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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.
“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.
“Inside, there is a graceful spiral staircase and some exquisitely decorated rooms. The wallpaper is partly original and partly the fruit of a 1980s restoration project, in which the renowned fashion designer Sybil Connolly was responsible for the interiors.“
We visited the Swiss Cottage in June 2022. The guide told us that the Glengalls probably never even spent a night in their cottage! They used it for entertaining. They lived in the town of Cahir, in what is now Cahir House Hotel, a house that was more comfortable than Cahir Castle, which they also owned.
Richard Butler (1775-1819) 1st Earl of Glengall was the 12th Baron Caher. He was the illegitimate son of James Butler, 11th Baron Caher (d. 1788). The Butlers sent him away with his mother to France to prevent his ever learning of his noble lineage and claims to his family’s title.
His father succeeded his distant cousin Piers Butler (1726-1788) as 11th Baron Caher, as Piers had no offspring. However, the 11th Baron died suddenly the following month with no legitimate son, so Richard became the rightful heir to the title. Unaware of his inheritance, he grew up in poverty in a garret in Paris, where his mother was obliged to winnow corn and occasionally beg for subsistence. [1]
One day Arabella Jefferyes née Fitzgibbon, sister of the Lord Chancellor John Fitzgibbon, wife of James St John Jefferyes of Blarney Castle, Co. Cork, was passing through Cahir and heard about the illegitimate son of the 11th Baron Caher. She determined to go to Paris to find the young man!
She managed to find him and brought him back to Ireland. Probably with the assistance of her brother, she brought the case before the courts and succeeded in having Richard declared the rightful heir of the Caher title and estate. This must have been a large fortune, for she then arranged to have her youngest daughter Emily, who was eight years his senior, marry the newly discovered Lord Caher, despite the fact that Richard Butler was not yet of an age to be married, being just 18 years old. The Lord Chancellor was furious and threatened to put his sister in gaol! However, he did not, and the marriage was allowed.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us that Richard, probably under pressure from his mother-in-law, renounced his Catholicism and converted to the established church. He was accepted readily into society, and became governor of County Tipperary and a trustee of the board of the linen manufacturers. [see 1].
Richard was a representative peer (baron) in the UK parliament from 1801, and was created Viscount Caher and Earl of Glengall on 22 January 1816. He remained till his death a loyal supporter of the government and regularly voted against any pro-Catholic proposals, the Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us.
A Swiss Cottage, or cottage ornee, was the ultimate in impressive entertainment. It was meant to look like it had grown from the ground, and it was designed deliberately off-kilter and asymmetrical with different windows, wavy rooves, oddly shaped rooms. Even the expensive floorboards were painted to look like they were made of a cheaper wood!
“The building, constructed as an architectural toy, was used as a lodge for entertainment purposes and was designed specifically to blend with nature. The roof pitches and tosses and varies in length while differing window sizes and openings punctuate it. The verandah and balconies, although luxury features, have been fashioned to appear humble with exposed rustic tree trunk pillars. The asymmetrical design of the cottage, although immediately apparent of architectural detailing, is deliberately flawed and distorted to appear unsophisticated. Both the building and its setting right down to its cast-iron rustic fencing maintains a sense of blending with nature as it was originally designed.” [2]
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs inside. I took a few photographs looking through the windows. There are a few photographs on the OPW website, which I copy here.
Downstairs has a room off either side of the hallway, the Dufour Room and the Music Room. The Dufour room is so called due to some original Dufour wallpaper, depicting Constantinople, much of which has been reproduced to line the room. Dufour was one of the first Parisian manufacturers creating commercially produced wallpaper. Another door from the central hall leads to a limestone stairway and basement.
The first floor interior comprises a landing with rooms leading directly to the west (Small bedroom) and east (Master bedroom) through angular-headed timber panelled doors.
Master bedroom, Swiss Cottage, photograph courtesy of Office of Public Works.Small bedroom, Swiss Cottage, photograph courtesy of Office of Public Works.
Richard and Emily had one son and three daughters. His son Richard, Viscount Caher (b. 17 May 1794), was elected MP for Tipperary county in 1818, and succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Glengall. Emily survived Richard by seventeen years, passing away (2 May 1836) in Grosvenor Square, Middlesex. [see 1]
A “cottage orné” built in the early 1800s by Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Glengall to a design by the famous Regency architect John Nash. The house was not designed to be lived in, but as somewhere to entertain. Started in 1810, andcompleted around 1814.
The cottage was in a state of disrepair up to the mid 1980s, but was then taken in charge by the State and fully refurbished to its original specifications. The interior contains a graceful spiral staircase and some elegantly decorated rooms. The wallpaper in the Salon manufactured by the Dufour factory is one of the first commercially produced Parisian wallpapers.
in Irish Castles and Historic Houses by Brendan O’Neill
was built in 1810 for the young society couple, Richard Butler, Lord Cahir, and his wife Emily. They succeeded in attracting the well-known English architect John Nash, to come to Ireland to design the building, which he followed two years later with the King’s Cottage in Windsor Park. The music room has original wallpaper depicting scenes on the Bosphorus.
The thatched lodge at Derrymore, County Armagh featured here some time ago (see The Most Elegant Summer Lodge « The Irish Aesthete). That building dates from the mid-1770s, making it at least 30 years older than another fanciful cottage orné, this one in County Tipperary. Popularly known as the Swiss Cottage, the later example was constructed c.1810 for Richard Butler, 10th Baron Caher (created Earl of Glengall 1816). Member of a branch of the Butler family which had been dominant in this part of the country for hundreds of years, his own forebears had been settled at Cahir Castle since the 14th century. They remained there until c.1770 when a new residence, Cahir House (now an hotel) was built. Richard Butler was never expected to inherit the title and associated estate. However, following the death in June 1788 of the 8th baron, a distant relative, without heirs – and then the death of Richard Butler’s own father a month later – at the age of just 12 he came into considerable wealth. At the time, he was living in poverty in France, but then returned to Ireland, where he was accommodated by the eccentric widow Arabella Jeffereyes of Blarney Castle. There was method behind Mrs Jeffereyes kindness: within a few years, she had arranged the marriage of her daughter Emilia (then aged just 16) to the wealthy Lord Caher. Soon afterwards the couple returned to live at Cahir House where, according to Dorothea Herbert, they threw ‘a most flaming Fête Champêtre’ during which the young Lady Caher ‘danced an Irish jig in her stockings to the music of an old piper. We had a superb supper in the three largest rooms, all crowded as full as they could hold and we did not get home till eight o’clock next morning and so slept all the next day.’
Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
The tone set by the party they had thrown after their return to Cahir House, the Butlers appear to have led an exceedingly merry life, dividing their time between County Tipperary and London where, following the implementation of the Act of Union, Lord Caher served as an Irish representative peer in the Westminster House of Lords. It may have been there that he made the acquaintance of architect John Nash, who would be responsible for designing a number of buildings in Cahir, including St Paul’s church (Figures of Mystery « The Irish Aesthete) and the adjacent Erasmus Smith School (Well Schooled « The Irish Aesthete) as well as the sadly-demolished Shanbally Castle just a few miles away. Accordingly, the Swiss Cottage is attributed to Nash, not least because of its resemblance to similar picturesque buildings he designed during the same period at Blaise Hamlet on the outskirts of Bristol. The cottage was sketched in 1814, indicating its completion by that date, and two years later was mentioned in an account of local races: ‘the tout ensemble of the Cottage affording a display of rural decoration not easy to be equalled in this country for chasteness of character and richness of fancy.’ Perched above the river Suir and just two kilometres south of Cahir, the cottage was never intended to be a permanent residence, but rather somewhere to visit, perhaps for a meal, perhaps an overnight stay in good weather. Built to a T-plan and of two storeys over basement, the cottage has rustic timber verandas around most of its exterior and a thatched roof. French windows open onto the surrounding grounds and there are a number of balconies on the first floor: much of the exterior is covered in wooden lattice trellising. The overall effect is exceedingly charming.
Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Three years after becoming an earl, Richard Butler died and was succeeded by his only son, also called Richard. Despite marrying an heiress, he would find expenditure exceeded income, particularly after 1839 when he embarked on the restoration of Cahir Castle, and the rebuilding of much of the town of Cahir. In the aftermath of the Great Famine, it transpired that Lord Glengall’s debts amounted to a prodigious £300,000, the situation not helped by a lawsuit over their inheritance between Lady Glengall and her sister. The earl was duly declared bankrupt in 1849 and everything offered for sale, although some of the estate was subsequently recovered by his elder daughter, Lady Margaret Charteris. Somehow, the Swiss Cottage survived, although by the mid-1980s it was in poor condition, sitting empty and a prey to vandals. Before the building became a complete ruin, the local community bought it in 1985 with the aid of a £10,000 grant from the Irish Georgian Society. Work then began on salvaging the Swiss Cottage and the greater part of the funds for this project came, via the IGS, from the American Port Royal Foundation and its President Mrs Christian Aall (the foundation had already donated money towards the cottage’s purchase). Restoration work took three years to complete, overseen by architect Austin Dunphy assisted by John Redmill, with much of the labour provided under a government youth training scheme. New tree trunk posts were put up to support the shingled roof that surrounds the cottage at first floor level, later internal partitions removed and new wiring and plumbing installed. The building was re-thatched, and early 19th century wallpapers, not least a set in the salon by Joseph Dufour of Paris depicting Les Rives du Bosphore, scrupulously restored by David Skinner. Irish couturier Sybil Connolly was given responsibility for overseeing the interior decoration and arranged for a set of grotto chairs to be made for the ground floor rooms. Work on the Swiss Cottage was completed in September 1989 and the building has since been open to the public under the management of the Office of Public Works.
