either side, to a stone courtyard entrance, with geraniums in tubs on either side of a fine carriage entrance. The farm buildings have semi-circular lunette windows in the upper level and brick surrounds to the windows. A Keystone reads: ‘WM/AD/1803’ and the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage tells us that Glenville was built in 1803 by William Massey (1747-1830). [1]
The Massy family are descended from a Cromwellian soldier Captain Hugh Massy (d. 1691) who was granted 3,055 acres in County Limerick, for his military services. He came over to Ireland in the 1600s and helped to quell the 1641 uprising against the Crown. His grant included the lands of Duntrileague, County Limerick, where the Massy family settled. [2]
Hugh (d. 1691) had a son, also named Hugh (1658-1701), of Duntrileague, whom married Amy Benson and had several children.
His son William (1680-1768) purchased Stoneville, in County Limerick. Stoneville was built in 1730 as a hunting lodge for Henry Southwell and bought by William Massy in 1758 (it still stands and is privately owned [3]). It was the branch descended from William (1680-1768) of Stoneville who lived in Glenville.
Stoneville, County Limerick, photograph courtesy of National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (see [3]).
The Massys were a prominent family in the area.
Another son of Hugh (1658-1701) of Duntrileague, Colonel Hugh Massy (b. 1685), was father to Hugh (1700-1788) who was was created 1st Baron Massy of Duntrileague, Co. Limerick. Another son of Colonel Hugh, Eyre Massy (or Massey), distinguished himself in the military and was created 1st Baron Clarina of Elm Park, Co. Limerick (Elm Park no longer stands but there remains an impressive gate lodge [4]).
Hugh (1658-1701) of Duntrileague’s daughter Margaret married William Baker (c. 1680-1733), who purchased Lismacue in County Tipperary, another Section 482 property which we may never be able to visit as it is only listed for whole house accommodation so is not open to visitors.
Another son of Hugh (1658-1701) of Duntrileague, Reverend Charles Massy (1688-1766), held the office of Dean of Limerick between 1740 and 1766, and was father of Hugh Dillon Massy (d. 1807), 1st Baronet Massy, of Doonass. Co. Clare.
William Massy (1680-1768) of Stoneville, County Limerick married the Anne, daughter of John Bentley who had received land at Hurdlestown, County Clare. William’s oldest son Hugh (d. 1790) inherited Stoneville. [5]
Another son of William (1680-1768) of Stoneville, John (c. 1720-1812), purchased the estate of Glenville. [6] He held the office of Treasurer of Limerick. He married Mary Agnes Studdert, daughter of Reverend George Studdert who was Rector at Kilpeacon and in Rathkeale in County Limerick (we will be visiting the rectory at Rathkeale later this year, another section 482 property!).
The current owners, Owen and his wife, told us that the oldest part of the house, the kitchen, was built in 1750, so this must have been built by John Massy.
Along with his heir, William (1747-1830), John and Mary Agnes had a son Hugh who joined the military (1748-1814), daughter Anne who married Richard Yeilding of Belview, County Limerick (no longer exists) and Mary Agnes who married William Yeilding, a cousin of her sister’s husband.
John’s son, William (1747-1830) added later additions to the house at Glenville in 1803. He married Ann Creagh, daughter of Andrew Creagh of Cahirbane, County Clare. They had as many as twenty-three children, several of whom died young. Some of his sons joined the military and some others, the clergy.
The National Inventory tells us that Glenville is a :”Detached three-bay two-storey country house, dated 1803, having six-bay block to north (rear) elevation, extending to east of main block and adjoining L-plan multiple-bay two-storey outbuilding. Central full-height breakfront to south (front) elevation. …Flat arched opening to east elevation with cut limestone surround, voussoirs and keystone, and double-leaf timber battened door… Lunette [i.e. half-moon] openings to first floor, east and west elevations, having tooled limestone sills, red brick surrounds and timber framed windows…
…Its size and massing make it a very notable feature on the landscape and the regular façade and restrain in ornamentation adds to the imposing appearance. The retention of timber sliding sash windows and limestone sills is significant, and adds to the architectural significance of the site. Symmetry is evident in the design and is enhanced by the hipped roof, central chimneystacks and breakfront. The outbuildings, walled garden to the rear, and gate lodge all serve to add context to the site. Keystone reads: ‘WM/AD/1803’.” (see [1])
The owners have restored the house beautifully. They showed us photographs of the house from when they purchased it, and it shows how much work they have accomplished.
It is interesting to see that the Massys added the courtyard to the rear in Stoneville and it has features similar to Glenville. In Stoneville there is an ornate limestone carriage arch surround with date plaque of 1802, and lunette windows.
William’s son, John (1773-1846), lived in Glenville, with his wife Mary Anne Travers and family. He was a captain in the British Army. His son William (c. 1801-1863) then inherited the property. He sold it then to his uncle Eyre Massy (1786-1869).
Eyre Massy had married Mary Bruce in 1818, daughter of Reverend Jonathan Bruce of Milltown Castle, County Cork (no longer standing although some outbuildings remain). The next generation to live at Glenville was Eyre’s son Jonathan Bruce Massy (1821-1903). He was a Justice of the Peace, and he married Frances Catherine Bruce, a first cousin, daughter of his mother’s brother George Evans Bruce. They had two daughters, Frances Mary Massy (1867-1956) and Mary Bruce Massy (1869-1935).
The property of Glenville passed through the male line rather than to Jonathan Bruce Massy’s daughters. It passed to a son of Jonathan Bruce Massy’s brother, Henry Eyre Massy (b. 1830), who had emigrated to Australia. This son, Eyre Henry Massy (b. 1868) sold Glenville in 1912 to one of Jonathan Bruce Massy’s daughters, Frances Mary Massy (1867-1956).
Frances Mary had married Thomas Crawford Coplen-Langford in 1903, the same year in which her father died. Her husband died just two years after she purchased Glenville from her cousin in 1912. His family was from Kilcosgriff Castle in County Limerick.
The Landed Estates database tells us that the house came into the ownership of the Langford family, relations of the Massys in the early 20th century and they were still resident there in the 1970s. [7] The Langford family was related to the Massys via the Coplen-Langford family.
The fireplace reminds me of that in the basement of Strokestown in County Roscommon, made of limestone, surrounded with what looks like Kilkenny marble.
House tour at noon. Jan-Feb, Nov-Dec, 10.30am-4pm,
Mar-May, Sept-Oct, 10am-5pm,
June-Aug, 10am-6pm
Fee: adult house €14.50, tour of house €18.50, child €7, tour of house €10, OAP/student €12, tour of house €14.50, family €31, tour of house €39
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The Archiseek website describes Strokestown Park house as “a substantial house in the Palladian manner of a central block flanked by wings and curved sweeps. The centre block was completed in 1696 but extended around 1730 by Richard Cassels who added the substantial wings. The house was further altered in 1819 by J. Lynn.” [2]
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon.
We visited Strokestown Park in County Roscommon during Heritage Week 2022. It houses the excellent National Famine Museum and Archive, which is really worth visiting. It sounds grim, but it is a great exhibition and it tells us so much about people’s lives that it is not a grim museum at all. It also tells us about the Pakenham-Mahons, the family who lived in the impressive Strokestown Park. Strokestown Park was the home of the first landlord to be assassinated during the height of the Great Famine of Ireland the 1840s, and it is therefore ideal for the location of the Famine Museum.
In 1979 Nicholas Hales Pakenham Mahon sold the estate to Westward Garage, founded by Jim Callery. The new owners allowed the last of the Mahon family, Olive and her husband Wilfrid Stuart Hales Pakenham Mahon, to remain living in the house until she moved to a nursing home.
Despite no longer being in the hands of the original owners, the house contains the original furnishings and fittings. The house is unchanged from the time when the Mahons lived there.
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
The Museum was created when Jim Callery, founder of the Westward Garage which purchased the property, found documents relating to the famine in the family archives. Jim Callery and the Westward Garage carried out a major restoration programme and opened the property to the public. Since 2015, Strokestown Park is cared for by the Irish Heritage Trust, an independent charity. Produce from the original working gardens are grown by volunteers and used in the Strokestown Park Café.
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
The website tells us that the house is built on the site of the 16th-century castle, home of the O Conor-Roe Gaelic Chieftains. Before being called “Strokestown House” the property was called “Bawn,” in reference to the bawn of the O Conor-Roe castle.
Nicholas Mahon, a captain in King Charles I’s army, was granted Strokestown as a royal deer park in 1653. Later, after pledging allegiance to King Charles II, he received more land. He was High Sheriff of County Roscommon, 1664-76. [3] He received over 3000 acres in 1678. He started to build a house, which was completed after his death in 1680, in 1696. Terence Reeves-Smyth tells us in his book Irish Big Houses that there is a stone by the door which has 1696 carved into it – the stone is now inside the house.
Strokestown Park featured as Building of the Month in December 2015 on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, and it tells us about the 1696 house:
“Evidence of this house survives to the present day at basement level where a panelled still room, previously one of the principal reception rooms, retains a rosette-detailed Jacobean chimneypiece, an egg-and-dart-detailed plasterwork overmantle decorated with fruits and shells, and a compartmentalised ceiling with dentilated moulded plasterwork cornices. Some earlier remains of the castle are also found in the basement where sections of the walls measure almost three metres deep. Memories of the medieval past were carried through into the nineteenth century when the house was still officially called, and was referred to by Isaac Weld (1832) and Samuel Lewis (1837) as “Bawn”.” [4] [5]
Stephen and I were able to see part of the interior of the house, despite the house being closed for restoration work at the time, by joining a Heritage Week talk about a photographic dark room which had been created in the house by one of its residents. Unfortunately we did not get to see the basement or the galleried kitchen.
Captain Nicholas married Magdalena French, daughter of Arthur French of Movilla Castle, County Galway. [6] They had several children. Their son Reverend Peter (d. 1739) became Dean of Elphin and married Catherine, daughter of Paul Gore of Castle Gore, County Mayo (otherwise known as Deel Castle, now a ruin), who was son of Arthur, 1st Baronet Gore, of Newtown Gore, otherwise known as Parkes Castle in Leitrim (see my Office of Public Works in Connaught, Counties Leitrim, Mayo and Roscommon entry).
