A Future for Irish Historic Houses - Irish Heritage Trust

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a distance from their houses. In 1903, the Wyndham Land Act promoted the sale of landed estates on a revolutionary scale because of its generous terms to landlords (it offered them a 12 per cent cash bonus on the sale of their estates) and to tenants (it guaranteed them that annuities repayable on loans advanced to purchase their holdings would be less that their previous rents.) Landlords received colossal sums of money, particularly those who owned extensive estates. The King Harmans, for example, whose ancestors originally owned King House in Boyle before moving to Rockingham, sold around 70,000 acres for over £625,000 or roughly £31.25 million in today’s terms. After debts and estate charges had been paid, many of the larger landlords were left with significant capital sums to invest. Most also retained their demesnes and other tracts of untenanted lands for farming purposes. Had not other factors intervened, they might very well have continued to live rather opulent lifestyles. These factors included World War I which had at least a psychological effect on the (former) landed class; the revolutionary period which followed in Ireland from 1917 to 1923 that resulted in the malicious burning of around 300 country houses and the abandonment of many more; the post-war worldwide economic depression that decimated the investment portfolio of most country house owners and which culminated in the Wall Street Crash of 1929; and the introduction of Free State land legislation from 1923, the primary aim of which was the compulsory acquisition of the remaining lands of country house owners. To compound all of this, the simultaneous and rather dramatic increase in the level of rates from the 1920s, exacting taxation, particularly in the form of succession duties, and the Wealth Tax of 1974 all combined to drive owners to sell their houses, abandon them or strip them of their remaining contents. For decades after independence, government policy did nothing to alleviate the plight of the owners of historic houses or to acknowledge the cultural heritage significance of their homes. For example, houses taken over by the Irish Land Commission were demolished or simply left to fall into ruins. More lamentable still was that houses gifted to the state, such as Muckross, were left for decades to fall into disrepair before their worth was recognised. When houses such as Castletown, regarded as being of great international importance, faced imminent demolition, no official concern was expressed. It was left to the efforts of individuals and the Irish Georgian Society to save it. The prevailing conventional wisdom in the Irish state of the twentieth century was, therefore, unkind to historic houses. The destruction, abandonment and sale of hundreds of them continued for the most part unabated. From the 1920s to at least the 1980s, historic houses tended to be bought by organisations, institutions, the state or local authorities that all had damaging utilitarian plans for their adaptation and usage. Many houses became hospitals, factories, schools, prisons and so on, with obvious consequences for their original integrity. There is probably no more than about fifty of the great houses remaining in the ownership of their original families. Most of these have had at least some of their valuable contents dispersed throughout the world, while the vast majority of those that have been purchased by the state, institutions, organisations and individuals have scarcely any of their original contents in situ. 11
The decline has slowed, however, since the mid-1980s largely as a result of a change in attitudes. A number of advantageous fiscal changes have been introduced. The praiseworthy efforts of various voluntary and public bodies such as the Irish Georgian Society, An Taisce, the Heritage Council, the Government Heritage Service and various county councils have also been important. 12
Page 2 and 3: Table of Contents Page Foreword by
Page 4 and 5: Acknowledgements The author would l
Page 6 and 7: family owners of historic houses du
Page 8 and 9: Section 1. Compiling the Study 1.1
Page 10 and 11: Section 2. Historical Background At
Page 14 and 15: Section 3. Survey Findings 3.1 Pres
Page 16 and 17: - Russborough, Co. Wicklow, is owne
Page 18 and 19: all the known examples of houses of
Page 20 and 21: It is not just the houses themselve
Page 22 and 23: The present condition of these also
Page 24 and 25: - Repair estate walls and garden wa
Page 26 and 27: - which needs to be eradicated imme
Page 28 and 29: o Killruddery can no longer be main
Page 30 and 31: Attracting significant numbers of p
Page 32 and 33: Some difficulties arise which relat
Page 34 and 35: and heritage at Birr is in imminent
Page 36 and 37: Ireland the Local Government (Plann
Page 38 and 39: able to accompany these finances wi
Page 40 and 41: There remain a number of owners, mo
Page 42 and 43: donors to gift their properties to
Page 44 and 45: asset, offering a unique insight to
Page 46 and 47: APPENDIX I Schedule of Houses in Su
Page 48: LOCATION MAP 47
Page 52 and 53: Abbey Leix, Abbeyleix, Co. Laois Ab
Page 54 and 55: Aldborough House, Dublin Aldborough
Page 56 and 57: Ardgillan Castle, Balbriggan, Co. D
Page 58 and 59: Avondale, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow Avo
Page 60 and 61: Ballinlough Castle, Clonmellon, Co.
