Ballinafad, Balla, Co Mayo

by jenjunebugApril 23, 2025April 28, 2025

Ballinafed (or Ballinafad), Balla, Co Mayo

Ballinafad, County Mayo, courtesy of Ballinafad website.

http://www.ballinafadhouse.com

“Ballinafad House, built in 1827, is a Georgian manor house that has recently gone through an extensive restoration. Set in the beautiful rural countryside of County Mayo, Ballinafad Houseis a unique wedding venue with its own chapel, theatre, reception rooms and drawing rooms. We offer short stay accommodation and wedding packages.“

“Ballinafad House, built in 1827, is a protected structure in County Mayo, Ireland. It was home to the Blake family until 1906 and first extended in 1931. The property was purchased in 2014 and work began restoring it to its former glory after many years of abandonment and neglect. It is now open as a unique historical wedding venue that features an on-site chapel and guest accommodation. The renovations were featured in the 2018 RTE One TV series, The Great House Revival.”

Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.

p. 17. Ballinafad, “[Blake/IFR] A rather conservative late-Georgian house built 1827 by Maurice Blake and his wife, Anne, daughter and heir of Marcus Lynch; who were, incidentally, the maternal grandparents of George Moore, the writer. Of two storeys over a high, slightly rusticated basement; five bay entrance front, with wider spacking btween the centre bay and the bays on either side of it, than between the outer bays. Arched perron and double steps and iron railings in front of the fanlighted hall door, which is now obscured by a later C19 enclosed porch with pretty diamond glazing. Parapeted roof; chimneys ground into one exceptionally long stack (the longest which Dr. Craig knows of). Symmetrical five bay rear elevation with large fanlighted staircase window in centre. Square entrance hall with plasterwork frieze. 

Staircase of wood with slender turned balusters; short lengths of plaster-vaulted corridor. Drawing room ceilings with circular and rectangular mouldings; central acanthus rosette and pretty plasterwork in corners; birds, a tripod, a lyre, shamrocks and cornucopiae. Dining room with simple cornice and oval of plasterwork in centre of ceiling; early C19 black marble Ionic chimneypiece. Acquired from Lt. Col Llewellyn Blake ca. 1908 by African Missionary Brothers, who enlarged it sympathetically in the same style as a college. The college has recently closed down; in 1976 the property was for sale.”

*Ballinafad, County Mayo, courtesy of the house website.*

*Pre-renovation* *Ballinafad, County Mayo, courtesy National Inventory.*

It has been renovated since the National Inventory visited!

*Pre-renovation Ballinafad, County Mayo, courtesy of Ballinafad facebook page.*

*Post renovation, photograph courtesy Ballinafad facebook page.*

https://www.buildingsofireland.i e/build ings-search/building/31309009/ballinafad-house-ballinafad-co-mayo

*Pre-renovation* *Ballinafad, County Mayo, courtesy National Inventory.* *Photography by James Fraher*.

Detached five-bay (two-bay deep) two-storey over part raised basement country house, built 1827; dated 1827, on a rectangular plan centred on single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting glazed porch to ground floor; five-bay full-height rear (north) elevation. Occupied, 1901. Vacated, 1908. “Improved”, 1911; 1919, to accommodate alternative use. Extended, 1932; 1954, producing present composition. Adapted to accommodate alternative use, 1967. Closed, 1975. For sale, 1976. Adapted to accommodate alternative use, 1982. Closed, 1989. Sold, 2002. Disused, 2010. For sale, 2012. Flat-topped hipped slate roof on a quadrangular plan behind parapet with pressed or rolled lead ridges, limestone ashlar chimney stack on axis with ridge having lichen-spotted stringcourse below capping supporting terracotta pots, and concealed rainwater goods retaining cast-iron hoppers and downpipes. Drag edged dragged limestone ashlar walls on lichen-spotted dragged cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on drag edged dragged limestone ashlar channelled base with drag edged dragged cut-limestone quoins to corners supporting dragged cut-limestone beaded cornice on blind frieze below parapet. Square-headed central window opening in tripartite arrangement with drag edged cut-limestone panelled pilasters on padstones supporting beaded cornice on blind frieze on fluted consoles framing fixed-pane fitting on panelled riser having sidelights on panelled risers. Square-headed opposing door openings approached by “perron” of eleven drag edged dragged cut-limestone steps between “Lotus”-detailed cast-iron railings with timber panelled double doors having overlights. Segmental-headed door opening into country house with fluted or reeded panelled pilasters supporting “Cavetto”-detailed shallow cornice on fluted or reeded panelled frieze, and beaded surround framing glazed timber panelled door having sidelights on panelled risers below fanlight. Square-headed window openings with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and drag edged dragged cut-limestone surrounds framing three-over-three (basement), six-over-six (ground floor) or three-over-six (first floor) timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings to rear (north) elevation centred on segmental-headed window opening in tripartite arrangement (half-landing) with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and drag edged dragged cut-limestone surrounds framing six-over-six (ground floor) or three-over-six (first floor) timber sash windows centred on six-over-six timber sash window having two-over-two sidelights below fanlight. Interior including (ground floor): central entrance hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, and “Acanthus”-detailed decorative plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on “Acanthus”-detailed ceiling rose; groin vaulted antechambers on square plans with moulded plasterwork ribs on fluted ogee corbels; round-headed openings into staircase hall with egg-and-dart-detailed surrounds; double-height staircase hall (north) on a square plan retaining cantilevered staircase with turned timber “spindle” balusters supporting remains of carved timber banister, “Greek Key”-detailed carved timber Classical-style surround to window opening to half-landing framing panelled splayed reveals, and “Greek Key”-detailed decorative plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on “Acanthus”-detailed ceiling rose in tied reed frame; reception room retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, and egg-and-dart-detailed decorative plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on decorative plasterwork garland; reception room retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors, and egg-and-dart-detailed decorative plasterwork cornice to ceiling centred on “Acanthus”-detailed ceiling rose in decorative plasterwork frame; (basement): groin vaulted spinal corridor opening into limewashed groin vaulted kitchens; (first floor): shallow segmental vaulted spinal corridor with carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters on panelled risers. Set in own grounds. Photography by James Fraher

Appraisal

A country house erected for Maurice Blake (d. 1852), one-time High Sheriff of County Mayo (fl. 1838), representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of the rural environs of Ballycarra with the architectural value of the composition, ‘a rather conservative late-Georgian house’ (Bence-Jones 1978, 17), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on panoramic vistas overlooking gently rolling grounds and the Meander River; the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase showing a pretty radial fanlight, albeit one largely concealed behind a later porch; the construction in a deep grey limestone demonstrating good quality workmanship; the definition of the principal floor as a slightly elevated “piano nobile”; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the elongated chimneystack cited as ‘perhaps the most extreme example [of] one very massive stack serving every hearth in the house’ (Craig 1976, 7): meanwhile, aspects of the composition clearly illustrate the redevelopment of the country house for the Irish Province of the Society of African Missions (SMA) with those works including “improvements” completed to designs (1911; 1919) by Rudolph Maximilian Butler (1872-1943) of Dublin (Irish Builder 1911, 797; 1919, 64). A prolonged period of unoccupancy notwithstanding, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, including some crown or cylinder glazing panels in hornless sash frames: meanwhile, contemporary joinery; and decorative plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the considerable artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, an adjoining chapel (1963-4); the remnants of a walled garden (extant 1838); and a nearby farmyard complex (see 31309010), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having historic connections with the Blake family including Mark Blake MP (1818-86), one-time High Sheriff of County Mayo (fl. 1855; Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1891, 40); and Count Llewellyn Blake JP DL (1842-1916) of Cloghballymore House, County Galway.

*Ballinafad, County Mayo, courtesy National Inventory.*

*Post-renovation Ballinafad, County Mayo, courtesy of Ballinafad website.*

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildin gs-search/building/31309011/ballinafad-house-ballinafad-co-mayo

Gateway, extant 1894, on a symmetrical plan comprising pair of tuck pointed drag edged tooled limestone ashlar piers having lichen-covered cut-limestone shallow pyramidal capping supporting “Fleur-de-Lys”-detailed wrought iron double gates. Now disused. Road fronted on a corner site at entrance to grounds of Ballinafad House.

Appraisal

A gateway not only making a pleasing visual statement in a sylvan street scene at the entrance on to the grounds of the Ballinafad House estate, but also clearly illustrating the continued development or “improvement” of the estate in the later nineteenth century.

https://www.buildingsofir eland .ie/buildings-search/building/31309010/ballinafad-house-ballinafad-co-mayo

Farmyard complex, extant 1838, including: Detached nine-bay single-storey coach house-cum-stable outbuilding with half-attic on a symmetrical plan centred on single-bay full-height breakfront. Now disused. Pitched slate roof on collared timber construction behind parapet with clay or terracotta ridge tiles centred on paired limestone ashlar chimney stacks having stringcourses below lichen-covered capping supporting terracotta pots, lichen-covered cut-limestone coping to gables, and cast-iron rainwater goods on dragged cut-limestone eaves retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers and downpipes. Part creeper- or ivy-covered coursed rubble limestone walls originally rendered centred on rendered, ruled and lined surface finish (breakfront) with lichen-spotted drag edged rusticated cut-limestone quoins to corners supporting dragged cut-limestone coping. Paired segmental-headed central carriageways with drag edged rusticated cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds centred on drag edged tooled cut-limestone keystones. Square-headed flanking door openings with drag edged dragged cut-limestone block-and-start surrounds framing remains of timber doors. Square-headed window openings with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and dragged cut-limestone surrounds framing remains of one-over-one timber sash windows. Set in grounds shared with Ballinafad House with lichen-covered cut-limestone monolithic piers to perimeter.