Another son, Nicholas (c. 1671-1781) married Eleanor Blayney, daughter of Henry Vincent, 5th Baron Blayney of Castle Blayney, County Monaghan.
A daughter, Margaret, married Edward Cooper of Markree Castle, County Sligo (another Section 482 property which we visited).
Strokestown passed via another son, John (d. 1708), who married Eleanor Butler (daughter of Thomas, 3rd Baronet Butler, of Cloughgrenan, Co. Carlow), to their son Thomas (1701-1782). It was Thomas who built on to the 1696 house, to create a residence designed by Richard Cassells, in about 1730.
Terence Reeves-Smyth tells us in his Irish Big Houses that the top storey and balustrade were added probably around 1740 when Richard Castle built the wings for Thomas Mahon. [7]
Richard Castle, or Cassells, (c.1690/95–1751) probably came to Ireland to work for Sir Gustavus Hume to design Castle Hume, Co. Fermanagh. [8] He then worked under Edward Lovett Pearce when Pearce worked on the Parliament Building in Dublin. Pearce died young and Castle succeeded to his practice. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us:
“He contributed significantly to the development of Dublin, designing the first imposing town houses in cut stone for the nobility, notably Tyrone House, Marlborough St. (1740–45), built for Marcus Beresford (1694–1793), later earl of Tyrone, and Leinster House, Kildare St. (1745–51), for James Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, the grandest town house and since the 1920s the seat of Dáil Éireann. His commissions included 85 Stephen’s Green (c.1738), the first stone-fronted house on the Green, latterly part of Newman House; houses in Kildare St., notably Doneraile House (designed c.1743); and Sackville Place...Castle designed many country houses, including Belvedere, Co. Westmeath (designed 1740), which incorporated the ‘Venetian’ window, a common feature of his designs, and Ballyhaise, Co. Cavan (c.1733). By altering and enlarging many houses, he created grand country mansions (often with vaulted stables), notably Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow, with its magnificent Egyptian hall (built 1731×1740; damaged by fire 1974, and since partly restored), Westport House, Co. Mayo (1731–40), and Carton House, Co. Kildare (c.1739–45). Conolly’s Folly at Castletown estate, Co. Kildare (1740), a tall obelisk mounted on multiple arches, is attributed to him. He possibly collaborated with Francis Bindon on Belan House, Co. Kildare, complete with temple and three obelisks (1743), and Russborough, Co. Wicklow (c.1742–55).” [9]
The house has a seven-bay, three-storey over basement central block, with curved curtain walls linking it to flanking pavilions with four-bay principal façades. The centre block front facade has three bays in the centre with giant pilasters either side and two bays beyond on either side. The centre three bays have a central panel on the pediment and the two bays on either side of the pilasters have a balustraded pediment. The front door is set in a tooled stone doorcase with decorative brackets, with an ornate spoked fanlight, and is flanked by traceried sidelights.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage tells us that the pedimented archways to outer walls extending from pavilions give access to stable complex and kitchen yards. [10]
The flanking curtain walls have niches flanked by oculus windows on the upper part with tooled stone surrounds, and a Gibbsean doorcase with pediment over.
In 1735, Thomas married Jane Crosbie, daughter of Maurice, 1st Baron Branden, of Ardfert, County Kerry, MP for County Kerry. Thomas Mahon later became MP, first for the Borough of Roscommon in 1739-1763 then for County Roscommon 1763-82, when he was called the “Father of the House.” [11]
Thomas’s son Maurice (1738-1819), named after Jane’s father, married Catherine, daughter of Stephen Moore, 1st Viscount Mountcashell, in 1765. He inherited when his father died in 1782. He was granted a peerage for his support of the Act of Union, and created 1st Baron Hartland, of Strokestown, Co. Roscommon in 1800.
Terence Reeves-Smyth tells us:
“His son Maurice, who became Baron Hartland upon accepting a Union Peerage in 1800, made further additions and modifications to the house, including the inlaid mahogany doors, chimney-pieces and cornices as well as the library.”
Strokestown, image by Chris Hill, 2014, Tourism Ireland, from Ireland’s Content Pool. [1] Mark Bence-Jones writes that in a late-Georgian addition at the back of the house there is a splendid library with a coved ceiling and an original early nineteenth century wallpaper of great beauty, in yellow and brown, which gives the effect of faded gold. [12]
Maurice Mahon also had the main street of Strokestown laid out between 1810 and 1815, and had a tall Georgian Gothic arch erected at the entrance to Strokestown Park, at one end of the main street. At almost one hundred and fifty feet wide, the main thoroughfare, leading up to the gates of the estate, was said to be the widest in Ireland at the time. Apparently Baron Hartland wanted it to be wider than the Ringstrasse in Vienna. [see 12]
Maurice, 1st Baron Hartland had three sons. The first, Thomas (1766-1835) succeeded as 2nd Baron Hartland in 1819. His mother lived another fifteen years after her husband died in 1819, and the museum tells us that receipts for her extravagant spending are kept in the archive.
When Thomas inherited the property in 1819 he hired John Lynn who created the porch, among other renovations. Lynn had served as clerk of works for the building of Rockingham House in County Roscommon, erected in 1810 for Robert, 1st Viscount Lorton to designs by John Nash. We saw pictures of Rockingham House when we visited King House, see my entry. Rockingham House no longer exists. Soon after working in Strokestown, Lynn moved up to Downpatrick, County Down. [13]
Terence Reeves-Smyth continues in Irish Big Houses: “In 1819 Lieutenant General Thomas Mahon, second Lord Hartland, employed the architect J[ohn] Lynn to carry out some more improvements, such as the addition of the porch and giant pilasters to the front. Except for the gardens, few changes were later carried out at Strokestown and it remained the centre of a vast 30,000 acre estate until the present century.”
Thomas the second baron was educated at the Royal School in Armagh, Trinity College Dublin and St. John’s College, Cambridge. He joined the military and became Major in the 24th Light Dragoons. In 1798 he was in command of a garrison in Carlow, where he trapped and killed many rebels. [14] In 1811 he married Catherine Topping, but they did not have any children. He later fought in the Napoleonic wars and in Argentina.
Terence Reeves-Smyth continues:
“In contrast to the exterior, the interior is quite intimate, with surprisingly small rooms – a product of the early date of much of the building. Early 18th century wood panelling survives in parts of the house including the main staircase hall, but many rooms were redecorated in regency times, such as the dining room which still has its early 19th century furniture, including a bath-sized turf bucket and pinkish-red damask wallpaper.“
Terence Reeves-Smyth continues: “Regency additions incorporated the study, which also retains its original furnishings, and the smoking room, which was converted into a laboratory and photography darkroom by Henry Pakenham-Mahon, an amateur scientist, in the 1890’s. The finest regency addition is the library at the back, originally built as a ballroom with a bowed wall at one end to accommodate musicians. This contains Chippendale bookcases and beautiful brown and gold wallpaper, made especially for the walls in the early 19th century.“
Reeves-Smyth continues, describing the kitchen which we did not see: “The old kitchen in the left wing of the house is approached from the dining room along a curved corridor, past store rooms for kitchen utensils and sporting equipment. Fitted with spits and ovens for baking, roasting and smoking, this kitchen has its original balustraded gallery which crosses the high ceilinged room lengthwise, the only example of its kind to survive in Ireland, especially in houses designed by Richard Castle. These galleries allowed the housekeeper to supervise the affairs below – one tradition has it that menus were dropped from the balcony on Monday mornings with instructions to the cook for the week’s meals.
“The wing to the right of the central block contains magnificent vaulted stables carried on Tuscan columns, similar to stables built by Castle for Carton (1739) and Russborough (1741). An underground passage links these stables to the yard on the north side of the house. The estate office was also in this wing, which meant the tenantry had to come here rather than to an office in the village to pay their rent.“
A photograph of the vaulted stables, by Henry Pakenham Mahon (1851-1922).
Maurice Craig tells us in his Irish Country Houses of the Middle Size: p. 21. “The practice of connecting the house with outlying offices by a tunnel seems to be peculiar to Ireland…Strokestown, Bellamont, Castle Coole and Lucan are amongst the Irish examples. In the nature of things, this is a feature of the grander houses, though it has been reported in connection with some of modest size.”
Thomas 2nd Baron married but had no children and his brother Maurice (1772-1845) succeeded as 3rd Baron Hartland when Thomas died in 1835. Maurice had joined the clergy, and was awarded a prebendary (an administrative role) in Tuam Cathedral in 1804.
In 1813 the 3rd Baron Hartland married Jane Isabella Hume of Humewood, County Wicklow, but also had no children and the title became extinct. He had another brother, Stephen, but he predeceased his brothers and had no children. The museum tells us that the 3rd Baron suffered with mental illness, though it does not give us specifics. He was declared insane just a year after he inherited the property in 1835.
The 3rd Baron Hartland married Jane Isabella Hume of Humewood, County Wicklow. Humewood, County Wicklow photograph courtesy of National Library of Ireland, photographer Robert French, Lawrence Collection Circa 1865 – 1914 NLI Ref. L_IMP_3853.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that it was Denis Mahon who brought a motion against Maurice claiming that he was mentally ill and incapable of caring for the estate. Maurice had allowed the lease to lapse for a portion of the estate and stopped collecting rent from the town of Ballykilcline and its surrounding area. This led to an official declaration stating Maurice was a “lunatic.” Denis was named executor of the estate as well as being named Maurice’s legal guardian.
The museum tells us that when he was declared insane in 1836, two cousins battled in the courts to inherit the property: Denis Mahon (1787-1847) and Marcus McCausland.
Marcus McCausland owned the property of Drenagh, Limavady in County Derry (now a wedding venue). His mother was Theodosia Mahon, a sister of the 1st Baron Hartland, who had married Conolly McCausland-Gage. The nine year court case decided in favour of Denis Mahon. As well as the now poorly managed property, he inherited debts.
