Monkstown Castle, County Cork, courtesy of National Library of Ireland.Monkstown Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 209. “(Boyle, Blessington, V/DEP; Shaw, Bt/PB; Newman/LGI1958) An early C17 semi-fortified house built 1636 by Anastasia (nee Goold) wife of John Archdekin; according to the story, she intended it as a surprise for her husband, when he returned from serving with the Spanish army; and she was also able to impress him with her economy, since it cost no more than 4d, the rest of the expenses having been covered by the profit she made supplying the workmen with provisions which she bought wholesale. Of three storeys over basement, with a gabled attic; recessed centre between projecting gabled towers with corner-machicolats. Rusticated quoins and bold string-courses between the storeys. Central hall with stone chimneypiece dated 1636 but subsequently altered. Unlike most houses of its kind, Monkstown Castle survived the Civil Wars intact. Having been forfeited by the Archdekins, it was eventually granted 1685 to Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Armagh and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, father of 1st Viscount Blesinton of 1st creation. At the end of C18 it was acquired by Bernard Shaw (whose famous namesake was the grandson of his first cousin) and restored by him, though without having its original character altered. In mid-C19, it passed to the Newman family; and in 1908, it was bought by the Monkstown Golf Club, which used it until recently. It is now empty and in poor repair and its future is uncertain.”
Monkstown Castle, County Cork, photographL William Garner 1986. Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
“Now surrounded by suburban housing, Monkstown Castle, County Cork once stood proud in its own grounds and overlooking the estuary of the river Lee and access to Cork harbour. The building dates back to the 17th century when it was constructed c.1636 by one Anastasia Gould, wife of John Archdeacon, said to have been a naval officer who was overseas supporting the King of Spain. Legend has it that when he returned home and saw this large structure on his land, he immediately assumed it had been erected by his enemies, and accordingly fired on it, one cannon ball hitting the battlements. The other story associated with Monkstown Castle is that Anastasia Gould was determined not to waste money on its construction and so employed the workmen at a fixed rate with the stipulation that they purchase their daily food supplies and so forth from her at a moderate price. When the job was finished, all bills paid and all sums collected, she found that the castle had cost her precisely four pence.
“Like many similar properties in Ireland, Monkstown Castle has experienced mixed fortunes over the centuries. The Archdeacons do not appear to have enjoyed possession of the building for very long as in the aftermath of the Confederate Wars and the arrival of the Cromwell’s New Model Army, both castle and surrounding estate were granted to Colonel Hercules Huncks, remembered today for having refused to sign Charles I’s execution order (and accordingly being described by Oliver Cromwell as a ‘froward, peevish fellow’). Huncks sold the property to Michael Boyle, Dean of Cloyne (and future Archbishop of Armagh) but in the aftermath of the Restoration the Archdeacons were living there once more, perhaps as tenants of Boyle. In any case, owing to their allegiance to the Stuart cause, they lost the castle again in the aftermath of the Williamite Wars and in due course it was inherited by two of his granddaughters who had married into the Vesey and Pakenham families; thus portions of the estate came to be owned by both the Earl of Longford and the Viscount de Vesci. How well the castle stood is open to question. In 1700 during his Visitation to the diocese Dive Downes, Bishop of Cork and Ross wrote that ‘Mr. O’Callaghan, a Protestant, lives in Monkstown, in a good square castle with flankers. However, at some point in the 18th century it was rented to the government to serve as an army barracks and in his Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork first published in 1750, Charles Smith says the castle ‘is large and in ruins, and is flanked by 4 square turrets.’ On the other hand, the Dublin Penny Journal of August 1833, although judging it a ‘large and gloomy pile of building’, comments that the castle is ‘in good repair.’
