Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
When I saw that Roderick Perceval was giving a tour of his home, Temple House in County Sligo, during Heritage Week 2025, I jumped at the chance to see it and booked straight away. I had booked to stay there in the past but had to cancel, and before this tour, the only way to see this section 482 property was to stay, as it was listed as tourist accommodation. And before you get your hopes up, unfortunately it no longer is providing individual bed and breakfast (with dinner optional) accommodation, as Roderick and his family have decided to focus instead on larger group accommodation and weddings. The website now gives the option to book three or more double rooms for your stay. There is also a self-catering cottage available, which has 4 bedrooms: 1 King, 1 Double, 2 Twin.
The Percevals have lived at this location since 1665. Before the current house was built, around 1820 according to Mark Bence-Jones, they lived in another property closer to Templehouse Lake, part of the Owenmore River. [1] The remnants of the earlier house sit adjacent to the ruins of a Knights Templar castle from around 1181, after which the property takes its name. [2]
We came across the medieval order of knights when we visited The Turret in County Limerick during Heritage Week in 2022, a house which was built on the foundations of a construction by the Knights Hospitaller, a different branch of religious warriors. The Knights Templar were a religious order established in the eleventh century to protect Jerusalem for Christianity, and were named after Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. Like other religious orders, the members took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
A book review by Peter Harbison of Soldiers of Christ: the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller in medieval Ireland edited by Martin Brown OSB and Colmán Ó Clabaigh OSB tells us that Templars came into Ireland under the protection of the English crown and acted on behalf of the king against the native Irish. Templar Knights helped govern Ireland and often gained high office. [3]
When Stephen and I stayed at nearby Annaghmore house with Durcan O’Hara, he told me that he is related to the Percevals of Temple House. An O’Hara, it is believed, may have joined the Knights Templar and donated the land near Temple House. [see 2]
The Templar castle passed to the Knights of St. John the Hospitallers when the Knights Templar were disbanded in the 1300s. In France, Templars were burnt at the stake and their land seized by the crown but in other countries their property was transferred to the Knights Hospitallers, known today as the Knights of Malta.
Robert O’Byrne tells us in his blog that the land formerly owned by the Knights Templar came into the hands of the O’Haras, and that they built a new castle here around 1360. He adds that in the 16th century the same lands, along with much more beside, were acquired by John Crofton, who had come here in 1565 with Sir Henry Sidney following the latter’s appointment as Lord Deputy of Ireland. [4]
Roderick told us that the Croftons acquired the property around 1609, and that Henry Crofton built a thatched Tudor house around 1627. The National Inventory tells us that the remains of the house near the Templar ruins are of a two-bay two-storey stone house, built c.1650. [5]
George’s father Philip (1605-1647) came from England to Ireland to serve as registrar of the Irish court of wards, along with his brother Walter. This position would have given him an insight to property ownership in Ireland. When a son inherited property before he came of age, he was made a Ward of the state, and the someone would be chosen to act on the child’s behalf.
When Walter died in 1624, Philip inherited the family estates in England and Ireland. The land at Burton Park was named after his estate in Somerset, Burton.
Philip’s grandfather Richard Perceval was ‘confidential agent’ to Queen Elizabeth’s Minister Lord Burleigh. He had correctly identified Spanish preparations for the Armada and this vitally important information was rewarded with Irish estates. [6]
Richard Perceval (1550-1620), agent for Queen Elizabeth and Lord Burleigh, he spotted preparations for the Spanish Armada.
Philip settled in Ireland, and by means of his interest at court he gradually obtained a large number of additional offices. In 1625 he was made keeper of the records in the Birmingham Tower at Dublin Castle.
Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Strafford (1593-1641) on left, Lord Deputy of Ireland 1632-1640 for King Charles I. This portrait is in Castletown House.
Perceval was close to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. With the fall and execution of Wentworth in May 1641, Perceval lost his major patron and protector. In September 1641 Perceval narrowly avoided prosecution in England when his part in a shady land transaction was revealed. By that time, Perceval owned over 100,000 acres in Ireland, which he obtained partly through forfeited lands.
Philip Perceval married Catherine Ussher, daughter of Arthur Ussher and Judith Newcomen. She gave birth to their heir, John (1629–1665), who was created 1st Baronet of Kanturk, County Cork in 1661. George (1635-1675) was the younger son. He held the position of Registrar of the Prerogative Court in Dublin.
George Perceval’s wife Mary’s father William Crofton was High Sheriff of County Sligo in 1613 and Member of Parliament for Donegal in 1634, so George and Mary might have met in Dublin. Mary, as heiress, was a good match, and since George was a younger son, marrying into property would have suited him well.
Robert O’Byrne tells us that they lived in the old castle which had been converted by the Croftons into a domestic residence in 1627. [see 4] It is not clear to me whether George and Mary lived in a house next to the Templar castle or in some version of the castle itself. O’Byrne tells us that the castle had been besieged and badly damaged in 1641, but was repaired. [see 4].
George died at the young age of forty when on a ship crossing to Holyhead, when his son and heir Philip (1670-1704) was only five years old. [7] Philip’s mother remarried, this time to Richard Aldworth, who was Chief Secretary of Ireland. Philip also died young, after marrying and having several children, and the property passed to his son John (1700-1754), who was also minor when his father died.
Philip Perceval (1723-87) married Mary Carlton of Rossfad, County Fermanagh. Their son and heir Guy died soon after his father so the property passed in 1792 to Guy’s brother Reverend Philip Perceval.
The house is featured in a chapter of Great Irish Houses by Desmond Fitzgerald the Knight of Glin and Desmond Guinness. They tell us that in 1825 Reverend Philip’s son Colonel Alexander Perceval (1787-1858) built a neo-classical two story house up the hill from the castle on the present site.
What is the now the side of the house was once the front.
The house at this time was of two storeys and had five bays on the front, with the centre bay slightly recessed, with an enclosed single storey Ionic porch, and a Wyatt window over the porch.
Before building the house, Alexander Perceval (1787-1858), in 1808, married Jane Anne, eldest daughter of Colonel Henry Peisley L’Estrange, of Moystown, King’s County.
Alexander Perceval (1787-1858).
After building the house, Alexander served as MP for Sligo between 1831 and 1841, and from 1841-1858 was sergeant-at-arms to the House of Lords in England.
During the Famine, Alexander’s wife Jane sought to alleviate the suffering of the poor and she died of cholera or typhus in 1847.
Jane née L’Estrange, with her children.Fitzgerald and Guinness write about this portrait: “Vogel, the artist, depicts her with three of her children while on holiday in Germany in 1842. A touching letter of the time tells of her reminding those around her “not to neglect the tenant families between my death and my funeral.” [see 2]
When Alexander died in 1858, his son Philip was unable to afford the death duty tax and he had to sell the property. The house was bought by the Hall-Dares of Newtownbarry, County Wexford.
Newtownbarry House, County Wexford, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
The Hall-Dares did not remain owners for long. After they evicted some tenants, these tenants actively sought the return of the Perceval family. Four years after Philip Perceval’s sale of the house, his brother Alexander, who had made a fortune in business in Hong Kong, re-acquired the property. Philip had married and moved to Scotland. Alexander brought back many of the dispossessed families from America and Britain, gave them back their land and re-roofed their homes. [see 2]
In the 1860s Alexander Perceval enlarged and embellished the house, hiring Johnstone and Jeane of London. He added a higher two storey seven bay block of limestone ashlar on the right (north) side of the house, which formed a new entrance front, knocking down a north wing in the process. [see 2]
Fitzgerald and Guinness tell us that Alexander also commissioned the company to design and build the furniture for the entire house.
The newer entrance has a large arched single-storey porte-cochére with coupled engaged Doric columns at its corners and two small arched side windows. Above is another pedimented Wyatt window in a larger pediment over two pairs of Ionic pilasters. The centre windows on either side of the porte-cochére on the ground floor are pedimented and on the upper storey the centre windows have curved arch pediments. The other windows have flat entablatures.
To the right of the newer front is a single storey two bay wing slightly recessed. The house is topped with a balustraded roof parapet.
Looking toward the south facade, we see a three-bay three storey section of the house, as well as more beyond to the west. The windows on the ground floor of the east and south elevations have corbelled pilasters.
We gathered inside the front hall for the tour, with its impressive tiled floor and geometrically patterned ceiling. It has carved decorative doorcases and arched carved and shuttered side lights by the front door, and a large window facing the front door lights the room.
The ceiling has a Doric freize and a rose of acanthus leaves. A collection of stuffed birds and trophies line the wall, and a fine chimneypiece original to the house. [see 2]
Alexander did not get to enjoy his renovated home for long, as he died in 1866 of sunstroke, which occurred while fishing in the lake by the house. His wife lived a further twenty years. His son Alec (1859-1887) married a neighbour, Charlotte Jane O’Hara from Annaghmore.
From the front hall we entered the top-lit double-height vestibule with a grand sweeping staircase and gallery lined with paintings of ancestors.
I’m dying to know who features in the wonderful portraits. The vestibule is so impressive, it is hard to know where to look! The ceiling has intricate detail.
Temple House, Sligo, photograph courtesy of website.Temple House, photograph courtesy of the house facebook page.The detail in the ceiling is incredible, as seen in this close-up. Temple House, photograph courtesy of the house facebook page.
The upper level of the stair hall is lined with arches and Corinthian pilasters.
When Alec died of meningitis in 1887, Charlotte took over the running of the estate for 30 years. Alec’s son Alexander Ascelin was injured in the first world war. He married the doctor’s daughter, Nora MacDowell. In financial difficulty, he had to sell some of the land. His wife predeceased him and toward the end of his life, he lived alone in this house of about ninety seven rooms, living in only three rooms. The rest of the house was closed up, dustsheets over the furniture.
Five years after being closed up, in 1953, Ascelin’s son Alex, who had been a tea planter in what was then known as Burma, returned with his wife Yvonne to run the estate. They renovated the house, patched up the roof and installed a new kitchen. Alex modernised the farm.
It was their son Sandy and his wife who decided to take advantage of the size of the house to run a bed and breakfast, which opened in 1980. In 2004 their son Roderick returned to Temple House with his wife and children and took over running the business and the farm.
Roderick told us about the family as we toured the stair hall vestibule, drawing room and dining room, then brought us across the front hall to the newly renovated part of the house, which includes a former gun room passage. He managed to find craftsmen to do repairs, including the windows, moulding and plasterwork. After the tour, he kindly let us wander around the house, including up to the bedrooms.
Guinness and Fitzgerald tell us about the bedrooms:
“The bedrooms are immense. They all have their own bathrooms and a wonderful collection of matching furniture; in each of them a different wood has been used. The individual character of oak and beech and mahogany and others are evident as you stroll from one bedroom to the next. There are magnificent wardrobes – in one room it is 22 ft long – beds, sideboards, dressing tables, chairs. The largest of the bedrooms is so impressive it is called the “Half Acre.”” [see 2]
There is a walled kitchen garden which unfortunately we did not get to visit, where food is grown, including old varieties of apple, plum, pear and fig, and a stable yard. The Percevals preserve most of the 600 acres of old woods and the bogs in their natural state, and they also farm a further 600 acres.
[1] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
[2] Great Irish Houses. Forewards by Desmond FitzGerald, the Knight of Glin, and Desmond Guinness. Photographs by Trevor Hart. IMAGE Publications, 2008.
[3] Book Review by Peter Harbison, History Ireland issue 5 (Sept Oct 2016), volume 24.
General Enquiries: 01 493 9462, rathfarnhamcastle@opw.ie
Rathfarnham Castle is a wonderful property to visit and I suspect, much underappreciated! It is one of the oldest surviving residences in Ireland, and has a variety of impressive ceilings. It is also another property which was inhabited by the Jesuits at one time, as was Emo Court in County Laois. Although they no longer own either of these properties, they still run schools in the former Castle Browne in County Kildare (now Clongowes Wood College) and Belvedere House in Dublin. They certainly knew how to pick impressive properties! [1]
Rathfarnham Castle was built around 1583 for Adam Loftus (1533-1605), a clergyman originally from Yorkshire, who rose to the position of Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Its position outside the city of Dublin made it vulnerable to attack, so it was built as a fortified house, with four flanker towers shaped to give maximum visibility of the surrounding landscape. The OPW website tells us:
“Loftus wanted the Castle to be a grand and impressive home which would reflect his high status in Irish society. He also needed it to be easily defended against attack from hostile Irish families such as the O’Byrnes based in the mountains to the south. The design was radically modern for the time and based on recent continental thinking about defensive architecture. The angled bastion towers located at each corner of the building were equipped with musket loops which allowed a garrison of soldiers to defend all approaches to the castle.”
Archbishop-Chancellor Adam Loftus (1533-1605). The portrait is in Trinity College Dublin, as he was the first Provost. He was also Keeper of the Great Seal of Ireland, and he is here holding the embroidered purse which held the seal.Adam Loftus (1533-1605), Lord Chancellor, 1619. Painting hangs in Malahide Castle, courtesy of National Museum of Ireland.This shows the special shape of Rathfarnham Castle’s flanker towers.
Loftus had previously lived in an archiepiscopal palace in Tallaght, and it had been sacked by the O’Byrnes and O’Tooles from the Wicklow mountains, which is why he ensured that his new house in Rathfarnham had strong defenses. The Bishop’s Palace in Raphoe, now a ruin, is similarly shaped.
Maurice Craig points out in his The Architecture of Ireland from the earliest times to 1880 that there are a group of similar buildings, built over a period of fifty years or more: Rathfarnham; Kanturk for MacDonagh MacCarthy, built before 1609; Portumna for the Earl of Clanrickarde, before 1618; Manorhamilton for Sir Frederick Hamilton, probably around 1634; Raphoe, for Bishop John Leslie (the “Fighting Bishop” – see my entry on Castle Leslie https://irishhistorichouses.com/2020/08/07/castle-leslie-glaslough-county-monaghan/) in 1636, and Burncourt for Sir Richard Everard before 1650. Manorhamilton is a section 482 ruin (see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2025/02/20/manorhamilton-castle-castle-st-manorhamilton-co-leitrim/) and we visited Portumna in County Galway – see my entry https://irishhistorichouses.com/2022/02/14/office-of-public-works-properties-connacht/. The buildings resemble a fort, such as Mountjoy Fort in County Tyrone built 1600-1605. Killenure, County Tipperary, is similar but has cylindrical flankers, Craig tells us. This last was unroofed by 1793, and it is now (2025) a Section 482 property which I must visit!
Loftus attended Cambridge, where he took holy orders as a Catholic priest. Upon Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne in 1558, he declared himself Anglican. The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that a major turning point in Loftus’s life and career occurred in 1560, when he emigrated to Ireland as a chaplain to Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, who had been granted a commission to serve as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by Queen Elizabeth. On the recommendation of Sussex, Loftus was appointed Archbishop of Armagh, his consecration taking place on 2 March 1563. In January 1565, on account of the poverty of the archbishopric of Armagh, Queen Elizabeth granted Loftus the deanery of St Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin. In 1567 he was made Archbishop of Dublin.
It was Adam Loftus who had Reverend Dermot O’Hurley executed, whom I wrote about a couple of weeks ago in my entry about Doheny & Nesbitt.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us:
He was “a strongly delineated establishment figure whose primary concerns were to serve the crown in Ireland, in whatever capacity the queen and her advisers thought fit; and to build up his own personal affinity, so that he would be in a position to execute the offices that came his way with a measure of genuine political and social authority. Thus, during the periods when the archbishop served as lord chancellor of Ireland (1581–1605), or as acting governor of the country during the periodic absences from Ireland of a serving viceroy (August 1582–June 1584, November 1597–April 1599, September 1599–February 1600), he was also careful to establish a network of connections throughout the country, particularly through the marriage of his children to leading families among the new English protestant elite. Among the families with which Loftus made these connections were the Bagenals of Co. Down, the Dukes of Castlejordan, the Hartpoles of Shrule, the Usshers of Dublin, the Colleys of Castle Carbury, the Berkeleys of Askeaton, and the Warrens of Warrenstown. The social ascent of Loftus and his family was also evident in the archbishop’s decision to proceed with the purchase of the estate of Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin (c.1589–90), on which he built a stately castle.” [2]
Adam Loftus married Jane Purdon. They had twenty children, not all of whom survived to adulthood, and those who did married very well.
Anne Loftus married, first, Henry Colley of Castle Carbury in County Kildare, and second, Edward Blayney, 1st Lord Blayney, Baron of Monaghan.
Martha Loftus (d. 1609) married Thomas Colclough (1564-1624) of Tintern Abbey in Wexford.
Isabelle Loftus (d. 1597) married William Ussher (1561-1659)
Thomas Loftus (d. 1635) married Helen Hartpole of Shrule.
Alice Loftus (d. 1608) married Henry Warren of Warrenstown, County Offaly.
Katherine Loftus married Francis Berkeley of Askeaton, County Limerick.
son Adam died unmarried in 1599.
Margaret Loftus married George Colley of Castle Carbury.
Edward Loftus (d. 1601) married Anne Duke of Castle Jordan, County Meath.
Dudley Loftus (1561-1616) married Anne Bagenal of Newry Castle, County Down, daughter of Nicholas Henry Bagenal, Marshal of Ireland.
Dorothy Loftus (d. 1633) married John Moore (d. 1633)
Adam Loftus was the first Provost of Trinity College Dublin.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography continues:
“Although by the early 1590s Loftus had largely reconciled himself to the reality that the task of converting the indigenous community to protestantism, and securing its allegiance to the state church, was beyond him, the queen and her advisers still expected him to discharge his religious duties and press ahead with reforming initiatives on behalf of the state church. To this end, and in the midst of a period of mounting political crisis that culminated in the outbreak of the Nine Years War, Loftus was the prime mover behind the foundation of TCD, which received its royal charter on 3 March 1592. The archbishop also served as the college’s first provost till June 1594.“
Adam Loftus died in the old Palace of St. Sepulchre beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which until recently was the Garda barracks on Kevin Street, now housed in a new building. I hope they will make something of the historic old archbishop’s palace now, which could be a great museum!
Adam’s son Dudley (1561-1616) sat in the Irish parliament for Newborough in County Wexford. He married Anne Bagenal of Newry Castle, County Down, daughter of Nicholas Henry Bagenal, Marshal of Ireland. The castle passed to their son, Adam Loftus (1590-1666), who married Jane Vaughan of Golden Grove, County Offaly.
Another son of Dudley and Anne Bagenal was Nicholas Loftus (1592-1666), the ancestor of Henry Loftus, the Earl of Ely. Nicholas’s second son Henry (1636-1716) lived in Loftus Hall in County Wexford.
Loftus Hall, County Wexford, for sale April 2025 courtesy Colliers.Formerly named Redmond Hall, it is a three-storey mansion built in 1871, incorporating parts of a previous house here, which was late 17th century or early C18. [3]
Adam Loftus (1590-1666) and Jane née Vaughan’s children also made good marriages. Their son Arthur Loftus (1616-1659) married Dorothy Boyle (1616-1668), daughter of Richard Boyle the 1st Earl of Cork. Arthur also served as MP for County Wexford, as well as Provost Marshall of Ulster.
The castle came under seige in 1641 and in 1642 the house was occupied by Cromwell’s Parliamentary troops. [4] In 1649 it was stormed and taken by Royalist troops under the Marquess of Ormond and all occupants were taken as prisoners. Ormond writes that nobody was killed. [5] Rathfarnham Castle was restored to Adam Loftus (1590-1666) when Charles II was crowned king.
Adam’s son Arthur predeceased him, so the castle passed to Arthur’s wife Dorothy née Boyle. In 1665 she obtained six firelock muskets from the Master of Ordinance to protect the castle.
Arthur Loftus and Dorothy née Boyle had a son Adam Loftus (1632-1691). Adam Loftus was Ranger of the Phoenix Park in Dublin and from 1685, a member of the Irish Privy Council. King James II created him Baron of Rathfarnham and Viscount Lisburne in the Peerage of Ireland. Adam married Lucy Brydges, daughter of George Brydges, 6th Baron Chandos of Sudeley, England.
Lucy Loftus née Brydges (1654-1681), by Peter Lely.She was a renowned Restoration beauty and the first wife of Viscount Adam Loftus. He died at the Siege of Limerick in 1691 and the cannon ball which reputedly killed him hangs in St Patrick’s Cathedral. Lucy is dressed in pseudo-antique clothing against an Arcadian landscape. The parrot in the background is an ambiguous symbol and can refer to a number of characteristics including eloquence, marital obedience or exoticism. Peter Lely was of Dutch origin but spent most of his career in England and became the most influential portrait painter at court following the death of Anthony van Dyck. He successfully navigated the turbulence of the 17th century to paint at the court of Charles I, the Cromwellian Commonwealth and Charles II following the Restoration. Lely was prolific, often only painting the sitter’s head while students and assistants at his studio completed the portraits.
