Templemore Abbey, Co Tipperary

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. 271. “(Carden, Bt, of Templemore/PB) Templemore Castle, the original seat of the Carden family, was detroyed by fire towards mid-C18; after which a handsome nine bay house was built elsewhere on the demesne. This house was demolished early C19 and a new house built on a more elevated site in demesne adjoining the original park to the west; it was originally known as Templemore Priory, but afterwards called Templemore Abbey. In 1819, this house was no more than a single-stoey Gothic cottage with a very tall round tower and a crocketed square tower but it was subsequently greatly enlarged by William Vitruvius Morrison, in the Tudor-Gothic style….it was burnt 1922.”

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. 

Constructed on the site of an earlier house, Templemore Abbey was a vast neo-Gothic mansion designed by one of the masters of the genre in Ireland, William Vitruvius Morrison. The building contains elements of much of Morrison’s best work in the style, Elizabethan gables, battlements and turrets. 

Sadly the building was torched during the War of Independence after it had been used by British forces as a base for B Company of the Auxiliaries. After they left the building in May 1921, it was destroyed in an arson attack.  

https://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2018/08/templemore-abbey.html

THE CARDEN BARONETS OWNED 6,680 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TIPPERARY 

This family, which is of antiquity, removed from Lincolnshire into Ireland about the middle of the 17th century. 
 
The name is local, being derived from the township of Cawarden, or Carden, which lies about eleven miles south-south-east from Chester, which manor was the original inheritance of the family; but the elder branch terminating in co-heiresses, the manor of Over-Carden was carried by marriage into the family of Felton, about the end of the 16th century. 
 
A branch of the family had been settled in Kent, where it appears that it had been for several generations possessed of the manor of Hodford; but that estate was alienated during the reign of ELIZABETH I, by John Carden, to the family of Cobbe, when there is reason to believe that the Cardens of Kent removed into Lincolnshire, and that from them diverged the Irish branch, springing from 
 
JOHN CARDEN (c1623-1728), who settled at Templemore, County Tipperary, about 1650, and married Priscilla, daughter of John Kent, of County Kilkenny, by whom he had issue, 
 

Jonathan, ancestor of CARDEN OF BARNANE; 
JOHN, of whom we treat; 
William; 
Margery; Anne; Abigail; Margaret; two other daughters. 

Mr Carden died at the extraordinary age of 105. His second son, 
 
JOHN CARDEN, of Templemore, wedded, in 1717, Rebecca, daughter of Humphrey Minchin, of Ballynakill, and had issue, 
 

JOHN, his heir; 
Minchin; 
Paul. 

The eldest son, 
 
JOHN CARDEN (1720-74), of Templemore, espoused, in 1747, Elizabeth, daughter and heir of the Rev Robert Craven, and had (with other issue), 
 

JOHN CRAVEN, his heir; 
Christiana. 

The eldest son, 
 
JOHN CRAVEN CARDEN (c1758-1820), of Templemore, married firstly, in 1776, Mary, daughter of Arthur, 1st Viscount Harberton, and had issue, 
 

John (1777-1811); 
ARTHUR, his heir; 
another son. 

He wedded secondly, in 1781, Sarah, daughter of John Moore, and had issue, 
 

Annesley; 
Gertrude; 
another daughter. 

Mr Carden espoused thirdly, in 1788, Mary Frances, daughter of Henry Westenra, and sister of Warner William, 2nd Baron Rossmore, and had further issue, 
 

HENRY ROBERT, 2nd Baronet; 
Harriet Amelia; Frances. 

He married fourthly, Anne, widow of the Viscount Monck. 
 
Mr Carden was created a baronet in 1787, denominated of Templemore, County Tipperary. 
 
He raised and commanded the 30th Regiment of Light Dragoons, which, with many other regiments, was reduced at the peace of Amiens. 
 
Sir John was succeeded by his eldest son, 
 
SIR ARTHUR CARDEN, 2nd Baronet (1778-1822), High Sheriff of County Tipperary, 1820, who wedded Mary, daughter of Thomas Kemmis, of Shaen, Queen’s County; but dying without issue, the title devolved upon his half-brother, 
 
SIR HENRY ROBERT CARDEN (1789-1847), of Templemore, High Sheriff of County Tipperary, 1824, who espoused, in 1818, Louisa, daughter of Frederick Thompson, of Dublin, and had issue, 
 

JOHN CRAVEN, his successor; 
Frederick; 
Henry Daniel; 
Arthur (Rev); 
Elizabeth Caroline; Sarah Sophia; Frances Mary. 

Sir Henry was succeeded by his eldest son, 
 
SIR JOHN CRAVEN CARDEN, 4th Baronet (1819-79), DL, High Sheriff of County Tipperary, 1849, who married firstly, in 1844, Caroline Elizabeth Mary, daughter of Sir William Mordaunt Sturt Milner Bt, and had issue, 
 

Beatrice Georgina; three other daughters. 

He wedded secondly, in 1852, Julia Isabella, daughter of Admiral Charles Gepp Robinson, and had further issue, 
 

JOHN CRAVEN, his successor; 
Henry Charles; 
Frederick Richard; 
Coldstream James; 
Derrick Alfred, ancestor of the 8th Baronet; 
Julia Ellen Beatrice; Norah Irene; Eileen Olive. 

Sir John was succeeded by his eldest son, 
 
SIR JOHN CRAVEN CARDEN, 5th Baronet (1854-1931), JP DL, High Sheriff of County Tipperary, 1882, who espoused, in 1891, Sybil Martha, daughter of General Valentine Baker, and had issue, 
 

JOHN VALENTINE, his successor; 
Audrey. 

Sir John, the last of the family to live at Templemore Abbey, was succeeded by his son and heir, 
 
SIR JOHN VALENTINE CARDEN, 6th Baronet (1892-1935), MBE, Captain, Royal Army Service Corps, who married firstly, in 1915, Vera Madeleine, daughter of William Henry Hervet-d’Egville; and secondly, in 1925, Dorothy Mary, daughter of Charles Luckraft McKinnon, by whom he had issue, an only child, 
 
SIR JOHN CRAVEN CARDEN, 7th Baronet (1926-2008), of Jersey, Channel Islands, who wedded, in 1947, Isabel Georgette, daughter de Hart, and had issue, an only child, ISABEL MARY. 
 
Sir John died without male issue, when the title passed to his distant cousin, 
 
SIR JOHN CRAVEN CARDEN, 8th and present Baronet. 
 

Sir John Craven Carden, 5th Baronet (1854–1931) 
Sir John Valentine Carden, 6th Baronet (1892–1935) 
Sir John Craven Carden, 7th Baronet (1926–2008) 
Sir John Craven Carden, 8th Baronet (born 1953). 

TEMPLEMORE ABBEY, County Tipperary, replaced an earlier castle which was destroyed by a fire in the mid-18th century. 
 
In its place another house was erected, though it, too, was demolished in the early 1800s and a new residence was constructed on an elevated location some distance from the original building. 
 
It was called Templemore Priory, though its name was changed subsequently to Templemore Abbey. 

This residence was relatively modest, similar to a single-storey Gothic cottage; it was, however, considerably increased in size, ca 1865, by the architect William Vitruvius Morrison in the Tudor-Gothic style. 
 
This was said to have cost £36,000 (£4.3 million in today’s money). 
 
The completed mansion afforded a two-storey entrance front, with finials, oriels, gables, and a castellated parapet. 
 
There was also a long, irregular side elevation. 
 
The Abbey was burnt to the ground in 1922 by the IRA. 

http://greatirishhouses.blogspot.com/2013/03/templemore-abbey-co-tipperary.html