Look Up



The extraordinary ceiling in the drawing room of Fota House, County Cork. This part of the building dates from the mid-1820s when Sir Richard Morrison was employed by Fota’s owner, John Smith-Barry. The plasterwork, which had deep borders of floral wreaths containing birds alternating with lozenges of bay leaves containing trophies of musical instruments and hunting paraphernalia, bears similarities with what can be seen at Ballyfin, County Laois where the same architect was employed. However, unlike the latter where the ceilings are predominantly monochrome, at Fota the Dublin firm of Henry Sibthorpe & Son was hired towards the end of the 19th century to decorate both the drawing room and its adjacent ante room, gilding the borders while the main surface was covered with an elaborate multi-coloured scheme, partly painted and partly stencilled. 



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Something of a Rarity



Originally from Yorkshire, in 1657 Montifort Westropp settled in Limerick city and three years later was comptroller of the port there. Subsequently he purchased various parcels of land in Co. Clare where he held the office of High Sheriff in 1674 and 1690, as well as being appointed a Commissioner for the county by an Act of Irish Parliament in 1697. Following his death the following year, several of his sons continued to prosper: one son, also called Montifort – a forebear of the antiquarian Thomas Johnson Westropp – purchased the Attyflin estate near Patrickswell, County Limerick from the Chichester House Commissioners in 1703, and the same year, another son, Thomas Westropp bought an estate in the same county at Ballysteen. Some kind of castle or tower house evidently stood here, but it was replaced by the present building in the last quarter of the 18th century, perhaps by the original Thomas’s grandson (also called Thomas) who died in 1789.





Following Thomas Westropp’s death in 1789, the Ballysteen estate was inherited by his only surviving son, General John Westropp. However, when he died in 1825 without issue, Ballysteen reverted to one of the children of his sister Sara who in 1775 had married Colonel Thomas Odell of Ballingarry, County Limerick. The couple’s third son, Edmond, duly inherited his uncle’s estate and changed his name to Westropp. His grandson Edward also had no son but two daughters, one of whom, Elizabeth, in 1942 married Maurice Talbot, son of the Dean of Cashel and himself, from 1954, Dean of Limerick. Ballysteen was in due course inherited by the present generation of the family who have, for the first time in its history, offered the property for sale. 





As seen today, Ballysteen is a two-storey, five-bay house, with east-facing rendered facade and a west-facing, four-bay garden front, as well as lower two-storey wings on either side of the main block. Internally, the house appears to have been last undergone alterations around 1820, or perhaps soon after 1825 when it was inherited by Edmond Odell Westropp. To the front, much of the space is taken up by a substantial, three-bay entrance hall, with the staircase in an adjacent area to the immediate north. Behind the entrance are the two principal reception rooms, drawing and dining, and all three have white marble chimneypieces typical of the late-18th/early 19th century. They also retain some mahogany furniture from the same period: the dining room, for example, has a pair of arched niches each of which holds an identical buffet with slender spiral twist legs, while the entrance hall has a pair of bookcases with similar decorative detail, suggesting they all came from the same workshop at the same time. A sitting room/library is accommodated in the south wing while the kitchen, pantry, scullery and so forth, together with the service staircase, can be found in its northern equivalent. Upstairs are six bedrooms, some with dressing rooms. Thanks to being left unaltered for so long, Ballysteen retains the appearance and character of an Irish country house once widespread but today something of a rarity. One must hope that whoever is fortunate to acquire the property, while updating some of the facilities, retains that wonderful character. It is too precious to lose.