Appraisal

A farmyard complex contributing positively to the group and setting values of the Ballinafad House estate.

https://their ish aesthete.com/2022/10/10/ballinafad/

A Tale in Three Parts

Oct10by theirishaesthete

Ballinafad, County Mayo is a house in three parts, each with its own story. The first of these concerns the Blake family, one of the Tribes of Galway. In 1618/19 Marcus Blake, a younger son of a branch settled at Ballyglunin, County Galway, received grants of land in this part of the country. During the upheavals of the mid-17th century, possession of this property appeared uncertain, but in 1681 Marcus Blake’s grandson was re-granted the land by patent by Charles II, and it would thereafter remain with his descendants for more than 200 years. As attested by a date plaque on the rear of the building, the core of the present house was only constructed in 1827, but there may have been an earlier residence here. The same plaque carries the initials of both Maurice Blake and his wife Anne, an heiress whose money no doubt helped cover the costs of construction. The property was of two storeys over raised and rusticated basement, with five bays and, above the roof parapet, all the chimneys grouped into one stack, thought to be the longest of any such house in Ireland. The most striking feature of the facade is the entrance porch, flanked by flights of steps. Maurice Blake’s grandson, Colonel Maurice Moore (brother of the writer George Moore), whose mother had grown up at Ballinafad, wrote that the porch owed its inspiration to ‘an imperfect memory of one he had seen in Italy.’ Like the Moores, the Blakes were Roman Catholic, and this helps to explain why, in 1908, the youngest son of Maurice and Anne Blake, Llewellyn Blake – who had been made a Papal Count two years earlier – presented the house and estate to the Society of African Missions: seemingly, he believed that such a gesture would ensure the atonement of earlier generations of his family for whatever sins they may have committed. Of course, in the eyes of some Blake relations – not least his nephew George Moore – handing over such a valuable property to a religious order (instead of bequeathing it to them) was a kind of sin.

When Llewellyn Blake died in 1916, he left £1,500 to have services held in churches for the salvation of the souls of his late wife, mother, father, brothers and sisters. £500 was bequeathed to the Sisters of Charity to assist in their foreign missions for the propagation of the Roman Catholic faith, after which the rest of his estate – valued at some £61,500 – was divided into no less than 15 partes, six of which were to go to the College of the Sacred Heart, as Ballinafad was now known: the rest was split between sundry other religious houses and organisations. Members of the extended family, including the Moore brothers, made efforts to have their claims to the estate recognised but with little success. At Ballinafad, the house served as a seminary for the Society of African Missions but then also became a secondary boarding school for boys. This meant the building had to be enlarged, with a new three-bay wing added to one side of the house in 1931, and another on the other side in 1948. On the exterior, both these are of similar style to the original residence and therefore do not disrupt but merely extend the facade (the interiors, on the other hand, reflect the era of their construction, not least because they were intended for uses such as refectory and dormitory). Further expansion to the rear in the mid-1950s and early 1960s was more overtly utilitarian and reflects the expectations of the mid-20th century that the Roman Catholic church would remain a dominant force in Ireland. However, such notions soon proved illusory and in 1975 the African Missionaries announced their intention to close the school and offer the place for sale. Ballinafad, along with 470 acres, was then bought by a livestock business called Balla Mart which ran an agricultural college here until 1989. The house then sat empty until 2000 when offered for sale with 400 acres for £2.5 million, or £500,000 for the buildings alone. A couple of years later, when Ireland appeared awash with money and development schemes rampant, it was announced that Ballinafad was to be turned into a five-star hotel, but the economic crash occurred before such a scheme was realised. Accordingly, in 2010 the buildings at Ballinafad were once more offered for sale, with a price tag of €499,000, but there were no takers and the property continued to deteriorate.

*Ballinafad, County Mayo, photograph courtesy Irish Aesthete.*

Eight years ago, in 2014 a young Australian called Bede Tannock bought Ballinafad, standing on eight acres for €80,000. Compared with earlier prices sought, the sum seems small but the task faced by the property’s new owner was enormous. By this time, Ballinafad ran to 70,000 square feet of floor space with 110 rooms and 340 windows, all of which was in perilous condition, with widespread water ingress and evidence of considerable vandalism. The interiors were largely uninhabitable and even today, parts of the house await attention but the quantity – and quality – of restoration work undertaken since 2014 is remarkable, especially given the owner’s limited funds. Parts of the building have been used for weddings and corporate events, and for providing guest accommodation. Work continues even though a couple of years ago, Ballinafad was placed on the market. It can only be a matter of time before the fourth chapter in its story begins to be written with, one hopes, the same spirit of optimism and courage that has pervaded the place for the past eight years.

http://d avi dhicksbook.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2018-01-10T11:43:00-08:00&max-results=7&start=5&by-date=false

Ballinafad House

Belcarra, Co. Mayo

Ballinafad House, found near Belcara outside Castlebar in Co Mayo, may look to the causal observer like a country house that has seen better days however be advised that in this instance to never judge a book by its cover. The interior is a hive of activity since the arrival of Bede Tannock from Australia who is tackling this challenging restoration. The list of work is awe inspiring while the quantities involved are staggering, 70,000 square feet of floor space, 340 sash windows, 110 rooms and surely a couple of acres of roof. Some people may think that the purchase price of €80,000 is a bargain, for this large house that sits on 8 acres, however it will take many multiples of the purchase price to restore this building and make it pay its way. Ballinafad House was once home to the Blake family but was donated by Llewellyn Blake, to the Society of African Missions in the early 1900’s. This generous gift was given in the belief that it would atone for the sins of Blake’s ancestors. Llewellyn believed that religious ceremonies conducted in memory of his dead relatives would rescue them from purgatory and admonish them of their past sins. However as you will see from reading the following paragraphs, Llewellyn did not seem to notice the living purgatory that his own tenants endured on his Mayo estate. Llewellyn’s endowment of the Society of African Missions in 1916 was the equivalent of a donation in today’s terms of nearly €6.5 million. Also the establishment of the Society of African Missions at Ballianfad was not met with universal welcome,  both the tenants of the estate and Llewellyn’s relatives were actively hostile to the very idea.

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Ballinafad House was built in 1827 by Maurice Blake but over the years has been enveloped by the ancillary buildings of the seminary and college it became after being donated in 1908. Ballinafad was the home of the Blakes, who were also connected with the Blakes of nearby Towerhill House but also connected by marriage to the Moores of Moore Hall. The interior of the original section of Ballinafad is important as many surrounding country houses are lying in ruins or no longer exist. When in the drawing room of Ballinafad, one can imagine that possibly it bore some resemblance to the nearby, but lost, interiors of Moore Hall, Towerhill or Clogher House. Prior to it being extended in the 1940’s, Ballinafad House was a two storey over part raised basement house with 28 rooms. Sitting atop the roof is an impressive chimney that serves 26 fireplaces and possibly lays claim to being the widest domestic chimney in the country. The structural supports for the chimney dominate the layout of the house, beginning with a series of vaulted ceilings in the basement which support arches on the ground and first floor that in turn support the large chimney above. The support structure for this mammoth chimney essentially divides the house in two halves. The series of rooms to the rear of the house are separated from the main reception rooms at the front of the house by an elongated spine corridor that traverses the centre of the building. The entrance to the house is via a pair of sweeping curved stone steps that lead to an entrance porch, supported on an arch. A decedent of the Blake’s, Maurice Moore,  whose mother was born and raised at Ballinafad, was of the belief that his grandfather, who had added the porch to the house, was inspired by ‘an imperfect memory of one he had seen in Italy’.

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The Moore’s of Moore Hall, as I have previously mentioned, were connected with the Blake Family of Ballinafad through marriage. In 1851, George Henry Moore, of nearby Moore Hall married Mary Blake, the 23 year old daughter of Maurice Blake of Ballinafad House. Mary was one of ten children of Maurice and Anne Blake and upon her marriage to Moore was bestowed with a dowry of £4,000 which enriched the Moore Estate (This would be the equivalent of over €5 million in today’s terms). Mary would name her second son Maurice after her father with the first born son, and heir of Moore Hall Estate, was given the name George. George Moore, who became a famous literary figure, would later write about Ballinafad describing it as ‘a county house, surrounded by a large park with a little quick running river close by’ and that ‘ancestors had lived in Ballinafad for many generations; the obstinate Blakes they were called…’ Based on this statement, it would appear that there was possibly an earlier house on the site, when George Moore speaks of the family living there for generations. In December of 1851, Maurice Blake of Ballinafad died after a long illness and his remains lay in Ballinafad until removed for burial to Cloughballymore in Galway. The reason for Maurice’s burial in Galway is that he had married the daughter and heiress of Marcus Lynch. Therefore the large Lynch Estate at Cloughballymore, Co. Galwayeventually passed in to the Blake family. As Maurice had made a wise dynastic match with the Lynch family, his daughters would also marry in to other landed families. In 1854, Catherine married into the O’Connors of Elphin, Rosscommon , followed in 1858 when Julia married in to the Browne family and in 1859, when Victoria married in to the ffrench family.