By the early 19th century, Monkstown Castle was owned by the Veseys but leased to one Bernard Shaw, Collector of Cork Port and a member of the same family as the future dramatist George Bernard Shaw. A large chimneypiece inside the building carries the initials B.S. and the date 1804 (as well as 1636) , indicating work was undertaken here at that time, undertaken by local architect William Deane. Bernard Shaw was duly succeeded by his son, Bernard Robert Shaw who lived here until 1869 when he and his wife moved to England where they died. Whether the castle was still occupied is open to question as around 1840 the Shaws had built a large residence close by, called Castle House. In June 1871 the estate of Bernard Robert Shaw running to 905 acres was advertised for sale. At the start of the last century, the castle was used by the local badminton club before being acquired in 1908 by the newly-established Monkstown Golf Club, which then made the building its club house. MGC bought the castle and what was then a nine-hole course from the De Vesci estate in 1959 for £4,000, selling the castle and some 32 acres in 1967 for £22,000. Thereafter, while the surrounding land was divided up into plots for housing, the castle remained empty and falling into disrepair, becoming a roofless shell. Between 2008 and 2010 extensive restoration work was carried out on the property, which had permission to be divided into three apartments. However, while re-roofed and made watertight, the building was then left unfinished and has remained in this state ever since. In recent years, it has been on the market for €800,000. Not a huge sum, but somewhat more than the four pence the castle originally cost Anastasia Gould.
Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. An older castle was demolished and it was rebuilt, as we see in this photograph, in the 1770s by Caroline Fitzgerald and her husband Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston.
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 207. “(Fitzgibbon/IFR; King, Kingston, E/PB; Webber/IFR) Orignally the stronghold of that branch of the Geraldines which held the title of White Knight; passed to the Kings after the death of Maurice Oge FitzGibbon, 12th white Knight, whose niece married Sir John King, 1st Lord Kingston. By 1750, 4th Lord Kingston had a house here with a two storey hall, its upper storey surrounded by a “handsome corridor,”…
John King 1st Baron Kingston married Catherine Fenton, whose mother was Margaret Fitzgibbon.
Robert King (1657–1693), 2nd Baron Kingston by John Michael Wright courtesy of Ulster Museum.He was the son of 1st Baron and Catherine née Fenton.Margaret O’Cahan (c. 1662-1721), standing in a black habit, and holding a string of rosary beads, Attributed to Garret Morphy (c.1655-1715), courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 she married James King 3rd Baron Kingston, a brother of the 2nd Baron.Jeremiah Barrett (d.1770) A conversation portrait of the Children, William, Elizabeth and Margaret King, of James 4th (last) Baron Kingston of Mitchelstown with a pet doe and dog courtesy of Adam’s 6 Oct 2009. The surviving daughter Margaret, daughter of Elizabeth Meade (Clanwilliam), inherited the vast Mitchellstown Estate of the White Knights. She married Richard Fitzgerald of mount Ophanlis, and their only daughter Caroline married, as arranged, the 2nd Earl of Kingston thus uniting the two branches of the King family. Life at Mitchellstown was recorded by two famous employees of the Kings, Arthur Young the agriculturalist and Mary Wollstonecruft who probably sketched out the basis of Vinchication of the Rights of Women whilst governess to the King children. It was not without excitement, in 1799 Lord Kingston shot dead Colonel Fitzgerald, his wife’s illegitimate half-brother in the hotel in Mitchellstown for abducting his 17 year old daughter Mary Elizabeth and his eldest daughter Margaret having married the 2nd Earl of Mount Cashell left him to befriend Shelley in Italy and is The Lady in ‘The Sensitive Plant’ by Shelley. Provenance: Rockingham House.Edward King 5th Baron Kingston 1764 standing in peers robes, courtesy of Adams auction 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter. He was later created 1st Earl of Kingston.He was the son of Henry King, 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey.Edward King (1726-1797), 5th Baronet of Boyle Abbey and eventually, 1st Earl of Kingston.Edward King, later 1st Earl Kingston courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. Mitchelstown Castle hall, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Portrait almost certainly of Anne King, daughter of Sir Henry King and sister of 1st Earl of Kingston, married John ‘Diamond’ Knox of Castlerea, Co. Mayo courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).Isabella King, daughter of Sir Henry King and sister of 1st Earl of Kingston, wife of Thomas, 1st Earl of Howth courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).Eleanor King, daughter of Sir Henry King 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey and sister of Edward 1st Earl of Kingston, with her son James Stewart (of Killymoon) holding a dog courtesy of Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).
