“Castletown is set amongst beautiful eighteenth-century parklands on the banks of the Liffey in Celbridge, County Kildare.
“The house was built around 1722 for the speaker of the Irish House of Commons, William Conolly, to designs by several renowned architects. It was intended to reflect Conolly’s power and to serve as a venue for political entertaining on a grand scale. At the time Castletown was built, commentators expected it to be ‘the epitome of the Kingdom, and all the rarities she can afford’.
“The estate flourished under William Conolly’s great-nephew Thomas and his wife, Lady Louisa, who devoted much of her life to improving her home.
“Today, Castletown is home to a significant collection of paintings, furnishings and objets d’art. Highlights include three eighteenth-century Murano-glass chandeliers and the only fully intact eighteenth-century print room in the country.
“It is still the most splendid Palladian-style country house in Ireland.“
The Conolly familysold Castletown in 1965. Mark Bence-Jones tells us that the estate was bought for development and for two years the house stood empty and deteriorating. In 1967, Hon Desmond Guinness courageously bought the house with 120 acres, to be the headquarters of the Irish Georgian Society, and in order to save it for posterity. Since then the house has been restored and it now contains an appropriate collection of furniture, pictures and objects, which has either been bought for the house, presented to it by benefactors, or loaned. It is now maintained by the Office of Public Works and the Castletown Trust.
William Conolly (1662-1729) rose from modest beginnings to be the richest man in Ireland in his day. He was a lawyer from Ballyshannon, County Donegal, who made an enormous fortune out of land transactions in the unsettled period after the Williamite wars.
William Conolly had property on Capel Street in Dublin, before moving to Celbridge. Conolly’s house was on the corner of Capel Street and Little Britain Street and was demolished around 1770. [2] The Kildare Local History webpage gives us an excellent description of William Conolly’s rise to wealth:
“In November 1688, William Conolly was one of the Protestants who fled Dublin to join the Williamites in Chester alongside his late Celbridge neighbour Bartholomew Van Homrigh.
“On the victory of William III, he acquired a central role dealing in estates forfeited by supporters of James II, commencing his rise to fortune with the forfeited estates of the McDonnells of Antrim.
“In 1691 he purchased Rodanstown outside Kilcock, which became his country residence until he purchased Castletown in 1709.
“A dowry of £2,300 came his way in 1694 when he married Katherine Conyngham, daughter of Albert Conyngham, a Williamite General who had been killed in the war at Collooney in 1691.
“He was appointed Collector and Receiver of Revenue for the towns of Derry and Coleraine on May 2nd 1698.
“Conolly was the largest purchaser of forfeited estates in the period 1699–1703, acquiring also 20,000 acres spread over five counties at a cost of just £7,000.” [3]
He rose to become Speaker of the House of Commons in the Irish Parliament. William Conolly married Katherine Conyngham of Mount Charles, County Donegal, whose brother purchased Slane Castle in County Meath (see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2019/07/19/slane-castle-county-meath/). As well as earning money himself, his wife brought a large dowry.
William Conolly purchased land in County Kildare which had been owned by Thomas Dongan (1634-1715), 2nd Earl of Limerick, in 1709. Dongan’s estate had been confiscated as he was a Jacobite supporter of James II (he became first governor of the Duke of York’s province of New York! The Earldom ended at his death). Dongan’s mother was the daughter of William Talbot, 1st Baronet of Carton (see my entry about Carton, County Kildare, under Places to stay in County Kildare https://irishhistorichouses.com/2023/06/08/places-to-visit-and-stay-in-county-kildare/ ).
The Archiseek website tells us about the design of Castletown House:
“Soon after the project got underway Conolly met Alessandro Galilei (1691-1737), an Italian architect, who had been employed in Ireland by Lord Molesworth in 1718 [John Molesworth, 2nd Viscount, who had been British envoy to Florence]. He designed the façade of the main block in the style of a 16th century Italian town palace. He returned to Italy in 1719 and was not associated with the actual construction of the house which began in 1722. Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (died 1733), a young Irish architect, on his Italian grand tour became acquainted with Galilei in Florence and through this connection he was employed by the Speaker to complete Castletown when he returned to Ireland in 1724. Pearce had first hand knowledge of the work of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) and his annotated copy of Palladio’s Quattro libri dell’architettura survives. It was Pearce who added the Palladian colonnades and the terminating pavillions. This layout was the first major Palladian scheme in Ireland and soon had many imitators.” [4]
Mark Bence-Jones describes Castletown in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses. The centre block is of three storeys over basement, and has two almost identical thirteen bay fronts “reminiscent of the façade of an Italian Renaissance town palazzo; with no pediment or central feature and no ornamentation except for doorcase, entablatures over the ground floor windows, alternate segmental and triangular pediments over the windows of the storey above and a balustraded roof parapet. Despite the many windows and the lack of a central feature, there is no sense of monotony or heaviness; the effect being one of great beauty and serenity.” [5] The centre block is made of Edenderry limestone, and is topped by cornice and balustrade. On the ground floor the windows have frieze, cornice and lugged architrave, and on the first floor, alternating triangular and segmental pediments.
William died in 1729 aged just 67, so he had only a few years to enjoy his house. His wife Katherine lived on in the house another twenty-three years until her death at the age of 90 in 1752. William and Katherine had no children, so his estate passed to his nephew William James Conolly (1712-1754), son of William’s brother Patrick. We came across William James Conolly before in Leixlip Castle (another Section 482 property), which he also inherited. William James married Lady Anne Wentworth, the daughter of the Earl of Strafford. Her father, Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Strafford is not the more famous Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Strafford who was executed (of whom there is at least one portrait in Castletown) but a later one, of the second creation. William James died just two years after Katherine Conolly, so the estate then passed to his son Thomas Conolly (1738-1803).
Thomas Conolly (1738-1803) by Anton Raphael Mengs, painted 1758. The German painter Mengs captured Conolly as a 19 year old on his Grand Tour. He is shown posting in front of a Roman sarcophagus, the “Relief of the Muses,” now in the Louvre. He is wearing a rich satin suit with gilt braid, portraying a young cultured aristocrat. In reality he displayed little interest in ancient civilisation, and brought back no souvenirs from Rome save for this portrait. Portrait in the National Gallery of Ireland.Lady Anne Conolly (née Wentworth) (1713-1797) Attributed to Anthony Lee, Irish, fl.1724-1767. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Thomas married Louisa Lennox in 1758, one of five Lennox sisters, daughters of the Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. From the age of eight she had lived at nearby Carton with her sister Emily, who was married to James Fitzgerald, the 20th Earl of Kildare (who became the 1st Duke of Leinster). At Carton, Louisa was exposed to the fashionable ideas of the day in architecture, decoration, horticulture and landscaping. [6] Louisa loved Castletown and continually planned improvements, planting trees, designing the lake and building bridges.
Archiseek continues: “The Castletown papers, estate records and account books, together with Lady Louisa’s [i.e. Louisa Lennox, wife of Tom Conolly] diaries and correspondence with her sisters, provide a valuable record of life at Castletown and also of the reorganisation of the house. Lady Louisa’s letters from the 1750s onwards are revealing of the fashions in costume design, fabric patterns and furniture. She played an important part in the alteration and redecoration of Castletown during the 1760s and 1770s. As no single architect was responsible for all of the work carried out, she supervised most of it herself. Much of the redecoration of the house was done to the published designs of the English architect Sir William Chambers (1723-1796) who never came to Ireland himself. Chambers also worked for Lady Louisa’s brother, the 3rd Duke of Richmond, at Goodwood in Sussex. In a letter, written in July 1759, Lady Louisa mentions instructions given by Chambers to his assistant Simon Vierpyl who supervised the work at Castletown.” (see [6])
Description of the Hall, from Archiseek: “This impressive two-storeyed room with a black and white chequered floor, was designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce. The Ionic order on the lower storey is similar to that of the colonnades outside and at gallery level there are tapering pilasters with baskets of flowers and fruit carved in wood. The coved ceiling has a central moulding comprising a square Greek key patterned frame and central roundel with shell decoration.” [see 6]
Great Hall,photograph by Swire Chin, Toronto, May 2013 flickr constant commons.The Gallery of the Great Hall. Photograph by Swire Chin, Toronto, May 2013 flickr constant commons.Photograph by Swire Chin, Toronto, May 2013 flickr constant commons.
The polished limestone floor with its chequered design and the Kilkenny marble fireplace reflect William Conolly’s desire to build the house solely of native Irish materials. Unfortunately when we visited in October 2022, the hall was half hidden with a large two storey curtain, as the windows are all being repaired. As we can see in the photograph, the room has an Ionic colonnade to the rear, and a gallery at first floor level, and the stair hall is through an archway in the east wall.