Swiss Cottage, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Milford House, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of Irish Independent, 1st June 2018.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 206. “(Murphy/IFR) A house of mid to late C18 appearance, of three storeys over basement, five bay front, one bay breakfront with a baseless pediment and, in eacy of the two upper storeys, a modified Venetian window in which the sidelights are exceptionally narrow and have wide spaces between them and the window in the centre. Fanlighted and pedimented doorcase with columns flanked by narrow sidelights. Two bay end. Owned by Edmond Murphy, who died 1882, and afterwards by his nephew, until ca 1920. Recently restored.”
Detached five-bay three-storey over basement house, built c. 1790, having central pedimented breakfront with Venetian-style arrangement of openings to each floor. Two-storey off-centre addition to rear with attic and second single-storey lean-to addition also to rear of house. Hipped slate roof with carved limestone cornice and central rendered chimneystacks with carved limestone cornices. Pitched slate roof to addition with end chimneystack. Rendered walls with plinth having cut limestone coping. Square-headed openings to main block, having round-headed windows to upper floors of breakfront flanked by side lights. Two-over-two pane timber sash windows to first floor, two-over-two and six-over-six pane to breakfront, replacement six-over-six pane to basement and replacement timber windows to second floor, all with stone sills. Some four-over-four pane timber sash windows to addition. Carved limestone doorcase with open-bed pediment with metopes and guttae supported on engaged columns and having timber panelled door in round-headed opening with cornice and ornate petal fanlightXXXXXXVenetian-type arrangement of windows to upper floors of breakfront with round-headed windows flanked by very narrow side lights. Dormer windows to return. Timber panelled door in round-headed surround with fanlight in pedimented limestone doorcase with columns and approached by wide flight of limestone steps. Rear yard with stone outbuildings having slate roofs is enclosed by high stone wall with cut stone gate piers with domed caps and with wrought-iron gates.
Appraisal
An imposing classically-proportioned house in good condition and retaining important exterior elements such as slate roof, lime render and timber sash windows. The architectural qualities of the front façade are illustrated by the arrangement of the fenestration while the carved limestone doorcase adds artistic interest to the composition.
Lewis records Milford as the occasional residence of Ralph Smith. By the early 1850s it was occupied by Thomas Bunbury and held from William Woods. Bence Jones writes that it was the home of Edmond Murphy who died in 1882. In 1840, he Ordnance Survey Name Books refer to the house as the residence of John Monsell and describe the demesne as “principally composed of plantation and ornamental grounds”.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
In North Tipperary, particularly around the area bordering on County Offaly, one frequently comes across variants of the same late 18th century house: tall (usually three storeys over basement), narrow (often only one room deep), grey and plain, its facade only relieved by a limestone pedimented doorcase reached via a flight of steps. Milford conforms to this type and, as is frequently the case, its external austerity – another regularly encountered characteristic, and one not confined to this part of the Irish countryside – gives way to an interior full of delights.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
Milford was built by a branch of the Smith family, the origins of which are believed to have been in Durham, north-east England. Initially they settled in Ballingarry, presumably occupying the castle there but then built a house at Lismacrory north of the village. That building no longer stands; as early as 1841, the Ordnance Survey Name Books description says ‘it was a very commodious house of the modern style of architecture with extensive offices attached to it, but it is now falling into ruins, the last occupier was Rev. Mr. Smyth of Ballingarry.’ The Reverend in this instance was John Smith, a Church of Ireland clergyman who died in 1813. His brother Ralph appears to have been responsible for constructing Milford, some five miles to the west of Lismacrory, perhaps around the time of his marriage in 1772 to Elizabeth Stoney. Two further generations of the family, both with heads called Ralph, occupied the property but in the aftermath of the Great Famine, like so many others they seem to have found themselves in an impecunious position. In July 1852 over 800 acres of the estate of Ralph Smith Smith was advertised for sale and five years later, the remaining estate of his son Richard Flood Smith, a minor, which included Milford and its demesne, was on the market. The Smiths subsequently emigrated to New Zealand and Milford was bought by a local farming family called Murphy, apparently keen advocates for both Roman Catholic causes and women’s education. The property changed hands several times during the last century and much of the land around it was divided by the Land Commission so that today the house stands on 17 acres. It then stood empty for some 15 years (the only residents being long-eared bats) before Milford was purchased by the present owners in 2020.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
The site on which Milford stands was originally called Lisheenboy and owned by the once-dominant O’Carroll family. While there is evidence of human habitation here going back to the 11th century, the earliest surviving remains of construction can be found to the south of the present building where a sunken rectangular walled structure suggests that a fortified house or bawn once stood here. And within those remains are a number of bee boles which have been dated to 1650. At that date the lands would still have been in the hands of the O’Carrolls, but in the aftermath of the Williamite Wars, they lost their remaining property. However, at some prior date a farmhouse was constructed at Lisheenboy and it was directly in front of this building that Milford was erected. This addition is of five bays, with a single bay breakfront. The entrance doorcase is flanked by narrow sidelights and these are replicated on the two floors above, widely spaced on either side of a central arched window to produce a charmingly provincial variant on the Serlian window. The internal plan is typical of such houses, with the entrance hall having doors to left and right for access to drawing and dining rooms, while directly behind is the toplit staircase. In the hall a frieze below the cornice contains what seems to be a random selection of motifs including agricultural implements, classical figures and wreaths of leafs. The friezes in the dining and drawing room are more typical, the former incorporating trails of vine leafs and grapes, the latter regular repeats of lyres and profiles linked by more sinuous lines of foliage. The drawing room’s current Chinese-inspired wall decoration was introduced by an earlier occupant. As already mentioned, three years ago, Milford was bought by artists Deej Fabyc and MJ Newell, and they are gradually restoring the house as funds and time permit. They run a number of events here and also offer workspaces for up to eight artists in residence through their organisation, Live Art Ireland.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
Milford, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne, Irish Aesthete.
What: an eye-catching five-bay, three-storey over basement Georgian period property on almost 16 acres of lands including extensive outbuildings (with development potential). Milford House was built in the mid-1700s, and while it is in need of complete renovation, it has the bones of its former glory visible in features like its curving main staircase, original white marble fireplaces, cornicing and sash windows. The grounds include woodlands, an orchard, pastures, stone outbuildings and a three-bedroom renovated cottage of 132 square metres.
‘The history of Mourne is associated with that of the Castle of Greencastle – one of the finest specimens of Anglo-Norman architecture military architecture in the County of Down – which constitutes such an important feature in the scenery of that coast, from every point of which it presents a noble and commanding appearance. It was erected by the early English invaders to guard the entrance to the Lough of Carlingford and to secure a line of correspondence between the Pale and their outlying possessions in Lecale.’ From An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor by the Rev. James O’Laverty (Dublin, 1878)
‘Greencastle, situated in the barony of Mourne, County Down, province of Ulster. It stands upon a gut or inlet of the sea and was reputed a strong castle, fortified by the Burghs, earls of Ulster and lords of Connaught. It was remarkable for two eminent marriages celebrated here in 1312; one between Maurice Fitzthomas and Catherine, daughter to the Earl of Ulster, on the 5th of August, and the other between Thomas Fitz-John and another daughter of the said earl, on the 16th of the same month. It was destroyed by the Irish, A.D. 1643, but soon after repaired and better fortified. Green Castle and the Castle of Carlingford, appear by a record, 1 Henry IV, to have been governed by one constable, the better to secure a communication between the English pale of the County Louth and the settlements of the English in Lecale and those northern parts; and Stephen Gernon was constable of both, for which he had a salary of 20l. per annum for Green Castle and 5l. for Carlingford. In 1495, it was thought to be a place of such importance to the crown, that no person, but of English birth was declared capable of being constable of it.’ From An Improved Topographical and Historical Hibernian Gazetteer, by the Rev. H Hansbrow (Dublin, 1835)
‘The castle stands upon an elevated rock, about a quarter of a mile from the sea. The walls are double, and the outer ones is looped at regular distances for archers, with passages to each floor. The central building is strengthened and protected by four square flanking towers at the corners, with a spiral staircase in each. Upon gaining the battlements, a beautiful view of the Lough scenery is obtained; the most striking object, however, is the Castle of Carlingford, which looks to great advantage from this point. Green Castle rendered important services in the rebellion of 1641. It served not only to protect the Protestants of the district, but exercised considerable influence in keeping the insurrection in check. A part of this old Castle is now in occupation, and the rest turned into out-offices for cattle.’ From Tours in Ulster: A Handbook to the Antiquities and Scenery by J.B. Doyle (Dublin, 1855)
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 117. “(Graham-Toler, Norbury, E/PB; Slazenger, sub Powerscourt, V/PB) Originally a plain three storey 7 bay C18 house with a pillared porch; replaced ca 1837 by a Tudor-Gothic house built for 2nd Earl of Norbury, who was murdered here 1839. The house now consists of two two storey ranges at right angles to each other, one of them standing on slightly lower ground, with a small battlemented tower at their junction. The higher range has a central projecting porch-gable, with a corbelled oriel over the entrance door, and a slightly stepped gable at each end. There are tall Tudor-style chimneys and a few pinnacles. The house was rebuilt in the same style 1924. Nearby is the site of an ancient abbey, with a fine C10 High Cross. Durrow passed to the descendants of a younger son of 2nd Earl; it was sold ca 1950 and was afterwards the home of Mr and Mrs Ralph Slazenger; it is now the home of Mr and Mrs Michael Williams.”
