Mount Loftus is a country estate in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Powerstown in

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. It was originally home to the Loftus baronets, the baronetcy being extinct since the death of the third baronet in 1864. The original 18th century manor house was demolished in 1906. The current house on the estate, built in the early 20th century, was rebuilt from staff accommodations after a fire in the 1930s. This house, and several of its outbuildings, are included on

Kilkenny County Council Kilkenny County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae Chill Chainnigh) is the authority responsible for local government in County Kilkenny, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for ...

's Record of Protected Structures.

History

Mount Loftus, near Goresbridge, is a property in the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

of Mountloftus. The original estate house at Mount Loftus was built in 1750 by the first

Viscount Loftus Viscount Loftus is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of Ireland for members of the Anglo-Irish Loftus family. The first creation was for Adam Loftus on 10 May 1622, who served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord H ...

. In 1906, that house was demolished and a smaller house built in its place. This building was destroyed by fire in 1934, but the servants' wing was saved and built up to become the present house. The current house, originally the staff wing of the larger manor house, contains six bedrooms and has a number of outbuildings. When offered for sale in 2001, the owners were described as horse trainers who, when they bought the property, refurbished the 11 stone-built stables and created guest accommodation for staff and visitors. Other structures on the site include a set of entrance gates, built in 1906, and a walled garden which was redesigned by landscape gardener Angela Jupe. Also located on the estate are the ruins of a

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

, known as Drumroe Castle, which dates to at least the 16th century and was historically associated with the Kavanagh family. Described in Kilkenny's Record of Protected Structures as "fragmentary", the tower house was used for a period as a

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

. It is largely demolished with the stone reputedly used in the construction of other buildings on the estate.

References

{{coord, 52.6039, -6.9835, region:IE_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in County Kilkenny Loftus family

History

See also

References