From the entrance hall, one enters the magnificent Stair Hall. The Castletown website describes the stair hall:
“The Portland stone staircase at Castletown is one of the largest cantilevered staircases in Ireland. It was built in 1759 under the direction of the master builder Simon Vierpyl (c.1725–1811). Prior to this the space was a shell, although a plan attributed to Edward Lovett Pearce suggests that a circular staircase was previously intended.
The solid brass balustrade was installed by Anthony King, later Lord Mayor of Dublin. He signed and dated three of the banisters, ‘A. King Dublin 1760’. The opulent rococo plasterwork was created by the Swiss-Italian stuccadore Filippo Lafranchini, who, with his older brother Paolo, had worked at Carton and Leinster House for Lady Lousia’s brother-in-law, the first Duke of Leinster, as well as at Russborough in Co. Wicklow. Shells, cornucopias, dragons and masks feature in the light-hearted decoration which represents the final development of the Lafranchini style. Family portraits are also included with Tom Conolly at the foot of the stairs and Louisa above to his right. The four seasons are represented on the piers and on either side of the arched screen.“
“In the following year, Tom Conolly and Lady Louisa employed the Francini to decorate the walls of thestaircase hall with rococo stuccowork; and in 1760 the grand staircase itself – of cantilevered stone, with a noble balustrade of brass columns – was installed; the work beign carried out by Simon Vierpyl, a protégé of Sir William Chambers. The principal reception rooms, which form an enfilade along the garden front and were mostly decorated at this time, are believed to be by Chambers himself; they have ceilings of geometrical plasterwork, very characteristic of him. Also in this style is the dining room, to the left of the entrance hall. It was here that, according to the story, Tom Conolly found himself giving supper to the Devil, whom he had met out hunting and invited back, believing him to be merely a dark stranger; but had realised the truth when his guest’s boots were removed, revealing him to have unusually hairy feet. He therefore sent for the priest, who threw his breviary at the unwelcome guest, which missed him and cracked a mirror. This, however, was enough to scare the Devil, who vanished through the hearthstone. Whatever the truth of this story, the hearthstone in the dining room is shattered, and one of the mirrors is cracked.“
“This room dates from the 1760s redecoration of Castletown undertaken by Lady Louisa Conolly and reflects the mid-eighteenth century fashion for separate dining rooms. Originally, there were two smaller panelled rooms here. It was reconstructed to designs by Sir William Chambers, with a compartmentalised ceiling similar to one by Inigo Jones in the Queen’s House at Greenwich. The chimney-piece and door cases are in the manner of Chambers. Of the four doors, two are false.
“Furniture original to Castletown includes the two eighteenth-century giltwood side tables. Their frieze is decorated with berried laurel foliage similar to the door entablatures in the Red and Green Drawing Rooms. The three elaborate pier glasses are original to the Dining Room. The frames are carved fruiting vines, symbols of Bacchus and festivity. These are probably the work of the Dublin carver Richard Cranfield (1713-1809) who, with the firm of Thomas Jackson of Essex Bridge, Dublin, was paid large sums for carving and gilding throughout the house.“
Between the front of the house, with its Entrance Hall, Stair Hall and Dining Room is a corridor, or rather, two corridors, one to the west and one to the east of the Entrance Hall. This corridor is on every storey, including the basement. To the rear (north) of the house on the ground floor is an enfilade of rooms: the Brown Study to the west end, next to another staircase, then the Red Drawing Room, the Green Drawing Room, the Print Room, the State Bedroom, and then small rooms called the Healy Room and the Map Room.
Next to the Dining Room at the front of the house is the Butler’s Pantry, which contains photographs of the servants of Castletown, and a portrait of a housekeeper, Mrs Parnel Moore (1649–1761). It’s unusual to have a portrait of a housekeeper but perhaps someone painted her because she was a beloved member of the household, as she lived to be at least 112 years! This is a very old portrait dating back to the 1700s.
The Castletown website tells us about the Butler’s Pantry: “The Butler’s Pantry dates from the 1760s and connected the newly created Dining Room with the kitchens in the West Wing. Food was carried in from the kitchens through the colonnade passageway and then reheated in the pantry before being served. The great kitchens were on the ground floor of the west wing, with servants’ quarters upstairs. Upwards of 80 servants would have been employed in the house and kitchens in the late eighteenth century under the direction of the Butler and the Housekeeper.”
A house like Castletown relied on an army of servants and this portrait of former housekeeper Mrs Parnel Moore – aged 112 according to the inscription – dates back to the beginnings of Castletown and is one of the oldest original items in the collection.English servants of Castletown, photograph in Butler’s Pantry of Castletown.Irish servants of Castletown, photograph in Butler’s Pantry of Castletown.Enfilade of rooms on the north side, photograph by Swire Chin, Toronto, May 2013 flickr constant commons.
The Red Drawing Room, description from Archiseek:
“It is one of a series of State Rooms that form an enfilade and were used on important occasions in the eighteenth century. This room was redesigned in the mid 1760s in the manner of Sir William Chambers. The chimney-piece, ceiling and pier glasses are typical of his designs.
“The walls are covered in red damask which is probably French and dates from the 1820s. Lady Shelburne recorded in her journal seeing a four coloured damask, predominently red, in this room. The Aubusson carpet dates from about 1850 and may have been made for the room. Much of the furniture has always been in the house and Lady Louisa Conolly paid 11/2 guineas for each of the Chinese Chippendale armchairs which she considered very expensive. The chairs and settee were made in Dublin and they are displayed in a formal arrangement against the walls as they would have been in the eighteenth century. The bureau was made for Lady Louisa in the 1760s.“
The neoclassical ceiling, which replaced the vaulted original, is based on published designs by the Italian Renaissance architect, Sebastiano Serlio, and is modelled after one in Leinster House (belonging to Lady Louisa’s sister’s husband the Earl of Kildare). The white Carrara chimney-piece came to the house in 1768.
The Green Drawing Room, description from Archiseek:
“The Conollys formally received important visitors to the house in the Green Drawing Room which was the saloon or principal reception room. The room was redecorated in the 1760s and like the other state rooms reflects the neo-classical taste of the architect Sir William Chambers. The Greek key decoration on the ceiling is repeated on the pier glasses and the chimney-piece. Originally these were pier tables with a Greek key frieze and copies of these may be made in the future. The chimney-piece is similar to one designed by Chambers for Lord Charlemont’s Casino at Marino.”
The Castletown website tells us: “The Green Drawing Room was the main reception room or saloon on the ground floor. Visitors could enter from the Entrance Hall or the garden front. Like the other state rooms it was extensively remodelled between 1764 and 1768. The influence of the published designs of Serlio and the leading British architect Isaac Ware can be seen in the neo-classical ceiling, door cases and chimney-piece...The walls were first lined with a pale green silk damask in the 1760s. Fragments of this silk, which was replaced by a dark green mid-nineteenth century silk, survived and the present silk was woven as a direct colour match in 1985 by Prelle et Cie in Lyon, France.”
The Brown Study is at one end of this enfilade of rooms. The website describes it:
“The Brown Study with its wood-panelled walls, tall oak doors, corner chimney-piece, built-in desk and vaulted ceiling is decorated as it was in the 1720s when the house was first built. This room was used as a bedroom in the late nineteenth century and then as a breakfast parlour in the early twentieth century.
Between the windows is a piece of the ‘Volunteer fabric’. Printed on a mixture of linen and cotton in Harpur’s Mills in nearby Leixlip, it depicts the review of the Leinster Volunteers in the Phoenix Park in 1782. Thomas Conolly was active in the Volunteer leadership in both Counties Derry and Kildare. The Volunteers were a local militia force established during the American War of Independence to defend Ireland from possible French invasion while the regular troops were in America. They were later linked to the Patriot party in the Irish House of Commons led by Henry Grattan and to their campaigns for political reform.“
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “The doing-up of the house was largely supervised by Lady Louisa, and two of the rooms bear her especial stamp: the print room, which she and her sister, Lady Sarah Napier made ca. 1775; and the splendid long gallery on the first floor, which she had decorated with wall paintings in the Pompeian manner by Thomas Riley 1776.“
The website tells us about the Print Room, completed in 1769: “More than any other room in Castletown, the Print Room bears the imprint of Lady Louisa, who assiduously collected, cut out, and arranged individual prints, frames and decorations. The prints were glued on panels of off-white painted paper which was later attached to the walls on battens covered with cloth. Lady Louisa thus created an intimate, highly individual room which has survived changing tastes and fashions and is now the only fully intact eighteenth-century print room in Ireland.”
Print rooms were fashionable in the 18th century – ladies would collect their favourite prints and paste the walls with them. Prints featured include Le Bas, Rembrandt and Teniers, the actor David Garrick and Sarah Cibber, Louisa’s sister Sarah, Charles I and Charles II as a boy, with whom Louisa shared a bloodline.
The room was later used as a billiards room, and this helped inadvertedly to save the prints, as our guide told us, as the smoke from their pipes helped to protect against silverfish insects which eat wallpaper.