The story of Durrow Abbey House is framed by two fires. One in 1843 when the house was under construction destroyed the adjacent Georgian mansion and all the furnishings stored there, the other in 1923 meant the total destruction of itself.
Construction was underway in 1837 when Lewis remarked “The principal seats are Durrow Abbey, that of the Earl of Norbury, situated in an ample and highly improved demesne, in which his lordship is erecting a spacious mansion in the ancient style”. After the murder of Lord Norbury in 1839, work had largely ceased on construction prior to the fire of 1843. A contemporary newspaper article described it: “This magnificent abbey is nearly destroyed. On Saturday evening last, it took fire, and before assistance could be procured to arrest the progress of the flames the abbey was almost reduced to ruin. This noble structure remained in an unfinished state as the entire works were stopped immediately after the murder of the late munificent proprietor, Lord Norbury. The new building which was not completed, joined the old one, which it was intended to adopt as a wing by facing it with stone; in this portion all the valuable furniture was stored and this part of the extensive building is totally destroyed.” After the fire, construction continued and the building was completed around 1860.
The house consisted of three storeys over a sunken basement, with an off-center three-storey entrance porch – a later porte cochere was added. Richly ornamented with gable end bay windows, tall chimney stacks and corner turrets, all of limestone. To the rear was a simple castellated service wing facing a sunken courtyard, two sides of which were bounded by a single storey range of stores.
In 1923, during the Irish Civil War, the house was gutted by fire, the roof collapsing, and the entire fixtures and fittings destroyed. It was rebuilt in the mid 1920s to designs by Ralph H. Byrne.
After the second Durrow Abbey House was gutted by fire during the Civil War in 1923. Ralph H. Byrne was commissioned to oversee reconstruction of Durrow Abbey House for Ottoway Graham Toler in 1926. As all that remained of the old house was the exterior walls, a complete redesign was in order. Byrne produced several designs, one with a strong Arts and Crafts style, and the other Tudor Gothic in keeping with the old house. The new house was to be a storey lower, while largely utilising the floor plan of the previous house. Interior designs show an elaborate Arts and Crafts interior, but this was scaled back to more basic interior finish. The house currently sits empty.
This building has been vacant for a number of years and does not appear to be maintained. Most of the external fabric remains, but there are obvious signs of deterioration, particularly water penetration, slipped slates, vegetation growth, broken windows and vandalism. There is no immediate danger of collapse but the condition is such that unless urgent remedial works are carried out the building will sharply deteriorate.
The structure is of significant historic importance and requires conservation works to prevent further deterioration. This building urgently requires new uses to be identified to prevent further deterioration of its character.
Detached L-plan multiple-bay two-storey over basement Jacobean Revival style house, built between 1837-43, with breakfront tower and gable to north elevation and canted bays to eastern projecting bay and southern bay, courtyard buildings to rear. Built on the site of the eighteenth-century house and set within grounds of Durrow Abbey demesne. Pitched slate roof with ashlar limestone chimneystacks, terracotta ridge tiles and some cast-iron rainwater goods. Ashlar limestone walls with string coursing and pinnacles to angles. Variety of square-headed fenestration with some hoodmouldings and limestone transoms and mullions. Pointed-arched door opening to eastern elevation with tooled limestone surround and timber door, square-headed door opening to rear with overlight chamfered surround and hoodmoulding. Courtyard to rear with single-storey buildings, open arcading and crenellations accessed through pointed-arched door opening to west. External access to eastern façade by limestone balustraded steps and piers supporting carved stone urns. Ashlar gate piers to west. Ranges of outbuildings, gates and gate lodge associated with house.
Built on the former site of Durrow Abbey, this grand house dominates the grounds of the demesne which it overlooks. Superbly executed cut stonework construction to the elevations, crenellations, canted bays, pointed arches, blind niches and chimneystacks is evident. Apparently largely rebuilt in the 1920s following a fire, the interior was designed by Ralph Byrne in the Queen Anne Art Nouveau style. Blind cross niches hint to the site’s history and urns to the steps are similar to those found in the eighteenth-century church doorway, suggesting these steps originate from the earlier site. When considered in conjunction with the demesne’s full history and related sites, the sixth-century abbey that became the birth place of the early Medieval script, the Book of Durrow, Durrow high cross, the site of the medieval motte and Saint Columbkille’s church and well, Durrow Abbey House is archaeologically and architecturally significant on a national scale.
Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Ranges of multiple-bay single- and two-storey outbuildings, built in 1833, and arranged around two courtyards with modern concrete additions. Set within grounds of Durrow Demesne. Now mostly disused. Hipped slate roofs with terracotta ridge tiles, ashlar chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Tooled ashlar limestone walls. Timber sash windows to upper storey with tooled limestone sills. Segmental-headed door openings. Circular opening with date plaque to south-west elevation. Squared limestone turbine house to centre of north-west courtyard. Yellow brick workers’ accommodation to north-west of site. Walled garden and moat to rear of site, also associated with Durrow Demesne.
Appraisal
The high quality stone masonry, as the dominating feature of Durrow Demesne, is no less evident in its pair of courtyards. They may have been executed to a design by William Murray. Each piece of limestone has been skillfully cut and tooled to fit flawlessly into the design. Segmental-headed arches elegantly line the yards many stable fittings and some machinery survives. This sprawling group of outbuildings and associated workers’ housing stands as a further testament to the former vitality of this estate.
Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Detached T-plan three-bay single-storey gate lodge, built c.1840 with return to rear. Not in use. Set within grounds of Durrow Demesne. Pitched slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, ashlar chimneystacks, coping and cast-iron rainwater goods. Triple-light timber windows with limestone hoodmoulding. Square-headed door opening in north projection with timber panelled door and limestone hoodmoulding. Plaque with crown and fleur-de-lis on north projection gable wall and hoodmoulding. Yellow brick pitched roofed return to rear. Palladian style wrought-iron gateway to east, set on ashlar limestone plinth with carriage arch and pedestrian gates to centre.
Appraisal
Finely executed stone masonry and metal working are displayed at this site, testament to the skilled craftsmanship available at the time. This high quality construction of the lodge and gates indicate the importance of the house to which they belong; an outward display of sophistication and wealth to all who call to Durrow Abbey House.
Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrown Abbey, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Eglish Castle, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Durrow Abbey, County Laois, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Durrow Abbey House, a Tudor/Gothic building near Tullamore in county Offaly,was begun in 1837 (to replace an earlier 18th century plain house) by Hector Toler, (later Hector John Graham -Toler ), the 2nd Earl of Norbury. Unfortunately he never saw it finished as he was murdered in 1839. Originally (?at least after Church ownership) the lands had being acquired by the Herbert family (mid 16th century I believe), and were inherited by the Stepneys, who eventually sold it to John Toler. This John Toler had his origins in Co.Tipperary and eventually received a title and became a judge, although by all accounts he was exceedingly poor at his job and quite harsh. Add a fire in 1843 and the completion of the “ new” house wasn’t until the 1850s. In 1876 The Hon Otway Toler was in possession of the house, and about 4500 acres, although he gave his main address as Albermarle St ,Mayfair, in London (indeed his residence is recorded as Windsor House, Ryde in a separate document I’ve read).He also retained 8,789 acres in Co. Tipperary (although the estate in Tipperary had been larger in the past), it seems there was also just over 3,000 acres in Laois and 140 odd in Westmeath. In the 1911 census, another Otway Toler was in residence with 9 servants,there were 36 rooms used in the house. 1922 saw a malicious fire which necessitated the rebuilding of the house in the mid 1920s. It went from 3 storey over basement to 2 storey over basement , but retained its footprint and architectural style. It had of course originally somewhat mimicked Castle Bernard (Kinnitty Castle) in the same county. Within the estate lies the ancient abbey of Durrow with its 10th century high cross (now in situ within the abbey). The Toler family remained at Durrow until 1949 and in 1950 the house was purchased by the Slazenger (now of Powerscourt house) .The Williams family of Tullamore Dew fame bought it from them and eventually sold it to the O Brien family who I believe may have had commercial intentions for the estate, which obviously didn’t happen. It’s now in public/opw ownership, they ( the government) paid over €3m in 2003 for the house and abbey. It appears the property was then leased at a nominal rent to the Arts for Peace Foundation for 99 years,however there seems to have been a dispute between them and the OPW over I believe maintenance issues which has meant the building has been in essence disused for several years now. Unfortunately the stables/outhouse and gardens are a sad sight in their state of dereliction. The house, although it appears structurally sound, is now too starting to reflect its lack of recent habitation or use and is perhaps in need of at least some tender loving care. In fairness to the OPW, charged with looking after monuments, parks, houses, castles etc, they do an admirable job, the 1930 National Monuments Act has moved on, as have their minuscule budgets of the past.Harold Leask had a seemingly impossible task in his day,but they’ve come a long way thankfully, and hopefully a happy ending may be on the horizon for Durrow Abbey House, it would be a shame to see it wasted. (Incidentally I’ve since written a small feature about the abbey on my other Facebook page called Old Irish Buildings and Places which may be of interest to some readers, in March 2019).
