Eyrecourt Castle

Eyrecourt Castle (or Eyre Court) was an Irish 17th century country house in Galway which became a ruin in the 20th century. The house, the surrounding estate, and the nearby small town of Eyrecourt all took their name from Colonel John Eyre, an Englishman who was granted a large parcel of land in recognition of his part in the military campaign in Galway during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. There was an earlier fortified house or castle on the same land.

Eyrecourt Castle was built in the 1660s or early 1670s and was "an early example [of] a classical country house " [ [http://foreignaffairs.gov.ie/information/publications/facts/fai/culture.asp"Architecture: Classical Period" on website of Irish Department of Foreign Affairs] ] . Built on a symmetrical pattern with a central staircase and hall taking up nearly a third of the overall space, it was an impressive, modern residence for the new landowner. A visitor in 1731, Mary Granville, commented on a "great many fine woods and improvements that looked very English" in the parkland around the house. [Mary Granville said to be viewing Ireland "through the perspective of the country's Protestant elite" and quoted by Carole Fabricant in "Eighteenth Century Travel Literature" in the [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521781442&id=UtmE5JzCOFAC&printsec=toc&dq=richetti "Cambridge History of English Literature, 1660-1780" ed. Richetti] ] Richard Cumberland, a few decades later, called it "a spacious mansion, not in the best repair" with "a vast extent of soil, not very productive". The grounds are now called a "demesne", a standard expression in Ireland; the demesne gates were bought and restored by the National Heritage Council in the 1990s.

The most striking features of the house were its "ambitious wood-carvings, massive doorcases and a famous baroque staircase", [RF Foster, "Modern Ireland: 1600-1972" (Penguin 1989)] one of the first grand staircases in Ireland, with "acanthus leaves issuing from grotesque masks and rolling down the banisters"Loeber] and "by far the most exuberant piece of wood carving surviving from the 17th century". Harbison] Dutch craftsmen are believed to have worked there, with the possible involvement of the Dublin-based French-born James Tabary. Harbison] One chimneypiece followed a design of Serlio's. Around 1950 the "princely staircase and wainscotting" were bought by William Randolph Hearst and the house was "left to collapse". Loeber] Hearst's purchase is now "in crates in a museum in Detroit". Harbison]

The house had a motto over the door to the main hall saying, "Welcome to the house of liberty", and its own small chapel, built in 1677. [ [http://www.libraryireland.com/Lewis/LewisD/17-DONONAUGHTA.php Samuel Lewis, "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" (1837)] ] Local tradition says the grounds were used as an overnight camp by Ginkell's Williamite army after the Battle of Aughrim in 1691. [ [http://www.galwaylibrary.ie/history/chapter76.html Sean Canning, "Local Traditions of the Battle of Aughrim"] on Galway Public Library website]

Notes and references

*Rolf Loeber, "Early Classicism in Ireland: Architecture before the Georgian Era" in "Architectural History" Volume 22 (1979) [This volume of "Architectural History " includes photographs of the ornate staircase, a chimneypiece, and an 1854 print of the house.]
*Peter Harbison, "Ireland's Treasures: 5000 Years of Artistic Expression" (2004), ISBN 0-88363-830-4
* [http://www.meddows-taylor.com/Eyre.htm AS Hartigan, "A Short Account of the Eyres of EyreCourt, Eyerville and Co. Galway, Ireland" (1898)]
* [http://www.failteromhat.com/pigot/0010.pdf "Pigot & Co's Provincial Directory of Ireland" 1824]
* [http://www.celticcousins.net/ireland/1846eyrecourt.htm "Slater's Directory of Ireland" 1846 ]
* [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1417953748&id=ICSUiSVQQmkC&printsec=titlepage&dq=Cumberland+memoirs "Memoirs of Richard Cumberland Written by Himself"] , chapter 3 (1806)

ee also

*Plantations of Ireland
*Edmund Ludlow

Further reading

* M. Bence-Jones, "A Guide to Irish Country Houses" (London, 1988)
* Ida Gantz, "Signpost to Eyrecourt" (1975)
* [http://www.iwai.ie/maps/shannon/guide/8.php3 Harman Murtagh, "Early Modern Times" in "The Shell Guide to the River Shannon"]