Category Archives: Clare

A Gateway to the Past



Following Monday’s text about souvenirs of Dromoland Castle’s earlier history, it is worth looking at another feature on the estate. A previous residence of the O’Brien family, Leamaneh Castle, County Clare has featured here before (see The Legacy of Máire Rúa « The Irish Aesthete). That building was constructed around 1480 by Turlogh O’Brien, King of Thomond, and is said to derive its name from the Irish ‘Leim an eich’ (The horse’s Leap). In 1543, Turlogh’s son, Murrough O’Brien, surrendered the castle and pledged loyalty to the English crown; subsequently, he was created first Earl of Thomond and Baron Inchiquin. In 1648, his descendant Conor O’Brien extended the tower with the addition of a four-storey manor house following his marriage to Máire ní Mahon who on account of her flaming red hair, was commonly known as Máire Rúa (Red Mary).  The couple’s son, Sir Donough O’Brien later abandoned Leamaneh, moving to Dromoland. In 1902, Lucius William O’Brien, 15th Baron Inchiquin, organised for the castle’s 17th century stone gatehouse to be removed and re-erected at the entrance of Dromoland’s walled gardens, where it can still be seen. 



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Souvenirs of a Lost Demesne


Dromoland Castle is now such a familiar part of the County Clare landscape that it is easy to overlook the fact that this was by no means the only residence ever built on the same site, being instead merely the latest of them. It appears likely that a 16th century tower house stood here before being swept away by, or incorporated into, an early 18th century house. A water colour of the latter building, painted shortly before it was swept away, shows this to have been of classical design, and of ten bays and two storeys over raised basement with a four-bay pedimented breakfront. It only stood for some 100 years because in 1813, the estate’s owner Sir Edward O’Brien, fourth baronet, decided that he needed a new house, and invited the young architect James Pain, then working at Lough Cutra, County Galway (see Domat Omnia Virtus* « The Irish Aesthete) to come up with designs. Pain’s initial proposal was for another classical residence and nothing came of the project, but then Sir Edward also looked at schemes from Richard and William Vitruvius Morrison, and from Thomas Hopper  and did not used these either (although Hopper’s Doric Temple gatelodge still greets visitors to the estate, as can be seen below). Six years later Pain, together with his brother George, came up with another scheme, this time for a large Gothic castle. The design proved acceptable and was slowly constructed over the next two decades at a cost of some £50,000. Writing in 1837, as building work concluded, Samuel Lewis described the new residence as ‘a superb edifice in the castellated style, lately erected on the site of the ancient mansion, and surrounded by an extensive and richly wooded demesne…’ 





While the Pain brothers’ castle now dominates the Dromoland estate, traces remain of its 18th century predecessor. Set atop an artificial mound to the west of the house – and now regrettably wedged between a road and a motorway – is an elegant octagonal Belvedere. The building dates from the early 1740s and is believed to have been designed by self-trained architectural draughtsman John Aheron, a protégé of Dromoland’s then-owner Sir Edward O’Brien. Passionately interested in horses – and gambling – Sir Edward apparently commissioned the Belvedere so that he could watch racing across his land, and have views as far as Ennis, the county town some seven miles away. The building is of rubble stone with brick dressings, which may have once been rendered, and cut stone used for the cornice, string course and arches over the door and windows, three of which are glazed, the others blind. Entrance to the building is gained via a flight of stone steps on the eastern front while on the opposite side a cutting in the ground provides access to a semi-basement, presumably where servants would have prepared food and drink. The single room main floor has a vaulted ceiling and was heated by a fireplace set in the north-west wall. Having fallen into disrepair, the Belvedere was repaired some years ago.  





An estate map of c.1740 shows the gardens at Dromoland to have had an elaborate formal layout featuring a series of avenues and terraces, as well as vistas of which a Temple of Mercury formed part: located to the north-east of the house, it stands at the crossing point of two straight paths. Encircled by yew trees, the temple is composed of eight Doric columns supporting a timber dome covered in lead on which perches a bronze statue of Mercury, derived from Giambologna’s original of 1580. Seemingly, Sir Edward O’Brien had gambled the entire Dromoland estate on one of his stable, a horse called Sean Buí, winning a race at Newmarket. Fortunately the horse came in first and following the animal’s death, he was buried beneath the temple. Sir Edward’s passion for equestrian sport can be found in another souvenir of the 18th estate: an archway into the former stableyard. Now rather lost at the rear of a bedroom extension, the archway is of crisp limestone ashlar and bears a tablet set into the pediment. Dated 1736, it is inscribed with a motto derived from one of Horace’s Odes and reads ‘In Equis Patrum Virtus’ (In horses lie the father’s power). As is well known, Dromoland Castle and surrounding 330 acres were sold by the O’Brien family in 1962 and then became an hotel, as continues to be the case.