Denis was the son of a brother of 1st Baron Hartland, Reverend Thomas Mahon (1740-1811). Reverend Thomas married Honoria Kelly, daughter of Denis Kelly of Castle Kelly, County Galway (also called Aughrane Castle, it has been demolished. It was purchased by Bagots in 1910, I’m haven’t found an ancestral link to these Bagots).
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
It was Denis Mahon who was then murdered during the Famine. The story is told in detail in the Famine Museum. The estate was badly run and tenants let and sublet their parcels of land, hence owned smaller and smaller portions of land to grow their crops.
Reeves-Smyth tells us: “Major Denis Mahon, who succeeded to Strokestown on the death of the third and last Lord Hartland in 1845 was so unpopular a landlord during the famine years that he was shot whilst returning from a meeting of the Roscommon Relief Committee in 1848, apparently on suspicion of chartering unseaworthy ships to transport emigrants from his estate to America. His successors were much better regarded and his great-granddaughter and last owner, Mrs. Olive Hales-Packenham-Mahon, was a much loved figure in this part of Ireland. She died in 1981, leaving a house filled with the trappings of three centuries of unbroken family occupation.“
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
Captain Denis Mahon chose to help his tenants to leave Ireland. He wanted to reduce his number of tenants. The 1838 Poor Law made a local tax for poor rates. In 1843 the act was amended and introduced new rates, charging landlords a tax for each tenant who had holdings of less than a value of £4. Landlords therefore tried to reduce the number of tenants.
The Famine Museum is introduced by a beautifully handwritten letter by tenants asking not for money or food, but work. The eloquent letter humanises those who were experiencing the poverty of the famine in the 1840s.
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
Arthur Young writes in his A Tour in Ireland in 1799 that “the poor live on potatoes and milk, it is their regular diet, very little oat bread being used and no flesh meat at all except on Easter Sunday and Christmas day.”
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
Denis Mahon tried to make the estate pay for itself, to pay off the debts he had inherited. He also tried to take care of his tenants. He had two agents, John Ross Mahon and Thomas Conry. He began relief efforts for his tenants in March 1846. 4000 people were provided with corn on a weekly basis at low or no cost, and after a harsh winter, he distributed free seed to his most needy tenants. He also had a soup kitchen set up.
John Ross Mahon wrote to him that the poor rates would exceed receipts of rent. By 1847 the conditions were worse and there was unrest amongst the tenants. Mahon began to evict tenants and to encourage others to emigrate. The Freeman’s Journal in 1848 states that “The evictions on the estate since Major Mahon had taken over amounted to 3006 people, including the 1,490 who were selected to emigrate.” Fewer than half of those who emigrated survived the trek to Dublin and the journey on the ship.
The building of the month entry in the National Inventory summarises: “Major Mahon, an improving landlord, sought to alleviate the situation by judicious depopulation and in 1847 organised the voluntary emigration of almost one thousand of his tenants to North America. However, a far greater number refused to move and were the subject of evictions involving almost 600 families and 3000 individuals. Returning from an evening meeting in Roscommon, where he had urged the Board of Guardians to keep the workhouse open for needy paupers, Major Mahon was fatally shot on the 2nd of November 1847. Three men were hanged for the murder and two were transported, but the true identity of the assassin or assassins has been debated ever since.”
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
The Famine Museum tells us that there were secret societies who sought to improve the conditions of the poor. A local one in Roscommon was called the “Molly Maguires.”
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
The man suspected to be the mastermind of the murder, Andrew Connor, probably escaped to Canada. Police followed to Canada to try to capture him but to no avail. A man named Patrick Hasty was hanged for the murder, along with two others.
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
Denis’s son Thomas predeceased him, childless, and the house passed to his daughter, Grace Catherine. Earlier in 1847, Grace had married Henry Sandford Pakenham (1823-1893), son of Reverend Henry Pakenham, Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, who was from Pakenham Hall in County Westmeath, now called Tullynally (see my entry, it is another Section 482 property which can be visited).
Henry Sandford Pakenham held the office of High Sheriff of County Roscommon in 1830. He was heir to the vast Pakenham and Sandford estates in counties Longford, Westmeath and Roscommon. He legally changed his name to Henry Sandford Pakenham Mahon by Royal Licence in 1847.
After Denis Mahon was killed his devastated daughter Grace moved to the Isle of Wight with her husband, who continued to manage the estate with the help of his agent.
He and Grace Catherine had several daughters, and a son, Henry Pakenham-Mahon (1851-1922).
Henry moved back to live in Strokestown. He was High Sheriff, Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of County Roscommon, following in the footsteps of his father. He married Mary Burrard and Olive, as mentioned by Reeves-Smyth, was their daughter.
Henry Pakenham-Mahon was a keen horticulturalist and his main contribution to the estate was the development of the gardens. The family lived part-time in Strokestown Park and part-time in England. He developed a Pleasure Garden in the walled garden.
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
He also had an interest in photography, and he built a darkroom in Strokestown House.
His daughter Olive, born in 1894, first married Captain Edward Charles Stafford-King-Harman, from Rockingham House, County Roscommon, whom we came across in King House. Tragically, he died in the first world war in 1914. They had one daughter, Lettice. If Lettice had been a boy she would have inherited Rockingham. Olive and Lettice returned to live in Strokestown Park.
Olive married again, this time to Wilfrid Stuart Atherstone Hales, who also fought in the first world war, and later, in the second. A British garrison was set up in Strokestown House during the War of Independence. After an ambush nearby, Wilfrid Stuart Hales was sent to investigate, and he and Olive fell in love. On 18 April 1923 his name was legally changed to Wilfrid Stuart Atherstone Hales Pakenham Mahon by Deed Poll. He married Olive in 1921 and he changed his name after the death of her father in 1922. They went on to have several children. It was her son who sold the estate.
Olive Hales Pakenham Mahon dressed for a visit to Buckingham Palace in the 1930s.Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, August 2022.
The Pakenham Mahons did not spent much time in Strokestown due to Stuart Hales Pakenham Mahon’s military career, until they returned to live there in the 1950s.
Stuart Hales Pakenham Mahon was interested in finding water and mineral deposits by “dousing,” and the photography display we saw in the house also had information on this topic.
The property has a six acre walled garden and woodlands.
Westward Garage Ltd approached the Pakenham Mahons to buy their land, and terms were agreed. At first the garage only wanted to keep some land and they planned to sell the house, but then Jim Callery found the documents relating to the famine, and had the idea of setting up a famine museum. The company let Olive and her husband remain in the house. Jim Callery employed his cousin Luke Dodd to oversee restoration of the house. [15] In 1987 the house opened to the public, and the Famine Museum opened in 1994. The walled garden opened in 1997, and the herbaceous border is said to be the longest in either Ireland or the UK.
The following day there was a talk about the mausoleum at Strokestown, but we had to move on with our Heritage Week plans. The mausoleum was constructed within an earlier 17th century church and contains a crypt in which members of the Mahon Family were buried. Following years of careful and professional conservation and sympathetic landscaping, this ruin is again accessible and visible to visitors to Strokestown Park.
[6] Bernard, Sir Burke, editor, Burke’s genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland, 4th ed. (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1958), page 471. I’m not sure if “Movilla” mentioned here refers to Moyveela townland.
[7] Reeves-Smyth, Terence. Irish Big Houses. Appletree Press Ltd (22 April 2009)
[12] 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. Note that Mark Bence-Jones claims that it was the 2nd Baron Hartland who laid out the main street of Strokestown and had the entrance built, but the National Inventory tells us that it was Maurice, 1st Baron Hartland.
I have not published an entry in a couple of weeks but have been working hard! I am working on my entry for Strokestown Park in County Roscommon at the moment, which I will publish soon.
Strokestown Park, County Roscommon.
I have updated the home page and each entry with the newly published 2023 open dates.
These list which properties are open on each calendar day of the year.
I have also been planning our trips around Ireland this year, to visit more Section 482 properties. There are no new properties on the list, although Portnason House in County Donegal had dropped off the list in 2022, and is now back on the list. Several other properties have dropped off the listing. I am sorry not to have visited Geragh in Sandycove in Dublin which is no longer listed. I also missed out on seeing Knocknagin House in Balbriggan, which I think sold last year, and is no longer listed – the same goes for Boland’s Lock in Tullamore.
I also didn’t get to visit Ballybur Castle in County Kilkenny, but it is still available to rent out, for weddings, and for group tours: see http://www.ballyburcastle.com/
The oddly named “Prison House” in County Mayo has also dropped off the list. I am also sorry that I did not get to see Cloughjordan House in County Tipperary before it dropped off the list. It remains a wedding and event venue, https://www.cloughjordanhouse.com/
I’m delighted I visited Claregalway Castle last year as it has now changed to be a section 482 accommodation listing. In corresponding with property owners in order to create my calendar, I was alerted to the fact that there are three types of listing for Section 482 properties. A property might be listed as “garden only,” such as Ballynatray or Oakfield Park. A property can be open to the public for sixty days. Or else a property can be listed as Accommodation. If it is listed as Accommodation it does not have to open to the public except when providing accommodation. Some accommodation properties do kindly list open dates for public visits.
Before I realised this distinction, several Accommodation listing owners generously opened their house to me for a tour. I want to highlight this distinction as it means you cannot show up at an accommodation listing expecting a tour!
Some Section 482 properties provide accommodation but are not classified under the Accommodation listing, for various reasons – for example, they may not be open for the required six months of the year. I would recommend that you contact the property before visiting, as they may be hosting a wedding or event.
The final property that has dropped off the Section 482 listing is a garden, Knockanree in County Wicklow. Unfortunately I missed out on visiting there also.
It just goes to show, I must try to visit places while they are on the list! Properties are generally on the list for a minimum of five years.
This year Stephen and I are treating ourselves to a stay in Ballyseede Castle in County Kerry, and we will also be revisiting the wonderful Bantry House. I have plotted out our year’s visiting, but even if we visit one property every weekend, we still won’t see every property!
Open dates in 2025: May 1-3, 8-10, 15-17, 22-24, 29-31, June 5-7, 12-14, 19-21, 26-27, July 3-5, 10-12, 17-19, 24-26, 31, Aug 1-2, 7-9, 14-24, 28-30, Sept 4-6, 2pm-6pm
Fee: adult €10, OAP €7, student €5
donation
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
The Swiss-Italian stuccadores were brought to Ireland from England in 1738 by Robert Fitzgerald (1675-1744) 19th Earl of Kildare, who built both Leinster House in Dublin (first known as Kildare House until his son was raised to be Earl of Leinster) and Carton House.
