Castle cool
Castle Coole ( Irish Caisleán na Cúile ) is a classical mansion from the end of the 18th century in Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland . The townland in which it is located is also called Castle Coole. The house sits on 5 square kilometers of wooded estate and is one of three properties in County Fermanagh managed by the National Trust . The other two are Florence Court and Crom Castle .
history
The property of today's Castle Coole bought in 1656 the merchant John Corry from Belfast , the grandfather of the first Earl. It was named after Lough Coole ( Loch Chúile from Irish : cúil , English: corner, angle), a lake surrounded by the Killynure Hills ( Coill an Iúir ). A council there and a Crannóg in Lough Coole itself remind us that the area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Other lakes on the property are Lough Yoan and Bendrum Lough .
The location of a 17th century house with bawn ( curtain wall ) and formal garden is a Scheduled Monument .
Castle Coole was built between 1789 and 1798 as the summer residence of Armar Lowry-Corry, 1st Earl Belmore . Lord Belmore was a member of the former Irish Parliament in Dublin for County Tyrone . He was also a rich heir and landowner with 283 km² of land across Ireland that had been acquired by his ancestors, all of whom were successful merchants. The income generated from these lands enabled Castle Coole to be built at a cost of £ 57,000 (1798 value) which is roughly £ 20 million today. The building owner chose the location of the manor house on a comparably small property of only 5 km² in County Fermanagh mainly because of the intact rural surroundings and the natural beauties, such as light forest with old oaks and small lakes, but also because of the proximity to the market town of Enniskillen, where there is enough House staff for a large mansion could be found. In addition, a few smaller family residences had been built on the property before the manor house, e.g. E.g. a Jacobean-era house (later deliberately burned down) and a Queen Anne-style house from 1709.
After the Act of Union was passed in 1800 , which politically united Great Britain and Ireland, the family moved from their main residence, a small town house on Sackville Street in Dublin, to Castle Coole, as the reason for living in Dublin, close to the Irish Parliament, whose dissolution had ceased to exist.
In 1951, the 7th Earl Belmore transferred the house and property to the National Trust , which he felt compelled to do due to the accrual of two inheritance taxes , as the 5th and 6th Earl died unexpectedly only 18 months apart. But the furnishings of the house, including many of the pieces that visitors can admire today, remained the property of Earl Belmore. The National Trust opens the mansion to visitors during the summer months; the property can be visited all year round. In 1980–1988 the mansion was closed to the public because the National Trust carried out major restoration work, such as B. the dismantling and reassembly of the facade to exchange metal anchors to hold the stone slabs, because they were rusted. This was done with such sensitivity and care that the weathered stone still looks completely untouched today. To celebrate the reopening, Queen Mum was invited to Castle Coole. As part of the transfer of ownership to the National Trust, it was agreed that Earl Belmore would receive an apartment in the south wing which is currently used by his heir and his family. The earl himself lives in a small house elsewhere on the estate.
architecture
The classicist house was the work of two Georgian era architects who did not work together. Richard Johnston , an Irish architect, was originally commissioned and completed the basement. But then Johnston was relieved of his duties in favor of the English fashion architect James Wyatt . Wyatt did not start over, but picked up where Johnston had left off and finished the mansion in the same style. Wyatt adhered closely to the classicist ideals of restraint, symmetry, and meticulous proportions, with the architectural details carefully coordinated. Side wings with Doric colonnades on either side of the main block were opposed to an Ionic portico . Wyatt probably never visited the property, but sent his drawings for the house from London. The very beautiful and varied stucco ceilings were all the work of the English artisan Joseph Rose .
Notable aspects of the mansion include: B. the restrained but impressive facades made of Portland stone and the sober portico with the striking Ionic capitals . Inside you can find even more of the restrained size, e.g. B. the entrance hall with its four massive stucco marble columns . A double cantilevered staircase leads to an unusual salon with double the room height on the first floor, which extends up to the second floor, where there is a gallery to the bedrooms. Both rooms are richly decorated with Doric columns in stucco marble of decreasing size.
Wyatt also designed some of the most important pieces of furniture in the mansion. Such classical pieces designed by architects that are still in the place for which they were designed are rare. They derive their aesthetic value from their preservation in their original location. Additional pieces of furniture were procured from the 2nd Earl when the Regency style was modern and from later generations. The appearance of the interiors is therefore multi-layered today, not just classicistic.
A parade bedroom, which was prepared by King George IV in 1821 , but never used by him, as it never came, still contains the original furnishings, a four-poster bed and the flocked wallpaper. A salon furnished in Empire style , a staircase in Greek Revival style and a housework room in Chinese style show the importance of cosmopolitan knowledge and well-being in the Regency period. Family motifs on Italian marble mantels and the stucco frieze in the entrance hall show how important the family history was to the first earl. The rooms on the garden front overlook Lough Coole.
