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!
Dunguaire is maintained by Shannon Heritage, which also owns Bunratty Castle, King Johns Castle in Limerick, Craggaunowen folk park, Knappogue Castle in County Clare, Dublin GPO Witness History and Malahide Castle and Gardens in Dublin. Stephen and I visited Dunguaire Castle in July 2021. The website currently tells us that it is temporarily closed.
Dunguaire is a tower house built in 1520 by the O’Hynes clan on the shores of Galway Bay. “Dun Guaire” is from Fort of Guaire; Guaire was King of Connaught in the sixth century. Inland lay forests, bogs and wolves, so people travelled at that time by boat.
Dunguaire Castle, County Clare, July 2021.Dunguaire Castle, County Clare, July 2021. This information board claims that it was Rory Mor O’Shaughnessy who built Dunguaire, around 1550.Dunguaire Castle, County Clare, July 2021.
A map in the castle showed us that from Galway in the 17th century, animal hides, tallow from fat, wool and salmon were exported to Spain and France, hare, squirrel, lamb and fox skins imported to Spain, kelp seaweed to France and England, Linen to New York (from flax) and pork and herring to colonies in Jamaica.
Galway would have obtained imports of salt from Portugal (although salt mines were also developed in Ireland), wine from France and Italy, iron, weapons, spices and calico from Spain, flax seed and tobacco from New York, potatoes from Delaware (!), and sugar, cotton and rum from the West Indies.
Another information board tells us that donkeys were brought to Ireland from Spain sometime during the seventeenth century.
The castle retains a small bawn and a second small tower.
Richard Martyn, Mayor of Galway in 1643-43, lived here until 1642 and the Martyn family, who also owned Tullira Castle in County Galway, continued to own Dunguaire castle through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and on until 1924. Richard Martyn is though to have modernised the building and added glass windows. Chimneys were added in the seventeenth century.
In 1924 Dunguaire was bought and repaired by Oliver St. John Gogarty, the famous surgeon and literary figure, who saved it from demolition. It became the venue for meetings of the literary revivalists such as W.B. Yeats, his patron Lady Gregory, George Bernard Shaw, Edward Martin and J.M. Synge. In 1954 the castle was acquired by Christobel Lady Amptill, who completed the restoration started by Oliver St. John Gogarty.
Oliver St. John Gogarty (1878-1957) painted by William Orpen.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988) that Lady Ampthill’s architect was Donal O’Neill Flanagan, “who carried out a most successful and sympathetic restoration. The only addition to the castle was an unobtrusive two storey wing joining the main tower to the smaller one. The main tower has two large vaulted rooms, one above the other, in its two lower storeys, which keep their original fireplaces; these were made into the dining room and drawing room.” [1]
She must have been a brave character to live in the tower all on her own! She sold it to the Shannon Development company in 1972. It was opened to visitors before that, however, when Lady Christobel owned it, according to another information board telling us that it was opened to visitors in 1962. Banquets began at the castle in 1968 – although I am sure there were many banquets in the castle before that!
[1] Mark Bence-Jones writes in A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 115. “(Martyn/LGI1912; Gogarty/IFR; Russell, Ampthill, B/PB) An old tower-house with a bawn and a smaller tower, on a creek of Galway Bay; which was for long roofless, though in other respects well maintained by the Martyn family, of Tulira, who owned it C18 and C19, and which was bought in the present century by Oliver St John Gogarty, the surgeon, writer and wit, to save it from threat of demolition. More recently, it was bought by the late Christabel, Lady Ampthill, and restored by her as her home; her architect, being Donal O’Neill Flanagan, who carried out a most successful and sympathetic restoration. The only addition to the castle was an unobtrusive two storey wing joining the main tower to the smaller one. The main tower has two large vaulted rooms, one above the other, in its two lower storeys, which keep their original fireplaces; these were made into the dining room and drawing room. “Medieval” banquets and entertainments are now held here.”
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 fund my creation and update of this website. It is my “full time job” and created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated! My costs include travelling to our destinations from Dublin, accommodation if we need to stay somewhere nearby, and entrance fees. Your donation could also help with the cost of the occasional book I buy for research (though I mostly use the library – thank you Kevin Street library!). Your donation could also help with my Irish Georgian Society membership or attendance for talks and lectures, or the Historic Houses of Ireland annual conference in Maynooth.
€15.00
Today I do not have a Section 482 property to write about because I find visiting difficult. My regular readers will have noticed that over the past couple of years I have been writing more often about properties that are publicly owned. I do intend to continue visiting and writing. But I realise my blog puts me in a difficult position. Most owners, understandably, do not want their private property written about on a website.
I have mixed feelings about the Revenue Section 482 scheme. The public are deprived of the amount of income tax that Section 482 owners save. Is it value for money? Should the government be urged to consider doing away with the scheme?
It’s not that I disagree about the value of historic houses. I love historic houses! I love to visit them, I love their history, their architecture, their gardens. I love to stay in them when I can. However, inclusion is too broad. I don’t think every property is actually worth visiting.
When I began visiting the properties, I had no idea that Ireland had so many wonderful houses. So I assumed that the few we have are worth saving. When I discovered Mark Bence-Jones’s landmark A Guide to Irish Country Houses I learned that there are at least 3000 such houses. Perhaps the ones still standing are worth saving, I thought.
After more than five years pursuing my project, I have learned that Mark Bence-Jones only touches the surface. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage lists thousands more properties. Nearly every week a gorgeous historic property is advertised for sale. Each one could be a Section 482 property. Could every rectory and old farmhouse be included on the Section 482 scheme?
Criteria for inclusion is that the property is of horticultural, scientific, historical, architectural or aesthetic significance. Application of the criteria is sometimes tenuous.
Ostensibly, the scheme helps owners to maintain their historic property because it is worth maintaining. It seems that thousands more properties could be included at little inconvenience to owners (more on this later). With the housing crisis and the ecological impact of building, every building is worth maintaining. If one owner has their income tax reduced by spending on house repairs while another owner does not, there should be a very good reason.
The Scheme requires that the historic properties must be either open to the public for specified periods, or provide tourist accommodation. I have criticised the latter before as there is no limit on what can be charged. I wonder why more B&Bs and hotels don’t apply for section 482 status. Why don’t all castle hotels apply, for example? Is it to do with what sort of ownership meets criteria? The government should definitely do away with the part of the scheme that allows a property to fulfil its obligations by providing tourist accommodation. Most are too expensive for the majority of Irish people. The public does not benefit at all. I suspect this was not originally part of the scheme.
Worst are the houses that only do “whole house” rental. In those cases, we can be grateful that someone is maintaining a wonderful piece of history, but since we will never get to see it, we should not be expected to fund it.
That leaves us with the houses that are open to the public for specified periods. I am sure I am not the only person who arrived to a locked gate, or was told that the open day was not convenient. It’s hard for owners, I understand! I know I couldn’t do it, showing people around my home, having it tidy, being there to open the door, not knowing who would arrive. Fortunately, I think only people who are genuinely interested go to see the properties.
And so, I would hope, only people genuinely interested look at my website. I do have owners who have asked me not to write about their property at all. I understand. But that’s when I return to the value of the scheme. Is it because we value these houses, their beauty, their history? Aren’t owners receiving tax benefits because they are acknowledging the value of their property to the larger public? And if so, can they really ask me not to write about them? By highlighting their aesthetic and historical significance, my website encourages people to believe historic houses are worth maintaining.
I am not saying I am convinced of this, and therein lies my problem. Which is why I have only visited one private section 482 property in the past year or more. I completely understand that an owner does not want me to write about their property. I understand that an owner wishes nobody would visit. So I find it hard to make myself visit. I would love to know others’ experience.
And if you are an owner, please let me know if I am welcome to visit! Because I find it hard to ask.
2026 Diary of Irish Historic Houses (section 482 properties)
To purchase an A5 size 2026 Diary of Historic Houses send your postal address to jennifer.baggot@gmail.com along with €20 via this payment button. The calendar of 84 pages includes space for writing your appointments as well as photographs of the historic houses. The price includes postage within Ireland. Postage to U.S. is a further €11 for the A5 size, so I would appreciate a donation toward the postage – you can click on the donation link.
€20.00
Donation towards accommodation
I receive no funding nor aid to create and maintain this website, it is a labour of love. I travel all over Ireland to visit Section 482 properties and sometimes this entails an overnight stay. A donation would help to fund my accommodation.
Open dates in 2026: all year, except Christmas Day, Mon-Thurs, 9am -11.30pm, Fri-Sat 9am -12.30am, Sunday 10am-midnight, Fee: Free
Donation
Help me to fund my creation and update of this website. It is my “full time job” and created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated! My costs include travelling to our destinations from Dublin, accommodation if we need to stay somewhere nearby, and entrance fees. Your donation could also help with the cost of the occasional book I buy for research (though I mostly use the library – thank you Kevin Street library!). Your donation could also help with my Irish Georgian Society membership or attendance for talks and lectures, or the Historic Houses of Ireland annual conference in Maynooth.
€15.00
Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph courtesy of Flickr, “photos by Joe.”
Doheny & Nesbitt, a popular bar on Lower Baggot Street, occupies what was once a residence, built around 1790. Now it holds one of the finest Victorian pubs in Dublin.
Not long before, until 1773, the road had been called Gallows Road, as it led to the Gallow Mount, where criminals were hung. It was not just criminals, however, but also Catholics: Dermot O’Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, was hung on 20 June 1584, and officially recognised as a Catholic martyr by Pope John Paul II in 1992. I first heard of the painful fate of Dermot O’Hurley when exploring the park of St. Kevins church, where the Archbishop is buried. His feast day, coincidentally, is this week, the 20th June.