Next to the Print Room is the State Bedroom. The website tells us:
“In the 1720s, when the house was first laid out, this room, along with the rooms either side, probably formed William Conolly’s bedroom suite. It was intended that he would receive guests in the morning while sitting up in bed or being dressed in the manner of the French court at Versailles. In the nineteenth century, the room was converted into a library and the mock leather Victorian wall paper dates from this time. Sadly, the Castletown library was dispersed in the 1960s and today the furniture reflects the room’s original use.“
Next to the State Bedroom is The Healy Room: “This room originally served as a dressing room or closet attached to the adjoining State Bedroom. It was used as a small sitting room and later became Major Edward Conolly’s bedroom in the mid-twentieth century, as it was one of the few rooms that could be kept warm in winter. It is now known as the Healy room after the pictures of the Castletown horses by the Irish artist Robert Healy (d.1771).”
Upstairs has more bedrooms, and the beautiful Long Gallery. A corridor overlooks the Great Hall.
To one side of the Stair Hall upstairs is Lady Kildare’s Room, named after Lady Louisa’s sister Emily, Countess of Kildare and later Duchess of Leinster, who had raised Louisa and the two younger sisters Sarah and Cecilia at nearby Carton House after their parents’ death. Currently being renovated, in the past the room housed the Berkeley Costume Collection. Made in France, Italy, and England, the dresses on display consist of rich embroidered bodices and full skirts made from silk and gold thread.
Across the upstairs East Corridor from Lady Kildare’s room is the Blue Bedroom. The website tells us that the Blue Bedroom provides a fine example of an early Victorian bedroom. Like the Boudoir, it forms part of an apartment with two adjoining dressing rooms, one of which was upgraded into a bathroom with sink and bathtub. The principal bedrooms, used by the family and honoured guests, were on this floor. Bedrooms on the second floor were also used for guests and for children, while the servants slept in the basement. This room has a lovely pink canopied bed, but we did not see the room when we visited in 2022.
At the front of the house on the other side of the Great Hall upstairs are the Boudoir, and Lady Louisa’s Bedroom, and across the West Corridor upstairs, the Pastel Room. The website tells us:
“The Boudoir and the adjoining two rooms formed Lady Louisa’s personal apartment. The Boudoir served as a private sitting room for Louisa and subsequent ladies of the house. The painted ceiling, dado rail and window shutters possibly date from the late eighteenth century and were restored in the 1970s by artist Philippa Garner. The wall panels, or grotesques, after Raphael date from the early nineteenth century and formerly hung in the Long Gallery. Amongst the items inside the built-in glass cabinet are pieces of glass and china featuring the Conolly crest.
“In the adjoining room, Lady Louisa’s Bedroom, OPW’s conservation architects have left exposed the walls to offer visitors a glimpse of the different historic layers in the room, from the original brick walls, supported by trusses, to wooden panelling to fragments of whimsical printed wall paper that once embellished the room.“
The Pastel Room, the website tells us, was originally an anteroom to the adjoining Long Gallery. It was used as a school room in the nineteenth century and is now known as the Pastel Room because of the fine collection of pastel portraits. The smaller pastels surrounding the fireplace include a pair of portraits of Thomas and Louisa Conolly by the leading Irish pastel artist of the eighteenth century, Hugh Douglas Hamilton.
The small medallion in the centre is Lady Louisa by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.The one of the two girls on the right is of Louisa Staples and her sister, by Hugh Douglas Hamilton. William James Conolly (1712-1754) was the nephew of William Conolly who built Castletown, and he inherited the estate. He was the father of Thomas Conolly (1734-1803). Thomas’s sister Harriet married John Staples, and their daughter was Louisa Staples. Louisa married Thomas Pakenham (1757-1836). It was their son, Edward Michael (1786-1849) who inherited Castletown, and added Conolly to his surname, to become Pakenham Conolly.The pastel on the top left is Thomas Conolly (1734-1803), Louisa’s husband.The parents of Louisa and Emily: Sarah Cadogen (1705-1751) and Charles Lennox (1701-1750) 2nd Duke of Richmond.Pastel of Lady Louisa Lennox, from the circle of Geoge Knapton, c.1747, it depicts Lady Louisa at the tender age of four. Louisa was the daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and his wife, Lady Sarah Cadogan. Her parents died when she was eight years old, and both she and her two younger sisters, Sarah and Cecilia, went to live with their older sister Emily, Countess of Kildare, in Ireland.
From the Pastel Room, we enter the Long Gallery. The website tells us about this room:
“Originally laid out as a picture gallery with portraits of William Conolly’s patrons on display, its function and layout changed under Lady Louisa. In 1760, she had the original doorways to the upper east and west corridors removed, replacing them with the central doorway above the Entrance Hall. The new doorcases as well as new fireplaces at either end were designed by leading English architect, Sir William Chambers, while the actual execution was overseen by Simon Vierpyl. The Pompeian style decoration on the walls dates from the 1770s and was inspired by Montfaucon’s publications on the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum and by Raphael’s designs for the Vatican. The murals were the work of an English artist and engraver Charles Ruben Riley (1752–98). The Long Gallery became a space for informal entertaining and was full of life and activity as the following excerpt from one of Louisa’s letters suggests: “Our gallery was in great vogue, and really is a charming room for there is such a variety of occupations in it, that people cannot be formal in it. Lord Harcourt was writing, some of us played at whist, others at billiards, Mrs Gardiner at the harpsichord, others at chess, others at reading and supper at one end. I have seldom seen twenty people in a room so easily disposed of.”
“…measuring almost 80 by 23 feet, with its heavy ceiling compartments and frieze dates from the 1720s. Originally there were four doors in the room and the walls were panelled in stucco similar to the entrance Hall. In 1776 the plaster panels and swags were removed but traces of them were found behind the painted canvas panels when they were taken down for cleaning during recent conservation work.”
Archiseek continues: “In the mid 1770s the room was redecorated in the Pompeian manner by two English artists, Charles Reuben Riley (c.1752-1798) and Thomas Ryder (1746-1810). Tom and Louisa’s portraits are at either end of the room over the chimney-pieces and the end piers are decorated with cyphers of the initals of their families: The portrait of Lady Louisa is after Reynolds (the original is in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard) and that of Tom after Anton Raphael Mengs (the original is in the National Gallery of Ireland).
Archiseek tells us: “The subjects of the wall paintings were mostly taken from engraving in d’Hancarville’s Antiquites Etrusques, Greques, et Romaines (1766-67) and de Montfaucon’s L’antiquite expliquee et representee en figures (1719). The busts of the poets and philosophers are placed on gilded brackets designed by Chambers. In the central niche stands a seventeenth-century statue of Diana. Above is a lunette of Aurora, the godess of the dawn, derived from a ceiling decoration by Guido Reni, the seventeenth century Bolognese painter.
“The three glass chandeliers were made for the room in Venice and the four large sheets of mirrored glass came from France. In the 1770s the Long Gallery was used as a living room and was filled with exquisite furniture. Originally in the room, there were a pair of side tables attributed to John Linnell, with marble tops attributed to Bossi, a pair of commodes by Pierre Langlois, that were purchased in London for Lady Louisa by Lady Caroline Fox and a pair of bookcases at either end of the room.
“In 1989 major conservation work was carried out on the Long Gallery. The wall paintings that had been flaking for many years were conserved. The original eighteenth-century gilding has been cleaned and the chandeliers restored. The project was funded by the American Ireland Fund, the Irish Georgian Society and by private donations.“
Mark Bence-Jones tells us: “The gallery, and the other rooms on the garden front, face along a two mile vista to the Conolly Folly, an obelisk raised on arches which was built by Speaker Conolly’s widow 1740, probably to the design of Richard Castle. The ground on which it stands did not then belong to the Conollys, but to their neighbour, the Earl of Kildare, whose seat, Carton, is nearby. The folly continued to be a part of the Carton estate until 1968, when it was bought by an American benefactress and presented to Castletown. At the end of another vista, the Speaker’s widow built a remarkable corkscrew-shaped structure for storing grain, known as the Wonderful Barn. One of the entrances to the demesne has a Gothic lodge, from a design published by Batty Langley 1741. The principal entrance gates are from a design by Chambers.“
The Obelisk, or Conolly Folly, was reputedly built to give employment during an episode of famine. It was restored by the Irish Georgian Society in 1960.
As Bence-Jones tells us, Castletown was inherited by Tom Conolly’s nephew, Edward Michael Pakenham, who took the name of Conolly, to become Pakenham Conolly. Thomas and Louisa had no children, and Thomas’s sister Harriet married John Staples, and their daughter was Louisa Staples. Louisa married Thomas Pakenham (1757-1836). It was their son, Edward Michael (1786-1849) who inherited Castletown.
The house then passed to his son, another Thomas Conolly (1823-1876). He was an adventourous character who travelled widely and kept a diary. Stephen and I recently attended a viewing of portraits of Thomas and his wife Sarah Eliza, which are to be sold by Bonhams. His diary of his trip to the United States during the time of the Civil War is being published.
