The Irish Aesthete
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The Irish Aesthete
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At Peace
The Echlin family has been mentioned here before (see Lost Heritage « The Irish Aesthete). The first of them to settle in Ireland was Robert Echlin, a Scots-born clergyman who in 1612 was appointed…
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December 9, 2025 at 1:08 PM
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In Circles
Synone Castle is another cylindrical tower house found in County Tipperary, not unlike that at Balief (see Beyond Balief « The Irish Aesthete) and Ballynahow (see Encircled « The Irish Aesthete). S…
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December 5, 2025 at 6:51 AM
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Remembrance of Things Past
Recently going through the ever-expanding collection of photographs, the Irish Aesthete came across a cache, taken some years ago and showing Drummin, County Kildare. Until his death five years ago…
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December 1, 2025 at 7:17 AM
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Something of a Mystery
Occupying a prominent site on Main Street in Eyrecourt, County Galway, this curious building is now known as St Martin’s but, one suspects, formerly had another name. The house may date from the 17…
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November 28, 2025 at 7:49 AM
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One of the Prettiest and Most Striking Objects to be seen on the River Lee
‘About half-past two o’clock on Tuesday morning, Blackrock Castle was observed to be on fire, and in a few minutes presented a very imposing sight. The waters were illuminated, and the surrou…
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November 24, 2025 at 8:08 AM
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The Remaining Third
As its name indicates, Threecastles in County Wicklow was once the site of three fortified buildings, only one of which still survives, at least in part. While the history of this tower house is un…
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November 21, 2025 at 8:54 AM
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Inspiring Reverential Awe
‘The foundation-charter of this abbey is in the Monasticon Anglicanum, and recites, that Harvey of Mount Maurice, who was Seneschal to Richard Earl of Pembroke, made a grant of divers lands t…
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November 17, 2025 at 6:59 AM
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A Glebe House and a Castle
After last Monday’s post about the former 19th century rectory outside Rathkeale, County Limerick (see …) here are some images of its predecessor, located to the immediate west of Holy Trinity Chur…
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November 14, 2025 at 7:02 AM
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First Fruits
Glebe: land granted to a member of the clergy as part of a benefice. Etymology: derives from the Middle English word ‘glebe’, which in turn came from the Old French ‘glèbe’, and ultimately from the…
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November 10, 2025 at 6:15 AM
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The Same but Different
Following last Monday’s post about Johnstown Castle, County Wexford (see This Magnificent Building « The Irish Aesthete), herewith two of the five entrances to the estate. That above, which is beli…
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November 7, 2025 at 7:02 AM
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This Magnificent Building
The Irish line of the Esmonde family is believed to be descended from Geoffrey de Estmont of Lincolnshire, one of the thirty Norman knights who accompanied Robert FitzStephen to land at Bannow, Cou…
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November 3, 2025 at 7:20 AM
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The Tomb of the Unknown Family
Today being Hallow’een, here are some rather dejected looking family mausolea in the graveyard of St Mary’s, Croom, County Limerick. One or two of them can be identified, an example bei…
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October 31, 2025 at 4:59 AM
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The Pale Moon was Rising
For the week that’s in it: on the side of a road to the immediate north-west of Tralee, County Kerry can be found the graveyard of Clogherbrien. Seemingly, this site is where Mary O’Connor, the ori…
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October 27, 2025 at 6:32 AM
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Scotland in the West of Ireland
Although looking like a Scottish Baronial castle, this is the former Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks in Cahersiveen, County Kerry, designed in 1865 by Enoch Trevor who five years earlier had join…
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October 24, 2025 at 6:53 AM
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So Ruin’d by ye Wars
‘Of ye Cathedral at present ye Choir only is roof’d & in repair, which is indeed long & lofty; ye Stalls &c. plain; They were put up by Archbishop Palliser, who was in other parti…
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October 20, 2025 at 7:01 AM
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All Aflutter
Herewith the dovecote in the grounds of Woodstock, County Kilkenny. According to www.buildingsofireland.ie, the building dates c.1750, but it does not appear to be on the earliest Ordnance Survey m…
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October 17, 2025 at 5:58 AM
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Kindly Regarded Here
Writing about follies more than 70 years ago, illustrator and author Barbara Jones described these structures as ‘built for pleasure, and pleasure is personal, difficult to define. Follies are fash…
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October 13, 2025 at 5:58 AM
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Look Up
The extraordinary ceiling in the drawing room of Fota House, County Cork. This part of the building dates from the mid-1820s when Sir Richard Morrison was employed by Fota’s owner, John Smith…
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October 10, 2025 at 6:17 AM
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Something of a Rarity
Originally from Yorkshire, in 1657 Montifort Westropp settled in Limerick city and three years later was comptroller of the port there. Subsequently he purchased various parcels of land in Co. Clar…
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October 6, 2025 at 7:39 AM
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The Heavy Hand is Uppermost
After last Friday’s text about the Massy mausoleum in the graveyard of Ardagh, County Limerick (Blessed are the Dead « The Irish Aesthete), here is another such monument in the same site. In this i…
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October 3, 2025 at 6:02 AM
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Sweet Innisfallen
‘Innisfallen, it is paying no great compliment to say it is the most beautiful in the king’s dominions, and perhaps in Europe. It contains twenty acres of land, and has every variety that the…
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September 29, 2025 at 6:04 AM
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Blessed are the Dead
Following last Monday’s entry about Glenville, County Limerick, here in a nearby graveyard is the Massy Mausoleum, dating from 1864 although Eyre Massy, whose remains it holds, only died five…
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September 26, 2025 at 6:35 AM
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Glenville House
In 1763 John Massy, who served as Treasurer of Limerick, bought an estate in the county called Glenville. John was the great-grandson of Hugh Massy, an English soldier who had come to Ireland durin…
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September 22, 2025 at 6:48 AM
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Shocking Deterioration
The pictures above show a terrace of former almshouses in Rockcorry, County Monaghan in August 2013. The pictures below show the same terrace in August 2025: the deterioration in their condition ov…
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September 19, 2025 at 6:03 AM
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Once Sumptuous
Buttevant: ‘It is called in the Ecclesiastical books Bothon; by the Irish and Spencer, Kilnemullagh; and was formerly an antient corporation, being once governed by a mayor and aldermen; but by the…
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September 15, 2025 at 7:11 AM