Going back to its origins, the estate of Riverstown was purchased by Edward Browne (b. 1676), Mayor of Cork. He married Judith, the heiress daughter of Warham Jemmett (b. 1637), who lived in County Cork. The present house possibly dates from the mid 1730s, Frank Keohane tells us in Buildings of Ireland: Cork City and County. [2] A hopper with the date 1753 probably records alterations, when the gable end at one side was replaced by full-height canted bays.
Mark Bence-Jones describes Riverstown in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
“…The house consists of a double gable-ended block of two storeys over a basement which is concealed on the entrance front, but which forms an extra storey on the garden front, where the ground falls away steeply; and a three-storey one bay tower-like addition at one end, which has two bows on its side elevation. The main block has a four bay entrance front, with a doorway flanked by narrow windows not centrally placed.” [3]
The tower-like third storey on part of the house was possibly added by architect Henry Hill around 1830, Keohane tells us. Henry Hill was an architect who worked in Cork, perhaps initially with George Richard Pain, and later with William Henry Hill and Arthur Hill.
As Riverstown and its plasterwork was described in 1750 in Smith’s History of County Cork, it must have been created before this, perhaps when Browne’s son Jemmet Browne was elevated to the position of Bishop of Cork in 1745. He later became Archbishop of Tuam.
Reverend Jemmett Browne at a meet of Foxhounds by Peter Tillemans, courtesy of Yale Centre for British Art.
Reverend Jemmett Browne gave rise to a long line of clerics. He married Alice Waterhouse, daughter of Reverend Thomas Waterhouse. His son Edward (1726-1777) became Archbishop of Cork and Ross, and a younger son, Thomas, also joined the clergy.
A portrait of Alice Waterhouse, wife of Bishop Jemmett Browne.
Edward Archbishop of Cork and Ross named his heir Jemmett (1753-1797) and he also joined the clergy. He married Frances Blennerhassett of Ballyseede, County Kerry (now a hotel and also a section 482 property, see my entry). If the tower part of the house was built in 1830 it would have been for this Jemmett Browne’s heir, another Jemmett (1787-1850).
In BeautiesofIreland (vol. 2, p. 375, published 1826), James Norris Brewer writes that: “the river of Glanmire runs through the gardens banked with serpentine canals which are well stocked with carp,tench, etc. A pleasant park stocked with deer, comes close to the garden walls. The grounds of this very respectable seat about in aged timber and the whole demesne wears an air of dignified seclusion.”
The first Jemmett Browne was friendly with Laurence Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy. The bawdiness of the novel demonstrates that clerics at the time led a different life than those of today! Jemmett Browne’s interest in fine stucco work was probably influenced by fellow clerics Bishop George Berkeley, Samuel “Premium” Madden and Bishop Robert Clayton. Samuel Madden recommended, in his Reflections and Resolutions Proper to the Gentlemen of Ireland that stucco is substituted for wainscot. [4] Bishop Clayton owned what is now called Iveagh House on St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin (see my entry, https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/09/23/open-house-culture-night-and-heritage-week-dublin-visits/ ).
Portrait c. 1740 of Archbishop Robert Clayton (1695–1758) and Katherine née Donellan by James Latham, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland. Known for his unorthodox views, at the time of his death Robert Clayton was facing charges of heresy.George Berkeley (1685-1753), Philosopher; Bishop of Cloyne, by John Smibert 1730 courtesy of National Portrait Gallery NPG 653.He was a friend of Reverend Jemmett Browne.
The stucco work is so important that the Office of Public Works feared it would be lost, as the house was standing empty in the 1950s before being purchased by John Dooley, father of the current owner, in around 1965. Under the direction of Raymond McGrath of the Office of Public Words, with advice from Dr. C. P. Curran, the authority on Irish decorative plasterwork, moulds were taken in 1955-6. The moulds are now displayed prominently in the home of Ireland’s President, Áras an Uachtaráin. (see my entry on the Áras in the entry on Office of Public Works properties in Dublin, https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/01/21/office-of-public-works-properties-dublin/ )
Shortly after John Dooley purchased the property, the members of the Irish Georgian Society decided to help to restore the plasterwork.
The book published on the 50th anniversary of the Irish Georgian Society, by Robert O’Byrne, has part of a chapter on Riverstown and the Irish Georgian Society’s role in restoration of the Lafranchini plasterwork in the 1960s.
The book published on the 50th anniversary of the Irish Georgian Society has part of a chapter on Riverstown and the Irish Georgian Society’s role in restoration of the Lafranchini plasterwork in the 1960s. By this time, John Dooley had purchased Riverstown, after it has been standing empty. At the time, Dooley had not yet moved in, and the dining room was not preserved to the standard the Georgian Society would have liked. The book has a photograph of potatoes being stored in the dining room.
Photograph from Irish Georgian Society, by Robert O’Byrne. The photograph was published in the Cork Examiner in February 1965.We don’t know of course how temporary this storage was.
The entrance hall of Riverstown is also impressive, and the members of the Georgian Society also helped to clean the plasterwork in this room. The walls curve, and the room has an elegant Neoclassical Doric frieze and shapely Corinthian columns.
Mark Bence-Jones decribes: “The hall, though of modest proportions, is made elegant and interesting by columns, a plasterwork frieze and a curved inner wall, in which there is a doorcase giving directly onto an enclosed staircase of good joinery. To the left of the hall, in the three storey addition, are two bow-ended drawing rooms back to back. Straight ahead, in the middle of the garden front, is the dining room, the chief glory of Riverstown.”
The Lafranchini work in the dining room derives from Maffei’s edition of Agostini’s Gemme AnticheFigurate (1707-09). Frank Keohane notes that the Maffei’s engravings were also used for the decoration of the Apollo Room in 85 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, also by the Lafranchini brothers.
The ceiling at Riverstown: winged figure of Father Time, rescuing Truth from the assaults of Discord and Envy, taken from the allegorical painting by Nicholas Poussin which he painted on the ceiling in France for Cardinal Richelieu in 1641 and now hangs in the Louvre, Paris.
C. P. Curran tells us that the history of the Lafranchini brothers is obscure, but they “represent one of the successive waves of stuccodores who from quite early periods swarmed over Europe from fertile hives in the valleys of either side of the Swiss Italian Alps….They worked in some unascertained way side by side with local guildsmen and introduced new motifs and methods. Their repertory of ornament was abundant and they excelled in figure work.” [4] They executed their work in Carton in 1739, Curran tells us, and in 85 St. Stephen’s Green in 1740.
Keohane tells us that the simple eighteenth century black-marble slab chimneypiece was installed in the 1950s when the house was saved by the Dooley family from ruination. It replaced a remarkable overmantel, now in an upper room, with great scrolled jambs garlanded with flowers and tufted with acanthus, and a comic mask in the centre of the frieze which possibly depicts Bishop Browne.
The work by the members of the Irish Georgian Society on the dining room in Riverstown was complete by the end of 1965. John Dooley continued the restoration of the rest of the house, and it is now kept in beautiful condition by his son Denis and wife Rita, with many treasures collected by the Dooleys. A 1970 Irish Georgian Society Bulletin, Robert O’Byrne tells us, reported further improvements made by the Dooleys. It tells us that one of the house’s two late-eighteenth century drawing rooms adjoining the dining room:
“has been given a new dado, architraves, chimney-piece, overdoors and overmantel. These have been collected by John Lenehan of Kanturk, who rescued them from houses in Dublin that were being demolished and inserted them at Riverstown.”
The two drawing rooms do indeed have splendid over mantel and overdoors. The drawing room has been hung with green silk wall covering. The Dooleys have shown fine taste for the decoration and maintenance of the rooms and I suspect John Dooley knew what he was doing when he purchased and thus saved the house.
A fine wooden staircase brings us upstairs to a spacious lobby containing a Ladies’ conversation chair. Keohane suggests the stair may have originally been open to the front hall, but is now hidden by a screen wall. He writes that this arrangement probably dates from c. 1784, when Phineas Bagnell was granted a long lease of the house.
The owners’ bedroom has an extraordinary carved marble mantel. It was probably originally in the room with the Lafranchini stuccowork. It has great scrolled jambs garlanded with flowers and tufted with acanthus, and a comic mask in the centre of the frieze which possibly depicts Bishop Browne, Frank Keohane tells us.
The Dooleys have a garden centre, which is situated behind the house. They maintain the gardens with its rolling lawns beautifully. The Glanmire river passes by the bottom of the garden.
[1] https://repository.dri.ie/catalog [2] p. 556, Keohane, Frank. Buildings of Ireland: Cork City and County. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2020.
[3] Bence-Jones, Mark A Guide to IrishCountryHouses. (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
[4] Curran, C.P. RiverstownHouseGlanmire, County Cork and the Francini. A leaflet given to us by Denis Dooley.
I’m excited to report that the new Section 482 list has been published, for 2023. No new properties added, but a few have dropped off the list.
Order your calendar now to see at a glance which properties are open on what dates. The calendar costs €25 to cover printing and postage.
The calendar will feature:
1. A list of Section 482 properties, numbered. The number for the property is then used to refer to the property for each listed open date.
2. A calendar, with every property which is open for a visit per date listed on the date.
3. More complete list of the Section 482 properties spread through the calendar, with the information from the Revenue Section 482 list for each property. Accommodation properties will be included, but they will not be listed as open on individual dates in the body of the calendar as I understand that an accommodation property does not have to be open to the public.
4. A selection of photographs of Section 482 properties.
It will look something like this, A4 size (210 x 297 mm) ie. 8.3 x 11.7 inches, and is approximately 100 pages, full of pictures of section 482 properties which you can visit.
Open dates in 2025: May 4, 6-11, 13-18, 20-25, 27-31, June 1-30, July 1-31, Aug 1-31, Sept 2-7, 9-14, 16-21, 23-29, Oct 1-5, 7-12, 14-19, 21-26, 28-31, weekdays 11am-5pm, Sun 11am-4pm, Nov 29-30, Fri 5pm-9pm, Sat 10am-5pm
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!