Sarah Eliza was the daughter of a prosperous Celbridge paper mill owner, Joseph Shaw. Her substantial dowry helped to fund her husband’s adventurous lifestyle! A photograph album which belonged to her brother Henry Shaw, of a visit to Castletown, was rescued from the rubble of his home in London when it was destroyed by a German bomb in 1944. Sadly, he died in the bombing. The photograph album is on display in Castletown.
Thomas Conolly (1823-1876)and his wife Sarah Eliza.
Sarah Eliza and Thomas had four children. Thomas, born in 1870, died in the Boer War in 1900. William died at the age of 22. Edward Michael (Ted), born in 1874, lived until his death in Castletown, in 1956. Their daughter Catherine married Gerald Shapland Carew, 5th Baron Carew, the grandson of Robert Carew, 1st Baron Carew of Castleboro House, County Wexford (today an impressive ruin), and son of Shapland Francis Carew and his wife Hester Georgiana Browne, daughter of Howe Peter Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo.
Sarah Eliza sits reading while her daughter Catherine descends the stairs.Photographs of the Conolly family. Thomas Conolly who died in the Boer War is pictured on the left in the striped cap.View of Castletown House from the meadow from Henry Shaw’s album.Sarah Eliza with Catherine and her children seated at the table in the Dining Room.William Francis in foreground.
Catherine’s son, William Francis Conolly-Carew (1905-1994), 6th Baron Carew, inherited Castletown, and added Conolly to his surname.
[2] p. xiii, Jennings, Marie-Louise and Gabrielle M. Ashford (eds.), The Letters of Katherine Conolly, 1707-1747. Irish Manuscripts Commission 2018. The editors reference TCD, MS 3974/121-125; Capel Street and environs, draft architectural conservation area (Dublin City Council) and Olwyn James, Capel Street, a study of the past, a vision of the future (Dublin, 2001), pp. 9, 13, 15-17.
[5] p. 75. 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.
[6] p. 129. Great Irish Houses. Forewards by Desmond FitzGerald, Desmond Guinness. IMAGE Publications, 2008.
[3] p. 8, Living Legacies: Ireland’s National Historic Properties in the Care of the OPW. Government Publications, Dublin 2, 2018.
Today I am continuing to publish the portraits I have gathered so far. I’ll be adding to this list as I go. Eventually I hope to create a new website with a virtual gallery of portraits. Maybe we can find a home for an in-person museum at some point! Wouldn’t the Bank of Ireland on College Green, the former Parliament House, make a wonderful building for a National Portrait Gallery?
Also, I notice that we can welcome a new property to the Section 482 list:
Millbrook House Kilkea, Beaconstown, Castledermot, Co. Kildare R14Y319 Open dates in 2024: May 17- 31, Aug 12-31, Sept 7-16, Dec 17-31, 9am-1pm Fee: Adult €8, student/OAP/groups €5
I look forward to visiting!
I usually like to publish a new post every Thursday, but I’m publishing one today as I’ll hopefully publish another tomorrow! I still have eighteen properties I have already visited to write up, so I’m working away. Also I’m gearing up for Heritage week August 12-20th when I hope to visit as many properties as possible. All of the Section 482 properties, except those listed as “Tourist Accommodation” should be open, so I hope you get to visit some as well!
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Mrs Gilbert Eccles British school courtesy of National Trust Castle Ward. Ann Cockburn married Gilbert Eccles (1602-1694), High Sheriff of County Tyrone and County Fermanagh, and they were grandparents of John Eccles (1664-1727) Lord Mayor of Dublin. I presume this is a portrait of Ann Cockburn.John Eccles (1664-1727) Lord Mayor of Dublin (1714), courtesy of National Trust Castle Ward.Elizabeth Eccles née Best, wife of John Eccles Lord Mayor of Dublin, Irish school courtesy of National Trust Castle Ward.Elizabeth née Ambrose (b. 1706) possibly by John Lewis. She marries Hugh Eccles (1701-1761) who was the son of John Eccles (1664-1727). She was daugher of Isaac Ambrose (1680-1736), courtesy of National Trust Castle Ward.Elizabeth née Ambrose (b. 1706) who marries Hugh Eccles (1701-1761), daugher of Isaac Ambrose (1680-1736), Irish school courtesy of National Trust Castle Ward.Isaac Ambrose Eccles (1736?-1809) attributed to Joseph Wilson or Robert Hunter courtesy of National Trust Castle Ward. He was the son of Hugh Eccles and Elizabeth née Ambrose.Called Isaac Ambrose Eccles (1736?-1809) English school courtesy of National Trust Castle Ward.He was Esquire of Cronroe, a gentleman of distinguished literary attainments, his father’s heir, a magistrate of County Wicklow. He was the grandson of John Eccles Lord Mayor of Dublin (1714).Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744-1817), by Horace Hone 1785, National Portrait Gallery of London 5069.Maria Edgeworth, c. 1841 A daguerreotype photograph of the Irish author by Richard Beard (1801 – 1885) courtesy of Adam’s auction 30 April 2013Victorian School Portrait of a young woman of the Edgeworth family courtesy Adam’s 28 June 2010Young Woman of the Edgeworth Family, Victorian School, courtesy of Adam’s auction 27 Nov 2016 and courtesy Adam’s 28 June 2010.Victorian School Portrait of a gentleman of the Edgeworth family courtesy Adam’s 28 June 2010.Mrs. Anne Edgeworth by Follower of Sir Peter Lely courtesy of Adam’s 28 June 2010.Robert Emmet. Published by Fishel, Alder & Schwartz 64 Fulton St. New York (1880), coloured and framed and entitled ”Robert Emmett, The Irish Patriot” courtesy Adam’s auction 18 April 2012Thomas Addis Emmett (1764-1827) by William Carroll, bearing insription on back Thomas Addis Emmet by William O’Carroll, 57 Henry St Dublin, courtesy of Adam’s auction 22 Nov 2015.George Ensor (1769-1843) of Ardress House, County Armagh, by John Comerford, courtesy of Armagh County Museum.Sophia Maria Knox Grogan Morgan (1805-1867) née Rowe, with her second husband Thomas Esmonde 9th Baronet (1786-1868); Jane Colclough Grogan Morgan (1834-1872), she married George Arthur Forbes (1833-1889), 7th Earl of Granard, who is in the third portrait.Maurice Eustace, Attributed to Philip Hussey (1713-1783), provenance Castlemore House and by descent. Hussey specialised in portraits of lawyers, possibly the setting is the Four Courts before rebuilt by Gandon, courtesy of Adam’s auction 12 Oct 2014.Thomas Everard, 18th CENTURY IRISH SCHOOL courtesy Adam’s 12 July 2011.
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Edward Fitzgerald of New Park, County Wexford (1770-1807), Revolutionary Engraver W.T. Annis After Thomas Nugent, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Gerald Fitzgerald (1487-1534) 9th Earl of Kildare, courtesy of Bodleian Libraries.
Gerald Fitzgerald (1487-1534) 9th Earl of Kildare was the son of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare and Alison Eustace. He married, first, Elizabeth Zouche (d. 1517).
Their daughter Catherine married Jenico Preston, 3rd Viscount Gormanston, and secondly, Richard St. Lawrence 6th Baron Howth. Their daughter Cecilia married Cahir Mac Art Boy Kavanagh, Baron of Ballyanne, The MacMorrough. Their daughter Ellis married James Fleming 9th Lord Slane. Their son Thomas Fitzgerald (1513-1536/7) became 10th Earl of Kildare.
Thomas FitzGerald (1513-1536/7) 10th Earl of Kildare, “Silken Thomas,” c. 1530 attributed to Anthony Van Dyck.He had no offspring.
Gerald Fitzgerald (1487-1534) 9th Earl of Kildare married secondly Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Grey 1st Marquess of Dorset, and they had several more children. Their daughter Elizabeth (1528-1589/90) married first Anthony Browne, Joint Keeper of Windsor Great Park on 29 January 1528/29, with his brother 1st Earl of Southampton. She married secondly Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln. Gerald 9th Earl and Elizabeth had a son Gerald FitzGerald (1525-1585) who became 1st/11th Earl of Kildare. He was called ‘The Wizard Earl’. He held the office of Master of Horse to Cosimo de’ Medici, Duke of Florence.
A younger brother of the Wizard Earl, Edward (1528-1590), was the father of Gerald FitzGerald (d. 1611/12) 14th Earl of Kildare.
The 11th Earl, the Wizard Earl, married his cousin Mabel Browne. Their daughter Elizabeth (d. 1617) married Donough O’Brien 3rd Earl of Thomond. The 11th Earl’s daughter Mary (d. 1610) married Christopher Nugent 5th Baron Delvin.