The house at Durrow Abbey, County Offaly has a long and frequently unhappy history. Asits name implies, this was originally a religious settlement (for more on which, see On the Plain of Oaks, February 2nd 2015). However in the 16th century and following the dissolution of the monasteries, the lands on which it stood were leased to Nicholas Herbert at a rent of £10 per annum payable to the Crown and military service when required. Herbert was granted a second lease in 1574 on condition that he built two stone fortresses on the site within four years. The Herberts remained in residence here until the death without male heirs of Sir George Herbert, third baronet, in 1712. The estate was then inherited by Sir George’s sister Frances, married to a Major Patrick Fox: it was Mrs Fox who rebuilt the old adjacent church that remains today. The Foxes having no direct heirs, Durrow was then inherited by Philip Rawson Stepney and eventually by Herbert Rawson Stepney who, three years before his death in 1818 sold the estate to John Toler, first Lord Norbury. It would appear that during the time of the Stepneys that a new residence was built at Durrow: a surviving drawing made by architect William Murray in September 1829 shows the building – then called Durrow Park – to have been a plain classical structure of three storeys and seven bays, centred on a groundfloor doorcase with portico. Already at that date plans were being made for something more distinctive to be constructed on the site, but ultimately it was Norbury’s son who embarked on this enterprise. Politician and lawyer, John Toler enjoyed a highly successful career at the bar despite being almost universally reviled for his ability to combine corruption with incompetence. He served as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas for twenty-seven years (1800-1827) during which time he became known as the ‘Hanging Judge’ such was his propensity to prescribe the death sentence and only resigned at the age of 82 when offered an earldom and an annual pension of more than £3,000. Dying in 1831 he was succeeded by his son Hector John Graham-Toler, second Earl of Norbury who some years later decided to embark of a comprehensive redevelopment of the house: Samuel Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) mentions that ‘his lordship is erecting a spacious mansion in the ancient style.’ Two years later, in January 1839, Lord Norbury was shot dead by an unknown assailant while out riding: no one was ever brought to court (despite a reward being offered of £5,000 and 100 acres) but it seems likely the person responsible was a tenant recently evicted from a holding on the estate. The widowed Lady Norbury pressed on with her late husband’s plans to rebuild Durrow and work continued there until 1843 when a fire broke out. A contemporary account in The Nation recorded that ‘The new building which was not completed, joined the old one, which it was intended to adopt as a wing by facing it with stone; in this portion all the valuable furniture was stored and this part of the extensive building is totally destroyed.’ At some later date the new building was completed, and thereafter owned by successive generations of the Graham-Toler family until the 1940s. Completed around 1860, Durrow Abbey House’s architect is unknown. Designed in the popular Jacobean Revival style, the building was originally of three storeys over a sunken basement with high gable-end windows, raised chimney stacks and corner turrets, the whole in cut limestone. Behind the main block runs a long service wing opening onto a sunken courtyard. At one stage, a large porte-cochere stood in front of the main entrance. This survived until April 1923 when the house was burnt during the Civil War. It was subsequently rebuilt three years later with the top storey and porte-cochere removed, and with simplified Arts and Crafts interiors designed by Dublin architect Ralph Henry Byrne. Following the sale of the property by the Graham-Tolers, Durrow was owned first by the Slazenger family (who later became owners of Powerscourt, County Wicklow) and then the Williams family (who owned the local whiskey distillery). Subsequent owners proposed to change use of the property from private residence to hotel and golf resort as part of a €170 million scheme that would also have included several hundred houses and apartments. This plan was comprehensively rejected by the planning authorities, not least because of the importance of the immediately adjacent medieval site. Durrow languished in uncertainty until 2003 when the Irish State paid in the region of €3.5 million to acquire the place and surrounding 80-odd acres. In May 2007 a 99-year lease on the main house was agreed by Dick Roche, then-Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and a charitable organisation called Arts for Peace Foundation. Incorporated in August 2004, Arts for Peace ‘provides therapeutic peace education programmes for children affected by conflict.’ Paying an annual peppercorn rent of €10, the organisation used the house as a respite centre for groups of young people from diverse places around the world. Meanwhile the Office of Public Works carried out necessary work on the old church and moved a mid-ninth century High Cross moved indoors. All seemed well for the future of the entire site until five years ago when Arts for Peace stopped using the main house for its projects. In December 2016 The Times reported that a month before the charity and its founder Elizabeth Garrahy had filed a High Court action against the Office of Public Works and the Irish State seeking damages for alleged breach of contract. The charity alleged the OPW had committed to providing €500,000 and then €250,000 for repair work, but then failed to provide the funding. The OPW in turn accused the charity of failing to carry out necessary repairs and maintenance of the property according to the terms of its lease. It transpires this is why the building has not been occupied or used since 2013: for the past five years the OPQ and Arts for Peace have been at war. Although this matter ought to be of widespread interest (not least because of the potential financial implications for the Irish taxpayer), it seems the only public representative to express concern has been Carlow-Kilkenny TD John McGuinness. He has regularly raised the question of Durrow Abbey in Dáil Éireann, and elsewhere. The last time Deputy McGuinness did so was two months ago on February 15th at a meeting of the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform (of which Mr McGuinness is chair) attended by Kevin Moran, current Minister of State for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief. In the course of a discussion on the unresolved problems at Durrow Abbey, Mr McGuinness stated, ‘I firmly believe that with an effort, with both sides sitting down without being tied by legal process and without prejudice, they could reach a resolution, rather than spend unnecessary funds and scarce resources on a case when in my opinion the Arts for Peace Foundation has a good case. Going to court is a step beyond common sense in my opinion in this instance.’ The state, which is to say the Irish citizenry, has spent a considerable amount of money acquiring and restoring portions of the historic Durrow Abbey site and, as was announced at the end of last year, the state intends to spend more in the near future making the property more accessible to visitors. However at the same time a substantial group of buildings sits empty and neglected: tellingly, in May/June 2016, despite the ongoing dispute, the OPW undertook emergency remedial works to prevent water ingress to the house). This argument is surely capable of resolution, but the longer it takes to find agreement, the greater the cost. A speedy settlement is obviously advantageous. Until this happens the house at the centre of the estate and of the legal wrangle remains in a state of limbo. This is a situation that benefits no one.
Anne St. George née Stepney of Durrow Abbey County Offaly, and Child, 1971, by George Romney courtesy of August Heckscher Collection 1959.147. Her brother Herbert Rawson Stepney (1768-1818) inherited Durrow Abbey.
It would be nice to write that Durrow Abbey house, Tullamore is in course of restoration and that it, the High Cross and Church and the parklands adjoining will soon be properly open to the public. It’s possible but getting more difficult as the house continues to deteriorate. It has been vacant for a considerable time. Councillor Tommy McKeigue drew attention to it recently at Offaly County Council and Paul Moore has reminded us of it in his photographs that are too kind to its present sad condition. But there are hopeful signs. The footpath from Durrow Woods should be completed this year and will allow walkers to come close to the house and the old church at Durrow and High Cross. At least more people will see it and become aware of its potential to midlands/ Ireland East, or is it Lakelands Tourism.
There is growing pressure on the monastic site at Clonmacnoise of which the OPW is painfully aware. It has been suggested that Durrow should be ‘developed’ as a new monastic visitor facility to ease that pressure, much as happened at Newgrange. The management and councillors want it and Offaly tourism needs it. Recent figures indicate how poorly the Midlands performs relative to Dublin and the Atlantic Way.
The house needs attention.
What can be done?
The state needs to come to a satisfactory settlement with the current tenant but has not been in a hurry. It was the same with the right of way to the old church and graveyard – a saga that went on from its first being raised in 1974 to 2003 when these concerns were finally resolved by purchase. It needs one great push from our TDs and councillors to get the financial support that is needed to develop Durrow as a first class visitor attraction.
What’s special about the house? Has it a history?
