General information: 0505 21850, roscreaheritage@opw.ie
Damer House Roscrea County Tipperary, photographer creator Kerry Kissane All around Ireland 2021 courtesy Tipperary tourism, Ireland’s Content Pool [1]
Finding ourselves with some spare time this Heritage Week (2024) after visiting Emo in County Laois, we drove over to Roscrea, to visit Damer House and Roscrea Castle.
“In the heart of Roscrea in County Tipperary, one of the oldest towns in Ireland, you will find a magnificent stone motte castle dating from the 1280s. It was used as a barracks from 1798, housing 350 soldiers, and later served as a school, a library and even a sanatorium.
“Sharing the castle grounds is Damer House, named for local merchant John Damer [d. 1768], who came into possession of the castle in the eighteenth century. The house is a handsome example of pre-Palladian architecture. It has nine beautiful bay windows. One of the rooms has been furnished in period style.
“The grounds also include an impressive garden with a fountain, which makes Roscrea Castle a very pleasant destination for a day out. There is also a restored mill displaying St Crónán’s high cross and pillar stone.“
This was originally the site of a motte and bailey fortification known as King John’s Castle. The original wooden castle was destroyed in the late 13th century and was replaced with a stone structure built in 1274-1295 by John de Lydyard. The castle was originally surrounded by a river to the east and a moat on the other sides. [2] It was granted to the Butlers of Ormond in 1315 who held it until the early 18th Century. The castle as we see it today was built from 1332.
Roscrea Castle was sold to the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, by James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormond in 1703. It was bought by the Damers, who built an elegant three-storey nine bay pre-Palladian house in the courtyard in c. 1730.
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us:
“The Damer of folklore tradition is a conflation of the first Joseph [c.1630–1720] with his nephew John [1674-1768]. Thus, while Damer built himself a house in County Tipperary in the seventeenth century, the traditional stories about Damer’s Court (or Damerville) relate to a house built by John after his uncle’s death. John’s brother Joseph [1676–1737] built the Damer House in Roscrea, which was saved from demolition in the 1970s and subsequently restored. The Guildhall Library, London, has Damer correspondence among its Erasmus Smith papers.” [3]
In their book The Tipperary Gentry, Hayes and Kavanagh tell us that Joseph Damer (c.1630–1720) was born in Dorset in England in 1630. [4] He came to Ireland after the restoration of Charles II when land was being sold cheaply by Cromwellian soldiers who were given land instead of pay but did not want to remain in Ireland. Joseph Damer bought land in Tipperary, settling at Shronell, and established himself as a moneylender, lending to other landowners on mortgages. He also became involved in banking in Dublin. His nephew John (1674-1768) acted as his agent in Tipperary.
Joseph had no children and left his vast fortune when he died in 1720 to his nephews John (1674-1768) and Joseph (1676–1737), sons of his brother George Damer. He was so wealthy that he entered folklore with tales of how he gained his wealth, and he was compared to King Midas, as if everything he touched turned to gold.
Jonathan Swift wrote a ditty mocking Joseph Damer’s parsimony:
“He walked the streets and wore a threadbare cloak
He dined and supped at charge of other folk
And – by his look – had he held out his palms
He might be thought an object fit for alms.“
The Dictionary of Irish Biography tells us:
“Despite his reputation for miserliness, Damer was a benefactor of presbyterianism and, by some accounts, unitarianism. He and his nephew John (1673?–1768) were among the trustees and managers of the General Fund established in 1710 to support the protestant dissenting interest; another fund was established in 1718 to support the congregation in New Row in Dublin.” [see 3]
The nephew John had no children and his brother Joseph (1676–1737) inherited. Joseph sat in the British parliament for Dorchester (1722–27) and became MP for Tipperary in 1735. He died two years later. He married Mary Churchill, daughter of John Churchill of Henbury, Dorset.
Robert O’Byrne tells us that his son Joseph (1717-1798) inherited the house and castle was later created the Earl of Dorchester. [5] He was an absentee landlord and his brother managed his Irish properties. He built a mansion named Damerville which was very grand, but was demolished in 1775. Their sister Mary married William Henry Dawson, 1st Viscount Carlow, who lived at Emo in Laois. It was her offspring who later inherited the Damer properties.
Joseph’s son John (1744-1776) married Ann Seymour, a sculptress. He spent all of his inheritance and killed himself. Subsequently it was his younger brother George who inherited the title to become 2nd Earl of Dorchester. None of Joseph’s offspring had children, however, so the properties passed to the 2nd Earl of Portarlington, a second cousin, who assumed the name Dawson-Damer.
