Dundrum House, County Tipperary – hotel – now closed
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.
“(Maude, Hawarden, V/PB) A C18 Palladian mansion consisting of a centre block of two storeys over a high basement joined by short links to flanking wings or pavilions, very much in the style of Sir Edward Lovett Pearce: the seat of the Maude family, Viscounts Hawarden. Entrance front of seven bays, with a three-bay pedimented breakfront, links and wings of one bay each. Central, round-headed window with keystone above pedimented doorcase; similar windows on either side of door and in wings. Graceful perron in front of door with partly curving double stairs and iron railings. Oculi and camber-headed windows in basement; prominent quoins on centre block and wings. Large hall with compartmented ceiling. Impressive, double-pedimented stable block at right-angles to the entrance front.
An extra storey, treated as an attic above the continuous cornice, was added to the centre block about 1890 by the 4th Viscount Hawarden, who was 1st and last Earl de Montalt. This did away with the pediment and spoilt the proportions of the house; making the centre block massive and ungainly, so that it dwarfs the wings. After being sold by the Maudes, the house ws for many years a convent; but it is now in private occupation once more.”
https://www.dundrumhousehotel.com
Dundrum House, built in the early eighteenth century, was the centre of a fine estate once owned by a famous Irish Family; the O’Dwyers of Kilnamanagh. During the terrible period of Cromwellian occupation and confiscation of Ireland in the seventeenth century, Phillip O’Dwyer was the proprietor of the estate at Dundrum; he captured Cashel with his followers in 1641.
This attack on Cashel opened up a campaign in Munster and after a number of battles Phillip O’Dwyer of Dundrum House was sentenced to death. He cheated the gallows however, by dying before the completion of the Cromwellian conquest. The O’Dwyer estate was confiscated and Robert Maude Esq. was given all of Phillip’s land including the O’Dwyer Manor and Castle of Dundrum.
The Maude family was of Norman origin and they had conquered Flinstone for William the Conqueror in 1066. The Maude family at Dundrum rose to great eminence, attending to the rank of Viscounts Hawarden and Earls of Montalt in the peerage of the United Kingdom. The family has produced many distinguished soldiers including the famous general Maude, who fought a series of brilliant campaigns in the First World War.
In 1730 the Maude family built Dundrum House with 2400 acres. In 1844 the house was described as a capacious structure standing in the centre of one of the most expensive wooded parks in the country. In 1909, when Dundrum House demesne was put on the open market they were acquired by a religious order, who later established a Domestic Science College. Up to recently the building was used as a noviciate and a retreat house.
Having being acquired by Austin & Mary Crowe in 1978, with extensive renovation and restoration, Dundrum House was opened as a hotel in 1981. In April 2014 the property went into receivership and KPMG took over the management of the Resort. Following a fire in September 2015 during which the Hotel Ballroom and Kitchens were damaged, the Hotel building was closed to guests and visitors. The Golf Course, Venue Clubhouse Bar & Restaurant, Dundrum House Leisure Club and the Holm Oak Holiday Homes & Golf Lodges all remained open after the fire, and continue to operate as normal to this day.
The Resort was acquired, in March 2016, by Steelworks Investments Ltd. A multi-million euro refurbishment of the Hotel is planned with an estimate that the rebuild and refurbishment will commence in early 2019, with a view to reopening in 2020. Steelworks Investments Ltd look forward to restoring the property back to one of Ireland’s leading Resort properties. In the meantime, while many aspects of the property are currently closed for refurbishment, the Golf Club and Venue Clubhouse, remain open and operate as normal all year round.