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The Heavy Hand is Uppermost




After last Friday’s text about the Massy mausoleum in the graveyard of Ardagh, County Limerick (Blessed are the Dead « The Irish Aesthete), here is another such monument in the same site. In this instance, it commemorates William Smith O’Brien, one of the key figures in the Young Ireland movement who, following a failed armed uprising in 1848, was transported to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), although pardoned and permitted to return to his native country in 1856. Erected the year after O’Brien’s death in 1864, the mausoleum was designed by Limerick-born architect William Fogerty in the Hiberno-Romanesque style. It contains the remains not just of O’Brien but also his wife Lucy Caroline Gabbett, who predeceased him, and the couple’s eldest son Edward William O’Brien, described on an inscription  as “A Just Man, Lover of His People.” Above the cast-iron panelled door can be seen the O’Brien coat of arms carved in sandstone. The chevron pattern mouldings above the door are supported by Connemara marble columns, and note how the outermost limestone arch concludes in balls of shamrocks. Inside the tympanum is O’Brien’s motto,  ‘Is laidir an lamh in uachtair’ (The heavy hand is uppermost) Sandstone and limestone are also employed in alternate bands around the rest of the building, with a series of blind arches on three sides.




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Sweet Innisfallen


‘Innisfallen, it is paying no great compliment to say it is the most beautiful in the king’s dominions, and perhaps in Europe. It contains twenty acres of land, and has every variety that the range of beauty, unmixed with the sublime, can give. The general feature is that of wood; the surface undulates into swelling hills, and sinks into little vales; the slopes are in every direction, the declivities die gently away, forming those slight inequalities which are the greatest beauty of dressed grounds. The little valleys let in views of the surrounding lake between the hills, while the swells break the regular outline of the water, and give to the whole an agreeable confusion. The wood has all the variety into which nature has thrown the surface; in some parts it is so thick as to appear impenetrable, and secludes all farther view; in others, it breaks into tufts of tall timber, under which cattle feed. Here they open, as if to offer to the spectator the view of the naked lawn; in others close, as if purposely to forbid a more prying examination. Trees of large size and commanding figure form in some places natural arches; the ivy mixing with the branches, and hanging across in festoons of foliage, while on one side the lake glitters among the trees, and on the other a thick gloom dwells in the recesses of the wood. The figure of the island renders one part a beautiful object to another; for the coast being broken and indented, forms bays surrounded either with rock or wood: slight promontories shoot into the lake, whose rocky edges are crowned with wood. These are the great features of Innisfallen; the slighter touches are full of beauties easily imagined by the reader. Every circumstance of the wood, the water, the rocks, and lawn, are characteristic, and have a beauty in the assemblage from mere disposition. I must, however, observe that this delicious retreat is not kept as one could wish…as to what might be made of the island, if its noble proprietor (Lord Kenmare) had an inclination, it admits of being converted into a terrestrial paradise; lawning with the intermixture of other shrubs and wood, and a little dress, would make it an example of what ornamented grounds might be, but which not one in a thousand is. Take the island, however, as it is, with its few imperfections, and where are we to find such another? What a delicious retreat! an emperor could not bestow such a one as Innisfallen; with a cottage, a few cows, and a swarm of poultry, is it possible that happiness should refuse to be a guest here?
From A Tour in Ireland, with general observations on the present state of that kingdom in 1776–78, by Arthur Young (London, 1780) 





‘Innisfallen Island, about half-way between the east and the west shores of the lake [Lough Leane], is interesting on account of the historical associations connected with it, the charm thrown around it by the poetry of Moore, and more especially for its own exceeding beauty. Of all islands it is perhaps the most delightful.
The island appears from the lake or the adjoining shore to be densely covered with magnificent timber and gigantic evergreens, but upon landing, the interior of the island will be found to afford a variety of scenery well worthy of a visit — beautiful glades and lawns, embellished by thickets of flowering shrubs and evergreens, amongst which the arbutus and hollies are conspicuous for their size and beauty. Many of the timber trees are oaks, out the greater number are magnificent old ash trees of remarkable magnitude and luxuriance of growth.
The Abbey, whose ruins are near the landing-place, is believed to have been founded about 650 by St. Finian, to whom the cathedral of Aghadoe was dedicated. In the east end are two lancet windows, which, with this gable, have been recently re- stored. A little away to the right is the small “Romanesque” church standing by itself. The round-headed West doorway, with remains of well-carved mouldings, is, architecturally, the best thing on the island, and may date back as far as the 11th century. ”Quiet, innocent, and tender is that lovely spot,” wrote the delighted Thackeray after his visit in 1842.’
From Black’s Guide to Killarney and the South of Ireland by Adam and James Black (Edinburgh, 1876)





