Louth Hall, Ardee, Co Louth
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. 194. “(Plunkett, Louth, B/PB) The familiar Irish castle theme of an old tower-house with a later building attached; but in this case the three storey nine bay 1760 addition is as high as the old tower, and there is a continuous skyline of early C19 battlements; the whole effect being one of vastness and a certain grimness. In the entrance front, which is plain except for a small C18 pedimented and fanlighted doorway, the old tower projects at one end, forming an obtuse angle with the later building; it is differentiated by having pointed Georgian Gothic windows whereas in the rest of the façade there are ordinary rectangular sahse; it also had slightly higher battlements, with Irish crow-stepped battlements at the corners, which are balanced by similar battlements at the opposite end of the front. In the garden front, there is a projection at one end with a shallow curved bow, giving the effect of another tower; the ground floor windows of the bow being Georgian Gothic. There is good plasterwork of ca 1800 in the principal rooms, the largest being a ballroom in the bow of the garden front.”
https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/13901426/louth-hall-louth-hall-co-louth
Detached multiple-bay three-storey Georgian house, built c. 1760, now in ruins. Shallow projecting curved bow to the east of south elevation c. 1805, tower house to west c.1350. House destroyed by fire in 2000. Roof not visible, hidden behind crenellated parapet, remains of red brick corbelled chimneystack to angle of fourteenth-century house and eighteenth-century house, south elevation. Roughcast-rendered over squared coursed rubble stone walling, coping to crenellations. Pointed arch square- and round-headed window openings, tooled limestone sills. Round-headed door opening to north elevation flanked by engaged tooled limestone columns, surmounted by broken pediment and fanlight, painted timber door with ten flat-panels, Plunkett family crest above pediment. House situated within field with ranges of random rubble stone outbuildings to west c. 1805, arranged around three yards; remains of walled garden to west, artificial lake to south, dovecot to south-west. Entrance gates to north-east on roadside comprising tooled limestone squared piers, cast-iron gates, flanked by pedestrian gates and curving quadrant plinth surmounted by cast-iron railings.
Appraisal
This house was the home of the Plunkett family, Lords of Louth, from the later medieval until the early-twentieth century. The continuity of occupation is reflected in the architectural changes, the migration from tower house to Georgian mansion. A fire in 2000 destroyed delicate early nineteenth century interior plasterwork. The archaeological, architectural and historical associations of this building are as immense as the structure itself.
In Blake, Tarquin. Abandoned Mansions of Ireland. Collins Press, Cork, 2010.
https://www.geni.com/projects/Historic-Buildings-of-County-Louth/29645
Louth Hall. (notes from Abandoned Houses of Ireland,by Tarquin Blake), 365 windows. Owners: 1541, Oliver Plunkett, made Baron of Louth, by Henry 8th; 1641, 6th.Baron, Oliver, converted to Irish rebels – imprisoned for High Treason. Cromwell forfeited the huge lands, Charles ii restored, 1669. 11th Baron, Thomas Oliver, House of Lords. 1805- extensions to House – 250 acres with 700 trees, total, 3,068 acres. 1909, most sold off to tenants. 14th Baron died 1941 – all sold, 1953, derelict.
The last Roman Catholic to be executed in England for his faith (although officially it was for high treason), Oliver Plunkett was also the first Irishman to be canonised for some seven centuries when declared a saint in 1975. Born 350 years earlier in Loughcrew, County Meath, Plunkett was member of a family which traced its origins back to Sir Hugh de Plunkett, a Norman knight who had come to Ireland during the reign of Henry II. His descendants established themselves primarily in Meath and Louth and soon acquired large land holdings in both. During the Reformation period, the Plunketts remained loyal to the Catholic religion of their forebears. Oliver Plunkett’s education was accordingly assigned to a cousin Patrick Plunkett, Abbot of St Mary’s, Dublin (and brother of the first Earl of Fingall). He then travelled to Rome where he entered the Irish College and became a priest, remaining in Italy until 1669 when appointed Archbishop of Armagh: the following year he returned to this country where he established a Jesuit College in Drogheda. However, changes in legislation and government attitudes towards Catholicism following the so-called Popish Plot of 1678 obliged him to go into hiding. Finally arrested in Dublin in December 1679 he was initially tried in Ireland but when the authorities here realised it would be impossible to secure a conviction he was taken to London where found guilty of high treason ‘for promoting the Roman faith’ and hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn in July 1681: since 1921 his head has been displayed in a reliquary in St Peter’s, Drogheda.