After his wife Lucy died, Adam Loftus married Dorothy, the daughter of Patrick Allen or Alen, of St. Wolstan’s of Celbridge in County Kildare. Adam was a gallant at the court of King Charles II.
Despite earning his peerage from King James II, Adam Viscount Lisburn supported the cause of William III. He died at the Siege of Limerick in 1691 and the cannon ball which reputedly killed him hangs in St Patrick’s Cathedral.
The castle passed to Adam’s daughter Lucy, who married Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton in 1692, who in 1715 was created 1st Earl of Rathfarnham, 1st Marquess of Carlow and 1st Baron of Trim.
Lucy Loftus, Marchioness of Wharton (1670-1717) by Godfrey Kneller.
Lucy and the Marquess of Wharton had a son Philip, who became the Duke of Wharton. He was a Jacobite and supporter of the titular James III, and was subsequently granted many titles. The Peerage website lists the titles. As well as those he inherited from his father, he was created 1st Viscount Winchendon, Co. Buckingham [England] and 1st Marquess of Woodburn, Co. Buckingham [England], 1st Earl of Malmesbury, Co. Wilts [England] on 22 December 1716, Jacobite.
He was appointed Privy Counsellor (P.C.) in Ireland between 1717 and 1726. He was created 1st Duke of Wharton, Co. Westmorland [Great Britain] on 28 January 1717/18, in an attempt by the authorities to wean him from his Jacobitism and make him a good Whig like his father. Darryl Lundy of The Peerage website tells us that his Dukedom did at least make him for a while speak and vote with the Tories in the House of Lords, for instance in debates on the South Sea Bubble. He lost a fortune from participation in the South Sea Bubble. In June 1725 he left the country. He was Envoy to Vienna in August 1725, for the Jacobite King James III, and then Envoy to Madrid in March 1725/26.
Philip Wharton Duke of Wharton by Rosalba Carriera – Royal Collection, Public Domain.
Out of money, he took a position in the Jacobite forces and commanded a Spanish detachment at the Siege of Gibraltar in 1727, fighting against the English. On 3 April 1729 he was outlawed and his titles and such estates as he still held in Britain forfeited.
He had no surviving male issue when he died on 31 May 1731. On his death, all his titles, most forfeited by his treason, expired, except the Barony of Wharton, which was deemed by the House of Lords in 1915 to be descendible to his heirs.
He sold Rathfarnham Castle in 1724. It was purchased by Speaker William Conolly for £62,000. Speaker Conolly never lived in the Castle since he had built Castletown in County Kildare, and he leased Rathfarnham in 1742 to Dr. Hoadley, Archbishop of Armagh.
Dr. Hoadley was interested in building, and he had built an Episcopal mansion in Tallaght to replace a medieval castle. He then restored Rathfarnham Castle. It was famed for its excellent agriculture and fruit gardens. [see 5].
Dr. Hoadley’s daughter Sarah married Bellingham Boyle (1709-1772), and they inherited Rathfarnham Castle. Boyle also took an interest in farming and grew the first oats in Ireland. [see 5]. The Hoadley-Boyle tenancy lasted for twenty-five years, and Bellingham Boyle and his wife mixed in high society, entertaining two Lords Lieutenant in the castle: the Duke of Devonshire and the Earl of Harrington. Boyle may be be responsible for installing some of the delicate rococo ceilings in the castle.
“Bellingham Boyle (1709-1772). He inherited Rathfarnham Castle in 1746 from his father-in-law, Archbishop John Hoadley who leased the castle in 1742 by “indented lease renewable forever.” Bellingham Boyle served as an MP, first for Bandon then for Youghal in Cork and was later appointed a Commissioner for the Revenue. Prior to his marriage, Belingham travelled across Europe to Italy where he had his portrait painted by Giorgio Dupra.”
Interestingly, in Aug 1742, Bellingham Boyle was appointed to a commission to investigate the soundness of mind of Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. The Writ “De Lunatico Inquirendo,” in the case of Jonathan Swift, D.D. was issued to investigate and ascertain whether the ailing Dean Swift was of unsound mind and memory to safely conduct his own business. Belllingham Boyle was one of 12 commissioned to perform the investigation. Dean Swift was found to be of unsound mind and memory and was placed under the protection of the Court of Chancery. [6]
Boyle’s daughter Anne married Robert Langrishe 2nd Baronet Langrishe, of Knocktopher, Co. Kilkenny.
Knocktopher Abbey, Knocktopher, Co. Kilkenny, for sale November 2024, photograph courtesy DNG Country Homes & Estates.
The castle returned to the ownership of the Loftus family in 1767, to Nicholas Hume Loftus, 2nd Earl of Ely, a descendant of the original owner Adam Loftus. Nicholas never married and on his death in 1769 the Castle passed to his uncle, Henry Loftus (created Earl of Ely in 1771). Henry continued the remodelling of the castle and the works were completed by the time of his death in 1783.
Let us backtrack now to look at the descendants of the first Adam Loftus. Adam’s grandson Nicholas lived in Fethard, County Wexford, in the precursor to Loftus Hall. His son Henry (1636-1716) of Loftus Hall was the father of Nicholas Loftus (1687-1763) who was created 1st Viscount Loftus of Ely.
Nicholas Loftus, 1st Viscount Ely (1687-1763). Painter unknown. This painting was completed in 1758 to mark the 70th birthday of Nicholas, father of both Nicholas (the 1st Earl of Ely) and Henry Loftus. He sits next to a book entitled The Present State of Ireland. This anonymous work was originally published in 1730 and contained criticism of the amount of money flowing out of Ireland to absentee landlords, no doubt reflecting Nicholas’s concern with the financial state of the kingdom. He is sometimes known as “the Extinguisher” because of his threat to extinguish the Hook lighthouse in Wexford unless the rent he received from it was increased.
Nicholas served as MP for Wexford, and married Anne Ponsonby, daughter of William Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Duncannon. He was first created Baron Loftus of Loftus Hall in 1751, and then assumed a seat in the House of Lords, and became Privy Counsellor of Ireland in 1753. He was created Viscount Loftus of Ely in County Wicklow in 1756.
After Anne died, around 1724, Nicholas Viscount Ely married Letitia Rowley (d. 1765) of Summerhill in County Meath. To make matters more confusing, she had been previously married to Arthur Loftus (1644-1725) 3rd Viscount of Ely!
Summerhill, County Meath, etnrance front, photograph: Maurice Craig, 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.
Viscount Loftus is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of Ireland for members of the Anglo-Irish Loftus family. The first creation was for Adam Loftus (1568-1643) on 10 May 1622, who served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1619. He is not to be confused the our Adam Loftus (1533-1605) of Rathfarnham Castle. This title became extinct in 1725 upon the death of the third viscount, who had no male heir, despite having married three times.
Nicholas and Anne’s son Nicholas Loftus (1708-1766) became the 1st Earl of Ely, and added Hume to his surname after marrying Mary Hume, daughter of Gustavus Hume, 3rd Baronet of Castle Hume, County Fermanagh. As well as Loftus Hall in Wexford, they owned 13 Henrietta Street in Dublin. He became known as the “wicked earl” due to a court hearing about the supposed mental incapacity of his son, also named Nicholas. Young Nicholas’s uncle, George Rochfort (1713-1734), brother of the 1st Earl of Belvedere, sought to have young Nicholas declared incapable of succeeding to the title. George Rochfort was married to another daughter, Alice, of Gustavus Hume, 3rd Baronet of Castle Hume. Family members testified that young Nicholas was of normal intelligence, and that any eccentric behaviour should be blamed on his father’s ill-treatment. The trial lasted for nine years and was even brought to the House of Lords. Poor young Nicholas died before the trial was finished and Rochfort’s case was declared invalid.
Nicholas Hume Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely (1708-1766), unknown artist. It was after Nicholas Loftus (son of the Extinguisher) had married into the wealthy Hume family that the Ely earldom was created for the first time. This depicts Nicholas, the so-called “Wicked Earl” in the doctoral robes of Trinity College Dublin.Nicholas Hume Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely (1708-1766) by Jacob Ennis. These two portraits depict Nicholas, the so-called “Wicked Earl” at various stages of his life. Nicholas is much older in the Ennis portrait. Jacob Ennis was an Irish historical and portrait painter who spent some time studying in Italy. He was later a Master in the Dublin Society’s Drawing Schools.
Nicholas Loftus Hume officially succeeded as 2nd Earl of Ely (1738-1769). It was through him that Rathfarnham Castle returned to Loftus ownership. Nicholas bequeathed Rathfarnham Castle and the estate to his uncle, Henry Loftus (1709-1783) who became the 1st Earl of Ely of the second creation. Henry was the younger son of Nicholas Loftus (d. 1763) 1st Viscount Loftus and Anne née Ponsonby, brother to the earlier Nicholas Hume Loftus (d. 1766) 1st Earl of Ely, the Wicked Earl.
Henry Loftus, 1st Earl of Ely of the 2nd Creation (1709-1783) by Angelica Kauffman. Henry inherited Rathfarnham Castle and its demesne in 1769 upon the death of Nicholas, his nephew. Nicholas had been the subject of a long running legal case concerning the state of his mind and Henry had supported him throughout. The Swiss artist Angelica Kauffman is known to have spent several months in Dublin in 1771. As well as this portrait which was probably completed to mark Henry’s elevation to the earldom of Ely, this renowned painter also completed a group portrait of Henry and his family (now in the National Gallery) as well as a series of ceiling paintings for the long gallery on the first floor depicting scenes from Greek mythology.
Between 1769 and his death in 1783 Henry funded some of the most substantial 18th century changes to Rathfarnham Castle and the demesne.
He contracted Sir William Chambers to remodel several of the rooms including the Ballroom and Anteroom. Externally, the window openings were enlarged, and a new stone Tuscan entrance portico added, probably to the designs of William Chambers. The original battlements were removed and the new parapet was embellished with ball finials and urns some of which also serve as chimneys. On the south front new garden steps were added, while on the east front a three bay bow had been added by 1774.
“Loftus’s castle, with its four flanker towers, is an excellent example of the Elizabethan fortified house in Ireland. In the late eighteenth century, the house was remodelled on a splendid scale employing some of the finest architects of the day including Sir William Chambers and James ‘Athenian’ Stuart. The collection includes family portraits by Angelica Kauffman, Sir Peter Lely, and Hugh Douglas Hamilton.“
From an information panel in the entrance hall: “This room is believed to have been built to a design by the influential architect Sir William Chambers (1723-1796). Despite never visiting Ireland, Chambers left a significant mark on Dublin where he also designed the Casino at Marino, Charlemont House on Parnell Square, and much of Front Square in Trinity College. The floor and free standing Doric columns are in Portland stone. The painted glass panels featuring fruit and flowers are believed to be by the Dublin Huguenot artist Thomas Jervais (d. 1799). The marble relief busts on the walls depict well known figures from the Classical and Renaissance past, including the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and Italian poet Dante. These sculptures seem to have been acquired in Italy and would have been incorporated into the design of the Entrance Hall to signal the taste and refinement and learning of the Loftus family. The original eighteenth century marble fireplace was replaced with a painted timber one in around 1913. It was one of several of the original fireplaces which were removed and sold when the Blackburne family left the castle in 1911.“
Henry Loftus (1709-1783) is pictured below. He married first, Frances Monroe of Roe’s Hall, County Down, (pictured below), who died in 1774, then married secondly Anne Bonfoy. He purchased Ely House in Dublin (built 1770) from Sir Gustavus Hume, 3rd Baronet (now owned by the Knights of Columbanus).
Painting by Angelica Kauffman, who spent several months in Dublin in 1771. It shows Henry Loftus 1st Earl of Ely of the 2nd Creation (1709-1783) with his wife Frances, her nieces and an exotic trophy servant, a young Indian page in Oriental dress carrying a cushion with two coronets, symbolising the title the Earl had just received. The older niece, Dolly Monroe, was Classical costume. Her younger sister Frances plays a fashionable aria on the harpsichord.
As well as the ante room and ballroom and the entrance hall on the first floor, Chambers was responsible for the small drawing room ceiling, back staircase lobby, and the octagonal room in one of the towers.
There are also several rooms which are attributed to architect and designer James “Athenian” Stuart, whose best work in Ireland is the Temple of the Winds at Mount Stewart, County Down. Stuart was employed at Rathfarnham from at least 1769 and was responsible for the design of the ground floor gallery and two rooms above it. He was also involved in the decoration of some interiors at the family townhouse, Ely House, Dublin.
Henry Loftus was succeeded by his nephew Charles Tottenham (1738-1806), son of Henry’s sister Elizabeth (1720-1747) and her husband John Tottenham (1714-1786) 1st Baronet of Tottenham Green, County Wexford. Charles Tottenham’s name was changed to Charles Loftus in 1783 after the death of Henry Loftus 1st Earl of Ely of the 2nd Creation.
Charles held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for New Ross between 1761 and 1768, M.P. for Bannow between 1768 and 1776, M.P. for New Fethard between 1776 and 1783. and M.P. for County Wexford between 1783 and 1785. He was created 1st Baron Loftus of Loftus Hall, Co. Wexford [Ireland] on 28 June 1785. He succeeded as the 2nd Baronet Tottenham [I., 1780] on 29 December 1786. He was created 1st Viscount Loftus of Ely [Ireland] on 28 December 1789 and 1st Earl of Ely [Ireland] on 2 March 1794. He was created 1st Marquess of Ely [Ireland] on 1 January 1801 and 1st Baron Loftus of Long Loftus, Co. York [U.K.] on 19 January 1801. He was also Privy Counsellor.
Charles Tottenham Loftus, Marquis of Ely by Hugh Douglas Hamilton. Charles was the nephew of Henry Loftus Earl of Ely and inherited Rathfarnham Castle and the demesne on his death in 1783. The painting shows Charles in the robes of the Irish House of Lords. He is also wearing a chain indicating his membership of the prestigious Order of St Patrick. He was elevated to a Marquis, given a baronetcy in England as well as £45,000 in return for his votes in favour of the Act of Union. Hugh Douglas Hamilton (1740-1808) was born and grew up in Dublin and attended the Dublin Society’s Drawing Schools. He had a long and successful career as an artist and worked in London and Rome as well as Dublin. He is perhaps best known for his work in pastels and left an extensive series of portraits of leading figures in Irish society.
At Rathfarnham, Charles did little beyond the erection in 1790 of the Gothic or Back Gate, now almost competely demolished to make way for a road.
He married Jane Myhill of Killarney, County Kerry. Her sister Hannah married Hercules Langrishe, 1st Baronet of Knocktopher, County Kilkenny.
The Dining Room. “This room remains unrestored which allows us to see the changes and alternations which were made to the building over the years. The door on the left-hand (northern) wall is typically eighteenth century in style and decoration. However to the left of it a trace of the original Elizabethan doorway is visible. It was blocked up during the 18th century refurbishments. The bow extension to the eastern side of the building is another change dating to that period which added space and brought more light into these rooms. The 18th century timber wall panelling and lining paper survives in this room. It is likely that the walls were covered with silk. Although designed as a dining room, in the 20th century the Jesuits used this room as a library.“
The Castle fell into disrepair. From the Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland 1846 (vol. iii): ‘Rathfarnham Castle, situated in a once noble demesne, at the south-east extremity of the village, was not long ago esteemed a magnificent building, and boasted a gorgeous picture-gallery, and superb series of garden and pleasure grounds, but it was allowed to fall into decay in consequence of the prolonged non-residence of its proprietor, the Marquis of Ely, and it now prosaically, though usefully, figures as a diary‘.
At this time, John Loftus (1770-1845) was 2nd Marquess of Ely, who inherited the Castle and lands from his father, Charles Tottenham Loftus. John Loftus rented out the house and surrounding lands, and between 1812 and 1852 the estate was leased to the Roper family. [from the castle’s Instagram page]
Oil painting on canvas, John Loftus, 2nd Marquess of Ely (1770-1845), attributed to Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830). A three-quarter-length portrait, in a brown coat and blue sash. Peer’s robes to the right, red curtain to the background. A picture of the sitter’s wife by Lawrence is in the Art Institute of Chicago. By Studio of Thomas Lawrence – Sothebys, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15266849
Rathfarnham Castle was sold in 1852 to Francis Blackburne (1782-1867), Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
Francis Blackburne (1782-1867), Lord Chancellor of Ireland, 1852 by engraver George Sanders, after Stephen Catterson Smith, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
His family lived there until 1911. Coincidentally almost in the footsteps of Adam Loftus who built Rathfarnham Castle, Francis Blackburne became Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College.
The Society of Jesus then acquired the building and for much of the remainder of the 20th century it was used as a Retreat House for lay visitors as well as accommodation for seminarians attending college in the city. Following the departure of the Jesuits in 1985, the Castle came into the care of the state and a great deal of restoration work has been carried out. Most of the rooms have been restored to their 18th century state and several are furnished with a collection of fine eighteen and nineteenth century pieces from continental Europe, Britain and Ireland.
Belvedere House in Dublin, Castle Browne, now Clongowes Wood College, and Manresa House in Clontarf, formerly called Granby Hall and Baymount Castle.
Manresa Jesuit Retreat Centre, Clontarf, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.A three-bay three-storey house over basement, dated 1838, incorporating mid-eighteenth-century fabric.Originally known as Granby Hall, this house was leased by Doctor James Traill, Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Connor, in 1775. Robert Warren was later granted a lease of the land and house from J.E.V. Vernon in 1838, undertaking to construct new outbuildings, gate lodges, and to repair and improve the house, and renaming it Baymount Castle.
Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare:
Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare, is a school run by the Jesuits. It was purchased by the Jesuits in 1814. There was a castle here since 1450, built by the Eustace family to protect the area called The Pale. The Pale rampart itself was a six foot high bank surrounded by a double ditch. There are two areas of well preserved Pale on the property of Clongowes Wood. The name comes from a hybrid of Latin and Irish, meaning “the wood of the meadow of the smith.” See https://www.clongowes.net/about-us/clongowes-history/ Photograph by Brian O’Neill, This file is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
In 1718 Stephen Fitzwilliam Browne (d. 1767) rebuilt Clongowes Wood Castle, creating the western front facade as it appears today, comprising the central keep and two square towers. In 1788 Thomas Wogan Browne (d. 1812) extended and decorated the castle. The extension consists of the eastern facade and two round towers at the back of the castle. Note that this information is from the Clongowes Wood school website, with information from A Short History of Clongowes Wood College by Brendan Cullen.
Stephen and I visited Belvedere House during Open House in 2015. We went into three rooms upstairs, up the beautiful staircase. We weren’t allowed photograph on the tour, unfortunately, in the Apollo Room, Venus Room and Jupiter Room.
Belvedere House is a symmetrical five-bay four-storey Georgian townhouse over exposed basement, completed 1786, designed by Robert West who, in addition to being a stuccodore was also an architect and property developer. It was built for George Augustus Rochfort, 2nd Earl of Belvedere. The house was built for £24,000 on what would have been rural green fields with a view of the Custom House, the bay and distant mountains. It is alleged that the house is haunted by Mary Molesworth, the first lady of Belvedere, mother to George Rochfort – we came across her at Belvedere in County Westmeath.
Rochfort was the son of the cruel Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere, who kept his wife under lock and key in the countryside after he believed she had an affair with his brother. Some believe that she was the inspiration for Charlotte Bronte’s “madwoman in the attic.” Robert Rochfort had the summer lodge, Belvedere, built in County Westmeath, now open to the public, which also has fine plasterwork. Robert O’Byrne writes that it was the 1st Earl who bought the property on Great Denmark Street. At first his son attempted to sell the property, but then he finished having the house built. Robert O’Byrne also tells us that it is similar to 86 St Stephen’s Green (Newman House, now housing the Museum of Literature of Ireland (MOLI), which was begun in 1765, and which is also attributed to Robert West.
North Great Georges Street itself was originally laid out in 1774 as a driveway leading to Belvedere House.
In 1841 the house was bought by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to accommodate their growing boys school which had started life ten years previously around the corner on Hardwicke Street, now known as Belvedere College.
One of the more outstanding features of the house is the stucco-work of Adamesque style popularised by Robert and James Adam. This can be seen in the ornamental surrounds, wherein pictures are framed in plaster rather than oil.
Dublin stuccodore and designer Michael Stapleton (1740-1801) was responsible for this work and further examples of his craftsmanship include the ceiling in the exam hall in Trinity College as well as some of the plasterwork in Powerscourt House in South William Street in Dublin and the Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park.
It seems odd that a house designed by Robert West would have plasterwork by Michael Stapleton. Robert O’Byrne elucidates this for us:
“In 1967 C.P. Curran’s Dublin Decorative Plasterwork of the 17th and 18th centuries noted in the collection of drawings left by stuccodore Michael Stapleton several items directly relating to the design of ceilings in Belvedere House. Accordingly, this work was assigned to Stapleton. However, the fact that West was responsible for designing the house complicates matters, and the consensus now appears to be that both he and Stapleton had a hand in the plasterwork. Conor Lucey (in The Stapleton Collection, 2007) suggests that Stapleton may have been apprenticed to, or trained with, West and the fact that he was named the sole executor of the latter’s will in 1790 indicates the two men were close. The source material for the stucco work is diverse, that in the stair hall deriving in part from a plate in Robert Adam’s Works in Architecture, but the first-floor rooms feature a wider range of inspiration, much of it from France and Italy.”
