Markree Castle is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

located in

Collooney Collooney or Coloony () is a town in County Sligo, Ireland. Toponymy Collooney is thought to derive from . Reverend Terrence O'Rorke has previously also suggested ''Culmaine'', as Collooney is designated this way in such works as ''the annals ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

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 ...

. It is the ancestral seat of the Cooper family, partially moated by the River Unshin. Today it is a small family-run hotel. In the 1830s the Observatory on the grounds of the Castle had the largest refracting telescope in the world, and what today is known as the asteroid

9 Metis Metis ( minor planet designation: 9 Metis) is one of the larger main-belt asteroids. It is composed of silicates and metallic nickel-iron, and may be the core remnant of a large asteroid that was destroyed by an ancient collision. Metis is es ...

was discovered there in the 1840s by the Coopers' observatory staff.

History

17th century

In 1663

Cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

Edward Cooper, who served under

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

when his army defeated the O'Brien Clan, was allotted the original 14th-century Markree Castle and the surrounding lands. Until then, Markree had been a fortified outpost of the Irish McDonagh Clan, guarding the ford across the river Unsin. Conor O'Brien died in this battle, and Edward married his widow Marie Rua (Red Mary). With her two sons they went to live at

Dromoland Castle Dromoland Castle ( ga, Drom Ólainn) is a castle, located near Newmarket-on-Fergus in County Clare, Ireland. It is operated as a five-star luxury hotel with a golf course, with its restaurant, the "Earl of Thomond", being awarded a Michel ...

. One son, Donough, was left Dromoland and the other inherited Markree. Charles Cooper, the last of the Cooper family to own Markree Castle, is a direct descendant of this son. Times remained turbulent and during an attempt by the English King James to regain the throne, the Catholic army occupied Markree Castle and the Coopers had to flee. After the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ga, Cath na Bóinne ) was a battle in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and ...

in 1690, they returned and have been resident ever since except for a brief period during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

in the 1920s when Markree was again occupied, this time by the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

army.

19th century

In 1830, Col.

Edward Joshua Cooper Edward Joshua Cooper (May 1798 – 23 April 1863) was an Irish landowner, politician and astronomer from Markree Castle in County Sligo. He sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1841 and from 1857 to 1859, but is best ...

MP (1798–1863) eldest son of

Edward Synge Cooper Edward Synge Cooper (5 March 1762 – 16 August 1830) was an Irish landowner and politician from County Sligo. He sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1830. Cooper was the second son of Joshua Cooper (1732–1800), Josh ...

MP, and Ann, daughter of

Henry Vansittart Henry Vansittart (3 June 1732 – 1770) was an English colonial administrator, who was the Governor of Bengal from 1759 to 1764. Life Vansittart was born in Bloomsbury in Middlesex, the third son of Arthur van Sittart (1691–1760), and his w ...

, Governor of Bengal set up

Markree Observatory Markree Observatory was an astronomical observatory in County Sligo, Ireland. The asteroid 9 Metis was discovered from this observatory in 1848 by Cooper's assistant Andrew Graham using a comet seeker telescope. (Signed 29 April 1848; the discove ...

in the castle grounds. For a number of years Cooper's telescope was the largest in the world. "The Observatory of Mr Cooper of Markree Castle – undoubtedly the most richly furnished private observatory known – is worked with great activity by Mr Cooper himself and by his very able assistant, Mr Andrew Graham." (Royal Astronomical Society, 1851)

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' (MNRAS) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in astronomy and astrophysics. It has been in continuous existence since 1827 and publishes letters and papers reporting orig ...

, volume 11, page 104 – 105, 1851 The observatory remained active until the death of

Edward Henry Cooper Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Henry Cooper (1827 – 26 February 1902) was an Irish officer in the British Army, a landlord in County Sligo, and a Conservative politician. At the age of 36 the Dublin-born soldier inherited Markree Castle in County ...

MP in 1902. According to some sources Cecil F. Alexander wrote her famous hymn, ''

All Things Bright and Beautiful "All Things Bright and Beautiful" is an Anglican hymn, also sung in many other Christian denominations. The words are by Cecil Frances Alexander and were first published in her ''Hymns for Little Children'' of 1848. The hymn is commonly sung ...

,'' while a guest there in 1848. The castle, as we see it today, dates from 1802 with exterior changes by the architect Francis Johnston and with some changes made, mainly to the interior, in 1896. castle-garden

Weather record

Ireland's lowest officially recognised air temperature, , was measured at Markree Castle on 16 January 1881.

20th century

The soldier and politician Bryan Cooper inherited the castle on the death of his father in 1902 and resided there with his family (except during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and when carrying out political duties) from 1903 until his death in 1930. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the castle fell on hard times and stood empty and derelict for many years. In 1988 it appeared on the front cover of ''The Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland'', a testament to the sad state of decay of many of Ireland's great houses at the time until, in 1989, Charles Cooper transformed his ancestral castle into a hotel. The castle's restoration was featured in a television documentary, and the renewed facilities featured a hotel and restaurant.

The castle today

In recent times, Markree Castle has operated as a hotel, run by Charles and Mary Cooper, the 10th generation of the family to live there. In 2015, after four centuries, it finally changed hands and is now run by the Corscadden family who also own Cabra Castle Hotel in Co. Cavan, Ballyseede Castle Hotel in Co. Kerry and Bellingham Castle in Co. Louth. The estate holds an array of wild life including

red squirrels The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris'') is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus'' common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent. In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbers ...

otters Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

, and

kingfishers Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

. The entrance contains a monumental staircase, which leads to a wonderful hall, from where a second staircase in carved wood leads to the 30 guest rooms. On the landing, a huge stained glass window traces the Cooper family tree from Victorian times back to the time of King John. The dining room is decorated in

Louis Philippe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

-style plasterwork.

References

External links

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History of the Cauchoix objective
{{Castles in Connacht Castles in County Sligo Collooney Hotels in County Sligo