The lands of Durrow formerly belonged to the monastery. After the Reformation the monastic lands were immediately regranted to the Prior of the now dissolved monastery, Contan O’Molloy, on a 21 year lease in the 1540s. According to the Obits of Kilcormac Contan O’Molloy, prior of Durrow, was slain in 1553. About 1561 the Durrow lands were leased for 21 years at a rent of £10 a year to Nicholas Herbert, a member of an old English family. Herbert received a full grant of the property in 1574.
Nicholas Herbert was succeeded by Richard and in turn by George, the third baronet. The latter died without issue in 1712. His sister Frances Herbert married Major Patrick Fox of Foxhall, County Longford but there were no children of the marriage and as a result Philip Rawson Stepney succeeded to the estates. It was Mrs Fox who rebuilt the abbey church in about 1730.
The Durrow estate eventually passed to Herbert Rawson Stepney who was obliged to sell it to John Toler in 1815. His death is marked on a memorial tablet in the old church.
The Hanging Judge whose ‘scanty knowledge of law, his gross partiality, his callousness and his buffoonery, completely disqualified him from the position’.
John Toler was born at Beechwood, Co. Tipperary in 1745. and graduated BA in 1761, was called to the Irish Bar in 1770 and was elected MP for Tralee in 1776. He sat for the borough of Philipstown (Daingean) in 1783. For his constant support of the government he was well rewarded. For his support of the Union (1800) he was advanced to be Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and elevated to the peerage as Baron Norbury. He held his bench appointment for nearly twenty seven years, although his scanty knowledge of law, his gross partiality, his callousness and his buffoonery, completely disqualified him from the position. His presence on the bench was however, ultimately felt by all parties to be a scandal and an obstacle to the establishment of a better understanding with the Catholics. In 1825 O’Connell drew up a petition to parliament calling for his removal on the grounds that he had fallen asleep during a trial for murder and was unable to give any account of the evidence when called on for his notes by the lord-lieutenant. The petition was presented, but no motion was based upon it, as Peel gave an assurance that the matter would be inquired into. But it was not till the accession of Canning as Prime Minister in 1827, when Norbury was in his eighty-second year that he was induced to resign, or as O’Connell put it ‘bought off the bench by a most shameful traffic’ by his advancement in the peerage as Viscount Glandine and Earl of Norbury, with special remainder to his second son, together with a retiring pension of £3,046 (equivalent to €400,000 today). He died at Dublin on 27 July 1831, aged 85 (and is recalled in Norbury Woods, Tullamore). Toler married Grace, daughter of Hector Graham in 1778 and by her had two sons and two daughters. He was succeeded in his estates by his second son Hector as his eldest son was said to be of unsound mind.
Murder of Lord Norbury at Durrow
Hector Toler, the second Lord Norbury, was a man of quiet disposition, very little interested in politics and seemingly content to manage and develop his estates. According to a return of 1839 supplied by George Garvey, Lord Norbury’s agent, Norbury was possessed of 26,720 acres in six counties with 654 tenants. His largest estate was in Tipperary where he had 16,464 acres and his King’s County estate came next at 3,598 acres. The latter estate had 156 tenants. The murder of Hector Toler has to this day remained a mystery but it is thought that it had its origins in a dispute between the landlord and one or more of his tenants.
Norbury Eulogy by Lord Oxmantown of Birr
From the statement by Lord Oxmantown of Birr (later the third Earl of Rosse) on the one side and the parish priest of Tullamore, Fr. O’Rafferty, on the other we can take it that relations between landlord and tenant were generally good. Lord Oxmantown stated that:
When the late lamented nobleman became a permanent resident at Durrow Abbey, the tenantry on the estate were in the most wretched condition. It had been purchased by his father from a gentleman who had been in great difficulties and the tenantry, as usual exhibited the shocking evidences of the poverty of their former landlord. Lord Norbury, by a large expenditure, and repeated acts of profuse generosity raised their condition to a state of comfortable independence. He was in the act of building a splendid residence, to be permanent residence of his family, and consequently the centre of a great expenditure, he employed a large proportion of the surrounding peasantry, conferring upon them all the advantages which accrue from the residence of an extensive landed proprietor. Go where you may, you can hear but one opinion of him – all classes unite in conferring upon him this just tribute of praise – that a better landlord, a more charitable man, and a more excellent country gentleman could not have existed.
Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of 1837 mentions that a new mansion house was being built at Durrow Abbey house in similar in style to Pain’s Castle Bernard (Kinnitty Castle) in the mid-1830s. No architectural plans are known to have survived. The present Durrow Abbey was built close to the site of the earlier house because in 1843 it was reported that:
The old house formerly the residence of Colonel Stepney was nearly all consumed to the vaults, nothing remains but the walls, Revd. Mr. O’Rafferty got a sod wall built between the old building and the new that was erected by the late Earl of Norbury and saved the latter from being consumed.
Durrow Abbey shared the same fate as many as 12 other country houses in Offaly in the early 1920s when it was destroyed by a band of armed men in May 1923 – as the Civil War was fizzling out. It was rebuilt about 1926.
The Toler family continued to reside at Durrow until the late 1940s. The house and contents were sold in 1950. Noel Terence Graham-Toler, the sixth earl of Norbury, succeeded on the death of his father in 1955 and lived in England. Durrow Abbey, during the 1950s and up to the mid-1960s was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Slazenger (later of Powerscourt). It was subsequently purchased by Mr and Mrs. M. M. Williams, of the local Tullamore distilling family. They in turn sold it to Mr and Mrs. Patrick O’Brien of Navan, Co. Meath who planned to build a hotel, golf course and generally have a small sporting estate. Nothing came of this and in 2003 the Office of Public Works purchased the house and about 70 acres inclusive of the old Abbey church, High Cross and graveyard.
he house was in constant occupation until 14 years ago and was rebuilt to a high standard in 1926. The Slazenger family kept it in excellent repair as is clear from the outbuildings. Uses come under Community or Private. Any such would have to get substantial support from the OPW for the restoration and work in with a plan for the monastic site and the OPW lands. More lands might be acquired in time for nature trails, forest walks and organic farming.
The example is there in the work done on the church and High Cross. The cross needed to brought indoors just as Clonmacnoise needs to be less busy today. High Cross on right courtesy of friend Paul Moore who has done so much to highlight the house.
The potential is there. These pictures of the interior in the early 1990s
Durrow Abbey before restoration. Durrow Abbey was originally constructed in approximately the 1830s. Restoration of the building after a fire was undertaken by G. & T. Crampton in 1926. The architect for these works was Ralph Henry Byrne.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 56. [Trench sub. Ashtown] “An elegant two storey villa, built for William Trench, brother of 1st Lord Ashtown, and completed by 1807. Conclusively attributed to Richard Morrison by Mr McPartland, who describes it as “full of spatial surprises, introduced by the extraordinarly funnelled entrance.” The latter is a deep arched recess, beneath which the entrance door is set; it has a wide concave surround and is the dominant feature of the three bay entrance front; a front identical to those of two other Morrison villas in Offaly, Ballylin and Bellair. The interior is ingeniously planned, with domed lobbies and rooms that are bowed or covered with trellis-work barrel vaults. The plasterwork is by James Talbot, who was associated with Morrison on other houses.”
Detached three-bay two-storey over basement country house, built in 1807, with bow to east-facing side elevation and recessed entrance porch. Hipped slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, rendered chimneystacks, cast-iron rainwater goods and open eaves. Ruled-and-lined roughcast rendered walls with tooled limestone plinth course and quoins to basement. Timber sash windows with hammer dressed limestone surrounds and sills. Keystones to windows on ground floor. Windows to front elevation and bow with chamfered limestone surrounds. Continuous sill course to first floor windows on front and side elevations with shouldered arch detail above entrance. Ground floor windows flanking bow set within blind arches. Segmental-headed window openings to basement of east-facing side elevation with limestone block-and-start surrounds and horizontal sliding sash windows. Cambered-arch window openings to front and rear elevations with horizontal sliding sash windows. Recessed entrance porch consists of a segmental-headed arched opening with hammer dressed limestone architrave, deeply coved stucco surround leadings into the porch with a groin-vaulted ceiling. Segmental-headed arch with panelled soffit frames square-headed door opening with architrave surround flanked by pilasters with console brackets supporting dentil cornice and decorative foliate frieze. Glazed double doors with classical panel set within egg-and-dart frame above. Greek key skirting to porch. Door accessed up six limestone steps. Basement area enclosed by rendered plinth wall. Sundial set on a fluted limestone column to front site. Ruined summerhouse to rear site. Coursed rubble stone wall enclosed front site to west. Limestone piers and wrought-iron gates and railings to front site. Walled garden and stable yard to west of house.
