Court Devenish — Athlone

This house was built by George Devenish c. 1628 the house was the scene of an engagement in 1648 during the Confederate wars (Stokes 1980-1, 207). The house and lands of Athlone which belonged to George Devenish were forfeited and granted to the Earl of Ranelagh c. 1650 who had difficulty in securing the poessession of these forfeited lands. In 1681 the Treasury of Ireland received a petition from the Earl of Ranelagh which recited 'a grant by letters patent of 18 Dec., 1675, to the petitioner in fee simple of several houses and lands within the Corporation of Athlone and the liberties thereof, forfeited to his Majesty by the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, some of which formerly belonged to George Devenish and are now in the possession of Thomas Fitz-Gerald by virtue of an extent on a statute staple of 800l. in 1629, acknowledged by the said George Devenish to Thomas Allen and since assigned to the said Fitz-Gerald, and stating that, as some doubt may arise whether the said houses and lands may not be part of the security for the arrears of the '49 officers, the petitioner, to avoid lawsuits and for the better securing of his interest, is willing to compound for the same with the Commissioners for disposing of the remaining part of the said security and to place such unsatisfied part of '49 debentures thereon as shall be agreed on between them and him, but that they are restrained by their instructions from granting any part of the said security except to persons who are in possession thereof and shall deliver the same, but they are also to observe such further instructions as shall be given them by the Lord Lieutenant, and praying that, as the petitioner has already passed the grant of the said houses and lands, and is kept out of the possession thereof by the said extent and other pretences and his Majesty has in the said letters patent promised the further assurance of the said grant and the petitioner desires only some further security of his title by compounding with the said Commissioners, that his Majesty would signify his pleasure to the Lord Lieutenant that he forthwith give a further instruction to the said Commissioners to compound and agree with the petitioner, if he shall so desire, for the said houses and lands and to grant him their certificate in order to his passing new letters patent thereon, in the same manner as they might do, were he now in the actual possession thereof' (Blackburne Daniell 1921, 152-89). In 1697 a petition was submitted by Thomas Osborne to the Treasury Lords of Ireland 'against the passing of a grant of the estate of William Devenish late of Athlone, County Westmeath until he be heard' (Shaw 1933, 162). The architectural quality of this house was sufficiently outstanding in 1682 to merit special mention by Sir Henry Piers (1981, 87) who described Court Devenish as 'one house built backward from the street by one Devenish exceeded all the rest for politeness of architecture; but this beauty was all without doors, for within they were ill shapen and ill contrived'. Court Devenish is depicted in 1685 by Thomas Phillips and in 1691 by Jean Goubet as a rectangular block with projecting wings flanking the centrally placed entrance on the S facade of the house (NLI Ms. 2742; Murtagh 1994, maps 4 and 5). The house was partially destroyed during the 1691 siege of Athlone and is depicted in 1784 as the 'Ruins of Court Devenish' on Thomas Sherrard's map of Athlone (RCB Ms. 151; Murtagh 1994, Map 7(a)). Situated in the grounds of the modern Court Devenish immediately inside the north wall of the town defences (WM029-042020-); access is via Preaching (or Lucas) Lane. The south facade survives together with parts of the east and west returns. The fabric is in poor condition, overgrown and in need of repair; there is an earthen build-up of about 1 m over the ground floor and modern lean-to structures have been built in the interior. Some windows are missing transoms or mullions and the first floor west window is partially blocked with bricks. Seven window jambs are strewn on the ground around the building. The structure appears to have suffered heavily in Ginkel’s 1691 siege and many of its stones have been used in the walls and rookery of the present garden and it is likely that they were re-used in constructing the modern dwelling also. The house was three storeyed and built of evenly coursed mixed masonry with dressed quoins and jambs. Most of the quoins are missing but the surviving examples have horizontal and vertical tooling. The windows, of two or three lights, are rectangular, mullioned and transomed with external hood moulding; all splay internally and have a flat rear arch. The window jambs are grooved for glass and have bar-holes. The house was originally half-H plan as depicted on Jean Goubet's map of 1691. The main entrance was centrally placed in the south wall; its jambs are now missing. There are the remains of a window in the section west of the door but otherwise the external ground level is quite plain. Internally there are two wall cupboards in the east and west sections. On the first floor there is a fine triple light above the door. The east section has two surviving windows and the jamb of a third, an arrangement which seems to have been repeated on the west side. The first floor arrangement of the east side is duplicated on the second floor. There may have been similar windows in the west section but it has been considerably altered. Two inscribed pieces of graffiti record early visitors: J.P. WITFORD 1857-63 (on the chamfer of the south-west window on the first floor), and 1737 A.D. R.H. (on a stone east of the entrance) (Bradley et. al. 1985, 26-7). Compiled by: Rachel Barrett and Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 01 November 2013