Mitchelstown Castle
Encyclopedia
Mitchelstown Castle, the former home of the Irish Earls of Kingston
, was located in the north County Cork
town of Mitchelstown
in Ireland
.
and replaced it with a new castle designed by James
and George Richard Pain
. It has 60 principal and 20 minor bedrooms, a 100 feet (30.5 m) gallery, three libraries, morning room, dining room (which could seat 100 guests at one sitting) and various other facilities.
Mitchelstown Castle was the biggest neo-Gothic house in Ireland, cost £100,000 to build and became the 'fashion statement' of its time. It inspired other major Irish castles such as Strancally Castle
(County Waterford) and Dromoland Castle
for Lord Inchiquin. Unfortunately, the 100,000 acre
Mitchelstown Estate ran into considerable financial difficulties which, after the Great Famine of 1845-1851, forced its owners to sell 70000 acres (283.3 km²) in the Landed Estates Court. Further difficulties arose as a result of internal family squabbling, legal disputes and the Land War of the 1880s, in which the estate played a prominent part.
. The then owner, William Downes Webber (second husband of Anna, Dowager Countess of Kingston), his relatives and servants were 'evicted' to houses in nearby King Square. Over the next few weeks the castle was held by the Republicans who appeared to be preparing it for some kind of siege. However, in early August, the contents of the building were taken by the Republicans. Among the items taken were paintings by Thomas Gainsborough
, William Beechey
and Conrod, as well as silver, furniture, wall hangings, and mantlepieces. On 12 August 1922, Mitchelstown Castle was burned on the orders of a local Republican leader whose father and grandfather had been middlemen on the Kingston estate. At the same time, the military barracks at Fermoy
, Mallow
, Mitchelstown and Kilworth
were burned, as well as the military hospital in Fermoy, Mitchelstown workhouse, Mitchelstown RIC barracks and the railway viaduct in Mallow.
Afterwards, William Downes Webber sought compensation from the Irish Free State totalling £149,000 for rebuilding and £18,000 for contents. He intended to rebuild if sufficient compensation was provided. After his death in 1924, Colonel W.A. King-Harman pursued the claim in the Irish courts. Judge Kenny, in the Irish High Court in 1926, stated that the destruction of Mitchelstown Castle had been an act of wanton destruction which had no military purpose. He awarded £27,500 for the building and £18,000 for the contents. Most of this was used to build houses in Dublin as King-Harman decided that it was too small a sum for a rebuilding.
The stones of Mitchelstown Castle were subsequently sold to the Cistercian monks of Mount Melleray Abbey
, County Waterford, who used them to build a new abbey. In the 1940s, Mitchelstown Co-operative Agricultural Society built a milk processing factory on the site of the castle, which it had purchased together with some of the demesne lands that surrounded it. The site is now owned by Dairygold Co-op. The coats of arms
of Mitchelstown Castle are now held by a local writer and will be erected in Mitchelstown's new public library, which will also have a special section devoted to local history and especially Mitchelstown Castle and its owners.
Famous guests at Mitchelstown Castle included George Bernard Shaw
, Mary Wollstonecraft
, Arthur Young, Elizabeth Bowen
and Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. The King family also produced several important figures including Viscount Kingsborough who was the author of 'The Antiquities of Mexico,' and Margaret, Countess Mount Cashell, to whom Percy Bysshe Shelley
dedicated his poem 'A Sensitive Plant'.
Earl of Kingston
Earl of Kingston is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1768 for Edward King, 1st Viscount Kingston. He had already succeeded his father as fifth Baronet of Boyle Abbey and been created Baron Kingston, of Rockingham in the County of Roscommon in 1764 and Viscount Kingston in 1766,...
, was located in the north County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
town of Mitchelstown
Mitchelstown
Mitchelstown is a town in County Cork, Ireland with a population of approximately 3300. Mitchelstown is situated in the valley to the south of the Galtee Mountains close to the Mitchelstown Caves and is 28 km from Cahir, 50 km from Cork and 59 km from Limerick...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
15th to 18th century
White Knights, Dark Earls is to date the most extensive published account of Mitchelstown Castle, which was the biggest neo-Gothic house in Ireland. A castle was first built at Mitchelstown Castle in the 15th century by the White Knights of Mitchelstown, from whom, through marriage, it passed to the King family, Barons and Earls of Kingston. James, 4th Baron Kingston, extensively refurbished and modernised the castle in the 1730s. After his death in 1761, the castle passed to his grand-daughter, Caroline Fitzgerald. She married her cousin Robert King, Viscount Kingsborough who was, from 1797, the 2nd Earl of Kingston. The Kingsboroughs demolished most of the old Mitchelstown Castle in the 1770s and incorporated what remained into a new Palladian mansion, described as a 'house with wings'.19th century
In 1823, after his succession, their son, George, 3rd Earl of Kingston, demolished the Palladian housePalladian architecture
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...
and replaced it with a new castle designed by James
James Pain
James Pain was born into a family of English architects. His grandfather was William Pain, his father James Pain and his brother George Richard Pain. James Pain served as an apprentice to the architect John Nash of London. James and George Richard were commissioned by the Board of First Fruits...
and George Richard Pain
George Richard Pain
George Richard Pain was born into a family of English architects. His Grandfather was William Pain, his father James Pain and his brother also James. George Richard served as an apprentice architect to John Nash of London. George Richard and James were commissioned by the Board of First Fruits to...