Dundrum House, DUNDRUM, Dundrum, Tipperary South
Detached Palladian-style seven-bay three-storey over half-basement former country house, built c.1730, third storey being possibly an addition of c.1890 requiring removal of pediment. Three-bay breakfront and single-bay single-storey over half-basement links to similar flat-roofed wings and having U-plan perron staircase serving ground floor with cut limestone curving staircases having cast-iron railings. Now in use as hotel, and having various irregular single-storey and two-storey extensions to west and northwest. Hipped slate roof with cut limestone chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast rendered walls with cut limestone cornice, quoins and sill course to second floor, and ashlar basement and perron, former with string course. Rear façade comprising roughcast rendered walls, cut limestone quoins and sill course. Square-headed window openings to front elevation, segmental-headed elsewhere and to basement, with moulded limestone surrounds and sills, having timber sliding sash nine-over-six pane windows to middle floors, six-over-six pane windows to second floor and three-over-three pane to basement. Round-headed window openings to either side of and above main entrance and to front of wings, with carved limestone sills, panelled pilasters with capitals and archivolt with keystones, having timber sliding sash nine-over-six pane windows. Basement windows have keystones set under string course. Blind windows to inner faces of wings and to part of southeast elevation. Oculi with cut limestone surrounds, keystones and fixed timber spoked windows to perron and to basement of wings. Round-headed window opening to central bay of first floor to both main elevations. Stained glass to ground floor windows of southeast elevation. Square-headed principal entrance has carved limestone pedimented doorcase, with imposts and lion head motifs to beaded panelled pilasters and scallop shell motif to panel over lintel, timber panelled door, and ornate lacework cobweb over-light in rectangular frame. Hall retains significant original features. Garden entrance has pedimented carved limestone shouldered doorcase, limestone step, and double-leaf timber margined glazed doors flanked by round-headed timber margined French windows with panelled pilasters with plinths and having archivolts, capitals and keystones. Cast-iron railings to rear entrance. Stable block linked to northwest corner of house. Remains of walled garden to southeast. Gravel car park to front of site, golf course to demesne. Ornate limestone entrance gates to site with lime-lined avenue to house.
Appraisal
This important and impressive early eighteenth-century Palladian-style country house was built by the school of the renowned Irish architect, Sir Edward Lovett Pearce. An elegant classically proportioned building, the house retains substantially intact within its demesne. The building displays excellent limestone walling and detailing. The decoration of the doorcases is of a very high order, and the elaborate perron staircase is a rare and accomplished example. The interior has many features of interest, the hall being especially intact. The site is historically and socially important as the seat of the O’Dwyer family, who were dispossessed during the era of Cromwellian confiscation, and subsequently the Maude family, who built the house. The latter family rose to great eminence, attaining ranks of Viscounts Hawarden and Earls of Montalt. As principal landowners in the area, they were generous benefactors of Dundrum village in the mid-nineteenth century.
U-plan stable-block, formerly detached and two-storey, built c.1840, now linked to northwest corner of house and having recently added third storey. Nine-bay main block having archway in central three-bay breakfront, flanked by seven-bay blocks with advanced two-bay ends. Original roof removed when third storey added. Roughcast rendered walls with cut limestone quoins, plinths and moulded cornice. Square-headed timber sliding sash windows with cut limestone sills, six-over-six pane to ground floor, six-over-three pane to first floor, with replacement uPVC windows to first floor of north block. Venetian window to ground floor of block ends having carved limestone surrounds with keystones with timber sliding sash windows, six-over-six pane flanked by one-over-two pane. Square-headed doorways to alternate bays of inner sides of courtyard.
Appraisal
This finely built and impressively-scaled stable block echoes is an important part of the setting of Dundrum House. The quality of craftsmanship and the symmetry, together with features such as the central arched entrance and advanced pavilion-like ends, complement the quality, and indeed the footprint, of the country house.
Decorative entrance gateway, erected c.1840, comprising two pairs of rectangular-plan carved ashlar limestone entrance gate piers having tapering recessed moulded panels, pedimented capstones and cast-iron lanterns, with ornate cast-iron piers and vehicular gates, flanked by similar ornate railings.
