Castle Morres, Kilmaganny, Co Kilkenny
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. 73. “de Montmorency, Bt/PB; De Montmorency/IFR) a magnificent mid-18C house by Francis Bindon. Of two storeys over basement, nine by front…sold post world War I, partially demolished ca 1940; ruin recently demolished.
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. 89. “A large mid18C house designed by Francis Bindon for the Morres family. Very fine interior with good plasterwork. Altered in the early 19C by Daniel Robertson of Kilkenny. Partially demolished following a demolition sale in 1940. Ruin recently demolished.
https://archiseek.com/2019/1751-castle-morres-co-kilkenny
1751 – Castle Morres, Co. Kilkenny
Architect: Francis Bindon
The first Viscount Mountmorris commissioned Castle Morres as one of the largest stately homes in the country and it was built in approximately 1751.
Sold in the 1920s to the Land Commission, it was deroofed in the 1930s, and the ruin finally demolished in 1978. Only a gatelodge attributed to Daniel Robertson remains.
A gate lodge at the entrance to the former Castle Morres estate in County Kilkenny. The main house here, built for the de Montmorency family, dated from the mid-18th century, its design attributed to Francis Bindon: the remains of the building were demolished in 1978. This lodge was constructed later, at some point in the second quarter of the 19th century and is presumed to have been the work of Daniel Robertson.
The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy: Kilkenny. Volume 1. Art Kavanagh, 2004.
De Montmorency.
p. 116. According to Lodge the family descended from Hervey de Monte Marisco, who accompanied Strongbow to Ireland in 1170. They received grants of land in Wexford, Tipperary and Kerry. Many of these lands were later conveyed to the Ormondes through marriage connections.
p. 117. The family seems to have persisted in Tipperary wher the name became Morres. The Kilkenny family descended from Herny the secodn son of John Morres of Knockagh in co Tipperary. This John was the grandson of Sir John Morres who was created a baronet in 1632. Hervey was born in 1625 and saw few prospects at home and probably in a spirit of adventure left and joined Cromwell’s army.
https://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2016/03/castle-morres-house.html
THE DE MONTMORENCYS OWNED 4,808 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY KILKENNY
MAJOR HERVEY RANDALL SAVILLE PRATT DL (1782-1859), third son of the Rev Joseph Pratt, of Cabra Castle, County Cavan, by the Hon Sarah de Montmorency his wife, daughter of Harvey, 1st Viscount Mountmorres, of Castle Morres, County Kilkenny, wedded, in 1811, Rose Lloyd, daughter of the Rt Rev John Kearney, Lord Bishop of Ossory, and had issue,
JOHN, his heir;
Joseph;
Hervey Mervyn;
Raymond;
Anne Sarah; Letitia; Elizabeth; Sarah; Fanny.
Mr Pratt, who, upon the death of his father, succeeded his mother in the Kilkenny estates, which she and her sister, the Marchioness of Antrim, had jointly inherited as co-heirs of their brother Hervey Redmond, 2nd Viscount Mountmorres.
He assumed, in 1831, the surname and arms of DE MONTMORENCY.
Mr de Montmorency was succeeded by his eldest son,
JOHN PRATT DE MONTMORENCY (1815-68), of Castle Morres, who married, in 1838, Henrietta O’Grady, daughter of Standish, 1st Viscount Guillamore, and had issue,
HERVEY JOHN, his heir;
WALLER, successor to his brother;
Mervyn Standish, barrister;
Raymond Oliver;
Katherine Maria; Rose Emily.
Mr de Montmorency was succeeded by his eldest son,
HERVEY JOHN DE MONTMORENCY JP (1840-73), of Castle Morres, High Sheriff of County Kilkenny, 1872, late 2nd Dragoon Guards, who espoused, in 1867, Grace, daughter of Sir Thomas Fraser Grove Bt, of Ferne, Wiltshire, leaving issue, a daughter, Henrietta Kathleen.
He was succeeded by his brother,
THE VEN WALLER DE MONTMORENCY JP (1841-1924), of Castle Morres, Archdeacon of Ossory, who wedded, in 1872, Mary, daughter of the Rt Rev James Thomas O’Brien, Lord Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin, and had issue,
JOHN PRATT, his heir;
Geoffey FitzHervey, b 1876.
The Archdeacon was succeeded by his elder son,
CAPTAIN JOHN PRATT DE MONTMORENCY CMG DL RN (1873-1960), High Sheriff of County Kilkenny, 1921, who espoused firstly, in 1908, Margaret Elinor, eldest daughter of Colonel Samuel Pym; and secondly, in 1934, Norah, daughter of Colonel Mervyn de Montmorency, by whom he had issue,
Jane Avril, b 1936;
Sarah Anne, 1943-97.
CASTLE MORRES, Kilmaganny, County Kilkenny, was a splendid mid-18th century mansion by Francis Binden.
It comprised three storeys over a basement, with a nine-bay front.
There were single wings on either side of the centre block.
There was a three-bay central break-front with quoins and a rusticated ground floor.
The roof parapet had balustrades.
A balustraded perron and double stairway led to the doorway, which had Ionic columns and pediment.
There was a magnificent black marble chimney-piece in the hall, resplendent with a military trophy under a scroll pediment; and an eagle spreading its wings above.
Captain John Pratt de Montmorency sold Castle Morres to the Irish Land Commission in 1926.
In the 1930s its roof was removed; and the once great mansion house suffered its ultimate fate in 1978 when it was demolished.
First published in March, 2016.
Irish Historic Houses 