A son of the 11th Earl, Henry (1562-1597) became the 12th Earl and was also known as “Henry of the Battleaxes.” He had only daughters so his brother became the 13th Earl. The 12th Earl’s daughter Elizabeth married Lucas Plunkett 1st Earl of Fingall. His daughter Bridget married first Ruaidhri O’Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, then Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland.
William FitzGerald (d. 1599) 3rd/13th Earl of Kildare was another son of Gerald FitzGerald, 1st/11th Earl of Kildare. He died circa April 1599, lost at sea while crossing from England to Ireland, unmarried. The title went to his uncle Edward’s (1528-1590) son Gerald FitzGerald (d. 1611/12) who became 14th Earl of Kildare.
Gerald FitzGerald (d. 1611/12) 14th Earl of Kildare married Elizabeth daughter of Christopher Nugent, 5th Baron Delvin, who gave birth to Gerald FitzGerald (1611-1620) who became 15th Earl of Kildare. The 15th Earl died young. The title passed the 14th Earl’s younger brother’s son, George FitzGerald (1611/12-1660) who became 16th Earl of Kildare.
The 16th Earl married Joan Boyle (1611-1656/7), daughter of Richard Boyle 1st Earl of Cork. Their daughter Elizabeth (d. 1697/98) married Callaghan MacCarty, 3rd Earl of Clancarty. Their daughter Eleanor (d. 1681) married Walter Borrowes, 2nd Bt of Grangemellon, County Kildare. Their son Wentworth FitzGerald (1634-1663/64) became 17th Earl of Kildare.
The 17th Earl married Elizabeth daughter of John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare.
Elizabeth FitzGerald, née Holles, Countess of Kildare, 1660, by John Michael Wright, wife of Wentworth Fitzgerald 17th Earl of Kildare.
Elizabeth and the 17th Earl of Kildare had a son, John FitzGerald (1661-1707) who became 18th Earl of Kildare. The 18th Earl married Mary O’Brien (1662-1683), daughter of Henry O’Brien (d. 1678) Lord O’Brien, MP for Clare. She gave birth to a son but he died in his first year. The 18th Earl then married Elizabeth daughter Richard Jones, 1st and last Earl of Ranelagh but they had no children.
Elizabeth née Jones (d. 1758), Countess of Kildare wife of 18th Earl, daughter of Richard Jones 1st Earl of Ranelagh by Peter Lely.
The title passed to a cousin, Robert Fitzgerald (1675-1744), who became 19th Earl of Kildare. He was the son of Robert Fitzgerald (d. 1697/98), a younger son of George Fitzgerald 16th Earl of Kildare. The 19th Earl’s sister Mary (1666-1697) married John Allen, 1st Viscount Allen of County Kildare.
Robert, 19th Earl of Kildare (1675-1744) after Frederick Graves, courtesy of Adam’s auction 15th Oct 2019. Robert FitzGerald was married to Mary O’Brien, daughter of William O’Brien 3rd Earl of Inchiquin. They had 12 children but only 2 survived to majority. They had lived quietly at Kilkea Castle, near Athy, but in 1739 Robert bought back the lease of Carton, in Maynooth, for £8,000. He commissioned Richard Castle, the eminent architect, to reconstruct the existing house. In the pediment over the South front, previously the main entrance, is the coat of arms of Robert FitzGerald and his wife Mary O’Brien. Robert also employed the La Franchini brothers to construct the wonderful ceiling in the Gold Salon. The additions to Carton were not finished when Robert died in 1744 but he left instructions in his will to finish the restoration according to his plans. A monument dedicated to Robert FitzGerald is situated in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.(This portrait hung in Carton until 1949 when the Fitzgerald family sold the estate. It hung in Kilkea Castle until 1960. It was in the FitzGerald family collection in Oxfordshire until 2013.)
Robert FitzGerald 19th Earl of Kildare married Mary O’Brien, daughter of William O’Brien 3rd Earl of Inchiquin. Their daughter Margaretta (d. 1766) married Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough, Co. Down, 1st Marquess of Downshire.
Margaretta Fitzgerald (d. 1766) Countess of Hillsborough, daughter of Robert Fitzgerald, 19th Earl of Kildare, attributed to Charles Jervas, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy auction.She married Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough, Co. Down, 1st Marquess of Downshire.
A son of Robert 19th Earl and Mary was Richard Fitzgerald who lived at Mount Ophaly in County Kildare and married Margaret (d. 1763) daughter of James King, 4th Baron Kingston. Their other son was James FitzGerald (1722-1773) who became 20th Earl of Kildare and later, 1st Duke of Leinster.
Caroline King née Fitzgerald (c. 1754-1823), daughter of Richard (1733-1776) who was son of Robert, 19th Earl of Kildare. She married Robert King (1754-1799), 2nd Earl of Kingston.James Fitzgerald (1722-1773) 20th Earl of Kildare later 1st Duke of Leinster, by Robert Hunter c. 1803, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
James Fitzgerald (1722-1773) 20th Earl of Kildare later 1st Duke of Leinster married Emilia Mary née Lennox (1731-1814), daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. They had many children, including William Robert Fitzgerald (1749-1804), 2nd Duke of Leinster.
Emilia Mary Fitzgerald née Lennox (1731-1814) Duchess of Leinster, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Emily Margaret FitzGerald (1751-1818), daughter of 1st Duke of Leinster wife of Charles Coote 1st Earl of Bellomont by H D Hamilton courtesy Fine Art Sale Cheffins 2014.Henry FitzGerald (1761-1829) by Hugh Douglas Hamilton courtesy of Cheffins Fine Art sale 2013.He was a son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and Emily Lennox.Henry Fitzgerald 1761-1829, son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and Emily Lennox, attributed to John Hoppner, courtesy of Adam’s auction 13 Oct 2015Edward Fitzgerald (1763-1798), the rebel son of the 1st Duke of Leinster.William Robert Fitzgerald (1749-1804), 2nd Duke of Leinster, 1775 by engraver John Dixon, after Joshua Reynolds, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.William Robert FitzGerald (1748-1804), 2nd Duke of Leinster.HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON portrait of Emilia Olivia née St. George, 2nd Duchess of Leinster courtesy of Bonhams Old Master Paintings 2018.She gave birth to Augustus Frederick FitzGerald, 3rd Duke of Leinster.Augustus Frederick Fitzgerald (1791-1874), 3rd Duke of Leinster, engraver George Saunders after Stephen Catterson Smith, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland. He married Charlotte Augusta Stanhope, and she gave birth to their heir, Charles William FitzGerald, 4th Duke of Leinster.Maurice Fitzgerald (1852-1901) and his wife, Adelaide Jane Frances Forbes (1860-1942).Maurice was a son of Charles William FitzGerald, 4th Duke of Leinsterand his wife Caroline Sutherland-Leveson-Gower.Thomas Geancach Fitzgerald (d. 1730/31) 18th Knight of Glin, courtesy of The Knights of Glin: A Geraldine family, by J. Anthony Gaughan (1978).
Thomas Fitzgerald (d. 1730/31) was the son of Gerald Fitzgerald (d. 1689) 17th Knight of Glin and Joan daughter of Donough O’Brien of Carrigogunnell Castle, County Limerick. Gerald 17th Knight held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Limerick City in 1661, and High Sheriff of Limerick in 1680. He fought in the Battle of Windmill Hill in 1689, after the Siege of Derry. He was Member of Parliament (M.P.) for County Limerick in 1689, in King James II Patriot Parliament.
Thomas Fitzgerald (d. 1730/31) 18th Knight of Glin obtained a Certificate in 1701 for not having taken part in the wars of King James II, although he was an active supporter of Jacobite cause. In 1713/14 he was one of the Catholic nobility of Ireland licensed to carry arms. [1] His wife Mary née Fitzgerald of Ballymartyr gave birth to, among other children, the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd Knights of Glin. A daughter, Catherine (d. 1759) married first Thomas Freke Crosbie and second, Robert Fitzgerald, 17th Knight of Kerry.
John Fitzgerald (d. 1737) 19th Knight of Glin courtesy of The Knights of Glin: A Geraldine family, by J. Anthony Gaughan (1978).Edmond Fitzgerald (d. 1763) 20th Knight of Glin, a brother of the 19th, 21st and 22nd Knights of Glin.Richard Fitzgerald (1710-1775) 21st Knight of Glin, by Heroman Van Der Mijn, photograph courtesy of Glin Castle website.He conformed to the Protestant faith. He had only daughters so the title passed to his brother.Thomas Fitzgerald, 22nd Knight of Glin By Philip Hussey courtesy ofhttps//:theirishaesthete.com/tag/knight-of-glin/, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81941595
Thomas Fitzgerald (d. 1781) 22nd Knight of Glin married Mary Bateman. She gave birth to his heir, John Bateman FitzGerald (d. 1803) who became 23rd Knight of Glin. His wife Margaretta Maria Gwyn (d. 1801) gave birth to their heir, John Fraunceis FitzGerald (1791-1854) 24th Knight of Glin.