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Offering Harbour Views



There appears to be little information about the origins or history of Harbourhill Lodge which, as its name implies, overlooks the little harbour at Newquay, County Clare. Of three bays and two storeys over raised basement, this is one of a number of such properties constructed along the coast in the late 18th/early 19th centuries as occasional homes for landowners whose main estates were elsewhere. It appears on the first Ordnance Survey map (published 1842) and was subsequently listed as being let to the Rev Michael J O’Fea by John Bindon Scott, whose family owned the Cahercon estate at the other end of the county. Ruined in the aftermath of the Great Famine, the Scotts sold up and left Ireland, and it is known that at the beginning of the last century Harbourhill Lodge had become a barracks for the Royal Irish Constabulary. Presumably dereliction began after the War of Independence, and now a hollow shell stands overlooking the harbour at Newquay.


Accentuate the Positive




For a great many people, 2023 has not been an easy year, so let’s end it by accentuating the positive, at least as far as Ireland’s architectural heritage is concerned. Here are six good news stories featured here over the past twelve months, the first three private initiatives, the second involving properties in public ownership. In County Offaly, a young couple are pluckily taking on the 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 Clare, has embarked on ensuring the building has a viable future (see: Of Very Considerable Importance « The Irish Aesthete). And in County Roscommon, another young couple are gradually working hard to turn Edmondstown into both a family home and a viable business (see: Another Cheering Story « The Irish Aesthete).
On the public front, the Office of Public Works continues to make improvements at the Ormond Castle in County Tipperary, a building distinguished by its elaborately plastered 16th century Long Gallery (see: All that is Fantastically Eccentric in Architecture « The Irish Aesthete). In County Wicklow, Coillte (an organisation with which the Irish Aesthete often finds fault) reopened Avondale after an extensive restoration of the house (see: In the Highest Perfection « The Irish Aesthete). And in September it was announced that the Irish state had bought Dowth Hall and its surrounding 550 acres in order to establish a new national park: fingers crossed that essential work is speedily undertaken on the house (with its ravishing rococo stuccowork) at the centre of this estate (see: Second Time Around « The Irish Aesthete).
Occasionally, there is good news to report:: let us all pray much more of it will be forthcoming in 2024.



Of Very Considerable Importance



In the early 17th century, an English merchant, Gregory Hickman, settled in County Clare and acquired land in an area south of Ennis called Barntick. All seemed well until the outbreak of the Confederate Wars in the early 1640s when he found himself displaced. A deposition made by Hickman in 1642 states that he ‘was robbed of property worth £3,672. It consisted of cattle, sheep, horses, wool, furniture, and of the following farms held under leases for terms of years. Barntick, Cragforna, Drumcaran, Cragnanelly, Termon of Killinaboy, and Inchiquin.’ Hickman also lost the tithes of the parish of Dromcliff, and of debts owed to him by a large number of individuals. He went on to complain that goods belonging to him were ‘carried off by Conor O’Brien of Ballymacooda and by Richard and Mannagh O’Grady. Eighteen packs of his wool were taken away by Laurence Rice, and by another merchant, both of Ennis. Poultry, a side saddle, and furniture, were swept off by Boetius Clancy, by Shevane ny Hehir, wife of Loughlin Reagh O’Hehir of Cahermacon, by James McEncroe of Skagh-vic-Encro; Conor O’Brien of Leamaneh, aided by Mauria Roe his wife, by Melaghlan Oge O’Cashey, and by Conor O’Flanagan possessed themselves of fourteen English hogs and four hundred sheep his property. He states that his servant, Thomas Bacon, was murdered, and that another of his servants, named Joe Preston, was murdered at Clare, by Teige Lynch.’ Poor Mr Hickman then found himself directed hither and thither about the county, at one stage being directed  by Murrough O’Brien, Baron Inchiquin ‘to proceed on board the ship “Dragon” to Kinsale, and to bring thence a quantity of tobacco, there lying useless, which he was to sell in the Shannon, and pay over the proceeds to the Baron to help to sustain his army.’ That expedition ended badly and he subsequently found himself stuck in Clonderalaw Castle while it was under siege. Eventually he managed to reach safety and to regain control of the lands at Barntick, passing these on to his eldest son Thomas who in 1661 built a new house for the family, commemorating this event with a date stone carrying the year and his initials, T.H.  This date stone can now be seen – upside-down – acting as the door lintel for a building in the yard behind the main house. 