Stephen and I visited King House during Heritage Week 2022. It is open to the public and is no longer a private home.
King House was built in 1720 for Henry King, 3rd Baronet. There was a house previously on the site built for his grandfather, Robert. It was used as a military barracks in later years. Now it is a museum that tells the story of the King family, the history of the military unit which occupied the building, and it also houses a collection of contemporary art, the Boyle Civic Art Collection and the McAleese Collection. You can take a “virtual tour” on their website.
John King arrived in Ireland from Staffordshire, England, in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Anthony Lawrence King-Harmon tells us in his book, The Kings of King House. His family originally came from Feathercock Hall in Yorkshire.
The land had been previously controlled by the MacDermott clan. A room in King House tells us a few stories about the MacDermott clan. They had a rare victory over Queen Elizabeth I’s forces in the pass in the Curlew Mountains, near Boyle.
John King fought along with Sir Richard Bingham in Connaught during the Nine Years War. [1] In 1603 John King (1560-1636) was given, along with John Bingley, the lease of Boyle Abbey and its surrounding lands, in recognition for services rendered to the Crown. The Abbey had been used as a military barracks since the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII.
John married Catherine Drury, grand-niece of Sir William Drury, Lord Deputy of Ireland. They were the parents of Edward King, who was memorialised in John Milton’s poem, Lycidas, after he drowned in the Irish Sea. The King’s townhouse is now the home of the Society of Irish Pipers, Na Píobairí Uilleann, 15 Henrietta Street. A ceiling in the house features a bust of Milton, commemorating his poem to Edward King.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.
The King House website tells us that John King’s main residence was in Dublin, in Baggotrath near what is now Baggot Street, but he built a “great castle” in 1607 in Boyle. By 1618 he had obtained an outright grant to the Abbey and and its 4127 acres. King-Harmon tells us that an “apocryphal” story claims that the title “Lay Abbot” gave the right to have more than one wife! He adds that this was not a privilege of which John King availed.
He was made “Muster General” of Ireland responsible for calling up personnel to assist with maintaining law and order in Ireland. At the time that he built his castle in Boyle, the population of Boyle was around 300, of whom thirty were English workmen or traders. Sir John was buried in Boyle Abbey.
As Muster Master, John King was in charge of weapons such as those above: a pike, musket, lance and sword.
Unfortunately we did not have time to visit Boyle Abbey this time, though we stopped to take a few photographs from the road – we will have to visit Boyle again.
Sir John’s daughters married well – Mary married William Caulfeild, 2nd Baron Caulfeild of Charlemont, County Armagh, who became the Master-General of the Ordnance for Ireland. Her sister Dorothy married Arthur Moore, son of Garret, 1st Viscount Moore of Drogheda.
John’s eldest son, Robert (d. 1657) was a supporter of Oliver Cromwell, and offered his services to the Parliamentarians. He fought in battles and has been credited with victory in the battle of Ballintubber. He was MP in the Cromwellian parliament in England, representing Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim. He lived mostly in his home in Baggotrath in Dublin but built a house on the site of the present King House in Boyle. He died the year before Cromwell died, and the Kings immediately switched sides to support King Charles II.
King House, August 2022.
Robert King married twice (although not at the same time, so didn’t avail of the Lay Abbot’s rights!): first to Frances Folliott, daughter of Henry Folliott, 1st Lord Folliott, Baron of Ballyshannon (her sister married Richard Wingfield and was mother of 1st Viscount Powerscourt). Secondly, he married the widow of Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon, Sophia Zouche. Edward Cecil was the grandson of Queen Elizabeth I’s right hand man, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley.
Robert’s eldest son, John (1638-1676) first fought with the Cromwellians but then became a supporter of King Charles II. He married Catherine Fenton of Mitchelstown, County Cork. Her brothers predeceased her and she was heir to vast estates. John was created 1st Baron Kingston, of Kingston, County Dublin, in 1660, when he was also appointed as Privy Counsellor in Dublin.
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.Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.
The land of Mitchelstown in County Cork passed into the hands of Maurice Fitzgibbon, the first White Knight, in the early part of the 14th century. The title of White Knight was an Anglo-Norman hereditary title in Ireland, one of three, the others being the Black Knight, or Knight of Glin, and Green Knight, or Knight of Kerry.
In 1608 Edmond Fitzgibbon the 9th White Knight died, as did his son Maurice, and it is said that they were poisoned. The inheritance of Mitchelstown passed to Edmond’s youngest granddaughter Margaret, who married Sir William Fenton. The castle then passed to Catherine Fenton, who brought the estate into the King family.
It was the descendants of John’s second son, Robert (abt. 1640-1707), who lived in County Roscommon, since descendants of the eldest son John 1st Baron Kingston lived in Mitchelstown Castle. John gave his younger brother Robert considerable lands in what was to become Rockingham, outside Boyle. John predeceased his brother Robert, dying in 1676, leaving two sons, who became 2nd and 3rd Barons Kingston.
In King House.Rockingham, County Roscommon entrance gate, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Robert King (1657–1693), 2nd Baron Kingston by John Michael Wright courtesy of Ulster Museum.
Robert (abt. 1640-1707) of County Roscommon held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Ballyshannon between 1661 and 1666. He built a sumptuous house at Rockingham in 1673, after he married Frances Gore, daughter of Lt.-Col. Henry Gore, around 1670. She had been previously married to Robert Choppyn of Newcastle, County Longford.
Robert King, (d. 1707) 1st Baronet of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon from the circle of John Closterman, courtesy of “mutualart.com”
Robert was created 1st Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon [Ireland] on 27 September 1682. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for County Roscommon between 1692 and 1699. He was also appointed Privy Counsellor in Ireland, and he held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Boyle between 1703 and 1707.
Robert’s brothers’ sons, the 2nd and 3rd Barons Kingston, still owned the property in Boyle. Robert King, 2nd Baron Kingston, and his uncle Robert 1st Baronet King of Boyle Abbey both supported William III, whereas most English families in Counties Sligo and Roscommon supported King James II. Both Robert Kings became heavily involved in military operations. Robert 1st Baronet King played a major role in the Battle of Aughrim. Anthony Lawrence King-Harman tells us that it was during this battle that Robert saved the life of the head of the MacDermot family, the original owner of Rockingham.
To add to complications of the time, Robert 1st Baronet of Boyle Abbey’s son John (1673-1720) supported King James II. He sat in King James’s parliament in Dublin. Fortunately he later escaped retribution from William III when William was made King, and his father must have forgiven him also as he was his father’s heir. John became 2nd Baronet King of Boyle Abbey.
The brother of Robert 2nd Baron Kingston, John (abt. 1664-1727/28), or Jack as he was known, eloped with a servant girl from King House named Peggy O’Cahan (or Kane). They moved to France and married, and he joined court of “The Pretender,” son of James II, also known as James III. Jack converted to Catholicism. His brother did not have children so Jack would have been his brother’s heir. However, due to his Catholicism, his family took legal action to disinherit him. Robert 2nd Baron Kingston instead changed his will so that his uncle Robert, 1st Baronet King of Boyle Abbey, would inherit the Mitchelstown estates and the estate in Boyle. Jack, however, disputed this. King-Harmon tells us in The Kings of King House that Jack, with the support of James II and Catholic circles in London, launched a legal action to show that the actions of his family were in contravention of the marriage settlements of his father, and before that of William Fenton, his mother’s father. He was successful and he obtained possession of Mitchelstown in 1699, but not the estate lands. Jack, who had become 3rd Baron Kingston after his brother’s death, also achieved a Royal pardon from William III for his previous support of King James II and his son.
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.
Jack’s actions threatened the Baronets of Boyle Abbey and their ownership of Rockingham. However, they managed to hold on to their estate and the threat receded somewhat with the accession of William and Mary to the throne. Jack, with an eye to their future, raised his children as Protestants in Mitchelstown.
Robert 1st Baronet of Boyle Abbey’s daughter Mary married Chidley Coote of Cootehall, County Roscommon, son of Richard Coote 1st Lord Coote, Baron of Colloony, County Sligo. His son John, who became 2nd Baronet of Boyle Abbey upon his father’s death, married Elizabeth Sankey, but he had no children. Elizabeth went on to marry secondly, John Moore, 1st Baron Moore of Tullamore and thirdly, Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough. Her mother, Eleanor Morgan, was from Cottlestown, County Sligo, a property added in 2022 to the Section 482 list, which we have yet to visit.
The 2nd Baronet moved from Rockingham back to the house in Boyle, which by this time may have been known as King House. He died in March 1720 and his brother Henry (1681-1739) became 3rd Baronet King of Boyle Abbey.
It was Henry 3rd Baronet who built the King House that we see today. Rockingham burnt down, probably sometime shortly after the death of the 1st Baronet. King House in Boyle was destroyed by fire in 1720, so Henry immediately started to rebuild. King-Harman tells us he hired either Edward Lovett Pearce, or William Halfpenny, an assistant to Edward Lovett Pearce, as architect. The newer house may incorporate walls of the earlier house. A pleasure garden was created across the river, and it is now a public park. It contains a plinth that used to hold a statue of King William III but that statue disappeared!
Henry (1681-1739) 3rd Baronet King of Boyle Abbey, by Robert Hunter.When the portrait was advertised for sale by Adam’s auctioneers, 6 Oct 2009, it was identified as being by Charles Jervas (1675-1739).The museum in King House is less certain as to who designed it, suggesting it could have been Edward Lovett Pearce, Richard Cassel (or Castle), or William Halfpenny.In King House.
Mark Bence-Jones points out in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988) that King House is not situated in a demesne but in the centre of a town. It is surrounded by thick walls. He describes it as a large “u” shaped mansion of two storeys over basement with a partly gabled attic. [2]
The photograph from the National Inventory shows the eleven bay garden front which faces the river, with its three bay pedimented breakfront and large central Venetian window in the upper storey.
The side facades have three Venetian windows, one on top of another, the top being within a gable.