Mary Seymour, who according to Mealy’s sales catalogue married John Dawson 1st Earl of Portarlington of Emo Court, by Thomas Heaphey, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy auction; I think she married George Lionel Dawson-Damer, son of 1st Earl.
Mary who had married the 1st Viscount Carlow had a son John Dawson (1744-1798) who became 1st Earl of Portarlington, Queen’s County. He married Caroline Stuart, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Bute and his writer wife, Mary Wortley Montagu. He commissioned James Gandon to built Emo Court in Queen’s County (Laois). It was his son John Dawson (1781-1845), 2nd Earl of Portarlington, who inherited the Damer fortune and lands, and added Damer to his surname.
John Dawson 2nd Earl of Portarlington by Count D’Orsay courtesy of National Portrait Gallery in London NPG D5547Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1718-1794), Wife of John Patrick Crichton Stuart 3rd Earl of Bute, print after Christian Friedrich Zincke, 1830s, courtesy of National Portrait Gallery of London, NPG D34619.
Damer House has a scroll pediment doorway and inside, a magnificent carved staircase. The Irish Georgian Society was involved in saving it from demolition in the 1960s. [for more photographs, see https://theirishaesthete.com/tag/damer-house/ ] The stairs and floor in the front hall are original to the house. The stairs are similar to ones in Cashel Palace, which was the Archbishop’s Palace, and is now an upmarket hotel. See the website of the Irish Aesthete for photographs of this staircase: https://theirishaesthete.com/tag/cashel-palace/
The Damers didn’t live in the house and it was rented out to various tenants.
Robert O’Byrne tells us about the history of the house:
“In 1798 the house was leased as a barracks and then the whole site sold to the British military in 1858. At the start of the last century the Damer House became ‘Mr. French’s Academy’, a school for boys, reverting to a barracks for the National Army during the Civil War, then being used as a sanatorium, before once again in 1932 serving as a school until 1956, then a library. By 1970 it was empty and unused, and the local authority, Tipperary County Council, announced plans to demolish the house and replace it with an amenity centre comprising a swimming pool, car park, playground and civic centre (it had been nurturing this scheme since as far back as 1957). The council’s chairman wanted the demolition to go ahead, declaring that ‘as long as it stands it reminds the Irish people of their enslavement to British rule,’ and dismissing objectors to the scheme as ‘a crowd of local cranks.’ In fact, most of the so-called ‘crowd’ were members of the Old Roscrea Society and in December 1970 this organisation was offered help by the Irish Georgian Society in the campaign to save the Damer House.“
After our tour of Damer House we crossed the yard for a tour of the castle.
Roscrea Castle fell into disrepair in the 19th century, and when the roof collapsed extensive repairs were needed in the 1850s. It was named a national monument in 1892, and is now under the care of the OPW.
The Castle was located on one of the five main roads in ancient Ireland, and it was essential for the Normans to control this route. In 1315 King Edward II handed the castle over to James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond.
The castle had many defensive features. The curtain wall is approximately three metres thick, which allowed for a wall-walk from which soldiers had a view of the surrounding area. The River Barrow formed a moat around the east face of the castle, and the Normans constructed a dry moat on the west side. The river was diverted in the 19th century.
Inside the castle reception area there’s a grille on the floor, which is the “oubliette” (from the French, meaning “to forget.”). However, in this case, people were imprisoned here between court dates, the guide told us.
Above the drawbridge is a machicolation from which boiling substances could be dropped, and there are also arrow loop windows for defence. The stairs, called “trip steps” were deliberately built of different heights and widths to impede the intruder. The spiral clockwise to make it more difficult for the enemy to fight his way up the steps.
Silver from nearby silvermines would have been stored in the castle.
Eoin Roe O’Neill (d. 1649), at the head of 1,200 men, stormed Roscrea in 1646 and reportedly killed every man, woman and child. The only survivor was the governor’s wife, Lady Mary Hamilton (1605-1680), who was a sister to the Earl of Ormond [married to George Hamilton, 1st Baronet of Donalong County Tyrone and of Nenagh, County Tipperary]. She was again forced to play host in the castle to O’Neill three years later which again ended by the guests looting everything in sight. [7]
Larger windows were a later addition. Originally there would be only small loopholes. Before glass, the larger windows would be covered with skins to keep out the draught. The inside would have been limewashed, the white walls would then brighten the interior. The fireplace would also provide light.
[4] Hayes, William and Art Kavanagh, The Tipperary Gentry volume 1 published by Irish Family Names, c/o Eneclann, Unit 1, The Trinity Enterprise Centre, Pearse Street, Dublin 2, 2003.
