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Bellamont House (sometimes Bellamont Forest) is a Georgian 
The house is a Palladian style square-plan, four-bay two storey over basement villa set amongst a rolling drumlin landscape. It is faced with red brick with limestone quoins to the ground floor level, and rusticated stone facing to the raised basement level. A protruding Doric entrance portico to the front of the building is also constructed in limestone atop a stone plinth while the broad steps leading up to the villa are sided with ashlar. There are pediments over the ground floor windows with sandstone surrounds and venetian windows to the sides of the property. The property sits on a hill at the highest point in the surrounding area facing mature woodland, pasture, lakes and rivers.
The interior contains marbles busts of various members of the Coote family while the entrance hall is paved with portland stone slabs and contains a coffered elaborate plasterwork ceiling.
The house is approached by a long driveway along Town Lough from the town of Cootehill.
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
-style house set amongst 1,000 acres of grounds in Cootehill
Cootehill (; ) is a market town and townland in County Cavan, Ireland. Cootehill was formerly part of the neighbouring townland of Munnilly. Both townlands lie within the barony of Tullygarvey.
The English language name of the town is a port ...
, County Cavan, Ireland. The house was completed in 1730 for Judge Thomas Coote and likely designed by his nephew, the architect Edward Lovett Pearce
Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (1699 – 7 December 1733) was an Irish architect, and the chief exponent of Palladianism in Ireland. He is thought to have initially studied as an architect under his father's first cousin, Sir John Vanbrugh. He is be ...
.
It is considered to be one of the finest examples of Palladian architecture in Ireland and was originally loosely modelled on the Villa La Rotonda
Villa La Rotonda is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in northern Italy designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The villa's correct name is Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, but it is also known as "La Rotonda", "Villa Rot ...
in Vicenza
Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan.
Vicenza is a th ...
, Italy.
History
The house was constructed for Judge John Coote and passed down through the family in 1800 to an illegitimate son ofCharles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont
Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont KB PC(I) (6 April 1738 – 20 October 1800), was an Irish peer. He held a senior political position as one of the joint Postmasters General of Ireland. Charles was briefly styled as The 5th Baron Coote bet ...
. The estate was later gambled away by descendant John Coote in 1874 and acquired by the Dorman-Smith family. Later Eric Dorman-Smith
Brigadier Eric Edward "Chink" Dorman-Smith (24 July 1895 – 11 May 1969), who later changed his name to Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan, was an Irish officer whose career in the British Army began in the First World War and closed at the end of the ...
lived in the property after serving for the British army in both world wars before being dishonorably discharged in 1942. Dorman-Smith then changed his name to O'Gowan and became a Republican while allowing the IRA to use the estate as a firing range and safe house during the border campaign. He died in 1969.
In more recent times the property was acquired by a distant descendant of the original Coote family, Australian interior designer John Coote (former husband of Australian MP Andrea Coote
Andrea Coote (born 18 July 1951) is an Australian former parliamentarian. She was a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1999 to 2014, representing Monash Province until the 2006 election and the Southern Metropolitan Region ...
) who purchased the House in 1987 for £500,000 Irish pounds. Coote restored the property to its former glory over the following two decades before dying suddenly in 2012 while the property was for sale. The property was finally sold by a Receiver to an American buyer, John Manuel Morehart in 2015 for €2m with part of the grounds now leased to the state-owned forestry company Coillte
Coillte (; meaning "forests"/"woods") is a state-owned commercial forestry business in Ireland based in Newtownmountkennedy. Coillte manage approximately 7% of the country’s land, and operates three businesses - their core forestry business, a ...
.
Description
The house is a Palladian style square-plan, four-bay two storey over basement villa set amongst a rolling drumlin landscape. It is faced with red brick with limestone quoins to the ground floor level, and rusticated stone facing to the raised basement level. A protruding Doric entrance portico to the front of the building is also constructed in limestone atop a stone plinth while the broad steps leading up to the villa are sided with ashlar. There are pediments over the ground floor windows with sandstone surrounds and venetian windows to the sides of the property. The property sits on a hill at the highest point in the surrounding area facing mature woodland, pasture, lakes and rivers.
The interior contains marbles busts of various members of the Coote family while the entrance hall is paved with portland stone slabs and contains a coffered elaborate plasterwork ceiling.
The house is approached by a long driveway along Town Lough from the town of Cootehill.
See also
*Dartrey Forest
Dartrey Forest (sometimes Dartrey Estate or Dawson Grove Estate) is a forest and estate near Rockcorry in north-west County Monaghan, Ireland. It was formerly part of the Barony of Dartrey and was the country estate of the Dawson family, who h ...
References
{{Historic Irish houses Palladian architecture in Ireland Houses in the Republic of Ireland Country houses in Ireland Manor houses Buildings and structures in County Cavan Edward Lovett Pearce buildings