Thomas Moland’s Survey of County Clare (1703) states that Barntick had on it ‘a good house, stable, barn and other out houses’. By that date, Thomas Hickman had been succeeded by his own eldest son, also called Thomas, and when the latter died in 1719, Barntick passed to the last of the family to live there, Colonel Robert Hickman, who represented Clare in the Irish House of Commons from 1745 until his death. The colonel’s estate ran to almost 3,000 acres, and he also held other property elsewhere in the county. All of this, however, was heavily mortgaged, so that when he died without an immediate heir in 1757, the entire Hickman lands were sold, Barntick being bought by George Peacocke, who already owned another substantial property, Grange, County Limerick. On his death in 1773, he was succeeded by his son Joseph, a Justice of the Peace and one time High Sheriff of Clare. In 1802, having supported the Act of Union, he was created a baronet and when he died ten years later, the estate was divided between his two sons Sir Nathaniel Peacocke, and the Reverend William Peacocke. But evidently this division was not successful, as by the 1820s the estate was put up for sale by the Court of Chancery. Barntick next belonged to Sir David Roche, an M.P. for Limerick, 1832-1844, who was created a Baronet in 1838. However, in 1855 the house, along with 238 acres, was recorded as being leased to John Lyons and later his family bought the property: his descendants live there still. 




Barntick is thought to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in County Clare. The building is a deep square, the east-facing rendered facade of three storeys and three bays, its carved limestone entrance doorcase approached by a shallow flight of six stone steps. Inside, the front half of the house is divided into three almost equal spaces, comprising a hall with drawing room and dining room on either side. To the rear, a handsome staircase, lit by a single tall window on the return, leads to the bedroom floor. Here the space is divided by a thick central wall running north to south and with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, indicating the house’s early date of construction. The stairs then climb to the top of the building where the entire front is given over to a single room, at present in poor condition. Fortunately, the present generation of the family to own this house appreciates its importance and has begun to carry out essential structural repairs as funds become available. His work is to be thoroughly commended and it has to be hoped that all possible support will be provided by the relevant authorities, both local and national. Barntick is such a special place, and such a rare surviving example of domestic architecture from the post-Restoration period in Ireland, that its preservation ought to be regarded as a matter of considerable importance.


Honest Tom




Text here…On the banks of the river Fergus in Ennis, County Clare stands a stone known as Steele’s Rock. On this, supposedly, in the early 19th century sat a man called Thomas Steele who used it as a vantage point from which to gaze on a nearby house called Abbeyfield (today a garda station, see: In need of TLC « The Irish Aesthete). Therein lived a young lady, Miss Crowe, with whom Steele was much in love but his passion was not reciprocated and, it seems, she never even troubled to notice her putative suitor. This tale is only one of many told about Thomas Steele, certainly one of the more colourful characters living in Ireland at the time. Born in 1788 to a gentry family, he had been raised by his uncle and namesake at Cullane, a house built just a few years before his birth and beautifully sited on the western shore of Lough Cullaunyheeda: following his uncle’s death in 1821 he inherited the property. Most country gentlemen would have settled down to enjoy their estate, but Thomas Steele was never wont to behave like most country gentlemen. A classical scholar of note, throughout his life he was inclined to become involved in a variety of different projects. In 1825, for example, having undertaken experiments with underwater diving apparatus, he patented ‘Steele’s improved diving-bell.’ and around the same time became a partner in the Vigo Bay Co., which was trying to recover gold and silver bullion from Spanish ships sunk in Vigo Bay in 1702. A complete failure, the company was wound up somewhat acrimoniously in 1826, but this didn’t deter him: an associate of the English diving siblings John and Charles Deane, in 1836 Steele used their new diving helmet to explore the wreck of the Intrinsic soon after he had sunk off the County Clare coast. Interested in developing equipment to provide underwater illumination, four years later he dived with the Deanes to look at the wreck of Henry VIII’s great ship, the Mary Rose, off Portsmouth. But prior to these enterprises, in 1823, he had decided to go to Spain and join rebels fighting against the absolutist monarch Ferdinand VII. Accordingly, he mortgaged the house and land at Cullane for some £10,000, using the funds raised to buy arms and shipping these to Spain. Once there, he joined the Legion Estrenjera of the rebel army, distinguishing himself in the battle of the Trocadero and the defence of  Cadiz. Following the liberals’ defeat, he returned to Ireland and published an account of what he had witnessed,, Notes on the war in Spain (1824). 