“The ground floor rooms were intended for everyday and business use and therefore are minimally ornamented. However when one ascends they will encounter Stapleton’s stucco-work that depicts scenes from Greek and Roman mythology.On the half-landing the Bacchanalia is celebrated. The left panel depicts Bacchus with his thyrsis and staff, the right panel is Ceres with her cornucopia. The central oval shows Cupid being demoted by the three Graces. The arched window is ornamented with symbols of the authority of ancient Rome. The tall pilasters on each side have the Green anthemion (honeysuckle) motifs.
“At the top of the stairs the panel between the two doors on the right show Juno seated on a cloud with her peacock. The panel on the centre wall is Aurora in her chariot pulled by winged horses. Under this plaque “The New Bride” from an ancient marble popular in 18th century Rome. All the five doors have the same over-door: Silenus, the tutor of Bacchus. On the ceiling, Eros is depicted gazing at Psyche as she sleeps. Next is an Apollo head with winged lions and lastly, Cupid with a flower.
“The door immediately to the right of the stairs leads to the Apollo Room, named after the featured frieze of Apollo the music-maker holding court with attendent putti playing a variety of instruments. The adjoining Diana Room depicts Diana, patron of the chase, in a chariot drawn by stags. The design is taken directly from Pergolesi, however, Stapleton added the outer circle of flowers.
“Finally the Venus Room’s flanking panels have lunettes representing astronomy, architecture and sculpture. Notice the beautiful over-doors in all three rooms, each with the head of the principle subject.”
Venus was taken down by the Jesuits as she was nude, and it is supposedly in the National Gallery.
Belvedere House, Dublin, photograph from Brendan Merry and Partners website from their conservation and restoration of Belvedere House.Belvedere House, Dublin, photograph from Brendan Merry and Partners website from their conservation and restoration of Belvedere House.Belvedere House, Dublin, photograph from Brendan Merry and Partners website from their conservation and restoration of Belvedere House.Belvedere House, Dublin, photograph from Brendan Merry and Partners website from their conservation and restoration of Belvedere House.Belvedere House, Dublin, photograph from Brendan Merry and Partners website from their conservation and restoration of Belvedere House.
[3] Loftus Hall: Formerly named Redmond Hall, it is a three-storey mansion built in 1871, incorporating parts of a previous house here, which was late 17th century or early C18.
Loftus Hall, County Wexford, for sale April 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Loftus Hall, County Wexford, for sale April 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Loftus Hall, County Wexford, for sale April 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Loftus Hall, County Wexford, for sale April 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Loftus Hall, County Wexford, for sale April 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
Help me to fund my creation and update of this website. It is my “full time job” and created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated! My costs include travelling to our destinations from Dublin, accommodation if we need to stay somewhere nearby, and entrance fees. Your donation could also help with the cost of the occasional book I buy for research (though I mostly use the library – thank you Kevin Street library!). Your donation could also help with my Irish Georgian Society membership or attendance for talks and lectures, or the Historic Houses of Ireland annual conference in Maynooth.
Heywood House in County Laois burned in an accidental fire in 1950, but the demesne is maintained and open to the public. My father, who grew up in nearby Abbeyleix, was at a musical concert with his mother the night of the fire and saw the house burning! At the time, the house was owned by the Salesian order of priests.
The house was designed by its owner Michael Frederick Trench (1746-1836) in 1770s, with the help of his friend James Gandon who designed, among other buildings, Dublin Custom House. Trench was an amateur architect, and designed the parish church of Swords, as well as an addition to the Rotunda in Dublin. [1]
Michael Frederick Trench (1746-1836) by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, picture courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland, NGI.7773James Gandon (1743-1823), courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
Robert O’Byrne tells us in his blog The Irish Aesthete that: “In the early 18th century, a younger son William Trench settled in Laois and acquired land there which was initially developed by his heir, the Rev. Frederick. The English antiquary Owen Brereton wrote of the property in 1763, describing it as ‘a sweet Habitation’ with ’24 Acres Walld round 10 feet high. The ground naturally in fine Slopes and Rising, large trees properly disperst, a River of very clear Water running through it. Pouring Cascades, upon which I counted near 100 Couple of rabbits & 100 of Brace of Hares which are in this Grounds…very extensive Views.’ Both the habitation and the grounds were enlarged by the Rev. Trench’s son Michael Frederick Trench…” [2]
The house was named after Trench’s mother-in-law, Mary Heywood (daughter of a Drogheda merchant). Michael Frederick Trench married Anna Helena Stewart who was the only daughter of Patrick Stewart and Mary Heywood of Killymoon in Co. Tyrone.
Mark Bence-Jones describes the house in his Irish Country Houses (1988):
“A house consisting of three storey four bay late C18 centre, with mansard roofed Victorian wings of the same height but in a totally different style. The C18 centre built 1773 by M.F. Trench, who is said to have been the only man who ever called a house after his mother-in-law…The dining room was one of the most accomplished interiors of the Adam period in Ireland, with delicate plasterwork on the ceiling and in panels on the walls.“
Information board at Heywood, County Laois.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.The dining room at Heywood House,ceiling probably by Michael Stapleton, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.
After Michael Frederick Trench built the house, he landscaped the area between his house and the village of Ballinakill, apparently moving hills, digging lakes (he made three artificial lakes), planting trees and placing follies. He created a picturesque garden. The idea of the picturesque first emerges as an idea in late Renaissance in Italy where the term pittoresco began to be used in writing about art. It means that the subject, in this case, the landscape, is “like a traditional picture”. In Holland in the early 17th century a new genre of landscape painting was often referred to as “painter-like” (schilder-achtig). [3] At roughly the same time, French artists Claude Lorraine and Nicholas Poussin painted Arcadian landscapes with classical elements such as ruined temples and mythological figures. These paintings inspired William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748), an architect, landscape architect and painter. Kent began a style of “natural” gardening that revolutionised the laying out of gardens and estates.
There’s a seat in the gardens called “Claud’s Seat” that may be a tribute to Claude Lorraine.
The landscape gardens designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (c. 1716-1783) and his followers were considered to be quintessentially picturesque.
“Capability” Launcelot Brown (1716-1783), Landscape gardener, painting by Nathaniel Dance (later Sir Nathaniel Holland, Bt), c. 1773, courtesy of National Portrait Gallery NPG 6049
The demesne includes parkland, woodland, a lake, some architectural features and a formal garden by Edwin Lutyens with a beautiful vista, which takes in seven counties!
The garden, set within a 250 acre demesne, is, Andrew Tierney claims, the best of its kind in Ireland: a blend of the Arcadian and the Picturesque, above which Edwin Lutyens later erected his walled terraces and enclosures. [4] One of the follies built by the Trenches may contain windows from nearby Aghaboe Abbey. My grandfather purchased property (house and farm) at Aghaboe but the family lost the property when the land was bought by compulsory purchase by the Land Commission in 1977, after my grandfather John Baggot died. I always thought we actually owned the Abbey but that may have been wishful thinking on my Dad’s part.
Michael Frederick’s daughter Helena married Compton Pocklington Domvile, 1st Baronet Domvile, of Templeogue and Santry, Dublin. They had several children, but the house was passed down via their daughter Mary Adelaide, who married Lt-Col William Hutcheson Poë (1848-1934) 1st Baronet.
A son of Michael Frederick Trench, this is Frederick Trench (1775-1859). Inscribed on a label on the back: General Sir Frederick Trench/late of Heywood/A prominent promoter of/The Thames Embankment/& other improvements in London. By Unknown artist circa 1827, courtesy National Portrait Gallery 5505. The panorama of the Thames Quay cascading from Trench’s desk appears to stop at St Paul’s and is therefore intended to represent his A Collection of Papers relating to the Thames Quay, with Hints for some further Improvements, illustrated with lithographs by C. M. Baynes and published in 1825, re-issued in 1827. This followed an unsuccessful Bill in Parliament introduced to obtain Treasury support for the project, but in spite of influential backing the plans were dropped and the Embankment was not begun until five years after Trench’s death, with his elegant colonnades omitted. The furnishing of his room includes on a bracket the marble bust by Matthew Wyatt (1826) of Trench’s patron, the Duchess of Rutland, now at Castle Howard. Manuscripts and a William Kent table point to his various antiquarian interests.
Heywood House was enlarged by Lt-Col William Hutchison-Poë in 1875. Around 1906, William Hutchison-Poë hired Edwin Lutyens to create a garden for Heywood.
Information board aboutHeywood, County Laois.
The website tell us that “The architect Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the formal gardens, which are the centrepiece of the property. It is likely that renowned designer Gertrude Jekyll landscaped them.
“The gardens are composed of elements linked by a terrace that originally ran along the front of the house. (Sadly, the house is no more.) One of the site’s most unusual features is a sunken garden containing an elongated pool, at whose centre stands a grand fountain.“
Heywood was bought by the Salesian Fathers in 1923, and it was during their time that the fire occurred. It was transferred to State ownership from the Salesian Fathers in November 1993 .
The OPW website tells us “The Heywood experience starts beside the Gate Lodge. Information panels and signage will guide you around the magical Lutyens gardens and the surrounding romantic landscape.“
Tierney describes the garden: “The gardens stretch from the principal gates for almost a kilometer and a half, incorporating a sequence of three adjoining lakes and a fourth, further east, and areas of rolling parkland skirted by woodlands. Trench named each part of his garden after Alpine scenery. Trench’s Gothic follies include the Abbeyleix gate, an arrangement of octagonal towers joined by a Tudor-arched gateway. The Trench coat of arms is visible to the right of the gateway arch. From this gate the winding drive opens to Trench’s valley. Nearby, marking a split in the road, is the Spire, a shaft raised in memory of Trench’s friend Andrew Caldwell. Further along is a sham castle. High up behind that is a bridge, and a ruin, on the other side, with the Aghaboe windows. Up the pathway is the Gothic Greenhouse, a brick construction with five lancets with hood mouldings. On the east side of the lake is a grotto or bath house. On the east side of the demesne is the Trench mausoleum.”. [see 4]
Heading toward the Lutyens sunken garden from the Orangerie displays the stunning view, over a lawn of perfect grass. Below the lawn, toward the river, is a trellised walkway, by Lutyens. The house was above. To the east of the house was an alley of “pleached” limes: pleaching means bending and weaving the branches of a row of trees to form a living wall.
Sean O’Reilly describes the Lutyens garden addition:
“Lutyens worked on the gardens from about 1906. He complemented the strong architectural framework with an informal planting style, following the same combination of structure and nature developed at Lambay and made popular with his associate – and Country Life author – Gertrude Jekyll. Laying out the garden in a series of terraces and stepped passageways exploding east and west from the falling southern terraces of the house itself, the architect shaped these spaces with a bewildering variety of retaining walls – vertical and battered, stepped and sheer – screen walls – straight and curved, large and dwarf – columns, steps and architectural artifacts.” [5]
The Tuatha website tells us that, sadly, in 1920, Poe’s car was set alight by Republicans when he was returning from a dinner party in Ballyroan. Poe left Heywood a month later, never to return. [6] Perhaps the website is incorrect and it was slightly later, which would make sense, as Poe served as a Senator in the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1925. Many senators had their houses burned by anti-Treaty forces, so burning his car may have occurred for that reason.
In 1941, the house and gardens at Heywood were broken up, and the Salesian Brothers purchased the property. The Salesians are a religious institute founded in the late-19th century by Italian priest, Saint Don Bosco, in order to help children suffering from poverty during the industrial revolution. The Salesians set up a novitiate at Heywood to a train aspirants to the priesthood. They utilised the glasshouses created by Poe to grow fruit and vegetables, with tomatoes, nectarines, peach trees and grape vines.
On the east side of the pond Luytens created a Pavilion with Portland stone dressings, terracotta tiled roof and saucer-domed interior, containing two Corinthian capitals rescued by Trench from the Parliament House in Dublin, which he was involved in remodelling. The north wall had busts of philosphers in oval niches, now replaced by urns.
Heywood, County Laois, photograph by A.E. Henson, from Country Life, volume XLV, 1919.
Behind and above the Sunken Garden are a series of “rooms” created by tall hedges and floral planting, stone structures and a suntrap of a seating area.
[1] p. 96. Sadleir, Thomas U. and Page L. Dickinson. Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration. Dublin University Press, 1915.
General information: 0505 21850, roscreaheritage@opw.ie
Damer House Roscrea County Tipperary, photographer creator Kerry Kissane All around Ireland 2021 courtesy Tipperary tourism, Ireland’s Content Pool [1]
Finding ourselves with some spare time this Heritage Week (2024) after visiting Emo in County Laois, we drove over to Roscrea, to visit Damer House and Roscrea Castle.
“In the heart of Roscrea in County Tipperary, one of the oldest towns in Ireland, you will find a magnificent stone motte castle dating from the 1280s. It was used as a barracks from 1798, housing 350 soldiers, and later served as a school, a library and even a sanatorium.
“Sharing the castle grounds is Damer House, named for local merchant John Damer [d. 1768], who came into possession of the castle in the eighteenth century. The house is a handsome example of pre-Palladian architecture. It has nine beautiful bay windows. One of the rooms has been furnished in period style.
“The grounds also include an impressive garden with a fountain, which makes Roscrea Castle a very pleasant destination for a day out. There is also a restored mill displaying St Crónán’s high cross and pillar stone.“
This was originally the site of a motte and bailey fortification known as King John’s Castle. The original wooden castle was destroyed in the late 13th century and was replaced with a stone structure built in 1274-1295 by John de Lydyard. The castle was originally surrounded by a river to the east and a moat on the other sides. [2] It was granted to the Butlers of Ormond in 1315 who held it until the early 18th Century. The castle as we see it today was built from 1332.
Roscrea Castle was sold to the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, by James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormond in 1703. It was bought by the Damers, who built an elegant three-storey nine bay pre-Palladian house in the courtyard in c. 1730.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us:
“The Damer of folklore tradition is a conflation of the first Joseph [c.1630–1720] with his nephew John [1674-1768]. Thus, while Damer built himself a house in County Tipperary in the seventeenth century, the traditional stories about Damer’s Court (or Damerville) relate to a house built by John after his uncle’s death. John’s brother Joseph [1676–1737] built the Damer House in Roscrea, which was saved from demolition in the 1970s and subsequently restored. The Guildhall Library, London, has Damer correspondence among its Erasmus Smith papers.” [3]
In their book The Tipperary Gentry, Hayes and Kavanagh tell us that Joseph Damer (c.1630–1720) was born in Dorset in England in 1630. [4] He came to Ireland after the restoration of Charles II when land was being sold cheaply by Cromwellian soldiers who were given land instead of pay but did not want to remain in Ireland. Joseph Damer bought land in Tipperary, settling at Shronell, and established himself as a moneylender, lending to other landowners on mortgages. He also became involved in banking in Dublin. His nephew John (1674-1768) acted as his agent in Tipperary.
Joseph had no children and left his vast fortune when he died in 1720 to his nephews John (1674-1768) and Joseph (1676–1737), sons of his brother George Damer. He was so wealthy that he entered folklore with tales of how he gained his wealth, and he was compared to King Midas, as if everything he touched turned to gold.
Jonathan Swift wrote a ditty mocking Joseph Damer’s parsimony:
“He walked the streets and wore a threadbare cloak
He dined and supped at charge of other folk
And – by his look – had he held out his palms
He might be thought an object fit for alms.“
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us:
“Despite his reputation for miserliness, Damer was a benefactor of presbyterianism and, by some accounts, unitarianism. He and his nephew John (1673?–1768) were among the trustees and managers of the General Fund established in 1710 to support the protestant dissenting interest; another fund was established in 1718 to support the congregation in New Row in Dublin.” [see 3]
The nephew John had no children and his brother Joseph (1676–1737) inherited. Joseph sat in the British parliament for Dorchester (1722–27) and became MP for Tipperary in 1735. He died two years later. He married Mary Churchill, daughter of John Churchill of Henbury, Dorset.
Robert O’Byrne tells us that his son Joseph (1717-1798) inherited the house and castle was later created the Earl of Dorchester. [5] He was an absentee landlord and his brother managed his Irish properties. He built a mansion named Damerville which was very grand, but was demolished in 1775. Their sister Mary married William Henry Dawson, 1st Viscount Carlow, who lived at Emo in Laois. It was her offspring who later inherited the Damer properties.
Joseph’s son John (1744-1776) married Ann Seymour, a sculptress. He spent all of his inheritance and killed himself. Subsequently it was his younger brother George who inherited the title to become 2nd Earl of Dorchester. None of Joseph’s offspring had children, however, so the properties passed to the 2nd Earl of Portarlington, a second cousin, who assumed the name Dawson-Damer.
Mary Seymour, who according to Mealy’s sales catalogue married John Dawson 1st Earl of Portarlington of Emo Court, by Thomas Heaphey, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy auction; I think she married George Lionel Dawson-Damer, son of 1st Earl.
Mary who had married the 1st Viscount Carlow had a son John Dawson (1744-1798) who became 1st Earl of Portarlington, Queen’s County. He married Caroline Stuart, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Bute and his writer wife, Mary Wortley Montagu. He commissioned James Gandon to built Emo Court in Queen’s County (Laois). It was his son John Dawson (1781-1845), 2nd Earl of Portarlington, who inherited the Damer fortune and lands, and added Damer to his surname.
John Dawson 2nd Earl of Portarlington by Count D’Orsay courtesy of National Portrait Gallery in London NPG D5547Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1718-1794), Wife of John Patrick Crichton Stuart 3rd Earl of Bute, print after Christian Friedrich Zincke, 1830s, courtesy of National Portrait Gallery of London, NPG D34619.
Damer House has a scroll pediment doorway and inside, a magnificent carved staircase. The Irish Georgian Society was involved in saving it from demolition in the 1960s. [for more photographs, see https://theirishaesthete.com/tag/damer-house/ ] The stairs and floor in the front hall are original to the house. The stairs are similar to ones in Cashel Palace, which was the Archbishop’s Palace, and is now an upmarket hotel. See the website of the Irish Aesthete for photographs of this staircase: https://theirishaesthete.com/tag/cashel-palace/
The Damers didn’t live in the house and it was rented out to various tenants.
Robert O’Byrne tells us about the history of the house:
“In 1798 the house was leased as a barracks and then the whole site sold to the British military in 1858. At the start of the last century the Damer House became ‘Mr. French’s Academy’, a school for boys, reverting to a barracks for the National Army during the Civil War, then being used as a sanatorium, before once again in 1932 serving as a school until 1956, then a library. By 1970 it was empty and unused, and the local authority, Tipperary County Council, announced plans to demolish the house and replace it with an amenity centre comprising a swimming pool, car park, playground and civic centre (it had been nurturing this scheme since as far back as 1957). The council’s chairman wanted the demolition to go ahead, declaring that ‘as long as it stands it reminds the Irish people of their enslavement to British rule,’ and dismissing objectors to the scheme as ‘a crowd of local cranks.’ In fact, most of the so-called ‘crowd’ were members of the Old Roscrea Society and in December 1970 this organisation was offered help by the Irish Georgian Society in the campaign to save the Damer House.“
After our tour of Damer House we crossed the yard for a tour of the castle.
Roscrea Castle fell into disrepair in the 19th century, and when the roof collapsed extensive repairs were needed in the 1850s. It was named a national monument in 1892, and is now under the care of the OPW.
The Castle was located on one of the five main roads in ancient Ireland, and it was essential for the Normans to control this route. In 1315 King Edward II handed the castle over to James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond.
The castle had many defensive features. The curtain wall is approximately three metres thick, which allowed for a wall-walk from which soldiers had a view of the surrounding area. The River Barrow formed a moat around the east face of the castle, and the Normans constructed a dry moat on the west side. The river was diverted in the 19th century.
Inside the castle reception area there’s a grille on the floor, which is the “oubliette” (from the French, meaning “to forget.”). However, in this case, people were imprisoned here between court dates, the guide told us.
Above the drawbridge is a machicolation from which boiling substances could be dropped, and there are also arrow loop windows for defence. The stairs, called “trip steps” were deliberately built of different heights and widths to impede the intruder. The spiral clockwise to make it more difficult for the enemy to fight his way up the steps.
Silver from nearby silvermines would have been stored in the castle.
Eoin Roe O’Neill (d. 1649), at the head of 1,200 men, stormed Roscrea in 1646 and reportedly killed every man, woman and child. The only survivor was the governor’s wife, Lady Mary Hamilton (1605-1680), who was a sister to the Earl of Ormond [married to George Hamilton, 1st Baronet of Donalong County Tyrone and of Nenagh, County Tipperary]. She was again forced to play host in the castle to O’Neill three years later which again ended by the guests looting everything in sight. [7]
Larger windows were a later addition. Originally there would be only small loopholes. Before glass, the larger windows would be covered with skins to keep out the draught. The inside would have been limewashed, the white walls would then brighten the interior. The fireplace would also provide light.
