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Dowth Hall is a Georgian country house and estate near Dowth in
County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...
, Ireland. Built in 1760 for the Netterville family, the 420 acre estate occupies a large part of the archaeological site which makes up the
Brú na Bóinne (, "mansion or palace of the Boyne"), also called the Boyne Valley tombs, is an ancient monument complex and ritual landscape in County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, located in a bend of the River Boyne. It is one of the world's most im ...
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
landscape encompassing
Dowth Dowth () is the site of Neolithic passage tombs near the River Boyne in County Meath, Ireland. It is one of the three main tombs of the ''Brú na Bóinne'' World Heritage Site, along with Newgrange and Knowth. Its features align it with the ot ...
passage tomb. In July 2018 it was announced that a megalithic passage tomb had been rediscovered directly underneath the house during renovations of the house and gardens. In 2023 the house was purchased by the Irish Government for €11m.


History

The property is named after the townland of Dowth () where the house and estate are located. The Netterville family had lived in the area of Dowth for hundreds of years before the construction of the current house with the Dowth estate supposedly originally being granted to them by
Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, 4th Baron Lacy (; before 1135 – 25 July 1186), was an Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman landowner and royal office-holder. He had substantial land holdings in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Following his participation in ...
. As far back as 1207, their direct ancestor Luke Netterville is recorded as taking the position of
Archdeacon of Armagh The Archdeacon of Armagh is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Anglican Diocese of Armagh. The Archdeacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within the Diocese. History The archdeaconry can trace its history ...
. In 1845 the house was purchased by a wealthy English Catholic named Richard Gradwell whose family including his only son Robert Gradwell and then his cousins continued to reside at the house until the 1950s. Later it was purchased by two Meath bachelors who lived at the property without making many adjustments to the interior or exterior of the property. The last of the family, Patrick Pidgeon, finally died only in 2011 whereupon the property was put up for sale by the executor. The house and 420 acre estate were purchased for €5m by Owen Brennan and Alice Stanton of Devenish Nutrition in October 2013. Businessman
Charles Noell Charles Noell is an American businessman and racehorse owner. In 1992, he founded JMI Equity. Noell purchased Ardbraccan House in County Meath in 2013 for €4.9m. Ardbraccan House is the base of Merriebelle Stable, a horse racing stable he co- ...
was an underbidder on the purchase of the house and went on to buy Ardbraccan House instead around the same time.


Archaeological discovery

In July 2018, it was revealed that during restoration and renovations of the house and terraced gardens, archaeologists discovered that it had been constructed directly over a 5,500 year-old megalithic
passage tomb Passage, The Passage or Le Passage may refer to: Arts and entertainment Films * Passage (2008 film), ''Passage'' (2008 film), a documentary about Arctic explorers * Passage (2009 film), ''Passage'' (2009 film), a short movie about three sisters * ...
. Following an archaeological sampling and dig as part of a larger piece of work to monitor ongoing works on the property, two small passage tombs near the back of the house were unearthed while to the front of the house the largest
henge A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches ...
ever discovered in Ireland was unearthed. At the time of discovery of the first
greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...
kerbstones in 2018, archaeologists including Clíodhna Ní Lionáin said it to be the most important megalithic find in Ireland in the past 50 years. While the excavations and archaeological report were a planning condition for the refurbishment of the house, the owners additionally funded other private digs throughout the lands in the years leading up to the excavation of the passage tomb. The German government have also funded various other digs throughout the area as part of the 'Boyne to Brodgar' project, which studied links between Neolithic sites in the Boyne Valley and the Orkney Islands.


House

The house itself is a 5-bay 2-storey (plus additional mezzanine to rear) over basement property with a rusticated ground floor. The limestone ashlar fronted second floor features windows which are topped by alternating pediments while the house is topped with an ashlar limestone parapet and a hipped slate roof. It is not conclusively known who designed Dowth Hall, although many sources attribute it to the builder and architect George Darley (1730-1817), owing to his connection to Lord Netterville who had employed him for this purpose on other buildings owned by Netterville in Dublin. The house, conservatory (built circa 1900), gate lodge and stables are listed on the Meath record of protected structures under the RPS ID 90706.


Interior

While the exterior of Dowth Hall is relatively modest in both scale and decoration, it is for the detailed and varied interior
rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...
stucco work Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
that the building is most notable. The work is now usually attributed to the stuccodore and architect Robert West who is said to have worked on other buildings for George Darley such as 86 St Stephen's Green as well as on other superlative examples of stuccoed architecture such as
Belvedere House, Dublin Belvedere House is a historic townhouse located on Great Denmark Street bookending North Great George's Street in Dublin, Ireland. It was built by George Rochfort, 2nd Earl of Belvedere between 1775 and 1786 at a cost of £24,000. The design ...
. The original main dining room of the house has some of the finest and most elaborate stucco work in Ireland with paneling containing scrolls, garlands, festoons and
tendrils In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have tendr ...
while the main ceiling light is suspended from the claws of a bird of prey surrounded by other more delicate birds. The rest of the ground floor features more ornate plasterwork although none is quite as elaborate as in the dining room. The main bedrooms on the first floor of the property also contain a limited amount of plasterwork where would usually be seen a painted or paper covered wall surface.


Other functions

The house and estate have at times been used for various other functions including as a venue for festivals, as a racecourse for horses, as a wedding venue, as a filming location during the making of The Last September and as a tourist attraction.


Netterville Manor

Within the grounds of the estate the Netterville's also constructed a red brick Victorian Almshouse adjacent to the old Dowth castle tower house. Today this is often referred to as the Netterville Institute or Netterville Manor and is owned as a separate piece of property and ran as a bed and breakfast.


See also

* Beaulieu House and Gardens *
Townley Hall Townley Hall is a Georgian country house which stands in parkland at Tullyallen, County Louth, Tullyallen some 5 km west of Drogheda, County Louth in Ireland. It was designed by Irish architect Francis Johnston (architect), Francis Johnsto ...


References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em Country houses in Ireland Houses completed in 1760 Houses in County Meath Georgian architecture in Ireland