Dermot O’Hurley was born in County Tipperary and studied in Louvain in Belgium. Catholics from Ireland had to go abroad to study. He knew that when he was ordained, his life would be that of a fugitive, ministering when possible. When he travelled to Ireland after his appointment, he never reached Cashel . Officials believed that O’Hurley was plotting to overthrow the English in Ireland. He was captured and tortured, including putting his feet into boots filled with boiling pitch and oil.
Richard Verstegen’s depiction of the 1584 torture and execution of Archbishop Dermot O’Hurley. The 1579 hanging of fellow Irish Catholic Martyrs Bishop Patrick O’Hely and Friar Conn Ó Ruairc is shown in the background.Coloured engraving from Richard Verstegan, Theatrum crudelitatum haereticorum nostri temporis, 1587.
Another person executed in the same spot was “Darkey” Dorcas Kelly, a “Madam” who operated the Maiden Tower brothel on Copper Alley, off Fishamble Street in Dublin. She was burnt at the stake in 1761 – not all that long before the Georgian houses were built on Gallows Road.
Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s facebook page.
The pub occupies both numbers 4 and 5, two Georgian houses of two bays and four storeys, fronted in brown brick, with corner quoins. The windows diminish in size from ground to top storey. The Georgian period spans over a century, referring to the four successive reigns of King Georges of the House of Hanover, from the accession of George I to the throne in 1714 to the death of George IV in 1830.
Dublin Georgian town houses are typically terraced. Dublin Civic Trust’s website tells us that the house facade, including the spacing and shape of windows, is designed in accordance with classical rules of proportion. Servants quarters and kitchens were housed in the basement, while the principal living space was at first floor level, called a ‘piano nobile’ (Italian for main floor). Large windows at this level let in lots of light. Bedrooms, with smaller windows, were on upper storeys.
The National Inventory tells us that the timber pub front is from around 1890. The Inventory describes panelled pilasters over a painted masonry plinth.
Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the National Inventory.
A decorative brass sheet reads ‘Tea & Wine Merchant’.
Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the National Inventory.
Wooden oversize scrolled foliate consoles frame the signage. Inside the pub retains its Victorian decor, with its original joinery in the bar, snugs and carved timberwork ceilings (according to the National Inventory). The website tells us that the ceiling is of papier maché, and that it has been restored. There’s a replica Victorian bar in the rear.
Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the National Inventory.Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s facebook page.
The main bar retains the original counter, and almost all of the original fittings date from the 19th century. I think it’s unfortunate the bar has big tvs so that customers can follow sports, as they ruin the old world atmosphere.
The National Inventory tells us that the liquor licence has been held by several owners. It was a grocers as well as a pub. Shaw’s Directory of 1850 records William Burke as the occupant of the premises. The website tells us that it became a pub in the 1840s. Burke ran the pub as ‘Delahuntys’ for almost fifty years.
In 1924, Philip Lynch and James O’Connor took it over for around thirty years, before passing it onto a Felix Connolly. A sign over the bar retains the Connolly name. Ned Doheny and Tom Nesbitt, two Co. Tipperary men, then took over and gave it the current name. It now has newer owners, who retained the name.
There are three rooms available to book for functions: Tom’s Bar, Paul’s Bar and the Marble Bar. There is also a cellar bar.
Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s facebook page.Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s facebook page.Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s facebook page.Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s website.Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s website.Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s website.The smoking area, Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s website.Doheny & Nesbitt, photograph from the pub’s website.
I receive no funding nor aid to create and maintain this website, it is a labour of love. I travel all over Ireland to visit Section 482 properties and sometimes this entails an overnight stay. A donation would help to fund my accommodation.
€150.00
2026 Diary of Irish Historic Houses (section 482 properties)
To purchase an A5 size 2026 Diary of Historic Houses send your postal address to jennifer.baggot@gmail.com along with €20 via this payment button. The calendar of 84 pages includes space for writing your appointments as well as photographs of the historic houses. The price includes postage within Ireland. Postage to U.S. is a further €11 for the A5 size, so I would appreciate a donation toward the postage – you can click on the donation link.
€20.00
Donation
Help me to fund my creation and update of this website. It is my “full time job” and created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated! My costs include travelling to our destinations from Dublin, accommodation if we need to stay somewhere nearby, and entrance fees. Your donation could also help with the cost of the occasional book I buy for research (though I mostly use the library – thank you Kevin Street library!). Your donation could also help with my Irish Georgian Society membership or attendance for talks and lectures, or the Historic Houses of Ireland annual conference in Maynooth.
The Odeon, formerly Harcourt Street Railway Station.
Donation
Help me to fund my creation and update of this website. It is my “full time job” and created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated! My costs include travelling to our destinations from Dublin, accommodation if we need to stay somewhere nearby, and entrance fees. Your donation could also help with the cost of the occasional book I buy for research (though I mostly use the library – thank you Kevin Street library!). Your donation could also help with my Irish Georgian Society membership or attendance for talks and lectures, or the Historic Houses of Ireland annual conference in Maynooth.
€15.00
I have created my 2026 Diary Calendar, which is available to order now. Please note that if you are purchasing from outside Ireland, I would appreciate a donation toward postage, by clicking on the donation button.
2026 Diary of Irish Historic Houses (section 482 properties)
To purchase an A5 size 2026 Diary of Historic Houses send your postal address to jennifer.baggot@gmail.com along with €20 via this payment button. The calendar of 84 pages includes space for writing your appointments as well as photographs of the historic houses. The price includes postage within Ireland. Postage to U.S. is a further €11 for the A5 size, so I would appreciate a donation toward the postage – you can click on the donation link.
€20.00
Donation towards accommodation
I receive no funding nor aid to create and maintain this website, it is a labour of love. I travel all over Ireland to visit Section 482 properties and sometimes this entails an overnight stay. A donation would help to fund my accommodation.
€150.00
The Odeon, 57 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, D02VE22, formerly the Old Harcourt Street Railway Station, is now a bar and currently a Section 482 property:
Open in 2026: all year Tue-Sat, National Heritage Week, Aug 15-23, 12 noon-12 midnight
Railways began in the 1550s as wooden rails used in mines to transport tubs carrying ore. That reminds me of the way Bord na Mona used trains to carry their turf on the bog, and the Guinness brewery also had its own train lines for transporting barrels of stout within the site.
The first public commuter railway system in Ireland launched in 1834 and ran between Dublin and Dún Laoghaire, formerly named Kingstown. [1] The Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) travelled from Westland Row in Dublin.
The Harcourt Street Station, built in 1859, was the terminus for the Dublin to Bray, County Wicklow train. Passengers could travel to the villages of Dundrum, Stillorgan and Milltown, and the train line helped to develop Bray into a seaside resort. An article in the Irish Independent, “Fascinating story of Harcourt Street line retold,” published 29th February 2012, tells us that two companies vied for the contract to run the train line. One company started building from Harcourt Street, the other from Bray. It was decided that the first to reach Dundrum would win the contract to run the Railway line. William Dargan was the successful contractor. [2]
Before trains, public transportation comprised of stagecoaches travelling specified routes between coaching inns and horse-drawn boats carried paying passengers along canals.
The Harcourt-Bray train travelled for a century, ceasing in 1959. Much of the former trackbed remained intact and now carries the Luas, the Dublin light rail, the modern version of the tram. The Luas station ‘furniture’ impedes photography of the building and my attempts to highlight its architectural features!
An entry about Dublin tram history on the Dublin City Public Participation Network tells us that the idea of transporting people along a fixed routewithin a city began in Nantes, France, around 1823, when Stanislas Baudry opened a bath house outside the city and started a shuttle service that left the town centre on a regular schedule. [3] I’m glad that the first fixed route city public transport system was for bathing and not for work, as I would have expected!
After Baudry realised some passengers used the shuttle to travel to destinations along the route, he created the first urban transit service in 1826 in Nantes, calling his coaches the “Omnibus” (Latin for “for all”). He quickly expanded to Bordeaux, Lyon, and eventually Paris. [see 3]
Architect George Wilkinson (1840-1890) designed the Harcourt Street station. [4] After he built twenty-four workhouses in England, in 1839 the Poor Law Commission in Ireland invited Wilkinson to design 130 workhouses. After eleven years, the Commissioners of the Poor Law decided that they could no longer afford their own full-time architect, and in September 1855 Wilkinson was retired on a pension of £300 per annum. [5]
Next, Wilkinson designed railway stations, mostly for the Midland Great Western Railway Company. As he acknowledged, a workhouse had to be “uniform and cheap, durable and unattractive” so that people would be discouraged from applying to them for aid and accommodation. He took pride in his work, however. To underline the painstaking attention he had given to the materials used in the construction of the workhouses, Wilkinson published in 1845 his Practical Geology and Ancient Architecture of Ireland, which included a detailed account of the building materials available in the different counties with tables of the experiments he had conducted on the principal Irish building stones. [see 5] He managed to insert an Italianate tower in the Carlow workhouse.
The Dictionary of Irish Architects tells us that in August 1860 Wilkinson was appointed architect to the Commissioners of Asylums for the Lunatic Poor at a salary of £300 per annum. He designed two identical asylums at Castlebar, Co. Mayo, and Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. He remained in the post until 1886. He appears to have done relatively little private work. A few houses are recorded in Bray and Dalkey and a marble staircase for the Marquess of Sligo at Westport House (1858) but he does not seem to have designed any commercial premises or churches. His last important recorded commission was the new agricultural hall for the Royal Dublin Society at Ballsbridge, built in 1879-80. [see 5]
The building is brown brick with granite stone dressing. Two colonnades of Tuscan columns flank the central monumental arch porch which has the entrance doors inside under a further two stone arches. The building is fronted by stone steps as it was built on an embankment.