A couple of years after returning from Spain, Thomas Steele found another cause with which to become involved: Catholic Emancipation. Which is not to suggest he planned to become a Roman Catholic: he had previously written a letter to the elderly Pope Pius VII urging him to convert to Protestantism. But after meeting Daniel O’Connell, Steele had become an ardent supporter of the latter’s Catholic Association and was soon appointed its Vice-President of the Association. Although he never converted from the Established church, on his land at Cullane he erected an outdoor altar, so that mass could be said there any time O’Connell visited: the ‘altar’ was actually a dolmen cap stone that had previously stood at what was believed to be the dead centre of Ireland near Birr, County Offaly: it has since been returned to its original site). In 1828 Steele seconded O’Connell’s nomination for election in County Clare and was with him with the Catholic Relief Bill of 1829 passed. Strongly supportive of his hero’s repudiation of physical violence and despite being called the ‘Head Pacificator’, Steele was a noted duellist who that same year fought an inconclusive duel with William Smith O’Brien over what he believed to be a personal slight from the latter. More importantly, his total belief in O’Connell, and his personal disregard for money, led him to be popularly known as ‘Honest Tom’. Once Catholic Emancipation had been achieved, he continued to give his support to the next great cause: the repeal of the 1800 Act of Union. Following the government’s prohibition of the Clontarf monster meeting in October 1843, Steele was tried on conspiracy charges and imprisoned with O’Connell in Richmond jail. So closely was he allied with O’Connell that he never recovered from the latter’s death in May 1847 and the following April, suffering from depression and facing financial ruin, he jumped off Waterloo Bridge in London. Although rescued from the water, he never received and died in June 1848. His body returned to Ireland, he was buried in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin, beside O’Connell’s tomb.





A date stone at Cullane is market 1799, but the house is thought to date from the early 1780s. Of two storeys over basement, the three-bay facade has a central breakfront with fan-lit doorcase on the ground floor and tripartite window above; between the two there used to be a carved stone bearing the Steele coat of arms, but this has been removed. On the eastern side, and overlooking the lake, the house is of three storeys, with a great central bow and tripartite windows to left and right of the ground floor. No interior decoration survives. Since Miss Crowe of Ennis refused to acknowledge or return his ardour, Thomas Steele had never married, and after his death the Cullane estate was inherited by a niece, Maria Wogan, married to Charles FitzGerald Studdert of Newmarket House. Their descendants continued to live there until 1954 when the place was sold to the Land Commission and the house left to fall into its present state of ruin, a sad end for what had once been the home of one of Daniel O’Connell’s most ardent supporters. 