[4] Hayes, William and Art Kavanagh, The Tipperary Gentry volume 1 published by Irish Family Names, c/o Eneclann, Unit 1, The Trinity Enterprise Centre, Pearse Street, Dublin 2, 2003.
2025 Diary of Irish Historic Houses (section 482 properties)
To purchase an A5 size 2025 Diary of Historic Houses (opening times and days are not listed so the calendar is for use for recording appointments and not as a reference for opening times) send your postal address to jennifer.baggot@gmail.com along with €20 via this payment button. The calendar of 84 pages includes space for writing your appointments as well as photographs of the historic houses. The price includes postage within Ireland. Postage to U.S. is a further €10 for the A5 size calendar, so I would appreciate a donation toward the postage – you can click on the donation link.
€20.00
donation
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
€15.00
I have been working to save all my photographs on USB sticks so do not have a new property to post, although I have lots to write up. I am therefore reposting this entry.
On the map above:
blue: places to visit that are not section 482
purple: section 482 properties
red: accommodation
yellow: less expensive accommodation for two
orange: “whole house rental” i.e. those properties that are only for large group accommodations or weddings, e.g. 10 or more people.
green: gardens to visit
grey: ruins
Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow are the counties that make up the Leinster region.
As well as places to visit, I have listed separately places to stay, because some of them are worth visiting – you may be able to visit for afternoon tea or a meal.
For places to stay, I have made a rough estimate of prices at time of publication:
€ = up to approximately €150 per night for two people sharing (in yellow on map);
www.burtownhouse.ie Open dates in 2025: June 4-7, 11-14, 18-21, 25-28, July 2-5, 9-12, 16-19, 23-26, 30-31, August 1-2, 6-9, 13-24, 27-30, Sept 3-6, 10am-2pm
Fee: adult €10, OAP/student/child €5
Burtown House and Gardens, Athy, Co Kildare, photograph by Sonder Visuals, 2022, Courtesy Failte Ireland.
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us:
“Ballytore, in County Kildare, was a stronghold of the Irish Quakers and the centre of a sizeable Quaker community. One of their members, Robert Power, built Burtown House as the hub of a two thousand acre farming enterprise in the 1720s. His Georgian villa, shown on early maps as “Power’s Grove,” was only one room deep so wings were added later in the century. These were subsequently removed, though their faint outlines can still be identified and Burtown was further extended in the early nineteenth century when a full height bow was added on the garden front.
“The new extension provided a bow ended room on the garden front, a large bedroom above and a grand staircase, lit by a tall round-headed window. Pretty plasterwork in the manner of James Wyatt was also introduced at the time, most notably in an arched alcove in the bow-ended room, which is likely to have been the original dining room. The alcove is filled with a shallow fan, and delightfully cursive sprays of vine leaves, and is flanked by a pair of classical vases on pilasters of foliage with naive Corinthian capitals.
“Burtown has never been sold in all its three hundred years. The house passed from the Power family to the Houghtons and thence to the Wakefields, who gave it a new roof with widely projecting eaves in the early nineteenth century. They also lengthened the sash windows, installed a new front door with a fanlight in a deep recess, and carried out a number of other alterations.
“When Mr. Wakefield was killed playing cricket Burtown passed to his sister, who had married a fellow Quaker from County Tipperary, William Fennell. Their son, William James was a keen horseman but “was asked to leave the Quaker congregation because of his fondness for driving a carriage with two uniformed flunkeys on the back”.
“Today Burtown is in the midst of two hundred acres of parkland, including ten acres of lush flower, vegetable and woodland gardens with many fine walks. The house has now been home to five generations of the Fennell family, and to the acclaimed botanical artist and illustrator, Wendy Walsh. Coincidentally, the leading Irish botanical artist of the early twentieth century, Lydia Shackleton, also came from the same small Quaker community.” [1]
“Donadea Forest Park includes Donadea Castle and estate, the former home of the Aylmer family up until 1935. There are many historical features including the remains of the castle and walled gardens, St. Peter’s church, an ice house and boat house. The Lime tree avenue planted in the 19th century formed the original entrance to the estate. Another feature of the park is the 9/11 Memorial, a scaled replica of the twin towers carved in limestone. The small lake is brimming with ducks, waterhens and has a beautiful display of water lilies in the summer. There is a café open throughout the year.“
In 1581 Gerald Aylmer, (1548-1634), Knight, of Donadea, son of George Aylmer, of Cloncurry, and grandson of Richard Aylmer, of Lyons, built a new tower in Donadea, not fully completed until 1624 and it is now the oldest part of the Castle. [2]
In 1626, he repaired the medieval Church in Donadea and built a new extension in which he established his family burial plot. In the extension he also constructed an Altar Tomb monument as a burial memorial for his family. Gerald was titled by the Crown and became the first Baronet of Donadea.
The Aylmers were connected with the various conflicts and rebellions over the next two centuries. During the wars of the 1640s, Sir Andrew, 2nd Baronet (c. 1610-c. 1671), supported the rebels and was imprisoned at the beginning of the war.
Although he was a brother-in-law of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, there were no favours granted to him. The Aylmers rebuilt the castle after it was burned by James Butler’s troops.
In 1689, after the battle of the Boyne, Lady Helen Aylmer, widow of the 3rd Baronet, (born Plunkett, daughter of Luke Plunkett 3rd Earl of Fingall) was in charge of the Castle. She was outlawed due to her support for James II, but she managed to hold on to the Castle and lands under the terms of the Treaty of Limerick.
In 1736, Sir Gerald, 5th Baronet, died leaving an only son FitzGerald who became the 6th Baronet.
He was only one year old when his father died and was subsequently raised by his mother (Ellice or Ellen, daughter of Gerald Aylmer, 2nd Baronet of Balrath, County Meath) and her relatives who were members of the established church. FitzGerald subsequently conformed to the established religion. In 1773, he built a new house in front of the Castle and incorporated the Tower in his new residence.
Gerald, 8th Baronet, held the lands of Donadea between 1816 and 1878 and he is accredited with most of the construction work that is visible in Donadea demesne today. He began his building program in the 1820s by re-routing the roads away from the Castle and the construction of a high wall enclosing the demesne. Gate lodges were then built at all the entrances.
He also built a new grand entrance known as the Lime Avenue.
In 1827 he completely remodelled the front of the Castle which gave it an attractive bow shaped appearance. It has been suggested that he employed the renowned architect Richard Morrison to design this new structure.
The older cabin-type dwellings close to the castle were demolished and new estate houses built at the Range. To the west of the Castle he built an eight acre area of gardens and paddocks, surrounded and sub-divided by walls. In the Castle yard he built dwellings for staff and elaborative farm buildings. He also constructed the artificial lake and the Ice House. Large areas of the demesne were planted and, by the time of his death, Donadea demesne was listed as one of the finest parkland settings in the county.
Outside the demesne he was involved in numerous construction projects including the famous ‘Aylmer Folly’, viz. the Tower on the summit of the hill of Allen. (see [2]) Sir Gerald’s grandson Justin, 10th Baronet, died unmarried in 1885. His sister Caroline inherited the castle and much of the demesne, while the baronetcy passed to a cousin. Caroline Maria Aylmer, who was the daughter of Sir Gerald George Aylmer, 9th Baronet, was the last Aylmer to live at Donadea. She died in 1935, leaving the estate to the Church of Ireland who, in turn, passed it bequeathed to the Irish state.
The castle remained unoccupied and its roof was removed in the late 1950s.
For more on the Aylmer family, see The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of County Kildare by Turtle Bunbury & Art Kavanagh (published by Irish Family Names, 2004).
Farmersvale House, County Kildare, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Open dates in 2025: Jan 6-21, Mar 3-6, July 18-31, Aug 1-26, 9.30am-1.30pm
Fee: adult €5, student/child/OAP €3, (Irish Georgian Society members free)
7. Griesemount House, Ballitore, Co KildareR14 WF64– section 482
www.griesemounthouse.ie Open dates in 2025: Feb 9-28, May 11-30, June 23-30, July 1-4, Aug 16-24, 2pm-6pm
Fee: adult €6, OAP/child/student €5
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us:
“In 1685, the village of Ballitore on the river Griese in the southern corner of County Kildare became the first planned Quaker village in England and Ireland. The Shackleton family from Yorkshire settled here some decades later and besides establishing wool and corn mills, founded the famous village school in 1726. Thanks to an entry by Mary (née Shackleton) Leadbetter in her ‘Annals of Ballitore’, we know that the first stone of Griesemount House (also known as Ballitore Hill House) was laid on Midsummer Day in 1817. While the three-bay side elevation is symmetrical, the two-bay front façade with the front door under the left window is quite modest, as was often the case with Quaker houses. It was built by George Shackleton, who had grown up in Griesebank House beside the now-ruinous Ballitore Mills on the river just below. He married Hannah Fisher and they raised 13 children in the new house, including the noted botanical artist Lydia Shackleton, the first artist-in-residence at the Botanic Gardens in Dublin. One of her first recorded sketches is of the house. The family lived here until the early 20th century; the house then changed hands several times. It was briefly owned and restored by the mother of mezzosoprano Frederica von Stade, and has recently come into new ownership.” [3]
Open in 2025: May 17-31, Aug 12-31, Sept 7-16, Dec 17-31, 9am-1pm
Fee: adult €8, student/OAP/child €5
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us:
“The forebears of the Greenes of Millbrook House in the far south of County Kildare lived at Kilmanaghan Castle and Moorestown Castle [now a ruin] in County Tipperary. A great grandson of the family patriarch Captain Godfrey Greene moved up to settle near Carlow. William Nassau Greene (1714-1781) was a businessman and magistrate, and built a residence known as Kilkea Lodge (c. 1740) adjacent to the ancient Fitzgerald seat at Kilkea Castle, where his descendants are still resident. A younger son, John (1751-1819), who became High Sheriff of Kildare and Captain of the Castledermot Yeomanry, built a neighbouring house at Millbrook with the help of his father. It was completed in 1776 with its attendant mill and millrace off the River Griese, which had replaced an earlier mill in the nearby Kilkea Castle demesne. The house passed through generations of the family until finally the mill ceased operating under Thomas Greene (1843-1900), a poet and author who was made High Sheriff of Kildare in 1895. The house was left by inheritance to one of the cousins from Kilkea Lodge, father of the present owner. Throughout WWII, he had served as a frontline doctor in the 4th Indian Division in North Africa, Italy and Greece, and returned with his wife in 1950 to an utterly neglected house. Millbrook is still in the process of being restored to its former state.” [5]
Open dates in 2025: Jan 13-17, 20-24, 27-31, Feb 4-7, 10, May 1-2, 6-18, 26-30, July 1-11, Aug 16-24, 8am-12 noon
Fee: adult €6, OAP/student/child €3
16. Steam Museum Lodge Park Heritage Centre, Lodge Park, Straffan, Co. Kildare– section 482
www.steam-museum.com Open dates in 2025: Apr 19-21, 26-27, May 3-5, 10-11, 17-18, 24-25, 31, June 12, 14-15, 18, 21-22, 28-29, July 5-6, 12-13, 19-20, 26-27, Aug 2-4, 9-10, 16-24, 30-31, Sept 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, 27-28, Oct 5,12, 19, 26-27, 1pm-5pm
Fee: Garden and Museum, adult/OAP €15, €20 with steam, student/child free
Lodge Park, photograph courtesy of Historic Houses of Ireland.
The Historic Houses of Ireland website tells us about Lodge Park:
“Lodge Park, overlooking a fine stretch of the River Liffey, was built by Hugh Henry who had married his cousin, Lady Anne Leeson from Russborough [daughter of Joseph Leeson 1st Earl of Milltown]. Completed in about 1776, the centre block forms the core of an unusual composition with curved quadrants leading to a pair of two-storey wings, both attached to two further pavilions by curtain walls to form a unique elongated ensemble of five interconnected buildings, “perhaps the most extreme example of the Irish Palladian style.”
“Henry’s father was the merchant banker Hugh Henry, who had purchased the entire Straffan estate with 7,000 acres. Lodge Park was long thought to be the last building by Nathaniel Clements, who died in 1777, but has now been attributed to John Ensor. The hipped roof is surrounded by a granite-topped parapet, and the walls are finished in rough cast, with ashlar block quoins and granite window surrounds with detailing. It is Ireland’s best exampe of concatenation, having curtain walls attached to the main house, leading to two pavilions, attached by two gateways to two further buildings. Hugh’s son Arthur built the Victorian walled garden, now beautifully restored and open to the public, as well as the fine gate lodge. The house was bought by the Guinness family in 1948.
The walled garden has been beautifully restored while a disused Victorian church has been re-erected in the grounds to house a magnificent Steam Museum with early inventor’s models, scientific engineering models and historic works of mechanical art. The Power Hall displays six huge stationary steam engines, which are run on special occasions.” https://www.ihh.ie/index.cfm/houses/house/name/Lodge%20Park
“Balyna House lies to the south of Moyvalley Bridge over the Grand Canal, about half way between Enfield and Kinnegad on the old Dublin — Galway road. The house lies in the centre of the estates 500 acres. Balyna Estate was granted in 1574 by Queen Elizabeth I to the O’Moore family because they had lost their land in Laois and were reinstated in Balyna.
“Major Ambrose O’Ferrall married Letitia More in 1796. Their eldest son Richard More O’Ferrall was born in 1797. [ I don’t think this is correct. I believe that Letitia More married Richard O’Ferrall (1729-1790) and that their son was Ambrose More O’Ferrall who married Ann Baggot daughter of John Baggot of Castle Baggot, Rathcoole. Richard More O’Ferrall (1797-1880) was their son]. He is reputed for having been responsible for the erection of the Celtic cross which now stands to the rear of the house. It is said that this Cross, along with another was transported from Europe, the two being encased in wooden crates and towed behind the ship on a barge. Legend has it that one was lost at sea, but its twin survives to this day.“
p. 30. [More O’Ferrall] “The ancestral home of the O’More family, the land having been granted to them by Eliz I as a small compensation for their forfeited territories in Laois… A new house was built 1815, which was burnt 1878; this was replaced by the present house, built 1880s. It is slightly Italianate, with a Mansard roof carried on a bracket cornice; of 2 storeys with a dormered attic. Entrance front with two 3 sided bows and a single-storey Ionic portico, 5 by garden front with pediment, the windows on either side being larger than those in the centre. Imposing staircase with handrail of decorative ironwork; ceiling of staircase hall has modillion cornice. Chapel in garden. Sold 1960s, subsequently owned by Bewleys Oriental Cafe Ltd” [6]
The website continues: “The first real record of any house dates from 1815 when Ambrose built a large mansion. That Georgian house was burned down and replaced in the 1880’s by the present Italianate mansion.
“The estate was a refuge for bishops and priests for centuries and Dr. Forstall, Bishop of Kildare, ordained priests here in the year 1678 — 1680. For this loyalty, the family was granted Papal permission to build a private Chapel on the estate (located to the rear of the house) and up to approximately 1914 Sunday Mass was offered. It was only used intermittently after that, with the last occasion being in the summer of 1959.
“The estate remained in the More O’Ferrall family until May 1960 when it was sold to the Bewley family (of Café fame). The wonderful milk and cream in the Cafes came from the pedigree Jersey herd at Balyna. In 1984 the estate was sold to Justin Keating; it was sold again in 1990-1991 to George Grant. Moyvalley was developed into a Hotel & Golf Resort in 2007.
“Balyna House consists of 10 luxurious ensuite bedrooms, 3 reception rooms to cater for up to 100 guests, Balyna Bar and Cellar Bar. The house is available exclusively for private events and weddings.
“In 2014 the resort was purchased by the late Oliver Brady (well-known horse trainer from Co. Monaghan) with his business partner a well know entrepreneur Rita Shah owner of Shabra Recycling Plastic’s Group, Thai business woman Jane Tripipatkul and her son Mark McCarthy who are based in London.
“It is likely that several Irish and European military campaigns were discussed and argued over at Balyna, as apart from the fierce-some O’More’s and the well documented Irish battles in which they took part, several later generations saw service in European armies. All three sons of Richard and Letitia O’Ferrall saw service abroad. The eldest, Ambrose, and his youngest brother, Charles, rose to the rank of Major in the Royal Sardinian Army, while the middle brother, James attained the rank of Major General in the Austrian Hohenzollern Army.“
Incidentally, there was a Bagot family of “Castle Baggot” in Rathcoole, and neither son had children so all the Bagot property, which included land around Smithfield in Dublin and extensive property in County Carlow, passed to the daughter, Ann, who married the above-mentioned Ambrose More O’Ferrall.
“As a digression, it is worth noting that Rory O’ More’s eldest daughter, Anne, married Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan and famous military leader. His father in law was the man behind the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
“King James had adopted the policy of remodelling the Irish army so as to turn it from a Protestant-led force to a Roman Catholic led one, and Sarsfield, whose family were Roman Catholics, was selected to assist in this reorganisation. Colonel Sarsfield went to Ireland with Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell , who was appointed commander-in-chief by the king.“
Barberstown Castle, photograph courtesy of barberstowncastle.ie
Mark Bence-Jones writes (1988): p. 31. “A tower-house with a long plain 2 storey wing attached. In 1814, the residence of Jos Atkinson, in 1837, of Capt Robinson.”
The website gives a timeline:
“1288: Nicholas Barby built the original Castle towards the end of the 13th Century on the land which was originally owned by the Great Norman family the Fitzgerald’s.
“1310: The Castle was built as a fortress to protect the village and people of Barberstown from the attack of the rebellious Ui Faolain tribesmen who tried to burn the town (among others) in 1310. It has traditionally found itself in the middle of political struggle and local wars which generally resulted in change of ownership.
“Retaining Ownership: Some of its previous owners have gone to extreme lengths to retain ownership. Just how far some went is illustrated by the story of the body that is said to be interred in the tower of the Castle Keep (the original part of the Castle). His fate can be explained by reading the lease on the Castle at the time in which was written that the lease would expire when he was buried underground (ie. his death). The ending of a lease normally resulted in an increase in rent so after the man’s death he was buried in the tower above the earth which ensured the family continued to hold the lease to the Castle!
“The walls of the Castle Keep walls slope inwards so as to prevent an enemy getting out of range by closing up to the building. Ironically however the rooms on the upper floors of the Castle are larger than those on the ground level as their walls are somewhat thinner.
“Penal Times: The neighbouring village of Straffan is named after St. Straffan, one of the early sixth century missionaries. Its close linkages with the local town and people were proven when an underground tunnel from the Church in Straffan to the Castle was found in 1996 during renovations. A ‘Priest’s Hole’ can be also found in the Castle which was originally made to protect the priests of the town during Penal Times.
“1630: William Sutton of one of the most important families in the area owned the property. The population of Barberstown at the time was 36!
“1689: Lord Kingston [I’m not sure who they mean here – Robert King (d. 1693) was the 2nd Baron of Kingston at the time] had his ownership confiscated by Earl of Tyrconnell after the accession to power of James 11 of England. It was around this time that it fell into the less glamorous hands of the Commissioners of the Revenue who let it out to a Roger Kelly for £102 annual rent in the late 1600s.
“1703: It was purchased by Bartholomew Van Homreigh in 1703 for £1,033 the sixth owner in six years. At the time the property was 335 acres. Van Homreigh had been mayor of Dublin in 1697 and his greatest ‘claim to fame’ lies in the fact that he was the father of Vanessa of whom Swift wrote so passionately about. He sold it to the Henrys who were prone to excessive spending at the time….
“1830: The Henry’s had no option but to sell it to Mr. Hugh Barton [1766-1854] who completed the last wing of the house in the 1830s which added to the present day unique architectural status of Barberstown. He is also famed for constructing Straffan House known today at the K-Club.
“1900: As the property became too expensive to retain as a residence, the Huddlestons who owned Barberstown Castle in the 1900s sold it to Mrs. Norah Devlin who converted it into a hotel in 1971. Barberstown was one of the first great Irish country houses to display its splendour to the outside world when it opened as a hotel in 1971. It has maintained the elegance of design over the centuries by sympathetically blending its Victorian and Elizabethan extensions with the original Castle Keep.
“1979: The acclaimed Musician, Singer, Songwriter & Record Producer Mr. Eric Clapton CBE purchased the property in 1979 and lived in the property until 1987. Music sessions took place in the Green Room and original Castle Keep during the time Eric lived here with many famous Rockstars from all over the world coming here to stay.
“1987 to Present Day: Upon purchasing Barberstown Castle from Eric Clapton in 1987, this beautiful historic house has since been transformed from a 10-bedroom property with three bathrooms to a 55-bedroom Failte Ireland approved 4 Star Hotel. They are a proud member of Ireland’s Blue Book of properties and Historic Hotels of Europe.
