Indicated — Woodford Demesne

Situated in a relatively high area on the S bank of the Ballinamore and Ballyconnell canal, which cuts off a loop of the Woodford River to the N and connects Ballymagauran Lough to the E with Gardice Lough to the W. The house is reputedly on the site of an O'Rourke castle (McParlan 1802, 93), which is depicted as a tower at Tumanahan (22) on the Down Survey (1656-8) map of Carrigallen barony and was owned by Richard Nugent, the Earl of Westmeath in 1641. There is no trace of this castle, but for the Down Survey see this web-page accessed on 24/02/2017: http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/down-survey-maps.php#bm=Carrigallin&c=Leitrim The earl had received the original grant of 1200 acres in the 1620s (Mac an Ghallóglaigh 1971, 251), but the estate had become the property of the Ormsby-Gore family in the 19th century and the house was in ruins by 1837 (Lewis 1837, vol. 1, 279). The house was not replaced. The Gore family was in Ireland since the late sixteenth century. Sir Arthur Gore (c. 1640-1697) was created first Baron of Newtown, Co. Mayo, in 1662, although he may have been settled in Leitrim by then. His fourth son, George, was Attorney General for Ireland and married Bridget, a daughter of John Shanky of Tenalick (LF023-123001-). His third son William was an MP for Leitrim and died in 1730. For George Gore see this web-page accessed on 17/05/2017: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gore_(judge) William’s son, William, also an MP for Leitrim (1730-60) and 1768-9, is described as ‘of Woodford’ but seems to have lost the Woodford demesne as it was not in his legacy to his nephew, William, MP for the county 1769-76. This William’s son, also called William but never an MP. married Mary Jane Ormsby, an heiress, in 1815. (Johnston-Liik 2002, vol. 4, 288-90) The ruined house is a two storey building (int. dims 11.5m E-W; 6.2m N-S) with a large fireplace (Wth 2.7m; D 1.24m; H 1.3m) and two ovens in the W gable at the ground floor, but the E end does not survive, apart from wall foundations. There are three large window openings and a doorway in the N wall and a single large window in the S wall at the ground floor, the ceiling of which was supported on recessed ledges in the N and S walls. There is a similar arrangement of windows on the first floor but there is no surviving fireplace or evidence of a stairs. The house is in the centre of the S wall of a court or yard (dims 31m NNE-SSW; 28m WNW-ESE) but only the W end of the S wall, the W wall (T 0.65m) with nine lights or loops (H 0.9m; Wth 0.2m) at the ground level, some with brick-lined rear-arches (H 1m; Wth 0.73m), and the N wall with no openings at ground level survive. An L-shaped two storey building occupied the W and N parts of the court, incorporating the court walls with rectangular windows at the first floor, nine in the W wall and six on the N wall. However, a rebate for the first floor is not present and there is no evidence of other walls for this structure. The building’s S end, abutting the W gable of the house, had an inserted brick-lined groin-vaulted chamber (int. dims 6.8m x 6.8m), but the vault is now almost entirely removed. The E side of the court is poorly defined. The foundations of a house (int. dim 7.4m E-W; 6m N-S) are immediately E of the surviving house, and the W wall of a gateway with a passage (Wth 3.05m E-W; L 5.7m plus N-S; H 4m) is c. 15m further E and was probably at the SE angle of the court. The entrance passage has no vault but there is a rebate for the gate leaves and there are two surviving embrasures on the W wall. There are further, less well-defined features to the E and S, and the surviving walls have tie-stones and piers at the angles, so that the complex was capable of infinite expansion. All the surviving structures appear to be eighteenth century in date, and the house and outhouses are part of a wider designed landscape consisting of terraces rising above the house to the S, and two walled gardens. There is a rectangular walled enclosure (dims c. 32m WNW-ESE; c. 26m NNE-SSW), perhaps an orchard, with a long two-storey structure in the NW angle is c. 35m NW of the house. Archaeological testing (07E0651) c. 160m to the SE of the house produced no related material (Byrne 2010). The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revised upload: 7 July 2017