Living History: Clonbrock Country House and Castle, Anascragh, County Galway

Clonbrock Country House was built between 1780 and 1788 by a popular Irish architect of the times, William Leeson, for Robert Dillon, the First Lord of Clonbrock. The house in it’s heyday

The Dillon family were one of the first Anglo-Norman families to settle into Connaught and originally arrived in the 1580’s. They were Catholics, which was rare for the Anglo-Normans, and by all written accounts, were pretty much liked by their neighbors and their land tenants.

However, after Cromwellian malevolence hit Ireland, the family, in 1734, converted to Protestantism to prevent the neighboring Trench family from reporting them under the penal laws and seizing their lands, which were considerable and growing even more so.

workers tilling the farmland on the estate

In fact, by 1826, the land totaled more than 29,500 acres of farmland and parkland in the area of Ballinasloe.

It is said that during the famine, the Third Baron of Clonbrock shot the deer on his holding in order to feed the starving people who lived on and worked his land.
tenant farmers struggle to eke out food from their holdings on the estate

Clonbrock house, at his height, was considered one of those “fashionable” homes in Ireland. There was a photographer’s studio, dubbed the “Photograph House”, because the nine (9!) daughters of Lord Clonbrock had taken up the then, new hobby.

the Photograph House, surrounded by its own gardens

family and friends posing with their cameras

Photography was a calling for the idle wealthy classes looking to express themselves and do something with their time

They were avid photographers and documented life, not only of their family,

A few of the ladies enjoy a pleasant afternoon

but of the locals and the people who worked there.

sheep shearing on the estate

some of the house help getting a “break”

Their collection of photos, remarkable in size, is now online, archived for us to study. the dining room

the drawing room

The 1901 census lists the house as having 55 rooms and 73 outbuildings. 18 people lived there: 7 members of the Dillon family and 11 staff.

In 1903, the estate was running in the red because of the cost of maintaining such a sizable estate, supporting the habits of all those children, and cultivating the kind of lifestyle required of the gentry in those days. The hardworking tenants and their allotment payments simply couldn’t keep up with the rising costs.

Times were tough for everyone. The Fourth Baron chose not to evict his tenants for their unpaid rents and had even considerably reduced them in an effort to help them out. He finally sold off great tracts of the land, earning roughly $19 million of today’s dollars, which he invested in the stock market in an effort to shore up and save the place.

Alas, the First World War, the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Great Depression and the Wall Street Crash of 1929 came in rapid succession, wiping the family out financially.

Then, the Fourth and Fifth Barons died close together, hitting the esstate with massive death taxes.The final Baron left no heirs.

There are stories of the last living Dillon inhabitant, Lady Ethel, living there alone, with just one aged butler. Though she was shaky and frail, she was still proud, walking the grounds with the aid of two sticks, maintaining her sense of entitlement and privilege. Lady Edith in her younger years, holding a dog, beside her sister who died years before her

After her death in the 1970’s, the house was passed on to her dead sister’s son, Luke Dillon Mahon, who, overwhelmed by the prospect of maintaining such a magnificent home, decided to sell everything at auction in 1976. Agents from Christie’s auction house set up large tents across from the house and sold it off, lot by lot.

There was a well known library, noted for its collection of rare leather bound first edition travel, art, design, agriculture and natural science books.
One set of volumes, dated 1783, recorded Captain Cook’s final voyage. The entire lot sold for what amounted to one quarter of the value of the estate’s final proceeds.

A sword, belonging to Napoleon, rare butterfly collections, complete sets of vintage china, and the magnificent furniture, all disappeared, much of it from Ireland, into the hands of private collectors.

The house itself was finally sold off, along with only 50 of its original acres, in 1979. A Lady Dortha ffrench (correct spelling) lives there today, quietly, as the house slowly becomes eaten up by mildew, ivy and neglect.

She has stated on record that she hopes to return it to its former glory but according to my hosts, Beverly and Jonathan Baylis (who purchased the original Castle, built long before the house, and of which very little history is known), she has made no progress.

They, however, have. It’s incredible what they’ve done.

Twelve years ago Beverly and Jonathan
(Beverly is elusive, no pic of her to share)

bought the ruins of the Castle, the stables, the desmene, and the gardens and grounds to the river.

Jonathan told me that they originally purchased it “as a vacation project”, thinking they would come over from Oxford, where they both worked and lived, once or twice a year to work on it.

It soon became more than a hobby and they now live here full time. The work they have done on the Gardener’s Wing is impressive and quite lovely and they are to be commended for their commitment to saving this historical treasure from ruin and obscurity.

I am staying in what is now the “West Cottage”, where I am writing, resting, and exploring the historically rich area.

The Gardener’s Wing then

and now. The cottages are on either side of the middle door

The gardens were rescued from complete overgrowth and neglect and are now beautiful grounds again.
Beverly admitted that she sometimes feels “restoration fatigue” but that living here and bringing something historical back for the benefit of others makes up for it all.

Their website, http://www.clonbrockcastle.com shows the journey they have undertaken. It’s a fascinating process.

I investigated the Castle itself (historical photo of the ruins taken by unknown person)

Here it is just a couple of years ago, after restoration work was begun
scaffolding everywhere

and here it is today

Interior work is still in progress, but it’s now safe enough to go all the way out onto the roof if you’re very, very careful. (I did).

Their “vacation project” has become a massive undertaking. It will be quite something when it is finished.

In this photo, taken by one of his daughters, we see Lord Clonbrock at the Castle entrance gate, circa 1900

same metal gate, original chain even still in place

A walk up the circular staircase, four stories high

third floor, looking toward the exterior wall

and there’s Eocha, my silver steed, waiting patiently across from what used to be the gardener’s quarters

Looking out one of the fourth floor windows. This shot gives you an idea of just how thick the castle walls actually are

and here we see the Murder hole. Every castle has one. It’s a form of defense. If enemies managed to get past the mote and breach the gate, boiling water or scalding sand, then rocks and knives, would be thrown down the hole onto them to prevent them from getting up those narrow stairs. Contrary to what we see in movies, boiling oil was rarely used as it was quite expensive and precious.

Looking over the roof of the castle to the desmene below

While awaiting the restoration of the rest of the Castle, you can stay in either the West or East Cottage, or in Lady Gregory’s Tower, shown before

and today

I am staying in the West Cottage
with a nicely appointed kitchenette
(where I am catching up on my laundry as I write this)

a lovely loo

adjacent to this comfortable bed.
Mercifully, I didn’t hear about any ghosts roaming the grounds and it was a very quiet night. One of the things I love about the Irish countryside…

My little corner of the garden, Castle is in the corner behind the wall.

with the Green Man keeping watch over everything.

After staying for days in my sweet little, rustic Traveler’s trailer in Donegal, I confess that this feels like quite a change. It’s interesting have a sense of what it might have felt like to live a life so sheltered and still.

However, I never forget for a moment that this was all built upon the backs of the Irish people on their own land, taken from them by however benevolent a landlord Lord Clonbrock may have been.

Blessed Be.