John Barry (1725-1784), who added the name Smith to his surname after his marriage to a wealthy heiress, was the son of James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore, of Castlelyons, County Cork, and Barry’s third wife, Anne Chichester, daughter of Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall (it was spelled with two ‘l’s in the title, unlike the county). He married Dorothy Smith, daughter of Hugh Smith of Weald Hall, Essex, and John added Smith to his surname.
John Smith-Barry (1783-1837), son of James Hugh Smith-Barry (1746-1801) settled in Fota, County Cork, after his marriage to Eliza Courtenay of Ballyedmond, Midleton, County Cork.
James Hugh Smith-Barry (1816-1856) inherited Fota and also Marbury Hall in Cheshire. He served as Deputy Lieutenant, Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff of County Cork. He married Elizabeth Jacson of Cheshire. After her husband died, she married George Fleming Warren, 2nd Baron de Tabley of Tabley House, County Chester.
James Hugh Smith-Barry by William Orpen 1904, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy auction 2022.
Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry (1843-1925), the oldest son of James and Elizabeth, inherited Fota and also Marbury Hall. He too served as Deputy Lieutenant, Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff of County Cork as well as Member of Parliament (M.P.) (Conservative) for County Cork between 1867 and 1874. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) (Conservative) for South Huntingdonshire in England between 1886 and 1900. In 1902 he was created 1st (and last) Baron Barrymore of County Cork.
Alexander Stewart (1699/1700-1781) and his wife, Mary Cowan, bought a large area of land in County Down in 1744, part of which became Mount Stewart demesne.
Burke’s Landed Gentry of Ireland tells us that Francis Swifte, son of Henry of Sheffield, County York, was knighted in 1616 and died in 1642. Henry of Sheffield’s other son was Thomas, who was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, who married Margaret, daughter and heir of the Right Rev. Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath & Wells. Many generations of Swift after him had the forename “Godwin.” Thomas and Margaret had a son William, born in 1566, who was Rector of Herbaldown and who married Mary Philpott.
17th Century English School “Portrait of a Gentleman in Armour, Sir Francis Swifte,” courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.Probably Francis Swifte, son of Henry of Sheffield, County York, was knighted in 1616 and died in 1642.Reverend Thomas Swifte, 17th Century Irish School. He was born in Canterbury in 1561, and married Margaret, daughter and heir of the Right Rev. Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath & Wells. He was the son of Henry Swifte; courtesy of Fonsie Mealy’s Fortgranite auction.Many generations of Swift after him had the forename “Godwin.”Late 16th / early 17th Century English School, “Right Reverend Thomas Godwin, courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.
Thomas and Mary’s son Reverend Thomas (1595-1658) of Goodrich, Herefordshire, England, and Bristow, was ancestor of the Irish Swift family of Swiftsheath and Lionsden. He was devoted to King Charles I and the son of Charles I who was to become King Charles II.
Thomas married Elizabeth Dryden (c. 1605-1658). They had many children, many of whom lived in Ireland. His son Jonathan (d. 1667) was a solicitor in Dublin, who married Abigail Erick of County Leicester, and they had a son, born after his death in Hoey’s Court, Dublin, right next to Dublin Castle, in 1667, also named Jonathan, the famed writer, Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. He wrote many anecdotes about his grandfather in his manuscript The Family of Swift which is preserved in the library at Trinity College, Dublin (I must go to see it!). He died in 1745.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) by Charles Jervas circa 1718, National Portrait Gallery in London, 278.Portrait of Dean Swift attributed to Rupert Barber (1719-1772), courtesy of Adam’s auction 12 May 2013.This must be Jonathan Swift who died in 1745, Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.Portrait of Stella courtesy of Adam’s auction 12 May 2013, attributed to Rupert Barber (1719-1772).“Portrait of Esther Johnson (Stella),” Late 18th / Early 19th Century after James Latham (1696 – 1747) courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite sale.
Reverend Thomas Swift (1595-1658) had another son, Godwin Swift (d. 1695), who was Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde, and married four times. Geoffrey Marescaux tells us that Godwin Swift paid the famous Jonathan Swift’s school fees. His heir was child of his second wife, Katherine Webster, Godwin Swift (1672-1739), later of Dunbrow, County Dublin and Swiftsheath, County Kilkenny. For information on Swiftsheath, see https://kilkennyarchaeologicalsociety.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/OKR1978-356-Geoffrey-Marescaux-Swiftes-Heath.pdf
Godwin Swift (1672-1739) married his cousin, Elizabeth, who was daughter of another son of Reverend Thomas Swift Vicar at Goodrich and Elizabeth née Dryden, William, who had land in Carlow, Kilkenny, Leitrim and Roscommon.