‘Moore has sung the praises of this island in the following lines :
“Sweet Innisfallen, fare thee well,
May calm and sunshine long be thine!
How fair thou art let others tell
To feel how fair shall long be mine.
Sweet Innisfallen, long shall dwell
In memory’s dream that sunny smile,
Which o’er thee on that evening fell,
When first I saw thy fairy isle.”
Innisfallen Abbey is supposed to have been founded by St. Finan about the year 600. The ruins lie scattered about the island. The celebrated ” Annals of Innisfallen ” were composed here by two monks. This work, which is among the earliest records of Irish history, was written on parchment. The original manuscript, containing fifty-seven quarto leaves, is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford; but it was preserved for several centuries in the Abbey of Innisfallen. It contains a History of the World down to the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland in the year 432, and from that period it is a History of Ireland down to 1320. There are several copies of the work in existence, one of which is in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. From many passages in these Annals we learn that the monks did not seem to have enjoyed their little isle altogether unmolested in the so-called “good old times.” In one place we read thus: — “Anno 11 80. This Abbey of Innisfallen being ever esteemed a paradise and a secure sanctuary, the treasure and the most valuable effects of the whole county were deposited in the hands of the clergy ; notwithstanding which, we find the abbey was plundered in this year by Mildwin, son of Daniel O’Donoghue. Many of the clergy were slain, and even in their cemetery by the McCarthys. But God soon punished this act of impiety and sacrilege, by bringing many of its authors to an untimely end”.’ From Souvenir of the lakes of Killarney and Glengariff published by T Nelson & Sons (London, 1892)


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Blessed are the Dead



Following last Monday’s entry about Glenville, County Limerick, here in a nearby graveyard is the Massy Mausoleum, dating from 1864 although Eyre Massy, whose remains it holds, only died five years later. The limestone mausoleum also contains the remains of Charles Massy, who had emigrated to Australia (where his descendants still live). On the south side, below the Massy coat of arms, is a sarcophagus in raised relief on which is inscribed a quotation from the Book of Revelation, ‘Blessed are the dead which die in Christ/from henceforth yea saith the Spirit/That they may rest from their labours/and their works do follow them.’


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Glenville House


In 1763 John Massy, who served as Treasurer of Limerick, bought an estate in the county called Glenville. John was the great-grandson of Hugh Massy, an English soldier who had come to Ireland during the Confederate War period and afterwards settled in this part of the country, being granted land at Duntrileague: when Burke’s Peerage first appeared in the 19th century, the Massys – several of whom had by then being granted titles – claimed descent from one Hamon de Massy who, seemingly, had accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066. Be that as it may, the family now firmly established themselves in County Limerick, intermarrying with other landed dynasties and with sundry younger sons becoming either Church of Ireland clergymen or soldiers: a cousin of John Massy, General Eyre Massey (for unknown reasons, he spelt his surname differently to other branches of the family) as a result of his distinguished military career was created Baron Clarina of Elm Park in 1800. And among the next generation of the family to live at Glenville, several sons of William Massy and his wife Ann Creagh – the couple would have no less than 23 children – served as clergymen and soldiers. Given the extraordinary number of offspring, it is hardly surprising that in the early 19th century the house was enlarged. 





From among the many children of William and Ann Massy, one of their sons John, again a Captain in the British army – inherited Glenville and lived there until his death in 1846. The property then passed to his son William but he opted to sell it to his uncle, Eyre Massy (another of William and Ann’s children). After he died in 1869, Glenville passed to his son, Jonathan Bruce Massy who, bucking the family trend for large families, had only two daughters. When he died in 1903, Glenville was left not to one of these two women, but to a nephew, Henry Eyre Massy, who lived in Australia. Seven years later, he sold the estate back to his uncle’s elder daughter, Frances who had married Thomas Crawford Coplen-Langford the same year as her father’s death but had then been widowed just a couple of years later: curiously, Thomas’s elder brother Richard also married a member of the Massy family. Meanwhile, his widow Frances, having bought Glenville in 1912, remained there until her death in 1956. The house was then occupied by Langford relatives until bought some years ago by the present owners who have since undertaken extensive work on the property.





