Abandoned Mansions Of Ireland

losthorizon

Maybe its the wrong forum to put it in but I came across this really interesting site on abandoned houses and mansions in the Republic

http://www.abandonedireland.com/start.html

bideye

yes its a brilliant site, have bought the book, the" picture on the front castleboro house is near my home in wexford, we have wonderful memories of days out during the summer going for walks to see the castle and each year there was an annual field day -fundraiser held there - the sun always seemed to shine then

i now live in the midlands and fell in love with this book when i saw the image of "home" on the cover, i believe there is a second book on the way:)

StereoLove

It's a very good website. I love looking at these abandoned houses and places.

CDfm

It really is a stunning book and site and is chock full of great detail.

owenc

Thanks for that it is such a disgrace that the mansions are let to wreck and ruin.

AI

Thanks guys
Volume 2 of Abandoned Mansions will be out September/October. It features all new material, another fifty amazing locations and all very well researched. I'm sure my publisher, The Collins Press, will do another great job with the layout and printing so should be another beautiful book.

Not much going on with the website lately as I've been totally snowed under with research and writing for another project; I should get back to some updates on AbandonedIreland.com in the next couple of months.

CDfm

AI wrote: »

Thanks guys
Volume 2 of Abandoned Mansions will be out September/October. It features all new material, another fifty amazing locations and all very well researched. I'm sure my publisher, The Collins Press, will do another great job with the layout and printing so should be another beautiful book.

Well I hope you give up a blow for blow build-up to the book launch with wiped brow and all that.

Paparazzo

I took a trip up to Pilltown House (near bettystown in meath) before it was burned down. Spectacular house inside, big dome all pink and purple colours.

AI

The pink & purple interiors at Piltown were a bit mad alright! Sunglasses needed :cool:.

The interior was once very classical- see pic attached of the dome's original interior!



This is what it looked like when I visited:

Paparazzo

Think I've a few pictures from inside Pilltown house when I went up there before the fire. I'll post a few up later, as far as I remember, the dome was still up and the colours were fairly vivid.

yellowlabrador

AI wrote: »

Thanks guys
Volume 2 of Abandoned Mansions will be out September/October. It features all new material, another fifty amazing locations and all very well researched. I'm sure my publisher, The Collins Press, will do another great job with the layout and printing so should be another beautiful book.

Not much going on with the website lately as I've been totally snowed under with research and writing for another project; I should get back to some updates on AbandonedIreland.com in the next couple of months.

My all time favourite is in Courtmacsherry. I've seen that house tumble down in the past 15 years. I love the stable block, it used to have sky blue walls with little golden stars and I used to collect apples and pears in the walled garden. The variety was wonderful and I'm sure some of those apple trees need to be preserved. It also has, what I call the tallest tree in Ireland

Paparazzo

Thought I had more pictures, but you get the idea of what the dome was like and can probably imagine what the rest of the house was like when it was being lived in:

AI

yellowlabrador wrote: »

My all time favourite is in Courtmacsherry. I've seen that house tumble down in the past 15 years. I love the stable block, it used to have sky blue walls with little golden stars and I used to collect apples and pears in the walled garden. The variety was wonderful and I'm sure some of those apple trees need to be preserved. It also has, what I call the tallest tree in Ireland

Yes indeed Courtmac is a lovely ruin. The front door case all covered in ivy and wild flowers was really quite a sight. I'm not sure it is possible to get into the stables and walled garden any more - too overgrown. I found out a bit more info after my book was published - Apparently the house was purchased by a German gentleman who sent over two of his staff, a house keeper and butler with sufficient funds to keep the house going for good while. This gent however never showed up in Ireland and eventually his staff ran out of money. They depended on the local villages for donations of food before eventually finding their way back to Germany. The house was abandoned, and over the subsequent years fell into the dire state that it’s in now.

IrishEyes19

It's really lovely to see a thread regarding this. We have so many old gentry houses and abandoned mansions here going into ruin, it's nice to see people do have an interest in them. It would be really nice if we ever get back into economic prosperity that we could afford to renovate these beautiful houses and their estates which most have.

