Mitchelstown Castle
| Mitchelstown Castle | ||
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 19th century painting of the former Mitchelstown Castle |
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| Creation time : | 19th century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | burned down | |
| Standing position : | Irish nobility | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Mitchelstown | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 16 '20 " N , 8 ° 16' 48" W | |
| Height: | 86 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Mitchelstown Castle ( Irish Caisleán Bhaile Mhistéala ) was a low castle in Mitchelstown in the north of the Irish County Cork . The Earls of Kingston resided there .
history
White Knights, Dark Earls is the largest published account to date of Mitchelstown Castle, which was the largest neo-Gothic house in Ireland.
15th to 18th century
In the 15th century, a castle was first built in Mitchelstown by the white knights. From them she fell by marriage to the King , Barons and Earls of Kingston family. James, the 4th Baron , had the castle extensively repaired and modernized in the 1730s. After his death in 1761 the castle fell to his granddaughter, Caroline Fitzgerald. She married her cousin Robert King, Viscount Kingsborough , who was the 2nd Earl of Kingston from 1797. The Kings were in the 1770s most of the old castle torn down and the remains into a new villa in the Palladian integrate style that has been described as a "house with wings".
19th century
In 1823 their son, George King, 3rd Earl of Kingston , had the Palladian house demolished after he had inherited it. He had it replaced with a new castle designed by James and George Richard Pain . It had 60 parade bedrooms and 20 sub-bedrooms, a 30-meter gallery, three libraries, a morning room, a dining room (which could accommodate up to 100 people), and various other facilities.
Mitchelstown Castle was the largest neo-Gothic building in Ireland, costing £ 100,000 to build. It was flavor-building in its day and influenced many larger Irish castles, such as Strancally Castle and Dromoland Castle by Lord Inchiquin .
The 40,000 hectare property of Mitchelstown got into great financial difficulties, which forced the owners to sell 28,000 hectares after the great famine of 1845-1851. Further difficulties arose from internal family disputes, lawsuits and the Land War in the 1880s, in which the property played an important role.
20th century
In June 1922 the castle was occupied by the IRA . The then owner, William Downes Webber (Anna's second husband, widowed Countess of Kingston), his relatives and servants were "expelled" into houses in nearby King Square . For the following weeks the castle was held by the IRA, who appeared to be preparing for some sort of siege. In early August, the building's furnishings were stolen by some IRA members, including paintings by Thomas Gainsborough and William Beechey , as well as silver, furniture, wall hangings, and fireplace screens.
On August 12, 1922, Mitchelstown Castle was burned down on the orders of a local IRA leader. His father and grandfather had been traders on the Earls of Kingston estate. At the same time, the barracks in Fermoy , Mallow , Mitchelstown and Kilworth were burned down, as well as the military hospital in Fermoy, the workhouse in Mitchelstown, the RIC barracks in Mitchelstown and the railway bridge in Mallow.
Thereafter, William Downes Webber claimed a total of £ 149,000 in damage to the Irish Free State for the reconstruction and £ 18,000 for the facility. He wanted to have the castle rebuilt if he was to receive sufficient compensation. After his death in 1924, Colonel WA King-Harman pursued this claim in Irish courts. Judge Kenny of the Irish Supreme Court ruled in 1926 that the Mitchelstown Castle fire was an act of wanton destruction with no military purpose. He awarded the legal successor £ 27,500 in damages for the building and the entire defendant £ 18,000 for the facility. Most of this money was put into building replacement properties in Dublin , as King-Harman felt the amount was too small to rebuild the castle.
The building blocks of Mitchelstown Castle were later sold to the Cistercian monks of Mount Malleray Monastery , who used them to build a new abbey.
In the 1940s, the Mitchelstown Agricultural Cooperative had a milk processing plant built on the site of the former castle, which they acquired along with some of the land on the estate. The property is now owned by the Dairygold Co-op . The Mitchelstown Castle coat of arms is now owned by a local writer and is slated to be placed in the city's new public library, which will also include a section on local history and specifically the history of Mitchelstown Castle and its owners.
Individual evidence
- ^ John Preston Neale, Thomas Moule: Views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen, in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland . Sherwood, Jones and Co .. 1825. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
- ↑ Mitchelstown Castle profile . mitchelstown.org. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
- ^ Lewis Samuel: A topographical dictionary of Ireland . S. Lewis. S. 373. 1837. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
- ^ Mary Leland: The lie of the land: journeys through literary Cork . Cork University Press. P. 164. 1999. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
swell
- Bill Power: White Knights, Dark Earls: The Rise and Fall of an Anglo-Irish Dynasty . Collins. 2000. Retrieved September 19, 2018 ..
- Bill Power: Another Side of Mitchelstown . Mitchelstown 2008.
- Bill Power: Images of Mitchelstown, stories and pictures from my own place . Mount Cashell Press, 2002.
- Anthony Lawrence King-Harman: The Kings of King House . Retrieved September 19, 2018 ..
- Janet Todd: The Rebellious Kingsborough Sisters and the Making of a Modern Nation . Ballantine. 2005. Retrieved September 19, 2018 ..
- Claire Tomalin: The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft . 1992. Retrieved September 19, 2018 ..
Web links
- Heritage walk commemorating the Looting and Burning of Mitchelstown Castle . Archived from the original on November 18, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2018.