Appraisal
These imposing mid-nineteenth-century entrance gates form an important group with the early eighteenth-century Dundrum House and its demesne. The gates retain their original character and form.
http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-list.jsp?letter=D
Dundrum was the seat of the Viscounts Hawarden in county Tipperary in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Ordnance Survey Name Books mention that the demesne was well-planted in 1840. Dundrum was held in fee by Viscount Hawarden and valued at £85 at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. The Earl de Montalt was still resident in 1906 when the house was valued at £85. The Irish Tourist Association Survey states that it was bought from the Land Commission in 1908 and became St Michael’s Presentation Convent. This early 18th century Palladian house now functions as a hotel located in the grounds of the Tipperary golf club.
https://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2014/10/dundrum-house.html
THE VISCOUNTS HAWARDEN WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY TIPPERARY, WITH 15,272 ACRES
The family of MAUDE deduces its descent from EUSTACE DE MONTE ALTO (c1045-1112), styled The Norman Hunter, who came to the assistance of Hugh Lupus, 1st Earl of Chester, at the period of the Conquest; and having participated in the glory of that great event, shared in the spoil, and obtained, amongst other considerable grants, the castle, lordship, and manor of Hawarden, Flintshire.
From the Visitation of York, by Glover, Somerset Herald, in 1585, it appears that
CONSTANTINE MONHAULT, alias MAUDE, of West Riddlesden, Yorkshire, married the daughter of Kighley of Newhall, and was succeeded by his son,
ARTHUR MAUDE, of West Riddlesden, who wedded the daughter of Lawrence Townley, and left a daughter, Agnes, and a son,
THOMAS MAUDE, of West Riddesden, who espoused Katherine, daughter of Roger Tempest, of Broughton, and had, with three daughters, three sons,
Arthur, of West Riddlesden;
Thomas;
CHRISTOPHER, of whom presently.
The third son,
CHRISTOPHER MAUDE, of Holling Hall and Woodhouse, patron of Ilkley in 1554, by Grace his wife, had issue,
THOMAS, his heir;
John;
Isabel.
The elder son,
THOMAS MAUDE, of West Riddlesden and Ripon, died in 1633.
His grandson,
ROBERT MAUDE, of West Riddlesden and Ripon, Yorkshire, patron of Ilkley, 1640, disposed of his English estates, and purchased others in counties Kilkenny and Tipperary, whither he removed.
He died in 1685, and was succeeded by his only son,
ANTHONY MAUDE (1638-1702), of Dundrum, High Sheriff of County Tipperary, 1686, MP for Cashel, 1695-9, who was succeeded by his only son and successor,
ROBERT MAUDE (1677-1750), MP for Gowran, 1703-13, St Canice, 1713-14, Bangor, 1727-50, who was created a baronet in 1705, designated of Dundrum, County Tipperary.
Sir Robert wedded Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Francis Cornwallis, of Abermarles, Carmarthenshire, by whom he had several children.
He was succeeded by his eldest son,
THE RT HON SIR THOMAS MAUDE, 2nd Baronet (1727-77), MP for Tipperary, 1761-76, High Sheriff of County Tipperary, 1765, Privy Counsellor, 1768, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1776, in the dignity of BARON DE MONTALT, of Hawarden; but dying without issue, the barony ceased, while the baronetcy devolved upon his brother,
SIR CORNWALLIS MAUDE (1729-1803), who represented the borough of Roscommon in parliament, and was elevated to the peerage, in 1793, in the dignity of VISCOUNT HAWARDEN.
His lordship married firstly, in 1756, Letitia, daughter of Thomas Vernon, of Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire, by whom he had one daughter, Elizabeth Letitia; and secondly, in 1766, Mary, daughter of Philip Allen, and niece of Ralph Allen, of Prior Park, Somerset, by whom he had further issue,
THOMAS RALPH, his successor;
Sophia Maria; Emma.
His lordship wedded thirdly, Anne Isabella, daughter of Thomas Monck, barrister, and niece of the Viscount Monck, by whom he had further issue,
CORNWALLIS, of whom hereafter;
ROBERT WILLIAM HENRY (Very Rev), 5th Viscount;
James Ashley (Sir), Captain RN; KCH, CB;
John Charles, in holy orders;
Francis, Commander RN; CB;
Isabella Elizabeth; Georgiana; Alicia; Charlotte; Mary Anne; Emily; Catherine.