A lot of old mansions were built on estates and have been kept well and are open to the public, but there are so many houses which just lie in ruin and its a pity these beauties won't be standing here in the future. Having said that, I wouldnt like to see them go down a commercial tourist route either which would see a lot of the estates ruined to accommodate tourists, but rather really show these houses in the glory days without the silly gimmicks they seem to sell in some open touring areas which IMO take away from the place.

losthorizon

You know, its just a pity a government agency cant rescue some of these houses and mansions. I'm sure they would make the money back in entrance fees over a number of years. I cant get over the sheer amount of big houses there are out there simply decaying.

CDfm

Lots of houses were abandoned but I remember seeing the singer donavan on tv years back when he lived in ireland

he had bought a place real cheap only to discover the lead was gone

the salvage was worth more than the house

when you take on a historic place the rules are often too onerous to turn it into a residence

and quite a few are preserved in private hands

i have often felt the money spent on farmleigh would have been better applied on the magazine fort or the fort offered to the scouts !!!!

pedroeibar1

CDfm wrote: »

when you take on a historic place the rules are often too onerous to turn it into a residence

and quite a few are preserved in private hands

It should not be forgotten that one of the good things CJH did was to introduce the artist's tax exemption - his primary objective was to entice them in to buy old mansions and spend money doing them up. Frederick Forsythe was one of the first.

Ownership of any listed building in Ireland is a major hardship, more or less no support (e.g. NT in UK) and no insurance company here will insure a listed building. The only positive is that the BER rules do not apply to them!

Judgement Day

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

It should not be forgotten that one of the good things CJH did was to introduce the artist's tax exemption - his primary objective was to entice them in to buy old mansions and spend money doing them up. Frederick Forsythe was one of the first.

Ownership of any listed building in Ireland is a major hardship, more or less no support (e.g. NT in UK) and no insurance company here will insure a listed building. The only positive is that the BER rules do not apply to them!

CJH introduced the artist's exemption tax to ingratiate himself with the arts establishment rather than to entice them to buy up old houses.

I agree that ownership of a listed building is an onerous undertaking and there little in the way of State supports - anymore than there is in Britain as the National Trust is a voluntary organisation despite its title. As for insurance, it is available for listed buildings the same as for any other - I used to own one. Anyway, the simple fact is that many of the remaining 'big' houses that are still occupied are struggling, so restoring every other old ruin and opening them to the public is not a practical proposition.

CDfm

The British had a bit of money behind them. They developed a strategy to suit Britain and its resources.

Ours did not all fall down at the one time either but we haven't developed something appropriate to our means.

pedroeibar1

Judgement Day wrote: »

CJH introduced the artist's exemption tax to ingratiate himself with the arts establishment rather than to entice them to buy up old houses.

I agree that ownership of a listed building is an onerous undertaking and there little in the way of State supports - anymore than there is in Britain as the National Trust is a voluntary organisation despite its title. As for insurance, it is available for listed buildings the same as for any other - I used to own one. Anyway, the simple fact is that many of the remaining 'big' houses that are still occupied are struggling, so restoring every other old ruin and opening them to the public is not a practical proposition.

I'm not standing up for the man, just relating fact. He always had an interest in Arts & Heritage and was a big supporter - for eg he was the main mover behind the creation of Aosdana. (Giving rise to Kennelly's remark on 'feeding the hand that bites you'.)
There is a substantial amount of grant funds made available to NT building owners in the UK, unlike here.
I own a listed building, to my cost I know there is no company in Ireland insuring them. Even to get insurance on an unlisted building older than 100 years is a major problem. I'm paying double (-/+) the premium of an unlisted building of the same value. :mad:

shadowcomplex

I find this interesting too, but I assume people aren't visiting these places? It could be very dangerous as I cant imagine they are very structurally sound

Tess Walsh

Did anyone ever come across black and white photographs of curraghchase house when it was still lived in? There are supposed to be some on the www but I can't find them.