“Since 1288 Barberstown has had 37 owners all of whom had the foresight to protect its heritage and character. Look out for the names of all the owners of Barberstown Castle painted on the bedroom doors of the hotel!“
3. Batty Langley Lodge, Celbridge, County Kildare€€
One of the entrances to the Castletown demesne has a Gothic lodge, from a design published by Batty Langley (1696-1751) 1741. Batty Langley was an English garden designer who produced a number of engraved “Gothick” designs for garden buildings and seats. He was named “Batty” after his father’s patron, David Batty. He also published a wide range of architectural books.
“The Village at Lyons, County Kildare is often described as a restoration but to be frank it is more a recreation. By the time the late Tony Ryan bought the estate in 1996, the buildings beside the Grand Canal, which had once included a forge, mill and dwelling houses, were in a state of almost total ruin. Therefore the work undertaken here in the years prior to his death in 2007 involved a great deal of architectural salvage, much of it brought from France, although some Irish elements were incorporated such as a mid-19th century conservatory designed by Richard Turner, originally constructed for Ballynegall, County Westmeath. Today the place primarily operates as a wedding venue, providing an alluring stage set for photographs but bearing little resemblance to what originally stood here.”[9]
The entrance front of Lyons House, designed by Oliver Grave for Nicholas Lawless, 1st baron Cloncurry circa 1786 and remodelled by his son Richard Morrison in 1802-05. Pub Orig Country Life 16/01/2003, vol. CXCVII by Photographer Paul Barker. (see[7])
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Lyons:
p. 196. “(Alymer/IFR; Lawless, Cloncurry, B/PB1929; Winn, sub St. Oswalds, B/PB) Originally the seat of the Aylmer family. Sold 1796 by Michael Aylmer to Nicholas Lawless,the 1st Lord Cloncurry, son of a wealthy blanket manufacturer, who had a new house built in 1797, to the design of an architect named Grace.
“Three storey block with a curved bow on either side of its entrance front, joined to two-storey wings by curved sweeps. About 1801, shortly after his release from the Tower of London, where he had been imprisoned for two years on account of his advanced political views and friendship wiht some of the United Irishmen, the 2nd Lord Cloncurry hired Richard Morrison to undertake improvements and alterations to his father’s house, work continuing till 1805.
“During this period, Lord Cloncurry was in Italy, collecting antiques and modern sculpture for the house; he also acquired three antique columns of red Egyptian granite from the Golden House of Nero, afterwards at the Palazzo Farnese, which were used as three of the four columns in a single-storey portico at Lyons, with a triangular pediment surmounted by a free-standing coat-of-arms.The other notable alteration made to the exterior of the house at this time was the substitution of straight colonnades for the curved sweeps linking the main block to the winds, a change similar to that which Morrison made a few years later at Carton. Also the main block and wings were faced with rusticated ashlar up to the height of one storey on the entrnace front. The hall was given a frieze of ox-skulls and tripods based on the Temple of Fortuna Virilis in Rome, doorcases with fluted entablatures and overdoor panels with classical reliefs; a pair of free-standing antique marble Corinthian columns were set against one wall, and vaarous items from Lord Cloncurry’s collection fo sculpture disposed around the other walls. The walls of the dining room and music rom were painted with Irish waterfalls – and other enchanting decoration by Gaspare Gabrielli, an artist brought by Lord Cloncurry from Rome. The bow-ended dining room was also decorated with a wall painting, of Dublin Bay; and was adorned with reliefs of the story of Daedalus.”
The garden front of Lyons House, The new orangery and pool house are the single-storey buildings flanking the central block. Pub Orig Country Life 16/01/2003, vol. CXCVII by Photographer Paul Barker. (see [7])GASPARE GABRIELLI A Group of Five Mythological Landscapes a preparatory scheme for the murals at Lyons, County Kildare courtesy Adams Irish Old Masters 15 May 2025
Bence-Jones continues: “The seven-bay garden front was left fairly plain, but before it a vast formal garden was laid out, with abundant statuary and urns and an antique column supporting a statue of Venus half way along the broad central walk leading from the house to what is the largest artificial lake in Ireland. Beyond the lake rises the wooded Hill of Lyons.
“The Grand Canal passes along one side of the demesne, and there is a handsome Georgian range of buildings beside it which would have been Lord Cloncurry’s private canal station. A daughter of 3rd Lord Cloncurry was Emily Lawless, the poet, a prominent figure in the Irish Revival of the early yars of the present century. Her niece, Hon Kathleen Lawless, bequeathed the Lyons estate to a cousin, Mr G M V Winn, who sold it about 1962 to University College, Dublin, which has erected a handsome pedimented arch from Browne’s Hill, Co Carlow at one of the entrances to the demesne.”
Art Kavanagh’s book on the Landed Gentry and Aristocracy: Meath, volume 1, tells us more about the Aylmers of Balrath. During the reign of Henry VI, Richard Aylmer of Lyons was a Keeper of the Peace for both Dublin and Kildare. He was in charge of protecting the settler community from attack by the neighbouring O’Toole and O’Byrne septs. The family rose to become one of the most prominent families in Meath and Kildare and key figures in the Dublin administration. Before the end of the 16th century they had established two independent branches at Donadea in Kildare and Dollardstown in County Meath.
The first Aylmer of real significance, Art Kavanagh tells us, was John Aylmer (c. 1359 – c. 1415) who married Helen Tyrell of Lyons, an heiress, at the end of the 14th century, and so the family acquired Lyons. [p. 1, Kavanagh, published by Irish Family Names, Dublin 4, 2005]
9. The K Club, Straffan House, County Kildare
Straffan House, the K Club, courtesy of the K Club Resort, 2005.
The Straffan estate formed part of the original land grant bestowed upon Maurice Fitzgerald by Strongbow for his role in the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169. In 1679, the property was purchased by Richard Talbot, the Duke of Tyrconnell who commanded the Jacobite army in Ireland during the war between James II and William of Orange. Tyrconnell’s estates were forfeited to the crown in the wake of the Williamite victory. In about 1710, the property was purchased by Hugh Henry, a prosperous merchant banker, who also owned Lodge Park. He married Anne Leeson, a sister of Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown. Straffan passed to their son, Joseph, who travelled in Europe and collected art. In April 1764 he married Lady Catherine Rawdon, eldest daughter of the 1st Earl of Moira.
Joseph Henry of Straffan, Co. Kildare by Francis Hayman, R.A. (c. 1708-1776) courtesy of Christies Irish Sale 2001.
Their son John Joseph (1777-1846) married Lady Emily Fitzgerald, the 23-year-old daughter of the 2nd Duke of Leinster. He was an extravagant spender and had to sell Straffan in 1831.
Hugh Barton (1766-1854) acquired Straffan House from the Henry family in 1831 and his descendents remained there until the 1960s. The Barton family were part of the Barton & Guestier winemakers. Hugh soon commissioned Dublin architect, Frederick Darley, to build a new house, based on Madame Dubarry’s great Château at Louveciennes to the west of Paris. [10] The house passed through many hands subsequently.
Mark Bence-Jones writes of Straffan House (1988):
p. 266. “(Barton/IFR) An imposing C19 house in a style combining Italianate and French chateau. Main block of two storeys with an attic of pedimented dormers in a mansard roof; seven bay entrance front, the centre bay breking forward and having a tripartite window above a single-storey balustraded Corinthian portico. Entablatures on console brackets over ground-floor windows; triangular pediments over windows above and segmental pediment of central window. Decorated band between storeys; balustraded roof parapet; chimneystacks with recessed panels and tooth decoration. The main block prolonged at one side by a lower two storey wing, from which rises a tall and slender campanile tower, with two tiers of open belvederes. Formal garden with elaborate Victorian fountain. Capt F.B. Barton sold Straffan ca 1949 to John Ellis. It was subsequently the home of Kevin McClory, the film producer, and later owned by Mr Patrick Gallagher, who restored the main block to its original size.”
10. Kilkea Castle, Castledermot, Kildare – hotel
Kilkea Castle County Kildare by Elena on flickr constant commons 2005.
p. 167. “(Fitzgerald, Leinster, D/PB) A medieval castle of the FitzGeralds, Earls of Kildare, especially associated with C16 11th Earl of Kildare, the most famous “wizard Earl.” [Gerald (1525-1585)] After Carton became the family seat in C18, it was leased to a succession of tenants; one of them being the Dublin silk merchant, Thomas Reynolds, friend of Lord Edward Fitzgerald through whom he became a United Irishman, only to turn informer when he realised the full aims of the movement. His role as informer did not prevent the unhappy Reynolds from having the castle, which he had only recently done up in fine style, sacked by the military; who tored up the floorboards and tore down the panelling on the pretext of searching for arms. Subsequent tenants caused yet more damage and there was a serious fire 1849; after which the third Duke of Leinster resumed possession of the castle and restored and enlarged it as a dower-house for his family. The work was sympathetically done, so that the tall grey castle keeps its air of medieval strength with its bartizans and its massively battered stone walls; though its battlements and its rather too regularly placed trefoil headed windows are obviously C19. AT one side of the caslte a long, low, gabled office range was added, in a restrained Tudor Revival style. The interior is entirely of 1849, for the lofty top storey, where the principal rooms were originally situated, was divided to provide a storey extra. The ceilings are mostly beamed, with corbels bearing the Leinster saltire. In 1880s the beautiful Hermione, Duchess of Leinster (then Marchioness of Kildare) lived here with her amiable but not very inspiring husband [Gerald the 5th Duke of Leinster]; finding the life not much to her taste, she composed the couplet “Kilkea Castle and Lord Kildare/are more than any woman can bear.” After the sale of Carton 1949, Kilkea became the seat of the 8th and Present Duke of Leinster (then Marquess of Kildare), but it was sold ca 1960 and is now an hotel.”
11. Leixlip Manor hotel (formerly Liffey Valley House hotel, formerlySt. Catherine’s Park), Leixlip, Co Kildare
The house that stood before the current Manor House was taller and was tenanted by the Earl of Lanesborough. Then in 1792, it was occupied by David La Touche, of the Huguenot banking family. It shortly thereafter burned to the ground and in around 1798 a new house, also called St Catherine’s Park, was built in the same townland to the design of Francis Johnston; it is now Leixlip Manor Hotel & Gardens.
Rt. Hon. David La Touche of Marlay (1729-1817) Date c.1800 by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Irish, 1740-1808, courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
12. Martinstown House, Kilcullen, Co Kildare – accommodation
Martinstown House 2012, photograph courtesy of Martinstown House on flickr constant commons.
featured in Great Irish Houses. Forewards by Desmond FitzGerald, Desmond Guinness. IMAGE Publications, 2008.
p. 232. “Martinstown House is one of the finest cottage ornee style buildings in Ireland today. Originally part of the huge estates of the Dukes of Leinster, this fine house was commissioned by Robert Burrowes [d. 1850, son of Kildare Dixon Borrowes, 5th Baronet] and completed by the Burrowes family between 1832 and 1840, when decorative effects such as thatched roofs, undressed stonework and verandahs made of free growing branches were being incorporated into rural Irish dwellings. While experts feel the house was built in 1833, it may have been started years earlier, with many of the outbuildings including stables and also the walled gardens dating to some time between 1815 and 1820.” The book’s authors add that Decimus Burton was involved in the creation of this house.
“Beautiful self catering, Georgian Manor centrally located in the hearth of Kildare in a very private setting. De Burgh Manor comprises of 15 bedrooms all ensuite. The ground floor consists of a double reception room, drawing room, dining room, bar, library , breakfast room and kitchen. Situated on c. 6 acres of grounds overlooking the River Barrow.“
The website also tells us about the history:
“De Burgh Manor was built circa 1709 [the National Inventory says it was built around 1780] by Thomas Burgh [1670-1730] of Oldtown [built ca 1709 by Thomas Burgh (1670-1730), MP, Engineer and Surveyor-General for Ireland, to his own design. The centre block was burned 1950s. A house has now been made out of one of the wings. He also designed Kildrought house, a Section 482 property] for his brother William Burgh later known as Captain William De Burgh and who became Comptroller and Auditor General for Ireland. Thomas Burgh was Barracks Overseer for Ireland from 1701 and was also responsible for [building] – the Library at Trinity College Dublin, Collins Barracks Dublin – now a museum – and Dr Steeven Hospital Dublin.
“William De Burgh was born in 1667 and had a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Elisabeth. Thomas, born in 1696, eventually became a Member of Parliament for Lanesboro, Co. Longford. Freeman of Athy Borough and Sovereign of Athy, in 1755 he married Lady Ann Downes, daughter of the Bishop of Cork & Ross. Her mother was a sister to Robert Earl of Kildare. Her brother, Robert Downes, was the last MP for Kildare in 1749 and was Sovereign of Athy.
“Thomas had two sons, William and Ulysses [Ulysses was actually the grandson of Thomas, son of another Thomas]. William born in 1741 went on to represent Athy as an MP in Parliament between 1768 and 1776. A monument to his memory by Sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott, a statue of faith, which depicts him with a book in one hand and a scroll in the other and stands in York Minster. He wrote two books on religion and faith.
“Ulysses, born in 1788succeeded to the title of Lord Downes [2nd Baron Downes of Aghanville] on the death of his cousin William Downes who was made Lord Chief Justice in 1803 and created Lord Downes on his retirement in 1822. It was Ulysses De Burgh who presented the Town Hall Clock to Athy in 1846 and it was he who had the wings added to Bert House. [Mark Bence-Jones writes of Bert: “enlarged early in C19 by the addition of two storey Classical overlapping wings, of the same height as the centre block; which is of three storeys over basement with two seven bay fronts.”]
“Ulysses’ daughter Charlotte was the last of the De Burgh’s to call Bert House home with her husband Lt. General James Colbourne [2nd Baron Seaton of Seaton, co. Devon]. Charlotte and James came to Bert House in 1863 as Lord and Lady Seaton after the death of Lord Downes. It was sold by them in 1909 to Lady Geoghegan who then sold it onto her cousin, Major Quirke.“
2. Firmount, Clane, County Kildare – whole house or weddings
“Firmount House is a unique and stunning venue just outside Clane in County Kildare, only 40minutes from Dublin city centre. Lovingly restored by the owners, the house is known for flexibility and creativity and is now open for weddings, private parties, film shoots, yoga retreats and corporate events. Enjoy visiting the Firmount website and see for yourself the lifelong journey these restoration warriors have taken to provide you with the perfect location in a wonderful, natural setting.
“This fabulous house consists of a sitting room, breakfast room and dining room downstairs reached from a large hallway, alongside a commercial kitchen and butlers pantry. The first floor consists of seven large and sumptuous bedrooms – five doubles and two twin rooms with plenty of room for two travel cots which are also provided. There are also six bathrooms. Heated by oil fired radiators, there are also two stoves in the main entertaining space.
“Firmount House has a colourful history dating from the 13th century when there was reputed to be a fortified house on the current site. The Down Survey of 1655 seems to show a house on the land (then known as Keapock). In the 18th century the house was owned by the Warburtons and sat on extensive grounds. The story of the current house really begins in 1878 when Hugh Henry Snr having married his cousin Emily Henry (of Lodge Park, site of the current K-club) bought Firmount house and renovated it extensively. It seems he took what was a Georgian house, wrapped it in concrete (one of the first houses of it’s kind) and added a Victorian wing to the South.
“The estate consisted of 409 acres at that point. Hugh Henry’s son, imaginatively named Hugh Jr, inherited the house in 1888 and lived there until 1917. It is rumoured that his wife, Eileen, had nightmares of the house going down in flames – although given it was made of concrete, we think she would have been ok. The house became a WWI hospital in 1917 and 390 soldiers were treated there until 1919, with no deaths registered – thank goodness for that. However the next decades were not so lucky for the house. In 1929 the house was bought by Kildare County Council and turned into a TB sanatorium. It ran as such until 1961. There are local stories of movies being run in the ballroom for patients with the now Mayor of Clane, at the projector. And of patients sitting on the elevated banks at the very front of the house on the roadside, watching life on the road go by but being unable to participate. 1964 brought the purchase of the house by the Department of Defence who ran it as a Control Centre for Nuclear Tracking and named it Section Seven Regional Control.
“Here things get really interesting as the basement of the house was intended to house senior officials, media and communications personel in the event of nuclear fall out. It is rumoured the Taoiseach (Irish prime-minister) was supposed to have a bunker on site and the house can still be found on Russian nuclear maps! This picture shows one of the several signs found in the house. The downside of government and county council ownership is that many original period features were lost through ignorance, neglect and the reinforcement of windows, floors, porticos and doors with concrete.
“The current “madthings” bought the house in 2012 with the aim of slowly bringing Firmount house back to life, window by window and floor by floor aswell as bringing Firmount forward into a gathering place with a welcome for all.“
3. Griesemount House, County Kildare, whole house rentals– see above
[6] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
www.bantryhouse.com Open dates in 2025: Apr 12-30, May 1-16, 18-30, June 1-30, July 1-11, 13-24, 26-31, Aug 1-31, Sept 1-26, 28-30, 10am-5pm
Fee: adult €14, OAP/student €11.50, child €5, any other concessions groups 8-20 people €10 and groups of 21or more people €9
donation
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
What we see today at Bantry House started as a more humble abode: a three storey five bay house built for Samuel Hutchinson in around 1690. It was called Blackrock. A wing was added in 1820, and a large further addition in 1845.
In the 1760s it was purchased by Captain Richard White (1700-1776). He was from a Limerick mercantile family and he had settled previously on Whiddy Island, the largest island in Bantry Bay. The Bantry website tells us that he had amassed a fortune from pilchard-fishing, iron-smelting and probably from smuggling, and that through a series of purchases, he acquired most of the land around Bantry including large parts of the Beare Peninsula, from Arthur Annesley, 5th Earl of Anglesey. The house is still occupied by his descendants, the Shelswell-White family.
Driving from Castletownshend, we entered the back way and not through the town. From the car park we walked up a path which gave us glimpses of the outbuildings, the west stables, and we walked all around the house to reach the visitors’ entrance. We were lucky that the earlier rain stopped and the sun came out to show off Bantry House at its best. I was excited to see this house, which is one of the most impressive of the Section 482 houses.
We missed the beginning of the tour, so raced up the stairs to join the once-a-day tour in June 2022. Unfortunately I had not been able to find anything about tour times on the website. We will definitely have to go back for the full tour! The house is incredible, and is full of treasures like a museum. I’d also love to stay there – one can book accommodation in one wing.
Captain Richard White married Martha Davies, daughter of Rowland Davies, Dean of Cork and Ross. During his time, Bantry House was called Seafield. They had a son named Simon (1739-1776), who married Frances Hedges-Eyre from Macroom Castle in County Cork. Their daughter Margaret married Richard Longfield, 1st Viscount Longueville.
Eyre family portrait of Robert Hedges-Eyre son of Richard Hedges-Eyre of Macroom Castle Co. Cork, courtesy Purcell Auctioneers Feb 2016. Robert Hedges Eyre (d.1840) restored Macroom castle and his daughter married the 3rd Earl of Bantry. Inherited by Olive White who married Lord Ardilaun it was eventually destroyed in 1922 by Republican forces long after it had ceased to have any military significance.
The house overlooks Bantry Bay which is formative in its history because thanks to its views, Richard’s grandson was elevated to an Earldom.
Frances Jane and Simon had a son, Richard (1767-1851), who saw French ships sail into Bantry Bay in 1796. The British and French were at war from February 1793. It was in gratitude for Richard’s courage and foresight in raising a local militia against the French that Richard was given a title.
There are four guns overlooking the bay. The two smaller ones are from 1780, and the larger one is dated 1796. One is French and dated 1795 and may have been captured from an invading French ship.
United Irishman Theobald Wolfe Tone was on one of the French ships, which were under command of French Louis Lazare Hoche.
Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763–98) (named after his godfather, Theobald Wolfe) had sought French support for an uprising against British rule in Ireland. The United Irishmen sought equal representation of all people in Parliament. Tone wanted more than the Catholic Emancipation which Henry Grattan advocated, and for him,the Catholic Relief Act of 1793 did not go far enough, as it did not give Catholics the right to sit in the Irish House of Commons. Tone was inspired by the French and American Revolutions. The British had specifically passed the Catholic Relief Act in the hope of preventing Catholics from joining with the French.
Theobald Wolf Tone, who was on the ships which Richard White spotted in Bantry Bay carrying the French who were coming to support Irish Independence.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that
“With the outbreak of war with France, Dublin Castle instituted a crackdown on Irish reformers who had professed admiration for the French, and by the end of the year the United Irishmen and the reform movement were in disarray. In quick succession, the Volunteers were proscribed, the holding of elected conventions was banned, and a number of United Irishmen… were hauled before the courts on charges of seditious libel.“
Tone went to the U.S. and thought he might have to settle there but with others’ encouragement he continued in his work for liberating Ireland. He went to France for support. As a result 43 ships were sent to France.