. It has 60 principal and 20 minor bedrooms, a 100 feet (30.5 m) gallery, three libraries, morning room, dining room (which could seat 100 guests at one sitting) and various other facilities.
Mitchelstown Castle was the biggest neo-Gothic house in Ireland, cost £100,000 to build and became the 'fashion statement' of its time. It inspired other major Irish castles such as Strancally Castle
Strancally Castle
Strancally Castle is a castle in County Waterford, Ireland.It was designed by James and George Richard Pain and built for John Kelly around 1830...
(County Waterford) and Dromoland Castle
Dromoland Castle
Dromoland Castle is a castle, now a luxury hotel with golf course, located near Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare, Ireland. Its restaurant, the Earl of Thomond, was awarded a Michelin star in 1995.The present building was completed in 1835...
for Lord Inchiquin. Unfortunately, the 100,000 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
Mitchelstown Estate ran into considerable financial difficulties which, after the Great Famine of 1845-1851, forced its owners to sell 70000 acres (283.3 km²) in the Landed Estates Court. Further difficulties arose as a result of internal family squabbling, legal disputes and the Land War of the 1880s, in which the estate played a prominent part.
20th century
In June 1922, the castle was occupied by the Irish Republican ArmyIrish Republican Army (1922–1969)
The original Irish Republican Army fought a guerrilla war against British rule in Ireland in the Irish War of Independence 1919–1921. Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the IRA in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and...
. The then owner, William Downes Webber (second husband of Anna, Dowager Countess of Kingston), his relatives and servants were 'evicted' to houses in nearby King Square. Over the next few weeks the castle was held by the Republicans who appeared to be preparing it for some kind of siege. However, in early August, the contents of the building were taken by the Republicans. Among the items taken were paintings by Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
, William Beechey
William Beechey
Sir Henry William Beechey , English portrait-painter, was born at Burford, the son of William Beechey and Hannah Read ....
and Conrod, as well as silver, furniture, wall hangings, and mantlepieces. On 12 August 1922, Mitchelstown Castle was burned on the orders of a local Republican leader whose father and grandfather had been middlemen on the Kingston estate. At the same time, the military barracks at Fermoy
Fermoy
Fermoy is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is situated on the River Blackwater in the south of Ireland. Its population is some 5,800 inhabitants, environs included ....
, Mallow
Mallow, County Cork
Mallow is the "Crossroads of Munster" and the administrative capital of north County Cork, in Ireland. The Northern Divisional Offices of Cork County Council are located in the town....
, Mitchelstown and Kilworth
Kilworth
Kilworth is a village in north County Cork. It is also one half of the parish of "Kilworth and Araglin" in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne.-Loation and access:...
were burned, as well as the military hospital in Fermoy, Mitchelstown workhouse, Mitchelstown RIC barracks and the railway viaduct in Mallow.
Afterwards, William Downes Webber sought compensation from the Irish Free State totalling £149,000 for rebuilding and £18,000 for contents. He intended to rebuild if sufficient compensation was provided. After his death in 1924, Colonel W.A. King-Harman pursued the claim in the Irish courts. Judge Kenny, in the Irish High Court in 1926, stated that the destruction of Mitchelstown Castle had been an act of wanton destruction which had no military purpose. He awarded £27,500 for the building and £18,000 for the contents. Most of this was used to build houses in Dublin as King-Harman decided that it was too small a sum for a rebuilding.
The stones of Mitchelstown Castle were subsequently sold to the Cistercian monks of Mount Melleray Abbey
Mount Melleray Abbey
Mount Melleray Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in Ireland, founded in 1833. It is situated on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains, near Cappoquin, Diocese of Waterford.-History:...
, County Waterford, who used them to build a new abbey. In the 1940s, Mitchelstown Co-operative Agricultural Society built a milk processing factory on the site of the castle, which it had purchased together with some of the demesne lands that surrounded it. The site is now owned by Dairygold Co-op. The coats of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of Mitchelstown Castle are now held by a local writer and will be erected in Mitchelstown's new public library, which will also have a special section devoted to local history and especially Mitchelstown Castle and its owners.
Famous guests at Mitchelstown Castle included George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
, Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
, Arthur Young, Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Irish novelist and short story writer.-Life:Elizabeth Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in Dublin, Ireland and was baptized in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street...
and Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. The King family also produced several important figures including Viscount Kingsborough who was the author of 'The Antiquities of Mexico,' and Margaret, Countess Mount Cashell, to whom Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
dedicated his poem 'A Sensitive Plant'.
Sources
- Bill Power. White Knights, Dark Earls: The Rise and Fall of an Anglo-Irish Dynasty. pub. Collins (2000)
- Bill Power, 'Another Side of Mitchelstown', Mitchelstown 2008.
- Bill Power, 'Images of Mitchelstown, stories and pictures from my own place,' pub. Mount Cashell Press, 2002.
- Anthony Lawrence King-Harman. The Kings of King House
- Janet Todd, The Rebellious Kingsborough Sisters and the Making of a Modern Nation Ballantine (2005).
- Claire Tomalin. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft. (1992). This biography of Wollstonecraft, a former governess to the King family in the late 1780s, provides some general information about the house, mainly in footnotes.
External links
- Postcard image of the castle at archiseek.com
- Heritage walk commemorating the Looting and Burning of Mitchelstown Castle
- Stereoscope images of Mitchelstown Castle, East, South and North from EuropeanaEuropeanaEuropeana.eu is an internet portal that acts as an interface to millions of books, paintings, films, museum objects and archival records that have been digitised throughout Europe...