Coole — Coole Demesne

‘Coole House’ was built c. 1770 by Robert Gregory. It was a three-storey six-bay house with an entrance front that had a feature Venetian window above it on the 1st floor and a Dolcletian window on the 2nd floor. The doorway was subsequently obscured by a plain square enclosed porch. Early Victorian bows were added to the garden front (Bence Jones 1978, 90 and frontispiece). The house was demolished in 1941. All that survives is the plinth which indicates that it was constructed of squared coursed rubble limestone with tooled quoinstones. Blocked-up openings give an indication of its layout (www.buildingsofireland.ie last accessed 11 October 2017). The house and demesne are famous ‘for having been an important centre for literary events in the early 1900s. As the home of Lady Augusta Gregory - poet, author, playwright and founder of the Abbey Theatre - the house welcomed visitors such as George Bernard Shaw, Synge, O'Casey, and of course W.B. Yeats, who memorialised the demesne in his poem 'The Wild Swans at Coole'. Now with only vestiges of the house remaining, the site's importance is due to its associations with the Irish Literary Revival’ (ibid.). Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 11 October 2017