Page 62 and 63:
Ballyfin Co. Laois Ballyfin is loca
Page 64 and 65:
Ballyhaise House, Ballyhaise, Co. C
Page 66 and 67:
Bantry House, Co. Cork Bantry House
Page 68 and 69:
Barmeath Castle, Dunleer, Co. Louth
Page 70 and 71:
Beaulieu, Drogheda, Co. Louth Beaul
Page 72 and 73:
Bellamont Forest, Cootehill, Co. Ca
Page 74 and 75:
Bellinter, Navan, Co. Meath Bellint
Page 76 and 77:
Belvedere, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
Page 78 and 79:
Birr Castle, Birr, Co. Offaly Birr
Page 80 and 81:
Borris House, Borris, County Carlow
Page 82 and 83:
Castle Leslie, Glaslough, Co. Monag
Page 84:
Charlemont House, Dublin Charlemont
Page 87 and 88:
- Clonalis House places in context
Page 89 and 90:
- The demesne is one of the most ex
Page 91 and 92:
- Dunsany has historical associatio
Page 93 and 94:
that a large volume of people trave
Page 95 and 96:
- The plasterwork has been restored
Page 97 and 98:
o The neo-Classical plasterwork of
Page 100 and 101:
Headfort, Kells, County Meath. Head
Page 102 and 103:
Hilton Park, Clones, Co. Monaghan H
Page 104 and 105:
Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford Johns
Page 106 and 107:
Killadoon, Co. Kildare. Killadoon i
Page 108 and 109:
Killruddery, Bray, Co. Wicklow Kill
Page 110 and 111:
King House, Boyle, Co. Roscommon Ki
Page 112 and 113:
Kylemore Abbey, Letterfrack, Co. Ga
Page 114 and 115:
Lambay Castle Lambay Castle is situ
Page 116 and 117:
Ledwithstown, Ballymahon, Co. Longf
Page 118 and 119:
Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford. Lism
Page 120 and 121:
Lissadell House, Co. Sligo Lissadel
Page 122 and 123:
Luggala, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow Lug
Page 124 and 125:
Malahide Castle, Malahide, Co. Dubl
Page 126 and 127:
Mount Ievers, Co. Clare. Mount Ieve
Page 128 and 129:
Newbridge House, Donabate, Co. Dubl
Page 130 and 131:
Rathfarnham Castle, Co. Dublin Rath
Page 132 and 133:
Russborough, Co. Wicklow Russboroug
Page 134 and 135:
Shelton Abbey, Arklow, Co. Wicklow
Page 136 and 137:
Slane Castle, Slane, County Meath.
Page 138 and 139:
Stradbally Hall, Stradbally, Co. La
Page 140 and 141:
Strokestown Park, Strokestown, Co.
Page 142 and 143:
Temple House, Ballymote, County Sli
Page 144 and 145:
Townley Hall, Drogheda, Co. Louth T
Page 146 and 147:
Tullynally Castle, Castlepollard, C
Page 148 and 149:
Tyrone House, Dublin Tyrone House i
Page 150 and 151:
Westport House, County Mayo Westpor
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