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Initially it did not look as if Maurice’s youngest son, Llewellyn Blake, would inherit his fathers estates as he had older brothers who would inherit before him. Llewellyn Blake was born in 1842 and in his lifetime gained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the 6th Battalion of the Connaught Rangers and held the office of High Sheriff of Galway in 1886. He also held the Office of Deputy Lieutenant for Country Mayo together with the Office of the Justice of the Peace for Counties Mayo and Galway. In 1869, Llewellyn was appointed to the Commission for Peace and was recommenced to the Lord Chancellor by the Marquis of Clanricarde. In August 1877 at St. Michael’s Church, Kingstown ( now Dun Laoghaire),  Dublin, Llewellyn Blake married Honoria Mary, the widow of William Murray (who died in 1874) of Northampton House in Country Galway. William Murray was a successful pawnbroker in Galway who moved to Kinvara and built Northampton House. In December 1877, Llewellyn Blake was living at 2 WillowTerrace, Blackrock, Dublin, we know this as he was advertising land for lease in Offaly and Kildare and mentions this as his address.

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In November 1891, Llewelyn’s wife, Honoria Mary Blake died aged only 41, strangely her death notice reports in great detail that she died from ‘congestion of the lungs’. She left an estate valued at £15,105 and she died at her home Northampton House, Kinvara, Co. Galway. Northampton House no longer exists, albeit for one wall, as the house was demolished in the 1930’s. Llewellyn and Honoria’s marriage produced no children and as result this branch of the Blake family would die out with Llewellyn’s death Llewellyn’s brother, Mark Blake of Ballinafad died in June 1886 and his estates passed to his brother Joseph Blake. Joseph managed the Moore Hall estate  for his nephew George Moore after the death of his father, George Henry Moore. It was after the death of Joseph ( Gontran) Blake who died at Ballinafad in January 1893 that his estate valued at £12,581 passed to Llewellyn. As a result of these deaths in close succession, Llewellyn had inherited the estates and homes of his wife and brother so he was now a very wealthy man. At the time of the 1901 census, Llewellyn Blake aged 61 is living in Ballinafad House, it is noted that he was born in England and is a widower. Also present in the house is his 64 year old Land Stewart, Michael Cloran, together with two female servants Honoria Glynn aged 50 and Mary Mc Gurrin aged 40. 

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In January 1906, it was announced that the title of Count was conferred by the Pope on Llewellyn Blake of Cloughballymore, Galway and Ballinafad House, Mayo. This honour was conferred in recognition of Llewellyn’s generosity towards the Society of African Missions based in Cork also known as the SMA. Llewellyn had also founded a scholarship at St. Jarlaith’s College in Tuam for the education of priests for the foreign missions. In 1906, it is recorded that Llewellyn held over 1,000 acres of untenanted land in Mayo and it appears that not everyone was happy about Llewelyn Blake’s donation to the African Missionary Society.  A letter to ‘The Western People’ in January 1906,  a tenant of the Blake estate wrote the following ‘ A couple of weeks ago reading on your paper that Colonel L. Blake of Ballinafad got a very high title from the Pope, we, his poor unfortunate tenants in the bogs of Ballinafad were in hopes that something would follow, and that as ‘Charity begins at home’ the gallant Colonel would think of his poor tenants and how to improve their lot. He has about fifty families living on 150 acres of bog.’ The author of the letter points out that he lives on three acres of bog while Llewellyn farms 950 acres of fine farmland. The tenant ends his letter saying that ‘ Many a fine good Irish boy and girl who left Ballinafad for the past twenty years would be glad to return if Shanroy, Lakemount, Cloonflyn, Castlelucan or Ballinafad grazing ranches were only divided up amongst the people at reasonable rents’. 

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In January 1908, the Pope approved the establishment of a college for the education of priests for the African Mission at Ballinafad. The announcement indicated that the African Missionary Society, who had a college in Cork were about to take over Ballinafad House and demesne. Rev. Zimmerman from the Cork College had visited Ballinafad in early 1908 and was shown over the estate by Count Blake.  The dining room of Ballinafad was readied for Mass to celebrate a new beginning for the house.  The tenants on the estate reacted angrily to this news and they believed the donation to be part of a ploy to cheat them out the opportunity to buy their own land. While the tenants had no objection to the college being established, it was their belief that they were entitled to first consideration if any land of the estate was being disposed of.  When Father Zimmerman from the SMA, Count Blake and a land surveyor visited a nearby land holding, they were met by tenants who ‘booted them off the farm’.  It was the tenants hope that legislation would be introduced to ‘come to their aid in their struggle with the Count, who, in his zeal for the Africans sees fit to ignore the claims to simple justice which cry at his very door;’ The tenants protestations had the desired effect as it was announced in May of 1908 that all the tenanted land of the demesne had been offered for sale to the Estates Commission. 

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While his tenants were not impressed with the actions of the Count, his relatives were even less enamored. George Moore of nearby Moore Hall who was a nephew of Llewellyn made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the arrangements made for his mother’s former home. In fact George Moore could always be relied upon to present a less saintly representation of the Blake family. When describing his illustrious uncle, he said the following ‘ Llewelyn is a tall as his brother Mark, two or three inches over six feet, large in proportion, with sloping shoulders, snapping his words out and then relapsing into silence‘. George also said that his uncle had ‘become uneasy about his soul. He was warned of its disease by me years ago, but he paid no heed to my warnings, and convinced of its continued existence, and that priests can help him to save it, he has founded a monastery.’ In 1914, George Moore wrote about his uncle Llewellyn whom he said ‘is my uncle and my mother’s youngest brother and he came into the property of Ballinafad on the death of Joe Blake……His brother, Mark, from whom he inherited Ballinafad, was a fine old country rake, leaving samples of his voice and demeanour and appearance in every village and then going to Dublin to repent of his sins….‘ It would appear according to George Moore that both Mark and Joe had indeed fathered children outside the confines of marriage as it is also recorded that they both died ‘without lawful issue’. Was it these actions of his brothers that prayed on the mind of Llewellyn?, was his donation of all his property to religious orders, an act to ensure that his deceased brothers were rescued from purgatory? 

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By the time of the 1911 census, Ballinafad House was now being used as Ballinafad College where a Rev. William Butler is listed as the head of the household and the owners of the property recorded as the South African Mission, Rev. Butler aged 30 from Kilkenny is a Professor of Latin and English, also present were John Corcoran aged 27, a Professor of Latin, History, French and Mathematics, William Cotter also aged 27, a Professor of Latin, Music, French and Mathematics together with Bartholomew Ronayre a Professor of Latin, English and Mathematics.  Johanna Cummins aged 63, from Tipperary, is listed as the Matron and Manageress while there are also two female servants, Mary Mc Gurrin and Bridget Joyce. Llewellyn at this time is living in Cloughballymore in Galway, the 4,000 acre estate and 19 room house which had been inherited from his mother’s side of the family. On the night of the 1911 census he has two female visitors,  Mary and Kate Regan and also present in the house are three servants. Count Llewellyn Blake died on the 8th September 1916 at his Galway home Cloughballymore in Kilcolgan. His remains were removed from his residence to Ballinderreen Parish Church. His death certificate indicates that his death was sudden but that he suffered from heart disease. The certificate is witnessed by his house keeper, Norah Hughes who was with him when he died. The funeral mass involved nine clergy after which the remains were brought to Ardrahan train station and were conveyed to Cork for burial. At Wilton Church in Cork, High Mass was again celebrated and interment took place in the church grounds. In his will dated December 1907, he appointed as executors, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam and the Bishop of Cork together with the Rev. Joseph Zimmermann of the SMA.  Llewellyn left £1,500 to have Mass celebrated in churches and chapels in Ireland for the souls of his wife, mother, father, brothers and sisters. He left £50 to his Parish Priest in Galway to have additional masses said for deceased members of his family and £50 to help the local poor. He left £500 to the sisters of Charity in Dublin to assist in their foreign missions for the propagation of the Roman Catholic religion. After these deductions were made, the residue of his estate was to be divided in fifteen equal parts. Six fifteenths of his estate were to go to the new College of the Sacred Heart, founded by the Apostolic College for Foreign Missions in Ireland located at Ballinafad House. Two fifteenths were apportioned to the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Seminary in Limerick. Two fifteenths were allocated to All Hallows College, in Dublin, St. Joseph’s College in Wilton, Cork and St. Jarlaiths College, Tuam ,Galway.  Another condition of the will stipulated that each college should use the monies to enable poor students to train for the Priesthood, who could not afford to pay for their own education. One final fifteenth was to assist in the publication of Annals of the Propagation of the Roman Catholic Faith. 

