Blarney House
- Clasificación
- Casona
- País
- Irlanda
- Región
- County Cork
- Dirección
- Blarney Castle Estate, Blarney, Cork
- Época / estilo
- Scots Baronial, with Georgian Gothic elements
The Blarney estate near the town of Blarney in County Cork centres on a renowned castle, an unusually large and well-preserved tower-house of 1446 featuring the famous Blarney Stone set beneath the battlements. Originally the seat of the MacCarthy family, who became Earls of Clancarty through the Surrender and Regrant system, the estate passed through various hands after the 4th Earl's attainder following the Williamite wars. In 1704 Sir James St John Jefferyes purchased the estate and built a new house attached to the castle, later greatly enlarged into a Georgian Gothic structure with pointed lancet windows and pinnacled battlements. This building was destroyed by fire in 1820 and not rebuilt. In 1846 Louisa Jane Jefferyes married Sir George Colthurst, who inherited Blarney along with estates at Ballyvourney and Lucan House. Lady Colthurst commissioned a new house on an elevated site, built in Scots Baronial style by Sir Thomas Lanyon of Belfast, incorporating classical details and featuring pinnacles, crow-stepped gables and conical-roofed turrets. The interior contains a double-height central hall, interconnecting drawing rooms and a massive oak staircase, with decoration ranging from neo-Jacobean to Adam Revival. Nearby stands the unique Rock Close, an early eighteenth-century druidic garden with rocks, boulders, yew trees, dolmens, a stone circle and altar. The estate is maintained in exemplary condition with expanded gardens. Individual house visits and groups by arrangement; gardens open to visitors.
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