Glin Castle, photograph courtesy of Glin Castle website.The picture of Colonel John Bateman FitzGerald (1765-1803) the 23rd Knight of Glin, the builder of the house, wearing the uniform of his volunteer regiment the Royal Glin Artillery. In his portrait, which hangs over the Portland stone chimneypiece, he is proudly pointing at his cannon.Photograph courtesy of Glin castle website.The portrait is Margaretta Maria Gwyn (1769-1801), wife of John Bateman Fitzgerald (1765-1803) 23rd Knightof Glin, I believe.John Fraunceis Fitzgerald (1803-1854), “Knight of the Women,” the 24th Knight, photograph courtesy of the castle website.
As well as the Earls of Kildare, who became Dukes of Leinster, and Knights of Glin, Fitzgeralds were also Lords of the Decies, and Knights of Kerry, and Earls of Desmond.
Maurice FitzGerald (d. 1729) 14th Knight of Kerry fought for King James II in the Battle of the Boyne. He married Elizabeth Crosbie, who gave birth to their heir, John FitzGerald (d. 1741) who became 15th Knight of Kerry.
John FitzGerald (d. 1741) 15th Knight of Kerry had a son Maurice (d. 1780) who became 16th Knight of Kerry, and a daughter Elizabeth who married Richard Townsend of Castletownshend in County Cork.
Elizabeth Townsend née Fitzgerald, wife of Richard Townsend. Elizabeth Fitzgerald was daughter of John Fitzgerald (1706-1741), 15th Knight of Kerry, and married to Richard Townsend (1725-1783).
Maurice (d. 1780) 16th Knight of Kerry married Anna Maria, daughter of William FitzMaurice, 2nd Earl of Kerry. They did not have children, and Maurice’s uncle Robert (1716-1781) became the 17th Knight of Kerry.
Maurice Fitzgerald, Knight of Kerry – I’m not sure whether he’s the 14th or 16th Knight.Katherine Fitzgerald (c.1504-1604) daughter of John Fitzgerald 2nd Lord of the Decies, wife of Thomas Fitzgerald (1454-1534) 11th Earl of Desmond.Thought to be a Portrait of Catherine, Countess of Desmond (née Fitzgerald), (c.1510-1604), 2nd wife of Thomas Fitzgerald, 11th Earl of Desmond, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Mary née Hervey (1726-1815) was George “Fighting Fitzgerald”s mother, of Turlough Park, County Mayo. She was the granddaughter of John Hervey 1st Earl of Bristol, sister of Frederick Augustus Hervey 4th Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Derry who built Downhill, Co Derry. She married George Fitzgerald (c. 1712-1782) of Turlough Park, County Mayo.Johann Zoffany Portrait of George Fitzgerald (1748-1786) with his Sons George and Charles (roughly 1764) courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland and Crawford Gallery.John Fitzgibbon, 1st Earl of Clare (1749-1802) Date c.1799-1800 by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Irish, 1740-1808, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.William Fitzmaurice (1694-1747), 2nd earl and 21st Baron of Kerry by Stephen Slaughter, courtesy of The Irish Sale by Sotheby’s May 18, 2001.John FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory (1745–1818) by Thomas Beach (1738-1806) c.1765, Great Britain Immediate source Christie’s, South Kensington, London.Mary Fox née Fitzpatrick (1746-1778), wife of Stephen Fox 2nd Baron Hollard, by Pompeo Batoni.She was a daughter of John FitzPatrick 1st Earl of Upper Ossory.Louisa Lansdowne née Fitzpatrick, wife of William Petty 1st Marquess of Lansdowne by Joshua Reynolds from Catalogue of the pictures and drawings in the National loan exhibition, in aid of National gallery funds, Grafton Galleries, London. She was a daughter of John FitzPatrick 1st Earl of Upper Ossory.Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam (1745-1816), founder of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Vice-Admiral of Leinster, Engraver Richard Earlom, English, 1743-1822 After Hugh Howard, Irish, 1675-1737, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.John Michael Henry Fock 3rd Baron De Robeck (1790-1856).Sophia Maria Knox Grogan Morgan (1805-1867) née Rowe, with her second husband Thomas Esmonde 9th Baronet (1786-1868); Jane Colclough Grogan Morgan (1834-1872), she married George Arthur Forbes (1833-1889), 7th Earl of Granard, who is in the third portrait.Maurice Fitzgerald (1852-1901) and his wife, Adelaide Jane Frances Forbes (1860-1942).John Foster, (1740-1828), Last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, later 1st Baron Oriel Date 1799 Engraver/ Patrick Maguire, Irish, fl.1783-1820 After Gilbert Stuart, American, 1755-1828, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Elizabeth Christina Foster née Hervey (1759-1824) later Duchess of Devonshire by Angelica Kauffmann courtesy of National Trust Ickworth. She was the daughter of Frederick Augustus Hervey 4th Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Derry who built Downhill, Co Derry. She married John Thomas Foster MP (1747-1796) and later, William Boyle Cavendish 5th Duke of Devonshire. Last, she married Valentine Richard Quin 1st Earl of Dunraven and Mount Earl.Archibald Hamilton Foulkes of Coolawinna Co. Wicklow, c.1780 courtesy of Adam’s auction 13 Oct 2013John Freke of Castle Freke, Co. Cork. attributed to John Lewis, courtesy of Adam’s auction 16th Oct 2018. From the same sale was the signed and dated (1757) conversation piece by Lewis called Sir John Freke, Lady Freke and Mr Jeffries of Blarney (sold Sothebys at Slane Castle Lot 423, 26/6/1979). The present lot is likely to be an individual study of the same sitter, perhaps Sir John Redmond Freke M.P. for Cork. John Evans whose mother was Grace Freke inherited from his maternal uncle,founding the family of Evans Freke, whose baronetcy was only created in 1768. The Evans title of Baron Carbery was subsequently inherited by this family.
[1] Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke’s Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976.
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Last week I wrote about Charleville in County Wicklow, a house designed by Whitmore Davis. This week I am writing about another house by Davis, Harristown House. This house is magnificently situated at the top of a gently sloping hill, overlooking the River Liffey. I contacted the owner Hubert Beaumont, the husband of the listed contact, Noella, to arrange a visit on Thursday 22nd August 2019, during Heritage Week.
A British Parliamentary Paper, a Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland, in 1833, tells us that in the 33rd year of Charles II’s reign [he was restored to the British throne in 1660 but some would claim that his reign began with the death of his father, Charles I, in 1649], the Borough of Harristown was incorporated by a Charter which created the Manor of Harristown, which could hold a Court and make judgements, by “Seneschals” (a governor or other administrative or judicial officer) appointed by Sir Maurice Eustace and his heirs. He could also hold a market and fairs, on particular days, and have a prison. The borough could return two Members of Parliament. The Commission continues to describe the borough in the present day of 1833: the borough was the property of the La Touche family, and at the Union [1801], John La Touche obtained compensation for loss of the elective franchise. [1]
The Eustace family acquired the land of Harristown in the sixteenth century. The Harristown house website agrees with Mark Bence-Jones that the current house at Harristown was built by Whitmore Davis [2]. However, a website about the La Touche family claims that the present Harristown House was built in 1662, for Maurice Eustace (circa 1590-1665), but does not mention an architect [3]. Maurice Eustace became Lord Chancellor of Ireland after the Restoration of Charles II to the throne, because he was loyal to the monarchy. Wikipedia refers to Maurice Eustace’s beloved “Harristown Castle,” “which he was rebuilding after the damage it had suffered during the Civil War, and which by the time of his death was considered to be one of the finest houses in Ireland.” [4] This seems to refer to a house Eustace built near the original castle.
After much soul-searching, Maurice left Harristown as well as a large fortune to a nephew, Maurice (d. 1703). The Lord Chancellor had an illegitimate son with a woman of, apparently, “some social standing,” also named Maurice and he promised his inheritance both to this son and to his nephews, sons of his brother William (d. 1673/4) and William’s wife Anne Netterville. He consulted a preacher as to whether his promise to his lover was binding, and the preacher cruelly advised that it was not. Sadly, Maurice the Lord Chancellor also had a daughter by this liaison, Mary.
As well as the mother of the two illegitimate children, Maurice had a wife, Cicely (or Charity) Dixon (1605-1678), daughter of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Robert Dixon, but with her had no children. He left not only his country estates but a townhouse, named “Damask,” on the street which is now named after him, Eustace Street. He eventually left his inheritance to his nephews. The eldest son of his brother William, John, had died in 1697, so it went to the younger, Maurice (d. 1703).
This nephew Maurice married Anne Colville, daughter of Robert Colville (1625-1697). After she died in 1685, he married secondly, Clotilda Parsons. He had no male heirs and his fortune was divided on his death between his three daughters. The Harristown estate went to his daughter by his first wife, also named Anne. It’s sad to me that the house was inherited by a daughter after all, when the first Maurice Eustace’s illegitimate daughter, Mary, unlike her brother, was never even considered for inheritance.
