Curraghchase

rubbledoubledo

Hi all
My Niece went walking in Curraghchase with her two little brothers and one other little boy last night.
When they got to the house, the little boy of five started pointing towards the top of the house, saying look at the lady, Kept saying look at the lady.

No one else could see any thing. My Niece never knew it is supposed to be haunted. Just came home and told the story. She thought it strange :eek:

celica00

this would suit better in the thread for ghost experiences

Kettleson

There is a thread in Paranormal, (apologies cant find it at the moment) that has a photo of what appears to be a lady in a crinoline dress sitting on a park bench in the grounds of Curraghchase House.

I wasn't convinced it was, but it was an interesting photo.

I wonder could the little lad describe the lady? But I guess that would need to be done in a sensitive manner.

I'll see if I can find the photo.

Kettleson

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055071731&referrerid=579223

rubbledoubledo

Very interesting. Thanks.
We are going to go there again in the next few days.
Im going this time.

We are going to bring the same little boy as well.
Just walk around again, no one mention a thing, might be just a once off.
I cant wait to go, see what happens, worth a try

Kettleson

There is an article somewher on the net, where I think a female former resident, talks about the ghost visitations. Seemed a genuine account too.

celica00

thank a camera with u and let us know how it went! tempted to make the trip there too now

rubbledoubledo

I will take plenty photos and report back.
Very interesting to see if he will see her again

noddyone2

Kettleson wrote: »

There is an article somewher on the net, where I think a female former resident, talks about the ghost visitations. Seemed a genuine account too.

Might be someone from Moyross.

Kettleson

noddyone2 wrote: »

Might be someone from Moyross.

Very droll indeed.



Interview with Grace Wynee-Jones: Limerick Leader October 2012

"WE are, I believe, human beings, not human doings," says Grace Wynne-Jones, the author, journalist and environmentalist whose family roots lie deep in Curraghchase.

Earlier this month, Grace was invited, as a guest of Limerick City Library, to present a talk about her family and on her own life as a writer to mark Library Ireland Week – and she used the occasion to quote at length from her mother's books.

"The book In Ruin Reconciled was an early memoir, about her early childhood," Grace explains. "She was only a tiny child when she went there - she was actually adopted into that family by Stephen de Vere and his wife Isabel who was the daughter of Bishop Moule of Durham"

Stephen de Vere was a judge, and the family spent periods of time abroad, in Kenya, the Seychelles and elsewhere but "Curragh" as the house was called then was home, the place to which they returned as if to a cocoon. The child Joan was not always taken on these postings and spent quite a lot of her childhood with her grandmother at Curragh and it is this childhood which is recalled in "In Ruin Reconciled". In the book, recalled and written in old age, she recreates the rooms of Curragh, describing furniture, paintings and ornaments, and in particular describing her nursery and the dolls she played with in every detail. But she adds other telling details too.

"In the Big House, when I knew it, cold was ever-present in the winter and it is one of the most vivid memories of my childhood," she writes. "Chilblains also were a torment, even when rubbed with a cut onion which was guaranteed as a cure."

One particular bedroom, the Green Room, in which she slept as a child is remembered thus: "It was well know that this room was haunted but it was felt that a child sleeping there would have a calming effect. Almost every night I would be kept awake by continual and peremptory knock at the door which ceased only when I sat up in bed saying "come in". Nobody ever did. Sometimes there were mournful groans and sighs coming from behind a cupboard."

But as her daughter Grace explained to her Limerick audience, the accidental fire of 1941 abruptly ended domestic life at Curragh – and it is now only through Joan de Vere's books that we know anything of it. "She did give a real sense of how it had been," Grace says.

"I wasn't born when the fire took place but we used to go there on visits and Mum would tell us all sorts of tales. One was about two servants she met but discovered later they must have been ghosts. She used to hear noises… but always felt it was a very benign house. She felt there was an enchantment about the place. It was very special."

"Mum adored the grounds. We would go to the pets graveyard, to the wishing seat . And then there were lots of pictures of her and of Dad taken there. She was very involved in helping Curragh through the years, and was thrilled when it was taken over, and then developed into a forest park, as was the whole family."

Grace, who also felt the place as somewhere "mysterious and intriguing" now has a dream of reproducing some of her mother's memories of Curragh in a booklet form. "I was amazed so many people knew so much about Curragh," she says of her visit back to Limerick. But because so many people now visit Curragh in its latter-day transformation as Curraghchase Forest Park, Grace feels many of them would like to know more about the house which now stands, roofless but still imposing. "The house is gone but from a distance you almost feel you can enter there," Grace says. A booklet, which would be affordable, would give added pleasure, she feels, but could only be done if some kind of sponsorship was available.