The central block is double height, topped by an open pediment portico which has ends sitting on a frieze on top of pairs of oversized granite scrolled “corbels.” The large entrance arch is supported on a structure of paired columns.
At the rear of Harcourt Street Station at Hatch Street is the curved end wall of the former trainshed. The curved is due to the placement of the former turntable upon which steam locomotives turned to travel in the opposite direction. [6] This engine shed was used at another time as a bonded warehouse.
In 1900 an accident occurred, when a train failed to stop at the station due to the weight of 30 wagonloads of cattle.
The 1900 crash, photograph courtesy of Odeon websiteThe 1900 crash, photograph courtesy of Odeon website, copyright Ciaran Cooney.
Archiseek describes:
“Beneath the station shed are excellent arched vaults originally designed as a bonded spirit store and now housing a wine merchants and one of Dublin’s trendiest nightspots. The main front part of the building has recently been renovated and cleaned and is now an enormous bar which looks and feels bigger that the external dimensions of the station would suggest. The bar design manages to be sympathetic to the original design suggesting a large ‘Gentleman’s Club’ of the Victorian era without descending to pastiche.
“The rear of the station has various store buildings which were accessible from a raised ramp off Harcourt Road. Due for redevelopment, these stores are quite large containing many brick archways from area to area and were used by Dunlop for many years.” [4]
The Odeon, photograph courtesy of Lisney Commercial Real Estate, June 2025.The Odeon, photograph courtesy of Lisney Commercial Real Estate, June 2025.The Odeon, photograph courtesy of Lisney Commercial Real Estate, June 2025.The Odeon, photograph courtesy of Lisney Commercial Real Estate, June 2025.The Odeon, photograph courtesy of Lisney Commercial Real Estate, June 2025.
This entry makes me want to visit the Steam Museum in County Kildare, another Section 482 property! More next week on a different pub, Doheny and Nesbitt.
Help me to fund my creation and update of this website. It is my “full time job” and created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated! My costs include travelling to our destinations from Dublin, accommodation if we need to stay somewhere nearby, and entrance fees. Your donation could also help with the cost of the occasional book I buy for research (though I mostly use the library – thank you Kevin Street library!). Your donation could also help with my Irish Georgian Society membership or attendance for talks and lectures, or the Historic Houses of Ireland annual conference in Maynooth.
€15.00
2026 Diary of Irish Historic Houses (section 482 properties)
To purchase an A5 size 2026 Diary of Historic Houses send your postal address to jennifer.baggot@gmail.com along with €20 via this payment button. The calendar of 84 pages includes space for writing your appointments as well as photographs of the historic houses. The price includes postage within Ireland. Postage to U.S. is a further €11 for the A5 size, so I would appreciate a donation toward the postage – you can click on the donation link.
€20.00
Donation towards accommodation
I receive no funding nor aid to create and maintain this website, it is a labour of love. I travel all over Ireland to visit Section 482 properties and sometimes this entails an overnight stay. A donation would help to fund my accommodation.
Wells House, although not a Section 482 property, is open to the public for house tours and has 450 acres of woodland and garden to explore. It is one of Wexford’s most popular tourist destinations with some 100,000 visitors each year. Stephen and I visited in May 2025.
The original house was built in the 1600s for John Warren, a Cromwellian soldier who was granted 6000 acres. The house at the time was a simple square manor. The name “Wells” comes from the fact that the land holds several natural springs. In the 1830s Daniel Robertson enlarged and remodelled the house in Tudor-Gothic style.
According to the house’s website, John Warren’s wife predeceased him and he had no children. In his last will and testament, he left his estate, which was then earning him £400 a year, to a cousin, Hugh Warren, on the condition that Hugh pay Samuel Jackson, the executor, £5000, to be divided among John’s other relatives. Alternatively, if Hugh preferred, Wells would be sold, and he would instead be given £500.
Hugh was at Wells in 1693 when John Warren died. He immediately collected up all the valuables in the house, including £1200. He then opted for the £500 legacy rather than having to pay £5000 to inherit the house.
The executor of the will, Samuel Jackson, must have realised that Warren had taken things from the house, so took Hugh to court in England, which resulted in Hugh being imprisoned in 1699.
The House of Lords was asked to delibrate on the case, and two years later Hugh was released from primson but he was ordered to sell the house. [1]
The estate was purchased in 1703 by Robert Doyne (1651-1733). At the time, Robert Doyne was Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, having studied in Trinity College Dublin.
Robert Doyne (1651-1733), who purchased Wells property in 1703.
The tour guide, Aileen, told us that Robert Doyne was from an old Irish family from County Laois. He never lived in the seventeenth century house, and nor did his son and heir, Philip (1685-1753). Robert married Jane, widow of Joseph Saunders of Saunders Court in County Wexford and daughter of the wealthy lawyer and politician Henry Whitfield. They had a house in Dublin at Ormond Quay, where he died, and he is buried in St. Nicholas Within in Dublin. [2]
Philip Doyne (1685-1753), courtesy of Wells House.
The son Philip, who served on the Privy Council, married three times. His first wife, Mary, was daughter of Benjamin Burton (1662-1758), MP for Dublin and Lord Mayor of Dublin, who purchased Burton Hall in County Carlow. Mary gave birth to Philip’s heir, Robert (1705-1754) but she died in childbirth.
Philip went on to marry Frances South, with whom he had several children. Their son Charles (d. 1777) held the office of Dean of Leighlin. Frances died in 1712, and Philip married his third wife, Elizabeth, daughter of James Stopford, MP for County Wexford. Elizabeth’s brother was James, 1st Earl of Courtown, County Wexford.
The tour guide told us that it was Robert Doyne’s great grandson who inherited the property when he was just nine years old, another Robert Doyne, who had Wells House rebuilt, designed by Daniel Robertson.
To backtrack to look at the family tree, Philip Doyne and Mary Burton’s son Robert (1705-1754) inherited the estate and old house at Wells. He served as MP for County Wexford and also High Sheriff. He married Deborah Annesley.
Their son Robert (1738-1791) also served as High Sheriff for County Wexford. His elder brother Philip married Joanna, daughter of Arthur Gore 1st Earl of Arran, but he died young and they had no children. Robert married Mary Ram from Ramsfort in County Wexford, whose father Humphreys was also an MP.
Wells House was spared from attack in the 1798 Rebellion thanks to protection by a local man, Thomas Murphy, who claimed to have risked his life to save the house. Tour Guide Aileen showed us a copy of the letter in which he makes this claim, when he sought to be exonerated from his part in the 1798 Rebellion.
1798 letter by Thomas Murphy.
Wells House became a barracks for the troops that were stationed in the area after the fighting of 1798. The house’s website blog tells us:
“They occupied it for three years. Once the army left, the house and 393 acres around it were let, on long-term lease, to a man named Charles Craven for £393 a year. Craven carried out repairs to the house, and set about improving the land, but in 1811 Robert Doyne, who had by this time left school in Dublin, moved to England, married and decided he would return to Wells to live. To compensate Charles Craven for the work he had done, he agreed to pay the Cravens £80 a year for as long as Charles or his son should live.“
Robert and Mary Ram’s son Robert (1782-1850) married Annette Constantia Beresford in 1805. Before that he’d lived a life of adventure, travelling in Europe with famous dandy Beau Brummell, sailing on a raft down the Rhine. We came across Annette Constantia Beresford when we visited Woodhouse in County Waterford. She had been married to Colonel Robert Uniacke (1756-1802) of Woodhouse, County Waterford (see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2025/03/29/woodhouse-county-waterford-private-house-tourist-accommodation-in-gate-lodge-and-cottages/ ).
Annette Constantia Beresford-Uniacke-Doyne (1768-1836), courtesy of Woodhouse, County Waterford.
It was Robert (1782-1850), probably with wealth from his wife’s first marriage, who commissioned Daniel Robertson to design the Wells House which we see today, building on to the original square residence.
Wells House and Gardens, Ballyedmond, Gorey, Co Wexford_Courtesy Sonder Visuals 2017for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool.A portrait of Daniel Robertson that our guide showed us.
Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988):
“(Doyne/IFR) A Tudor-Gothic house of ca 1840 by Daniel Robertson of Kilkenny; built for Robert Doyne, replacing an earlier house which, for nearly three years after the Rebellion of 1798, was used as a military barracks. Gabled front, symmetrical except that there is a three sided oriel at one end of the façade and not at the other, facing along straight avenue of trees to entrance gate. Sold ca 1964.” [3]
The house is of red brick with granite dressings, and has finial topped gables on the roofline. A crenellated Tudor style entrance porch with arched entrance surrounds the studded timber door. Windows have arched tops, Gothic tracery and hood moulding. The oriel window has crenellation on top.
Robertson, our guide told us, was born in America. When living in England he was thrown into debtors prison. He then moved to Ireland, and Wells was one of his first Irish commissions. He lived in Wells House while working on Johnstown Castle nearby (see my entry about Johnstown Castle https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/09/30/a-heritage-trust-property-johnstown-castle-county-wexford/). He worked for the Doyne family on and off for fourteen years and he designed everything from the house, gardens, window sills down to such detail as the picture frames.
