Kilgory House — Kilgory

On a slightly elevated, densely overgrown area, on the northern shoreline of Kilgory Lough, with extensive views along the lough to S. The lakeside avenue approaches from SW. The remains of a late 17th-century house are extant to eaves level, although the front S-facing portion has been removed and replaced on the footprint by a later two-storey dwelling. Most of the W elevation is also gone. This faced a tree-lined vista (allée) (long-axis E-W) which extended to the tertiary road c. 570m to W, some elements of which still survive today. According to Bence-Jones (1998, 298), the late 17th-century house was a two-storey, gable-ended dwelling with marble chimneypieces in some of the rooms. It was the seat of the O’Callaghan family in the earlier 18th century and was occupied by the O’Connell family from the later 18th century and into the 19th century (ibid). Daniel O’Connell ‘The Liberator’ apparently stayed here during his Clare election campaign (ibid). According to the Landed Estates Datababse (Moore Institute, NUIG), it continued to belong to the O'Connell’s for the rest of the 19th century. The 17th century house is depicted as an L-shaped structure and is named as Kilgory House on all OS historic mapping from 1840 onwards. According to Bence-Jones (1998, 298) the house was demolished c. 1928, however Weir (1999), confirms that ‘most’, (indicating not all), of the 17th-century house was demolished in 1928. An abandoned two-storey roofed house located c. 1.7m to S, is likely to date post-1928, given that it is built partially on the same footprint and potentially from building materials salvaged from the demolished portions of the late 17th-century house. The 17th-century house consists of the roofless remains of a once much larger, two-storey, rectangular structure with a later single-storey gabled addition adjoining the N elevation at the W end. The remains consists of a roughly rectangular area defined by the N wall (T 0.75m), a severed one-bay return of the E wall (T 0.7m) and a short broken stump of the W wall. A cross-wall is parallel to the E and W elevations, dividing the ruin into two distinct rooms. A kitchen is located to east and a probable living room is situated to west. The W wall no longer survives. The remaining building and cross-wall are constructed of rubble limestone with the external relieving arches and eaves course formed by finely cut and dressed limestone forming flat arches. Large, finely cut and dressed limestone quoins form the NE corner. The remains of a cut limestone eaves course is also evident at the NE corner. The remains of an external and internal render can be seen in places, including scratch and finishing coats. The remains of a rectangular kitchen (max. 9m N-S; 4.6m E-W) occupy the NE corner of the ruin. Three broken-out brick fireplaces are present in the N wall, including a bread-oven. Opposing, round-headed brick wall-niches (H 1.58m; Wth 0.75m) are located in the E and W walls, adjacent to the fireplaces, suggesting a storage function. A large lintelled window embrasure (H 2.2m; Wth 2.25m) with brick relieving arch is located in the E wall. A similar window is located directly above at first-floor level. The broken relieving arch of a similar sized window is located close to S, at ground and first-floor level, suggesting that the E wall was at least a two-bay, two-storey elevation. A fireplace off-centre to E is the only surviving feature evident in the N wall at first-floor level. A splayed doorway (Wth 0.95m at E; Wth 1.15m at W; H 1.85m) is situated in the internal dividing wall (T 0.65m) at ground-floor level and a similar doorway is directly above. These doorways gave access between the E and W rooms at ground and first-floor level. A breach is located c. 1.4m to S. A series of first-floor joist hangers are in the E and W walls, suggesting a ceiling to floor height in the kitchen of c. 2.7m. The S wall and the adjoining W ends of the cross walls do not survive. The remains of a rectangular room (max. 8m N-S; 5.1m E-W) are adjoining to W. A lintelled wall-niche (Wth 1.2m; H 1.5m; D 0.4m) is located in the E wall, immediately adjacent to the internal door opening from the E room. A small blocked lintelled opening is located above, between the doorway and niche. A fireplace (Wth 2m; D 0.95m) and flue projects from the centre of the N wall, although the flue is largely broken out above the fireplace and is obscured by ivy. A single-storey, gable-ended addition (5.9m E-W; 3.5m N-S) adjoins to rear. It is accessed through a lintelled doorway (H 2.1m; Wth 1.15m; D 0.62m) in the N gable. It is constructed of similar rubble stone materials with cut stone quoins and a matching cut limestone eaves course, which is seen on the N and S walls. The remains of some large slates are evident along the N gable and N and S eaves. This addition is pierced by a window (Wth 0.8m; H 2.25m) off-centre to S, in the W elevation. Internally, there is a splayed window embrasure (H 2.2m; Wth 1.45m; D 0.65m) in the W wall and there is a small fireplace (H 0.85m; Wth 0.72m; D 0.38m) in the E wall. The scar of a lean-to roof is also evident on this wall, suggesting that this addition was modified to a double-pitched structure and a fireplace was later inserted. Two different sets of joist hangers in the N gable would suggest that this building was modified again at a later stage. The following images have been uploaded: CL035-078----_01.jpg From W. General view of late 17th-century house ruin and later house. CL035-078----_02.jpg From N. N gable of rear addition and remains of late 17th-century house. CL035-078----_03.jpg From E. Window openings in remains of E elevation. CL035-078----_04.jpg From NE. First floor, NE corner of late 17th century house. CL035-078----_05.jpg From W. Rear addition to late 17th-century house. CL035-078----_06.jpg From S. Interior ground floor of N kitchen wall and first-floor level fireplace. CL035-078----_07.jpg From E. Internal dividing wall between kitchen and west room. CL035-078----_08.jpg From S. Broken-out ground-floor fireplace in N wall of west room. CL035-078----_09.jpg Doorway and wall niche in E wall of west room. Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 7 January 2019