Vernon Mount- History

(nicknamed -Atty ) A  prosperous Cork City Merchant involved in brewery, milling and glass works in the late eighteenth century. He owned  the Glasswork’s Company in Hanover street. With the first Glass house in Cork, this business continued until 1818. He also owned the Lee Mills, water powered flour mills on the North Cannel of […]

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Ballymaloe House – History

…place of honey (possibly the Gaelic meaning of  Ballymaloe) Ballymaloe’s first structure would have been a wooden farm building with fields supported with milking herds. There would have been sheep, pigs, and fowl and the inhabitants would have eaten familiar foods such as: porridge, honey, trout, shellfish, milk and beef. Around 1450: Ballymaloe is  a […]

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Aghada Hall House

What did this house look like……? This house played host to one of the most talked about weddings in the Cork area…is it possible that this house is completely obliterated and no trace of it remains…? Aghada Hall house was designed by the well know Cork architect of his day, Abraham Hargrave (1755-1808). Here are […]

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JamesBrook Hall

This house can be seen from across the bay from Rostellan, who owned this house ……? It was built by the Cork business family of  Goold towards the end of the 17′th century, possibly between 1685-1688. In the three short years of the reign of James II, hence the name Jamesbrook Hall. Michael Goold the […]

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Trabolgan Country Estate

Here I am….researching the next property,  while others are watching the Royal wedding. Little did I know that this property would be so closely linked to the very one that was getting married…. Take the journey to Trabolgan Estate with me  were sadly very little of the original buildings remain…..learn of the lives,  and lost […]

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Castle Hill, Cloyne

 have you wondered what is that ruin on the hill outside of Cloyne…….the mute witness of centuries of history I found some information on this ruin  in an old book of the history of Cloyne: On the top of Castle Hill are the ruins of a castle about whose history little is known. It is […]

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Rostellan Castle/House

since coming to the East Cork area I have always been curious about this area……..these sad trees what was built here and who walked the grounds between these trees…if these trees could talk what secrets would they hold….this story tells of graves, curses, mistresses to kings, actresses, great parties but also death, sadness and pain. […]

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Castle Mary

….and the next estate is Castle Mary. what lay beyond that doorway….who used this gate or was not allowed to use this gate……… what secrets would lie beyond…… Once again I had to find out who lived in this old property behind all these formidable walls. This story reads of Irish legendary ogres, marriage of […]

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Ardavilling gate cottage and house

This is my journey of the gate houses or as I like to call them gate cottages of Ireland. I live in Shanagarry a coastal village in the South East Cork and has always wanted to capture the beauty and mystery of these old buildings that was placed at the entrances of large estates. The […]

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