Llewellyn left an estate with a value of £61,502.00 (of which £11,225 was in England), this would be roughly €6.5 million in today’s money. The probate of his estate was granted to the Most Reverend John Healy, Archbishop of Tuam and the Most Reverend Daniel Coholan, Bishop of Cork. He left nothing to his relatives, so Maurice Moore and his sister Nina Kilkelly (Llewellyn’s niece and nephew) made a petition to the Pope for a portion of their late uncle’s estate. The Pope agreed to release a donation of £2,000 to Mrs. Kilkelly and £1,000 to Maurice Moore which was paid in 1919. Maurice Moore had wanted to join with other members of the Blake Family to over turn his uncle’s will. He was annoyed that Ballinafad, his mother’s childhood home, was now passing out of the family to become a religious institution. His brother George on the other hand took offence at the way he felt his wealthy uncle had been pursued by members of the religious order. George believed that they had prayed on Llewellyn’s concern for the souls of his deceased ancestors and convinced him that by donating his wealth he could redeem them from purgatory. However George would not join with Maurice or support his petition for the overturning of the will, using Maurice’s respect for his Catholic faith against him. This would not be the only time that Maurice would be disappointed by the last will and testament of a relative. When his brother, George Moore died in 1933, he left no provision for Maurice or his sons. At this stage Moore Hall had been burnt down a decade earlier and lay in ruins. Maurice had hoped to restore the house but his brother’s will had prevented that. While Maurice had purchased the ruin of Moore Hall, he had no funds to implement a restoration. Perhaps if his Uncle Llewellyn had made provision in his will for his nephew, who bore the name of his father, Maurice may have been able to resurrect the home of the Moore’s on Muckloon Hill after its destruction.

A bedroom with a fireplace and a large window

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Llewellyn’s nephews, George and Maurice Moore visited Ballinafad after the order had taken over. George walked around the drawing room and recalled the musical renditions performed here by his mother, her sisters and her brother. He noted at this time that ‘remembered pictures’ were still hanging on the walls. One wonders what became of the contents of the house as they appear to have been donated to the Order that took over Ballinafad. Also Llewellyn’s other house, Cloughballymore in Galway, which also donated,  contained a number of family portraits still hanging on the walls years after the order acquired it. During his visit to Ballinafad, George spoke with one of the priests based there, who informed him that the first group of priests , dispatched on the missions from Ballinafad,  had found the African climate intolerable and that ‘large amount’ of these men had died. Whether George was being melodramatic or not, we do not know however the Priest did inform him that another group was leaving shortly for Africa and that he ‘ hoped not to lose so many’. However in a letter from George Moore to his brother Maurice dated August 1912, he says the following ‘I enclose some papers that I received this morning, and I think they will distress you. Apparently Llewelyn is going to settle an ecclesiastical establishment in Ballinafad unless he can be stopped. Will you please let me hear from you on the subject. Miss Gough says it is to be sold…’ This was followed by another letter dated September 1912 ‘I have heard no more from Tom Rutledge about the sale of the Property, Llewelyn Blake and Ballinafad, Has everything come to a standstill?’. 

A chair sitting in front of a window

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Ballinafad was initially a seminary after the SMA took over but then adopted the duel function of being a secondary boarding school. In 1948, a new staff residence, dormitory and dining facilities were built followed in 1955 by another block of classrooms and an assembly hall. It is noted that Ballinafad ‘never grew popular as a local school’ however up until the 1960’s in Ireland, secondary level education was for the favoured few. By 1960, Ballinafad had produced 400 priests and it was hoped by the time of the centenary of the establishment of the SMA at Ballinafad in 2016, they would have produced over 1,000 priests. In the 1960’s, the SMA built an Oratory together with basketball courts, tennis courts and handball alleys at Ballinafad. In 1966, the Vatican Council introduced changes in the approach for the training of priests and this coupled with the introduction of free education led to a decline in the fortunes of Ballinafad. As the population of the area was too small, the outlay for providing facilities for boarders hadn’t been a success and the order could no longer meet the running costs. In 1975, it was announced that the Sacred Heart College established at Ballinafad would close. For a time a skeleton staff were kept on to maintain the place as no Government Department was interested in finding an alternative use for Ballinafad. The College was still in possession of a 470 acre farm around the main campus and it was local contention that the land should be divided amoung local farmers upon its closure. However the complex was sold to Balla Mart who ran it as an Agricultural College for a number of years before it too closed. In the year 2000, Ballinafad House appeared on the market with a price tag of £2.5 million for the house with 400 acres, however a price of £500,000 could buy Ballinafad standing on 8 acres. In December 2002, at the height of the excesses of the Celtic Tiger it was reported that Ballinafad had been sold to Preston Homes who intended turning into a 5 star hotel however its appears that the recession killed this pipe dream. By 2010, Ballinafad was back on the market with a price of €499,000 for the college buildings but at this stage Ireland was in the midst of a recession so there were no takers. 

A dirty old room

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The buildings saviour came in the form of a young Australian, Bede Tannock,  who first viewed the building in 2012. He later purchased the house on 8 acres for €80,000 however but after decades of being abandoned, the phrase ‘ in need of renovation’ did not do justice to the mammoth task that lay ahead at Ballinafad. Work began in 2014 and initially consisted of removing years of debris compounded by two decades of abandonment. Luckily despite the neglect, the new owner found that the main block of the house, the original Ballinafad House, still retained a wealth of original details such as plaster work, door and window cases which had survived. Currently the entrance porch has its diamond pattern windows removed for restoration but the beauty of the fanlight of the original front door to Ballinafad can be appreciated. Once inside you are greeted by a wonderfully restored elaborate ceiling rose and from here, you can access one of the most impressive areas of the house, a large double height hall where the staircase is contained. Illuminated by a large window, this space retains beautiful vaulted spaces that contain delicate plaster work. It is from these vaulted spaces that one gains access to the two large reception rooms at the front of the house. The original drawing room to the front of the house is luckily one of the most intact rooms to survive, and here a ceiling depicting musical instruments and foliage awaits redecoration, replacing the strong garish colours of its previous colour scheme from possibly 40 years ago. One wonders if the choice of the musical instruments illustrated on this ceiling was to reflect the musical nature of the Blake Family that George Moore spoke about. The dining room on the opposite side of the entrance front has not fared as well. Here the ceiling with its central plaster ceiling rose of fruit is largely damaged however a hopefully Bede directs my attention to a carefully collected and stacked pile of fragments on the floor that will be reinstated. This room is thought to be the dining room due to the choice of ceiling decoration and its proximity to the servants staircase, which is located directly across the vaulted hall, provided direct access to the kitchen in the basement. The dining room is not the only room to be damaged during the years of neglect, a leaky roof caused the corroded water tanks to collapse which completely destroyed rooms in one back corner of the house. 

A large room in the wing of the house that dates from  the 1950’s,  will be used as a space for events such as weddings. Picture ( above and below)  Copyright ICHC 

This damaged area where these rooms once occupied was open from the ground floor to what remained of the roof, the ceiling and floor in between were obliterated and therefore necessitated a complete rebuilt. Today walking though these reinstated rooms, details such as the cornicing, window shutters and high skirting boards look pristine, not giving any hint of the scene of destruction that originally confronted Bede. The SMA had extended Ballinafad House substantially over the years, adjoining wings built in the 1940’s and 1950’s were added to either side of the original house, together with an auditorium and a chapel. Today the beauty of the chapel’s stained class windows that commemorate the work of the SMA can be appreciated having been recently restored. The 1950’s wing and the auditorium have had substantial restoration work carried out and work in the original house is progressing at a steady pace. The 1940’s wing will be a later project, but stabilisation work has been carried out including work to the work to the roof, any further deterioration in this wing has been arrested. As a result of the additions carried out by the SMA, the house is now easily adaptable for the new venture proposed by its current owner as Ballinafad House will open next year as an event venue. Here events such as weddings can be held in the Ballinafad’s recently restored large reception room with 13 restored sash windows and chandeliers. 

A living room filled with furniture and a large window

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Bede is currently working against the clock, Ballinafad will feature in a RTE programme about the restoration of the house to be screened in 2018. For this programme, a number of rooms will be completed and the main facade of the house will boast newly restored windows. The people of Mayo are lucky that Bede is carrying out such a sensitive restoration and is so committed to the project. Ballinafad could have languished for years on the market before it was either vandalised further or eventually collapsed from neglect. Therefore I wish Bede well and I look forward to making a return visit as Ballinafad House to see the fruits of his efforts in reversing the fortunes of this country house. One of the things I noticed at Ballinafad is a religious painting that is hanging over the staircase, it is distressed from the time the house was abandoned and open to the elements. This painting has hung here since the time of the SMA and despite its condition I think Bede has made the correct choice to keep it. Once Ballinafad is complete, this painting will remind people of the changing fortunes of the house, the level of dereliction that it descended to and the herculean task involved in revitalising this surviving home of the Blakes.

