Duleek House, Duleek, Co Meath
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. 113. “(O’Brien, Inchiquin, B/PB) A three storey pedimented cut-stone house of ca 1750, attributed to Richard Castle or his school, built for Thomas Trotter, MP. Three bay front; central breakfront with triple window above Venetian window above pedimented tripartite doorway. Balustraded roof parapet. Owned, in early part of C19, by 2nd Marquess of Thomond.
https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/14321014/duleek-house-abbey-road-abbeyland-duleek-co-meath
Duleek House, Abbey Road, ABBEYLAND, Duleek, County Meath
Detached three-bay three-storey over basement country house, built c.1750, attached to an earlier house to the rear, built c.1700. Pitched slate roof with red brick chimneystack to front block, with a stone balustrade parapet. Ashlar limestone walls to front elevation, with pedimented central breakfront, quoins and a carved cornice. Carved stone tripartite Doric doorcase. Venetian window and square-headed tripartite window to breakfront.
Appraisal
Designed by Richard Cassels for Thomas Trotter MP as an extension to an earlier house, this imposing eighteenth-century house is clearly designed by a skilled architect. The scale and form of the house is enhanced by the varying treatment of the fenestration on each floor and by the pedimented breakfront. The masonry was executed by skilled craftsmen, which is apparent from the finish of the stone work. The carved stone doorcase adds artistic interest to the façade.
Record of Protected Structures:
Duleek House, Abbey Road, Abbeyland. Town: Duleek.
Detached three-bay three-storey over basement country house, built c.1750, attached to an earlier house to the rear, built c.1700. Designed by Richard Cassels. Ranges of stone built outbuildings, built c.1750 (14321015)
What still stands of Duleek House, County Meath. The limestone-fronted façade of the building was added c.1750 to a residence probably half a century older, as can be seen by a side-view below. If not designed by Richard Castle the front section was certainly much influenced by him, and the tripartite doorcase is very similar to that of the last surviving 18th century house on Dublin’s O’Connell Street (no. 42).
The interior featured an entrance hall with three arched openings to the rear providing access to the staircase and reception rooms with neo-classical plasterwork. When surveyed for the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, Duleek House was still intact and occupied. Since then it has deteriorated into the present dangerous condition and appears unlikely to survive much longer. The building is of course listed for protection.
https://meathhistoryhub.ie/houses-a-d/
Duleek House is situated on the edge of Duleek village. In the eighteenth century the grange of St. Michael was used as the site for the major house in the town – Duleek House. Tradition states that stones from the ruined monastery were used in the construction of the building. Duleek House was attributed to Richard Castle by the Knight of Glin and to the office of Richard Castle by Casey and Rowan. Erected about 1750 for Thomas Trotter, Duleek House is a detached three-bay three-storey over basement country house. It is attached to an earlier house to the rear dated to c.1700. Attached to the house are a range of stone built outbuildings. An entrance way from the Maudlin Bridge was created with a gate lodge at the roadway. The gate lodge was known locally as ‘Savage’s Lodge’, after the family who inhabited it but the building is now demolished. This avenue is marked on the OS maps of 1836 and 1882.
The earlier house may date to the 1730s following the purchase of the site of the priory by Thomas Trotter of Dublin from the Marquis of Drogheda in 1729. Trotter was associated with the Church of Ireland church at Duleek as a statue of him stood in the porch. The statue is attributed to the Flemish sculptor, Peter Scheemakers. The statue of Trotter was moved to the Law Society at Blackhall Place, Dublin, where it is labelled as coming from “Duleek, Co. Louth.” Thomas was a founder member of the Dublin Society now the R.D.S.
The Ram family held the parliamentary seat of Duleek from the seventeenth century until late in the eighteenth century. Abel Ram of Ramsfort and Clonattin was the patron of the borough in the early eighteenth century. Thomas Trotter married Rebecca Ram, daughter of Abel Ram, in 1710. Thomas Trotter, MP for Duleek 1715-27, died in 1745 and was succeeded by his son, Stephen, who died 1764. Stephen’s son, Thomas, died in 1802 and his daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, married William O’Brien, second Marquess of Thomond.
William, the second Marquis of Thomond, died in 1846 leaving four daughters and so his nephew, James, succeeded to the title and ownership of Duleek. He died in 1855, without surviving male issue, and on his death the Marquisate of Thomond and Earldom of Inchiquin became extinct.
The Smith family came into possession of the estate about 1854. St. George W. Smith, the third son of Henry J. Smith of Annesbrook, lived at Duleek House. There are some interesting photos surviving of a wedding at Duleek House in 1901 with the groom dressed in the uniform of 1st Bombay Lancers. In 1901 Kate A. Smith, a widow of 55, and her daughter lived in the house. In 1911 Arthur Farrell, a land agent, was living in the house. Colonel E. St George Smith served in the First World War. In 1916 Major E. St George Smith, Royal Dublin Fusiliers appointed to command the 10th Battalion. A keen sportsman he had a tennis club and cricket club in the grounds of the house. The Smith family lived in the house until the 1950s.
Irish Historic Houses 