Cangort Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Cangort Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Cangort Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Cangort Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Cangort Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Designed by Sir Richard Morrison for William Trench and completed 1807, Cangort Park in an important villa designed by one of the most prolific and successful villa architects practicing in the early nineteenth century. Almost identical to Bellair in north County Offaly, Cangort Park also shares many similar features with other Morrison designed villas. The deeply recessed entrance porch with a coved surround accessed up limestone steps and containing an ornate door surround with classical plaque above, is a striking entrance to the villa. The bowed side elevation, open eaves, limestone string courses and limestone chamfered window reveals and surrounds all contribute to the appealing design of the house and the significance of the structure. However it is the interior plan and decoration of the villa that is of most interest. The wonderful domed stair hall located in the centre of the building contains a sweeping cantilevered staircase and is decorated with the Greek key motif. Off the west side of the axial corridor lies a library with superb barrel-vaulted ceiling, reputed to be elegantly decorated by James Talbot. Although in poor condition now, the quality of the stonework, detail of design and elegant interior make Cangort Park an important part of the architectural heritage of County Offaly.
William Trench of Cangort Park, Shinrone, county Offaly, born 1760, was the fourth son of Frederic Trench of Woodlawn, county Galway. He married Sarah Moore a granddaughter of Edward 5th Earl of Drogheda and they had 2 sons and 2 daughters. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation the Trenches held some land in the parish of Croom, county Limerick. In 1836 Henry Trench, the second son of William and Sarah married a Bloomfield of Redwood, county Tipperary. In the 1870s Henry Trench of Cangort Park, Roscrea, owned 4,707 acres in county Tipperary, 2,113 acres in county Offaly, 1,926 acres in county Limerick, 1,581 acres in county Galway, 704 acres in county Clare and 432 acres in county Roscommon. His nephew the Reverend William Robert Trench of Liverpool owned 817 acres in county Tipperary.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
P. 51. “[Minchin] A partly castellated 2 storey house built on the site of an old castle originally called Bouchardstown, after the original owner, Bouchard de Marisco. Granted in C17 to Charles Minchin; an early C18 house being built on the site of the old castle by Humphrey Minchin, MP, and improved by his son, another Humphrey. The house was partly burnt 1764, having been set on fire by robbers; it was subsequently rebuilt and given a slightly castellated facade, rather similar to the nearby Mount Heaton. Round tower at one end; 3 bay centre, with Georgian sash windows; bow-ended square tower with segmental pointed windows at other end of front. Battlemented and machicolated parapet. The side of the house is not castellated but quite plain; of three bays, the centre bay breaking forward. Lower service wing with gable at other end of house. Painted ceiling decoration in reception rooms. Early C19 round tower on the summit of wooded hill behind the house. Sold 1973.
George Minchin wearing a red military jacket, 18C English school, from Loughton house sale, 2016, Shepphards.
Busherstown House is situated about 2km from Moneygall village. It is a partly castellated house of two stories and 3 bays with a round tower attached at one end. The house was reconstructed by Mr. Humphrey Minchin in the early 18th century on the site of the castle of Bouchardstown which was owned by Mr. John Carroll and his son Donough in the first half of the 17th century. Mr Minchin also built an ornamental round tower on a hill overlooking the house.
Detached three-bay two-storey castellated country house, rebuilt c.1815, following fire in 1812. Built on site of an O’Carroll castle. Round-profile tower to north end of facade, projecting square-profile bays with full-height bow to south end of facade. Pitched and hipped slate roofs, hidden to front by castellated parapet. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Rear porch with hipped slate roof. Ruled-and-lined rendered walls to façade and south wing. Random coursed stone and roughcast render to rear elevations. Timber sash window with tooled stone sills. Four-centre arched door opening to front with timber panelled door and Gothic style fanlight having intersecting glazing bars, accessed by tooled stone steps. Stone outbuildings to north and east enclosing central yard. Outbuilding to north with cut stone bellcote. Integral carriage arch opening to north-west outbuilding with wrought-iron gate, accessing central yard. Outbuildings to north of yard and to west of walled garden have been renovated and currently used as apartment and art studio, respectively. Wrought-iron gate to north of facade. Walled garden to east with random coursed stone walls. Square-profile ashlar limestone gate piers to road with cast-iron gates and railings, and rendered sweeping walls. Spearhead finials to gates and railings.
Appraisal
The castellated façade of Busherstown House camouflages a unique structure that incorporates various wings, returns and extensions. The eclectic character of the residence is owed to the fact that it was constructed during various phases, the most notable of which resulted in the addition of its fine early nineteenth-century Gothic Revival frontage with terminating towers and a crenelated parapet. Features of note include the symmetrical sash windows and an attractive entrance door, which boasts a decorative fanlight. The ranges of outbuildings, set to the rear around a central courtyard, enhance the country house. The entrance to the house’s avenue is well presented with flat panelled ashlar limestone gate piers, which are complimented by iron gates and railings.
Busherstown, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Busherstown, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Busherstown, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Busherstown, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Busherstown, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Busherstown, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
In The Beauties of Ireland (1826), James Norris Brewer explains the name of Busherstown, County Offaly as follows: ‘Busherstown, the seat of the Minchin family, was originally called Bouchardstown, and formerly belonged to the de Mariscos. Bouchard de Marisco, from whom the name of this place is derived, left a daughter and heir, who married O’Carroll, of Clonlisk and Couloge…’ The accuracy of this tale might be open to question, since it seems hard to find any de Marisco with the first name Bouchard. There certainly were members of the family prominent in this part of the country, not least Geoffrey de Marisco, an ally of King John who in the first half of the 13th century was Justiciar of Ireland on several occasions: through his wife, Eva de Bermingham, he came to hold large swathes of land in this part of the country.
Whatever the origins of its name, Busherstown appears to have originated as a tower house perhaps in the 16th century when it was held by the O’Carrolls: the space now serving as a dining room in the centre of the western side of the building was probably the tower house. For their part in the Confederate Wars of the 1640s, the O’Carrolls forfeited the property and in 1669 it was granted by the English government to Charles Minchin, a soldier who had risen to the rank of Colonel in the Parliamentary army. Shortly before his death in 1681, Colonel Minchin bought a second property not far away, Ballinakill Castle, County Tipperary which had also begun as a tower house, this time built by the Butlers. The Minchins sold Ballinakill in 1760 and it is now a ruin, but they remained at Busherstown until 1973.
As mentioned, Busherstown appears to have originated as a tower house and at some date in the 18th century, perhaps following a fire in 1764, a new residence was added to the south end of the older building. This plain, three-bay, two-storey extension is clearly visible, the centre breakfront presumably once serving as an entrance; the room behind is much smaller than those on either side, indicating it was a hallway giving access to reception rooms. In the early 19th century, when the property was owned by George Minchin, further alterations to the property were made, not least the addition of a castellated entrance front, which was now moved to the west side. This features a round tower with hood mouldings at one end, and a bow-ended square tower at the other, the latter containing a porch through which one enters the building. Internally, little effort was made to continue the facade’s pseudo-Gothic decoration. What had probably been a dining room in the 18th century house was turned into a large hall, with the room behind it (formerly the entrance hall) becoming an ante chamber for the drawing room beyond. Behind this space is a curious wedge, thinner at the west than the east end, into which was inserted a staircase leading to bedrooms upstairs; a further extension beyond to the west leads gives access to a splendid stableyard. The quirky, provincial character of Busherstown means the house possesses an exceptional charm, helped by the mature and well-planted parkland in which it sits. After being sold by Richard Minchin in 1973, the property was owned by the Rudd family until they in turn disposed of Busherstown in 2011 after which it sat empty for some years until being bought more recently by the present owner who is gradually, and sympathetically, restoring the house.
The story of Dr James Barry – a military surgeon in the British army during the first half of the 19th century who, on his death in 1865, was discovered to have been a woman called Margaret Anne Bulkley – is well-known. However, today’s post concerns another doctor of the same name and period, but who lived in County Kerry. Born in 1800, James Barry settled in Cahersiveen, where he had a successful practice and, despite being a Justice of the Peace, was a supporter of the Fenians: during an unsuccessful uprising in this part of the country in February 1867, it was reported that he had given shelter to a number of Fenians, one of their leaders, John Joseph O’Connor, taking the doctor’s horse when they departed. And an official report into local disturbances during the 1872 elections noted ‘the obstructive attitude of a local J.P., Dr. Barry, when the police were trying to restore the peace’ with the doctor described as ‘a disgrace to the Bench.’ Barry was clearly a man of both influence and affluence: by 1828 he was able to make an offer to Daniel O’Connell to buy the materials of Carhan House (where Daniel O’Connell had been born), although this may have meant just the doors, chimneypieces and so forth: the earliest Ordnance Survey map of 1841 already describes Carhan as being ‘in ruins.’ The same map also shows the first bridge across the river Fertha linking Cahersiveen with the Iveragh Peninsula; hitherto the only way to get across was by ferry. A pedestrian timber structure (it would be replaced in the 1930s with the present concrete bridge), this features on the Ordnance Survey map as ‘Barry’s Bridge (in progress). It was officially opened in 1847. The doctor’s motives for involvement in this project may not have been altogether altruistic because the following decade he built himself a fine new residence on the other side of the river and overlooking Cahersiveen. Access to this property was made easier by the existence of a bridge bearing his name.