A painting on the wall

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https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/ballinafad-house-belcarra-castlebar-mayo/4356711

4/11/2019

Connaughton Auctioneers 

Tel: 090 666 3700 

PSRA Licence No. 001350

€2,000,000

15 beds, 15 baths

Eircode: F23 RF88

GROUND FLOOR/ BASEMENT The Ground Floor/ Basement comprises: – Link Hallway to Chapel – 5 Meeting Rooms with 1 complete (Potential to develop into Bedrooms) – Laundry Room in Basement – Chemistry Room in Basement – 9 Rooms in Basement (Potential to develop into Bedrooms) – Off Courtyard Potential to convert into living accommodation – Prep Kitchen Off Courtyard, stair access to first floor commercial kitchen – Plant Room Gas fired central heating with two commercial gas boilers and infrastructure in place to service the entire building – 1931 Extension Hallway and Large Reception Room – Back Hallway to Chapel 

THE FIRST FLOOR COMPRISES: – Porch to Front double entrance, original granite floor – Entrance Hallway solid pine floor, decorative coving & centre rose/ light, storage cupboards off – Reception Hallway solid pine floor, stairs to first floor with WC under, feature high ceiling, coving, centre rose, plant room off – North East Drawing Room off Reception Room, solid pinr floor, granite fireplace, coving, centre light – North West Drawing Room solid pine floor, decorative coving and centre light, fitted fireplace – South East Drawing Room facing to front, solid original pine floor, marble fireplace, decorative coving & ceiling, centre rose/ light –

South West Drawing Room facing to front, in need of completion – €Lough Mask€TMFunction Room Fully renovated with unrivalled views, c.3,000 Sq.Ft with seating capacity for 220 (wedding) and 450 (concerts/ other events), storage room and commercial kitchen servicing – Landing stairs to ground floor, located between function room and theatre, access door to Priests House – Theatre Luxurious theatre c.3,225 Sq.Ft, original floor re-instated, coving, spotlights, raised stage area, incorporating ticket booth, projector room adjacent, green room to rear – Green Room Located behind Theatre Stage, area of c.755 Sq.Ft – 1931 Wing Potential to develop into 7 Bedrooms & Bathroom 

THE SECOND FLOOR COMPRISES: – Lough Cara Function Room – In need of completion with unrivalled views, overall area of c. 3,000 Sq. Ft 7 Bedrooms and Bathroom (Work in Progress) – 1931 Wing – Potential to develop into 8 En-Suite Bedrooms and Bathroom 

THIRD FLOOR The Third Floor comprises: Known as the Servant Quarters this area has the potential to be developed into 3 bedrooms. It is located in the original part of the house and provides access to the main roof. 

PRIESTS HOUSE The Priests House is located on the East Wing. It occupied an area of c.5,900 Square Foot over two floors. As named, this area was formerly the living quarters for the resident priests. It has been fully renovated into luxury accommodation and comprises: – Reception Hallway – Living Room/ Lounge – Kitchen/ Dining – Utility Room – 10 Bedrooms – 8 Bathrooms (7 En-Suite) – Provision for Cable TV and data to all Bedrooms

CHAPEL/ ORATORY Built in the 1960s, the Chapel/ Oratory has been fully renovated to its former glory. The main chapel has an area of c.2,660 Square Foot with sacristy and reception room adjacent. The original features remain intact including the seating, floor, stain glass, marble altar and confessional boxes. Overlooking the chapel is the choir loft with ample room and accessed by separate entrance. Seating Capacity of Chapel: 300 

OUTBUILDINGS With the property formerly being a college, there is an extensive range of outbuildings that hold huge potential for re-development into accommodation such as a spa, retreat, recreation etc. They include: – Workshop Ideally located adjoining Main House and suitable for conversion into toilet blocks to service function rooms. – Garage Former garage located adjacent indoor ball court – Indoor Ball Court Former indoor ball court located adjacent garage – Shower Block Ideal for conversion into a spa – Toilets to Rear 30 toilets in one block 

PROPERTY FEATURES – Large Courtyard to Centre of Property – IP CCTV System Installed – Commercial fire system – Located close to Manulla River – Net Internal Area c.58,234 Sq. Ft – Overall Site Area c.7.16 Acres – Unrivaled views of the surrounding countryside – Access road recently re-surfaced – Large Private Car-Park to Rear Ballinafad House Located from: Castlebar 14 KM Westport 25 KM Ireland West Airport Knock 39 KM Galway City 68 KM Dublin City 220 KM BALLINAFAD HOUSE – THE FUTURE? Since 2014, the current owners have transformed Ballinafad House to what it is today. Over half of the property has been fully restored to its former glory. The majority of the remaining works are well progressed . Since 2017 this property has been hired for events such as local fundraisers, weddings and corporate functions and all works complete are in full compliance. . Having appeared on RTE “The Great House Revival” in 2018, Ballinafad House is well known both in Ireland and worldwide. You have a once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire this prestigious property that is nestled in an unspoilt area along the Wild Atlantic Way. Its future use may be a Private Georgian Home or Irelands Top Wedding Venue. Maybe a Hotel,Retreat and Spa…The next chapter of Ballinafad House awaits. It could be you who tells the next story of this historic property. Viewing comes highly recommended. Viewing is strictly by appointment with the Auctioneer. To arrange a viewing contact the office on 090-6663700

Moore Hall, Ballyglass, or Cong, Mayo – ruin

by jenjunebugFebruary 19, 2025November 28, 2025

Moore Hall, Ballyglass, or Cong, Mayo – lost

*Moore Hall, County Mayo, entrance front c. 1965 courtesy Lord Rossmore.* Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland *by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.*

p. 210. “(Moore/LGI1912) A large late C18 house of three storeys over basement on a peninsula in Lough Carra; built 1795 by George Moore, who had made a fortune in Malaga and whose radical son, John, was appointed President of the Provisional Government of Connaught by Gen Humbert, commander of the invading French force 1798. Entrance front with two bays on either side of a central breakfront rather similar to that at Tyrone House, County Galway, with triple window framed by short fluted pilasters on console brackets above a Venetian window above the entrance doorway; which here is beneath a shallow single-storey Doric portico, whereby at Tyrone there is a porch of two storey Ionic columns. The top of the portico was treated as a balcony, with an ironwork railing. Solid roof parapet; massive die in centre. The house and its surroundings feature in the writings of George Moore, whose house it was. It is now a gaunt ruin, having been burnt 1923; various plans to rebuilt it on a smaller scale for George Moore’s brother, Senator Col. Maurice Moore, came to nothing. When George Moore died 1933, his ashes were buried on an island in the lough here; ferried across in a boat rowed by Oliver St. John Gogarty, who soon regretted having volunteered as an oarsman. “First off came my silk hat, the frock coat and…” Gogarty recalls. “I presume you will retain your braces,” said Moore’s sister, who sat in the stern of the boat, holding the urn.”

*Moore Hall, County Mayo, courtesy Mark Bence-Jones.*

*Moore Hall, County Mayo, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.*

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings -searc h/building/31310009/moore-hall-muckloon-or-moorehall-co-mayo

Moore Hall, County Mayo, courtesy National Inventory.

Detached five-bay (three-bay deep) three-storey over part raised basement country house, built 1792-5; dated 1795, on a symmetrical plan centred on single-bay full-height breakfront with (single-storey) prostyle tetrastyle Doric portico to ground floor; six-bay full-height rear (north) elevation. Occupied, 1911. Vacant, 1921. Burnt, 1923. In ruins, 1925. Hipped roof now missing with paired lichen-covered limestone ashlar central chimney stacks on axis with ridge having cut-limestone stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta octagonal pots. Part creeper- or ivy-covered fine roughcast walls on lichen-covered tooled cut-limestone chamfered cushion course on fine roughcast base with drag edged rusticated cut-limestone quoins to corners including drag edged rusticated cut-limestone quoins to corners (breakfront) supporting dragged cut-limestone “Cyma Recta” or “Cyma Reversa” cornice on blind frieze below parapet centred on inscribed dragged limestone ashlar “die” date stone (“1795”). Round-headed central door opening in tripartite arrangement behind (single-storey) prostyle tetrastyle Doric portico approached by flight of eleven benchmark-inscribed cut-limestone steps with dragged limestone ashlar columns having responsive pilasters supporting “Cavetto”-detailed cornice on roundel-detailed frieze below wrought iron parapet. “Venetian Window” (first floor) with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and cut-limestone surround with pilasters supporting “Cyma Recta” or “Cyma Reversa” cornice centred on archivolt. Square-headed window opening in tripartite arrangement (top floor) with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and cut-limestone surround with stop fluted pilasters on fluted consoles supporting “Cavetto” cornice. Square-headed window openings with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and concealed cut-limestone voussoirs with no fittings surviving. Interior in ruins including (basement): groin vaulted cellars; (ground floor): bow-ended central entrance hall with central door openings in segmental-headed recesses retaining decorative plasterwork “fan vaulted” overpanels, and rosette-detailed dentilated plasterwork cornice to ceiling. Set in wooded grounds.