“In July 1796 Tone was appointed chef de brigade (brigadier-general) in Hoche’s army ... Finally, on 16 December 1796, a French fleet sailed from Brest crammed with 14,450 soldiers. On board one of the sails of the line, the Indomptable, was ‘Citoyen Wolfe Tone, chef de brigade in the service of the republic.’” [1]
Richard White had trained a militia in order to defend the area, and stored munitions in his house. When he saw the ships in the bay he raised defenses. However, it was stormy weather and not his militia that prevented the invasion. Tone wrote of the expedition in his diary, saying that “We were close enough to toss a biscuit ashore”.
The French retreated home to France, but ten French ships were lost in the storm and one, the Surveillante, sank and remained on the bottom of Bantry bay for almost 200 years.
For his efforts in preparing the local defences against the French, Richard White was created Baron Bantry in 1797 in recognition of his “spirited conduct and important service.” In 1799 he married Margaret Anne Hare (1779-1835), daughter of William the 1st Earl of Listowel in County Kerry, who brought with her a substantial dowry. In 1801 he was made a viscount, and in 1815 he became Viscount Berehaven and Earl of Bantry. He became a very successful lawyer and made an immense fortune.
Richard was not Simon White’s only son. Simon’s son Simon became a Colonel and married Sarah Newenham of Maryborough, County Cork. They lived in Glengariff Castle. Young Simon’s sister Helen married a brother of Sarah Newenham, Richard, who inherited Maryborough. Another daughter, Martha, married Michael Goold-Adams of Jamesbrook, County Cork and another daughter, Frances, married General E. Dunne of Brittas, County Laois. Another son, Hamilton, married Lucinda Heaphy.
A wing was added to the house in 1820 in the time of the 1st Earl of Bantry. This wing is the same height as the original block, but of only two storeys, and faces out to the sea. It has a curved bow at the front and back and a six bay elevation at the side. This made space for two large drawing rooms, and more bedrooms upstairs.
The house was greatly enlarged and remodelled in 1845 by the son of the 1st Earl, Richard (1800-1867). The 1st Earl had moved out to live in a hunting lodge in Glengariff. This son Richard was styled as Viscount Berehaven between 1816 and 1851 until his father died, when he then succeeded to become 2nd Earl of Bantry. He married Mary O’Brien, daughter of William, 2nd Marquess of Thomond, in 1836.
The 2nd Earl of Bantry and his wife travelled extensively and purchased many of the treasures in the house. The website tells us he was a passionate art collector who travelled regularly across Europe, visiting Russia, Poland, France and Italy. He brought back shiploads of exotic goods between 1820 and 1840.
To accommodate his new furnishings he built a fourteen bay block on the side of the house opposite to the 1820 addition, consisting of a six-bay centre of two storeys over basement flanked by four-storey bow end wings.
.”..No doubt inspired by the grand baroque palaces of Germany, he gave the house a sense of architectural unity by lining the walls with giant red brick pilasters with Coade-stone Corinthian capitals, the intervening spaces consisting of grey stucco and the parapet adorned with an attractive stone balustrade.“
He also lay out the Italianate gardens, including the magnificent terraces on the hillside behind the house, most of which was undertaken after he had succeeded his father as the second Earl of Bantry in 1851.
After his death in 1867 the property was inherited by his brother William, the third Earl (1801-1884), his grandson William the fourth and last Earl (1854-91), and then passed through the female line to the present owner, Mr. Shelswell-White.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us: “The house is entered through a glazed Corinthian colonnade, built onto the original eighteenth century front in the nineteenth century; there is a similar colonnade on the original garden front.” [2]
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs inside. You can see photographs of the incredible interior on the Bantry house website, and on the Irish Aesthete Robert O’Byrne’s blog. [3]
The rooms are magnificent, with their rich furnishings, ceilings and columns. Old black and white photographs show that even the ceilings were at one time covered in tapestries. The Spanish leather wallpaper in the stair hall is particularly impressive.
Mark Bence-Jones continues: “The hall is large but low-ceilinged and of irregular shape, having been formed by throwing together two rooms and the staircase hall of the mid-eighteenth century block; it has early nineteenth century plasterwork and a floor of black and white pavement, incorporating some ancient Roman tiles from Pompeii. From one corner rises the original staircase of eighteenth century joinery.”
Staircase in Bantry House, photograph courtesy of Bantry house website.
The website tells us: “Today the house remains much as the second earl left it, with an important part of his great collection still intact. Nowhere is this more son than the hall where visitors will find an eclectic collection garnered from a grand tour, which includes an Arab chest, a Japanese inlaid chest, a Russian travelling shrine with fifteenth and sixteenth century icons and a Fresian clock. There is also a fine wooden seventeenth century Flemish overmantel and rows of family portraits on the walls. The hall was created by combining two rooms with the staircase hall of the original house and consequently has a rather muddled shape, though crisp black and white Dutch floor tiles lend the room a sense of unity.. Incorporated into this floor are four mosaic panels collected by Viscount Berehaven from Pompeii in 1828 and bearing the inscriptions “Cave Canem” and “Salve.” Other unusual items on show include a mosque lamp from Damascus in the porch and a sixteenth century Spanish marriage chest which can be seen in the lobby.“
Bence-Jones continues: “The two large bow-ended drawing rooms which occupy the ground floor of the late eighteenth century wing are hung with Gobelins tapestries; one of them with a particularly beautiful rose-coloured set said to have been made for Marie Antoinette.“
The Drawing Room in Bantry House, photograph courtesy of Bantry house website.
The Royal Aubusson tapestries in the Rose drawing room, comprising four panels, are reputed to have been a gift from the Dauphin to his young wife-to-be Marie Antoinette. In the adjoining Gobelin drawing room, one panel of tapestries is said to have belonged to Louis Philippe, Duc D’Orleans, a cousin of Louis XV.
The website tells us: “The most spectacular room is the dining-room, dominated by copies of Allan Ramsay’s full-length portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte, whose elaborate gilt frames are set off by royal blue walls. The ceiling was once decorated with Guardi panels, but these have long since been removed and sold to passing dealers at a fraction of their worth. The differing heights of the room are due to the fact that they are partly incorporated in the original house and in the 1845 extension, their incongruity disguised by a screen of marble columns with gilded Corinthian capitals. Much of the furniture has been here since the second Earl, including the George III dining table, Chippendale chairs, mahogany teapoy, sideboards made for the room, and the enormous painting The Fruit Market by Snyders revealing figures reputedly drawn by Rubens – a wedding present to the first Countess.“
The Chippendale chairs and the George III dining table were made for the room.
King George III, a reproduction in Castletown, County Kildare.Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, a reproduction in Castletown, County Kildare.
The description on the website continues: “The first flight of the staircase from the hall belongs to the original early eighteenth century house, as does the half-landing with its lugged architraves. This leads into the great library, built around 1845 and the last major addition to the house. The library is over sixty feet long, has screens of marble Corinthian columns, a compartmented ceiling and Dublin-made mantelpieces at each end with overhanging mirrors. The furnishing retains a fine rosewood grand piano by Bluthner of Leipzig, still occasionally used for concerts. The windows of this room once looked into an immense glass conservatory, but this has now been removed and visitors can look out upon restored gardens and the steep sloping terraces behind. “
The Library in Bantry House, photograph courtesy of Bantry house website.
The third Earl, William Henry (1801-1884), succeeded his brother, who died in 1868. On 7 September 1840 William Henry’s surname was legally changed to William Henry Hedges-White by Royal Licence, adding Hedges, a name passed down by his paternal grandmother.
His grandmother was Frances Jane Eyre and her father was Richard Hedges Eyre. Richard Hedges of Macroom Castle and Mount Hedges, County Cork, married Mary Eyre. Richard Hedges Eyre was their son. He married Helena Herbert of Muckross, County Kerry. In 1760 their daughter, Frances Jane, married Simon White of Bantry, William Henry’s grandfather. When her brother Robert Hedges Eyre died without heirs in 1840 his estates were divided and William Henry the 3rd Earl of Bantry inherited the Macroom estate. [4] Until his brother’s death in 1868, William Henry Hedges-White had been living in Macroom Castle. [5]
Macroom Castle, photograph taken 2009 by “Shiny Things,” flickr constant commons.Macroom Castle gate house, photograph taken 2007 by Carole Waller, flickr constant commons.
William Henry Hedges-White married Jane Herbert in 1845, daughter of Charles John Herbert of Muckross Abbey in County Kerry (see my entry about places to visit in County Kerry).
In November 1853, over 33,000 acres of the Bantry estate were offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates Court, and a separate sale disposed of Bere Island. The following year more than 6,000 further acres were sold, again through the Encumbered Estates Court. Nevertheless in the 1870s the third earl still owned 69,500 acres of land in County Cork.
His son, the 4th Earl, died childless in 1891. The title lapsed, and the estate passed to his nephew, Edward Egerton Leigh (1876-1920), the son of the 4th Earl’s oldest sister, Elizabeth Mary, who had married Egerton Leigh of Cheshire, England. This nephew, born Edward Egerton Leigh, added White to his surname upon his inheritance. He was only fifteen years old when he inherited, so his uncle Lord Ardilaun looked after the estate until Edward came of age in 1897. William Henry Hedges-White’s daughter Olivia Charlotte Hedges-White had married Arthur Edward Guinness, 1st and last Baron Ardilaun. Edward Egerton’s mother had died in 1880 when he was only four years old, and his father remarried in 1889.
Lady Olivia-Charlotte White, Lady Elizabeth-Mary White and William, 4th Earl of Bantry, with a dog, Irish school c. 1860 courtesy Christies Irish Sale 2004. William Henry Hare Hedges-White (1801-1884) was the son of William Hedges-White, 3rd Earl of Bantry. His sister Olivia Charlotte Hedges-White married Arthur Edward Guinness (1840-1915), Baron Ardilaun, and they lived in Ashford Castle in County Mayo. Elizabeth Mary Gore Hedges-White, another sister, married Egerton Leigh.Bantry House, County Cork, photograph 1989 from the National Library, flickr constant commons.
Edward Egerton married Arethusa Flora Gartside Hawker in 1904. She was a cousin through his father’s second marriage. They had two daughters, Clodagh and Rachel. In March 1916 an offer from the Congested Districts’ Board was accepted by Edward Egerton Leigh White for 61,589 tenanted acres of the estate. [6] Edward Egerton died in 1920.
Patrick Comerford tells us in his blog that during the Irish Civil War in 1922-1923, the Cottage Hospital in Bantry was destroyed by fire. Arethusa Leigh-White offered Bantry House as a hospital to the nuns of the Convent of Mercy, who were running the hospital. Arethusa only made one proviso: that the injured on both sides of the conflict should be cared for. A chapel was set up in the library and the nuns and their patients moved in for five years. [7]
In 1926, Clodagh Leigh-White came of age and assumed responsibility for the estate. Later that year, she travelled to Zanzibar, Africa, where she met and married Geoffrey Shelswell, then the Assistant District Commissioner of Zanzibar. (see [7])
Geoffrey Shelswell added “White” to his surname when in 1926 Clodagh inherited Bantry estate after the death of her father. They had a son, Egerton Shelswell-White (1933-2012), and two daughters, Delia and Oonagh.
During the Second World War, the house and stables were occupied by the Second Cyclist Squadron of the Irish Army, and they brought electricity and the telephone to the estate.
Clodagh opened the house in 1946 to paying visitors with the help of her sister Rachel who lived nearby. Her daughter Oonagh moved with her family into the Stable Yard.
Clodagh remained living in the house after her husband died in 1962, until her death in 1978. Brigittte, wife of Clodagh’s son Egerton, writes:
“As far as I know it never occurred to Clodagh to live elsewhere. She thought nothing of having her sitting room downstairs, her kitchen and bedroom upstairs and her bathroom across the landing. No en suite for her! In the winter when the freezing wing howled through the house, she more or less lived in her fur coat, by all accounts cheerful and contented. She loved bridge and held parties, which took place in the Rose Drawing Room, or in the room next to the kitchen, called the Morning Room.“
Brigitte also tells of wonderful evenings of music and dance hosted by Clodagh and her friend Ian Montague, who had been a ballet dancer with the Royal Swedish Ballet. Ian put on plays and dancing in period costumes. Members of the audience were taught about eighteenth century dance and were encouraged to join in. I think we should hold such dances in the lovely octagon room of the Irish Georgian Society!
Clodagh’s son Egerton had moved to the United States with his wife Jill, where he taught in a school called Indian Springs. When his mother died he returned to Bantry. The house was in poor repair, the roof leaking and both wings derelict. Jill decided to remain in the United States with their children who were teenagers at the time and settled into their life there.
Bantry House features in Great Irish Houses, which has a foreward by Desmond FitzGerald and Desmond Guinness (IMAGE Publications, 2008). In the book, Egerton is interviewed. He tells us:
p. 68. “The family don’t go into the public rooms very much. We live in the self-contained area. I remember before the war as children we used the dining rooms and the state bedrooms, but after the war my parents moved into this private area of the house. It feels like home and the other rooms are our business. You never think of all that furniture as being your own. You think of it more as the assets of the company.”
The relatively modest private living quarters were completed in 1985. Sophie Shelswell-White, Egerton’s daughter, says, “When we were younger we shied away from the main house because of the intrusion from the public. Everyone imagines we play hide and seek all day long and we did play it a bit. We also used to run around looking for secret tunnels and passageways. I used to believe one day I’d push something and it would open a secret room, but it never happened.”
Mark Bence-Jones continues his description, moving to the stables: “Flanking the entrance front is an imposing stable range, with a pediment and cupola. The house is surrounded by Italian gardens with balustrades and statues and has a magnificent view over Bantry Bay to the mountains on the far shore. The demesne is entered by a fine archway.” (see [2])
The National Inventory tells us about the East Stables:
“A classically inspired outbuilding forming part of an architectural set-piece, the formal design of which dates to the middle of the nineteenth century when Richard White, Viscount Berehaven and later second Earl of Bantry, undertook a large remodelling of Bantry House. At this time the house was extended laterally with flanking six-bay wings that overlook the bay. This stable block and the pair to the south-west are sited to appear as further lateral extensions of the house beyond its wings; when viewed from the bay they might be read as lower flanking wings in the Palladian manner. This elaborate architectural scheme exhibits many finely crafted features including a distinguished cupola, playful sculptural detailing as well as cut stone pilasters to the façade. The survival of early materials is visible in a variety of fine timber sliding sash windows, which add to the history of the site.“
Egerton married Brigitte in 1981. They undertook many of the repairs themselves. They started a tearoom with the help of a friend, Abi Sutton, who also helped with the house. Egerton played the trombone and opened the house to musical events. They continued to open the house for tours. They renovated the went wing and opened it for bed and breakfast guests.
Coffee is served on the terrace, similar to that in the front, but only partly glazed. Unfortunately we arrived too late for a snack. Bantry House is breathtaking and its gardens and location magnify the grandeur. I like that the grandeur, like Curraghmore, is slightly faded: a lady’s fox fur worn down to the leather and shiny in places.
The balustraded area on the side of the house where tea and coffee are served overlooks a garden.
Brigitte and Egerton continued restoration of the house and started to tackle the garden. They repaired the fountain and started work on the Italian parterre. In 1998 they applied for an EEC grant for renovation of the garden. They restored the statues, balustrades, 100 Steps, Parterre, Diana’s Bed and fourteen round beds overlooking the sea.
The National Inventory tells us the five-bay two-storey west stables were also built c.1845. They have a pedimented central bay with cupola above, which has a copper dome, finial, plinth and six Tuscan-Corinthian columns. [8] The West Stables were used as a workshop for outdoor maintenance and repairs. They had fallen into disrepair but were repaired to rectify deteriorating elements with the help of the Heritage Council in 2010-11.
[2] Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988, Constable and Company Ltd, London.
[5] Shelswell-White, Sophie. Bantry House & Garden, The History of a family home in Ireland. This booklet includes an article by Geoffrey Shelswell-White, “The Story of Bantry House” which had appeared in the Irish Tatler and Sketch, May 1951.
I had initially published the County Tipperary OPW sites along with Munster counties of Clare and Limerick but the entry is too long so I am dividing it.
OPW sites in CountyTipperary:
1. Cahir Castle, County Tipperary
2. Damer House and Roscrea Castle, County Tipperary
3. Famine Warhouse 1848, County Tipperary
4. Holycross Abbey, County Tipperary – must prebook for tour
5. The Main Guard, County Tipperary – closed at present
6. Nenagh Castle, County Tipperary
7. Ormond Castle, Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary
8. Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary
see 2. Roscrea Castle and Damer House, County Tipperary
9. Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary
donation
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
“Cahir Castle is one of Ireland’s largest and best-preserved castles. It stands proudly on a rocky island on the River Suir.
“The castle was was built in the thirteenth century and served as the stronghold of the powerful Butler family. [The Archiseek website tells us it was built in 1142 by Conor O’Brien, Prince of Thomond] So effective was its design that it was believed to be impregnable, but it finally fell to the earl of Essex in 1599 when heavy artillery was used against it for the first time. During the Irish Confederate Wars it was besieged twice more.
“At the time of building, Cahir Castle was at the cutting edge of defensive castle design and much of the original structure remains.“
Our tour guide took us through the outside of the castle, showing us its defenses. Our tour ended inside the Great Hall, or dining hall.
“In the heart of Roscrea in County Tipperary, one of the oldest towns in Ireland, you will find a magnificent stone motte castle dating from the 1280s. It was used as a barracks from 1798, housing 350 soldiers, and later served as a school, a library and even a sanatorium.
“Sharing the castle grounds is Damer House, named for local merchant John Damer, who came into possession of the castle in the eighteenth century. The house is a handsome example of pre-Palladian architecture. It has nine beautiful bay windows. One of the rooms has been furnished in period style.
“How did an ordinary farmhouse near Ballingarry, County Tipperary, become the site of a bloody siege and a monument of the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848?
“It was here that rebels, under the leadership of Protestant aristocrat William Smith O’Brien, besieged 47 police officers who had barricaded themselves into the McCormack homestead, taking 5 children hostage. After two of their number were killed, the rebels finally gave in. They were later transported to penal colonies abroad.
“The Warhouse, as it became known, is now a museum. Its contents illuminate the history of the Young Irelander Rebellion, the trials of its leaders, their exile in Australia and escape to the USA. The exhibition places the rebellion in the context of the Great Famine and the upheaval that rocked Europe during that turbulent year.“
Traditionally it was known as Ballingarry Warhouse or The Widow McCormack’s House.
4.Holycross Abbey, County Tipperary:
Holycross Abbey, photograph from Ireland’s Content pool, by Liam Murphy 2016 for Failte Ireland [see 1]
“As destination for pilgrims, Holy Cross Abbey, near Thurles, County Tipperary, has a rich history. Pilgrims travelled here for eight centuries to venerate the relic after which the abbey and surrounding villages are named – a piece of the True Cross of Christ’s crucifixion.
“Today this working parish church is a peaceful landmark and a place for quiet contemplation and historical discovery. As well as inspecting the relic of the cross, you can marvel at the building’s ornate stonework. The chancel is possibly the finest piece of fifteenth-century architecture in the country. The abbey also houses one of the only surviving medieval wall paintings in Ireland.“
5.The Main Guard, Sarsfield Street, Clonmel, County Tipperary:
The Main Guard, or Clonmel Courthouse, County Tipperary. Photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage: five-bay two-storey courthouse and market house, built 1673, with arcaded ground floor to front and north gable, and pediment and cupola to roof.Until restored c.2000, building had been five-bay three-storey with triple public house front to ground floor, and timber sliding sash windows. Now in use as museum.The columns of the arcaded facades were recycled from the ruins of the Cistercian abbey of Inislounaght, to the west of the town and retain some decorative elements that testify to this fact.
General Information: 052 612 7484, mainguard@opw.ie
“In the seventeenth century County Tipperary was a palatinate, ruled by James Butler, duke of Ormond. When the duke decided he needed a new courthouse, he built one in the heart of Clonmel [built in 1673]. Later, when it was used as a barracks, it became known as the Main Guard.
“A fine two-storey symmetrical building, some elements of its design were based on works by the famous Sir Christopher Wren.
“In the eighteenth century it was the venue for the Clonmel Assizes. The most notable trial it witnessed was that of Father Nicholas Sheehy, the anti-Penal Laws agitator. Sheehy was hanged, drawn and quartered.
“In about 1810, the ground floor was converted into shops, but the building has recently undergone an award-winning restoration. The open arcade of sandstone columns is once again an attractive feature of the streetscape, while inside you will find a fantastic exhibition and event space.“
Main Guard, 1948, photograph from Dublin City Library and Archives. [2]
6. Nenagh Castle, County Tipperary
Nenagh Castle, photograph by Brian Morrison, 2017, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. [see 1]
General information: 067 33850, castlenenagh@gmail.com
The OPW doesn’t seem to have a site for this currently, but there is information at a site about Nenagh:
“Nenagh Castle was built by Theobald Walter (the first of the Butlers of Ormond) around 1200. To this day the cylindrical keep adorns the town and like most keeps it formed part of the perimeter of the fortress. The walls have now almost disappeared, but fragments remain.
