House - 17th century

The National Monuments Service's description

On a N-S terrace along the E side of the Nore and Dinin river valleys, with land dropping to the W down to the flood plain, in flat terrain under grass and tillage. There are good views in all directions, especially to the W. The manor of Dunmore belonged to the Butlers of Ormond. A lease of 1593 states that, 12 couples of rabbits be sent each week to the Earl's Houses of Kilkenny, Gowran and Dunmore' (Clohosey 1951, 44). In 1618, Elizabeth Butler, daughter of Thomas Butler the 10th Earl of Ormond, and her husband, Richard Preston, Lord Dingwall, were granted a large portion of the contested Ormond estate. In 1623, Elizabeth, now Countess of Desmond, was in residence in Dunmore and in a letter she notes, 'the breath and length of the hangings that must be had for the great chamber of Dunmore' (ibid. 45). She left Ireland the following year, never to return. Her daughter, also Elizabeth, married her cousin, James Butler, the 1st Duke of Ormond in 1629, becoming the Duchess of Ormond and thereby reuniting the fractured Ormond estate.
In 1653, following the Cromwellian confiscations, Parliament ordered that Dunmore house and lands of the yearly value of £2000 be returned to Elizabeth and her children (ibid.). In 1653 a survey of the estate was undertaken which describes, 'a castle, a stone house adjoining in repayre, another small old castle, small thatch houses some with chimneies and a [cornmill?] - 2126 acres' (Fenlon 1997, 80). Elizabeth took up residence there in 1657 and following the Restoration in 1660 she embarked on a building programme for the house (ibid.; Fenlon 1997, 79). It is unclear whether she completely refitted an existing house or built a new one, though Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 272) and Bence-Jones (1978, 116) assert the latter. According to Bence-Jones (ibid.) the house was built of red brick. Fenlon (1997, 79-87), suggests that, 'hints as to the actual form of the house, garnered from inventories taken there in 1675 and 1684, point to a new return of three stories being added to an earlier structure of similar height'.
During the absence of the duchess in 1665 a letter from her agent informs her that, 'at Dunmore the great stairs at the upper end of the hall are put up, but the carvings about them not yet finished and the fretworks and wainscotings in her Grace's apartments are finished, and the masons have worked good part of the marble steps for the entrance into the house, and the frontispiece of pillars is ready to put up when the masons have paved the portico before the entrance, which is good part done, and the whole house is glazed, and the rooms plastered and doors made and the rooms locked up to preserve the glass from breaking' (Clohosey 1951). In 1698, John Dunton described the house as, 'the finest house in Ireland. On some of the floors of this house I reckoned twenty-four rooms; the staircase that leads to them are hung with curious landscapes, and is so large that twenty men might walk abreast; had the house another branch it would be a perfect H; but without this additional beauty, perhaps it may boast of more rooms than are to be found in some whole towns' (ibid. 47).
Following the death of the duchess in 1684 the house appears to have fallen into decline (Fenlon 1997, 85). In 1709, Molyneux noted, 'formerly, a handsome Country house belonging to the Duke, called Dunmore House, which is now pulled down (recte deserted, or, perhaps, dismantled), and the furniture and pictures all carried to the Castle [Kilkenny]' (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 272). The ruins were removed at the beginning of the 19th century and Dunmore Cottage was built on the site (Clohosey 1951, 48).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 16 December 2020

References

Carrigan, Rev. W. 1905 (Reprint 1981) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols. Kilkenny. Roberts Books and Wellbrook Press.

Bence-Jones, M. 1978 Burke's Guide to Country Houses: Volume 1 Ireland. London. Burke's Peerage Ltd.

Clohosey, Rev. T. J. 1951 Dunmore House. Old Kilkenny Review 4, 44-8.

Fenlon, J. 1997 The duchess of Ormonde's house at Dunmore, County Kilkenny. In J. Kirwan (ed.) Kilkenny: studies in honour of Margaret M. Phelan. Kilkenny. The Kilkenny Archaeological Society.