Killer Wench

Anybody know much about this mansion? I was on a re-routed 128 that drove by it and I was surprised to see such a building just stuck back there.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=dublin+map&hl=en&ll=53.355293,-6.247525&spn=0.001726,0.005284&hnear=Dublin,+County+Dublin,+Ireland&t=m&z=18&layer=c&cbll=53.355208,-6.247387&panoid=32HSKDLLAdiYqG1Wn5p6iA&cbp=12,228.76,,0,-0.18

Judgement Day

Killer Wench wrote: »

Anybody know much about this mansion? I was on a re-routed 128 that drove by it and I was surprised to see such a building just stuck back there.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=dublin+map&hl=en&ll=53.355293,-6.247525&spn=0.001726,0.005284&hnear=Dublin,+County+Dublin,+Ireland&t=m&z=18&layer=c&cbll=53.355208,-6.247387&panoid=32HSKDLLAdiYqG1Wn5p6iA&cbp=12,228.76,,0,-0.18

Aldborough House - more information than you could shake a big stick at here: http://www.archiseek.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7878

texasgal

Amazing website!

So much history....

AI

Abandoned Mansions of Ireland II - trailer for my new book
I'm doing an exhibition and book prelaunch as part of Dublin Culture Night - 21st September. Will give more details closer to the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=slf7Iyk5k3M&vq=hd720
The book won't be officially released until end of october.
T.B :cool:

Judgement Day

Great stuff - you've really been getting around! Is Vol.1. still available - it's been on my shopping list for a long time now.

AI

Yep Vol 1. is still available, has been reprinted four times now. Cheapest place to get it is amazon.co.uk or bookdepositry.co.uk

telekon

AI wrote: »

Yep Vol 1. is still available, has been reprinted four times now. Cheapest place to get it is amazon.co.uk or bookdepositry.co.uk

Congrats on Vol 2. I bought the first volume on the back of my addiction to the website and will be purchasing the new one too.

Is there any way of knowing which buildings have been recently added to the website? Sometimes it is hard to know which ones you have viewed before and which ones you haven't...

AI

Telekon - many thanks and I'm sure you'll really like Vol II, it is by far my best work to date. I've been putting so much work into books lately that I haven't had much time for the website; so there have been very few updates.

AI

Free exhibition as part of Dublin Culture Night on the 21st September
Come along and say hello

Fratton Fred

When you do the nature walk at Glenroe Farm in Kilcoole, there is what looks like an abandoned house, or at least a walled garden, to the north.

Any idea what this is?

http://maps.google.ie/maps?q=kilcoole&hl=en-IE&ll=53.11716,-6.04497&spn=0.005139,0.010589&gbv=2&hnear=Kilcoole,+County+Wicklow&gl=ie&t=h&z=17

telekon

Fratton Fred wrote: »

When you do the nature walk at Glenroe Farm in Kilcoole, there is what looks like an abandoned house, or at least a walled garden, to the north.

Any idea what this is?

http://maps.google.ie/maps?q=kilcoole&hl=en-IE&ll=53.11716,-6.04497&spn=0.005139,0.010589&gbv=2&hnear=Kilcoole,+County+Wicklow&gl=ie&t=h&z=17

According to the first and second edition OSI maps, its the remains of the Ballygannon Estate. They also suggest that the walls are the remains of a walled garden.

Fratton Fred

telekon wrote: »

According to the first and second edition OSI maps, its the remains of the Ballygannon Estate. They also suggest that the walls are the remains of a walled garden.

And a quick google gives us some photos on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam2cents/3672445075/in/set-72157620737309274/

http://www.gardenofireland.com/ballygannon_estate.php

Ballygannon House and Estate


Ballygannon House from the beachAbout one mile (1.6km) to the south of Greystones the enormous ruins are visible among trees on the saltmarsh. The ruins are on private land, but support a tremendous amount of wildlife, including birds of prey.

Ballygannon belonged the the O'Byrne clan, and was built in 1605. It was inhabited until the 1930s by the Scotts. Sea captain, Hopton Scott, came to the house in 1689, during the Williamite War. His ship ran aground on a sandbank off Kilcoole and he was given shelter by Thaddeus O'Byrne. He married O'Byrne's eldest daughter, Randelia, and inherited the house on Thaddeus's death.

mystery solved I believe, thanks.