Bence-Jones points out that: “As at Ballyhaise, County Cavan and King’s Fort, County Meath, there is vaulting in other storeys than just the basement; in fact, all four storeys are vaulted over. This was, according to Rev Daniel Beaufort, a fire precaution, Sir Henry King having naturally been fire-conscious after the fire in the earlier house.“
Two wings project from the main centre block of the house, and are each two bays wide. The centre block is three bays wide with a centre triangular gable. Bence-Jones describes the deep cornice over the wings, and the round-headed ground floor windows with keystones and blocking.
On the front facade Bence-Jones describes a “plain massive doorway.” I find the entire centre front surprisingly plain with few windows, except the large arched ones either side of the doorway and the fanlight over the door, and two dormer windows in the roofline. Inside the museum, in a description of the building it is suggested that the front facade was not completed.
The National Inventory adds that there is “a seven-bay three-storey extension to south-west with pitched slated roof with piecrust cornice and red brick chimneystacks. Single-storey roughcast-rendered outbuildings to front. Site bounded by rubble stone wall with carved stone gate piers and cast-iron gates.“
Inside the front door is a long and narrow hall or gallery with lovely flagstone floor, which is original to the house. You can see also the vaulted ceiling, and wood panelling on the walls.
Sir Henry King, 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey, served as MP for either Boyle or County Roscommon for thirty three years. He married Isabella Wingfield, daughter of Edward Wingfield of Powerscourt, County Wicklow (her brother was the 1st Viscount of Powerscourt). Henry died in 1739 and was succeeded by his son Robert (1724-1755), 4th Baronet of Boyle Abbey.
Robert 4th Baronet became MP for Boyle also and was created Baron Kingsborough in 1748. It was he who bought the house in Henrietta Street in Dublin. He became Grand Master of the Freemasons in Ireland. He died unmarried. On his death, the Barony of Kingsborough became extinct.
On his death the entailed parts of the estate went to his younger brother Edward (1726-1797), who became 5th Baronet of Boyle Abbey. Edward was also a Grand Master for the Freemasons and MP for County Roscommon, and Privy Counsellor in Ireland. He inherited King House and large parts of the Sligo and Roscommon estates. However, a later will of his brother was found after his brother’s death, and all the unentailed land was left to their younger brother Henry. Henry did not marry but the dispute over inheritance led to lawsuits and caused family rifts, King-Harmon’s book The Kings of King House tells us.
Edward King (1726-1797), 5th Baronet of Boyle Abbey and eventually, 1st Earl of Kingston.
Edward the 5th Baronet married Jane Caulfeild, daughter of Thomas Caulfeild of Donamon Castle, County Roscommon (still standing, it now belongs to the Divine Word Missionaries). Edward was ambitious and when his cousin James King 4th Baron Kingston died in 1761 with no sons, he applied for a peerage and was granted it, becoming the 1st Baron Kingston of the second creation. He built a second mansion in Rockingham, which he called Kingston Hall.
Edward King, later 1st Earl Kingston courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).
He arranged with 4th Baron Kingston that his son would marry the heir to Mitchelstown, Caroline Fitzgerald. The 4th Baron Kingston’s son William predeceased him in 1755, dying childless. The 4th Baron’s daughter Margaret married Richard Fitzgerald, son of the 19th Earl of Kildare. Their only child was a daughter, Caroline (1754-1823).
Robert Fitzgerald (1675-1744) 19th Earl of Kildare, after Frederick Graves, courtesy of Adam’s auction 15th Oct 2019.
By marrying into the family of the Barons of Kingston, Mitchelstown came into the family of the Baronets of Boyle Abbey. Caroline and Edward’s son Robert were to marry when just 15 and 16 years old.
King House, 2022.In King House.
Meanwhile Edward, after intense lobbying, had become Viscount Kingsborough in 1767 and Earl of Kingston in 1768.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
Edward, now Earl of Kingston, and his family moved into Kingston Hall in 1771, and King House was kept as a second residence, but following a fire in 1778, Edward decided to dispose of it. It was bought by the British army in 1795, and became the depot of the Connaught Rangers until taken over by the Irish army in 1922. It was abandoned and in ruins by 1987 when bought by Roscommon County Council, and it was restored and opened to the public in 1995.
King House, 2022.Information in King House about Boyle in the 1700s.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
Edward Earl of Kingston’s daughter Jane married Laurence Harman Parsons (1749-1807), son of Laurence Parsons, 3rd Baronet, who was later created 1st Earl of Rosse, and Anne Harman. Lawrence Harman Parsons changed his surname to Harman.
In King House.
The 1st Earl of Kingston’s daughter Frances married Thomas Tenison, and their son Lt.-Col Edward King-Tenison lived in Kilronan Castle in County Roscommon and his wife, Lady Louisa Mary Anne Anson, was the origin of the use of the word “loo” for toilet! (according to The Peerage website). I’m not sure why! (Kilronan Castle is now also a hotel, https://www.kilronancastle.ie/ )
Edward’s heir, Robert (1754-1799) became the 2nd Earl of Kingston and married his cousin Caroline Fitzgerald of Mitchelstown when he was just 15.
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.
They had nine children but later separated. When young, they lived in London, and toured the world, until they took up residence at Mitchelstown Castle. Mary Wollstonecraft, who later died after giving birth to Mary Shelley née Godwin who wrote Frankenstein, was tutor to the 2nd Earl of Kingston’s children. Mary Wollstonecraft later became a writer, intellecutal and radical, spending time in Paris during the French Revolution, and wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women, as well as several novels. She remained friendly with King’s daughters, who imbibed Mary’s feminism. Caroline, unhappy in her life with Robert, moved to England, and Robert took a lover, Elinor Hallenan, who bore him two more children.
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 Vindication 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’. Provenance: Rockingham House.
On 18 May 1798 Robert 2nd Earl of Kingston was tried by his peers in the Irish House of Lords for the murder of Colonel Henry Gerald Fitzgerald, who had seduced the Earl’s daughter. He was acquitted as no witnesses came forward – a benefit of being in the House of Lords was that one was not tried in a general court, but tried in a court consisting of the other members of the House of Lords.
Colonel Henry Gerald Fitzgerald was the illegitimate son of Caroline’s half-brother. Her father had remarried after her mother died. Caroline raised Henry Gerald along with her own family. Caroline brought her daughter Mary with her when she separated her husband and moved to England. It was Mary who was seduced by her cousin, despite him having a wife. As Mary Wollstonecraft later had lovers, perhaps young Mary King was influenced by her governess’s romantic nature. Colonel Fitzgerald regularly visited Caroline and Mary in their new home in London. One day, Mary disappeared, and was found installed in a lodging house, regularly visited by her lover, Colonel Fitzgerald. King-Harman tells the story in The Kings of King House. Her father shot and killed Colonel Fitzgerald.
Another daughter, Margaret, married Stephen Moore, 2nd Earl Mountcashell. Also influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft’s radicalism, she supported the United Irishmen and Anthony Lawrence King-Harman writes that she may have been with Edward Fitzgerald when he was mortally wounded in Dublin. She left her husband for George Tighe (1776-1837) of Rossana, County Wicklow, an Irishman living in Rome, and became close friends with Wollstonecraft’s daughter Mary Shelley. She wrote children’s books and treatises on pre- and post-natal care.
Robert’s son George (1770-1839) became the 3rd Earl of Kingston upon his father’s death in 1797. Robert left the Boyle properties to his second son, Robert Edward (1773-1854), who later became Viscount Lorton, the name chosen from a local place-name.
Brothers George, 3rd Earl of Kingston, Robert, 1st Viscount Lorton, and Admiral James William King, by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.This large portrait in the dining room is General Robert King (1773-1854), 1st Viscount Lorton, who was the son of Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston.
Robert Edward King (1773-1854) inherited Kingston Hall at Rockingham. He joined the military and distinguished himself in the Caribbean. When he inherited in 1797, he returned to Ireland and joined the Roscommon Militia and worked his way up to become a General. With Rockingham, however, came debt. In 1799 he married his first cousin, Frances Parsons Harman, daughter of his aunt Jane who had married Lawrence Parsons Harman (1749-1807), who owned the Newcastle Estate in County Longford. Robert worked hard to reduce the debt, and was a tough landlord, evicting many tenants.
In the centre, Frances née Parsons Harman (1775-1841) who married Robert Edward King (1773-1854). She is flanked by their daughter Jane King, who married Anthony Lefroy, and Frances King, who married Right Reverend Charles Leslie of Corravahan.
Robert Edward was created Baron Erris of Boyle, County Roscommon in 1800 and in 1806, Viscount Lorton of Boyle, County Roscommon. His support of the Act of Union in 1800 would have helped in his rise within the Peerage.
Viscount Lorton decided to build a new house on the Rockingham estate, which is a few kilometers from Boyle. Robert O’Byrne tells us that the previous house, Kingston Hall, remained in use and became known as the Steward’s House. [4] The new house was designed by John Nash and was ready by 1810. Lorton also modernised the estate. Landscaper Humphrey Repton helped with the design of the outbuildings, gate houses and demesne. The house no longer exists, and the demesne is now part of Lough Key Park. An impressive gate lodge remains, and a chapel built by Lord Lorton in 1833 on the site of a 17th century church also built by the Kings. An icehouse, gazebo called the Temple and a tunnel which ran from the mansion to the lake and was used by tradesmen is open for visitors.
Rockingham House.Rockingham.Rockingham.Rockingham.Rockingham.Rockingham.Rockingham.Model of Rockingham House created by Leaving Certificate studentsof Ballinamore Vocational School Fergal Conefrey, Conor Lee and Declan Sammonwith construction teacher Mr. Tommy Flynn.The interior of Rockingham.The interior of Rockingham.Looking out from Rockingham.
It was a time of trouble with tenants, as outlined in The Kings of King House. Robert evicted Catholic tenants due to uprisings. In famine years, however, he lowered rents and provided work.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
Viscount Lorton’s daughters married well. Jane married Anthony Lefroy of Carriglass Manor, County Longford. Jane Austen had been in love with his father, Thomas Lefroy, and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice may have been based upon him. Caroline married Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet, of Lissadell, County Sligo (another section 482 property). Frances married Right Reverend Charles Leslie, who we came across when we visited Corravahan, another Section 482 property, in County Cavan.