Godwin Swift (1672-1739) and Elizabeth had a son Godwin who inherited Swiftsheath and also owned Tidenton, County Kilkenny. He married a cousin, Elizabeth Swift, who was daughter of Deane Swift (c. 1674-1714) of Castle Rickard, County Westmeath. Deane Swift (c. 1674-1714) was another son of Godwin Swift Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde, by his 3rd wife, Hannah Deane.
Their son Godwin Swift (c. 1734-1815) lived in Swiftsheath and Lionsden, County Meath. He also married a cousin, Maria Swift, daughter of Deane Swift (c. 1707-1783) and Mary née Harrison, daughter of Theophilus Harrison. To add confusion to the family tree, Theophilus Harrison, Reverend of Clonmacnois, married twice, and one of his wives, Eleanor Meade, daughter of William Meade Lt Col of Ballintober, County Cork, had been previously married to Godwin Swift Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde as his fourth wife! Mary Harrison’s mother was Theophilus Harrison’s second wife, Martha Swift – yes, another Swift! She was the daughter of Adam Swift of Greencastle, County Down, who was another son of Thomas Swift Vicar at Goodrich and Elizabeth née Dryden.
Reverend Deane Swifte, 17th Century Irish School, cousin and biographer of Dean Jonathan Swift. This is be Deane Swift (1703-1783), son of Deane Swift of Castle Rickard, County Westmeath. His great grandfather was a Regicide, ie. signed the death warrant of King Charles I, but fortunately died before Charles II was restored to the throne, according to Jonathan Swift!Admiral Richard Deane (Regicide) 17th Century English School courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.The Fonsie Mealy site adds: “Note: Major Joseph Deane (Inistiogue, 1661-66), of Crumlin, County Dublin, and Ballicocksoust, County Kilkenny (formerly the estate of Richard Strange), was the youngest son of Edward Deane, of Pinnock, Gloucestershire, by his 2nd wife, Anne Wase, and was born at Pinnock, 2nd February, 1624. His elder brother, Colonel Richard Deane, a leading member of the Republican party, was one of the Judges who sat on the trial of Charles I, and signed the death warrant of the King. Colonel Richard Deane was entrusted with the settlement of Scotland, which he speedily effected by his temperance and sagacity. He was next appointed one of the “Generals at Sea”, having for his colleague the famous Robert Blake, but was killed in action against the Dutch on 2nd June, 1653. He was honoured with a public funeral and buried in Henry VII’s Chapel at Westminster, but in 1661 his body (being that of a Regicide) was exhumed and cast out of the Abbey. Joseph Deane was educated at Winchester School, and entered the Parliamentary Army as Cornet in Rainsborough’s Horse. He volunteered for service in Ireland under Oliver Cromwell, in whose army he held the rank of Major. Under the Act of Settlement he had two grants of land (16th January, 1666, and 22nd June, 1669), comprising 9,324 statute acres, situated in the counties of Meath, Down, and Kilkenny, 3,859 acres being in Kilkenny. He purchased from Richard Talbot (afterwards Earl and Duke of Tyrconnell) the Manor of Terenure, in county Dublin, for 4,000. He was named on some important committees of the House of Commons, but was fined 10 for absence on 31st January 1665. In 1664 he paid 4s. hearth money for “Ballicagbsust”. In 1677 he served as High Sheriff of county Dublin. He died 21st December, 1699, having been twice married. By his 1st wife Anne —-, he had one son and two daughters – Joseph, of Crumlin, whose son, Joseph, became Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and died without male issue. (1) Anne, married in May, 1673 (as his 3rd wife), Godwin Swift, Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde. (2) Elizabeth, married 1st in May, 1672, Captain Henry Grey; 2nd in July, 1677, Donogh O’Brien, of Lemenagh, County Clare. Major Deane married, 2ndly, in 1659, Elizabeth, daughter of Maurice Cuffe, and sister of Captain Joseph Cuffe, of Castle Inch, elected M.P. for Knocktopher in 1665, and by her, who died 3rd April, 1698, had a son and a daughter – Edward whom hereafter M.P. for Inistiogue; and Dorothy, married Maurice Berkeley, of Glasnevin county Dublin.THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE COUNTY, CITY AND BOROUGHS OF KILKENNYBY G.D. BURTCHAELL, M.A., LL.B [Written for the KILKENNY MODERATOR]Mrs Godwin Swifte of Swifte’s Heath, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy’s Fortgranite sale.