The Dictionary of Irish Architects tells us more about Daniel Robertson:
“From the early 1830s he did no further work in Britain but received a series of commissions in Ireland, mainly for country house work in the south eastern counties. Most of these houses or additions were in the Tudor style, which, he asserted in a letter to a client, Henry Faulkner, of Castletown, Co. Carlow, was ‘still so new and so little understood in Ireland’. For some of them he used Martin Day as his executant architect.” [4]
Ballydarton House, County Carlow, also designed by Daniel Robertson, in 1830.Photograph from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.Dunleckney Manor, County Carlow, by Daniel Robertson, 1835.Photograph from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Daniel Robertson introduced a dramatic entrance avenue of oaks in the 1840s, retaining the original U shape directly in front of the house. Some of the original oak trees remain, which are over two hundred years old. Lady Frances planted fifty species of daffodil on the avenue.
Wells House, County Wexford, courtesy DNG Properties 2019.
The avenue is 550 meters in length from the front door to the entrance at the road and this central axis continues through the house and finishes at a lake that is situated in the woodland at the far side of the house.
Along the avenue on the left-hand side, the website tells us, are 25 mature Oak trees, 3 Sycamore, 2 Lime, and one beech tree. Amongst them we have a Champion Oak tree. A champion tree is the largest tree of a species. [5]
Robertson also designed the surrounding garden including the parterre at the back of the house. From the French word meaning ‘on the ground’, a parterre is a formal garden laid out on a level area and made up of enclosed beds, separated by gravel. Parterres often include box hedging surrounding colourful flower beds.
The parterre was first developed in France by garden designer Claude Mollet around 1595 when he introduced compartment-patterned parterres to royal gardens at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Fontainebleau. The style soon became popular in France and all over Europe. [6]
Robert O’Byrne tells us that Daniel Robertson was one of the most influential garden designers to work in Ireland in the second quarter of the 19th century.
Powerscourt County Wicklow, photograph by Jeremy Hylton.Powerscourt County Wicklow, photograph by Jeremy Hylton.Powerscourt County Wicklow, photograph by Jeremy Hylton.Powerscourt, County Wicklow, photograph by Jeremy Hylton.Powerscourt County Wicklow, photograph by Jeremy Hylton.
The Dictionary of Irish Architects continues in the entry about Robertson: “In spite of his success in attracting commissions, when he was working at Powerscourt in the early 1840s he was, in the words of Lord Powerscourt, ‘always in debt and…used to hide in the domes of the roof of the house’ to escape the Sheriff’s officers who pursued him. By then he was crippled with gout and in an advanced state of alcoholism; at Powerscourt he ‘used to be wheeled out on the terrace in a wheelbarrow with a bottle of sherry, and as long as that lasted he was able to design and direct the workmen, but when the sherry was finished he collapsed and was incapable of working till the drunken fit had evaporated.’ In at least two instances – at Powerscourt and at Lisnavagh – he lived on the premises while work was in progress, and it seems that from the 1830s until the year of his death his wife and family never settled for any time in Ireland… Robertson was overseeing the completion of Lisnavagh, Co. Carlow, where he had been living intermittently since the start of building in 1846, when he fell seriously ill in the spring of 1849” and died in September of that year. [see 4]
Our guide brought us through the impressive double door into the entrance hall. The vestibule retains its original encaustic tile floor, and carved timber Classical-style surrounds to door openings and windows with their shutters. [7]
Daniel Robertson imported Italian oak for the panelling in the entrance hall. The hall retains its carved timber Classical-style corner chimneypiece, and dentilated cornice to the compartmentalised ceiling.
The ceiling of the entrance hall has the carved coat of arms of the Doynes, with an eagle representing strength and courage, and the family motto Mullac a boo, “Victory from the hills.”
Robert and Annette Constantia’s son Robert Stephen Doyne (1806-1870) lived at Wells House. He served as High Sheriff of County Wexford and later of County Carlow, and was Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. He married Sarah Emily Tynte Pratt (1814-1871), daughter of Joseph Pratt (1775-1863) of Cabra Castle.
Robert Stephen Doyne (1806-1870) of Wells House.I think this is Robert Stephen Doyne’s wife, Sarah Emily Tynte Pratt (1814-1871).
Robert Stephen Doyne’s son Charles Mervyn Doyne (1839-1924) was heir to the estate. He attended university in Magdalene College in Cambridge, then served, like his father, as High Sheriff of Counties Wexford and Carlow, Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant.
In Cambridge he met the sons of William Thomas Spencer Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam of the grand house Wentworth Woodhouse in England. The family was one of the richest in England, and made their money from mining coal on their 20,000-acre estate near Sheffield in Yorkshire. They also owned Coollattin in County Wicklow, and the 6th Earl served as M.P. for Wicklow between 1847 and 1857.
Charles Mervyn stayed with the family at Coollattin, playing cricket, shooting and fishing, and there met his friends’ sister, his wife-to-be, Lady Frances. He and Lady Frances announced their engagement in September 1867 and married two months later at Wentworth Woodhouse. [8]
Charles Mervyn Doyne (1839-1924) and his wife Frances.
Our tour mostly focussed on the lives of Charles Mervyn and his wife, because they lived in and clearly loved Wells House. They were good landlords and had twelve servants, all of whom could read and write. Interestingly, they gave their daughters rather Irish names: Kathleen, Eveleen and Bridget.
Frances Mary née FitzWilliam.
We passed through a stair hall next to the large entrance hall, which contains the original staircase of the seventeenth century house.
The Drawing Room is the piéce de resistance of the house with its Versailles style. The room has a cut white marble corner Classic-style chimneypiece with large mirror over, and decorative wall panelling.
An impressive gilt acanthus leaf ceiling rose with surrounding leaf decoration support a chandelier, and the room has a modillion cornice and a border with acanthus detail.
A musical decoration indicates that the room was probably used for musical events. The female face in the panel shows that this was the Ladies Drawing Room, with romantic Cupid’s sheaf of arrows.
The timber panelled door has carved surround matching shutters and window surrounds, and matching pelmets. The door decoration is repeated in the wall panels.
Aileen showed us the two surprising places where food entered the room – through a trap door in the floor and through a grate in the fireplace! There is a room you can see through the grate where food preparation took place.
The study has jib doors hidden within the bookcases, disguised by false books. It has a carved timber Gothic-style corner chimneypiece, and carved timber cornice to the geometric ceiling centred on Gothic-style ceiling rose.
Robert, Charles’s son, started a lending library based on his book collection. Some of the original books that belonged to the Doynes remain in the collection.
The study, or Fossil Room as it was called, is the cabinet of curiosities of items collected by the family on their travels. The room has another corner marble fireplace and timber cornice with geometric decorative ceiling with armourial shields.
Lady Frances painted the pictures that hang on the walls of the fossil room. She died of scarlet fever in 1903, and her husband lived another 21 years but never remarried.
The stair hall introduced in the Robertson renovation has more Gothic timber wainscoting, and cast iron balusters support a carved timber banister which terminates in octagonal newels. The half-landing has the oriel window with stained glass detail and carved shutters. The groin vaulted ceiling has moulded plasterwork ribs centred on octagonal boss. I found it hard to capture the grandeur in one photograph!
We visited two bedrooms upstairs. Our guide explained that the beds were made shorter in those days, because a sleeper slept sitting up in order to breathe better. The fireplace in the room would have absorbed oxygen from the air so it was easier to breathe in an upright position.
When the Butler was ill, Charles Doyle sent for his own doctor. The doctor advised that the Butler take some time off work. When the Butler died just one day after he went home to his family, Charles was heartbroken, our guide told us. The family were good to their servants and tenants. They ran a soup kitchen during the Famine.
Frances enjoyed horseriding, and the house still has her riding habit.
Charles and Frances’s son Robert married Mary Diana Lascelles, daughter of Henry Thynne Lascelles, 4th Earl of Harwood. He chose to sell the house. His sister Kathleen, who never married, bought it!
When Kathleen died in 1938, her brother Dermot inherited, and gave the house to his son Charles Hastings Doyne. Charles Hastings sold the house to a German family, who renovated it. It was opened to the public in 2012.
It was for sale again in 2019 and purchased in 2022 by a local man. He renovated the outbuildings for tourist accommodation.
Wells House, County Wexford, courtesy DNG Properties 2019.
The property has a café, playground, woodland walk, a glorious walled garden and small menagerie of animals, and is a working farm.
[2] F. Elrington Ball, The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 published by John Murray, London, 1926.
[3] p. 283, 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 fund my creation and update of this website. It is my “full time job” and created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated! My costs include travelling to our destinations from Dublin, accommodation if we need to stay somewhere nearby, and entrance fees. Your donation could also help with the cost of the occasional book I buy for research (though I mostly use the library – thank you Kevin Street library!). Your donation could also help with my Irish Georgian Society membership or attendance for talks and lectures, or the Historic Houses of Ireland annual conference in Maynooth.
Ashtown Castle is in the Phoenix Park. The Office of Public Works are currently running one tour per day. [1] The tower house had been incorporated into a house in the late 1700s, and the Office of Public Works demolished the house, which had become very dilapidated, to restore the tower house.
Hugh Tyrrell (d. 1199), later 1st Baron of Castleknock, came to Ireland with Strongbow, Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Tyrrell, a second cousin of Strongbow, became right hand man to Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath. De Lacy conferred the feudal barony of Castleknock to Tyrrell.
The land at Ashtown, now part of the Phoenix Park, was granted by Hugh Tyrrell to the Hospital of St. John the Baptist in the 12th century. The Hospital belonged to the “Crutched Friars” (brothers of the cross) and was one of the earliest city charities.