Appraisal

The shell of a country house erected to a design attributed to John Roberts (1712-96) of Waterford (DIA) representing an important component of the late eighteenth-century domestic built heritage of County Mayo with the architectural value of the composition, one recalling the Roberts-designed Tyrone House (1779) in County Galway, confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on panoramic vistas overlooking Lough Carra; the compact near-square plan form centred on a Classically-detailed tripartite breakfront carrying the Moore family motto (“FORTIS CADERE NON POTEST [A Brave Man May Fall But Cannot Yield]”); the definition of the principal floor as a slightly elevated “piano nobile”; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the parapeted roofline. Although reduced to ruins during “The Troubles” (1919-23), an act of vandalism recounted in detail in “The Moores of Moore Hall” (1939), the elementary form and massing survive intact together with remnants of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior including, remarkably, some decorative plasterwork enrichments highlighting the now-modest artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (extant 1838); a polygonal walled garden (see 31310010); and the nearby “Grand Gate” (see 31310011), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having historic connections with the Moore family including George Moore (1729-99); John Moore (1767-99), President of the Provisional Government of Connaught (fl. 1798); George Moore (1770-1840), author of “The History of the British Revolution of 1688-9” (1817); George Henry Moore MP (1810-70) of the short-lived Independent Irish Party (formed 1852; dissolved 1858); George Augustus Moore (1852-1933), author of “A Mummer’s Wife” (1885), “A Drama in Muslin” (1886) and “Esther Waters” (1894) and assistant founder of the Irish Literary Theatre (1899); and Senator Colonel Maurice George Moore (1854-1939), ‘Late First Battalion Connaught Rangers’ (cf. 31310012).

https://archiseek.com/2012/1785-moore-hall-co-mayo

1785 – Moore Hall, Co. Mayo

Architect: John Roberts

Also known as Moorehall, the house was constructed between 1792 and 1795. The Moores were originally an English Protestant family but some became Catholic when John Moore married the Catholic Jane Lynch Athy of Galway, and when their son, George, married Katherine de Kilikelly, an Irish-Spanish Catholic, in 1765. Several members of the Moore family went on to play major parts in the social, cultural and political history of Ireland from the end of the eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. The house was burned down in 1923 by anti-Treaty irregular forces during the Irish Civil War because then current owner Maurice Moore was viewed as pro-Treaty.

Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.

p. 110. “A large three storey house built 1795 for George Moore. The house is similar to Tyrone House, County Galway. Burnt in 1923. Now a ruin which has been stabilised.”

Irish Castles and Historic Houses. ed. by Brendan O’Neill, intro. by James Stevens Curl. Caxton Editions, London. 2002:

The ruin of Moore Hall, the Georgian home of a celebrated Mayo family, is situated on a promontory overlooking Lough Carra. The best known members of the family are John (1763-99), who was appointed president of the Provisional Republic of Connacht during the French invasion of 1798, George Henry (1811-70), MP for Mayo and one of the leaders of the Tenants Right Movement, and George (1852-1933), a novelist.

Featured in Irish Country Houses, Portraits and Painters. David Hicks. The Collins Press, Cork, 2014.

p. 167. Maurice was the second son of George Henry Moore and both he and his elder brother [the writer George Moore] had a difficult relationship: times of great affection were followed by periods when they would blatantly ignore each other for months and sometimes years on end. Maurice, the younger brother, was seen as a safe pair of hands and if he had inherited Moore Hall it might still stand today. However, George was the elder son and under the laws of succession he became the rightful heir to the Moore Hall estate. George did have some affectino for his Mayo home but it was Maurice who had a deep-rooted respect for his father’s legacy and strove to keep the Moore estate intact. Arguments often stemmed from teh fact that Maurice was the landlord by proxy but it was George’s money taht paid the bills. George, as the elder brother, was entitled to have the final say over the management of Moore Hall; however, he also thought that this right extended to his brother and his family. When the tentacles of his requests began to intrude into Maurice’s personal life, disagreements naturally occurred. ..At the time that Moore Hall burnt down in 1923, itwas Maurice who was recalled with great affection.

p. 168. George was active in the Irish Literary Renaissance of the early 1900s after becoming a successful author, despite an early ambition to become an artist. While in Paris pursuing his artistic ambitions, he wrote about the impressionist painters and befriended many of them, such as Edouard Manet and Edgar Desgas. Moore, deciding he had no talent as a painter, moved to London in the 1880s where he began his literary career adn produced some of his best-known works, including Esther Waters. He became an accomlished author, credited with creating the genre of fictional autobiography and also published a number of works of poetry. During his tiem in Dublin in he early 1900s he befriended many in the Irish artistic and literary world, such as George Russell (A.E.), Nathaniel Hone, Walter Osborne, W.B. Yeats, Douglas Hyde and Lady Gregory. As a result of these associations he was involved in the setting up of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin before returning to live in London for the rest of his life.

The story of the Moore family and their great house in Mayo begins in the 18^th century with an ancestor, George Moore, who decamped from Mayo to Alicante in Spain to make his fortune in the wine trade, a task in which he had succeeded by the mid 1700s. When he had amassed a substantial fortune, he returned to Ireland and began to buy up land in his native county. The Moore family originated from Ashbrook House near Straide in County Mayo and when George’s brother died he inherited the house and lands. He was considering renovating and improving Ashbrook but, on a tour of the country to look for suitable land in which to invest, he came across Muckloon Hil, overlooking Lough Carra. He purchased the property and lands, which amounted to 800 acres, from the MacDonald family. George began to clear some of the woods on th hill and in 1792 a large, square Georgian mansion began to rise on the hill. The inclusion of a first-floor balcony may have been inspired by the time that George had spent in Spain but he had no accounted for the wind and rain in Mayo, which allowed him to spend little time on it. Teh house and estate eventually passed to George’s grandson, George Henry Moore. He married Mary Blake, the daughter fo Maurice Blake of Ballinafad House (and named their second son after his maternal grandfather). George and Mary’s union produced five children: George in 1852, Maurice 1854, Augustus 1856, Nina in 1858 and Julian in 1857. At this time George Henry and his family lived at 39 Alfred House in London which he had leased while a Member of Parliament. George Henry made a hasty return to Moore Hall in April 1870 where disputes were raging with tenants over rent reductions. There in his ancestral home he died and was buried in the nearby family burial ground of Kiltoom. This event brought the estate into [p. 170] his eldest son, novelist George Moore; however, the circumstances surrounding their father’s death would lead to a dispute between himself and his younger brother Maurice in later years.

p. 170. The house was supposedly designed by Waterford architect John Roberts, a Protestant, who also designed Tyrone House in Clarinbridge in County Galway. Roberts is notable for designing Waterford’s Catholic and Church of Ireland cathedrals as well as a number of other significant buildings in Waterford.

p. 173. In 1901 George Moore, after spending 21 years in England, returned to Ireland, setting up home in Dublin. He had been inspired by his cousin Edward Martyn who told him that artistically great things were happening in Ireland. Moore Hall was entrusted to his brother’s capable wife as Maurice was still stationed abroad with the army. This generosity by George came with a number of strings attached: he felt entitled to meddle in his brother’s family’s life. This need to try and control his brother and nephews was probably due to the lack of a family of his own. George reworked his will to include or exclude his nephews depending on how well they were progressing in their study of the Irish language. George wanted his nephews to be Irishmen of the highest calibre and in 1901, suggested to his brother that he pay for a “a nurse straight from Arran,” believing that an Aran islander was necessary to teach teh next generation of the Moore family to speak Irish properly. The ladies transported from Aran did not fit easily into Maurice’s household. Teh quality of their teaching and their standards fo cleanliness left Maurice’s wife in despair.

In 1903 George publicly renounced teh Catholic faith and yet again decided to reorganise his brother’s family accordingly, desiring that one of his nephews be brought up in the Protestant faith. In July 1905 he tried to persuade Maurice to let him sell the lands of their estate under the terms of the 1903 Wyndham Act. Maruice was successful in convincing his brother not to sell but the issue fo selling the estate woudl ot go away….Money had begun to cause trouble between the brothers since Maurice’s retirement from the army. Maurice was now living on a full-time basis at Moore Hall and he began to try to put the house and estate back in order.

[lots of sad arguments between brothers – George wanted his nephews to be raised Protestant, and Maurice disagreed, and George bankrolled repairs and improvements. Finally George asked Maurice to move out and he did. Maurice would still use the house occasionally, via the steward, James Reilly, unbeknownst to George. George published that their father killed himself, appalling Maurice. Maurice became a senator, and allowed those fighting the English to be billeted in the house during the War of Independence.]

p. 177. “By the winter of 1922 the house was not being lived in… In 1923 a group of local men arrived at teh door of the gate lodge and ordered James Reilly to hand over the keys to Moore Hall. They made their way up the hill to the house, awkwardly lugging bales of hay and drums of petroleum and paraffin. …It is a matter of some debate whether or not items were looted from teh house but six hours later the roof of the house crashed in, causing the burning interior to collapse down, leaving a mound of debris 14 feet deep on the ground floor.

p. 178. “George made no hesitation in laying the blame for the burning of the hosue to his brother… [he wrote in a letter to the Irish Times] “I tried to disassociate my home from politics and for that reason Colonel Moore has not visited Moore Hall for the last twenty years [he did not know Maurice had visited]. His acquiescence in his election to the Seanad and the speeches he has delivered in the Seanad are no doubt the cause of the burning.”