Godwin Swift (c. 1734-1815) of Swiftsheath and Lionsden and his cousin, Maria Swift had another son called Godwin Swift (c. 1779-1814), of Lionsden. This Godwin Swift married yet another cousin, Jane Sophia Swift (1785-1851), in 1803. She was the daughter of Richard Swift (1750-1796) who was the son of John L’Estrange Swift (1709-1793) of Lynn, County Westmeath, who was the son of Meade Swift (1682-1739) of Lynn, County Westmeath, who was the son of Godwin Swift Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde and Eleanor née Meade!
Jane Sophia Swift (1785-1851) married secondly, in 1818, Louis Auguste Alexander, Comte Lepelletier de Molende.
Countess Molende née Swift and her granddaughter Luigina de Sadre, Gifted by the artist to W.R. Swifte as a token, as his predecessor Jonathan Swifte served as Rector at Agher Church from 1699 – 1745, courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.
Godwin Swift (c. 1779-1814), of Lionsden and Jane Sophia Swift (1785-1851) had a son Godwin Meade Pratt Swift (1805-1864) of Swiftsheath and Lionsden.
Identified as “Godwin Pratt Meade Swifte Lord Carlingford (m. MJ Clarke), Leahy, Dixon & Mulvanney, 19th Century Irish School, standing in a landscape by a grey horse with Foulksrath Castle, Co. Kilkenny in the distance”, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite. Godwin Meade Pratt Swift (1805-1864) of Swiftsheath and Lionsdenmarried Mary Jane Clarke of Bansha Castle, County Tipperary.He took the title Viscount Carlingford.Jane Christina Swifte (1810-1854), the wife of “Chevalier Sergio Demacdo, Minister Plenipotentiary of HM Emperor of Brazil,” Early 19th Century Irish School, courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite. She was the daughter of Godwin Swift of Lionsden and Jane Sophia.
Godwin called himself Viscount Carlingford, reviving a title created in 1627 for another branch of the Swift family. Godwin also added the “e” back to the end of the name Swift. He married first, Maria Theresa Plankenstern, Baroness de Wetzlar of Austria at Paris in 1830 after the birth of their son Ferdinando. [see https://www.youwho.ie/swifte.html ].
Godwin secondly married Jane Anne Hopkins on 18 Mar 1845 at Liverpool after an non legal ceremony some years earlier. Godwin returned with his family from the continent in 1845 to take up residence at Swiftesheath. Jane died at Lionsden, Castle Rickard in 1848 and was buried in the family vault. Godwin thirdly married Mary Jane Clarke on 4 Feb 1863 at Kilkenny and declared himself a widower. Mary was the daughter of Robert Hare Clarke. Godwin died 4 Jul 1864.
He created a flying machine which he hoisted to the top of Foulkesrathe Castle, which stood on the property of Swiftesheath, but it failed to fly and a butler who was piloting the plane broke a leg in his fall.
Identified as Pratt Swifte, Early 19th Century Irish School, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite sale.Mrs. Swifte, grandmother of Thomas Dennis courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite Auction.19th Century Irish School, Portrait of Mrs. Godwin Swifte courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.There were so many Godwin Swifts it is hard to identify the sitter.Godwin Butler Meade Swifte (1864-1923) son of “Viscount Carlingford,” wearing uniform of the High Sheriff of Kilkenny, seated holding a sword, D.L. was the High Sheriff of Kilkenny and later Carlow, and resided at Swifte’s Heath, Co. Kilkenny, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite.Ernest Godwin Swifte K.C., with a companion painting of Lady Francis Swifte courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite sale.He was the son of William Richard Swift (1807-1890), son of Godwin Swift of Lionsden and Jane Sophia.“Lady Francis Swifte,” with a companion painting of Ernest Godwin Swifte K.C., courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite sale.Perhaps it is Ernest Godwin’s sister Julia Frances Swift, who did not marry.
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On Sunday 5th May 2019, Stephen and I attended a day of talks in Dromana House on “Pursuit of the Heiress.” This is an apt topic for Dromana since the property passed down to the current generation via an heiress, Katherine FitzGerald (1660-1725). In fact, you could say that even in this generation the property was passed down through an heiress, or through the female line, as Barbara Grubb is the daughter of James Villiers-Stuart, descendent of the FitzGeralds of the Decies who originally built the house. “The Decies” is the county of Waterford west of the River Mahon.
We didn’t have a tour of the house on the day of the conference, so we returned during Heritage Week in 2020.
Parts of the house date back to the 1400s, and fortifications on the grounds date back even further. Its situation perched above the Blackwater River gives it stunning views.
The house was once larger and grander than what we see today. Unfortunately, part of the house was demolished in the 1960s as upkeep and rates were too expensive (it shares the fate of Lisnavagh in County Carlow and Killruddery in County Wicklow). It retains part of the older elements, however, and remains a relatively large, comfortable home. The garden is impressive and the sun brought out its beauty – we were lucky with the weather.
