Robert O’Byrne is a writer and lecturer specialising in the fine and decorative arts. He is the author of more than a dozen books, among them Luggala Days: The Story of a Guinness House (Cico Books) and The Last Knight: A Tribute to Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin (Lilliput Press). A former Vice-President of the Irish Georgian Society and trustee of the Alfred Beit Foundation, he is currently a trustee of the Apollo Foundation. Among other work he writes a monthly column for Apollo magazine (http://www.apollo-magazine.com), and also contributes to each issue of the quarterly Irish Arts Review (http://www.irishartsreview.com). All opinions expressed herein on Ireland, her landscape, architecture and artefacts are his own.
Hi Robert
I me you once at a weekend concerning Molly Keane, at Woodbrook House and have been enjoying your posts here.
I have lived in and loved an old Lodge House belonging to Mount Pleasant House near Bandon, in Cork for the last 10 years. However I am dismayed that now it is to be sold and I fear it will be renovated and its beauty lost -it has original arched windows , is stone built and probably dates from when Mount Pleasant House was built though I haven’t been able to find records of this particular building . I wondered if you know how or if I can get it Listed so that whoever buys it will need to keep its original features. I also wondered if youmight like to come and see it – and have tea perhaps one day?
Kind regards
Jane Killingbeck
Hi Jane, I wonder could you contact me? My email is bdixon at ucd dot ie Thanks Brendan
Thank you for your recent message. Have you checked to see whether the building is already listed by Cork County Council? This information is available online. And are you sure it is old? According to J.A.K. Dean’s guide to gate lodges in Munster, the original lodge was demolished and ‘replaced by a modern house’. Dean is very reliable, so it may be that despite appearances to the contrary, the current lodge isn’t that old. (On the other hand, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage does feature a building at Mt Pleasant which it calls a gate lodge – altho’ it clearly is more substantial that usually the case, so may have had another purpose. See https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/20909609/curravordy-co-cork)
Hello! Love your blog. Been subscribed for a few years now. We are coming back to Ireland in June and I saw an amazing place I want to see, Castleboro House in Wexford. It seems it is on private property. Any chance you can help me research how to see it, if possible? Here is a page about it https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/castleboro-house
Thanks!
Thanks for your message. Castleboro is on private farmland and the owner does not, as a rule, allow visitors onto the property, I’m afraid…
Bummer. It’s very cool. 🙁
Hi, Robert. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your blog. So many great photos and fascinating stories. Thanks for the information.
Thank you, that’s most kind…