A Clerical B. & B.

Photo by permission J. Collins of the Glebe House

 

 

The weekend of my attendance at what some of my acquaintances refer to as the zimmer frame games but which are more correctly labelled as the Irish Masters Athletics Championships resulted in me staying at The Glebe House Rathowen, Co Westmeath.

 

This property was constructed in 1817 as the residence for the Perpetual Curate of the parishes of Rathaspeck and Russagh. The total cost was £461.10.9 1/4 of which £415.7.8 1/4 appears to have been a gift from Dame Frances Elizabeth Fetherston of Ardagh Co Longford. The balance of the cost came from a small loan from the Board of First Fruits. The glebe lands extended to nine acres.

 

Not quite Georgian in looks nor yet having what would become the traditional Victorian look the property none the less has an appealing aspect with commodious accomodation which lends itself to its now use as a bed and breakfast establishment. The house is three bay, two storey over basement with a projecting single-bay, single-storey porch to the front. A rectangular plain overlight tops the doorway which is flanked by Doric type pillars. Immediately to the rear of the house is a well maintained and enclosed stable yard and adjoining this is a walled garden which extends to something over a rood. This garden is planted out with fruit trees including a fig and mulberry. Well tended lawns open out from the treelined avenue and wrap around the house. A small terrace invites contemplation by guests on the south side.

 

Internally the two principal reception rooms are entered from the vestibule and they provide secondary admittance to the two minor reception rooms behind. The latter two rooms are also entered via the inner hallway. The domestic offices are to the rear, off the living room. An open balustrade stairway rises to the first floor and its two sided gallery landing. A long pendulous light fitting hangs below an oval skylight. Five bedrooms run off the landing.

 

In one of the many codocils to her will Dame Frances adverted to an oak book case and books which she had placed in the Glebe House for the use of the incumbent for the time being and which was to be known as the, "Rathaspit Trust." The library of books which she provided for the curate's use included such potboilers as, Meditations on Death and Eternity, Dialogues on Universal Salvation and Aunt Trudy's Letters. Rathaspit is an old name for the church.

 

The Glebe House is definitely a cut above the average b & b, both internally and externally. It has history, it has properly proportioned rooms and it has comfort and appetising breakfasts. Methinks that I will be staying there again.

 

 

Billy Old Rectory, Castlecat, Bushmills.

Another Saturday and another garden open under the auspices of the National Trust's Ulster Garden Scheme. The garden which was welcoming visitors today was that at Billy Old Rectory a few miles outside the village of Bushmills.

 

It is a good size garden, extending to about three acres. The rectory was constructed in 1810 for some £810 by the then rector, Rev. J. Babington. The doorway to the three bay dwelling is through a doorway which is situated halfway between the basement and ground floor in the three storey bow which fronts the house. Somewhat surprisingly the stairway from the entrance to the ground floor only winds from the right hand side. A pleasant symetery would have been achieved if one could advance from either of two flights of stairs from the entrance.

 

There is a small gate lodge to the property which is well kept. Leading from the entrance gates is a well maintained gravel drive with extensive lawns on the right hand side. These are flanked by a mature woodland area with bark covered walks.

 

Behind the dwelling are the orchard, the vegetable garden and herb garden. There is also a duck pond. Sadly it seems to have a solitary inhabitant. At one time there may have been bees and chickens for company. The bee hives and chicken houses remain to provide interest but they are presently uninhabited.

 

A small summerhouse overlooks the lily pond. It certainly would have attractions on a summer evening with the allure of a stiff snifter seated in front of you.

 

 

 

Bogay House

Photo Courtesy of National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

Bogay House in County Donegal is a property which brings back many happy childhood memories. The above photograph must have been taken circa 1967. Shortly after that the driveway was tarmaced,

The property was owed by a cousin of my father and we visited he and his wife on a very regular basis. The demesne was a veritable adventure ground for a young schoolboy. The rear of the house has a southerly aspect and the lawn immediately below the the house had and presumably still has an Italianate pond. Both this pond and the rather more informal pond adjacent to the northerly turning circle were full of frogspawn every Spring and newts could always be seen amongst the pondweed.

The surrounding woodland provided me with a seemingly limitless playground. I remember visiting Bogay to view a red deer stag that had escaped from Glenveagh and found its way to this little piece of rural tranquility. There were several Spanish Chestnut trees in the woods and I recollect collecting the nuts to eat.

Below the house was the walled garden. Apparently this is one of only nine walled gardens in Co. Donegal. Unfortunately this garden is now unused and overgrown. My dad's cousin kept it in good order, indeed it was a working and productive garden. The lower half of this two acre enclave was planted with apple trees. The remainder of the garden was devoted to soft fruit and vegetables. Uncle Willie, (that's what I called him), operated the garden as a vaguely commercial venture and sold the excess produce. Self sufficiency was definitely something which he approved of. He kept bees and up until the last three or so years of his life he had a couple of dairy cows. Learning how to milk a cow by hand is another memory that remains with me. I wonder if it is one of those skills, like riding a bike, that you don't forget?

He was a nice old buffer. Certainly from another generation. Born in 1890 he was educated at Campbell College, Cambridge and St. Thomas' Hospital. Having qualified as a doctor he served as such in the RAMC during the Great War where he was awarded the MC (For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He personally assisted in getting his wounded away from the dressing station under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. Previous to this he had gone out from the dressing station on several occasions to tend ....).

Much of his subsequent working life was spent in Palestine as a senior medical officer. He was awarded an OBE in 1936. After he had retired to Co Donegal in 1946 he and his wife, (Dorothy) would travel to East Africa for the winter months, visiting friends and relatives in Kenya, (then pronounced Keen ya, not Ken ya). Not such a bad idea methinks. He was a good source of stamps for my schoolboy collection.

The house contained various artefacts from William's colonial career. I was particularly fascinated by the huge snail shells sitting on top of the bookcases in the large three bay drawing room. He was a keen ornithologist and his notebooks are contained within the manuscript collection in the Natural History Museum in Tring.

Cutting up firewood was another of his pleasures. Unfortunately he was rather too enthusiastic at this task on one occasion and managed to sustain a ten percent reduction in digits. This however did not result in a trip to hospital. He self treated.

Built as a hunting lodge on the Abercorn Estates the Record of Protected Structures for Co Donegal states that the house was constructed in the early to mid eighteenth century. It has five bays and is two storied over a basement and with a dormer attic. There is a single bay basement to the east. A projecting porch was added to the northern aspect circa 1890. In or about 1800 the house was given to the Reverend Thomas Pemberton, rector of Taughboyne for use as a Rectory and it remained as such for in excess of a hundred years. At the time of the 1911 census, Rev A. G. Stewart had the benefit of the glebe and the twenty one room house. The ancillary buildings are listed as being, two stables; coach house ; harness room; calf house; dairy; fowl hose; broiling house; barn; potato house; workshop; shed; laundry and wood house. The census goes on to reveal three other houses on the lands, one of which was vacant and one of which was occupied by a family by the name of Best, whose head of household is described as Land Stewart. For a large part of the nineteenth century Bogay House was the residence of Rev Edward Bowen and his family. His eldest son, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, (1821 -1899) became the ninth Governor of Hong Kong on 30th March 1883, remaining in this post until 21st December 1887.