This poster board prepared for the 800th anniversary of Dromana shows a photograph of the house as it was before the demolition of a large part of it.
The lectures in 2019 took place in what used to be the old kitchen. On my way in, I admired the cloakroom hallway with its old floor tiles, long mirror and row of hooks for hats and coats. I learned the following year that this mirror used to be in the Ballroom, which has been demolished. The mirror now lies on its side but originally stood vertically, so the room would have been an impressive height.
First, a little background about the house. From the website:
“Dromana House is a true gem, perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking the strikingly beautiful, unspoilt river Blackwater. It is surrounded by a 600 acre privately owned estate with numerous woodland and garden walks. Several interesting historic follies are also to be seen throughout the grounds including an ancient outer fortification, boathouse and slipway down to the river. This period property has been lovingly maintained by its owners whose family have lived on this location since 1200, the present owner being the 26th generation.” [1]
From the 13thcentury onwards the property was the seat of the FitzGeralds, Lords of the Decies, a junior branch of the Earls of Desmond. Information boards in the old kitchen, created with the help of University College Cork, describe the history of the estate. In 1215 King John of England granted a charter to the Norman knight Thomas fitz Anthony, giving him custody of the present-day counties of Waterford and Cork. Through the marriage of his daughter the estates came into the possession of the FitzGeralds – the first instance of the property passing through the female line. The earliest fortifications of Dromana date from this period.
The title of Lord the Decies split from the Earl of Desmond title when James FitzGerald the 6th Earl of Desmond (who died in 1462) granted the land of the Decies to his younger son Sir Gerald Mor FitzGerald, whose descendants have lived in Dromana ever since. The tower-house which forms the core of today’s Dromana was built at this time.
The Earls of Desmond asserted their claim to the Decies until the Battle of Affane in 1565, in which the Earl of Desmond’s army [that of the 14th Earl of Desmond, I think] was overthrown. In January 1569 Queen Elizabeth granted Sir Maurice FitzGerald of Decies (great-grandson of Gerald Mor FitzGerald) letters patent creating him Baron of Dromana and Viscount Decies. His titles became extinct, however, when he died three years later without a male heir.
Katherine Fitzgerald of the Decies, granddaughter of Gerald Mor FitzGerald, married her cousin Thomas, who in 1529 became the 11th Earl of Desmond (the information panel below says he was the 12th Earl but I think he was the 11th). He died in 1534 but she survived him for 70 years, dying in 1604 at the age of 140 years. She lived as a widow, as the Countess of Desmond, in Inchiquin Castle in East Cork. She died supposedly from falling out of a cherry tree, having allegedly worn out three natural sets of teeth. The current owners have planted a cherry tree in her honour. They have a bookcase supposedly made from the cherry tree from which she fell!
“The castle of Dromana was attacked and damaged in the wars of the 1640s and 50s, though its base can still be identified from the river, and indeed is still inhabited. In about 1700, instead of rebuilding the castle, two new ranges were built at right angles to one another along the courtyard walls. Both were simple gable-ended two storey structures, possibly just intended for occasional occupation, their only decoration being a robust, pedimented block-and-start door case in the manner of James Gibbs.” This door was moved when part of the house was demolished and is still the front door.
Julian Walton, one of the speakers at the “Pursuit of the Heiress” conference in 2019, has gained access to the archives at Curraghmore and is eliciting many interesting facts and details. This was great preparation for our visit to Curraghmore House the next day! [2] He told us of the heiress Katherine FitzGerald.
In 1673 the young heiress of Dromana, another Katherine Fitzgerald, was married against her will by her guardian Richard Le Poer, the 6th Baron of Curraghmore, to his son John. She was the only child of Sir John FitzGerald, Lord of Dromana and Decies and heir to Dromana. Her mother was Katherine Le Poer, daughter of John Le Poer 5th Baron of Curraghmore. Her mother’s brother, the 6th Baron of Curraghmore, wanted to unite the Curraghmore and Dromana estates. Both parties were underage – she was 12 and John Le Poer was only eight! Three years later Katherine escaped and married a cavalry officer named Edward Villiers (son of 4th Viscount Grandison). The courts upheld her second marriage and her first husband had to return her estate of Dromana and renounce the title of Viscount Decies. Her second husband’s father was a cousin to Barbara Villiers, mistress to King Charles II, and Barbara intervened on behalf of her cousin. When her second husband’s father, the 4th Viscount Grandison died in 1700, she was granted, in lieu of her now deceased husband, the title of Viscountess Grandison. She lived in Dromana until her death in 1725.
