Drumcar House (later: St. Mary's Hospital; currently: Saint John of God Residence) is a manor house in the historical parish of Drumcar in the barony of
Ardee
Ardee (; , ) is a town and townland in County Louth, Ireland. It is located at the intersection of the N2, N52, and N33 roads. The town shows evidence of development from the thirteenth century onward but as a result of the continued develo ...
, northeast of
Dunleer
Dunleer () is a town and townland in County Louth, Ireland. Dunleer is situated midway between Dundalk and Drogheda and is located on the junction of the R132, R169 and R170 regional roads that intersect the town. As of the 2022 census, th ...
,
County Louth
County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...
,
Leinster
Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland.
The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...
, Ireland. The house was built in 1777. It was home to the McClintock family from then to the 1940s, stemming from Alexander McClintock (1692–1775). One of its best known owners was John McClintock (1770–1855), a magistrate for County Louth, and formerly Serjeant at Arms in the
Irish House of Commons
The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...
, who was known to be occupying the estate in 1805 and until his death. The house was sold in about 1903 by The 2nd Baron Rathdonnell to his cousin, Frank McClintock (1853–1924), Rector of Drumcar and Dean of Armagh.
In 1948, it became St. Mary's Hospital, a colony for the mentally ill. Still later, it was converted to Saint John of God Residence, a hospital/infirmary.
The building is now registered with the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (Reg. No. 13901503).
Architecture and fittings
The elegant white Georgian mansion was originally large and rectangular, three storeys over a basement. It was two rooms deep split by a large central hall. A shallow hipped roof was hidden behind a cornice. There was a blocking course that included chimneystacks. The entrance front had five bay windows. The original building had a simple tripartite doorcase that was set in a shallow relieving arch, as well as single-storey walls with built-in niches and sunken panels. These joined the main block and included a pedimented carriage arch on each side. The 1837 Topographical Dictionary of Ireland described it as "the seat of J. McClintock, Esq., an elegant mansion, beautifully situated in an extensive and richly wooded demesne, commanding a fine view of the Carlingford and Mourne mountains and the sea." The view extends to
Dundalk Bay
Dundalk Bay () is a large (33 km2), exposed estuary on the east coast of Ireland.
The inner bay is shallow, sandy and intertidal, though it slopes into a deeper area 2 km from the transitional water boundary.
A mid-19th century expansion included a four-columned Doric porch and balcony. Also moulded window surrounds and changes to the ground-floor windows occurred at this time. A later expansion added two-storey, three-bay wings. Another renovation added
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...
s.
The interior was entirely remodelled by Kelly & Jones when Drumcar House became St. Mary's Hospital, a colony for the mentally ill, in 1948. The conversion and extension cost approximately £360,000.
A plaque on the portico commemorates 50 years of residence by Saint John of God brothers.
The grounds are large and there are a number of single-storey buildings for accommodation and clinics.