A new house was built by 2nd Earl of Kingston 1776, it was in this house that his daughter, Margaret, was taught revolutionary ideas by her governess, Mary Wollstonecraft; she afterwards married Lord Mount Cashell, who lived nearby at Moore Park, but left him and settled in Italy, where she befriended Shelly, who wrote of her as “The Lady” in The Sensitive Plant. Margaret’s sister, Mary, eloped 1797 with a cousin, who was a married man; her father afterwards shot him dead at an hotel near Mitchelstown and was consequently tried by his peers for murder, but acquitted.
Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.Caroline, née Fitzgerald, Countess of Kingston, wife of Robert King 2nd Earl of Kingston, by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.
In 1823, 3rd Earl, known as “Big George”, demolished his father’s house and commissioned James and George Richard Pain to build him a castle which he stipulated should be bigger than any other house in Ireland; it had, moreover, to be ready to receive George IV on his next Irish visit; one of the towers was to be called the Royal Tower and contain a bedroom for ths King. The castle was finished in two years, at a cost of £100,000; it did not quite manage to be larger than any other house inIreland, but it was one of the largest and most successful of the earlier Gothic Revival castles. …
George King (1779-1839), later 3rd Earl of Kingston, painting by Romney.Mitchelstown Castle in Co Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
In the end, George IV never came, but Big George entertained as though he had a royal house-party the whole time. Even complete strangers were received with hospitality at the castle; there were sometimes as many as 100 people staying. All were dazzled by the splendour, by the display of plate and the army of servants…. Then, in 1830, his tenants’ failure to vote for the candidate of his choice in a by-election drove Big George out of his mind and he was taken to London, where he died 1839. His son, 4th Earl, continued to keep open house at Mitchelston until 1844, when he suffered a financial crash. The earl and his house party closed the doors of the castle against the bailiffs and stood siege for a fortnight, then the creditors took possession and much of the estate was sold up. Like his father,the 4th Earl went mad. The castle and the reduced estate was eventually inherited by the 5th Earl’s widow, who married, as her second husband, W.D. Webber. Henceforth, economy reigned at the castle…. The castle was burnt 1922, and the ruin was afterwards demolished; the ashlar having been bought by the monks of Mount Melleray for their new church.”
Drawing Room in Mitchelstown Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Courtesy Mark Bence-Jones.Anna née Brinkley, wife of the 5th Earl of Kingston, who lived in Mitchelstown.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
THE EARLS OF KINGSTON WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CORK, WITH 24,421 ACRES
The family of KING was originally of Feathercock Hall, near Northallerton, Yorkshire.
The first of its members we find upon record in Ireland is
SIR JOHN KING, Knight (c1560-1637), who obtained, from ELIZABETH I, in requital of his military services, a lease of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon; and, from JAMES I, numerous valuable territorial grants, and several of the highest and most lucrative political employments.
He married Catherine, daughter of Robert Drury, and grand-niece of the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir William Drury, and had, with other issue,
ROBERT, his heir; John; Edward; Dorothy; Mary.
Sir John was succeeded by his eldest son,
SIR ROBERT KING, Knight, of Boyle Abbey, Muster Master-general of Ireland, who wedded firstly, Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Folliott, 1st Baron Folliott, of Ballyshannon, and had, with other children,
Sir Robert died in 1657, and was succeeded by his youngest son,
THE RT HON ROBERT KING (c1625-1707), of Rockingham, County Roscommon, MP for Ballyshannon, 1661-6, County Roscommon, 1692-9, and for Boyle, 1703-7.
Mr King was created a baronet, 1682, designated of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon.
He wedded Frances, daughter and co-heiress of Colonel Henry Gore, and died in 1707, leaving issue, his eldest surviving son,
SIR JOHN KING, 2nd Baronet (1673-1720), MP for Boyle, 1695, 1703, and 1713, and for County Roscommon, 1715-20, who espoused Elizabeth, daughter of John Sankey, of Tennalick, County Longford, and dsp 1720, when the title devolved upon his brother,
SIR HENRY KING, 3rd Baronet (1680-1739), PC, MP for Boyle, 1707-27, and for County Roscommon, 1727-40, who married, in 1722, Isabella, who was 13th in descent from EDWARD III, and sister of 1st Viscount Powerscourt, by whom he had issue,
ROBERT, created Baron Kingsborough;
EDWARD, 1st Earl of Kingston;
Isabella; Anne.