When the monasteries were dissolved in 1540, Walter Foster was leasing the land, which he in turn sublet to two tenants.
It is not known when the tower house was built but a fragment of a wooden roof truss, found in the wall during the restoration project, has been dated by dendrochronology to the early seventeenth century. The OPW website tells us that it could date further back, as early as the fifteenth century.
In 1429 a statute was passed by King Henry IV to grant £10 to every man within the Pale who would build a castle of certain minimal dimentions in the following ten years. Ashtown may have been built in this period.
On the tour, our tour guide told us the castle was built for a General Lambert in the early 1600s. I am not sure if this is conjecture or fact! General John Lambert (7 September 1619 – 1 March 1684) was an English army officer and politician and he fought in Cromwell’s army for the Parliamentarians. He was also Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
Major-General John Lambert, (1619-1683), Parliamentarian, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
From the OPW website:
“For years it was completely hidden within the walls of a Georgian mansion once occupied by the under-secretary for Ireland. When that house was demolished in the late 1980s, the castle was rediscovered. It has since been fully restored and now welcomes visitors.”
Ashtown Castle, Dublin, courtesy of Phoenix Park website. The arrangement of the growing hedges outline where the house was, before it was demolished.
Outside, the hedges to one side of the castle form the shape of the house that used to stand there, attached to the old castle.
“The castle was dated to the early seventeenth century on the basis of surviving fragments of a roof truss found in the wall during the restoration project in the early 1990s. There is in the stonework some suggestion of a further wing to the north, but no archaeological evidence was found, leaving this section unresolved. The builder is unknown, but in 1641 the estate was in the ownership of John Connell, a distant ancestor of Daniel O’Connell. Curiously the Civil Survey, 1654, lists him as a Protestant. Stone from a quarry at Pelletstown owned by Connell was used in the building of the original wall of the Park.”
When James Butler 12th Earl of Ormond (who later became 1st Duke of Ormond) was created Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1662, he purchased the tower house and lands around it to create a deer park for King Charles II.
In 1668 Marcus Trevor, Viscount Dungannon, was appointed Ranger of the Park. Along with two Keepers, he was responsible for overseeing the Fallow deer imported from England.
The tower house became the official residence of second Keeper of the Park, William Flower, but he assigned it to a subordinate.
In the late eighteenth century the tower house was extended to become the Under Secretary’s residence, and was called Ashtown Lodge.
After Irish Independence, the house served as the residence of the Papal Nuncio. In 1978 the Papal Nuncio moved to a different residence.
The guide showed us what the house used to look like, that had been attached to the castle. For some more photographs, you can visit the Irish Tower House website. [2]
Restoration started in Autumn 1989. Corbels that carried the floor levels were uncovered, and also portions of fireplaces on the first and second floors and a piece of window jamb on the first floor.
Restoration work including new stonework, insertion of oak floors and roof was carried out by craftsmen attached to the National Monuments depot in the Phoenix Park.
Help me to fund my creation and update of this website. It is my “full time job” and created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated! My costs include travelling to our destinations from Dublin, accommodation if we need to stay somewhere nearby, and entrance fees. Your donation could also help with the cost of the occasional book I buy for research (though I mostly use the library – thank you Kevin Street library!). Your donation could also help with my Irish Georgian Society membership or attendance for talks and lectures, or the Historic Houses of Ireland annual conference in Maynooth.
Heywood House in County Laois burned in an accidental fire in 1950, but the demesne is maintained and open to the public. My father, who grew up in nearby Abbeyleix, was at a musical concert with his mother the night of the fire and saw the house burning! At the time, the house was owned by the Salesian order of priests.
The house was designed by its owner Michael Frederick Trench (1746-1836) in 1770s, with the help of his friend James Gandon who designed, among other buildings, Dublin Custom House. Trench was an amateur architect, and designed the parish church of Swords, as well as an addition to the Rotunda in Dublin. [1]
Michael Frederick Trench (1746-1836) by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, picture courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland, NGI.7773James Gandon (1743-1823), courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Robert O’Byrne tells us in his blog The Irish Aesthete that: “In the early 18th century, a younger son William Trench settled in Laois and acquired land there which was initially developed by his heir, the Rev. Frederick. The English antiquary Owen Brereton wrote of the property in 1763, describing it as ‘a sweet Habitation’ with ’24 Acres Walld round 10 feet high. The ground naturally in fine Slopes and Rising, large trees properly disperst, a River of very clear Water running through it. Pouring Cascades, upon which I counted near 100 Couple of rabbits & 100 of Brace of Hares which are in this Grounds…very extensive Views.’ Both the habitation and the grounds were enlarged by the Rev. Trench’s son Michael Frederick Trench…” [2]
The house was named after Trench’s mother-in-law, Mary Heywood (daughter of a Drogheda merchant). Michael Frederick Trench married Anna Helena Stewart who was the only daughter of Patrick Stewart and Mary Heywood of Killymoon in Co. Tyrone.
Mark Bence-Jones describes the house in his Irish Country Houses (1988):
“A house consisting of three storey four bay late C18 centre, with mansard roofed Victorian wings of the same height but in a totally different style. The C18 centre built 1773 by M.F. Trench, who is said to have been the only man who ever called a house after his mother-in-law…The dining room was one of the most accomplished interiors of the Adam period in Ireland, with delicate plasterwork on the ceiling and in panels on the walls.“
Information board at Heywood, County Laois.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.The dining room at Heywood House,ceiling probably by Michael Stapleton, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.
After Michael Frederick Trench built the house, he landscaped the area between his house and the village of Ballinakill, apparently moving hills, digging lakes (he made three artificial lakes), planting trees and placing follies. He created a picturesque garden. The idea of the picturesque first emerges as an idea in late Renaissance in Italy where the term pittoresco began to be used in writing about art. It means that the subject, in this case, the landscape, is “like a traditional picture”. In Holland in the early 17th century a new genre of landscape painting was often referred to as “painter-like” (schilder-achtig). [3] At roughly the same time, French artists Claude Lorraine and Nicholas Poussin painted Arcadian landscapes with classical elements such as ruined temples and mythological figures. These paintings inspired William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748), an architect, landscape architect and painter. Kent began a style of “natural” gardening that revolutionised the laying out of gardens and estates.
There’s a seat in the gardens called “Claud’s Seat” that may be a tribute to Claude Lorraine.
The landscape gardens designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (c. 1716-1783) and his followers were considered to be quintessentially picturesque.
“Capability” Launcelot Brown (1716-1783), Landscape gardener, painting by Nathaniel Dance (later Sir Nathaniel Holland, Bt), c. 1773, courtesy of National Portrait Gallery NPG 6049
The demesne includes parkland, woodland, a lake, some architectural features and a formal garden by Edwin Lutyens with a beautiful vista, which takes in seven counties!
The garden, set within a 250 acre demesne, is, Andrew Tierney claims, the best of its kind in Ireland: a blend of the Arcadian and the Picturesque, above which Edwin Lutyens later erected his walled terraces and enclosures. [4] One of the follies built by the Trenches may contain windows from nearby Aghaboe Abbey. My grandfather purchased property (house and farm) at Aghaboe but the family lost the property when the land was bought by compulsory purchase by the Land Commission in 1977, after my grandfather John Baggot died. I always thought we actually owned the Abbey but that may have been wishful thinking on my Dad’s part.
Michael Frederick’s daughter Helena married Compton Pocklington Domvile, 1st Baronet Domvile, of Templeogue and Santry, Dublin. They had several children, but the house was passed down via their daughter Mary Adelaide, who married Lt-Col William Hutcheson Poë (1848-1934) 1st Baronet.
A son of Michael Frederick Trench, this is Frederick Trench (1775-1859). Inscribed on a label on the back: General Sir Frederick Trench/late of Heywood/A prominent promoter of/The Thames Embankment/& other improvements in London. By Unknown artist circa 1827, courtesy National Portrait Gallery 5505. The panorama of the Thames Quay cascading from Trench’s desk appears to stop at St Paul’s and is therefore intended to represent his A Collection of Papers relating to the Thames Quay, with Hints for some further Improvements, illustrated with lithographs by C. M. Baynes and published in 1825, re-issued in 1827. This followed an unsuccessful Bill in Parliament introduced to obtain Treasury support for the project, but in spite of influential backing the plans were dropped and the Embankment was not begun until five years after Trench’s death, with his elegant colonnades omitted. The furnishing of his room includes on a bracket the marble bust by Matthew Wyatt (1826) of Trench’s patron, the Duchess of Rutland, now at Castle Howard. Manuscripts and a William Kent table point to his various antiquarian interests.
Heywood House was enlarged by Lt-Col William Hutchison-Poë in 1875. Around 1906, William Hutchison-Poë hired Edwin Lutyens to create a garden for Heywood.
Information board aboutHeywood, County Laois.
The website tell us that “The architect Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the formal gardens, which are the centrepiece of the property. It is likely that renowned designer Gertrude Jekyll landscaped them.
“The gardens are composed of elements linked by a terrace that originally ran along the front of the house. (Sadly, the house is no more.) One of the site’s most unusual features is a sunken garden containing an elongated pool, at whose centre stands a grand fountain.“
Heywood was bought by the Salesian Fathers in 1923, and it was during their time that the fire occurred. It was transferred to State ownership from the Salesian Fathers in November 1993 .