One of the houses associated with Oliver Plunkett is Louth Hall, County Louth. It was here he came to stay on his return to Ireland in 1670, provided with lodgings by his namesake and kinsman Oliver Plunkett, sixth Baron Louth. The original building on the site was a late-mediaeval tower house set on a hill above the river Glyde. This branch of the family had been based at Beaulieu, immediately north of Drogheda but in the early 16th century another Oliver Plunkett moved to the site of Louth Hall and in 1541 was created the first Lord Louth by Henry VIII. He may have improved the property to befit his status but given the travails that befell his successors as they remained Catholic during the upheavals of the next 150 years it is unlikely much more work was done to the building: on a couple of occasions their lands were seized from them or they were outlawed. The ninth Lord Louth, a minor when he succeeded to the estate in 1707, was raised in England in the Anglican faith and so his successors remained until the second half of the 19th century when the 13th Baron Louth was received into the Catholic church. Meanwhile considerable changes were wrought to their house, to which c.1760 a long three-storey, one-room deep extension was added. Further alterations were made in 1805 when Richard Johnston, elder brother of the more famous Francis, created several large spaces including a ballroom with bow window to the rear of the building. He was also responsible for inserting arched gothic windows to the original tower house and providing a crenellated parapet to conceal the pitched roof behind.
The Plunketts remained at Louth Hall until almost the middle of the last century. Most of the surrounding estate, which in the 1870s ran to more than 3,500 acres, was sold following the 1903 Wyndham Land Act but the house stayed in the family’s ownership and was occupied by the 14th Lord Louth who died in 1941. Louth Hall was then disposed of and seems to have stood empty thereafter. When Mark Bence-Jones wrote of the house in 1978 (Burke’s Guide to Country Houses: Ireland), he included a photograph of the dining room being used to store sacks of grain. Fifteen years later Christine Casey and Alistair Rowan (Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster) wrote of ‘delicate rococo plasterwork’ in two niches of the same room, and of crisp neo-classical plasterwork in the stairwell, as well as the first-floor drawing room featuring ‘delicate plasterwork of oak garlands and acorns.’ Almost none of this remains today, as vandals set fire to the already-damaged house in 2000 and left it an almost complete ruin. Somehow traces of the original interior decoration remain here and there, tantalising hints of how it must once have looked, but even the Plunkett coat of arms that until recently rested above the pedimented entrance doorcase has either been stolen or destroyed. As so often in this country, the only remaining occupants are cattle. Oliver Plunkett is a much–venerated saint in Ireland but not even his documented links with Louth Hall has been sufficient to protect it from a sad end.
see http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2015/04/louth-hall.html
THE BARONS LOUTH WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LOUTH, WITH 3,578 ACRES
This noble family, the eldest branch of the numerous house of PLUNKETT, claims a common ancestor with the Earls of Fingall and the Barons Dunsany; namely, John Plunkett, who was seated, about the close of the 11th century, at Beaulieu, County Louth.
From this gentleman descended two brothers, John and Richard Plunkett; the younger of whom was the progenitor of the Earls of Fingall and the Barons Dunsany; and the elder, the ancestor of
SIR PATRICK PLUNKETT, Knight, of Kilfarnan, Beaulieu, and Tallanstown, who was appointed, in 1497, Sheriff of Louth during pleasure.
Sir Patrick married Catherine, daughter of Thomas Nangle, 15th Baron of Navan, and dying in 1508, was succeeded by his eldest son,
OLIVER PLUNKETT, of Kilfarnon, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1541, in the dignity of BARON LOUTH (second creation).
His lordship wedded firstly, Catherine, daughter and heir of John Rochfort, of Carrick, County Kildare, by whom he had six sons and four daughters; and secondly, Maud, daughter and co-heir of Walter Bath, of Rathfeigh, by whom he had two sons and two daughters.
He was succeeded at his decease by his eldest son,
THOMAS, 2nd Baron (c1547-71), who married Margaret, daughter and heir of Nicholas Barnewall, and was succeeded at his decease by his eldest son,
PATRICK, 3rd Baron (1548-75), who wedded Maud, daughter of Lord Killeen; but dying without issue (having been slain by McMahon, in the recovery of a prey of cattle, at Essexford, County Monaghan), the title devolved upon his brother,
OLIVER, 4th Baron; who having, with the Plunketts of Ardee, brought six archers on horseback to the general hosting, at the hill of Tara, 1593, was appointed to have the leading of County Louth.
He married firstly, Frances, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bagenall, Knight Marshal of Ireland, by whom he had five sons and three daughters; and secondly, Genet Dowdall, by whom he had no issue.
His lordship died in 1607, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
MATTHEW, 5th Baron, who wedded Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Fitzwilliam, of Meryon, and had four sons.
His lordship died in 1629, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
OLIVER, 6th Baron (1608-79); who, joining the Royalists in 1639, was at the siege of Drogheda, and at a general meeting of the principal Roman Catholic gentry of County Louth, held at the hill of Tallaghosker.