A Wife’s Devoted Attention



The Wilson Lynch family of Belvoir, County Clare may have been descended from one Ralph Wilson, a Cromwellian soldier who settled in this part of the world in the mid-17th century and served as Mayor of Limerick city in 1657, 1663, 1664, 1667 and 1668. In any case, at the end of the same century, a Richard Wilson was acting as agent for Sir Donough O’Brien, first baronet of Lemeneagh and Dromoland. In 1712, his son, also called Richard, leased the lands of Ballycullen from Henry O’Brien, seventh Earl of Thomond: these lands would form a large portion of the eventual Belvoir estate. The Wilsons, who somewhat unusually were Roman Catholic, continued to reside here until the mid-19th century. Richard junior had been succeeded by his eldest son John, who married late in life and died in 1797, leaving a seven year-old son, David John Wilson. On reaching adulthood, he proved to be a landlord with serious concern for improving the condition of his tenantry, building a number of schools on his estate, and also developing one of the first model agricultural schools in the country at Belvoir. Following what became known as the Sixmilebridge Massacre in July 1852 (when soldiers opened fire on a group of protestors during an election, leading to the deaths of seven persons and leaving the same number injured), he published a pamphlet denouncing what had happened and then established a relief fund  for the families of the victims. David J Wilson died in April 1864 when the Belvoir estate passed to his nephew John Wilson Lynch. 





The Lynchs were one of the Tribes of Galway, the 14 powerful families who had effectively ruled the city during the Middle Ages and subsequently become landowners in the surrounding counties. Roman Catholic, like the Wilsons, at the start of the 19th century Mark Lynch of Renmore, County Galway, a successful banker and merchant, was able to buy the Durus (or Doorus) estate outside Kinvara, County Galway from its previous owner, Jacques, Comte de Basterot. In 1820, Mark Lynch’s son, Patrick Marcus Lynch, married Ellen, sister of David John Wilson. Some years later, when Wilson found himself in financial difficulties, his brother-in-law, Patrick M Lynch, lent him money secured by a mortgage on Belvoir and the prospect of a life interest in the Belvoir estate for Lynch’s son John. In due course, following Lynch’s death in 1864, John Wilson Lynch came to be responsible for Belvoir, although he does not seem ever to have lived there, instead leasing the house and surrounding land. By further agreement with David John Wilson’s widow, Mary, on John Wilson Lynch’s death, the estate was to be inherited by his second son, if he should have one. At this time, Wilson Lynch had a very substantial property: according to the 1876 Landowners of Ireland his Duras estate ran to almost 5,410 acres, while the Belvoir estate covered just over 3,100 acres. Within a couple of decades, however, circumstances began to change rapidly, due to the Land Wars and accompanying unrest among tenants. In December 1885, for example, the wife of John Murphy, Belvoir estate bailiff, was shot in the leg. Accordingly, John Wilson Lynch began to sell much of the land and by the time of his death in 1911 he had embarked on disposing of the greater part of the old Belvoir estate. Accordingly, by 1922 his successor there, a younger son William Wilson Lynch, retained just the house and part of the demesne. On his death, he left the property to a housekeeper.





Belvoir would appear to be an 18th century house built by one of the Wilson family, perhaps John who lived here until his death in 1797. A month later, the place was advertised to let, since his heir David John Wilson was, as mentioned, then only a minor of seven. In 1814 it was recorded as being unoccupied in 1814, but presumably some time after that date David John Wilson decided to restore the building and gave its regular two-storey over basement, five bay facade a superficial Gothic makeover. With Tudoresque hooded mouldings over the windows and an ogee doorcase inside an arched porch featuring the family coat of arms. As for the interior, it would seem to have followed the usual layout of two smaller reception rooms to the front and two larger to the rear, with entrance and staircase halls occupying the central portion of the building.  Given that he had other residences elsewhere in Counties Clare and Galway, John Wilson Lynch does not seem to have lived in Belvoir and in 1872, presumably following the death of Mary Wilson,  the house’s furniture was sent to his properties at Duras and Kilcornan. Belvoir was then let to a Lady Loftus, and during the following decade was burnt down; despite an insurance claim, it was never rebuilt. Instead, when William Wilson Lynch came to this there with his wife in the second decade of the last century, they occupied the old service courtyard, which lies to the north-west of the main building; this remained in use until relatively recently but has now begun to fall into ruin. The other notable feature of the property is a chapel to the north of the house and linked to it by a Gothic screen wall. An arch above the doorcase proclaims, ‘The Ladye Chapel, Erected in return for a Wife’s Devoted Attention during a Severe Illness in 1862 & 1863.’ This indicates the little three-bay, single storey building was constructed towards the end of John Wilson Wright’s life in gratitude for his wife Mary’s care. The chapel was maintained and seemingly still in use until a few years ago, but alas has since been vandalised and some of its stained glass windows broken. It seems only a matter of time before it falls into the same condition as the rest of the site. 


