Clonalis House
- Klassifizierung
- Herrenhaus
- Land
- Irland
- Region
- County Roscommon
- Adresse
- Clonalis House, Castlereagh, Roscommon
- Epoche / Stil
- Queen Anne / Italianate transitional (1878)
Clonalis, outside the town of Castlereagh in County Roscommon, is the ancestral home of the O'Conor family, descendants of Ireland's last High Kings and traditional Kings of Connacht. The estate has been in continuous possession of the family for over 1500 years and many regard it as the last remnant of the ancient Kingdom of Connacht. The present house was built in 1878 to replace a ruined late 17th century house. The architect designed Clonalis in a transitional style, partly Italianate and partly in the renewedly fashionable Queen Anne taste. The formal entrance features a square central tower, while the garden front is symmetrical with projecting half-octagonal end-bays, gables, balconies, tall chimneys, and extensive glazing. There is a large entrance hall with pink marble columns and fine reception rooms with practical tripartite chimneypieces set in marble frames. The collection includes over 100,000 manuscripts (many in Irish, some from the sixteenth century), family portraits, the harp of O'Carolan (last and most famous of the wandering Irish bards) and a library of over 7,000 books. Notable holdings include the Book of O'Conor Don, written by Irish monks at Ostend in 1632. The house is surrounded by formal lawns and terraces with views over the park. After Catholic Emancipation, the O'Conor family served as Members of Parliament for County Roscommon. Available as a film location; offers house and group tours by arrangement, a museum, concerts and recitals, overnight accommodation with dinner in season, and self-catering cottages year-round.
Jscaguiat / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0