Temple House is a Georgian mansion set in a family estate of over overlooking the lakeside ruins of a Knights Templar castle and is now a luxury country guest house, like a hotel. Originally built in c. 1825, it was substantially extended and embellished c. 1864. TempleHouseCastle01

Templehouse Castle (

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

: ''Caisleán'') was a rectangular keepless castle, built in 1181 located near the townland of Ballinacarrow on the outskirts of

Ballymote Ballymote () is a market town in southern County Sligo, approx. 24 km south east of Sligo town in the province of Connacht, which is located in the north-west of Ireland. Ballymote lies in the barony of Corran. A commuter town with a st ...

in south

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 A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...

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 ...

History

The Temple House lands were granted to the Knights Templar in 1216 and passed to the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

when the Templars were disbanded in 1311. The castle was converted to a domestic residence in 1627 and besieged and badly damaged in 1641. The Perceval family has lived on the lands since 1665. George Perceval (1635–75) had settled in Ireland on acquiring the Temple House property by marriage to an heiress of the Crofton family of Longford House, Colooney. The property passed down in the Perceval family, several of whom were High Sheriffs of Sligo until it descended to Colonel

Alexander Perceval Colonel Alexander Perceval (1787 – 9 December 1858) was an Irish politician. He was the eldest surviving son of Rev. Philip Perceval of Temple House, Ballymote, Sligo. He succeeded his father in 1800. He sat in the House of Commons for S ...

(1787–1858) who was MP for Sligo in the UK Parliament and Sergeant-at-Arms in the House of Lords. He rebuilt the previous Gothic house c.1825. He however spent too extravagantly and on his death the house had to be sold, but was bought back for the family by Alexander's third son, also Alexander, who had made a fortune in China. Alexander jnr then enhanced the building c.1864 by adding a 7-bay block at right angles to the existing 5-bay block. In 1920, the house was attacked by the

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

, seriously injuring the wife of the then owner, Major Alexander Perceval. The house, filled with heirlooms, currently operates as a guest lodge.

References

External links

Temple House Official Website

Hidden Ireland

Castles in County Sligo {{Sligo-geo-stub