In need of repair: the conservatory attributed to Richard Turner which is attached to the west side of Marlfield, County Tipperary. This house was built for the Bagwell family in c.1785-90. The conservatory here is a later addition, thought to have been added around 1835, which is two years later than that at Colebrooke. Although Marlfield was burnt by Anti-Treaty forces during the Civil War (it was subsequently rebuilt), the conservatory survived intact and is therefore an important example of Turner’s early work.
This blog always reminds me of a book I read years ago called Troubles. TJ Farrell tells the story of a once grand Irish Hotel the Majestic and The Irish countryside rebelling post WW I & during their war of independence. You do such a nice job honoring these old beauties! Thank you!
Marlfield was burnt because John Bagwell served as a senator in the first Seanead (he was an independent Senator from 1922-36). Bagwell worked with many architects on the restoration, George Murray Ross, Lucius O’Callaghan, and Manning Robertson of Huntington who was a friend of Mrs Bagwell’s family, the Newtons of Bagenalstown. Marlfield has Manning’s signature (and disastrous) flat concrete roof.
Commander Bagwell, the senator’s son, who died in 1979, related that though the fire did not consume the conservatory it did cause a lot of the glass to shatter. The Senator had to break it to the gardener that there wasn’t the money to replace the curved glass. “Couldn’t we use the spare glass?” the gardener enquired. It transpired that the conservatory had been supplied with a spare set of curved panes that had stored for 90 years beside a potting shed, and the conservatory was restored.
Do hope someone buys this and does a good restoration
Hello there,
I was wondering if it posible to have the address or closer location of this conservatory please?
I am working on a Richard Turner glass houses survey and I am starting with their locations on the map.
Thanks in advance!
Thank you for getting in touch. Marlfield House is very easy to find, it’s just a few miles outside Clonmel: if you look for it on Google Maps it will show up…