Ardbraccan House

Ardbraccan House

Ardbraccan House (known sometimes historically as Ardbraccan Palace) is a large Palladian country house in County Meath in the Republic of Ireland. The historic house served from the 1770s to 1885 as the residence of the Church of Ireland Lord Bishop of Meath.

Construction

Ardbraccan itself had been the location of the residence of a bishop for over one thousand years, first of the "Bishop of Ardbraccan" and later following the merger of many small dioceses into the Diocese of Meath as the residence of the Bishop of Meath. By the Middle Ages a large Tudor house, containing its own church, known as "St. Mary's", stood on the site. However in 1734 Bishop Arthur Price (1678-1752) decided to replace the decaying mansion with a new Georgian residence. Initially the two wings of the house were built, before the main four-bay two-storey block of the house was completed in the 1770s by Bishop Maxwell. It was partly designed by the acclaimed 18th-century German architect Richard Castle ("also known as Richard Cassels)" was the architect of many notable Irish buildings including Leinster House in Dublin.

Controversy/legend

Legend suggested that gravestones from a neighbouring Roman Catholic cemetery at Markiestown, some miles away, were removed and used as the steps into the servants' quarters in the residence. Whether that was an urban myth based on the intense rivalry between the state-established Church of Ireland and the local predominantly Roman Catholic population in Bohermeen (who were subject to the discriminatory Penal Laws and forced to pay tithes to the Church of Ireland) or had some basis in fact, is unclear. It is possible that the house utilised stone from the derelict pre-Reformation church at the cemetery, though it was notable that from the mid to late eighteenth century the cemetery was denuded of "all" gravestones.

ale

The new bishop's palace became famous for the quality of its architecture. Funded by government grants and locally paid tithes, the Church of Ireland bishop held court from the mansion, which was the centre of a large agricultural demesne. However the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1871, following the previous scrapping of Roman Catholic-paid tithes, fatally weakened the economic survival of the bishop's estate, which was left totally reliant on the small local Church of Ireland community, and in 1885 the bishop sold the estate and house, moving to a smaller mansion nearby (which Church of Ireland continued to live until 1958 and which was then sold to a Roman Catholic religious order, the Holy Ghost Fathers). Ardbraccan House was bought by Hugh Law,the son of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and remained in the ownership of his descendants until sold by Colonel Owen Foster in 1985 to Tara Mines who used it as a guest residence for visiting businessmen.

Today

In the late 1990s the house once again changed hands. The new owners invested large sums to completely restore the mansion. In 2002 the restoration of Ardbraccan House won the An Taisce "Best Restoration of a Private Building" award. It is now open to the public.

In the early 2000s the County Meath planning authority approved plans to build a major new motorway linking Clonee and Kells through part of the house's historic demesne. The Irish Georgian Society and environmentalists criticised the proposal. The motorway would also pass through the pristine parkland of a religious seminary called "Dalgan Park" and close by the historic Hill of Tara, seat of the ancient "Árd Rí na hÉireann" (High King of Ireland). The motorway is currently (2008) being built.

ee also

* Allenstown House
* Áras an Uachtaráin
* Ardbraccan
* Bohermeen
* Dublin Castle
* Durhamstown Castle
* Farmleigh
* Gibbstown House
* Headfort House
* Irish Houses of Parliament (Bank of Ireland, College Green)
* Leinster House
* List of notable Irish buildings
* Powerscourt House
* Powerscourt Townhouse Centre
* Slane Castle

External links

* [http://www.askaboutireland.com/ntn/meath/Larkins_Map.htm Larkins Map of 1812]
* [http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2001/10/14/story307375.asp Sunday Business Post article on Meath's heritage]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ardbraccan — is an ancient place of Christian worship in County Meath, Ireland. It is the location of the former residence of the Roman Catholic, then after the Reformation the Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath. It is located approximately 30 miles (48… …   Wikipedia

  • Allenstown House — was a large five bay, four story Georgian mansion in County Meath, Ireland. It was built in the 1730s.It was owned by the Waller family. In the late 1930s the house and estate were bought by the Irish Land Commission. The lands were broken up and …   Wikipedia

  • Mansion House, Dublin — Mansion House Teach an Ard Mhéara The Mansion House, 2011. General information …   Wikipedia

  • Springhill House — Springhill House …   Wikipedia

  • Chichester House — This article is about the former building in Dublin. For the historic house in Kingston, New York, see Chichester House (Kingston, New York). Chichester House or Carew s House was a building in College Green (formerly Hoggen Green), Dublin,… …   Wikipedia

  • Middleton Park House — is an Irish historic residence built in 1850 in a Georgian style in Castletown Geoghegan, County Westmeath. After many years of disrepair, it was finally restored to its former glory in mid 2007. It is now open to the public as a commercial… …   Wikipedia

  • Muckross House — Muckross House, Killarney, County Kerry Side view …   Wikipedia

  • Mornington House — was the Dublin social season Georgian residence of the Earls of Mornington. It is located in Merrion Street, close to Leinster House, then city residence of the Dukes of Leinster and now seat of the Irish parliament, Oireachtas Éireann. Arthur… …   Wikipedia

  • Deerfield (house) — Deerfield is a large house in private gardens within the Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, currently the official residence of the United States Ambassador to Ireland and the official residence of the Chief Secretary in Ireland before Irish… …   Wikipedia

  • Clonalis House — Clonalis House, Castlerea, County Roscommon is the seat of one of the families with a claim to the non existent throne of Ireland. It is the ancestral home of the O Conor Don, who is a direct descendant of the last High King of Ireland, Ruaidrí… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”