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Historic Buildings of County Sligo
Republic of Ireland
See Historic Buildings Ireland - Main Page
Image right - Classiebawn Castle, Mullaghmore
If you have information about any of the Buildings mentioned below please share it here. If you have ancestors linked to any of the places please add them to the project.
The object of this project is to provide information about historic buildings in County Sligo, with links to sub-projects for specific buildings as appropriate. GENi profiles of people associated with those establishments can be linked to this project and/or to individual projects where they have been set up.
Castles, Baronial and Historic houses
... in alphabetical order
Including Castles, Abbeys, Manor Houses, Mansions, Stately Homes, Country houses, Estate houses, Courts, Halls, Parks and other listed buildings of historic interest
Full sizes of the thumbnail images can be seen in the Gallery attached to the project or by clicking the thumbnail image - TIP - Use ctrl+the link to open the image in a separate tab, or use "back" to return to this project page) Sources for the images can be found in the image details as seen in the gallery.
Names with Bold links are to Geni profiles or projects. Other links take you to external biographical web pages. Please copy and paste the bullet used - ● - instead of * when adding items to the list.
A
● Ardtermon Castle, Restored Castle
B
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Ballinafad Castle, Ruins. A small castle built around 1590 (or 1610) to guard a pass. It was captured by the Irish in 1642, when the besieged defenders ran out of water. Four large round turrets at the four corners take up almost half the area of the Castle.
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Ballymote Castle, Ruins. Believed to have been built in the 1300’s by the Red Earl of Ulster, Richard de Burgo - the last and greatest Norman castle in Connaught to be built. The castle was subject to many battles and takeovers between 1317 and 1584 and left abandoned for much of the time with the two major owners being the O’Connors of Sligo and the MacDonagh clan. Richard Bingham, governor of Connaught, took the castle on behalf of the English in 1584 and remained there for 14 years before it was surrendered once again to the MacDonagh’s. The castle was sold by the MacDonagh’s to Red Hugh O’Donnell for 300 cows and £400. It was from here that he rode out to the Battle of Kinsale in 1601 leaving the castle to become badly damaged and the O’Donnell clan having to surrender to the English. The Williamites dismantled the fortifications and filled in the moat in the late 1690’s. The castle is now classed as a National Monument and in the hands of the Office of Public Works who are responsible for its preservation.
C
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Cassiebawn Castle - or Classie Bawn Castle country house built forViscount Palmerston on the Mullaghmore peninsula near the village of Cliffoney. The current castle was largely built in the nineteenth century. Image Right - Gate House
The property passed down to Henry John Temple The 3rd Viscount Palmerston, the statesman who served as both British Prime Minister and British Foreign Secretary. It was this Lord Palmerston who commissioned the building of the current Classiebawn Castle and the harbour at Mullaghmore. The house was not complete on his death in 1865, but was completed in 1874 by his stepson and successor, The Rt. Hon. William Cowper-Temple, P.C., M.P. (later created The 1st Baron Mount Temple). The latter died childless in 1888 and the estate passed to his nephew, The Hon. Evelyn Ashley, second surviving son of The 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Evelyn Ashley spent some time there each year and on his death in 1907 was succeeded by his only son, Wilfred William Ashley (later created Baron Mount Temple in a new creation), who spent his summers at the castle with his daughters Edwina , the future Countess Mountbatten, and Ruth Mary, the future Lady Delamere.
In 1916 the house was cleared and remained empty until 1950. It was inherited by Edwina, Lady Mountbatten (when she was still officially styled as Lady Louis Mountbatten), in 1939 who, with her husband Admiral of the Fleet The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, made a number of improvements, installing electricity and a mains water supply. After his wife's death in 1960, Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, spent his summers there until his death when his boat was blown up off the coast of Mullaghmore by the IRA in August 1979.
The castle and surrounding lands are now owned by the estate of Hugh Tunney, a deceased businessman, who bought the castle and 3,000 acres of surrounding estate in 1991 after having leased it for many years.
Former summer home of Lord Mountbatton
Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills were married in the church on the estate in 2002.
D
● 
Doobeg House Detached four-bay two-storey rendered house, built c. 1870. Associated with the Phibbs family. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the property at Doobeg consisted of a herd's house, valued at over £1, together with over 300 acres, and was in the ownership of Robert McAlpine. In the later nineteenth century it was lived in by the Phibbs family. when in 1877 Charles Phibbs purchased the townland of Doobeg, about 30 miles to the south of Sligo town. Over the next few years Charles Phibbs spent a large amount of money improving the estate, which according to his testimony was in a run-down condition. He also built himself a new house called ‘Doobeg’ on a small hill with a commanding view of the district. In 1916 Charles Phibbs died and was buried in the private family plot not far from the house. (The stone-slabbed, brick-lined grave was used by the local IRA to store arms during the War of Independence!). More about the character of this man at From Sligo to Wales. He was succeeded by his son Charles, who, though regarded as a good and innovative farmer, inherited the arrogant ways of his father. During the War of Independence he was viewed as the chief British sympathiser in the area, a situation that he seems at first to have relished. He refused to retire as a Grand Juror on the quarter sessions even though the local IRA kidnapped him for a short period and threatened to shoot him. A hay shed was burnt down and his workers threatened, but the British military presence seems to have guaranteed his survival. The truce and subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty further compounded his difficulties. Threats and attacks on the house took their toll and he left Ireland. His destination was Dyffryn Ardudwy in North Wales, where in July 1922 he bought a small 100-acre estate called Plas Gwynfryn. Doobeg House was purchased in 1932 by a Mr O’Dowd, who later sold it to the present owners. Doobeg house is still extant and occupied as a family home.
