This is a list of the historic "Big Houses" (Irish : teach mór) of County Carlow, Ireland. The term is a direct translation from Irish and refers to the country houses, mansions or estate houses of the historical landed class in Ireland. [1]
This page lists 87 of the most prominent historic big houses in Carlow, which have adequate records associated with them. While many of these houses are currently in private ownership, they are still afforded varying degrees of protection by the Irish government based on whether their architecture or history is considered nationally, regionally or locally important. [2]
At the height of the estates period in the 1800s, Carlow had a greater number of country houses and demesnes per hectare than any other rural county in Ireland. These "big houses" and their occupants dominated the economic and political landscape until the turn of the 20th century. [3] Historian Jimmy O'Toole likens the prevalence of estates within the county to Gloucestershire, England, stating that Carlow was "the most gentrified county in Ireland". [4]
The majority of these houses are listed within the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) and most of the remainder are registered as historic buildings by Carlow County Council. [5] A small number of these houses are not currently listed on any register. This is usually due to significant alteration or demolition prior to the foundation of the NIAH in 1990.
Color key | Designation |
---|---|
NIAH-listed, Nationally Important Building | |
NIAH-listed, Regionally Important Building | |
Protected by Carlow County Council | |
Not currently on any local or national register | |
County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the county. At the 2022 census the population of the county was 103,685. The county was based on the historic Gaelic kingdom of Ossory (Osraighe), which was coterminous with the Diocese of Ossory.
County Carlow is a county located in the Southern Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Carlow is the second smallest and the third least populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. Carlow County Council is the governing local authority.
In the United Kingdom a listed building is a structure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland. The term has also been used in the Republic of Ireland, where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, although the statutory term in Ireland is "protected structure".
Clonegal, officially Clonegall, is a village in the southeast of County Carlow, Ireland. It is in a rural setting, close to the border between counties Wexford and Carlow, 5 km from Bunclody, County Wexford and 22 km from Carlow town. It is just over a mile north of where the River Slaney and the River Derry meet. Clonegal has a much smaller "twin" village across the River Derry in County Wexford, Watch House Village.
Carlow is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, 84 km (52 mi) from Dublin. At the 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the twelfth-largest urban center in Ireland.
Goresbridge is a small village located in the east of County Kilkenny, in the province of Leinster, Ireland. Goresbridge is named after a 1756 bridge, built by Colonel Ralph Gore, which provides a crossing of the River Barrow between County Kilkenny and County Carlow in the South-East region.
Whitegate is a small village in East Cork on the eastern shore of Cork Harbour in County Cork, Ireland. It lies within the townlands of Ballincarroonig and Corkbeg. Whitegate is within the Cork East Dáil constituency.
Lisnavagh Estate is an estate house which lies outside the village of Rathvilly in County Carlow, Ireland. Lisnavagh is the family seat of the McClintock-Bunbury family, Barons Rathdonnell. A plaque in the present house states that the original house at Lisnavagh was built by William Bunbury in 1696. A map from the 1840 Ordnance Survey shows this in the parklands below the current house, with some modest farm buildings close by. The 1840 map also shows "Foundations of House" to the northwest, near the top of the hill, which is where a new house was planned but never completed. The new house was ultimately built nearer to the old house.
Mount Loftus is a country estate in the civil parish of Powerstown in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It was originally home to the Loftus baronets, the baronetcy being extinct since the death of the third baronet in 1864. The original 18th century manor house was demolished in 1906. The current house on the estate, built in the early 20th century, was rebuilt from staff accommodations after a fire in the 1930s. This house, and several of its outbuildings, are included on Kilkenny County Council's Record of Protected Structures.
Duckett's Grove(Irish: Garrán Duckett) is a ruined 19th-century great house and former estate in County Carlow, Ireland. Belonging to the Duckett family, the house was formerly the focal point of a 12,000-acre (49 km2) estate, and dominated the local landscape of the area for more than two centuries. The interior of the house was destroyed by a major fire in the 1930s and is now inaccessible. The surrounding gardens, including two inter-connecting walled gardens, are now managed by Carlow County Council and open as a public park.
Oak Park is a Georgian house and estate in County Carlow, Ireland, located 3 kilometres (2 mi) north of the town of Carlow.
The term big house refers to the country houses, mansions, or estate houses of the historical landed class in Ireland, which is itself known as the Anglo-Irish class. The houses formed the symbolic focal point of the Anglo-Irish political dominance of Ireland from the late 16th century, and many were destroyed or attacked during the Irish revolutionary period.
Clontead More House is a country house in the townland of Clontead More, situated 2.3 km (1.4 mi) north-east of Coachford village. Building c. 1840, it is one of a number of such estate houses situated along the valley of the River Lee and its tributaries.
Altamont House is a historic building best known for its ornamental gardens in County Carlow. The Robinsonian-style gardens are often referred to as "the jewel in Ireland's gardening crown".
Vernon Mount is a ruined Georgian manor house in Cork, Ireland. It was built between the 1780s and early 1790s to designs attributed to Abraham Hargrave. Originally built for the merchant Hayes family, the house was named for Mount Vernon, the home of US president George Washington. Passing through several owners, the house remained largely disused and subject to deterioration from the late 20th century. It was included in the Record of Monuments and Places by the National Monuments Service, and on the Record of Protected Structures for Cork County Council. It remained largely intact until 2016, when a significant fire largely gutted the house, and the building was subsequently listed on the derelict sites register. In 2021, the building was subject to a funding request for stabilisation works due to "risk of collapse".
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) maintains a central database of the architectural heritage of the Republic of Ireland covering the period since 1700 in complement to the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, which focuses on archaeological sites of the pre-1700 period. As of 2022, there are over 50,000 records in the database, including buildings, monuments, street furniture and other structures. It does not cover Northern Ireland.
Ballykealy House is a 19th-century great house and former estate in Ballon, County Carlow, Ireland.
Tranarossan House is an early 20th century building in Carrigart, County Donegal, Ireland. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens for Lucy Phillimore, wife of Robert Charles Phillimore. The Phillimores had bought the land on the Donegal coast in the 1890s and commissioned Lutyens to build a holiday home. The house is little documented and is not recorded in most studies of Lutyens. After her husband's death, Lucy Phillimore handed the house over to An Óige, the Irish Youth Hostel Association, in 1937. It still operates as An Óige's most northerly hostel and is a protected structure.