Viscount Lorton’s heir was Robert (1804-1869). He had an unhappy marriage, and his wife, Anne Gore-Booth, daughter of Robert Newcomen Gore-Booth, 3rd Baronet of Lissadell, had an affair which produced a son. Robert and his father sought to make sure that this son would not inherit the King estates.
The Kings of Rockingham were a “cadet branch” of the family of the Kings of Mitchelstown, County Cork. Viscount Lorton’s older brother inherited the Mitchelstown estate and the title of 3rd Earl of Kingston. Let’s make a diversion and look at what was happening at the Mitchelstown estate.
After her husband Robert 2nd Earl of Kingston’s death, Mitchelstown remained in the hands of Caroline (née Fitzgerald), and she returned to run the estate for a further twenty-five years. She kept her son George at arm’s length, King-Harman tells us.
George King (1779-1839), later 3rd Earl of Kingston, painting by Romney.
George did not inherit Mitchelstown until he was 53 years old. He was godson of King George III and was a friend of the Prince Regent who later became King George IV. He had several illegitimate children with a lover when he was in his twenties, with whom he lived in the Bahamas. He went on to marry Helena Moore, daughter of Stephen, 1st Earl of Mountcashell, County Tipperary. Before his father died, he was titled Viscount Kingsborough between 1797 and 1799, and he held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for County Roscommon between 1797 and 1799. He became Colonel of the local Militia, the Mitchelstown Light Dragoons, part of the North Cork Militia.
When his father died, he succeeded as the 3rd Baron Kingston of Rockingham, Co. Roscommon, the 3rd Viscount Kingston of Kingsborough, Co. Sligo, 3rd Earl of Kingston, and 7th Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon.
George 3rd Earl of Kingston’s eldest son, Edward, predeceased him. Edward, who was Viscount Kingsborough, became interested in Mexico while in Oxford and devoted his life and finances to the production of a monumental work, The Antiquities of Mexico. He fell into debt, partly because his father did not allow him enough to run Mitchelstown, and was imprisoned in Ireland, where he developed typhus and died in 1837. In his lifetime he presented a number of antiquities to Trinity College Dublin.
It was therefore George’s second son, Robert Henry (1796-1857) who became 4th Earl of Kingston in 1839. By 1844 the Mitchelstown estate had been taken over by the Encumbered Estaes Court. Outstanding debts went back to James 4th Baron, King-Harman tells us. Despite this, Robert Henry’s life continued at Mitchelstown in rather high style, also despite the famine. Sadly, parts of the estate were sold off bit by bit and eventually Robert Henry had a mental breakdown and ended up in an asylum in England. [for more about the 4th Earl of Kingston see the Irish Aesthete’s blog. [5]
His younger brother James became the 5th Earl of Kingston, but died two years later without issue, and with him the Barony of Kingston of Mitchelstown became extinct. He married Anna Brinkley from Parstonstown (Birr), who was thirty years his junior, and King-Harman tells us that she “was destined to play a major role in the affairs of Castle [of Mitchelstown] right through to the present century.” They had no children, so the estate would have gone to the Viscounts Lorton of Boyle.
James King (1800-1869), 5th Earl of Kingston, who married Anna Brinkley.Anna née Brinkley, wife of the 5th Earl of Kingston, who lived in Mitchelstown.
Robert, who was to become 2nd Viscount Lorton, and his wife Anne née Gore-Booth, had a son, Robert (1831-1871), and a daughter, Frances. Anne then had a son, Henry Ernest, with her lover, Vicomte Ernest Satgé St Jean. 1st Viscount Lorton tried to take action to ensure that Henry Ernest would not inherit.
In order to avoid Henry Ernest from inheriting Mitchelstown, they had to break the entail on Mitchelstown and James the 5th Earl of Kingston promised money from the Mitchelstown estate to the 3rd Viscount Lorton, for signing away the entail. Instead, Mitchelstown was left to his wife. The money promised to 3rd Viscount Lorton formed a debt, falling to Anna Brinkley, which gave her much difficulty later.
Before continuing, I must mention the youngest son of 1st Viscount Lorton, Laurence Harman King (1816-1875). He married Mary Cecilia Johnstone of Alva, Scotland. His father drew up a settlement which in the event that the 2nd Viscount’s legitimate son did not have an heir, Rockingham would go to his younger son, Laurence Harman, who in 1838 had legally changed his name to Laurence Harman King-Harman.
Laurence Harman King-Harman also inherited the estate of Newcastle in County Longford. He was chosen for the inheritance in preference to his dissipated brother. Lawrence’s mother, recall, was Frances Parsons, daughter of Laurence Harman Parsons and and Jane King (daughter of 1st Earl of Kingston). Laurence Harman Parsons’s father was Laurence Parsons, 3rd Baronet of Birr Castle, County Offaly, and his mother was Anne Harman, whose family owned Newcastle, County Longford.
The property of Newcastle had belonged to the Chappoyne family. A daughter of that family married Anthony Sheppard, and the property passed into the ownership of the Sheppard family. It then passed via a daughter, Frances Sheppard, who married Wentworth Harman (c. 1635-1714). On Frances’s death in 1766 the property passed to her son Reverend Cutts Harman (1706-1784), Dean of Waterford. He had no children, so he left the property to his nephew, Laurence Parsons, who had married Jane King. In return, Laurence Parsons added the name Harman to his surname in 1792 to become Laurence Harman Parsons-Harman.
Laurence Harman Parsons was created 1st Baron Oxmantown, Co. Wexford in 1792, and 1st Earl of Rosse in 1806.
Laurence and Jane had a daughter, Frances, and no son. Frances married Robert Edward King, 1st Viscount Lorton in 1799. Laurence left all of his property to his wife Jane, which included Newcastle and two houses in St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin. Upon the birth of Frances and Robert Edward’s second son, whom they named Laurence Harman King, Lady Rosse decided to leave Newcastle to him. In 1838 when Lady Rosse died, just a year after Laurence Harman King’s marriage, he inherited Newcastle. At that time he also added Harman to his surname to become Laurence Harman King-Harman. [6]
Let us go back, however, to his brother Robert, who was upon his father’s death to become 2nd Viscount Lorton. The reason that 1st Viscount Lorton was worried about the second, illegitimate grandson inheriting, is that the first grandson, Robert Edward, had suffered a serious illness and had only one child, a daughter.
The 1st Viscount Lorton died in 1854 and was buried in the family vault in Boyle Abbey.
Obituary for 1st Viscount Lorton.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
The 1st Viscount Lorton’s son Robert had been a long time waiting to come into his inheritance and had meanwhile spent his time dissipating the family’s money and by the time of his marriage, according to The Kings of King House, had a reputation for drinking too much alcohol. In the same year that she was proven to have an affair, Robert became semi-paralysed, perhaps after severe attack of delirium tremens from his drinking.
Robert and his wife Anne moved to Frankfurt in 1840 and his health improved somewhat. However it was here that his wife met Vicomte Ernest de Satgé St Jean. He too was married. He and Anne accumulated debts at the gaming tables which Robert had to pay, and when his wife left him, Ernest de Satgé St Jean moved into the home of the Kings in Frankfurt!
When 1st Viscount Lorton heard of the shenanigans, he sent an old friend to bring his son and his son’s wife back to Ireland. He did not succeed, and the story of Robert’s wife’s debts reminds me of “Buck” Whaley’s, with the Vicomte entering in convoluted schemes in order to try to gain money to pay off his debts, as described in The Kings of King House.
When the 1st then 2nd Viscounts Lorton died, the 2nd Viscount’s legitimate son Robert Edward (1731-1771) came into ownership of Rockingham, and became 3rd Viscount Lorton and 7th Earl of Kingston. He died two years later, after felling large quantities of timber at Rockingham to pay off his debts.
In King House.
In the meantime, the younger son, Henry Ernest Newcomen King (named Ernest after his birth father) had not been legally recognised as illegitimate. Therefore when his brother died, he became 8th Earl of Kingston, although he did not inherit as much land as he could have, since the entail on Mitchelstown had been broken, and his uncle Laurence Harman inherited Newcastle and Rockingham. He joined the Connaught Rangers, which were housed in the old King home, and he gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was a representative Irish peer in the House of Lords. He married Florence, daughter and co-heir of Colonel Edward King-Tenison of Kilronan Castle in County Roscommon. He changed his name to surname King-Tenison in 1883. He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of County Roscommon between 1888 and 1896.
The Coronation Robe and Crown in the dining room of King House belong to his son the 9th Earl of Kingston’s wife, Ethel Lisette, made to be worn at the coronation of King Edward VIII in 1936, which did not happen since he abdicated the throne.
On the death of the 7th Earl of Kingston, the 1st Viscount Lorton’s youngest son, Harman King-Harman, inherited Rockingham and the Boyle estates as life tenant. He remained living in Newcastle, County Longford. He had six sons and his eldest Edward King-Harman (1838-1888) would inherit Rockingham and Newcastle.
To continue with the story of Mitchelstown, in 1873 Anna née Brinkley, wife of James 5th Earl of Kingston, remarried, to William Webber. King-Harman writes that Webber allowed his relationship to the tenants to deteriorate. Meanwhile, the old debts were paid off by selling off tenanted lands under the Wyndham Land Acts. Anna, the Countess of Kingston, expressed a wish that upon her husband’s death, Mitchelstown should revert to the King family, in the person of Lt Colonel Alec King-Harman of Newcastle, great grandson of the 1st Lord Lorton. However, the castle was burnt by the IRA during the Civil War in 1922, and Alec sold off the estate.