His lordship died in 1803, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
THOMAS RALPH, 2nd Viscount (1767-1807), who espoused the Lady Frances Anne Agar, only daughter of His Grace Charles, Earl of Normanton, Lord Archbishop of Dublin; but dying without issue, the honours devolved upon his half-brother,
CORNWALLIS, 3rd Viscount (1780-1856), who wedded, in 1811, Jane, youngest daughter of Patrick Crawford Bruce, of Taplow lodge, Buckinghamshire, and had issue,
CORNWALLIS, his successor;
Isabella; Maria Adelaide; Florence Priscilla Alicia; Augusta.
His lordship was succeeded by his only son,
CORNWALLIS, 4th Viscount (1817-1905), who married, in 1845, Clementina Elphinstone, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Admiral the Hon Charles Fleeming, and had issue,
Cornwallis (1852-81), killed in action at the battle of Majuba Hill;
Eustace Mountstuart, died in infancy;
Isabella Grace; Clementina; Florence Elizabeth; Kathleen Maude; Elphinstone Agnes; Leucha Diana; Antonia Lillian.
His lordship was advanced to the dignity of an earldom, in 1886, as EARL DE MONTALT.
He dspms 1905, when the Earldom expired, but the Viscountcy and the Barony devolved upon his cousin,
ROBERT HENRY MAUDE, as 5th Viscount (1842-1908), eldest surviving son of the Hon and Very Rev Robert William Henry Maude, Dean of Clogher, and next brother of 3rd Viscount, who espoused, in 1881, Caroline Anna Mary, daughter of Major Arthur Ogle, and had issue, an only son,
ROBERT CORNWALLIS, 6th Viscount (1890-1914), killed in action, 1914, when the titles reverted to his cousin,
EUSTACE WYNDHAM MAUDE, as 7th Viscount (1877-1958), JP, eldest son the Hon and Very Rev R W H Maude, and brother of 5th Viscount, who married, in 1920, Marion, daughter of Albert Leslie Wright, and had issue,
EUSTACE WYNDHAM, his successor;
Kathleen Emily; Elinor Louisa; Dorothy Caroline; Alice Charlotte.
His lordship was succeeded by his son,
EUSTACE WYNDHAM, 8th Viscount (1926-91), who wedded, in 1957, Susannah Caroline Hyde, daughter of Major Philip Charles Gardner, and had issue,
ROBERT CONNAN WYNDHAM LESLIE, his successor;
Thomas Patrick Cornwallis;
Sophia-Rose Eileen.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
ROBERT CONNAN WYNDHAM LESLIE, 9th Viscount (1961-), who married, in 1995, Judith Anne, daughter of John Bates, and has issue,
VARIAN JOHN CONNAN EUSTACE, born 1997;
Isetta Clementina Effijay; Avery Joan Constance Elita.
The 9th and present Viscount lives in Kent.
DUNDRUM HOUSE, near Cashel, County Tipperary, was built about 1730, the nucleus of a fine estate once owned by the the O’Dwyers of Kilnamanagh.
The O’Dwyer estate was subsequently confiscated and Robert Maude was given all of the O’Dwyer land, including the O’Dwyer manor and castle of Dundrum.
This is a Palladian mansion, comprising a centre block of two storeys over a high basement, joined by short links to flanking pavilions.
The entrance front has seven bays, with a three-bay, pedimented breakfront.
There is an impressive, double-pedimented stable block at right-angles to the entrance front.
An additional storey, treated as an attic above the cornice, was added to the main block about 1890 by the 4th Viscount Hawarden (later 1st and last Earl de Montalt).
Lord de Montalt was the last of the family to live at Dundrum House.
In 1909, when Dundrum House demesne was for sale, it was acquired by a religious order, who later established a Domestic Science College.
Having been acquired by Austin and Mary Crowe in 1978, with extensive renovation and restoration, Dundrum House was opened as a hotel in 1981.
Residence ~ Bossington, Adisham, Canterbury, Kent.
First published in November, 2012.
The Tipperary Gentry. Volume 1. By William Hayes and Art Kavanagh. Published by Irish Family Names, c/o Eneclann, Unit 1, The Trinity Enterprise Centre, Pearse St, Dublin 2, 11 Emerald Cottages, Grand Canal St, Dublin 4 and Market Square, Bunclody, Co Wexford, Ireland. 2003.