Grace herself grew up in the shadow of the Ballyhouras and the Galtees, first in Ballyorgan and later in Knockainey where her father, Martin Wynne-Jones, was the Church of Ireland rector. "Since there weren't many Protestants in the area, he sometimes played LPs featuring hymns sung by the choir of St. Martin in the Fields in the local church. Passers by who did not know about the recordings must have been amazed by the choral grandeur…given that there were usually just a few cars and the odd bicycle outside the church during the services," Grace recalls. The only daughter in a family of five, her love of the countryside and of ponies stems from those early years and from visits to Curragh.

But she remembers laughingly and with affection her first brush with a somewhat more glamorous side of rural. On a visit to family friends, the Griffins in Newbridge, she went dancing in Rathkeale and found herself nominated in the Princess of Desmond contest – and indeed, walked away with the title that year. It was, she says almost with a giggle, something to really boast about when she returned to boarding school in Villiers.

Home today is in Bray, Co Wicklow, in her little house which she loves. "But I am someone who likes going away every so often," she adds.

She has, she says, "notes for my next book but no title yet". But she is not rushing the creative process. The book will come in its own time. And besides, there is so much to be getting on with in the meantime. Including that cup of tea in the garden that is begging to be enjoyed.

weeda

Thanks for that! Great info. Just imagine..I wonder could a house like this be restored..I would love to do that!!
I'm sure it could be done if a person had the money, of which you'd need LOTS.

It's always a Pity to see these place fall apart. I'd like to visit here,looks like great grounds and nice walks. Can people camp out around here or do people need to stick to particular, controlled areas/campsite?? lol I'd like to camp by the lake

celica00

i would so do that to!

buttonteaser

camping would be so cool and freaky at the lake. i must take a trip up there myself some day

rubbledoubledo

rubbledoubledo wrote: »

Hi all
My Niece went walking in Curraghchase with her two little brothers and one other little boy last night.
When they got to the house, the little boy of five started pointing towards the top of the house, saying look at the lady, Kept saying look at the lady.

No one else could see any thing. My Niece never knew it is supposed to be haunted. Just came home and told the story. She thought it strange :eek:

Hi all.
Just to update. Went there again a few nights ago. Myself went this time, brought the same little boy with us. My Niece said we do the exact same as the first night. Went to the playground first, then walked towards the house.

As we got near the house, the little boy mentioned Lady in his conversion, but we could not really hear what he said, beacuse the two other boys were laughing and shouting. We came to the house, of course i was saying look at the lovely big house, we all looking up but saw nothing this time.

We walked all around the house, thinking he might see some thing again, but nothing. We stayed there for around 45 minutes, lovely very peaceful there. I would like to know is the campsite opened there now. i think not.

I know there was a thread in the camper van section about curraghchase.
They were asking the same question, if twas opened or not.
The main gate closes at a certain time there every night.
Any one know for sure

rubbledoubledo

rubbledoubledo wrote: »

Hi all.
Just to update. Went there again a few nights ago. Myself went this time, brought the same little boy with us. My Niece said we do the exact same as the first night. Went to the playground first, then walked towards the house.

As we got near the house, the little boy mentioned Lady in his conversion, but we could not really hear what he said, beacuse the two other boys were laughing and shouting. We came to the house, of course i was saying look at the lovely big house, we all looking up but saw nothing this time.

We walked all around the house, thinking he might see some thing again, but nothing. We stayed there for around 45 minutes, lovely very peaceful there. I would like to know is the campsite opened there now. i think not.

I know there was a thread in the camper van section about curraghchase.
They were asking the same question, if twas opened or not.
The main gate closes at a certain time there every night.
Any one know for sure

Campsite closed ok
Costing too much to run.
5 euro to get in now

weeda

celica00 wrote: »

i would so do that to!

I did it!
Such incredible grounds, we loved every moment of our sleep over and walks around. The campsite is closed so we sort of.. had to pitch our tent up by the lake with a great view of the house.
Will get some photos up if I can work it out.

Jessica xxx

weeda wrote: »

I did it!
Such incredible grounds, we loved every moment of our sleep over and walks around. The campsite is closed so we sort of.. had to pitch our tent up by the lake with a great view of the house.
Will get some photos up if I can work it out.

So what did you do? Just stay after "Closing hours"? Nobody saw you and asked you to leave?......

weeda

Nobody asked us to leave. We'd stopped and where chatting too someone who told us that the camp site closed but I'm sure it would be ok if you camped on the grounds, "But ye'll be locked in for the whole night now!". So we did.

So we walked around I took loads of photo's. As I walked around with my 3 year old I'd say "Oh, so ..why don't you pretend to look up and see her at the window. look, up there, see?? When I said 'her' I was referring to the princess that was locked inside, according to her..that's about the strangest thing that happened really!

I saw one of the most amazing trees I've ever seen , EVER. The grounds are amazing.

Then as people began to leave while we tidied up our dinner picnic. We Waited a bit and put our tent up beside the lake with a nice view of the house.It was quite noisy at times during the night. Not sure what it was, some bird, maybe the heron. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary really.