Castle Oliver

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South facade of Castle Oliver; the vestibule to the drive of the carriages is on the left of the picture.

Castleoliver (also Clonodfoy , Irish Cloch to Otfaígh ) is a castle in the southern part of the Irish County Limerick . The Victorian "castle" was intended for the entertainment of guests rather than defense; it contains a ballroom, a drawing room, a library, a breakfast room, a dining room and a hall with hand-painted ceilings, decorated ornamental consoles , superbly executed stained glass windows and stencil work. The castle stands on massive terraces and offers a beautiful overview of its former 80 km² property. The castle houses Ireland's largest wine cellar with around 55,000 bottles.

From May to September 2014 Castle Oliver was open to the public for tours of the house as part of the Limerick City of Culture.

history

The land on which the castle stands today was settled around 1658 by Captain Robert Oliver , a soldier from Cromwell's army. The current castle replaced the former Castle Oliver, which stood about 1000 meters southwest of the current building and where Eliza Oliver , the mother of the infamous Lola Montez , was born. The latter was the mistress and favorite of King Ludwig I of Bavaria .

East facade of Castle Oliver with ballroom and dining room in the main block, wing for the servants and coach house on the right side of the picture
West facade of Castle Oliver with the stables on the left

For many years the castle was called "Clonodfoy", a contraction of the former Irish place name "Cloch an Otbhaidhigh" (English: The stone building of Otway), Otway being an Anglo-Norman family name.

Captain Robert Oliver's descendant Richard Oliver married a Yorkshire heiress . He made considerable fortune and a property in West Yorkshire . So he moved to Parlington Hall in Aberford , leaving Castle Oliver in the hands of a bailiff who slowly decayed it. The resulting daughters, Mary Isabella and Elizabeth Oliver-Gascoigne , both married members of the Trench family of Woodlawn , County Galway . The younger sisters, Elizabeth, married Frederic Mason Trench, 2nd Baron Ashtown , in 1852 . The two sisters were accomplished artisans who designed and made lead glass and églomisés that adorned the open fireplace in the ballroom. Most of her work has survived to this day. The older sister, Mary Isabella, was a very skilled turner who published (under a male pseudonym ) an authoritative book on the subject, The Art of Wood-Turning , which is still reputable today Source for information on this subject is.

Ballroom with an open fireplace, églomisés and Gothic arched doors connecting to the salon

In 1845 the sisters commissioned the building of today's castle. The architect George Fowler Jones from York designed in the Scottish Baronial Style and had it built from the locally available, pink sandstone that was quarried on the property. Fowler Jones had done a number of large assignments for the two sisters in northern England, including almshouses and churches. While Mary Isabella and her husband took up residence in Parlington Hall, the seat of the Gascoigne family in Yorkshire, Elizabeth and her husband lived in Castle Oliver. Elizabeth's step-son, the honorable William Cosby Trench , later inherited the house.

The last member of the Trench family to live in the castle was Mrs. Lynn Trench ; she sold the property in 1978 to racing driver Billy Coleman . After changing hands several times, the castle eventually became the property of a local bank, which divided the remaining land, farm and lodges into separate lots. No buyer was found for the castle itself; it therefore fell into disrepair and fell victim to vandals and thieves. It appeared in the book Vanishing Houses of Ireland by the Irish Georgian Society .

In 1988 Damian Haughton bought the property; according to the next owner, he had the worst holes in the roof repaired. In 1998 it was bought by Nicholas Browne , who had the restoration work continued and the castle turned back into a habitable residence.

In 2006, Declan and Emma Cormack of County Antrim bought Castle Oliver. They completed the high-grade restoration work which restored many of the original rooms and details, e.g. B. the library, the stained glass windows of St. Patrick, the wood paneling, the cornices and many open fireplaces. They moved into the castle with their three children, Michael, Shane and Ciara . In 2015 the Cormacks sold the property to an undisclosed family from Melbourne , Australia , who use the castle "a few months a year".

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anne Sheridan: € 3m Limerick castle sold to Australian investors . Limerick Leader. August 13, 2015. Accessed February 22, 2019.

swell

  • Nicholas Browne: Castle Oliver and the Oliver Gascoignes .
  • Mark Bence-Jones: Burke's Guide to Irish Country Houses .
  • John Fleming: Ardpatrick .

Web links

Commons : Castle Oliver  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 19 ′ 35.8 ″  N , 8 ° 29 ′ 2.8 ″  W.