Tyrone House in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

is a ruined manor house, built in the 1770s on a promontory by the estuary of the Kilcolgan river, about from the village of

Kilcolgan Kilcolgan (), is a village on the mouth of the Kilcolgan River at Dunkellin Bay in County Galway, Ireland. The settlement is at the junction of the N67 and R458 roads, which lies between Gort and Clarinbridge. The village is near the site of ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The house was destroyed by the local

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

(IRA) unit during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

History

Tyrone House, County Galway, was built in 1779. It should not be confused with Tyrone House, Marlborough Street, Dublin, a townhouse designed by

Richard Cassels Richard Cassels (1690 – 1751), also known as Richard Castle, was an architect who ranks with Edward Lovett Pearce as one of the greatest architects working in Ireland in the 18th century. Cassels was born in 1690 in Kassel, Germany. Although ...

for The 1st Earl of Tyrone of the 3rd creation in 1740. Writing in the 1780s,

Daniel Augustus Beaufort Daniel Augustus Beaufort LL.D. (1 October 1739 – 1821), was an Anglican priest and geographer, born in England to French Huguenot parents. He was rector of Navan, County Meath, Ireland, from 1765 to 1818, and a talented amateur architect also ...

described the house as '‘large and new but very bleak and too high'. Its original owner was Christopher St. George, scion of an old Norman Galwegian family. The house was reputedly designed by

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

(1712/14–1796) of Waterford, who also designed Moore Hall in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

in a similar style. The St. George family at the time owned much of the area around Kilcolgan. Arthur French St. George was described as a resident proprietor in 1824. In 1912, Tyrone House was described as "rather dilapidated" by visitor Violet Martin. It served as an inspiration for the novel "The Big House at Inver" by

Edith Somerville Edith Anna Œnone Somerville (; 2 May 1858 – 8 October 1949) was an Irish novelist who habitually signed herself as "E. Œ. Somerville". She wrote in collaboration with her cousin "Martin Ross" ( Violet Martin) under the pseudonym "Somervill ...

, published in 1925. The house was destroyed by the local IRA unit during the

in 1920 due to rumours that it was going to be used by the

Black and Tans The Black and Tans () were constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as reinforcements during the Irish War of Independence. Recruitment began in Great Britain in January 1920, and about 10,000 men enlisted during the conflic ...

as an infirmary. The house was uninhabited at the time, except for a bed-bound caretaker who was taken from the house in his bed and left in another building on the premises before the main house was set alight.

References

External links

National University of Galway Estate Records

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Ruins in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in County Galway Beresford family 1779 establishments in Ireland 1920 disestablishments in Ireland {{Ireland-struct-stub