Missent

Just got my copy of the second volume of Abandoned Mansions and must say I'm very impressed. The photography seems to be better and has resulted in a brighter book than the first volume.

As far as the selection of houses is concerned, the coverage still covers most counties and there are some surprises. I would know Wexford best and, after the inclusion of the awesome Castleboro in Vol. 1, Kilgibbon and Orristown are included in Vol. 2. I must live only within 7-8 miles of Orristown but couldn't tell you where it is.

My favourite in the book is the amazing pictures of the Trench family estate at Woodlawn, Co. Galway.

Finally, my biggest surprise is after an education a long time ago which included incessant singing of the Percy French song, "Long Long Ago in the Woods of Gortnamona", I now know where Gortnamona is.

Overall, very highly recommended.

AI

Glad you like the book
This was me on RTE1 Pat Kenny on Friday:
http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2012/pc/pod-v-21091216m00stodaywithpatkenny-pid0-960552_audio.mp3

The Culture Night event was packed all night - was a great evening and I sold all the books I had with me

gobnaitolunacy

Wonder will the abandoned Celtic Tiger era ghost estates ever become photogenic?

Tess Walsh

What about a book on the smaller and quirkier buildings? Old hunting lodges and something like Rathuard Castle which is a tower rather than a castle? There are some fascinating buildings around the countryside hiding behind high stone walls and ivy clad rusting gates ...

Judgement Day

Tess Walsh wrote: »

What about a book on the smaller and quirkier buildings? Old hunting lodges and something like Rathuard Castle which is a tower rather than a castle? There are some fascinating buildings around the countryside hiding behind high stone walls and ivy clad rusting gates ...

Something like this might be of interest. Quite hard to find these days but worth tracking down a copy as it has a lot of interesting buildings in it.



Irish Countryside Buildings
Everyday Architecture in the Rural Landscape
by Patrick and Maura Shaffrey
Irish Countryside Buildings is a companion volume to the highly acclaimed Buildings of Irish Towns. Much attention has been focused on the natural beauty of Ireland's countryside, but very little on its buildings. This book presents the richness and variety of buildings to be found throughout the country: large estates with their cottages, gate lodges and outbuildings; houses - thatched, slated and stone-built; schools, churches, mills, forges, railways, harbours, lighthouses. There are 'bird's eye' views of farm buildings, clearly showing their layout and historical development. The full-colour illustrations are a special feature.

Out of print but can be found for €20+ on various internet sites.

spokesman

AI wrote: »

Glad you like the book
This was me on RTE1 Pat Kenny on Friday:
http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2012/pc/pod-v-21091216m00stodaywithpatkenny-pid0-960552_audio.mp3

The Culture Night event was packed all night - was a great evening and I sold all the books I had with me

Hi there, i was looking at your website and it is very good, but the reference to Mayfield House,Portlaw,Co Waterford being left to fall in to disrepair is factually incorrect.

When Irish Tanners Ltd finally closed down, the whole factory, including Mayfield House went very cheap on the market, the persons who bought the tannery, were in the same line of work, hide and skin.They gutted Mayfield House for every valuable furnishing it had, down to the brass door knobs on the interior doors and sold everything.They also sold anything of value in the tannery, In other words, they destroyed it, which was a crime to see it happening. They then abandoned the whole complex. It now has a new owner, who obtained the place under salvage rights.The whole area is an environmental issue now, with years and years of chemicals int the grounds around the tannery.

You will find another big mansion in the village of Portlaw, Woodlock House falling away too now. It was a nursing home up to a few months ago until HIQUA closed it down due to the place not being able to refurbish to the standards requried.

AI

Tess Walsh wrote: »

What about a book on the smaller and quirkier buildings? Old hunting lodges and something like Rathuard Castle which is a tower rather than a castle? There are some fascinating buildings around the countryside hiding behind high stone walls and ivy clad rusting gates ...

