Rathrobin, Tullamore, Co Offaly – a ruin
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 240. “(Biddulph/IFR) A house originally built 1694 by Nicholas Biddulph, near an old castle. Rebuilt C19 in irregular Tudor-Revival style; numerous gables, with ball finials; dormers, gabled single-storey porch; mullioned windows. Burnt ca 1920, now a ruin.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 121. 19C Tudor Revival house designed by Sir Thomas Drew for the Biddulph family. Burnt c. 1920. Now a ruin.
Detached multiple-bay three-storey Tudor Revival country house, built c.1890, with advanced end bay and gabled bays to front. Single-storey return and two-storey canted bay to rear. Burnt c.1920 and now in a ruinous condition. Set within its own grounds. Roof gone. Ashlar and rendered chimneystacks with finials and limestone coping to pediments. Ruled-and-lined render to walls with plinth. Plaque to front elevation with label moulding. Window opening with tooled limestone surrounds and sills and some with limestone mullions and transoms. Pedimented ashlar porch with Tudor arched opening with chamfered limestone surround and label moulding. Random coursed limestone outbuildings to north-west set around yard. Random coursed boundary wall to rear with segmental-arched gateway.
Rathrobin House was designed by Sir Thomas Drew for the Biddulph family, to replace a house built in 1694. It iis constructed of massed concrete, making it a particularly interesting structure of technical and architectural merit. Now an ivy-covered ruin following its destruction during the 1920s. It retains some of its Tudor Revival features, however, such as the multiple gables, dormers and stone window fixtures, which attest to its one time greatness. Its destruction was recounted by Arthur Magan in ‘The Magans of Ummera’, as this was his mother’s home. Despite its humble present state, Rathrobin House makes a valuable contribution to the architectural heritage of County Offaly.
In Blake, Tarquin. Abandoned Mansions of Ireland II: More Portraits of Forgotten Stately Homes. Collins Press, Cork, 2012.
Irish Historic Houses 