Above a former carriage house in the yard to the rear of Glenville, a keystone carries the information ‘WM/AD/1803’ but at least part of the building is older than this date. What is now a wing to the right of the main block is probably the original residence here, a late 17th/early 18th century long house, one room deep and of two storeys. Evidently, given the size of William and Ann Massy’s family, this structure was insufficient, hence the addition of 1803. Below wide eaves, the south-facing new house, of coarse-dressed limestone and two storeys, has three bays with a central breakfront, the ground-floor door flanked by side lights. Internally, the layout follows a customary tripartite plan, dining room to one side of the entrance hall and drawing room to the other. The former has a Kilkenny marble chimneypiece, the latter one of white marble. Returning to the hall, there are two doors facing the entrance, with a fanlight between them. That to the right is blind, while that to the left gives access to a staircase leading to the first floor (and lit by the aforementioned fanlight). Behind the house is a generous yard, which has been partially restored by the present owners. This in turn opens into a substantial walled garden. Glenville is significant because it is an example of a gentry residence from the late Georgian period, similar in style to aristocratic country houses but built and decorated on a more modest scale. As the gentry class has disappeared in this country, so too have many of their properties, which makes the survival of Glenville all the more cheering.  


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Shocking Deterioration




The pictures above show a terrace of former almshouses in Rockcorry, County Monaghan in August 2013. The pictures below show the same terrace in August 2025: the deterioration in their condition over the past 12 years is shocking. A stone plaque on the pediment of the two end houses advises that the terrace was ‘built by Jos. Griffiths for destitute widows A.D. 1847.’ Of two storeys and three bays, there are four such houses, sturdily constructed of stone with brick trim around the doors and windows. They are mentioned several times in a document commissioned by the local authority which appeared two years ago, Rockcorry Vision Plan 2030, with references made to ‘support community and private development of vacant and derelict residential properties for adaptation and re-use as new homes’ or the possibility of them being converted to tourist accommodation. Meanwhile, they continue to deteriorate…




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Once Sumptuous


Buttevant: ‘It is called in the Ecclesiastical books Bothon; by the Irish and Spencer, Kilnemullagh; and was formerly an antient corporation, being once governed by a mayor and aldermen; but by the wars it has gone to decay; ‘tis said to have suffered greatly by the last plague in Ireland. There are still to be seen the remains of a wall that surrounded the town; in this place are the remains of the once sumptuous abbey of Buttevant, founded by David de Barry (who lies buried therein) in the reign of Edw. 1st. He was lord justice of Ireland, and his tomb remains in the choir, opposite the great altar. The walls of the choir, with the nave of the church and several other buildings remain entire; also the steeple, which is a high square erected on a large gothic arch. To the S. is St Mary’s Chapel, in which are several tombs of antient Irish families; on the N.W. side of the abbey stands a ruined tower, said to have been erected by an earl of Desmond, who retired here; ‘tis called Cullin. On each side of the W. entrance of the abbey, are large piles of skulls, which some say were brought thither after the Battle of Knocknanoise, which was fought but five miles from hence.’
From Topographia Hibernica: or the Topography of Ireland, Antient and Modern, by Wm. Wenman Seward (Dublin, 1795)





‘To the south is St Mary’s Chapel, in which are several tombs of ancient Irish families, viz the Barrys, Magners, Fitz-Geralds, Prendergasts, O’Callaghans, Donegans, Meads, Dowlings, and Healys. In this chapel are the remains of an altar, and two others in the nave of the church, on each side of the choir, in which are other tombs of the Barrys, Nagles, Lombards and Supples; also, one of a later date, of Mr. Richard Morgan, who died October 15, 1748, in the 107th year of his age. This man lived above 70 years at Castle-Pooky, near Doneraile; he had been clerk of the crown and peace for this county, in king James’s time, never eat salt with his meat, and died with no other complaint than the mere effect of old age. Beside the above-mentioned tombs, there are others of the Coghlans, Mac Auliffs and O’Kiefs. About 12 years ago, as they were making a grave, the body of a woman was discovered, who had been buried here 20 years before quite whole and entire; she died of the small-pox. The skin appeared hard, dry and very stiff, of a dark brown colour; she was interred in a dry vault between two lime walls, through which the wind and air had a free passage; which probably contributed to parch up the body, and keep it so long from corruption.’
From The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Cork by Charles Smith (Cork, 1815)