Thanks Tess
I am just finishing off the next book - it will be published October 2013. It features 160 locations from all of the 32 counties, all locations with maps and GPS co-ordinates. It has been way more work than both my books on Abandoned Mansions combined. Hopefully you won't be disappointed!

gobnaitolunacy

Just curious, do you have any probs with access?
If gps coords are given will the owners be more inclined to keep people out?

telekon

AI wrote: »

Thanks Tess
I am just finishing off the next book - it will be published October 2013. It features 160 locations from all of the 32 counties, all locations with maps and GPS co-ordinates. It has been way more work than both my books on Abandoned Mansions combined. Hopefully you won't be disappointed!

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

Just curious, do you have any probs with access?
If gps coords are given will the owners be more inclined to keep people out?

I'm also not sure that its a good idea to provide the exact locations of the buildings. There still appears to be plenty of salvageable features available in some of the houses you photograph.

It would be tragic if further features went astray due to thieving scumbags...not to mention the idiots going around vandalising derelict buildings.

No doubt they'd love to know where these places are, but I'd be pretty sure they're not as familiar with the 1st and 2nd edition OS maps as yourself...;)

AI

telekon wrote: »

I'm also not sure that its a good idea to provide the exact locations of the buildings. There still appears to be plenty of salvageable features available in some of the houses you photograph.

It would be tragic if further features went astray due to thieving scumbags...not to mention the idiots going around vandalising derelict buildings.

No doubt they'd love to know where these places are, but I'd be pretty sure they're not as familiar with the 1st and 2nd edition OS maps as yourself...;)

Thanks but my third book which will be published in autumn 2013 is something a bit different - it features locations which you can (and should!!) go and visit.

telekon

AI wrote: »

Thanks but my third book which will be published in autumn 2013 is something a bit different - it features locations which you can (and should!!) go and visit.

Hmmm, intriguing. Looking forward to it.:)

telekon

AI wrote: »

Thanks but my third book which will be published in autumn 2013 is something a bit different - it features locations which you can (and should!!) go and visit.

While we have your attention Tarquin, what do you make of the ghostly like faces in the doorway of Stephenstown House, Louth? (the first Virtual Reality Pic on the page)

http://www.abandonedireland.com/Stephenstown_2.html

Seriously creeped me out when I saw it! I presume this has been pointed out to you before?

AI

telekon wrote: »

While we have your attention Tarquin, what do you make of the ghostly like faces in the doorway of Stephenstown House, Louth? (the first Virtual Reality Pic on the page)

http://www.abandonedireland.com/Stephenstown_2.html

Seriously creeped me out when I saw it! I presume this has been pointed out to you before?

:eek: Sorry but that was just one of the journalists from The Herald newspaper who was along with me for the day. He poked his head out of the doorway at the wrong time!

gobnaitolunacy

You could have brought that to the attention of the Paranormal forum and had a field day with it!

telekon

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

You could have brought that to the attention of the Paranormal forum and had a field day with it!

You know, that actually did cross my mind when I was posting that! Thought I'd get the low down from AI first before giving that particular forum a very early Christmas present.

stefan idiot jones

losthorizon wrote: »

Maybe its the wrong forum to put it in but I came across this really interesting site on abandoned houses and mansions in the Republic

http://www.abandonedireland.com/start.html

I don't know if this has been posted before, but a similar site is http://www.worldabandoned.com/ and also quite interesting.

Seanchai

I see Dangan Castle in Summerhill is for sale on Myhome.ie:

Dangan Castle and Lands

Curiously, there doesn't appear to be any preservation order attached to the sale. Even the lands are exceptional with the remains of what appears to be a manorial village still there.

More importantly still Dangan would appear to be the site of the battle of Dangan Hill in 1798 (although not the site of the Battle of Dungan's Hill on the other side of Summerhill where over 3000 people died in August 1647).

Unfortunately, the latter history is usually overshadowed by people interested in Dangan Castle's connection with the Colley/Wesley (latter Wellesley) families. One would think, though, that the latter group would be mobilising some campaign regarding the future of Dangan Castle (It's an enormous pile. I took numerous photos there in 2008, which I'll upload when I get the time)