Rooms for the servants
There is an extensive cellar under the house, which also extends a little under the lawn adjacent to the northwest. These underground rooms have been partially restored and are open to the public. They contain kitchens, a dining room for the servants, pantries , wine cellars, laundry rooms, a Roman bathtub, a brewery and other facilities. Castle Coole has no above-ground door to the servants' quarters. Like many classical architects, Wyatt intended to create a perfect composition of ancient principles of proportions, isolated in a "natural" landscape. The utility rooms can only be reached through a tunnel from the stable building, which is 80 meters away, so that suppliers, servants and house staff can get in and out of the house unseen and the architect's above-ground, classical composition would not be disturbed by daily business.
There are numerous outbuildings on the property. The interesting ones are the loggias, the “Grand Yard”, workshops, stables, a “Tallow House” (originally used to make candles, now a souvenir shop and reception room). The entrance to the tunnel, which leads to the rooms for the servants, is located next to the “Grand Yard”.
estate
A large part of the originally planted oak , ash and beech trees in the landscape park, which is now grazed by cattle and sheep, as originally thought, are still preserved today. A substantial part of the property has always been used for agriculture and leased to local farmers, which is still going on today. Part of the area in the south-west is now taken up by the Enniskillen Golf Club , and there the original planting has been adapted to the requirements of a modern golf course. The southeastern part of the property has been sold. There the Killyevlin Industrial Estate , an industrial park, was built.
A ha-ha - a ditch that prevents game movement without a visible interruption of the landscape by a fence or wall - can be seen near the manor house. Few remnants of the formerly extensive parterres of the earlier Baroque house can be seen in the park, but they are difficult to find today, even if they are explained on panels that the National Trust had installed.
family
The Belmore Earldom is named after the nearby Belmore Mountain ( Sliabh Bhéal Mór ), 11 km west of Enniskillen. Corry had hoped to be named Earl of Enniskillen , but the title was given to the Cole family by Florence Court . The origins of the Corry family can be found in Belfast, but there is more uncertainty about the origins of the Lowry family . The Lowrys may have originally come from Dumfries , Scotland .
As a member of the Peerage of Ireland , the Earl of Belmore had a seat in the Irish House of Lords until it was abolished in 1801. The second and fourth earl therefore sat in the British House of Lords .
staff
Castle Coole had about 90 employees, domestic servants, and outdoor workers combined at weddings. The mansion's basement was entirely the domain of the domestic servants. The people working outside found their abode mainly in the buildings around the "Grand Yard". In the early days of Castle Coole, when the Belmore family's primary residence was in Dublin, there were always about 5-10 servants in the manor house when the family was away. This contributed to the excellent condition of the house to this day; the constant presence counteracted decay and may have prevented major accidents such as fires.
As in many other mansions, a hierarchy was formed within the servants. The chef z. B. had a two-room apartment above the kitchens, which was warmed by them. The butler also had his own apartment. A boot boy or some other simple domestic servant had only one place in a communal shelter with other lowly servants.
Victorian bedchamber
Castle Coole was reopened to the public for the 2006 season on March 17th. The restoration of the Victorian bedchamber today commemorates the four years of Australian influence on Castle Coole. Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore , was appointed Conservative Governor of New South Wales on January 8, 1868 , and served until February 23, 1872. The 4th Earl's first son, who later became the 5th Earl Belmore, was born in Government House in Sydney on May 1, 1870. Lady Belmore found the summer climate in Sydney oppressive and despite frequent stays in the summer resort in Moss Vale , concern for the health of his wife Lord Belmore caused him to give up the post of governor on June 26, 1871, so that his family could return to Castle Coole the following year. Belmore Park stations in Sydney and Goulburn bear witness to the construction of railways in New South Wales under Governor Lord Belmore and his personal popularity in Australia.
As the bedchamber of the 4th Earl and his wife at Castle Coole before and after the four years in Australia, the Victorian bedchamber is a reminder of this time.
Castle Coole can only be visited on guided tours. They can be booked on the National Trust website.
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.logainm.ie/ga/61037 Logainm.ie
- ↑ Scheduled Historic Monuments (to October 15, 2012) . In: NI Environment Agency . Retrieved October 27, 2015.
- ^ B. O'Neill (editor): Irish Castles and Historic Houses . Caxton Editions, London 2002. p. 26.
swell
- P. Marsen: The Belmores at Castle Coole 1740-1913 . Print Factory, Enniskillen 1997. (out of print)
- A. Room: A Dictionary of Irish Place Names . Appletree Press, Belfast 1994. ISBN 0-86281-460-X
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 20 ′ 10 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 37.1 ″ W.