History of the Development of the House, and the Villiers-Stuarts
The son of Edward Villiers and Katherine Fitzgerald, John Villiers, c.1684 – 1766, became the 5th Viscount Grandison, and later, the 1st Earl Grandison. He repaired the house in the 1730s after it was partly destroyed in the political turmoil of the 1600s. Our guide, Barbara, told us that he was an enterprising landlord: in the 1740s he brought weaving from Lurgan, County Armagh, to start the linen industry in the area, and he built the village of Villierstown for the workers. He also planted 52,000 trees.
Dromana House, May 2019.John Villiers (c.1684 – 1766) 1st Earl Grandison by Alan Ramsay.
The 1st Earl of Grandison’s sons predeceased him so the estate passed to his daughter, Elizabeth. She married Alan John Mason, an MP for County Waterford and a merchant, and on her father’s death she was created 1st Countess Grandison and and 1st Viscountess Villiers. [3] Their son became the 2nd Earl of Grandison and added the surname Villiers to become George Mason-Villiers. In 1780, he added a larger new house in front of the old one, adding an impressive staircase and ballroom. Of his building work, Mark Bence-Jones describes the back of the new block forming a third side of a courtyard with two older ranges, and a low office range forming the fourth side. The Gibbsian doorway was hidden from sight in the courtyard. [4]
A panel about the architectural evolution of Dromana states: “The second Earl Grandison, George Mason-Villiers, added on a larger new house, commencing in about 1780, directly in front of the longer 1700s range. The principal façade was of two storey and nine bays, quite plain, with a parapet and a rather curious segmental-headed armorial doorcase. The river façade contained a shallow double-height bow and was actually an extension of the smaller 1700s range. Together these three buildings faithfully followed the line of the original bawn or courtyard. There was a spacious hall with a grand staircase, and a large circular ballroom.”
In this old picture you can see the house with the bows.
George Mason-Villiers too had only a daughter as an heir: Gertrude Amelia Mason-Villiers (1778-1809). In 1800, she married Lord Henry Stuart (1777-1809), third son of the 1st Marquess of Bute, of the Isle of Bute in Scotland. Henry Stuart’s grandmother was the famous writer Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu, who wrote about her experiences of travelling in Ottoman Istanbul.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1718-1794), Wife of 3rd Earl of Bute, print after Christian Friedrich Zincke, 1830s, courtesy of National Portrait Gallery of London, NPG D34619.
Gertrude and Henry were succeeded in 1809 by their son, Henry, when he was just six years old. Henry added “Villiers” to his name in 1822, becoming Villiers-Stuart. The architect Martin Day was hired first in 1822 by trustees of Lady Gertrude – Henry didn’t come of age until 1824. Martin Day came from a family of architects in County Wexford. He designed several Church of Ireland churches for the Board of First Fruits and the Irish Ecclesiastical Commissioners between 1822-1849. In the 1820s, Day worked on the interiors of Dromana. He assisted Daniel Robertson at Johnstown Castle (now open to the public) and Castleboro House in County Wexford in the 1840s, and around the same time did more work for Henry Villiers-Stuart, adding parapets, pediments and mouldings to the windows, and an elaborate surround to the entrance doorway which incorporated the family arms. [5] He also fitted out a suite of very grand reception rooms and a massive imperial staircase.
Henry served as MP for Waterford 1826-1830 and for Banbury, Oxfordshire, England in 1830-1. He also served as Colonel in the Waterford Militia. He was admitted to the Irish Privy Council in 1837, and was created, in 1839, Baron Stuart de Decies, a title that recalled his long family connection with the region. Henry Villiers-Stuart was Lord-Lieutenant of County Waterford, 1831-74.
The Dromana website tells us that Henry Villiers-Stuart was “a Protestant aristocrat and large landowner with radical views. As a young man he defeated the Waterford establishment in the famous 1826 election to give Daniel O’Connell and the Catholic Emancipation movement their first Member of Parliament.” Daniel O’Connell signed documents in Dromana House, and the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 was drawn up at Dromana.
In 1826 Henry Villiers-Stuartmarried Theresia Pauline Ott. When they returned from their honeymoon, the tenants of Villierstown constructed an elaborate papier-mache archway gate for them to drive through. Martin Day may have had a hand in the original gateway, and later drew up plans to create a more permanent structure, which Stephen and I visited later in the day.
The Bridge is now on a public road. One used to need a ticket to enter through the gate. When King Edward VII arrived at the gate in a pony and trap, on his way to Lismore, he had no pass, so was turned away! The Gate was restored by the Irish Georgian Society in the 1960s and again by the local city council in 1990. [6] The “bishop” like structures either side of the top of the central part have been replaced by fibreglass “bishops,” as the original copper ones are too heavy, and one of the originals now sits in the garden of Dromana.