The eldest son,
SIR ROBERT KING, 4th Baronet (1724-55), was raised to the Peerage, in 1748, in the dignity of BARON KINGSBOROUGH, but died unmarried in 1755, when that dignity expired, while the baronetcy devolved upon his brother,
SIR EDWARD KING, 5th Baronet (1726-97), created Baron Kingston, 1764, Viscount Kingsborough, 1766, and EARL OF KINGSTON, 1768.
He wedded, in 1752, Jane, daughter of Thomas Caulfeild, of Donamon, County Roscommon, and had, with other issue,
Robert Henry Ethelbert King-Tenison, 10th Earl (1897–1948);
Barclay Robert Edwin King-Tenison, 11th Earl (1943–2002);
Robert Charles Henry King-Tenison, 12th Earl (b 1969).
The heir apparent is the present holder’s son Charles Avery Edward King-Tenison, styled Viscount Kingsborough (b 2000).
MITCHELSTOWN CASTLE was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Kingston.
It was one of the largest Gothic-Revival houses in Ireland, a noble and sumptuous structure of hewn stone, in the castellated style, erected after a design by Mr Pain, of Cork, at an expense of more than £100,000.
Mitchelstown is about thirty miles north of the city of Cork.
The buildings occupied three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth being occupied by a terrace, under which are various offices.
The principal entrance, on the eastern range, was flanked by two lofty square towers rising to the height of 106 feet, one of which was called the White Knight’s tower, from its being built on the site of the tower of that name which formed part of the old mansion.
At the northern extremity of the same range were two octagonal towers of lofty elevation.
The entrance hall opened into a stately hall or gallery, eighty feet in length, with an elaborately groined roof, richly ornamented with fine tracery, and furnished with elegant stoves of bronze, and with figures of warriors armed cap-a-pie; at the further extremity was the grand staircase.
Parallel with the gallery, and forming the south front and principal range, were the dining and drawing-rooms, both noble apartments superbly fitted up and opening into the library, which was between them.
Entrance Hall
The whole pile had a character of stately baronial magnificence, and from its great extent and elevation formed a conspicuous feature in the surrounding scenery.
Near the Castle was a large fish-pond, and from a small tower on its margin, water was conveyed to the baths and to the upper apartments of the castle, and across the demesne to the gardens, by machinery of superior construction.
The gardens were spacious and tastefully laid out, the conservatory 100 feet in length and ornamented with a range of beautiful Ionic pilasters.
The parkland, which comprised 1,300 acres, was embellished with luxuriant plantations, and included a farming establishment on an extensive scale, with buildings and offices of a superior description, on the erection of which more than £40,000 was expended.
It was estimated that the castle, with the conservatories, farm, and the general improvement of the demesne, cost its noble proprietor little less, if not more, than £200,000 (£8.3 million today).
“Big George”, the 3rd Earl, was renowned for his extravagant hospitality.
The 4th Earl continued to entertain his visitors regally at Mitchelstown.
One of the under-cooks was a young man called Claridge.
Lord Kingston suffered a financial downfall: His lordship – and house guests – locked the doors against the bailiffs and were besieged therein for a fortnight, until finally the Castle was possessed, creditors satisfied and much of the estate was sold.
What remained of the estate was inherited by the 5th Earl’s widow. Thereafter, Economy reigned.
The house was looted and burned in 1922 by the IRA, which had occupied it for the previous six weeks.
The order to burn the building, to prevent the newly established Irish Free State army from having use of it, was made by a local Republican commandant, Patrick Luddy, with the approval of General Liam Lynch.
It is clear that one of the motivations for the burning was to try to cover up the looting of the castle’s contents, including large amounts of furniture, a grand piano, paintings by Conrad, Beechy and Gainsborough.