The OPW website tells us “The Heywood experience starts beside the Gate Lodge. Information panels and signage will guide you around the magical Lutyens gardens and the surrounding romantic landscape.“
Tierney describes the garden: “The gardens stretch from the principal gates for almost a kilometer and a half, incorporating a sequence of three adjoining lakes and a fourth, further east, and areas of rolling parkland skirted by woodlands. Trench named each part of his garden after Alpine scenery. Trench’s Gothic follies include the Abbeyleix gate, an arrangement of octagonal towers joined by a Tudor-arched gateway. The Trench coat of arms is visible to the right of the gateway arch. From this gate the winding drive opens to Trench’s valley. Nearby, marking a split in the road, is the Spire, a shaft raised in memory of Trench’s friend Andrew Caldwell. Further along is a sham castle. High up behind that is a bridge, and a ruin, on the other side, with the Aghaboe windows. Up the pathway is the Gothic Greenhouse, a brick construction with five lancets with hood mouldings. On the east side of the lake is a grotto or bath house. On the east side of the demesne is the Trench mausoleum.”. [see 4]
Heading toward the Lutyens sunken garden from the Orangerie displays the stunning view, over a lawn of perfect grass. Below the lawn, toward the river, is a trellised walkway, by Lutyens. The house was above. To the east of the house was an alley of “pleached” limes: pleaching means bending and weaving the branches of a row of trees to form a living wall.
Sean O’Reilly describes the Lutyens garden addition:
“Lutyens worked on the gardens from about 1906. He complemented the strong architectural framework with an informal planting style, following the same combination of structure and nature developed at Lambay and made popular with his associate – and Country Life author – Gertrude Jekyll. Laying out the garden in a series of terraces and stepped passageways exploding east and west from the falling southern terraces of the house itself, the architect shaped these spaces with a bewildering variety of retaining walls – vertical and battered, stepped and sheer – screen walls – straight and curved, large and dwarf – columns, steps and architectural artifacts.” [5]
The Tuatha website tells us that, sadly, in 1920, Poe’s car was set alight by Republicans when he was returning from a dinner party in Ballyroan. Poe left Heywood a month later, never to return. [6] Perhaps the website is incorrect and it was slightly later, which would make sense, as Poe served as a Senator in the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1925. Many senators had their houses burned by anti-Treaty forces, so burning his car may have occurred for that reason.
In 1941, the house and gardens at Heywood were broken up, and the Salesian Brothers purchased the property. The Salesians are a religious institute founded in the late-19th century by Italian priest, Saint Don Bosco, in order to help children suffering from poverty during the industrial revolution. The Salesians set up a novitiate at Heywood to a train aspirants to the priesthood. They utilised the glasshouses created by Poe to grow fruit and vegetables, with tomatoes, nectarines, peach trees and grape vines.
On the east side of the pond Luytens created a Pavilion with Portland stone dressings, terracotta tiled roof and saucer-domed interior, containing two Corinthian capitals rescued by Trench from the Parliament House in Dublin, which he was involved in remodelling. The north wall had busts of philosphers in oval niches, now replaced by urns.
Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.
Behind and above the Sunken Garden are a series of “rooms” created by tall hedges and floral planting, stone structures and a suntrap of a seating area.
[1] p. 96. Sadleir, Thomas U. and Page L. Dickinson. Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration. Dublin University Press, 1915.
Help me to fund my creation and update of this website. It is my “full time job” and created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated! My costs include travelling to our destinations from Dublin, accommodation if we need to stay somewhere nearby, and entrance fees. Your donation could also help with the cost of the occasional book I buy for research (though I mostly use the library – thank you Kevin Street library!). Your donation could also help with my Irish Georgian Society membership or attendance for talks and lectures, or the Historic Houses of Ireland annual conference in Maynooth.
We visited the Castle of Castletownshend when on holidays in County Cork in June 2022. The Castle is a hidden gem, full of history. We definitely look forward to a return visit, to stay in the Castle, which provides B&B accommodation.
The castle remains in the ownership of the same family, the Townshends, who built it and who have lived here since the 1650s! We came upon the Townshend family of Castletownshed when we visited Drishane House. The Somervilles of Drishane intermarried with their cousins the Townshends who lived down the road. See my write-up:
“In the picturesque village of Castletownshend, past ‘The Two Trees’ at the bottom of the hill, you’ll find our family-run boutique B&B. Nestled at the edge of a scenic harbour and natural woodlands for you to explore, The Castle is a truly unique place to stay. It has the warm, homely feel of a traditional Irish B&B, but with a few extra special touches.“
The website continues: “Steeped in history, The Castle has been home to the Townshend family since the 1650s and has been receiving guests for over 60 years. Inside the old stone walls, you’ll find welcoming faces to greet you, roaring fires to warm you, and comfy beds to sink into. Each room has its own story to tell, with the oak-panelled hall and spacious dining room retaining most of their original features, furniture, and family portraits.“
The website explains the family name: “The family name has undergone several changes over the years. The original spelling was Townesend, which later became Townsend. In 1870, the head of the family, Reverend Maurice Fitzgerald Townshend [1791-1872], consulted with the Townshends of Raynham, Norfolk. Following this, it was requested that the whole family add the ‘h’ into the name. However, some families were quite content with the current spelling and refused to adopt the new one. This resulted in various different spellings spread across the branches throughout the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada.” [1]
The website tells us: “The building is in fact a 17th century castellated house, not a defensive castle from earlier times. It was built by Colonel Richard Townesend [1618-1692] towards the end of the 17th century, starting off as a much smaller dwelling. The first castle, known as ‘Bryan’s Fort’ [named after his son Bryan (1648-1726)], was attacked and destroyed by the O’Driscolls in 1690, and its ruins remain in The Castle grounds to this day. Richard then built a second castle, which is thought to be where Swift’s Tower still stands.“
The website continues “In 1805 the floors were lowered to make the ceilings higher, a decision that left The Castle in ruins. However, instead of rebuilding it, the stone was used to add castellated wings to the dwelling on the waterfront. This became The Castle as you see it today.“
Castle Townshend, County Cork.
The inside is a real treat, with wonderful family portraits in the hall of oak and what looks like leather wall covering.
Colonel Richard Townesend (1618-1692), who was born in England, gained the rank of Officer in the Parliamentary Army in the British Civil War. [2] The Parliament objected to the monarchy of the Stuarts, and they charged the king, Charles I, of treason against the state and ultimately beheaded him. Oliver Cromwell brought troops to Ireland to subdue those loyal to the monarchy. The opposing force to the royalist forces was called the Parliamentary army. Townesend fought in the Battle of Knocknanauss, County Cork in April 1648, where he commanded the main body of the Army under Murrough O’Brien (1614-1674) 1st Earl of Inchiquin. They fought the Irish Confederates, who supported King Charles I in the belief that in reward for their loyalty he would grant them greater self-governance. The Confederate forces were made up of Irish Catholics and “old English” Anglo-Normans who sought to protect their land holding and to end anti-Catholic legislation. The Parliamentarians overcame the Confederates in the battle, and around 3,000 Confederates died at Knocknanauss and up to 1,000 English Parliamentarians.
Murrough O’Brien (1614-1674) 1st Earl of Inchiquin by John Michael Wright courtesy of Manchester Art Gallery.
Richard Townesend’s loyalty to the Parliamentarians wavered after this battle and after the death of Charles I. He returned to Ireland, and he was arrested for being involved in a plot to overcome Lord Inchiquin. However, he may have been a “plant” to undermine the opposition. A mutiny in the garrison at Cork however led to his freedom and Cromwell praised him for being an “instrument in the return of Cork and Youghal to their obedience.” He retired from the military and settled in Castletownshend before 1654. [3]
He managed to hold on to his land after the Stuart monarchy was restored to Charles II. The Dictionary of National Biography suggests that this could be due connections between his wife Hildegardis Hyde and the Lord Chancellor of England, Edward Hyde 1st Earl of Clarendon. Richard held the office of Member of Parliament in the Irish Parliament for Baltimore, County Cork in 1661. He held the office of High Sheriff of County Cork in 1671.
In 1690, after the accession of King James II to the throne, Richard’s home in Castetownshend was unsuccessfully beseiged by 500 Irishmen led by the O’Driscolls, a family who had owned the land before Townesend [for more on the O’Driscolls, see my entry on Baltimore Castle, https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/12/28/dun-na-sead-castle-baltimore-co-cork-981-x968/ ]Townesend died in 1692, leaving seven sons and four daughters. [see 3]
Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe tells us of the Castle’s builder, in her Voices from the Great Houses: Cork and Kerry (Mercier Press, Cork, 2013): p. 83. “In the late 1600s Richard Townsend, an officer in the Cromwellian army, acquired lands at Castlehaven in west Cork originally owned by the O’Driscoll clan. Richard Townsend also owned other lands in County Cork totalling over 6,540 acres. It was he who built the castle at Castletownshend, the centre portion of which still remains. The two towers at each corner of the castle today were added in the eighteenth century.” [4]
Although she identifies the centre of the castle to be built by Richard in the 1600s, Frank Keohane describes Castle Townshend in his Buildings of Ireland: Cork City and County and suggests that this part was built in 1780. The castle Richard built is probably the ruin nearby. In fact, An Officer of the Long Parliament (1892) we are told that he lived for some time in Kilbrittan Castle nearby, “a splendid very pile overlooking Courtmacsherry Bay, which had been forfeited by the head of the McCarthies for his participation in the Rebellion of 1641.“
Richard Townesend’s early house at Castletownshend is described in An Officer of the Long Parliament (1892):
p. 107-08. “It seems to have consisted of a dwelling – house and small courtyard all comprised in a square enclosure with a bastion at each angle, pierced with loopholes for musketry and some embrasures for small cannon. It was built on a well- chosen site of some strength. The dwelling-house consisted of two stories, the upper one overlooking the harbour. The lower one must have been lighted from the court, on the outer side of which was a parapet for defending the wall. It seems to have been hastily built, as the stones are small and not well put together….A larger mansion appears to have been built before long, which was valued at £ 40,000 , when destroyed in the troubles of 1690.”