George would have received more money [in compensation] had he considered rebuilding Moore Hall, but, as he wrote to a friend, “Since the burning of my house, I don’t think I shall every be able to set foot in Ireland again.” He sold the remaining land to the Congested Districts Board in 1927 but Maurice could not let the family home an dlands go and entered into an arrangement which allowed him to purchase 300 acres of land and the ruin of the mansion for £1,300….

Maurice hoped that he might be able to restore the house by selling timber from the woods and the rent he would receive from the remaining lands…p. 179. However, the trees were unsuitable for felling so Moore Hall remained a ruin. Early in 1932, George Moore died. His substantion £75,000 fortuen would have been large enough for a restoration of Moore Hall had the bulk gone to a single heir; however, while his will contained many bequests, he left nothing to his brother Maurice or his nephew Rory. …

Maurice approached the Forestry Board with a proposal that it should take over the demesne but it declined. The estate was sold to John O’Haire, a timber merchant who cleared all the woods around the house. When O’Haire died, the Department of Forestry purchased Moore Hall and planted the front lawn and the rest of the site with conifers. Moore Hall became engulfed in a sea of evergreen and no longer enjoys views of the lake.”

http://lordbe lmon tinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2021/11/moore-hall.html

THE MOORES OF MOORE HALL OWNED 12,371 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY MAYOThe family of MOORE claimed descent from THE RT HON SIR THOMAS MORE, statesman and Lord Chancellor to HENRY VIII.

THOMAS MORE, born at Chilston, near Madley, in Herefordshire, married Mary, daughter of John ApAdam, of Flint, and had a son,

GEORGE MOORE, who settled at Ballina, County Mayo, Vice-Admiral of Connaught during the reign of WILLIAM III.

He wedded Catherine, daughter of Robert Maxwell, of Castle Tealing, Scotland, by Edith his wife, daughter of Sir John Dunbar, and was father of

GEORGE MOORE, of Ashbrook, County Mayo, living in 1717, who married Sarah, daughter of the Rev John Price, of Foxford, County Mayo, by his wife, Edith Machen, of the city of Gloucester, and by her had two sons,

George, of Cloongee;

JOHN, of whom we treat.

The younger son,

JOHN MOORE, of Ashbrook, County Mayo, born ca 1700, espoused Jane, daughter of Edmund Athy, and had issue,

Robert, dsp 1783;

GEORGE, of whom presently;

Edmund, of Moorbrook;

Sarah; Jane.

His second son,

GEORGE MOORE (1729-99), of Moore Hall, Ashbrook, and Alicante, Spain, married, ca 1765, Catherine, daughter of Dominick de Killikelly, of Lydacan Castle, County Galway, and had issue,

John, 1763-99;

GEORGE, of whom hereafter;

Thomas;

Peter.

The second son,

GEORGE MOORE (1770-1840), of Moore Hall, wedded, in 1807, Louisa, daughter of the Hon John Browne, sixth son of John, 1st Earl of Altamont, and had issue,

GEORGE HENRY, his heir;

John;

Arthur Augustus.

The eldest son,

GEORGE HENRY MOORE JP DL (1810-70), MP for County Mayo, 1847-57, 1868-70, High Sheriff of County Mayo, 1867, espoused, in 1851, Mary, eldest daughter of Maurice Blake, of Ballinafad, County Mayo, and had issue,

GEORGE AUGUSTUS, his heir;

Maurice George, CB, Colonel, Connaught Rangers;

Augustus George Martin;

Henry Julian;

Nina Mary Louisa.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

GEORGE AUGUSTUS MOORE (1852-1933), of Moore Hall and Ebury Street, London, High Sheriff of County Mayo, 1905, who died unmarried.

George Henry Moore (Image: Wikipedia)

THE MOORES had originally been an English Protestant settler family.

The father of George Moore (1729-99), John Moore, converted to catholicism when he married Jane Lynch Athy from one of the principal Catholic families in County Galway.

Using her connections among the “Wild Geese,” Irish Jacobite exiles in Spain, Jane supported her son in getting established in the wine import business in Alicante, Spain.

He subsequently changed his religion, and married, in I765, Katherine de Kilikelly, an Irish Catholic raised in Spain.

George made his fortune and returned to erect Moore Hall in 1792, above the shore of Lough Carra.

“He thus solidified the shift of the family from being New English settlers of Protestant faith to their nineteenth-century identity as Irish Catholic landlords who had never been humbled by the “Penal Laws” — that set of regulations aimed at limiting the property and power of Irish Catholics, and put in force after William of Orange routed James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1688.”

“The change in the confessional identity of the Moore family, like the circumstances of G H Moore’s death, is important to the story of George Moore. These matters would one day be the occasion of a quarrel about family history that broke up the surviving Moore brothers, saw Moore Hall become vacant, and scattered the last generation of Moores abroad.”

“Of the four sons of George Moore of Alicante, the eldest was John Moore (1763-99), a scapegrace trained in Paris and London for the law, and for a few days in 1798 the first President of the Republic of Connaught.”

“Aided by French invaders at Killala, John Moore participated in the surprise victory of General Humbert over a British garrison at Castlebar on 27 August 1798, assumed nominal leadership of the rebels, then got captured after the rout of the small Irish forces.”

“President Moore died while under house arrest in a Waterford tavern. The second son of Moore of Alicante was a mild-tempered man, also named George Moore. A gentleman scholar rarely out of his library, he wrote histories of the English and French revolution, something in the manner of Gibbon.”

“Moore the historian had three sons by Louisa Browne, the first being George Henry Moore, the only one of the three not to die by a fall from a horse.”

Moore Hall (Image: Robert French)

MOORE HALL, near Ballyglass, County Mayo, is a Georgian mansion built between 1792-6 by George Moore.

It comprises three storeys over a basement, with an entrance front of two bays on either side of a centre breakfront; including a triple window, and fluted pilasters on console brackets.

There is a Venetian window above the entrance doorway, beneath a single-storey Doric portico.

The house was burnt by the IRA in 1923, and is now a ruinous shell.

Colonel Maurice Moore, CB, had intended to rebuild the house, albeit on a smaller scale.

Moore Hall (Image: Comhar – Own work, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11252115

Colonel Moore’s elder brother, George Augustus Moore, died in 1933, leaving an estate valued at £70,000 (about £5.1 million in 2021).

His ashes were buried on Castle Island in Lough Carra.

http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/PlacesToSee/Louth/ 

https://www.geni.com/projects/Historic-Buildings-of-County-Mayo/29699

Moore Hall  Moore Hall was built between 1792 and 1796 as the home of George Moore. The Moores were originally a Protestant family, although some members were subsequently converted to Catholicism. Some members of the family played a prominent part in the history of Ireland, particularly in Famine Relief in the 19th century. The house was burned down in 1923 during the Irish Civil War. The estate is now owned by the national forestry company Coilte and is a popular visitor site.

George Moore (1727–1799), who built Moore Hall, originally came from Straide near Castlebar. During the time of the Penal Laws, George went to Spain where he was admitted to the Royal Court. From the 1760s until about 1790, George made his fortune in the wine and brandy trade, running his business from Alicante. When the Penal Laws were relaxed at the end of the 18th century, he returned to County Mayo with a fortune of £200,000 and in 1783, bought over 12,000 acres (49 km2) of land at Muckloon, Ballycally and Killeen from Farragh Mc Donnell, and commissioned the building of the grand residence of Moore Hall.

George’s son, John Moore (1767–1799), was educated in France and became a lawyer. With the rebellion of 1798, he returned to Mayo. General Humbert appointed him President of the Connacht Republic in Castlebar. Thus, John Moore was the first President of an Irish republic, albeit for a very brief interval. He was captured by the English Lord Cornwallis, and although initially sentenced to death, his sentence was later commuted to deportation. He died in the Royal Oak tavern in Waterford on 6 December 1799. His body was exhumed from Ballygunnermore Cemetery in Waterford in 1962 and brought to Castlebar, where he was buried in the Mall with full military honours.

George Henry Moore(1810–1870), was educated in the Catholic faith in England and later at Cambridge University. His main interest was in horses and horse-racing. His brother,Arthur Augustus, was killed after a fall from the horse Mickey Free during the 1845 Aintree Grand National. At the height of the Great Irish Famine in 1846, he entered a horse called Coranna for the Chester Gold Cup and netted £17,000 from bets laid on the horse. During the Famine he imported thousands of tons of grain to feed his tenants, and gave each of his Mayo tenants a cow from his winnings. It is still remembered on the Moore estate that nobody was evicted from their home for non-payment of rent during hard times, and that nobody died there during the Famine. George Henry is buried in the family vault at Kiltoom on the Moore Hall estate.