Many of these objects have come up for sale in recent years and some, such as the piano, are still kept locally.
The Castle was severely damaged by the fire.
However, it is clear from documents in the National Archives of Ireland that, for example, in places where the fire had not reached, ‘mantelpieces had been forcibly wrenched from the walls and carted.’
As this episode took place at the height of the Irish Civil War, there was no appetite afterwards to prosecute anyone for their role in the looting and burning.
The ashlar limestone of the castle was later removed to build the new Cistercian abbey at Mount Melleray, County Water.
The site of the building is now occupied by a milk powder processing plant and the surrounding 1,214 acre demesne (private park) of the castle has been destroyed.
Lord Kingston’s town residence between 1826-32 was 3 Whitehall Place, London, now part of the Department of Energy & Climate Change.
Mitchellsfort (afterwards known as Fellsfort), Watergrasshill, Co Cork
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 206. “A two storey nine bay late-Georgian house with a pedimented breakfront. The seat of the Mitchell family, afterwards the Fell family, who changed its name to Fellsfort. Now a ruin.”
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 206. “(Evans-Freke, sub Carbery, B/PB; Bruce/LGI1958) A two storey house of late C18 appearance; three bay entrance front, with one bay pedimented breakfront framed by straight-edged quoining; triple window above fanlighted doorway. Three bay side. Splendid curved cantilevered central staircase. The entrance to the demesne could date from before the present house; it has impressive cut-stone piers, surmounted by balls and eagles; and a remarkable gate-lodge with a cut-stone gable-end in which there are niches sheltering busts of gentlemen in periwigs. The gable itself is surmounted by a lion. The stable court has further busts in niches.”
Mayfield (formerly Knockanemeele), Bandon, Co Cork – ‘lost’
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 204. “(Poole/LGI1958) A three storey seven bay house of late C18 appearance but which was, in fact, an earlier two storey house, said to have dated from C17, which was subsequently remodelled and given an extra storey. One bay breakfront centre; porch added 1872. Two storey wing at side. Hall running the full dept of the house, with a curving staircase of wood behind an arch. Burnt 1921. Featured in The Pooles of Mayfield by Rosemary Ffolliott, the genealogist, whose mother was a Poole.”
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Maryville House, Kilworth, County Cork, photograph courtesy Michael Daniels Estate Agent.
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 204. “Corban-Lucas, sub Lucas/IFR) A house built ca 1830 by Laurence Corban, in early C19 villa style; of two storeys and four bays. Entrance door in two bay end of house with large semicircular fanlight, pleasantly balanced by a blind arch of similar size in which the window alongside the door is set. Eaved roof. Lower service range at back. Elegant central staircase hall, top-lit through a glazed dome decorated with plasterwork; stairs rising round it of wood with slender turned balusers and carved scroll ornament on ends of treads, ending in gallery. Good plasterwork of 1830 period in drawing rom and dining room; drawing room ceiling rose with surround of keyhole pattern. Passed by inheritance to the Corban-Lucas family and used for many years as the dowerhouse of Ballinacarriga. Sold ca 1965 by Mr Desmond Corban-Lucas; now the home of Mr and Mrs N. Weale.”
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 201. “(Stuart-French/LGI1958) A pleasant and unassuming mid-Victorian house with an eaved roof and three sided bows, built on the foundations of an earlier house which may have dated back to C17 and which was burnt ca 1860s. Spacious hall, containing an imposing staircase with an iron balustrade. The house faces down the Passage,the narrows between Lough Mahon and Cork Harbour. Lt-Col Robert and Mrs Stuart-French made a delightful garden here, with many different enclosures leading from one to the other. Co Stuart-French sold Marino ca 1972.”
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 220. “(Conner/IFR) A late-Georgian house built 1826 by Daniel Conner to the design of James and George Richard Pain; consisting of a main block of two storeys with a three storey tower at one corner. Both the tower and the main block have eaved roofs; the tower has a window flanked by sidelights in its top and bottom storeys, with a single window in the middle storey. The house was gutted by fire 1963, but afterwards rebuilt.”