“Built from limestone Nenagh Castle measures fifty-five feet in external diameter at the base and rises to a height of one hundred feet. The Castle features four storeys and thanks to a recent renovation this wonderful landmark now represents the town’s premier tourist attraction.
“The building and has stone spiral stairs to the top. There are 101 steps in all to the top. Access to the tower is through a passageway within the base of the wall. This has low head room and visitors will need to stoop to avoid hitting the stone above. All children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult. [3]
Nenagh Castle, photograph by Brian Morrison, 2017, for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool. [see 1]
7. Ormond Castle, Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary:
“Joined on to an earlier medieval riverside castle, Ormond Castle Carrick-on-Suir is the finest example of an Elizabethan manor house in Ireland. Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond [“Black Tom” (1531-1614)], built it in 1565 in honour of his distant cousin Queen Elizabeth.
“The magnificent great hall, which stretches almost the whole length of the building is decorated with some of the finest stucco plasterwork in the country. The plasterwork features portraits of Queen Elizabeth and her brother Edward VI and many motifs and emblems associated with the Tudor monarchy.“
Ormond Castle, Carrick-on-Suir 1949, photograph from Dublin City Library and Archive. [see 2]
James Butler the 12th Earl of Ormond and 1st Duke of Ormond (1610-1688) spent much of his time here and was the last of the family to reside at the castle. On his death in 1688 the family abandoned the property and it was only handed over to the government in 1947, who then became responsible for its restoration.
7. Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary:
Rock of Cashel, Co Tipperary photograph from Ireland’s Content pool, by Brian Morrison 2018 for Failte Ireland. [see 1]
General Information: 062 61437, rockofcashel@opw.ie
“Set on a dramatic outcrop of limestone in the Golden Vale, the Rock of Cashel, iconic in its historic significance, possesses the most impressive cluster of medieval buildings in Ireland. Among the monuments to be found there is a round tower, a high cross, a Romanesque chapel, a Gothic cathedral, an abbey, the Hall of the Vicars Choral and a fifteenth-century Tower House.
“Originally the seat of the kings of Munster, according to legend St. Patrick himself came here to convert King Aenghus to Christianity. Brian Boru was crowned High King at Cashel in 978 and made it his capital.
“In 1101 the site was granted to the church and Cashel swiftly rose to prominence as one of the most significant centres of ecclesiastical power in the country.
“The surviving buildings are remarkable. Cormac’s Chapel, for example, contains the only surviving Romanesque frescoes in Ireland.“
Rock of Cashel, 1955, from Dublin City Library and Archives [see 2].Rock of Cashel ca. 1901, photograph from National Library of Ireland Flickr constant commons.
8.Roscrea Castle and Damer House, County Tipperary:
Roscrea Castle, photograph from Ireland’s Content pool, by Chris Hill 2014 for Failte Ireland. [see 1]
General information: 0505 21850, roscreaheritage@opw.ie
“In the heart of Roscrea in County Tipperary, one of the oldest towns in Ireland, you will find a magnificent stone motte castle dating from the 1280s. It was used as a barracks from 1798, housing 350 soldiers, and later served as a school, a library and even a sanatorium.
“Sharing the castle grounds is Damer House, named for local merchant John Damer, who came into possession of the castle in the eighteenth century. The house is a handsome example of pre-Palladian architecture. It has nine beautiful bay windows. One of the rooms has been furnished in period style.
“The grounds also include an impressive garden with a fountain, which makes Roscrea Castle a very pleasant destination for a day out. There is also a restored mill displaying St Crónán’s high cross and pillar stone.“
This was originally the site of a motte and bailey fortification known as King John’s Castle. The original wooden castle was destroyed in the late 13th century and was replaced with a stone structure built in 1274-1295 by John de Lydyard. The castle was originally surrounded by a river to the east and a moat on the other sides. [4] It was granted to the Butlers of Ormond in 1315 who held it until the early 18th Century. The castle as we see it today was built from 1332.
The castle was used as a barracks from 1798, housing 350 soldiers. It was used later as a school, a library, and a tuberculosis sanatorium. Roscrea Castle fell into disrepair in the 19th century, and when the roof collapsed extensive repairs were needed in the 1850s. It was named a national monument in 1892, and is now under the care of the OPW.
Damer House is of three storeys and nine bays and has a scroll pediment doorway and inside, a magnificent carved staircase. The Irish Georgian Society was involved in saving it from demolition in the 1960s.
9.Swiss Cottage, Ardfinnan Road, Cahir, County Tipperary:
General Information: 052 744 1144, swisscottage@opw.ie
“The Swiss Cottage, just outside the heritage town of Cahir, is a cottage orné – a fanciful realisation of an idealised countryside cottage used for picnics, small soirees and fishing and hunting parties and was also a peaceful retreat for those who lived in the nearby big house.
Built in the early 1800s [around 1810] by Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Glengall, who, we believe, managed to persuade world-famous Regency architect John Nash to design it [he also designed Buckingham Palace for the Crown]. Originally, simply known as “The Cottage” it appears to have acquired its present name because it was thought to resemble an Alpine cottage.”
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
We visited Oakfield Park in July, on a trip to County Donegal. Unfortunately the house is not open to the public, but there is plenty to see in the grounds, and it has been created as a family-friendly destination complete with steam train! There’s also a shop and café.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage tells us that the house at Oakfield Park is a five-bay two-storey over basement former Church of Ireland deanery with dormer attic, built c. 1739, having courtyard of outbuildings to the north with curved screen walls to the north-west and north-east of the house. [1]
“This impressive, well-maintained and well-proportioned mid-eighteenth century country house retains its early form. It has recently been extensively conserved and retains its original character. It was originally built as the deanery for the Church of Ireland Diocese of Raphoe in 1739 at a cost of £1,680. Its form with dormer attic level and Tuscan pedimented porch was slightly old fashioned for its construction date and it has the appearance of the house dating to the second half of the seventeenth century or to the start of eighteenth century. This is something it shares with the contemporary Bogay House, which is located a few kilometres to the north-east of Oakfield.“
Bogay House, courtesy of daft.ieCantilevered staircase, Bogay House, courtesy of daft.ieCantilevered staircase, Bogay House, courtesy of daft.ie
The reason that the Inventory calls the style “old fashioned for its construction date” is because, according to Alistair Rowan in his Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster, the elevation has a seventeenth century character, or at latest, Queen Anne. It is “not essentially different from Inigo Jones’s design for Lord Maltravers at Lothbury in the City of London of 1638.”
It was William Cotterell, Dean of Raphoe, who commissioned the building of Oakfield Park. Robert O’Byrne tells us:
“Oakfield is of interest for many reasons, not least its links to one of the loveliest estates in England: Rousham, Oxfordshire. The main house at Oakfield, built in 1739 at a cost of £1,680, was commissioned by William Cotterell, then-Dean of Raphoe. Cotterell was a younger son of Sir Charles Lodowick Cotterell who, like his father before him (and several generations of the same family thereafter) held the court position of Master of Ceremonies. In 1741 Dean Cotterell’s brother, Sir Clement Cotterell who performed the same role in the royal household, inherited the Rousham estate from a cousin. William Kent had already been working on the gardens at Rousham but now also undertook improvements to the house. Clearly the Cotterell brothers were men of taste and this can also be seen at Oakfield even if Kent did not work there. In fact the house’s elevations are stylistically somewhat anachronistic and seem to harp back to the late 17th century. Nevertheless, it is a handsome building in an admirably chosen setting: on a bluff offering views across to Croaghan Hill some five miles away.” [3]
The Inventory continues with more particulars about Oakfield Park:
“The detail of Oakfield is kept to a minimum with plain sandstone eaves course while the impressive pedimented Tuscan porch provides an effective central focus. The ranges of outbuildings are hidden behind quadrant screen walls to the north-west of the house in a vaguely Palladian fashion, a style that was en vogue at the time of construction. The house is composed of graceful classical proportions with a rigid simplicity and order to all the three main elevations with the architectural composition defined by the diminishing size of openings on the upper levels, the raised ground floor, overhanging eaves and the central entrance doorway.
“Oakfield remained in use as a deanery until 1869 when it was purchased by Captain Thomas Butler Stoney of the Donegal Militia. Captain Stoney further built up the estate by acquiring additional land in Raphoe including the ruins of the Bishops Palace.“
Robert O’Byrne tells us that Thomas Butler Stoney was a younger son of James Stoney of Rossyvera, County Mayo and that as well as being a Captain in the Donegal Artillery Militia, Stoney also occupied all the other positions expected of someone in his position: County High Sheriff, Deputy Lieutenant of the county, Justice of the Peace. Following his death in 1912 Oakfield was inherited by his only son, Cecil Robert Vesey Stoney, a keen ornithologist who eventually moved to England in the early 1930s.
Rossyvera House, County Mayo, former home of Thomas Butler Stoney. Photograph courtesy of National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The National Inventory continues: “It was later the home of Captain George B. Stoney in 1881 and a Captain Thomas Butler Stoney in 1894 (Slater’s Directory). When Captain Stoney died in 1912 the house was inherited by his son Cecil who retained it and some land, letting it out during the 1920s and 30s.“
Robert O’Byrne tells us that the house and surrounding lands thereafter passed through several hands. The Oakfield Park website tells us it belonged to several local families, including the Morrows, Mc Elhinneys and Pattersons. Twenty-six years ago it was purchased by businessman Gerry Robinson who together with his wife Heather has since undertaken an extensive restoration of the property. The website tells us of their renovations:
“Alterations made during Victorian times and earlier were reversed and where possible the house returned to its original design. Wherever possible, the existing floorboards, stairs and panelling internally were retained and restored. The gardens have matured quickly and to-date more than 40,000 trees have been planted. An international collection of Oaks (Quercus) has been established in recent years. A Victorian Ram Pump which was installed at Oakfield Park in 1864 is still in operation. It was used to pump water from a nearby stream up to the main house. For any Donegal sightseeing visitors, this pump has been restored and is still in use today, supplying fresh water to the formal ponds in the walled garden.“
The Inventory continues: “Occupying attractive mature grounds with extensive recent alterations and additions, Oakfield Park is an important element of the built heritage of the Raphoe area and is an integral element of the social history as a former Church of Ireland deanery. It forms the centrepiece of a ground of related structures along with the walled garden (see 40906218) to the north-east, the complex of outbuildings (see 40906214) to the north-west, and the icehouse (see 40906219) to the south-east.“
Unfortunately we arrived too late in the day to see the upper gardens, which are only accessible via a guided tour. They include a clipped box parterre, planned by Tony and Elizabeth Wright, based on a design by Sebastiano Serlio, and a semi-circular pergola.
Robert O’Byrne tells us:
“Over the past two decades, not only have the Robinsons restored the residence at the centre of Oakfield, but they have created a 100-acre parkland around it. Some of this is based in the old walled gardens immediately adjacent to the house but the rest is spread over two areas bisected by a road. This division applies also to the spirit of the two sections, the upper garden having a more classical aspect thanks to elements such as a Nymphaeum on one side of the lake. The lower garden’s principal architectural feature is a newly-created castellated tower house overlooking another stretch of water. Between this pair of substantial structures are other, smaller buildings to engage a visitor’s interest. Oakfield is an admirable demonstration of what imaginative vision allied with sound taste can achieve. Walking around the grounds, it is hard to believe this is County Donegal. But that is what sets Oakfield apart: like Rousham on the other side of the Irish Sea, once inside the gates one is temporarily transported to Arcadia.“
The website tells us that there are many kilometres of designated walking paths through the gardens, which pass under native woodland, alongside sculpture, over natural wetland and via many beautiful viewpoints and features.
“Over 4.5km of narrow-gauge railway track weaves its way through the trees, around the lakes and along the meadows, revealing many pleasing vistas throughout the park – both sculpture and nature. Tickets and departure times are available at the gate on arrival, in Buffers restaurant or in the ice cream truck. No booking is required except for group visits. The trip will take about 15 minutes.
One of three locomotives in Oakfield Park, The Duchess of Difflin steam engine, with her carriages in the traditional red and cream livery of the Wee Donegal is a nostalgic delight that runs on the last Sunday of each month in the season – Steam Sunday. This is a family attraction in Donegal like no other.
At least one of the two diesels run every other day, at least on the hour. The Earl of Oakfield blue diesel engine, delights children, Thomas the Tank Engine fans and train enthusiasts alike and the green locomotive, Bishop Twysden is the first full locomotive ever built in Donegal.”
In the Lower Gardens, there are many sculptures. “The Longsleeper” by Lockie Morris is the largest, constructed from oak and steel. Other sculptures include “The Keepers of the Knowledge” and “Serene” by Owen Crawford, the “Love Seat” and a number of expertly crafted chainsaw sculptures by local carver, Gintas Poderys. Other garden sculpture in Oakfield park includes “Reading Chaucer” by sculptor Philip Jackson, known for his bronze sculptures depicting life-sized elongated figures. Then there is “Deer” by Rupert Till, two life-size mesh statues by one of the leading contemporary wire sculptors in the UK.
The website tells us about a maze, which unfortunately we did not get to try:
““A Maze” is a really popular addition to the park and offers hours of endless fun. The maze was designed by Jennifer Fisher and set out and planted by our team of gardeners at Oakfield Park.
The maze a must do family activity in Donegal suitable for both children and adults alike, working you way into the centre toward the imposing 10-metre-tall brick tower – then spend the afternoon trying to work your way out again! If you get stuck just look up the free Oakfield Park app where you can use the map to guide you out.“
Open dates in 2025: May 3-31, June 1-6, 10-13, 17-20, 24-27, Aug 16-29, 10am-2pm
Fee: adult/OAP/student €8, child €4, under 4 years free, groups discount
donation
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
We visited Larchill on a glorious sunny day in May 2022. The house has an excellent website explaining the fact that it is a ‘Ferme Ornée’ or Ornamental Farm and is the only surviving, near complete, garden of its type in Europe. It was created between 1740 and 1780.
The Ferme Ornée gardens of the mid 18th century were an expression in landscape gardening of the Romantic Movement. The National Inventory tells us that the house, ornamental farm yards and follies were built by Robert Watson, but it could have been for the previous owners, the Prentice family, a Quaker merchant family who lived in Dublin and at nearby Phepotstown and who owned the land of Larchill. According to the National Inventory, the farm yard was built around 1820, later than the house, which was built around 1790. [1] [2]
Robert Prentice leased Phepotstown in 1708 to grow flax for the production of linen and it seems that at this time he started to develop the land as a ‘Ferme Ornée.’ [3]
It was the current owners, Michael and Louisa de las Casas, who discovered the significance of the property, which had become overgrown and fallen into disrepair, due to a visit by garden historian Paddy Bowe,who was the first to realise that Larchill was a Ferme Ornée and an important ‘lost’ garden.
The website tells us about the idea of an ornamental farm:
“Emulating Arcadia, a pastoral paradise was created to reflect Man’s harmony with the perfection of nature. As is the case at Larchill, a working farm with decorative buildings (often containing specimen breeds of farm animal) was situated in landscaped parkland ornamented with follies, grottos and statuary. Tree lined avenues, flowing water, lakes, areas of light and shade and beautiful framed views combined to create an inspirational experience enabling Man’s spirit to rejoice at the wonder of nature.“
The owners continue the tradition of keeping specimen breeds with the long-horn cow, peacocks and quail. They used to be kept busy with tourists and children with an adventure area and collection of rare breeds of farmyard animal, but they no longer gear it toward such an audience.
The website continues: “At this time in Versailles, Marie Antoinette enjoyed extravagant pastoral pageants, housed specimen cattle in highly decorated barns, while she herself is said to have dressed as a milk maid complete with porcelain milk churns. Freed from the restrictions of the 17th century formal garden, the Ferme Ornée represented the first move towards the fully fledged landscape parkland designs of Capability Browne.“
I recently visited the exhibition of “In Harmony with Nature: The Irish Country House Garden 1600-1900” at the Irish Georgian Society, curated by Robert O’Byrne. He describes the Romantic movement and landscape design of Capability Brown:
From exhibition of “In Harmony with Nature: The Irish Country House Garden 1600-1900” at the Irish Georgian Society, curated by Robert O’Byrne.
The Larchill website continues: “The Prentice family had trading connections throughout Europe and would have been aware of the new fashion in garden design: in particular the famous gardens of Leasowes and Woburn Farm in England. In Ireland the Prentice’s townhouse was adjacent to the home of Dean Swift in Dublin where he had developed his orchard and garden, ‘Naboth’s Vineyard.’ Dean Swift and his great friend Mrs Delaney (known today for her exquisite floral collages) were most closely associated in Ireland with knowledge of the new movement in garden design. Larchill was only 10 miles from Dangan Castle [now a ruin], often visited by Mrs Delaney, where from 1730 an extravagant 600 acres of land was embellished with a 26 acre lake, temples, statuary, obelisks and grottos by Richard Wellesley, Earl of Morningtonand Grandfather of the Duke of Wellington [I think this was Richard Wesley (c.1690-1758), first Baron of Mornington. He was born Richard Colley but took the name Wesley when he inherited Dangan from his cousin Garret Wesley. [4] Mrs Delaney writes that he had a complete man-of-war ship on his lake!]. This is entirely contemporary with the Prentice’s period of garden development on their estate.“
Robert O’Byrne writes of Larchill in his blog and tells us more about the beginnings of the movement for “ornamental farms”:
“Despite its French name, the concept of the ferme ornée is of English origin and is usually attributed to the garden designer and writer Stephen Switzer.* [*Incidentally, Stephen Switzer was no relation to the Irish Switzers: whereas his family could long be traced to residency in Hampshire, the Switzers who settled in this country in the early 18th century had come from Germany to escape religious persecution.] His 1715 book The Nobleman, Gentleman, and Gardener’s Recreation criticized the overly elaborate formal gardens derived from French and Dutch examples, and proposed laying out grounds that were attractive but also functional: ‘By mixing the useful and profitable parts of Gard’ning with the Pleasurable in the Interior Parts of my Designs and Paddocks, obscure enclosures, etc. in the outward, My Designs are thereby vastly enlarg’d and both Profit and Pleasure may be agreeably mix’d together.’ In other words, working farms could be transformed into visually delightful places. One of the earliest examples of the ferme ornée was laid out by Philip Southgate who owned the 150-acre Woburn Farm, Surrey on which work began in 1727. ‘All my design at first,’ wrote Southgate, ‘was to have a garden on the middle high ground and a walk all round my farm, for convenience as well as pleasure.’ The fashion for such designs gradually spread across Europe as part of the adoption of natural English gardens: perhaps the most famous example of the ferme ornée is the decorative model farm called the Hameau de la Reine created for Marie Antoinette at Versailles in the mid-1780s. The most complete extant example of this garden type in Europe is believed to be at Larchill, County Kildare.” [5]
The Larchill website continues: “Thus there were many sources of reference for the Prentice family as they created their own pastoral paradise before falling on hard times and bankruptcy due to failure in their trading enterprises [around 1760]. The Ferme Ornée gardens were, as a result, leased separately from Phepotstown House and became known as Larchill after a boundary of Larch trees was planted around the farm and garden in the early 1800’s.“
The Watsons leased the property in 1790 and the farm manager’s house was upgraded with additions at this time (around 1780). (see [3])
The website Meath History Hub gives us more information about the inhabitants of Larchill:
“Richard Prentice, a haberdasher from The Coombe in Dublin occupied Larch Hill in the late eighteenth century. He may have established a Ferme Ornéeat Larchhill and constructed the follies although they are generally dated to later.Mr. Prentice was declared bankrupt in 1790, owing ten thousand pounds to a Mr John Smith in Galway.
In 1790 the lease at Phepotstown was taken over by Thomas Watson. The Watson family were a Quaker family from Baltracey, Edenderrry. The house at Larch Hill may have been constructed at this time. Thomas died in 1822. His brother, Samuel Eves Watson [1785-1835], took a lease on Larchill when he married Margo Doyle in 1811. In 1820, Samuel E. Watson inherited half the estate of his uncle, Samuel Russell, in Hodgestown, Timahoe. This brought together four estates with a total area of 1,627 acres. When he died in 1836 his grandson, Samuel Neale [or was Samuel Neale his nephew, son of his sister Anna Watson?], got the estate but he had to take the name Watson in order to inherit. In 1837 Larch Hill, Kilmore, Kilcock was the residence of S.E. Watson. Its grounds were embellished with grottoes and temples. Samuel Neale Watson, as he was now known, married Susanna Davis in 1840 and lived mainly in Dublin. Samuel Neale Watson died in 1883. Seamus Cullen has researched the history of the Watson family.” [6]
The property is mainly notable for its follies, but the house is lovely too, an old Quaker farmhouse.