George Augustus Moore (1852–1933), was a distinguished writer of the Irish Literary Revival period. Many famous writers of the time, including Lady Gregory, Maria Edgeworth, George Osborne, and W. B. Yeats were regular visitors to Moore Hall. George was an agnostic, and anti-Catholic.[4] His ashes are buried on Castle Island on Lough Carra in view of the big house on the hill.[3]

Maurice George Moore (1854–1939), Senator Colonel Maurice Moore was the statesman of the family. He served with the Connaught Rangers in the Boer War and became concerned with human rights in South Africa. He also worked to relieve Irish prisoners held in English jails, and for the retention of UCG. He was also involved with the co-operative movement in Ireland, founded by Horace Plunkett.

When Moore is More

On February 1st next it will be 95 years since Moore Hall, County Mayo was needlessly burnt by a group of anti-treaty forces during the Civil War. Since then the building has stood empty and falling ever further into ruin. Moore Hall’s history was discussed here some time ago, (see When Moore is Less, June 30th 2014), and at the time it looked as though the house, dating from the 1790s, had little viable future. For many years the surrounding land has been under the control of Coillte, the state-sponsored forestry company, which displayed no interest in the historic property for which it was responsible. However, yesterday Mayo County Council announced it had purchased Moore Hall and 80 acres. The council proposes ‘to develop the estate as a nationally important nature reserve and tourism attraction’, its chief executive declaring this will ‘ensure that the natural, built and cultural heritage of Moorehall is protected yet developed and managed in a sustainable manner for current and future generations.’ Further details have yet to be provided, but one initiative Moore Hall’s new owners could immediately undertake is to clear away the trees that now grow almost up to the front door, thereby reopening the view to Lough Carra and explaining why the house was built on this site.

When Moore is Less

Extracted from a letter written by George Henry Moore of Moore Hall, County Mayo to his mother Louisa (née Browne) on 6th May 1846:
‘My dearest Mother,
Corunna won the Chester Cup this day. We win the whole £17,000. This is in fact a little fortune. It will give me the means of being very useful to the poor this season. No tenant of mine shall want for plenty of everything this year, and though I shall expect work in return for hire, I shall take care that whatever work is done shall be for the exclusive benefit of the people themselves. I also wish to give a couple of hundred in mere charity to the poorest people about me or being on my estate, so as to make them more comfortable than they are; for instance, a cow to those who want one most, or something else to those who may have a cow, but want some other article of necessary comfort; indeed I will give £500 in this way. I am sure it will be well expended, and the horses will gallop all the faster with the blessing of the poor…’

Moore Hall dates from 1792 and is believed to have been designed by the Waterford architect John Roberts whose other house in this part of the island, Tyrone, County Galway is also now a gaunt ruin. The Moores were an English settler family originally members of the established church who converted to Roman Catholicism following the marriage of John Moore to Mary Lynch Athy of Galway. Their son George Moore, who likewise married an Irish Catholic, moved to Spain where through his mother’s connections with various Wild Geese families, he became successful and rich in the wine export business. In addition he manufactured iodine, a valuable commodity at the time, and shipped seaweed from Galway for its production, owning a fleet of vessels for this purpose.
Having made his fortune, George Moore then returned to Ireland and bought land to create an estate of some 12,500 acres. He commissioned a residence to be built on Muckloon Hill with wonderful views across Lough Carra below and the prospect of Ballinrobe’s spires in the far distance. Fronted in cut limestone, Moore Hall stands three storeys over sunken basement, the facade centred on a single-bay breakfront with tetrastyle Doric portico below the first floor Venetian window. A date stone indicates it was completed in 1795, three years before Ireland erupted in rebellion. Among those who took part was George Moore’s eldest son John who after being schooled at Douai had studied law in Paris and London had returned to Ireland where he joined the uprising. On August 31st 1798 the French general Jean Joseph Humbert issued a decree proclaiming John Moore President of the Government of the Province of Connacht. However within weeks the British authorities had crushed the rebellion and captured Moore who died the following year while en route to the east coast where he was due to be deported. George Moore, who had spent some £2,500 attempting to secure his heir’s release, had died just a month earlier.

Moore Hall now passed into the hands of its builder’s second son, also called George Moore. A more studious character than his brother, he is known as an historian who wrote accounts of the English Revolution of 1688 (published in 1817) and, on his death, left behind the manuscript of the history of the French Revolution. He married Louisa Browne, a niece of the first Marquess of Sligo, and the couple had three sons, one of whom died at the age of 17 after a fall from his horse. The same fate would befall the youngest child, Augustus Moore when at 28 he was taking part in a race at Liverpool. He and the eldest son, another George, had set up a racing stable at Moore Hall and become notorious for their fearless recklessness. But this George Moore had an intelligent and sensitive character – while still a teenager he was publishing poetry – and following the death of his brother and the advent of famine in Ireland in the mid-1840s he turned his attention to Moore Hall and the welfare of its tenants. The letter quoted above shows that after his horse Corunna won the Chester Cup in May 1846 he used the proceeds to make sure no one on his land suffered hardship or deprivation. In 1847, having already participated in calling for an all-party convention to work for the betterment of Ireland, he was first elected to Parliament where he proved to be a deft orator (his background as a youthful poet came in handy) and an ardent advocate of the country’s rights: he spoke in favour of the Fenians and was an early supporter of the Tenant League, established to secure fair rents and fixity of tenure in the aftermath of the famine. But his philanthropy was George Moore’s undoing. In the spring of 1870 his Ballintubber tenants withheld their rents, judging he would not dare retaliate. Since Parliament was sitting at the time, he returned from London to settle the matter and four days later died as a result of a stroke.

And so Moore Hall passed to the next, and final, generation, being inherited by another George Moore, one of the greatest prose stylists Ireland has produced, a decisive influence on James Joyce and many another Irish author since. Today his contribution to this country, as well as that of his forebears, is insufficiently appreciated, but during his long lifetime George Moore was recognised as a great writer, as well as a serial controversialist. If he is no longer as celebrated as was once the case, then Moore must accept at least some responsibility for this state of affairs since he was given to creating and maintaining feuds with those who by rights should have been his allies. In his wildly entertaining, if not always credible, three-volume memoir Hail and Farewell he explained, ‘It is difficult for me to believe any good of myself. Within the oftentimes bombastic and truculent appearance that I present to the world, trembles a heart shy as a wren in the hedgerow or a mouse along the wainscotting.’ If no match for his father as a horseman, he inherited the latter’s bravado and audaciousness, and as a result created far too many enemies all of whom relished an opportunity to denigrate him. W.B. Yeats called Moore ‘a man carved out of a turnip’, while Yeats’ father considered Moore ‘an elderly blackguard.’ Middleton Murry described him as ‘a yelping terrier’ and Susan Mitchell ‘an ugly old soul.’ Yet they all had to acknowledge his genius. ‘When it comes to writing,’ declared Ford Madox Ford, yet another opponent, ‘George Moore was a wolf – lean, silent, infinitely sweet and solitary.’ The monument erected to him on Castle Island on Lough Carra rightly proclaims:
‘George Moore
Born Moore Hall 1852 died 1933 London
He deserted his family and friends
For his Art
But because he was faithful to his Art
His family and Friends
Reclaimed his ashes for Ireland.’

In keeping with his character, George Moore always had an ambivalent relationship with Moore Hall. He wrote about it often, both in fiction and fact, but spent relatively little of his adult life in the place. For much of the time the estate was run by his younger brother Maurice with whom, like everyone else, he inevitably quarrelled. Unlike most Irish landowners of the era, however, he understood their time was drawing to a close, that the age of the big house was coming to an close and that the class into which he had been born would soon be no more. As he wrote to his brother in 1909, ‘The property won’t last out even my lifetime, that is to say if I live a long while and there will be nothing I’m afraid for your children…You always put on the philosophic air when I speak of the probable future and say “the future is hidden from us.” But the future of landlords isn’t in the least hidden from us.’
Nor was it, although the end was gratuitously harsh. On February 1st 1923 a local regiment of IRA men arrived at Moore Hall in the middle of the night, ordered the steward to hand over keys, moved bales of straw into the house, poured fuel over these and then set the place alight. It was a callous and philistine act which ignored the patriotic history of the Moores and lost the west of Ireland one of its finest Georgian residences. Many years later Benedict Kiely wrote in the Irish Times that he knew someone who had been present when Moore Hall was burnt and who could list various houses in the area containing looted furniture and other items. Envy and spite seem to have been the arsonists’ primary, if not sole, motivation.
Ever since the building has stood empty, the surrounding land today owned by Coillte, a state-sponsored forestry company. With all the sensitivity one might expect from such an organisation, it has planted trees all around the house so that the view down to Lough Carra – the reason Moore Hall was built on this spot – cannot even be glimpsed. There was much talk some few years ago of restoring the building but no more and the final traces of its interior decoration, not least the delicate neo-classical plasterwork, are about to be lost. So this is how Ireland honours her own: more in the breach than in the observance.

Irish Historic Houses

Properties open to the public, on Irish Revenue Section 482

Moore, George Augustus (1852-1933)

Ballinafad, Balla, Co Mayo

Moore Hall, Ballyglass, or Cong, Mayo – ruin

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