Richard Townesend’s son Horatio was in the navy and in 1690 carried the Duke of Schomberg, who fought in King William’s army, to Ireland on board his sloop. He married Elizabeth, daughter of the MP for Baltimore, Thomas Becher.
Death of Frederick Duke of Schomberg at the Battle of the Boyne by Benjamin West, National Trust Mount Stewart.
Another son, John, married Catherine Barry, daughter of Richard, 2nd Earl of Barrymore. Son Philip (1664-1735), became a Protestant clergyman and married Helen Galwey of Lota Lodge, Cork.
Colonel Richard Townsend’s son Bryan (1648-1726) was a Commander in the British navy and MP for Clonakilty. He married Mary Synge, daughter of Edward, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross in 1663 and they had many children. In The Long Parliament, we are told of a portrait of Bryan: “If the very handsome picture at Castletownshend which has always borne his name is truly the portrait of Bryan, it most probably was painted while he was a naval officer, as he wears his own hair and not the voluminous wig in which gentlemen on land used to enshroud themselves.” I must look for this portrait next time we visit! Although it may have been destroyed, along with many papers and letters described in The Long Parliament, by fires in the castle.
Bryan was well-regarded by his neighbours:
“The laws made it almost impossible for any but a Protestant to hold land, so many of the Carbery Romanists, especially the O’Heas and O’Donovans, trusting in Bryan’s high character for integrity, gave their properties entirely into his hands, being obliged to do so without any written guarantee 1. At one time he had under his care upwards of £ 80,000 worth of property which he defended at considerable cost to himself, and when it was safe to restore it to the real owners he did so with all the arrears that had accrued while he held it. This fact was ascertained by the research of the late John Sealy Townshend .” [see 1]
Bryan and Mary’s son Richard (1684-1742) inherited Castletownshend , and was a Justice of the peace and high sheriff for County Cork. He married twice, first to another Mary Synge, daughter of Reverend Samuel, Dean of Kildare. His second wife was Elizabeth Becher from Skibbereen, County Cork.
The Townshends tell us in The Long Parliament about Jonathan Swift’s visit:
“Richard Townshend, of Castle Townshend, was born July 15, 1684, and succeeded to the estates on the death of his father Bryan, 1727 . It was at this period (*1) that Dean Swift spent some time in West Carbery . He stayed at Myros , but is said to have written his poem Carberiae Rupes in a ruined tower at Castle Townshend , still known as Swift’s Tower . It is also said that letters from the great Dean are still preserved at Castle Townshend , and that he named one of the houses in the village Laputa.” (*2)
The footnotes refer to *1: G. Digby Daunt and *2: Now Glen Barrahane, the seat of Sir J. J. Coghill , Bart .
Jonathan Swift by Charles Jervas circa 1718, National Portrait Gallery 278.
Richard (1684-1742) and Elizabeth Becher’s son Richard (1725-1783) also served as MP and high sheriff. He married Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of John Fitzgerald, the 15th Knight of Kerry (d. 1741). His father was Maurice Fitzgerald, the 14th Knight of Kerry, and Elizabeth’s brother was Maurice the 16th Knight of Kerry – there is a portrait of a Maurice Fitzgerald, Knight of Kerry, in the front hall, but I’m not sure which one is it. Richard’s portrait is in the dining room.
Next to the Knight of Kerry in the hall there is also a portrait of the Countess of Desmond, Katherine Fitzgerald (abt. 1504-1604), who lived to be over one hundred years old (some say she lived to be 140) and went through three sets of teeth. We came across her also in Dromana in County Waterford.
“Richard Townshend married in 1752 Elizabeth , only daughter and heiress by survival of John FitzGerald, 15th Knight of Kerry, by whom he had one son and one daughter. Elizabeth FitzGerald’s only brother Maurice, 16th Knight of Kerry, had married his cousin Lady Anne Fitzmaurice, and died leaving no children, but even now he is remembered as ‘ the good Knight.’ He left all the Desmond estates in Kerry to the son of his sister Elizabeth Townshend.”
It may have been Richard Townsend (1725-1783) and his wife, the daughter of the 15th Knight of Kerry, who started to build the castle we see today. Keohane writes of the current castle at Castletownshend:
p. 314. “The Castle. A house of several parts, the seat of the Townshends. The earliest, described as ‘newly built’ in 1780 by the Complete Irish Traveller, is presumably the two-storey, five-bay rubble-stone centre block, with dormers over the upper windows and a two-storey rectilinear porch. Taller three-storey wings with battlements carried on corbelled cornices and twin- and triple-light timber-mullioned windows. The E. wing was perhaps built in the late 1820s; the W wing was added after a fire in 1852. Modest interior. Large low central hall with a beamed ceiling and walls lined with oak panelling and gilded embossed wallpaper. Taller dining room to the r., with a compartmented ceiling; a Neoclassical inlaid fireplace in the manner of Bossi, and a large Jacobean sideboard. C19 staircase with barley-twist type balusters.
Octagonal three-stage battlemented tower, 60 m west of the castle.” [5]
Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe continues: “Over the following centuries, members of the Townsend family served as high sheriffs of County Cork. In 1753 Richard Townsend was the office-holder and in 1785 Richard Boyle Townsend [1756-1826] was appointed to the position. In the 1870s Richard M.F. Townsend owned over 7,000 acres near Dingle in County Kerry, inherited from the FitzGerald family, Knights of Kerry. At that time, the estate of the late Rev. Maurice Townshend extended to over 8,000 acres in County Cork...” [4]
Richard Townsend and Elizabeth Fitzgerald’s son Richard Boyle Townsend (1753-1826) inherited Castletownshend. He was educated at Eton and Oxford. He married Henrietta Newenham. There is a fine portrait of their son Lieutenant-Colonel John Townsend, of the 14th Light Dragoons, who held the office of Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria.
Lt-Col John Townsend died in 1845, and the property passed to his brother, Reverend Maurice Townsend (d. 1872). Maurice married Alice Elizabeth Shute, heiress to Chevanage estate in Gloucestershire. Alice Elizabeth Shute was heiress by survival in her uncle Henry Stephens, and assumed his name. Maurice changed his name in 1870 to Maurice FitzGerald Stephens-Townshend (he was the one who added the ‘h’ in the name). She died at Castle Townshend aged only twenty-eight.
They had a son John Henry Townshend (1827-1869), who gained the rank of officer in the 2nd Life Guards. A fire occurred in 1852, during Reverend Maurice’s time in Castletownshend.
The website tells us about the fire: “Disaster struck again in 1852 when the newly built East Wing went up in flames. The blaze was so fierce that the large quantity of silver stored at the top of the wing ran down in molten streams. The family sent a Bristol silversmith to search the ruins and value the silver by the pound, which he did and promptly disappeared to America with a large part of it! The family still have some of that silver, all misshapen from the fire. The East Wing was rebuilt soon after the fire and The Castle has remained unchanged in appearance ever since.“
Reverend Maurice’s son predeceased him so Reverend Maurice’s grandson, Maurice Fitzgerald Stephens-Townshend (1865 – 1948) inherited Castletownshend in 1872 when he was still a minor. In the 1890s, the time of the Wyndham Act, 10,000 acres were put up for auction. The current owners still have the auction books. It was purchased by Charles Loftus Townsend (1861-1931).
Young Maurice married Blanche Lillie Ffolliot. She was an only child and brought money with her marriage, and Maurice was able to buy back the castle. The castle passed to their daughter, Rosemarie Salter-Townshend. She began to rent out holiday homes in Castletownshend. Her husband, William Robert Salter, added Townshend to his surname. It was their daughter Anne who modernised the castle, putting in central heating etc.
The website continues: “Full of character and old-world charm, The Castle offers a welcoming retreat from everyday life. There are lots of things to do in the local area, like whale-watching and kayaking. Or, you can simply rest and recharge your batteries in the unique surroundings. After enjoying a complimentary breakfast, stroll through the winding pathways of our historic grounds, discovering ivy-covered ruins and their stories along the way. Then, as the sun sets, sit out the front with a drink in your hand, watching the boats in the harbour sway gently back and forth.
While you are a guest in our family’s home, the only thing on your To Do list is to relax. We will look after the rest.“
[1] The website adds that much has been written about the Townshend family and The Castle over the years, and this rich history is documented in great detail. An Officer of the Long Parliament, edited by Richard and Dorothea Townsend (London Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, Amen Corner, E.C.,1892) is an account of the life and times of Colonel Richard Townesend and a chronicle of his descendants.
[2] see Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke’s Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976.
[3] p. 1035, volume 19, Stephen, Sir Leslie, ed. Dictionary of National Biography, 1921–1922. Volumes 1–22. London, England: Oxford University Press.
[4] O’Hea O’Keeffe, Jane. Voices from the Great Houses: Cork and Kerry (Mercier Press, Cork, 2013).
[5] Keohane, Frank. The Buildings of Ireland: Cork City and County. Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 2020.