Pauline Ott had been married before, and her husband was thought to have died in the army. However, he later reappeared. Her marriage to Henry Villiers-Stuart was thus rendered invalid, and her children illegitimate. She and Henry had a son, Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart and a daughter Pauline. Pauline married into the Wheeler-Cuffe family of Lyrath, County Kilkenny (now a hotel). Their son was unable to inherit the title of Baron Stuart of the Decies and the peerage expired with his father’s death in 1874. [7]
Despite becoming illegitimate, the son, Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart (1827-1895) [the name Windsor came from his father’s maternal family], did very well for himself. He served first in the Austrian then the British Army, then went to university. He was ordained in the Church of England but later resigned Holy Orders in order to pursue a political career. He became MP for County Waterford from 1873-85, Vice Lord-Lieutenant of County Waterford, 1871-73, and High Sheriff of County Waterford in 1889. In 1865 he married Mary, second daughter of the Venerable Ambrose Power, Archdeacon of Lismore. He travelled extensively and wrote books, studied hieroglyphics, and did pioneering work in Egypt. He brought many artefacts back from Egypt, which have since been dispersed.
Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart (1827 – 1895) travelled extensively and wrote books, studied hieroglyphics, and did pioneering work in Egypt. He was a British soldier, clergyman, politician, Egyptologist, and author.In the old kitchen, which houses the information boards, there was a museum case of fascinating artefacts, many from Egypt from Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart’s travels.
His eldest son, Henry Charles Windsor Villiers-Stuart (1867-1908), who served as High Sheriff of County Waterford, 1898, espoused, in 1895, Grace Frances, only daughter of John Adam Richard Newman of Dromore, County Cork. Their heir, Ion Henry Fitzgerald Villiers-Stuart (1900-48), wedded, in 1928, Elspeth Richardson, and was succeeded by his only son, James Henry Villiers-Stuart (b. 1928), of Dromana, who married, in 1952, Emily Constance Lanfear and had two daughters, Caroline and Barbara, one of whom was our tour guide and who now lives in the house. [8]
The website states that: “by the 1960s Dromana had become something of a white elephant. The estate was sold and subdivided, and the house bought by a cousin, Fitzgerald Villiers-Stuart [a grandson of Henry Windsor Villiers-Stuart], who demolished the 1780s block in 1966 and reduced it to more manageable proportions.”
“James Villiers-Stuart was able to repurchase the house in 1995 he and his wife Emily moved into Dromana and began restoring the house and garden. Now a widow, Emily still lives there, along with her daughter and family.”
Back to the Conference
Barbara, heir to the house, and her husband Nicholas, attended the “Pursuit of the Heiress” conference. Nicholas gave us an impromptu lecture of sorts about how forces merged to make the upkeep of the big houses in Ireland almost impossible, with the high rates charged by the government, and the decline of salmon fishing, etc.
We had more lectures after lunch. First up was “The Abduction of Mary Pike,” by Dr. Kieran Groeger, which interested Stephen as she too was a Quaker. [9] The last lecture was by Dr Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel, on her research on Irish exiles to the Austrian army. [10] This was fascinating. I have much to study, to learn the history of the Habsburg empire.
Afterwards we had tea on the lawn, then Nicholas gave us an almost running tour of the garden – we had to be quick to keep up with him as he bound ahead describing the plants. The website states that “the steeply sloping riverbanks are covered with oak woods and the important mid-eighteenth century garden layout, with its follies, the Rock House and the Bastion, is currently being restored.” There are over thirty acres of garden and woodland, including looped walks.
Dromana House, May 2019.
When we visited in 2020, we had more time to explore the garden. We were given a map when we arrived. The current owners are enthusiastic gardeners and do nearly all the work themselves.
[4] p. 108. 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.
[7] See Robert O’Byrne’s recent blog entry: There is a memorial in front of the church (constructed by Lord Grandison in 1748): a High Cross erected by Henry Villiers-Stuart in memory of his parents, Henry, Baron Stuart de Decies and his Austrian-born wife Pauline. To the immediate west is a second monument, this one a public fountain in rock-faced limestone ashlar; it was erected in 1910 by the younger Henry’s children in memory of their mother Mary who had died three years earlier. https://theirishaesthete.com/2022/08/20/20689/ Robert O’Byrne tells us that the village of Villierstown, County Waterford was established in the 1740s by John Villiers, first Earl Grandison who wished to have a settlement for weavers and other personnel working in the linen industry he was then establishing in the area.
Irish Historic Houses 