In January 1857, Dr Barry married, seemingly for the first time. His bride was Honoria Ponsonby, whose family had, until the previous decade, lived at Crotta House, an important 17th century residence which survived in part until the 1970s. Honoria was a widow, having previously been married to Richard Francis Blennerhassett of Kells, County Kerry. His wedding may have spurred the doctor into building a new house for himself and his wife, because the following year he embarked on just such a project, leasing a site from the Marquess of Lansdowne on the north side of the river, with the land running down to the water’s edge and the marquess contributing £100 towards its construction. The building was given the name Villa Nuova, although, again looking at the earliest Ordnance Survey map, there is no evidence of an older structure here, certainly not one of any substance. As first built, Villa Nuova was of two storeys over raised basement; the rear of the latter looks to be of earlier date, so there may have been some kind of structure here before. The exterior’s most notable feature are the facade’s two steeply pitched gables with a small recessed bay between them. The present entrance porch, accessed at the top of a flight of Valencia slate steps, replaces an earlier one burnt in the 1920s. On either side of the house are two-storey canted bays which may be original or perhaps added later, although they can be seen in an early photograph of Villa Nuova.
Text here…The history of Villa Nuova in the last century is a little unclear. Dr Barry and his wife had no children of their own, and the house thereafter seems to have passed through a variety of hands. In the 1901 Census, it is listed as being occupied by Resident Magistrate Major Ernest Thomas Lloyd, retired from the Bengal Civil Service, together with his four young children and three household servants. Ten years later, the occupant of the building was local solicitor James Shuel. However, by the early 1920s Villa Nuova was owned by one Bartholomew Sheehan, a local merchant who also had commercial premises in Cahersiveen: both these and the house suffered from being attacked and burnt by anti-Treaty forces in 1922. In consequence, Villa Nuova was left gutted and had to be reconstructed, so that much of the interior seen today dates from the mid-1920s. This includes a series of tiled chimneypieces produced by a Devon-based company called Candy and Co, as well as handsome oak doors and architraves, and a fine staircase. Villa Nuova then became home to the Duffy family, a relative of whose was the last to live in the house some 20 years ago. In September 2007, the building, together with some 54 acres, was sold to a local company for €2.35m, but was then left empty and unoccupied. Most recently, together with the immediate land, it has been bought by new owners who have embarked on an ambitious programme of retrieval and restoration, with the intention of bringing the place back to a habitable condition in which they will live. It’s a brave initiative, and – as always with such projects – deserves applause and all possible support.
For readers interested in following the restoration of Villa Nuova, the owners are chronicling progress on YouTube ((1) Villa Nuova – YouTube) and Instagram (@villa_nuova_)
Clogher Palace (subsequently known as Clogher Park), Clogher, County Tyrone
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 85. “Porter/LGI1912 and sub Baird/IFR) The former Palace of the (C of I) Bishops of Clogher; a restrained cut-stone Classical mansion of 1819-23, begun by Lord John Beresford, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, while Bishop of Clogher (see Waterford, M/PB); continued by the next Bishop, the ill-fated Hon Percy Jocelyn (see Roden, E/PB), who was unfrocked for sodomy 1822 and ended his days as a domestic servant.; completed by Bishop Jocelyn’s successor, Lord Robert Tottenham (see Ely, M/PB). Centre block of three storeys over a high basement, with lower wings. The entrance front, standing back from the street of the town beside the Cathedral, has an enclosed portico of fluted columns. The garden front, overlooking the large demesne, is of six bays in the centre block, which has a high arcaded basement. After being given up by the See, it became the seat of T.S. Porter and was known as Clogher Park. It is now a convent.”
CLOGHER PARK, County Tyrone (AP MID ULSTER 10) T/011 REGISTERED GRADE A Episcopal walled demesne of 17th-century origin with surviving registered 18th-century parkland (registered area 128.4 aces/52ha) located on the south-east side of the Main-street, Clogher, lying 6.7 miles (10.8km) south-west of Ballygawley and 19 miles (30km) north-east of Enniskillen. The present house (Listed HB 13/02/002A + entrance and lodge), which replaced an earlier 18th century house, ceased being a bishop’s palace in 1850 when the diocese of Clogher was united to that of Armagh. The building is constricted by the road through the village on the north side, the cathedral to the west and a steep slope on the south side. The park and demesne spreads out from the former palace to the east and south, incorporating undulating land that includes a significant hill with a well-known hillfort (SMR7/TYR 050:033). The main entrance is north of the palace off Main Street, while the secondary entrance is south of this. Both have gate lodges— Front Lodge and South Lodge respectively. The demesne, whose landscape park (the present registered area) retains an elegance of proportion with good mature planting, was laid out in the eighteenth century and once covered 560 acres (226ha) extending to the north, east and south, with a deer park (110.5 acres/44/7ha) in the south-east. The demesne with the former palace, the hillfort, the cathedral, the former monastic site and the town, forms once of richest heritage areas in Ulster and is of enormous archaeological importance. St. Macartan’s Cathedral as been an ecclesiastical site since at least the 11th century, with traditions stretching back to the early Christian period. The original palace may have been the work of Bishop Richard Tenison (1642-97, incumbent from 1690/91) who in 1696 wrote that he was ‘now building a hermitage at Clogher, where I will…end my life in religious retirement.’ According to Canon Leslie, Tenison’s successor, Bishop St. George Ashe (1657-1717/18), ‘repaired the See House and improved the See lands’. His successor, John Stearne (1660-1745), an individual who was renowned for his charity and hospitality and features often in Swift’s correspondence, rebuilt the cathedral in 1744 and may also have made alterations to both the house and its grounds, as the 1833 OS Memoirs noted he ‘expended 3,000 pounds in building and improvements’. The present building, which is a relatively plain Classical ashlar faced block of three-storeys over a basement, fully exposed on the east or garden side was built for Bishop Robert Tottenham in 1820-23, to designs of Sligo architect William Warren with David Henry of Dublin, contractor. It incorporates an eastern wing said to date from 1779 and a western wing built around 1817. The seven-bay garden facade a fully- exposed arcaded rusticated basement, which projects beyond the façade to form a terrace. The coach and stables ranges were located south-west side of the palace, and included houses for a steward, a gardener and a gate keeper’s lodge. The unusually large walled kitchen garden however was located nearly 500m south of the palace, adjacent to what used to be a public road on the perimeter of the demesne. It has a trapezoidal shape (4.81 acres/1.95ha); the 1830s OS map show it had at that time a ‘hot house’ against the north wall. The walls survive and the
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 garden is now under grass. The garden is not shown on James Leonard’s survey of the demesne in 1745 and was probably added by Bishop Robert Clayton (1695-1758), who also walled the demesne. Prior to Bishop Clayton’s improvements to the demesne in the 1745-58 period, the park had been given a formal landscape by John Stearne, who was bishop between 1717-1745. A series of wide formal terraces were created immediately below the garden front of the house, crossed at right angles by a straight path with steps that lead down to a circular formal water basin at the bottom of the hill. Aerial images suggest the hill below these terraces was dissected by a series of parallel paths in the sloping lawn. Mrs Delany, who came here in August 1748, said there were ‘four beautiful swans’ on the basin. She also said that the ‘steep hill’ immediately beyond the pond was ‘covered with fir’, noting that Mrs Clayton was ‘going to make a grotto’ in the side of it. There is no evidence that he di, but an ice house was made in this little wood above the basin (Listed HB13/02/012). The formal layout below the house also included a long rectangular canal which extended 100m north of basin, meeting what appears to have been another long water basin angled north-east south-west, a feature which appears on LiDAR images. Mrs Delany notes that when she was there in 1748 the bishop was ‘very busy’ making the demesne ‘very pretty’, but not with formal but ‘irregular planting’ in the new naturalistic style then becoming fashionable. The Clogher demesne never had any extensive woodland planting; Clayton added the narrow perimeter belts to the on the west and small blocks of woodland and clumps throughout the demesne. It was probably he who naturalised the basin and canals below the house and removed the terraces and formal paths, so that the natural ‘lawn’ swept up to the house windows. His successor Bishop John Garnet (1709-82), completed the planting, notably in the deer park which he added to the south-east of the demesne. The date of the decoy pond in the demesne east of the house has not been established, but it was probably added by Clayton and appears to be a single pipe decoy. The very fine mature lime clumps around a beech encircled fort were probably planted by Clayton and while many parkland trees have been felled over the past century, there are still a number that are now ageing, while a few new trees have been added near the pond. Not many changes took place t the park in the 19th century. A Moss house, shown on the 1830s OS map in a small wood on the eastern perimeter of the demesne was probably erected in the early 19th century when these structures were fashionable. In the early 1820s Robert Tottenham in 1820-23is said to have also spent £300 on the installation of a hydraulic ram ‘invented by Montgolfier’ which threw water ‘to the height of 110 feet, supplying the town, palace and offices. He also built the front gate lodge (Listed HB 13/02/002B) when the palace was being rebuilt; it is a small, but memorable single-storey Classical Style gabled dwelling in render and sandstone with a symmetrical frontage dominated by a large Tuscan portico with pediment. The South Lodge, set back from the road to the south, is late 19th century and is an asymmetric one and a half-storey house with a steeply-pitched overhanging gabled roof. In 1850 the diocese of Clogher was united to that of Armagh, and, now redundant, the palace and demesne were sold by the church to Rev. John Grey Porter (1790-1873) of Belle Isle, Co. Fermanagh, whose father, John Porter (1751-1819) had actually served as Bishop of Clogher from 1797 until his death. Porter renamed the property ‘Clogher Park’ and after their marriage in 1851, leased it to his third daughter, Elizabeth (d.1902), and her husband, John William Ellison (later Ellison McCartney, 1818-1904), MP for Tyrone 1874-85. The property was eventually bequeathed to Thomas Stewart Ellison McCartney (1854-1946), who assumed the name Porter by Royal License in 1875. In 1922 he sold the house and grounds to the R.C. Diocese of Clogher, apparently much to the chagrin of some of the local Orangemen, who seem to have regarded this as something of a security risk, the estate being close to the recently-established border with the Irish Free State. The house and its attendant outbuildings were subsequently converted for use as a convent by the Sisters of St. Louis, who remained there until the late 1960s. After this the house and 19 acres of grounds were acquired by the Sisters of Mercy, Enniskillen, who in conjunction with local health authorities established a residential home (‘St. Macartan’s, Clogher’, opened 1978), with new buildings built on the site of the outbuildings to the south-west. SMR: TYR 58:33
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 hill fort rath, 59:55, 59:80, 59:90 all enclosures, 65:12 souterrain, 65:13 enclosure, 65:14 large enclosure and 65:20 church site? Private.
