Ballynegall House (sometimes spelled "Ballynagall") is a ruined Regency-style country house in Ballynagall townland, County Westmeath, Ireland. The house was constructed around 1808 and was designed by the architect Francis Johnston.[1]
Its gutting and fall into ruins was said to be one of great architectural losses in Ireland.[2]
History
editThe house was originally built for James Gibbons and remained in the Gibbons name until 1846.[citation needed] James Gibbons died without issue and the house passed to James William Middleton Berry who in 1851 married Caroline Augusta Smith, daughter of Thomas Cusack-Smith but James then died suddenly in December 1855 while on a hunt. The house then passed to his in laws and it remained in the Smyth family until the early 1960s.
The last owner Michael Hawkesworth Smyth sold the house with several hundred acres of good farming land for about £12,000. It changed hands until in 1981 many of the fine architectural pieces were gutted and sold (the fireplace alone was reported sold for £6,000) the house became a ruin.
Many of the items from the house are still in existence today in other buildings: the fine portico found a new home at the entrance to the K Club, Straffan, County Kildare, and the Richard Turner conservatory at the La Serre restaurant on the Lyons Demesne, Celbridge, County Kildare.[3]
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The fireplace was ripped out and reportedly sold for approximately half the value the whole estate was originally sold for -
Ballynagall House in 2008
References
edit- ^ "CO. WESTMEATH, BALLYNAGALL Dictionary of Irish Architects -". www.dia.ie. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
- ^ "The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage". The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
- ^ "westmeathexaminer". westmeathexaminer. westmeathexaminer. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.