His daughter Penelope married Robert Echlin (d. 1706), MP for Downpatrick and for Newry, son of Henry Echlin 1st Baronet Echlin of Clonagh, Co. Kildare.
Anne married the Irish MP Benjamin Chetwood (or Chetwode), who served as Member of Parliament for Harristown, and her son Eustace Chetwood inherited Harristown. He became MP for Harristown but mismanaged his estates [5] and it passed to James FitzGerald, the 1st Duke of Leinster.
Anne and Benjamin’s daughter Elizabeth married Christopher Ussher of Mount Usher, County Wicklow, another Section 482 property (see my entry).
James FitzGerald’s son William, who had no need for Harristown since he had also inherited Castletown House in County Kildare, sold it to David La Touche (1703-1785) in 1768. [6]
David (Digges) La Touche of Bellevue, County Wicklow, (1703-1785) purchased Harristown in 1768.
I cannot find the original date of construction of the house – Mark Bence-Jones in his Guide to Irish Country Houses identifies it as late Georgian, which generally means 1830-1837, but the Georgian period began in 1714 so “late” could mean as early as around 1800, which is more likely, as Charleville was built in 1797. I suspect that this house was built earlier, perhaps around the time when Whitmore Davis worked for the Bank of Ireland, because the Bank of Ireland was set up in 1783, and The La Touche family were major contributors to the bank.
The La Touche family was a Huguenot family. Huguenots, who were French Protestants, fled from France due to the punishment and killing of Protestants after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes – the Edict of Nantes had promoted religious toleration. Earlier in the week, Stephen and I had a tour of another La Touche house, Marlay House in Marlay Park in Rathfarnham. Marlay House is now owned by Dun Laoghaire and Rathdown County Council and it has been restored and furnished and holds tours by arrangement. [7]
Marlay House in Marlay Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin. Photo from National Inventory of Architectural History [8] When we mentioned to Mr. Beaumont that we had been to Marlay House earlier in the week, he commented on the incongruity between the two parts of that house – the 1690 part and the later part commissioned by David La Touche. It’s true that the two parts of the house are very different.
It was David Digues La Touche, born in the Loire Valley, who fled from France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He fled to Holland, where his uncle obtained for him a commission in the army of William of Orange. He fought in the Battle of the Boyne in the regiment under General Caillemotte. [9] He left the army in Galway, where he was billeted on a weaver who sent him to Dublin to buy wool yarn (worsteds). He decided then to stay in Dublin, and with another Huguenot, he set up as a manufacturer of cambric and rich silk poplin. Where I live in Dublin is an area where many Huguenots lived and weaved – we are near “Weaver Square,” and our area is called “The Tenters” because cloth was hung out to dry and bleach in the sun and looked like tents, hung on “tenterhooks”!
The La Touches began banking when Huguenots left their money and valuables with David for safekeeping when they would travel out of the capital. He began to advance loans, and so the La Touche bank began. He had two sons, David La Touche (1703-1785) and James Digues (later corrupted to Digges) La Touche. This David La Touche purchased properties which passed to his sons: Marlay House to David (1729-1817), Harristown to John (1732-1805), and Bellevue, County Wicklow, to Peter (1733-1828). Bellevue has since been demolished, in the 1950s [10].
David La Touche of Marley, County Dublin, (1729-1817), M.P., Banker and Privy Counsellor. Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Peter La Touche of Bellevue (1733-1828) Date 1775 by Robert Hunter, Irish, 1715/1720-c.1803, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.Elizabeth La Touche née Vicars (1756-1842), wife of Peter La Touche, by John Whitaker National Portrait Gallery of London D18415.
As I mentioned last week, the biography about Whitmore Davis in the Dictionary of Irish Architects is not flattering. Descriptions include: “By 1786 he had became architect to the Bank of Ireland at St Mary’s Abbey, where he was employed on minor works, but in 1788 he was reprimanded for lack of attention to his responsibilities ….Although he was employed as architect of the new Female Orphan House in 1792-93, his performance was not judged satisfactory; the Board’s minutes register ‘much disappointment’ at his not having completed the building within the time stipulated…. his architectural practice appears to have been going into decline and by February 1797 he had been declared bankrupt. [my italics]” However, things picked up for him eventually: “by 1803 he had succeeded Richard Harman as Surveyor of the Revenue Buildings for the Port of Dublin, a post which he still held in 1811.” [11]
The La Touches purchased Harristown and its lands in 1768, and presumably the house that was built by Maurice Eustace still stood on the land. They were involved with the establishment of the Bank of Ireland at Mary’s Abbey in 1783 and David La Touche was a major investor. It could have been at this time, when Whitmore Davis was architect for the Bank of Ireland 1786-91, that the La Touches had him build the new house at Harristown. Peter La Touche hired Whitmore Davis in 1789 to build a church in Delgany, County Wicklow, and the Orphan House on North Circular Road, also by Whitmore Davis, was commissioned by John La Touche in 1792.
Like Charleville, Harristown is ashlar faced, and has nine bays with a central breakfront of three bays, but it was originally three storey over basement. After a fire in 1890 it was rebuilt to designs by James Franklin Fuller, and was reduced to the two storeys you can see in the photograph above. As it stands now, the windows in the breakfront are grouped together under a wide “relieving” arch, as Mark Bence-Jones describes (I’m not sure what this means – if you know, please enlighten me! – perhaps it means that it is “in relief” ie. raised from the background), with a coat of arms and swags. There is a single-storey portico of Ionic columns. (see [2])
The crest on the over the portico in Harristown features the same pomegranate symbol, for fertility, as features in the La Touche crest on Marlay House on an urn over the front door, as well as a star shaped symbol. The guide at Marlay House was unable to explain the star shaped symbol to us but thought it might be the shape of the pomegranate flower. This shape features on the front pillar gates of Harristown House also, as well as a Greek key pattern.
Front of Marlay House, with crest of pomegranate on the urn on top of roof, and star symbol under urn. Photo from National Inventory of Architectural History [see 8].
Just a little diversion to tell you about Marlay House: David La Touche purchased the land of Marlay Park in Rathfarnham in 1764. Before La Touche, the land in Rathfarnham had belonged to St. Mary’s Abbey, until King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. In 1690, Thomas Taylor, one time Mayor of Dublin, acquired the land and built a house, which he called “The Grange.” He farmed the land, and both his son and grandson held key political positions in Dublin in the 1740-60s. Part of this house still stands and is incorporated into the present Marlay House. David La Touche (1729-1817) renamed the house “Marlay” in honour of his wife, Elizabeth Marlay, and her father, George Marlay (1691-1743), Bishop of Dromore.
David La Touche enlarged the Marlay house. I don’t know what architect designed the enlargement of the original Taylor house at Marlay for La Touche. If it was done in 1764 it can’t have been Whitmore Davis as he only joined the Dublin Society’s School of Drawing in Architecture in 1770. Marlay house does have bows, similar to Harristown. Turtle Bunbury claims that the enlargement was indeed by Whitmore Davis so perhaps it was done some years after purchase of the estate, which is perfectly possible as David and his wife and family would have spent much of their time in their townhouse closer to the city centre. His father had developed much of the area around St. Stephen’s Green, Aungier Street and the Liberties.
David La Touche (1729-1817), of Marlay, 1800 by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
John La Touche (1732-1805), David’s brother, who was gifted Harristown by his father, enclosed the present Harristown desmesne and built a new road and bridge over the Liffey.
John represented the Borough of Harristown in Parliament. He married Gertrude Uniacke-Fitzgerald (d. 1818), daughter of Robert Uniacke-Fitzgerald. They had several children. He died in 1805.
Two of John’s sons also sat in Parliament. His son John inherited the estate. He was artistic and travelled in Italy, enriching his home with paintings and marbles. He died in 1822 and the estate passed to his brother, Robert La Touche (1773-1844), who was also an MP for Harristown.
Robert had married Lady Emily Le Poer Trench (1790-1816), daughter of William Power Keating Trench (1741-1805) 1st Earl of Clancarty of Garbally in Ballinasloe, and they had four children. They also owned a house on Merrion Square in Dublin. Their daughter Gertrude (1812-1864) married Henry Stanley McClintock (1812-1898) of Kilwarlin House, County Down.
A son, another John (1814-1904), succeeded his father in 1844, the year after he married Maria Price. John had a twin, William, but William died in the same year as his father. John was called “the Master” as he was a keen huntsman, and was Master of the Kildare Hounds 1841-45. He had a serious fall off a horse, however, and stopped hunting, and the same year, his brother Robert died tragically in a stand at the Curragh races – I think the stand collapsed.