The 2nd Earl of Kingston laid out much of the town of Mitchelstown. King Square includes Georgian houses of Kingston College and its Protestant chapel and family vault built by James, 4th Baron Kingston, and the square also includes the building where James founded the first Grand Lodge of Freemasons in Ireland. The 3rd Earl erected a drinking fountain in the square. The inn at Kilworth where Colonel Fitzgerald was shot is now a private residence. [The Kings of King House]
Edward Robert King-Harman (1838-1888), son of Laurence Harman King-Harman, inherited Newcastle in County Longford and Rockingham in Roscommon. He joined the military and fought in the siege of Dehli during the Indian Mutiny, then returned to Ireland in 1859 and became Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion of the Connaught Rangers whose depot was now in King House. He developed an interest in politics and the cause of Home Rule and was returned to the House of Commons in Ireland as a Conservative Home Ruler for County Sligo. He moved from Newcastle into Rockingham. He managed to leave Rockingham to his daughter, Fay, although her brothers contested this. She managed to keep Rockingham, however, along with her husband, Dr. Thomas Stafford, who was a Catholic. Fay’s son took the name Edward Stafford King-Harman.
Meanwhile Edward’s younger brother Wentworth (1840-1919) inherited Newcastle from his brother. He joined the military in Britain. When he inherited, he immersed himself in running Newcastle. It was his son Alec who inherited Mitchelstown. Alec also joined the military. He left Newcastle to a cousin Douglas King-Harman, and by that time the estate was reduced to just 50 acres, and he sold it in 1951. Before leaving Newcastle, Douglas set aside most of the family records and took them to England with him and published a book in 1959, Kings Earls of Kingston.
Edward Stafford King-Harman died in WWI. His father was raised to the British peerage as 1st Baronet Stafford in 1914. Edward married Olive Pakenham Mahon from Strokestown in Roscommon – I will be writing about it soon as it is also a Section 482 property.
King House, 2022.In King House.
It was his second son, Cecil Stafford King-Harman, who inherited Rockingham and became 2nd Baronet Stafford. Having taken a degree in Agriculture in New Zealand, Cecil was able to bring the estate back into good working order. Unfortunately, Rockingham was destroyed by fire in 1957 and although most of the furniture and pictures were saved, Cecil decided to sell. The house was demolished, and half the estate became Lough Key Forest Park. On Cecil’s death the baronetcy became extinct.
When used as a Barracks, the military erected a mezzanine level in the Main Salon. After Independence, in the 1940s the Irish army used the room for dances every Wednesday.
King House is now home to the Connaught Rangers museum as well as the Boyle Civic Art Collection, and the house also plays host to musical, dramatic and cultural events.
The barracks in King House served as a recruitment centre. We can see some of the posters that encouraged Irish men to join the British Army during the wars.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
As home to the Connaught Rangers, Robert O’Byrne tells us that the house was able to accommodate 12 officers and 260 non-commissioned officers and private foot soldiers, as well as a 30-bed hospital and stabling for horses. [7]
In King House.
During the War of Independence, the Barracks was strongly garrisoned and the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Black and Tans were stationed outside the barracks near the main gate. Many arrests of Irishmen fighting for Independence were made, and prisoners were held in the barracks. Two prisoners managed to escape, James Molloy and Michael Dockery.
Sadly, reflecting the turbulent times in Ireland, Michael Dockery was later killed by anti-Treaty forces during the Irish Civil War that took place after Ireland gained Independence (the Civil War occurred because many did not agree with the Treaty signed to give Ireland independence since the British kept six counties in Ulster, leading to the division of the island of Ireland). When the new Republic of Ireland continued to use King House as a barracks it was called Dockery Barracks after Michael Dockery.
A couple of rooms in King House now contain the gifts which were given to President Mary McAleese, which is a lovely collection of the crafts of various nations.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
Based in the courtyard, Úna Bhán Tourism Co-operative runs a traditional craft shop showcasing locally produced crafts as well as operating an accommodation booking service and at weekends there is a farmers market in the courtyard.
[1] Connolly, Paul. The Landed Estates of County Roscommon. Published by Paul Connolly, 2018.
[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.
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Former Hibernian Bank,now H&M store, 2013.Photograph courtesy of Swire Chin, Toronto.
The former Union Bank, latterly the Hibernian Bank, building was designed by William George Murray (1822-1871), in association with Thomas Drew (1838-1910), and construction began in 1864. [1] Originally it was built with just four bays on College Green and two bays on Church Street.
The Bank of Ireland was formed in 1783. The Hibernian Bank was founded as The Hibernian Joint Stock and Annuity Company in April 1825, and later changed its name to The Hibernian Bank. A group of Dublin businessmen apparently formed the company in response to anti-Catholic discrimination by the Bank of Ireland. The bank aimed itself primarily at the Dublin business community. It opened its only branch in Dublin on 20 June 1825 with 1063 shareholders, many of them London based. The Hibernian Bank was taken over by the Bank of Ireland in 1958. [2]
William George Murray joined the architectural firm of his father, William Murray. William George Murray, the Dictionary of Irish Architects tells us, was architect to the Dundalk, Enniskillen & Londonderry Railway Company, for whom he built the railway station in Enniskillen, Fermanagh as well as many others. He was also architect to the South Dublin Union. [3] Thomas Drew was also an architect in the same firm, and he worked with Murray on the original building for the Union Bank. The Union Bank failed after just six months, and the building was bought by the Hibernian Bank.
William George Murray also designed the Royal College of Physicians on Kildare Street in Dublin after the previous building had been burnt in a fire. Murray also designed many more banks, including the Provincial Bank on College Green (now part of the Westin hotel), and insurance offices.
Thomas Drew was employed by the Hibernian Bank to add more bays to each side, from 1873-76. Thomas Drew later became President of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects and President of the RIAI, and held the Chair of Architecture in the new National University of Ireland. He married a sister of William G. Murray, Anne Adelaide, in 1871. Among his most important building, Archiseek tells us, are the Ulster Bank branch on Dame Street (the interior of which has been destroyed), the Trinity College Graduates Memorial Building, Rathmines Town Hall, and St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast. [4]
The building features a wonderful “chateau-esque” tower topped with ornate wrought iron railings and finials. It has another tapering belltower-type turret at the other side which is actually a chimneystack.
It is built chiefly in limestone, in the Italian Gothic style, with arcades, and has four storeys. The ground storey has deeply moulded arches splaying from octagon piers, and the corner toward College Green is squared off and one entrance door is positioned there on the ground floor, in an arched opening with Corinthian pilasters, under an ornately carved triangular pediment. There is another ornate door entrance at the other end of the building on Dame Street.
The Appraisal in the National Inventory gives us a summary:
“This exuberant former bank commenced operation as the Union Bank in 1864, designed by William G. Murray, assisted by Thomas Drew... It is constructed in an Italian Gothic Revival idiom with arcading to the main floors. The bosses and colonnettes of polished pink granite, and capitals and roundels of Portland stone by C.W. Harrison, create a strong contrast with the pale grey limestone that dominates the façade. The quality and profusion of ornament is particularly striking, with many very fine details, such as the carved timber door, the chimney structure, the carved tympanums and the aedicule [niche or pediment] to the roof of the corner bay. It is located within a group of significant historic bank buildings which line the north and south sides of College Green. The former banking hall has been recently converted for use a large retail outlet.” [5]
The Inventory description continues: “…Shouldered-arch door opening to elliptical-arch recess to corner bay, with carved Corinthian pilasters with engaged marble colonnettes, double-leaf battened timber door with trefoil-headed upper panels, and having carved limestone voussoirs [wedge shaped stones forming an arch] and moulded keystone and triangular pediment with carved tympanum bearing lettering ‘Hibernian Bank’, and egg-and-dart cornice.” [5] “Tympanum” comes from the word drum, like the eardrum of the ear, so is like a drum-skin, and in architecture it means the surface between the lintel of a doorway or window and the arch above it.
The National Inventory describes the doorway at the other end of the building on Dame Street: “Shoulder-arch door opening to west end of main facade, with Corinthian pilasters to reveals having engaged marble Corinthian colonnettes, limestone step, overlight, exquisitely carved timber panelled door, and voussoirs with keystone above, set within open-bed pedimented porch supported on hanging-posts, with carved panels to spandrels, and lettering ‘Hibernian Bank 1824’ to frieze.” [5]
The first floor has more deep semicircular arches divided by columns of polished red granite topped with ornately sculpted capitals. The windows in the first floor are square headed. On the arcading on the first floor level the arches over the windows contain the initials of the banks – the older bays have the initials of the Union Bank and the newer bays, the Hibernian Bank. The windows of the first storey have slightly pointed arched hood mouldings with carved limestone masks to the stops.
The second floor has semi-circular headed openings and the storey above has round dormer windows in the roof. The stone carving was done by C.W. Harrison of Great Brunswick Street. The dressings are in Portland stone, with the finer carving in Caen stone. [6]
The south elevation to St. Andrew Street was added in 1925-8 by Ralph Byrne.
The National Inventory tells us:
“College Green facade (north) has seven bays; Church Lane facade has nine bays, two at north end being similar to main facade and of same date, three to south end being similar at ground and first floors and built 1925-8, other four-bay section being different and built 1873-6; and five-bay facade to St. Andrew Street (current main entrance) built 1925-8.” [5]
The description continues: “Limestone balconette to first floor of middle bays of Trinity Lane elevation, supported on corbels, window openings to same floor being set within square-headed frame; same bays have paired square-headed window openings to second floor, with gablet above having limestone copings with finial, and carved tympanum. Three south end bays of Trinity Lane elevation and all bays of St. Andrew Street elevation have diminutive round-headed window openings to second floor; first floor has elliptical-arch double-height openings with decorative cast-iron balconettes to middle of each opening, with timber casement windows having margined upper lights with fanlights.” [5]
The former bank now houses a branch of the clothing shop H&M.
The interior has a vaulted ceiling, which was traditionally left lit up at night for display. It has a semicircular recess on one side. The arched ceiling is very ornate. Archiseek describes it as “arched and groined, and springs from a stone cornice all around; it is covered with coffered panels arranged in a kind of diaper, with rich centre flowers in each.” Note that a “groin” is described by Alistair Rowan in his Buildings of Ireland: Northwest Ulster, as a sharp edge at the meeting of two cells of a cross-vault, and coffering, he tells us, are sunken panels, square or polygonal, decorating a ceiling, vault or arch [see my entry of architectural definitions, https://irishhistorichouses.com/2020/04/18/architectural-definitions/ ]
Irish Historic Houses 