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MOLI (Museum of Literature Ireland), Newman House, 85-86 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin
“No. 85 St. Stephen’s Green was built in 1738 by Richard Cassels, architect of Powerscourt House and Russborough House, and is notable for its exquisite baroque plasterwork by the Lafranchini brothers. The adjoining townhouse at No. 86 was constructed in 1765 and features superb examples of rococo stuccowork by the distinguished Dublin School of Plaster Workers.“
85 St. Stephen’s Green was built for Captain Hugh Montgomerie. Robert O’Byrne tells us that Hugh was one of five children born to Sir Thomas Montgomerie and Clemence Hovell. Clemence was married to Charles Stuart, who died in 1709, and her children with Thomas Montgomerie were born before her husband’s death so were illegitimate. [1]
In 1738 Hugh Montgomerie married Mary Bingham, eldest daughter of Sir John Bingham 5th Baronet of Castlebar, County Mayo, and it may have been her wealth that helped to build their new house on St. Stephen’s Green designed by Richard Castle (or Cassels). After Hugh Montgomerie’s death, Mary married Vesey Colclough (1734-1745), whom we came across when we saw Tintern Abbey in County Wexford.
86 St Stephen’s Green is a granite-faced townhouse built in 1765 for Richard Chapel Whaley (d. 1796) who was called “Burn Chapel” Whaley due to his anti-Catholic sentiment. The “Chapel” or “Chapell” was really part of his name, from his mother’s family. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us “he was a fervent priest-hunter, and once while hunting a priest burned down a catholic chapel when he fired his fowling-piece into the roof and the wadding lodged in the thatch. Forever afterwards he was known as ‘Burn-Chapel ’ Whaley.”
It is ironic that Richard Chapel Whaley’s house is now owned by the Catholic university, University College Dublin, and named for Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) who famously converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, and by his example, encouraged many others to convert to Catholicism! The house may have been designed by Robert West, more famous as a stuccadore [2]. Much of the stucco work inside is in the style of Robert West – he may have done some of the work and it is thought that others were involved also. [2]
Richard Chapel Whaley (1700–69) wanted to create a house that dwarfed his neighbour in number 85, which was owned at that time by John Meade, 1st Earl Clanwilliam. 85 St. Stephen’s Green was known as Clanwilliam House.
The two houses, 85 and 86, were joined in the mid 19th century and named after Cardinal Newman (1801-90). Together they contain some of the most spectacular plasterwork in Ireland.
The MOLI website continues: “The building takes its name from the theologian and educationalist Dr. John Henry Newman, who was rector when the Catholic University was founded in 1854. UCD Newman House also boasts many literary and cultural associations. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins lived here during his time as Professor of Classics at the university, and James Joyce was a student here before graduating with a BA in 1902. Other famous Irish writers to have studied at UCD Newman House include Flann O’Brien, Kate O’Brien and Maeve Binchy.
“Explore the stunning surroundings and turbulent history of Numbers 85 and 86 St Stephen’s Green on MoLI’s Historic House Tour.
“These beautiful examples of Georgian opulence – with lavish stuccowork by the famous Lafranchini brothers – have served not only as a university and a museum, but also as the townhouse of Buck Whaley, one of Ireland’s most infamous playboys and adventurers.
“Join your guide as they bring you on a journey through these hidden historic rooms, witness these architectural treasures up close, and learn about the many fascinating characters that have passed through over the centuries.“
86 St. Stephen’s Green is of five bays across, of four storeys over basement. It has a two bay entrance hall flanked by two further rooms, and the service stair is on the transverse axis between the entrance hall and the rear right-hand parlour, Christine Casey tells us. [3]
The stair hall decoration is particularly splendid. Acanthus ornament mixes with Rococo elements such as trophies of musical instruments, asymmetrical scrolls and birds distinctive of the Dublin school of plasterwork.
Richard Chapel Whaley was the father of Thomas “Buck” Whaley (1766-1800). Thomas’s father died when he was only three years old, and Thomas inherited much property and wealth. He gambled away nearly everything he owned and died almost penniless aged just 34. [4] Another house he inherited was Castletown in County Carlow – not to be confused with the more well-known Castletown in County Kildare (or Castletown “Cox” in County Kilkenny), and also Whaley Abbey in County Wicklow. Jimmy O’Toole tells us that his annual income was the equivalent of about £700,000 today. Poor Buck Whaley was a gambler, and he made a bet that he could travel to Israel and back within two years. He won the wager, and £15,000. I read his memoir and he comes across as a lovely man despite his foibles.
Thomas “Buck” Whaley (1766-1800), c. 1780.Buck Whaley’s Memoirs, courtesy Fonsie Mealy auction.The sitter’s maiden name was Maria Courtney but for some seven or eight years before her death in 1798 in Douglas, Isle of Man, she was known as Mrs. Whaley. She was the constant companion of a wealthy and dissolute young Irishman, Thomas, or Buck, Whaley, by whom she had four children: Thomas, Richard, Ann, and Sophia Isabella. They lived in a house Buck Whaley built on the Isle of Man, where this portrait may have hung in the dining room. Portrait is attributed to George Chinnery, c. 1795. Picture courtesy of The Met, New York.
After his lover Maria Courtney died, he married Mary Catherine Lawless, sister of Valentine Lawless 2nd Baron Cloncurry.
Valentine Lawless, 2nd Baron Cloncurry, a portrait in 85 St. Stephen’s Green.
Thomas “Buck” Whaley’s sister Anne married John Fitzgibbon, later 1st Earl of Clare, who became Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
The front ground-floor drawing room is, Casey tells us, virtually identical to the now lost French Room at Charlemont House, the home of James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, a house built in 1763. The plaster and timber panels of the walls, Casey writes, appear to emulate the boiserie interiors of mid eighteenth century France.
The Great Room, three bays wide and overlooking St. Stephen’s Green, is not normally part of the MOLI tour, but our guide let us pop our heads in to marvel at the plasterwork. It is let to the School of Music. It has an elaborate and stylized bird ceiling, similar to one by Filippo Lafranchini at 9 St. Stephen’s Green. [see 3].
The Bishop’s Room is to the rear of the house. It has a Rococo ceiling composed of interlocking C-scrolls and acanthus ornament. The front drawing room has a Rococo ceiling with a flock of birds encircling the central boxx, “rocaille-backed scrolls” in the corners, flower baskets and garlands of flowers.
We then went outside on the tour to enter 85 St Stephen’s Green, next door. This is a smaller building, a Neo-Palladian urban palazzo designed by Richard Castle for Captain Hugh Montgomerie (d. 1741), built for entertaining! It has a rusticated granite street front, a Venetian window overhead formed by pedimented openings, and a balustraded parapet. The strict symmetry of the front hides an asymmetrical interior.
85 St. Stephen’s Green is of three bays and two storeys. Its lower floor is rusticated, and the first floor has a central Venetian window. Inside, it has a two bay entrance hall with a screen of two rounded arches opeing to the stair hall behind. On the right is a single bay front parlour, called the Apollo Room. The stair hall is flanked by a back parlour, and their is a service stair behind the stair hall, and a third room projecting out the back. [3] Christine Casey describes the spatial sequence as Baroque, and points out that it shows us the link Castle had to the Vanbrugh-Pearce circle of architects. The hall retains its eighteenth century flagsone, wainscoting and Kilkenny marble chimneypiece.
I don’t think we entered the Apollo room. Christine Casey tells us that it is rich in stucco ornament, which is accepted to be by Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini. Around the walls are high-relief almost Neoclassical figures of the Nine Muses set in moulded rectangular frames. I mistook the picture in Dublin City Library and Archives (below) to be of Riverstown House in County Cork, which is very similar.
Christine Casey tells us that the stair is mahogany with finely crafted Tuscan balusters and carved tread ends. The upper stair hall, she tells us, was much altered in the nineteenth century and a reconstruction of its ceiling and plasterwork was recently installed, based on an outline of the original scheme found behind the nineteenth century plaster.
At the head of the stair is the ante-room to the saloon, which was much altered c. 1830 by Judge Nicholas Ball (the last private owner), who cut through the ceiling and created an elegant top-lit galleried library. A large extension with a canted bow was built across the back wall of the house in the early nineteenth century, creating a new reception room on each floor, blocking the light into the now windowless ground floor parlour and first floor ante-room.
The Great Room or Saloon is the full width of the house and overlooks St. Stephen’s Green. The stucco work is by the Lafranchini brothers Paolo and Filippo. The room is entered by a pair of Corinthian doorcases. It is lit by a central Venetian window flanked by two sash windows, all with Corinthian frames.
Newman House 1953, Dublin City Library and Archives.A layer of plasterwork has been added below the dentil cornice in this photograph, as we can see in my photographs. [2]
The frieze below the dentil cornice was deed relatively recently and was copied from the saloon frieze at Tyrone House. [see 3]
The cove, Christine Casey tells us, is ornamented with six lobed ovals containing figure groups, two on each of the long walls and one at each end. These are linked by a frieze of putti who grasp and swing from the oak garlands!
The figures of Prudence and Justice at each end of the room derive from paintings by Simon Vouet in the Salon de Mars at Versailles, Christine Casey tells us.
[3] Casey, Christine. The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin. The City Within the Grand and Royal Canals and the Circular Road with the Phoenix Park. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2005.
[4] p. 125, O’Toole, Jimmy, The Carlow Gentry: What will the neighbours say! Published by Jimmy O’Toole, Carlow, Ireland, 1993. Printed by Leinster Leader Ltd, Naas, Kildare.
Oops, I just published about Dunsany, County Meath, by mistake. I see that my photographs did not upload properly, and only captions were published. I will fix it soon. I won’t have many photographs, as requested by the owner. Sorry about my mistake.
Irish Historic Houses 