Not in national inventory The Buildings of Ireland. Cork City and County. Frank Keohane. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. 2020. p. 228. Built for Daniel Connor c. 1824 to designs by George R. Pain, in a Claudian Italianate manner akin to Nash’s villa at Cronkill, Shropshire. The builder was Jeremiah Calnan. Asymmetrical two-storey entrance front with regular sash windows, an enclosed porch of sandstone ashlar (formerly clad with trellis) and a three-storey corner tower with tripartite windows on alternating storeys. South or view front of three bays to one side of the tower. The rendered walls are deeply incised to resemble ashlar. Hipped roofs with Tudor-style brick chimneys. Geometric stair rising around three sides of teh entrance hall. Two drawing rooms fill the view front. Dining room with a sideboard recess framed by Ionic pilasters. Lower service wing.
Mallow Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Mallow Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 199. “(Jephson/IFR) The old Desmond castle at Mallow was rebuilt towards the end of C16 by Sir Thomas Norreys, Lord President of Munster – a son of Elizabeth I’s life-long friend, Lord Norreys of Rycote – as what was described at the time as “a goodly, strong and sumptuous house”; a three storey gabled oblong with polygonal turrets and projections; it has large Elizabethan mullioned windows, yet was defensible; indeed, it was strong enough to hold out against the Confederates under Lord Mountgarret 1642. By the that time it was the seat of Major Gen William Jephson, whose mother, Elizabeth – a god-daughter of the old Queen – was the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Norreys. It was, however, captured by Lord Castlehaven 1645 and badly damaged; and in 1689 it was burnt by order of King James. Its ruin still stands, facing the present house, which is long, low and many-gabled, of rough-hewn stone and with the air of an English manor house of the Tudor or early-Stuart period. One end of it actually dates from C16, being Sir Thomas Norreys’s stables, to which the family retreated after the burning of the Elizabethan house. Various addtions were made during C18, and in 1837 the house was enlarged and rebuilt by Sir Denham Jephson-Norreys, MP, 1st (and last) Bt, who is said to have acted as his own architect, though he appears to have enlisted the help of Edward Blore. Sir Denham – or his architect – kept to the scale and simplicity of the old stable range, and produced what is, for its day, a remarkably convincing reproduction of vernacular late C16 or early C17 architecture; with none of the pretentions “Baronial” or “Elizabethan” features which most early-Victorians could not resist. The three storey battlemented tower in the centre of the long front is as unassuming as the gabled and mullioned ranges on either side of it. Sir Denham is also said to have designed the great Elizabethan staircase with its finials, and the carved oak chimneypieces and overmantels in the drawing room and dining room, which were made by his estate carpenter. The drawing room and dining room, which open into each other, are panelled from floor to ceiling in elm. The house was enlarged ca 1954 by late Brig and Mrs Maurice Jephson, who added the present entrance front at right angles to the old building. This was part of Sir Denham Jephson-Norrys’s plan, though he never carried it out’ but he had the stonework cut and ready, which was used a century later. The new wings contains a delightful upstairs library with a deep oriel overlooking the River Blackwater and the park, in which there is a herd of white deer, said to be descended from two white harts which Elizabeth I gave to her god-child, Elizabeth Norreys. Mallow Castle was sold 1985.”
Mallow Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
The Buildings of Ireland. Cork City and County. Frank Keohane. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. 2020.
The fortified houses of the late C16 and early C17 constitute a bridge between the medieval tower house and the modern mansion. They were built by old Norman families, at Castle Lyons and Ightermurragh (Ladysbridge); by city merchants, such as the Archdeacons at Monkstown; by English settlers, at Baltimore, Coppinger’s Court (Rosscarbery) and Mallow; and by Gaelic chiefs, at Coolnalong (Durrus), Mount Long (Oysterhaven), Kanturk, Dromaneen (Mallow) and Reendiseart (Ballylickey). Twenty-two such houses survive in Cork.