Maude of Dundrum
p. 149. The Maudes owned Dundrum and several townlands in the neighbourhood of Mokarky, cooleky, Parkestown and part of Curragheen.
They were descended from Robert Maude of West Riddleston, Yorkshire, who bought lands in Kilkenny and Tipperary in the latter half of the 17th century. His wife was Frances Wandesforde, sister of Christopher Wandesforde 1st Lord Castlecomer. …
Sir Robert Maude 1st Bt was responsible for building Dundrum House, It is said tht the house was built adjacent to the O’Dwyer castle, which was knocked down and the castle stones were used for building the house. In the course of time the demesne was enclosed [p. 150] and contained 2,400 acres of which almost 1000 acres were planted. The original house consisted of a two storey block over a basement. It would seem tht Dundrum House, desgined by William Lovett Pearce, was built sometime between 1730-1750.
p. 150. Sir Thomas Maude and William Barker…were associated with schemes to promote Protestant settlement on their esattes. As early as Feb 1767, Maude was seeking Protestant manufacturers for settlement on his estate at Ballintemple, and in the 1770s he promoted the linen industry. This led to a period of sustained employment in he gneral area.
Between 1755 and 1775 Sir Thomas Maude accumulated debts of £27,000, which passed to his brother Cornwallis Maude, Viscount Hawarden (d. 1803) after 1777. A successful marriage by Thomas Ralph, 2nd Viscount (d. 1807) to the daughter of the Archbishop of Cashel (later Earl of Normanton) [Frances Anne Agar] may have served to reduce the debt, for the Hawarden estate survived intact to be one of the largest in the country in the 19th C.
p. 151. Most of the money spent by Sir Thomas was used to improve his estates. He sponsored large-scale remodelling of the landscape, drainage schemes, an estate village at Dundrum, new tenants, and resettlement. He developed a Deerpark in which he built three houses in which the estate workers lived. …
Following the murder of Ambrose Power in 1775 over sixty of Tipperary’s leading figures, including Thomas Maude adn Francis Mathew, pledged their lives and fortunes to suppress Whiteboyism. In the following months two developments strengthened the resolve of teh gentry. First, a revised and extended Whiteboy act was passed which added to teh list of felonies incurring the death penalty and increased the powers of the magistrates. In the following year 1776 a number of volunteer cops were formed and one of these was founded by Cornwallis Maude, the brother of Baron de Montalt. ..
Maude was a staunch government supporter and he was rewarded for his support by being elevated to the peerage in 1776 as Lord de Montalt. [at that period most of the Tipperary MPs were generally, though not always, governemtn supporters including Pennefather, John Damer, Peter Holmes and John Hely-Hutchinson, with only four in opposition: O’Callaghan, Prittie, Osborne and Mathew.]
Maude was one of 21 new peers created in that year as part of the government’s winning of support for delicate measures, notably the despatching of 4000 troops to America.
…p. 152. Sir Thomas Maude, Baron de Montalt, died in 1777 and his estate and honour of Baron de Montalt passed to his brother Cornwellis who was 47 at the time. Cornwallis was later given the title of 1st Viscount Hawarden in 1793.
Cornwallis was marrid three times. Unlike many of his peers who were married a number of times, Cornwallis did not rush into his second marriage. He waited nine years after his first wife’s death in 1757. The three wives were from mainland Britain and this would suggest that Cornwallis spent some considerable time in England. The fact that seven of his eight daughters married English gentlemen support that assumption. In addition to the eight daughters he had six sons, and while they too may have spent considerable time in England, the two who succeeded to the title must have spent a reasonable time in Ireland.
[Had trouble with Whiteboys and agrarian revolt].
p. 156. The Fourth Viscount became 1st Earl of Montalt in 1886. ..It was during his tenancy of the estates that the Land Acts came into force, compelling landlords to sell their farms to the tenants. Prior to these events he built an extra storey on Dundrum House in 1860 and carefully maintained hte gardens and lands. The Maude family was responsible for bringing the Great Southern and Western Railway through Dundrum.
Irish Historic Houses 