○ Buildings of Ireland - Doobeg House
○ Article - From Sligo to Wales — the flight of Sir Charles Phibbs
○ Hansard - Protection in Sligo "Mr. Charles Phibbs, of Doobeg House, county of Sligo, has been under military and police protection during many periods between the years 1881 and 1893"
E
F
G
H
● Hazelwood House Lt-Gen. Owen Wynne, a descendant of the Welsh Wynne family from Merioneth purchased the estate in 1722. On his death in 1737, the estate passed to his nephew, also Owen Wynne (1686-1755)
I
J
K
L
● 
Lissadell House The house was built between 1830 to 1835, and inhabited from 1833 onwards, for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet, In 1876, Sir Robert left the house and surrounding estate to his son, Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th Baronet. From the 1950s the Gore-Booth finances slumped, but they persisted in remaining at Lissadell in near poverty. The almost empty house fell into disrepair and the estate into dispute and debt. In 2003 Edward Walsh from Co. Kildare and his wife Constance and their seven children, bought it. They restored the whole property without public funding, opening it to the public. (See Lissadell and the ‘dead cat case’
The poet W B Yeats had stayed at Lissadel house in 1893/4. the two rebellious daughters of the 5th Baronet, Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth and Constance Georgine Gore Booth, Countess Markievicz were immortalised by Yates – Eva, the poet and suffragist, and Constance, the artist and republican firebrand. Constance became part of the 1916 Easter Rising and was the first woman to be elected to Dáil Éireann. She was also elected to be an MP in London but did not take her seat
○ - Geograph Lissadell and the ‘dead cat case’
○ WIKI Lissadel House
○ WIKI- Lissadel Affair - centred around the sacking of Gabrielle Gore Booth by the then Solicitor General amid allegations of mismanagement of the estate, in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the heir Michael was made a ward of court.
M
● Markree Castle Restored Castle
● Moygara Castle, Ruins Castle
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Moymlough Castle - Ruins
N
O
P
Q
R
● Roslee Castle, Ruins
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Rathlee Castle - O'Dowd Castle
S
● Seafield House. (notes from Abandoned Houses of Ireland, by Tarquin Blake), Phiibbs arrived in Ireland from England 1590. His descendants built up landholdings in Sligo, Roscommon, and Westmeath. Sligo House,1798, was huge, with a spacious interior. (p.284), but poltergeists interfered, priests were called, and the house was renamed Lisheen House, Owen Phibbs died 1914. His grandson Geoffrey, son of Basil was an eccentric poet, writer, editor, with a wild reputation, who lived in London. House sold c.1940 by Denis William Phibbs to Isaac Beckett of Ballina, Co. Mayo for £1400., who in turn sold it again. It was then stripped, abandoned and roof removed. Today the ruins are under a canopy of vegetation, reputed used for satanic rituals. see 'Thomas Heridan Arts' link below.
○ Geoffrey Phibbs took his mother's name Taylor.
○ See also Geoffrey Taylor (1900-56) and Richard Murphy's account of the Geoffrey Taylor (Phibbs).
○ Geoffrey Phibbs
○ Thomas Heridan Arts Disturbing Visit to Lisheen House Ruins - many images -
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T
● 
Temple House Castle, (also Templehouse) Ruins - Manor & Castle
● Temple House The Perceval family has lived on the lands since 1665. George Perceval (1635-75) had settled in Ireland on acquiring the Temple House property by marriage to an heiress of the Crofton family of Longford House, Colooney. The property passed down in the Perceval family, several of whom were High Sheriffs of Sligo
U-V
W
X-Y-Z
References and Sources
Sligo Specific
▶︎
General
▷ WIKI List of historical abbeys, castles and monuments in Ireland
▷ Irish Tourism - Buildings in Ireland
▷ Irish Tourist - Historic Buildings
▷ Irish Central - Historical sites to visit in Ireland
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Other Pages for Historic Buildings of Ireland Counties
Historic Buildings of County Cavan
Historic Buildings of County Carlow
Historic Buildings of County Clare
Historic Buildings of County Cork
Historic Buildings of County Donegal
Historic Buildings of County Dublin
Historic Buildings of County Galway
Historic Buildings of County Kerry
Historic Buildings of County Kildare
Historic Buildings of Co. Kilkenny
Historic Buildings of Co. Kilkenny A - B
Historic Buildings of County Laois
Historic Buildings of County Leitrim
Historic Buildings of County Limerick
Historic Buildings of County Longford
Historic Buildings of County Louth
Historic Buildings of County Mayo
Historic Buildings of County Meath
Historic Buildings of County Monaghan
Historic Buildings of County Offaly
Historic Buildings of County Roscommon
Historic Buildings of County Tipperary
Historic Buildings of County Waterford
Historic Buildings of County Westmeath
Historic Buildings of County Wexford
Historic Buildings of County Wicklow
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