Cappoquin House also known as Belmont is an 18th-century classical-style mansion overlooking the town of

Cappoquin Cappoquin, also spelt Cappaquin or Capaquin (), is a town in west County Waterford, Ireland. It is on the Blackwater river at the junction of the N72 national secondary road and the R669 regional road. It is positioned on a sharp 90-degree b ...

in County Waterford,

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 ...

. The house is the seat of the Keane Baronets of Belmont and of Cappoquin.

Previous castle

It is believed that the house was built on the site of an old Fitzgerald castle, of which the earliest known reference dates to 1598 when it was occupied by a Mr. Hayles and razed by Thomas Fitzgerald of Cappagh, who had probably forfeited it in the

Desmond Rebellions The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 in the Irish province of Munster. They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond, the head of the Fitzmaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty in Munster, and his followers, the Geraldines an ...

. In 1641 Capt. Hugh Croker on behalf of the

Earl of Cork Earl of Cork is a title in the Peerage of Ireland, held in conjunction with the Earldom of Orrery since 1753. It was created in 1620 for Richard Boyle, 1st Baron Boyle. He had already been created Lord Boyle, Baron of Youghal, in the County o ...

occupied the castle, and successfully resisted an assault by the Confederate Catholics under General Purcell in 1643. However, it surrendered to Lord Castlehaven in 1645. It was subsequently captured by

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 ...

in 1649. Nothing remained of the castle, apart from one wall with a narrow doorway leading to a garden when it was surveyed in 1918.

Current house

The current house was built in 1779. It is believed to have been designed by

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...

, a noted Waterford architect. The building is a detached seven-bay two-storey over basement house surrounded by notable formal gardens and landscaped grounds which are open to the public. The house was burnt out on 19 February 1923 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 ...

, but Sir John Keane, whose family had owned the house for generations, fully restored it as economically as possible using recycled materials and direct labour. He built a flat concrete roof using a technique developed by Waller known as nofrango. The landscaped gardens are the work of Lady Olivia Keane who, after years of neglect following World War I, designed the grounds. There are some fine trees,

Japanese cedar ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae, formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeria japonica'' ( syn. ''Cupressus japonica'' L ...

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

s and a

southern beech ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

, and a venerable

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

that is included in Owen Johnson's Champion Trees of Britain and Ireland. Higher on the slopes are terraces with rhododendrons, azaleas,

camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controv ...

s and

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

s, and everywhere, fine views over the surrounding countryside.

References

External links

Official Site

Entry on the National Inventory of Architectural HeritageBlog and Photos of Cappoquin House by the Irish Aesthete
{{Historic Irish houses , state=collapsed County Waterford Historic Houses in County Waterford Residential buildings completed in 1779