‘The ruins of the abbey are finely situated on the steep bank of the river Awbeg, and consist chiefly of the walls of the nave, chancel and some portions of the domestic buildings; the upper part of the central tower, supported on arches of light and graceful elevation, fell down in 1814; the tomb of the founder, David de Barry, is supposed to be in the centre of the chancel, but is marked only by some broken stones which appear to have formed an enclosure. On the south side of the nave are the remains of a finely proportioned chapel in which, and also in the nave and chancel, are numerous tombs and inscriptions to the memory of the Barrys, Fitzgeralds, Lombards and others.’
From A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis (London, 1837) 


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Left of Centre



After last week’s coverage of Loughton, County Offaly, here is the site where various members of the families who once owned the property are interred. Dating from 1830, the mausoleum stands in the graveyard of nearby Borrisnafarney church, erected the previous year with funds provided by the late Thomas Ryder Pepper who, it will be remembered, had died in 1828 following a hunting accident. Of dressed limestone with a pitched slab stone roof, the Gothic Revival building has buttresses at each corner and at the centre of the side elevations, at the top of which run lines of arcades. One curious detail: note how the pointed arch doorcase is not quite in the middle of the building (instead being slightly to the left of centre). Having fallen into some disrepair, the mausoleum underwent restoration in 2022.



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Make Merry and Be Glad



Of late, and even before the publication last year of The Irish Country House: A New Vision (Rizzoli, 2024), the Irish Aesthete has been increasingly interested in discovering historic properties which have undergone an improvement in their fortunes. For many decades, and certainly for much of the last century, our architectural heritage suffered from cruel, and even from time to time gratuitous, negligence. In consequence, we lost much which could have and should have been saved, as can be seen by the considerable number of ruined structures scattered across the national landscape. But of late, there appears to be a change of attitude and, at least in some quarters, a desire not to leave older structures fall into ruin. Instead, they are being brought back from the brink by a new generation of owners who have the imagination to see the potential in what was built by our predecessors, and a determination that these buildings have a future as well as a past.





Over the past ten years or so, a number of state-backed initiatives, run by both central and local government as well as a number of other agencies, have begun to provide financial assistance to owners who wish to undertake restoration work on their historic property. While the funds available are not necessarily as much as might be needed, the existence of these supports likewise indicates a change in attitude towards our built heritage, not least a better understanding of how important is its preservation. Of course, many old properties continue to face dilapidation and disrepair, most often through simple neglect. However, it is imperative that sometimes we celebrate what has been saved. As the prodigal father proclaims to his disgruntled elder son in Luke’s Gospel, ‘it was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.’ 





Today’s pictures show just such a lost and found property, Solsborough, County Tipperary. The present house dates back to the 1830s but appears likely to have been constructed on the site of an older residence since the family who lived there, the Poes, had been settled in this part of the country since the 1660s. Like so many other buildings of this ilk, Solsborough was unroofed in c.1953, thereby saving the then-owners the necessity of paying domestic rates. When the Irish Aesthete first visited the place nine years ago, little more than the exterior walls remained, although by then the building was encased in scaffolding as the owners, who had bought it in 2014, were already intending to embark on a restoration programme. Returning to the house now, and as these pictures show, it is difficult to believe this was once a roofless ruin, so thorough a job has been undertaken on the place. To see Solsborough in all its glory now is to understand why there are occasions when we must make merry and be glad.



I shall be speaking next Thursday, September 11th at the Old Museum Building, Belfast on the subject of The Irish Country House: A New Vision (see The Irish Country House: A New Vision by Robert O’Byrne – UAH) and at the Hunt Museum, Limerick on Thursday, September 18th (see Hunt Family Memorial Lecture – ‘The Irish Country House: A New Vision’ – The Hunt Museum)

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