Dromore Castle is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

in Templenoe,

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, looking out over the

Kenmare River Kenmare () is a small town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the Anglicisation, anglicised form of ''Ceann Mara'', meaning "head of the sea", referring to the head of Kenmare Bay. Location Kenmare is located at the hea ...

. It was built in the 1830s for the Mahony family to a neo-gothic design by Sir Thomas Deane.

Building

Dromore Castle was designed and built for Denis Mahony by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Thomas Deane, probably assisted by his brother Kearns Deane. Work began in 1831, although the account books show that only a negligible amount had been carried out before May 1834. Building work was completed in 1839. The house is in the castellated

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style, with an external finish of

Roman Cement Roman cement is a substance developed by James Parker in the 1780s, being patented in 1796. The name is misleading, as it is nothing like any material used by the Romans, but was a "natural cement" made by burning septaria – nodules that are ...

with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

dressings. With the notable exception of the grand south facing window with its pointed arch, the windows consist of pointed tracery contained within rectangular frames, a style characteristic of Deane's domestic work. The entrance hall, which is in the form of a long gallery, takes up half of the area of the

ground floor A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). T ...

. The west wing of the Castle takes the form of a round

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

, with a spiral staircase contained within an attached

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

History

Although Dromore Castle appears to have been built on the instructions of Denis Mahony, his father John Mahony had made the decision to build a large home earlier in the 19th century, but apparently abandoned the attempt after his yacht, returning from London with lead for the roof and wine for the cellar, sank in the Kenmare River, in view of the site of the house. After this, no further work took place until Deane began building work for Denis Mahony in the 1830s Denis Mahony was a

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

and a keen

proselytiser Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invol ...

. He is known to have set up a

soup kitchen A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center, is a place where food is offered to the Hunger, hungry usually for free or sometimes at a below-market price (such as via coin donations upon visiting). Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoo ...

at Dromore during the time of the Great Famine, and preached in the chapel at Dromore to the hungry who came for food. His proselytizing activities did not make him a popular figure in the locality, and in 1850 he was attacked in his church at Templenoe. On returning to Dromore, he found a further angry group had uprooted flower beds, felled trees and were about to set fire to the castle; it is claimed that they were only stopped by the intervention of the local

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest, Fr John O'Sullivan. After Rev. Denis Mahony's death in 1851, the castle was inherited by his son Richard John Mahony, who successfully ran the estate in addition to farming oyster beds in the bay. When Richard Mahony died, the castle then passed in turn to his son, Harold Segerson Mahony. Harold Mahony was a successful

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player, and indeed was the last Irish winner at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. His tennis court can still be found in the gardens at the Castle. It was in the late 1800s, during Harold Mahony's time as head of the household, that

Harold Boulton Sir Harold Edwin Boulton, 2nd Baronet, (7 August 1859 – 1 June 1935), son of Sir Samuel Bagster Boulton, 1st Baronet of Copped Hall, born in Charlton then part of Kent, was an English baronet, songwriter and philanthropist, most famously author ...

, best known for writing the

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

of the

Skye Boat Song "The Skye Boat Song" is a late 19th-century Scottish song recalling the journey of Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") from Benbecula to the Isle of Skye as he evaded capture by government troops after his defeat at the Batt ...

, came to visit Dromore, and it is then that he is thought to have written the words to the popular song "The Castle of Dromore," published in 1892 in English and later translated into Irish. When Harold Mahony was killed in a bicycle accident in 1905, he left no heirs, and the castle was passed to his sister, Norah Hood. She in turn left the castle to her cousin, Hugh Bolton Waller, and the castle remained in the hands of the Waller family until 1993 when it was offered for sale. Dromore Castle is now owned by an investment company who are attempting to restore the house.

Grounds

Beyond the Castle's gardens and outbuildings, the majority of the Castle grounds are now owned by

Coillte Teoranta 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, ...

, the Irish

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

board. The Kerry Way runs through the grounds, and there are various footpaths leading to the Kenmare River. Entrance to the grounds from the N70 road between Kenmare and Sneem is through a castellated

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...

, also by Thomas Deane.

References

* O'Dwyer, Frederick (1997) ''The Architecture of Deane and Woodward'', pp. 21–23. * Bary, Valerie (1994) ''Historical genealogical architectural notes of some houses of Kerry'', pp. 102–103.

External links

''Dromore Castle, County Kerry''
Irish National Inventory of Architectural Heritage {{Historic Irish houses Castles in County Kerry Gothic Revival architecture in Ireland

Building

History

Grounds

See also

References

External links