His lordship was appointed Colonel-General of all the forces to be raised in that county; and in the event of his lordship’s declining the same, then Sir Christopher Bellew; and upon his refusal, then Sir Christopher Barnewall, of Rathasker.
This latter gentleman accepted the said post of Colonel-General, for which he was imprisoned, in 1642, at Dublin Castle, and persecuted by the usurper Cromwell’s parliament.
His lordship married Mary, Dowager Viscountess Dillon, second daughter of Randal, 1st Earl of Antrim, and was succeeded at his demise by his only son,
MATTHEW, 7th Baron; who, like his father, suffered by his adhesion to royalty, having attached himself to the fortunes of JAMES II.
His lordship died in 1639, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
OLIVER, 8th Baron (de jure) (1668-1707); who, upon taking his seat in parliament, was informed by the Chancellor that his grandfather, Oliver, 6th Baron, had been outlawed in 1641; and not being able to establish the reversal of the same, the dignity remained, for the two subsequent generations, unacknowledged in law.
His lordship was succeeded by his only son, by Mabella, daughter of Lord Kingsland,
MATTHEW, 9th Baron (de jure) (1698-1754), who was succeeded by his eldest son,
OLIVER, 10th Baron (de jure) (1727-63), who wedded Margaret, daughter of Luke Netterville, and had issue,
THOMAS, his successor;
Matthew;
Susannah; Anne.
His lordship was succeeded by his elder son,
THOMAS OLIVER, 11th Baron (1757-1823), who had the outlawry of his great-grandfather annulled, and was restored to his rank in the peerage in 1798.
He married, in 1808, Margaret, eldest daughter of Randal, 13th Lord Dunsany, and had issue,
THOMAS, his successor;
Randall Matthew;
Charles Dawson;
Henry Luke;
Edward Sidney.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
THOMAS OLIVER, 12th Baron (1809-49), who espoused, in 1830, Anna Maria, daughter of Philip Roche, of Donore, County Kildare, by Anna Maria, his wife, youngest daughter of Randall, Lord Dunsany, and had issue,
RANDAL PERCY OTWAY, his successor;
Thomas Oliver Westenra;
Algernon Richard Hartland;
Augusta Anna Margaret; another daughter.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
RANDAL PERCY OTWAY, 13th Baron (1832-83) an officer in the 79th Highlanders.
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| 14th Baron Louth |
RANDAL PILGRIM RALPH, 14th Baron (1868-1941), JP DL, was an officer in the Westminster Dragoons and the Wiltshire Regiment, and served in the First and Second World Wars.
The 14th Baron, though not prominent in politics, did take part in public life: He was a member of the Irish Reform Association, and took part in the campaign for a Catholic University. In politics he was a Unionist. His papers show that he was an active sportsman and also travelled widely.
He sold most of the estate soon after the 1903 Wyndham Land Act. He died in 1941, and was succeeded by his only surviving son Otway, briefly 15th Baron, before his death in 1950.
Louth Hall and demesne at Tallanstown were sold and the family settled at Jersey, Channel Islands.
The 16th Baron died at Jersey, Channel Islands, on the 6th January, 2013, aged 83.
The title now devolves upon his lordship’s eldest son, the Hon Jonathan Oliver Plunkett, born in 1952.
LOUTH HALL, the ancestral demesne of the Barons Louth, is in the parish of Tallanstown, 2½ miles south of the village of Louth, County Louth.
The mansion is a three-storey Georgian house, built ca 1760, now in ruins.
There is a shallow, projecting, curved bow to the east of south elevation of ca 1805; and a tower-house to west of ca 1350.
The roof is not visible, hidden behind a crenellated parapet.
The Plunkett family crest is above the pediment.
Louth Hall is situated within what is now a field, with ranges of random rubble stone outbuildings of ca 1805, arranged around three yards; remains of walled garden to west; artificial lake to south, dovecote to south-west.
Entrance gates to north-east on roadside comprising tooled limestone squared piers, cast-iron gates, flanked by pedestrian gates and curving quadrant plinth surmounted by cast-iron railings.
This house was the home of the Plunkett family from the later medieval until the early-20th century.
The 14th Baron sold most of the estate soon after the 1903 Wyndham Land Act.
He died in 1941, and his only surviving son, Otway, was briefly 15th Baron Louth, before his death in 1950.
The house and demesne were also sold, some years after the estate, and the family settled in Jersey, Channel Islands.
The continuity of occupation is reflected in the architectural changes, the migration from tower house to Georgian mansion.
A fire in 2000 destroyed delicate early 19th century interior plasterwork.
The archaeological, architectural and historical associations of this building are as immense as the structure itself.
First published in March, 2013. Louth arms courtesy of European Heraldry.
Irish Historic Houses 