John lived at Harristown for sixty-two years. His wife, Maria was artistic, with a particular interest in botany, drawing, languages and poetry. She was an avid letter-writer and wrote a number of tracts on religious and social themes. She also wrote two novels, “The Clintons” (1853), and “Lady Willoughby” (1855). According to the La Touche legacy website, she had a horror of blood sports – and no wonder, with her husband’s nasty fall – and complained often about the enthusiastic hunting pursued by neighbouring gentry.
Maria La Touche née Price (1824-1906) of Harristown.
During the Famine, John initiated drastic measures in his household: “allowing no white bread or pastry to be made, and only the simplest dishes to appear on his table. The deer-park at Harristown ceased at this time to have any deer in it; all were made into food for the starving people.” He busied himself with his farm tenants, and supported Land Reform under Gladstone.
In 1857 John La Touche heard the preaching of C.H. Spurgeon, which led him to become a Baptist. In 1882, he built a Baptist Chapel and a fine Manse (minister’s house) at Brannockstown, and was a regular benefactor of Baptist work throughout Ireland. John had an interest in education, as did all the La Touches, and he knocked down the remains of Portlester Castle to build a school at Brannockstown, which opened in 1885. This school prospered for twenty years, but under his son, Percy, the pupils moved to the Carnalway National School. It re-opened in 1928 under Catholic management and it is still in use. For more on the La Touches and education and banking, see Turtle Bunbury’s chapter on the La Touches in his book The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of County Kildare.
Maria La Touche’s friend, Louisa, Lady Waterford (whom we came across in Curraghmore, the wife of the 3rd Marquess), introduced her to the famous art critic John Ruskin, and she asked him to tutor her children, especially her daughter Rose, in art.
John Ruskin by W. & D. Downey 1863, National Portrait Gallery of London ref. x12958.
The relationship between Rose and Ruskin is fascinating and sad. They grew to be very fond of each other, and he fell in love with her when she was still a young girl. Ruskin proposed marriage but due to the fact that his first marriage, to Effie Gray (featured in the film “Effie Gray” written by Emma Thompson), was annulled due to his impotence, Rose’s parents would not allow the marriage. [12] [13] According to a wikipedia article, Rose’s parents feared that if Rose did become pregnant by Ruskin, the marriage would be invalidated since the reason for his annulment would be disproved! Ruskin proposed again, when Rose came of age. She must have had some sort of illness or unusual anatomy because doctors had told her that she was “unfit for marriage.” She said would only agree to the marriage if it could remain unconsummated. Ruskin, however, refused this, “for fear of his reputation” (again, according to wikipedia).
The La Touche legacy website is less sensationalistic about Rose – it claims that she had ill health and this was one reason that her parents were worried about a potential marriage to Ruskin, and they also didn’t like his professed atheism. Given their firm religious faith this seems a most probable reason for their disapproval. Rose went to London in January 1875 for medical care and Ruskin attended her, but she soon died.
According to wikipedia, Rose was placed by her parents in a Dublin nursing home in her mid-20s, and :
“Various authors describe the death as arising from either madness, anorexia, a broken heart, religious mania or hysteria, or a combination of these. Whatever the cause, her death was tragic and it is generally credited with causing the onset of bouts of insanity in Ruskin from around 1877. He convinced himself that the Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio had included portraits of Rose in his paintings of the life of Saint Ursula. He also took solace in Spiritualism, trying to contact Rose’s spirit.”
Another daughter, Emily Maria (1846-1868) married Bernard Matthew Ward (1831-1918), son of Edward Southwell Ward, 3rd Viscount Bangor of Castle Ward, County Down.
In 1891 a fire gutted the three storey house. It was rebuilt to the designs of James Franklin Fuller. One storey was removed, which Mr. Beaumont pointed out to us when we were inside, makes the house brighter than it would have been with a further storey. The brightness is further aided with lantern skylights. Franklin Fuller also rebuilt the small Church of Ireland at the entrance to the estate, Carnalway church. It was done in a Hiberno Romanesque style similar to his masterpiece at Millicent. The church also has stained glass windows by Harry Clarke and Sir Ninian Comper.
When “The Master” died in 1904 in his 90th year, his son, Robert Percy (1846-1921), succeeded to the estate. He moved in the highest levels of society and was a favourite of King Edward the Seventh. He married Lady Annette Scott (1844-1920), a sister of the John Henry Reginald, 4th Earl of Clonmel, but they had no children. After his death in 1921, his sister Emily’s son succeeded, Ernest Otway Ward (1867-1965), who added La Touche to his surname upon inheritance, but he sold it soon afterwards. [14]
The estate passed through two other owners before being sold to Major Michael Whitley Beaumont (1903-1958), grandfather to the present owner, Hubert Beaumont, in 1964.
Hubert’s grandfather Michael set about renovating, and shipped furniture and interiors, even panelling and wallpaper, from the home he purchased from Lord Buckingham in England in 1929, Wootton (or Wotton) House. Wotton House was later to be owned by the actor John Guilgood, and Tony and Cherie Blaire, amongst others. Major Beaumont sold Wotton House in 1947.
Hubert Beaumont inherited the house from his grandfather Michael’s widow, Doreen (the Major’s second wife, daughter of Herbert William Davis-Goff, 2nd Baronet Davis-Goff, of Glenville, Co. Waterford and of Horetown, Co. Wexford. It was his first wife, Faith Pease, daughter of the 1st Baron Gainford, who was Hubert’s grandmother). Hubert’s father, Lord Timothy Wentworth Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley, was a British politician in the Liberal Party, Liberal Democrats and Green Party, and also an Anglican clergyman. Major Michael’s father was also a politician in the Liberal Party, Hubert Beaumont (1864-1922). There’s a strong line of politicians in the family, and they are related to George Canning, who served as Prime Minister of the UK from April 1827 until he died in August later that year.
Wotton House, Buckinghamshire, 2007, photograph courtesy of British Listed Buildings, photograph by Peter Harris.
The house is spacious, bright, and beautifully decorated with the items that the Beaumonts brought from their former home in Buckinghamshire. Wootten’s interior was designed by Sir John Soane, and Doreen Beaumont brought some of the Soanian influence to her new home. [15] The colours she used are not traditionally associated with an Irish Georgian house. You can see pictures of the interior on the website.
The front hall is a large double room which opens into the three main reception rooms: the library, drawing room and dining room. The beautiful fireplaces were brought from Wootten. A sitting room leading from the drawing room features delicate sixteenth century Chinese wallpaper, depicting birds against a sky blue background. The mounted wallpaper was imported from England, so an artist was hired to continue the pattern (although it is not a “pattern” as such as the birds are all hand-painted and none are repeated) on the remaining wall. I was particularly delighted with the little mouse painted over the skirting board – the artist found the room so full of mice as the house was being renovated, he decided to commemorate one. The artist also commemorated Doreen’s beloved dogs, and painted a Chow Chow on the wall. A portrait in the room of Mr. Beaumont’s grandmother features her standing next to a chair occupied by her chow!
Upstairs the stairs lead on to a magnificent bright landing corridor lined with long wooden bookshelves, which were also brought from Wootton, along with much of the library from that house, which also feature in the library downstairs. One bedroom is paneled in Tudor oak, brought from a sixteenth century house in England and is older than the house! This interior could be from the Jacobean Dorton House in Buckinghamshire, another house which Major Michael Beaumont had owned. The room contains a four poster bed and heavy French Empire pelmets.
A feature normally lost in old houses which Harristown retains is the servants’ tunnel under the house that leads from the basement to the yard.
In the basement we saw some of the vaulted storage rooms and what would have been the kitchen. The Beaumonts have opened their house to film crews and a recent film set in the house is one I’d love to see, “Vita and Virginia” about Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. The tunnel was also used in one of our favourite TV series, “Foyle’s War”!
After our tour, Mr. Beaumont invited us to explore outside. We wandered over to the farmyard first, which has marvellous old barns, and a beautiful weather vane.
There is extra accommodation in a converted stableyard where Noella teaches English and French to live-in students. Some teenagers emerged when we were passing and we asked where we could find the walled garden. Noella followed them out, welcomed us, and pointed us in the right direction. We walked along a grassy path past a delightful henhouse – the hens also have their own portico!
[2] 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.
[10] p. 129. Bunbury, Turtle and Art Kavanagh, The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of County Kildare. Published by Irish Family Names, 11 Emerald Cottages, Grand Canal St., Dublin 4 and Market Square, Bunclody, Co. Wexford, Ireland, 2004.
[13] a different view of the marriage and annulment between Ruskin and Effie Gray is discussed in the following article, a review of a book that claims that Ruskin did not consummate the marriage with Effie Gray because he learned that she married him for money and not love. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/29/ruskin-effie-marriage-inconvenience-brownell
[14] p. 137, Bunbury, Turtle and Art Kavanagh, The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of County Kildare. Published by Irish Family Names, 11 Emerald Cottages, Grand Canal St., Dublin 4 and Market Square, Bunclody, Co. Wexford, Ireland, 2004.
Irish Historic Houses 