A Pocket Mansion




Currently for sale, this miniature Tudorbethan house stands a short distance north-east from the site of Kiltanon, County Clare. A substantial property, the latter was built in the 1830s for the Molonys, an ancient Irish family, one of whom – John O’Molony, Roman Catholic Bishop of Limerick – followed James II to Paris where he helped to found the Irish College, in which he was buried following his death in 1702. In Ireland, the Molonys subsequently converted to the Established Church but they kept a souvenir of their Catholic forebear: a grey marble table inlaid with two hands of old French cards and a knave of diamonds torn in half as if they had just been thrown down. Seemingly, this piece of furniture had been presented by Louis XIV to the bishop in restitution for the king’s fit of pique over a game of cards in which the cleric was a participant. The table was supposedly lost, along with the rest of Kiltanon’s contents, when the building was burnt by the IRA in September 1920. Given its (somewhat weathered) appearance, it would appear that this little house was once part of the Molony estate and constructed around the same time as the main residence itself.



And Now For Something Completely Different


On this Bank Holiday Monday, some photographs of one of Ireland’s great natural wonders: the Burren, County Clare. For those unfamiliar with the place, it covers some 200 square miles in the north-west of the county and is notable for being covered by sedimentary rock, primarily limestone, giving the Burren the appearance at times of a lunar landscape. 





Much of the Burren is uninhabited, and uninhabitable, given the scarcity of vegetation or large areas of soil on which crops might be grown. At the same time, this part of the country has clearly supported human activity for millennia, as is testified by the many miles of stone walls that can be seen wending their way across the successive vistas. On the other hand, the Burren has long provided grazing for livestock, notably cattle and goats. What sets the region apart, especially at this time of year, is its extraordinary variety of flora, with more than 70 per cent of Ireland’s flower species found there, and many other plants found nowhere else in the country. These can often be discovered growing in the grikes, or fissures, of the limestone where moisture is also found. 





Scattered around the Burren are the remains of a number of mediaeval monastic settlements and tower houses, indicating that despite the relative poverty of the region it still sustained settlements across the centuries. Today, tourism is probably the most important source of income for anyone living in the area, but much of that activity tends to be confined to a handful of towns and sites such as the Cliffs of Moher and it is easy to leave these behind and explore the greater part of the Burren without seeing anyone else. It is at such times that the strange, sculptural beauty of the place can best be appreciated. 

Society Scandals



At the rear of a graveyard in Clonlara, County Clare stands this impressive tomb erected following the death in June 1817 of the Rev. Charles Massy. The second son of Sir Hugh Dillon Massy, he had, like so many other young men in his position, become a Church of Ireland clergyman and as such was permitted to marry. His choice of bride was the 18-year old Mary Ann Ross-Lewin, beautiful and poor and as a result of the latter circumstance, Sir Hugh attempted to persuade his son against the marriage. To no avail: the couple married in 1796 and the following year had a son, named Hugh Dillon after his grandfather. All seemed well until 1803 when the Rev Massy and his wife made the acquaintance of Thomas Taylour, first Marquess of Headfort. At the end of that year, on the Sunday morning after Christmas and while her husband was officiating in church, Mary Anne Massy eloped with the marquess who was not only twice her age but married with four children. A scandal ensued, and the cuckolded clergyman brought a case for Criminal Conversation against Taylour, being awarded £10,000 at the end of a court case in July 1804. The Rev Massy was represented by barrister and orator John Philpot Curran, who was in a positin to sympathise with his client’s circumstances: a decade earlier, he had discovered his own wife Sarah had being having an affair with, and become pregnant by, another man – curiously enough, a Church of Ireland cleric the Rev Abraham Sandys. Curran successfully sued for Criminal Conversation, but, since his own philandering was publicly exposed during the case, he was only awarded a token £50. He and his wife separated but never divorced, whereas the Rev Massy did divorce his errant wife in 1808 and subsequently remarried. As for Mrs Massy, she was left in the disadvantaged position of being a divorced woman as the Marquess of Headfort remained married to his wife. None of this history, of course, is related on the the Rev Massy’s tomb but it seems a shame a monument that provides a link to these scandals of the late Georgian period should be allowed to fall into such poor condition.