He greeted us outside the barns, and brought us through the house. The house was built around 1780, and entering the back door, one can see the age – one senses it in the walls in the back hallway, which are not as smooth and straight as in a modern house, and they seem to sit more firmly in the ground. The ceilings are also higher.
Although a farmhouse, it has lovely coving in the drawing room, a ceiling rose and marble fireplace.
The Larchill website continues, about the early 1800s: “It was after this time that the local Watson family leased Larchill and the famous connection was made, to this day, between Robert Watson, Master of the Carlow and Island Hounds and the Fox’s Earth folly. Although the Fox’s Earth would certainly predate the Watson’s tenure at Larchill [he died in 1908], and the fact that Robert Watson was only a distant relative of the Watsons at Larchill, still it is believed that the Fox’s Earth was constructed in response to Robert Watson’s guilt at having killed one too many foxes and his fear of punishment in reincarnation as a fox.”
The Larchill website the National Inventory tell us that according to folklore the Fox’s Earth was created by Mr Robert Watson, a famous Master of Hounds in the 18th Century who feared punishment through re-incarnation as a fox, having killed one too many foxes during his hunting career. References I have found refer to the 19th century Robert Watson who was master of the hunt. [7] I’m not sure if there was an 18th Century Robert Watson to whom the Larchill website refers. Robert Watson (1821-1908) of the Hunt lived at Ballydarton, County Carlow. [8] Maybe he influenced his Watson relatives who lived at Larchill to ensure that the odd structure would act as a “fox’s earth” in case he was reincarnated as a fox! Whatever the case, it makes a great story! Ideas of reincarnation were, the Larchill website tells us, being explored at this time through the Romantic movement as established Christian doctrine came into question. It is feasible that there was every intention to create a Fox’s refuge with the design of this folly.
The “Fox’s Earth” folly structure, the website tells us, comprises an artificial grassed mound within which is a vaulted inner chamber with gothic windows and entrance. A circular rustic temple surmounts the mound. Externally it is reminiscent of an ice house.
Leading away, on either side from the vaulted interior, are tunnels disappearing into the mound. These ‘escape’ tunnels seem to corroborate the story of this being a “Fox’s Earth”, a refuge and escape route for a fox pursued by the hunt.
The National Inventory calls it a Mausoleum: “Mausoleum and folly, built c.1820. Comprising three-bay single-storey dressed limestone façade set into artificial mount, with rustic temple set on the mount. Pointed arch openings to three-bay façade. Rubble stone walls to site, with circular profile piers. Circular profile temple, comprising six columns, capped with dome. Rubble stone bridge to the site.” [9]
Another possibility that Michael told us is that the temple is a Temple of Venus. Inside its tunnels are in the shape of a woman’s reproductive system, with a womb and fallopian tubes. It could have been a sort of temple to fertility.
The Larchill website continues: “Although described in the notes to the 1836 Ordnance Survey as ‘the most fashionable garden in all of Ireland’ over the decades knowledge of the Larchill Ferme Ornée faded. The parkland returned to farmland, the lake was drained and the formal garden was lost and used to graze sheep. Although the follies became semi derelict and obscured by undergrowth and trees, the mystery and beauty of Larchill was still recognised. Folklore stories of hauntings and the ‘strange’ nature of Larchill ensured its continued notoriety.
The Meath History Hub tells us: “The Barry family resided at Larchhill from the 1880s until 1993. Christopher and Maria Barry donated the Stations of the Cross to Moynalvey church. Christopher died before 1911 leaving Maria a widow.” (see [6])
In 1994 the de Las Casas family acquired Larchill. Four years of restoration followed with the aid of a grant from the Great Gardens of Ireland Restoration Program and a FAS Community Employment Project.
In recognition of the quality and sensitivity of the restoration program Larchill Arcadian Garden has been awarded the 1988 National Henry Ford Conservation Award, the 1999 ESB Community Environment Award and the 2002 European Union Environmental Heritage Award.
We then went outside to explore. Michael gave us a map to follow around the grounds. First he showed us the ingenious mechanism in the ornamental gate:
Before we walked the circumference of the field and lake, Michael showed us to the walled garden behind the house. On the way we passed a statue of Flora:
The ornamental dairy used to have Dutch tiles but unfortunately a previous owner removed them! Ornamental dairies were common in ornamental farms, and were places where products of the dairy could be sampled if not actually made there.
The tower, called a “Cockle Tower,” is decorated with shells, but unfortunately it needs to be stabilised before one could safely enter. I did manage to see the inside of the shell tower by looking through a window. We saw a shell house in Curraghmore in County Waterford, and Mary Delany is famous for her shell work. There is also one nearby at Carton Estate.
The website tells us that in the case of the Larchill Shell Tower, where lower rooms are decorated with shells laid in geometric patterns, the shells appear to be mostly native varieties, many are cockles with some exotic exceptions such as conches – perhaps sourced via the trading connections of the 18th century Prentice family who created the Ferme Ornée at Larchill.
After we explored the walled garden, we set off to see the follies dotted around the lake. On the lake itself are two follies: the Gibraltar and the round temple. A previous owner had drained the lake but the current owners reinstated it, as water is an essential element of an ornamental farm, creating a romantic landscape. We learned a charming new word: marl clay lines the bottom of the lake. To prepare the clay before the lake was filled with water, the land underwent the process of “puddling.” This is letting sheep loose on the clay to walk it into the ground.
Gibraltar: This is a castellated miniature fort with circular gun-holes and five battlemented towers situated on one of two islands within the lake. It would have been constructed just shortly before, or at the same time as, the famous defense by the British of their garrison on Gibraltar against the Spanish during the ‘Great Siege’ of 1779 to 1783. The siege, which lasted nearly three and half years through starvation and repeated onslaughts by the Spanish, was impressive news at the time and must have motivated the naming of the fortress as Gibraltar.
There is a similar “Gibraltar” tower in Heathfield Park Estate in East Sussex. In 1791 Francis Newbery bought Bailey Park, an estate in East Sussex, which he renamed the Heathfield Park Estate. One of his first projects was to create a memorial to the former owner of the estate, George Augustus Eliot, who had been Governor at Gibraltar during the lengthy ‘Great Siege’ by the Spanish and French of 1779-1783. In 1787 Eliot was created Lord Heathfield of Gibraltar in recognition of his service to his country, and his death in 1790 had been marked by long eulogies in the press. The tower was later sketched by Turner as part of his commission to provide illustrations for Cooke’s Views in Sussex. [11]
However the fortress at Larchill was much more a source of pleasure and entertainment, the Larchill website tells us, with stories of mock battles across the lake.
The website tells us about the Lake Temple: it “is a circular island building in the lake to the west of Gibraltar. The outer wall has decorative recesses and the internal circle of columns surrounds a well-like central core.
There is evidence that the columns may have originally been partially roofed so as to direct rainwater into the well itself. It is possible that the design was intended to emulate the plunge pool baths of Ancient Rome, such as the famous pool at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli.”
There used to be a causeway out to the island temple. Another theory is that the well and round temple could have been part of a sham Druidic temple. Tim Gatehouse writes of a Grand Lodge of Irish Druids in the 1790s, whose summer activities included visits to members’ estates. (see [3])
Ballysallagh House dates from 1722, as we can see on the date stone set in the wall next to the front door. [1] It is a Classical style house built on a T shape, with the stairs in the stem of the “T,” or the single bay full-height return, at the back of the house. The house is of two storeys over basement, with a dormer attic, and is five bays across, with a full-height pedimented entrance breakfront in the centre of one bay width.
The house has a tooled-cut round-headed Gibbsean doorcase with keystone and a Gothic glazed fanlight. A Gibbsean doorcase is an eighteenth century treatment of door or window surround seen particularly in the work of the British architect, James Gibbs (1862-1754), characterised by alternating large and small blocks of stone or intermittent large blocks and a head composed of five voussoirs (the wedge-shaped blocks forming an arch) and a pediment or entablature. [2]
The pediment of the breakfront has a lunette window at attic level. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage description tells us that the attic level may have been added later. [3]
Owners Geralyn and Kieran welcomed us on our visit, and we stopped outside so that they could introduce us to the special features and details of the house and its history.
Kieran speculated that the central breakfront may be the oldest part of the house, with the corner quoins part of a later addition, which makes sense since they do not quite mirror each other. The limestone dressings include a chamfered plinth course to the basement (i.e. a chamfered edge is a surface formed by cutting off a square edge, usually at an angle of forty-five degrees and a plinth is a projecting base beneath a wall or column). The window openings to the basement are camber-headed (i.e. slightly upward curved) whereas the rest of the windows have square headed openings. The windows on the lower level are taller than the windows at the upper level.
Eight limestone steps lead up to the timber panelled front door, with iron railings. Around the house is a ha-ha, created so that from the house the landscape looks continuous, but in reality the ditch around the house prevents animals such as cattle and sheep from approaching too near the house.
The National Inventory describes the entrance gates:
“Gateway, c.1725, to south-east comprising pair of limestone ashlar piers with cut-limestone capping, iron double gates, iron flanking pedestrian gates, limestone ashlar outer piers having cut-limestone capping, and painted rendered curved flanking walls over random rubble stone construction having cut-limestone coping.” [see 2]
The land of Ballysallagh was owned by the Purcell family, who came to Ireland during the Anglo-Norman incursion in the twelfth century. Ballysallagh land was in the hands of the Purcells by December 1571 when Nicholas Purcell fitz Edmund of Ballysallagh was pardoned by the crown authorities, according to Robert O’Byrne. [4]
Richard Purcell was granted the feudal title of Baron of Loughmoe (in County Tipperary) in 1328 by the first Earl of Ormond, James Butler. [see 4]
A “baron” is a title related to land – a baron is the head of a barony. A good explanation of the term “baron” can be found on the website of “The Baronage Press.” It tells us that in classical Latin baro means dunce or fool. In Low Latin baro means slave or servant – but servants in the houses of the greater nobles of the eleventh century tended to be young men from noble families. The website also tells us that in the early feudal times this was extended to allow the king’s barons, his tenants-in-chief, to have their own barons through a process of “subinfeudation,” but the continuation of this practice was restricted in England when King Edward I [1239-1307] recognised the danger it represented to his centralised power and fiscal efficiency. By 1328 Edward III was king. The 1st Earl of Ormond was palatine Lord of Tipperary (a palatine was an area ruled by a hereditary nobleman enjoying special authority and autonomy from the rest of a kingdom), and granted the feudal title to the Baron of Loughmoe. [5] There were several palatine districts in Ireland, of which the most notable were those of the Earls of Desmond and the Earls of Ormond in Tipperary. The latter continued until abolished by the County Palatine of Tipperary Act 1715. A Baron does not hold a peerage, so did not have a right to sit in the House of Lords. [6] One feudal title that continued until recently is the Knight of Glin.
The Barons of Loughmoe built Loughmoe Castle, County Tipperary, which still stands as an impressive ruin, rather similar to Kanturk Castle in County Cork or even Portumna Castle in County Galway, both of which one can visit (Kanturk and Portumna are OPW owned properties, whereas Loughmoe is on private land). [7] The Purcells were allied with the powerful Butler family, and intermarried with them over the generations.
James Purcell (1609-1652) 12th Baron of Loughmoe married the sister of the 1st Duke of Ormond, Elizabeth Butler (1613-1675). He is buried at Holycross Abbey. His son Nicholas was the last Baron of Loughmoe. James and Nicholas lost their lands at Ballysallagh and Loughmoe in 1653 under the Cromwellian seizures and in the 1652 Act of Settlement. (see [3])
James died in 1652 and his wife Elizabeth married for a second time, to Colonel John Fitzpatrick (1640-1694), son of the 3rd Baron of Upper Ossory, (Florence Fitzpatrick). Colonel Fitzpatrick recovered the land which had been owned by the Purcells, on behalf of his stepson Nicholas. In the Down Survey, as we saw on a large map in the house at Ballysallagh, Nicholas Purcell is listed as owner of the land at Ballysallagh.
The Down Survey was taken in 1656-58, the first ever detailed land survey that was completed on a national scale in the world. It does not have to do with County Down, as I assumed, but the survey mapped “down” the townlands of Ireland. It especially measured land forfeited by Irish Catholics in order to facilitate its redistribution. The survey was carried out by Sir William Petty.
Information about the Down Survey, on information boards in Ardgillan Castle, Dublin.Information about the Down Survey, on information boards in Ardgillan Castle, Dublin.
Ballysallagh is unusual in that it remained in Catholic ownership. The owners did not rely on land ownership for their income, but were of the professional class, with homes also in Dublin. The house passed from Purcell to Byrne ownership by marriage, and then to the Doyle family, also by marriage.
Robert O’Byrne tells us that in the early 18th century James Purcell was living at Ballysallagh and in 1720 his daughter and heiress, Mary Purcell wed Gerald Byrne from County Carlow. Mary and her husband were assigned the property as part of the marriage settlement. It seems likely the couple built the present house soon afterwards in 1722, as noted on the date stone.
Daniel Byrne-Rothwell writes in his book, The Byrnes and O’Byrnes: A Social History of the Clan, volume 2, published in 2010, (p. 92) that Gerald Byrne was the grandson of Edmond mac Hugh Geangach O’Byrne (c. 1652-1737), also known as Edmond “Concagh” of Ballinakill, and his father was Phelim Byrne of Tankardstown, County Carlow.
The house continued to remain in the same family hands until 1939. It passed from Mary Purcell and Gerald Byrne via their only surviving child, Catherine Byrne, who married William Doyle of County Kildare, to their grandson, Gerald Doyle, in 1760, upon the death of Gerald Byrne.
Daniel Byrne-Rothwell tells us that by 1767 a Robert Kelly (d. 1786) was inhabiting Ballysallagh. He was a brother-in-law of the Byrne family, being married to Elinor Byrne (1740-1800). However, Gerald Doyle who had inherited from his grandfather, and his brother Lawrence, were back living in Ballysallagh by 1770. Gerald Doyle of Ballysallagh died in 1816 and his brother Lawrence Doyle of Ballysallagh died in 1812.
Catherine Byrne died at the young age of 26 and her husband William Doyle remarried. He married another Purcell, Frances Purcell of Usher’s Island, Dublin. I am not sure if the two Purcell families are related to each other beyond by the marriage to William Doyle!
William and Frances Doyle nee Purcell went on to have more children. Neither Gerald Doyle who inherited Ballysallagh nor his brother Lawrence had children, so Gerald sold his interest in Ballysallagh to his stepmother, Frances Doyle nee Purcell, in 1785, along with 450 acres. In this way, Ballysallagh remained in the family and passed to a son from William Doyle’s second marriage, another William Doyle, Barrister.
This younger William Doyle, Geralyn told us, also owned property at 46 Rutland Square West (now Parnell Square) in Dublin. The younger William Doyle died unmarried in 1847 and Ballysallagh passed to his brother, Joseph Doyle, a doctor who served as Surgeon to the College at Maynooth, County Kildare. He also had a property at 41 Blessington Street in Dublin.
Joseph Doyle married another Purcell! I do not know his wife’s name, but they had a son, John Joseph Doyle, who inherited Ballysallagh, and lived there until his death in 1890 at the age of 75 (his wife Eliza died in 1900, daughter of Thomas Hartford). In 1876 he is recorded as holding 572 acres at Ballysallagh. John Joseph’s son Gerald Doyle was the last of the family to live at Ballysallagh: following his death in 1939 for the first time the place was put on the market. Gerald had a brother, Major Joseph Ignatius Purcell Doyle, Royal Army Medical Corps, who died in 1913 in France.
In February 1940 Ballysallagh was sold, and the following month, the contents of the house were auctioned. There is a poster in the house advertising the sale. Robert O’Byrne points out that the newspaper advertisement listed many of the items for sale, including a ‘large Antique Hanging China Display Press, enclosed by two glazed panel doors of unique design, Ornamental Frieze and Fluted Columns.’ This, however, remains in the Hall of the house.
Kieran and Geralyn White purchased the house in 1987, falling in love with the architecture and the house’s possibilities. They have done much to renovate the house, both inside and out. In recognition of their care, in 2020 they received the inaugural O’Flynn Group Heritage Prize. A newspaper article from December 2020 by Gemma Tipton in the Irish Times tells us that architectural historian Robert O’Byrne created this annual prize of €5,000, which acknowledges the owners’ commitment to the preservation of buildings. [8] In 2021 the owners of Clonalis in County Roscommon won the prize.
The front hall is divided from the stair hall by folding doors which were introduced in 1810. A fanlight stretches across the division, and it matches the China display press. The display cabinet is of a wagon wheel design, and the fanlight is made up of similar spokes, and is made from the same dark wood. The cabinet is beautifully carved and decorative with fluted columns and frieze. There is a pattern of foxgloves on the spokes of the cabinet, which could refer to frescoes of foxglove found in Pompeii. The edges of the fanlight has a sunburst pattern, or what looked to me like a ruffle or the folds of an accordion. This pattern is repeated on the window shutters.
The fanlight over the front door is similarly matched by a fanlight visible from the front hall, over a door leading to the basement and kitchen, reached by descending a few stairs. The front door fanlight is also echoed in both the front and back of the house, in the attic storey. Robert O’Byrne tells us that the one in the front in the attic level was installed by the current owners.
The front hall has a lovely wide plaster frieze and cornice and is quite spacious. Here we paused while Geralyn and Kieran pointed out the special features in the cabinet and fanlight and plaster. The details show that the house was designed for someone with a good eye for detail and with knowledge of contemporary trends, influenced by Europe and even the discovery of the ruins of Pompei and Herculaneum.
The ceiling rose is unusual, with the Prince of Wales feather motif. The front door is the original to the house.
The stair hall is in the single bay full height return.
Ballysallagh house: the single bay full height return which contains the stair hall,photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The main reception rooms lie on either side of the entrance hall. In the Drawing Room, Geralyn told us about the portraits which she was fortunate enough to identify and to bring back to their home, a marriage pair of John Doyle and Frances Savage from 1770 attributed to Thomas Pole Stevens. According to the Adams Catalogue which I found online when “googling” their names, John Doyle died May 1819, and is recorded in the archives of the Royal College of Surgeons as being of 14 Usher’s Island, Dublin. Geralyn told us that Frances Savage was John Doyle’s second wife, and that she was from Finglaswood House (formerly owned by the Seagrave family [9]), which was also called King James’s Castle as King James II was said to have stayed there when fleeing the Battle of the Boyle.
Frances née Savage, wife of John Doyle FRCS, 14 Ushers Island, Dublin (died in May 1819), courtesy of Adam’s auction 11 Oct 2011, attributed to Thomas Pope-Stevens c.1780.
The duck-egg blue drawing room has a good white marble chimneypiece, and carved panelled shutters. Some of the shutters and other repairs to the house are salvaged from Long Orchard House, County Tipperary, home of Barrister and Master of the Mint Richard Lalor Sheil (setting of The Big Wind by Beatrice Coogan).
The dining room has brass picture rails and curtain rails, which Kieran told us were covered with layers of paint. It has a black Kilkenny marble fireplace, as does the golden yellow study, or morning room, also on the ground floor. Also on the ground floor, next to the dining room, is a Butler’s pantry with its original shelves and hooks for hanging game, and lovely large windows. The shouldered architrave on the door shows us, Kieran pointed out, that this part of the house was not modernised during the 1810 renovations.
The wooden staircase leads up to a spacious upper hall, with four bedrooms off it. Stairs lead from this hall to the upper level, to which we did not ascend. The large size of the upper hall with its impressive height adds to the grandeur of the house.
Stone stairs lead to the basement, where the kitchen is still located, although it does not feel like a basement as it has newly installed French doors and plenty of sunlight. On the way down, Kieran pointed out the handy built-in “shoe cricket” at the bottom of the stairs – a contraption with a handle and grip for removing boots!
The Whites had a French drain installed around the house to dry the dampness from the basement, and they recently renovated another room in the basement, creating a wonderfully cosy library with some shelving created from doorcases salvaged from Long Orchard and others newly carved to match.
The gardens of Ballysallagh have been created to complement the sophistication of the house. Geralyn has developed several gardens, the crowning glory being the Winter Garden, which has clipped hedges in a design which Geralyn created to reflect the gothic windows that light the staircase. I had coincidentally only come across the description of a “winter garden” that week having read a review by Fionnuala Fallon in the Irish Times (published Saturday 29th January 2022) of a newly published book by Andrew Montgomery and Clare Foster, Winter Gardens, a book of photographs displaying the sculptural beauty of winter gardens.
Help me to pay the entrance fee to one of the houses on this website. This site is created purely out of love for the subject and I receive no payment so any donation is appreciated!
€15.00
[1] Daniel Byrne-Rothwell writes in his book, The Byrnes and O’Byrnes: A Social History of the Clan, volume 2, published in 2010, that in December 1808 Ballysallagh House together with 50 acres of land was advertised to let and the house is described as “lately built.” The 1722 date stone was discovered in the attic, so Byrne-Rothwell speculates that it may have been recycled from an earlier house.
[2] p. 28. Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
Irish Historic Houses 