In comparison to tower houses, these houses are better lit, have thinner walls, lack vaults, and feature timber floors and staircases as well as integral fireplaces. They are also notably symmetrical in plan and elevation, and some, such as Kanturk, incorporate proto-classical features. They generally retain some defensive features, such as door yetts, gunloops, bartizans and crenellated parapets, [p. 18] although their wall-walks were not all continuous, and in cases such as Mount Long and Monkstown were barely accessible. The other notable feature is the use of towers or turrets, influenced no doubt by the Elizabethan fashion for a quasi-military appearance derived from an earlier chivalric age. The arrangement of the towers gives rise to distinctive plan-forms: U plan (Coolnalong), Y-plan (Mallow and Coppinger’s court), L-plan (Dromaneen (Mallow) and Mossgrove (Templemartin), cross-plan (Kilmaclenine, Ightermurragh), X-plan (Kanturk, Monkstown, Mount Long, Aghadown), Z-plan (Ballyannan (Midleton), and T-Plan (Reendiseart). Baltimore, Carrigrohane, Castle Lyons, Myrtle Grove (Youghal) and Castlemartyr aer simple rectangular blocks. A number of Jacobean bawns with circular corner towers also survive, at Ballinterry (Rathcormac), Dromiscane (Millstreet), Dromagh, Clonmeen (Banteer) and Mossgrove.”
Macroom Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Macroom Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 198. “(MacCarthy, Clancarty, E/DEP; Shelswell-White/IFR) A C15 castle of the MacCarthys of Muskerry on the bank of the River Sullane; partly destroyed by fire in the Civil War, after which it was confiscated and granted to the Parliamentary Admiral Sir William Penn, father of William Penn of Pennsylvania; recovered after the Restoration by the MacCarthys, Earls of Clancarty, who restored and modernized it. Having been confiscated again, along with other Clancarty estates, after the Williamite War, it passed to the Hedges Eyres. It was much admired by Dean Swift, in his progress through the country…The castle was burnt ca 1920 and has since been a ruin, part of which collapsed a few years ago.”
Macroom Castle entrance, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Macroom Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Donough MacCarty (or MacCarthy) (1594-1665) 1st Earl of Clancarty; 2nd Viscount MuskerryEyre family portrait of Robert Hedges-Eyre son of Richard Hedges-Eyre of Macroom Castle Co. Cork, courtesy Purcell Auctioneers Feb 2016. Robert Hedges Eyre (d.1840) restored the castle and his daughter married the 3rd Earl of Bantry. Inherited by Olive White who married Lord Ardilaun it was eventually destroyed in 1922 by Republican forces long after it had ceased to have any military significance.Helena Hedges Eyre, daughter of Richard Hedges Eyre of Macroom Castle, Co. Cork, and Frances Browne, married to Reverend George Maunsell, Dean of Leighlin courtesy of Purcells Auctioneer Feb 2016.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
“A fifteenth century castle reconstructed in the early 19C for Robert Hedges Eyre. Burnt in 1920. Now a ruin.”
Macroom Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy Irish Aesthete.
Macroom Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy Irish Aesthete.
Macroom Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy Irish Aesthete.
In her marvellous memoir Bricks and Flower, Katherine Everett described how, in August 1922 and at the age of 50, she had cycled from Limerick to Macroom, County Cork at the request of her distant cousin and godmother Olive, Lady Ardilaun to see what remained of the latter’s property, a castle in the centre of the town which had just been burned by anti-Treaty forces. Located above the river Sullane, the castle dates back to the 12th century and for several hundred years was occupied by the McCarthys before eventually passing into the ownership of the Hedges Eyre family before eventually being inherited by Lady Ardilaun. Two years after the fire, she sold the castle to a group of local businessmen; the main part of the building was demolished in the 1960s, with just the outer walls remaining, a series of mediocre school buildings erected within them. What survives suffers badly from neglect (as indeed does the river and the nine-arch bridge crossing which dates from c.1800) with the local county council failing to make the most of what has potential to be a popular visitor attraction. Instead, Macroom’s most significant piece of architectural heritage as been left to moulder: a missed opportunity.
Macroom Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy Irish Aesthete.
Macroom Castle, County Cork, photograph courtesy Irish Aesthete.
Irish Historic Houses 