Clogher Palace, County Tyrone, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Clogher Palace, County Tyrone, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
To the immediate east of St Macartan’s Cathedral in Clogher, County Tyrone stands the former bishop’s palace which was likewise rebuilt in the early 18th century by the Rev Dr John Stearne. Mrs Delany visited the place in August 1748 when it was occupied by Stearne’s successor, Robert Clayton and his wife, and while she thought the garden ‘pretty with a fine large sloping green walk from the steps to a large basin on water, on which sail most gracefully fair beautiful swans,’ she was less satisfied with the house, describing it as ‘large, and makes a good showish figure; but great loss of room by ill-contrivance within doors. It is situated on the side of so steep a hill that part of the front next the street is under ground and from that to the garden you descend fifty stone steps which is intolerable.’ In consequence, while the seven-bay entrance front is of three storeys, the six-bay garden front is of four storeys. As seen today, the old palace is the result of work undertaken here by Lord John George Beresford, bishop in 1819-20 and then Lord Robert Tottenham. Following the union of the diocese of Clogher with the archdiocese of Armagh in 1850, the property was sold and became a private residence. The interiors are rather plain, the most striking feature being the staircase, the ceiling of which is painted with six cherubs: these represented the children of Thomas Stewart Porter who inherited what was then called Clogher Park in 1903. The house subsequently became a convent for the Sisters of St Louis, but is now a residential care home.
Clogher Palace, County Tyrone, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Clogher Palace, County Tyrone, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
THE parliamentary gazetteer of Ireland, dated 1844, remarks
“The diocese of Clogher affects to have been founded by St Patrick, rather earlier than that of Armagh; but the authorities respecting its pretended early origin are even more suspicious than those respecting the city’s antiquities.”
“The diocese of Clogher very long remained complete, uniform, and separate, before the passing of the Church Temporalities Act; but it is now united to the diocese of Armagh.”
“The dignitaries of the cathedral … are the Dean, benefice of Clogher; the Archdeacon, benefice of Clontibret; the Precentor, benefice of Enniskillen; the Chancellor, benefice of Galloon; and the prebendaries of Kilskeery, Donacavey, Tyholland, Devenish, and Tullycorbet.”
The see stretches 78 miles from north-west to south-east by a breadth of 25 miles.
The diocese comprises some portion of five counties, viz. Fermanagh, Tyrone, Monaghan, Donegal, and Louth.
THE BISHOP’S PALACE, Clogher, County Tyrone, is a large and handsome edifice adjacent to the Cathedral, on the south side of the village, and consists of a central block with two wings.
The entrance, on the north front, has an enclosed portico supported by lofty fluted columns.
It is built throughout of hewn freestone, and standing on elevated ground commands extensive views over a richly planted undulating country.
Attached to the palace was a large and well-planted demesne of 566 acres, encircled by a stone wall; and within it are the remains of the royal dwelling-place of the princes of Ergallia, a lofty earthwork or fortress, protected on the west and south by a deep fosse; beyond this, to the south, is a camp surrounded by a single fosse, and still further southward is a tumulus or cairn, encircled by a raised earthwork.
Mark Bence-Jones describes the house as a restrained, cut-stone classical mansion of 1819-23, begun by Lord John Beresford (Lord Bishop of Clogher 1819-20; Lord Archbishop of Dublin, 1820-22; Lord Archbishop of Armagh, 1822-62; Bishop of Clogher again in 1850).Building work continued under the next prelate, the Rt Rev and Hon Percy Jocelyn; and was finally completed by Lord Robert Tottenham between 1822-50. The former episcopal palace has a centre block of three storeys over a high basement, with lower wings. The entrance front, which stands off the main street, has an enclosed portico of fluted columns.
The garden front, which overlooks the demesne, consists of six bays in the central block, which has a lofty, arcaded basement.
The walled demesne was set out for the 18th century bishop’s palace.
The present house, entrance and lodge replaced an earlier 18th century house and is a very fine one, though constricted by the road through the village of Clogher on the north side, the cathedral to the west and a steep slope on the south side.
It was designed by Warren and built between 1819 and 1820, possibly retaining earlier wings.
Although the house is no longer a bishop’s palace, the landscape park retains an elegance of proportion and planting that compliments the house.
There are very fine mature lime clumps around a beech encircled fort.
Parkland trees have been felled and many are now ageing but a few new trees have been added near the pond.
Mrs Delany visited the previous house in 1748 and commented on the steep slope, a basin of water with swans and expressed delight at a proposed grotto.
In a later era of garden history, there is a mention in Robinson’s Garden Annual & Almanac of 1936.
436 acres were sold by the Church of Ireland in 1853 for a private residence and during the 1970s the site was a convent.
There is a deer park, now farmland, and a walled garden that is used for agricultural purposes.
An Ice House remains, as does the man-made pond and indications of earlier water features.
There are two gate lodges: a classical one by Warren ca 1820 and a later lodge of ca 1890.
In 1850, a very curious coincidence occurred.
In that year the bishopric of Clogher was merged with the archbishopric of Armagh (which it remained until 1886).
In 1874, Clogher Palace was bought by the Rev Canon John Grey Porter, who sold it to his kinsman, Thomas S Porter, in 1922.
Thus Mr Porter had seized the opportunity to buy the now abandoned palace and demesne, and re-named it Clogher Park.
Paradoxically, Bishop Porter himself had had nothing to do with the building of Clogher Park House: it had been built, in the period 1819-1823, by the three bishops who succeeded him.
It was presumably his son, the Rev John Grey Porter, who made the alterations to the building of 1819-23 which were noted by Evelyn Barrett.
She describes Clogher Park as having,
‘… a pillared portico above a flight of steps and two wings added in Victorian times [presumably by the Rev. John Grey Porter]. Classic restraint was relieved by a balcony running the length of the south front …, in summer smothered in purple clematis and red and yellow climbing roses …, like the warmth of a smile on the formal façade.’
By his will, made in 1869 and subsequently much embellished with codicils, Porter left BELLE ISLE, Clogher Park and effectively all his landed property to his son and heir, John Grey Vesey Porter, with the proviso that his widow should enjoy Clogher Park for her life, together with the very large jointure of £3,000 a year.
The Rev John Grey Porter presumably lived at Clogher Park, when not at Kilskeery, until his death in 1873, when he was succeeded there by his widow until her death in 1881.
The demesne comprised 3,468 acres of land in 1871.
By 1890, it was the seat of John William Ellison-Macartney, MP for County Tyrone, 1874-85, who had married Porter’s third daughter, Elizabeth, in 1851.
Eventually, Clogher Park was to pass to the Ellison-Macartneys’ second son, and their occupation of the house must have been a grace-and-favour or leasehold arrangement anticipating this outcome.
This supposition is made the more probable by the fact that their second son, Thomas Stewart Ellison-Macartney, had assumed the name Porter as early as 1875.
The Roman Catholic Church purchased Clogher Park in 1922. According tothis article:
I helped to prevail on Bishop McKenna, of Monaghan, to buy Clogher Palace and grounds for £20,000 [£886,000 in 2010], as it was the ancient seat of St. Macartan, patron of the diocese.
This enraged the Orangemen, and as it is within the Tyrone border, the day after the Bishop took possession, it was commandeered by the Belfast Specials without notice!
To bring an injunction the Bishop would have to sue in Belfast, and they have got a military authorization, ex post facto. The malice of this is deplorable.
Clogher Park House is now a residential care home.
I’m seeking old images of Clogher Palace for the blog.
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.
Irish Historic Houses 
