Currently undergoing restoration, this is Cangort Park, County Offaly. Dating from 1807 when designed by Richard Morrison for William Trench (a younger brother of the first Lord Ashtown), the house is more substantial than the initial impression of a three-bay, two-storey villa might suggest. The eastern elevation reveals just how substantial is the building, its centre occupied by a three-bay segmental bow flanked by single bay windows set inside shallow relieving arches. Meanwhile, the ground floor rear is dominated by two equally grandiose tripartite windows. Returning to the facade – which, like the rest of the house is faced in lined-and-ruled plaster – much of this is given over to an impressively over-scaled main entrance, set within a recessed arched porch and approached by a flight of stone steps. Over the door is a rectangular plaster panel depicting putti riding a dolphin, a curious detail for a house located about as far away from the sea as is possible in Ireland.
Lovely house and a reasonable size to tackle, some interesting, unusual details. Glad it is being restored. Wonder how much inside is original? Perhaps the water theme over the door pertains to the history of the family who built it rather than location?
The family that built it was the Descendants of Guy Atkinson VIII and wife Ann Margaret Trench . my family of Atkinsons descendants owned this property from 1610 In plantation of Ireland until 1957.thanks Leah Atkinson Doyle .Navasota Tx.
[…] restoration of Cangort Park, a handsome early 19th century villa designed by Richard Morrison (see: A Work in Progress « The Irish Aesthete). Likewise, the owner of Barntick, thought to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in County […]
[…] The photograph that stood out more to me was of Reverend Francis TRENCH dated 1861 on a page with photographs of a Captain J H WARD and T WARD both dated 1862. Other photographs mention Cangort Park and on further investigation this is a property in County Offaly in Ireland https://theirishaesthete.com/2023/07/28/cangort-park/ […]