Overview
The grandest thing about Eyrecourt Castle no longer stands in Eyrecourt. Its baroque staircase, carved by Dutch craftsmen in chestnut with acanthus leaves spilling from grotesque masks down the banisters, was bought by the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst in 1927, dismantled and shipped across the Atlantic. After Hearst’s death it was given to the Detroit Institute of Arts, where it stands today. The architectural historian Rolf Loeber called it ‘by far the most exuberant piece of wood carving surviving from the 17th century’, and Ireland lost it.
What remains, on the edge of the east Galway village of the same name, is the roofless brick shell of the house the staircase once climbed through: a seven-bay, two-storey mansion built for Colonel John Eyre in the 1660s, one of the earliest and most ambitious classical country houses in Ireland. You view it from a public footpath along the old demesne; the interior is long gone.
History: from plantation manor to ruin
Eyrecourt began with the Cromwellian conquest. In 1662 Colonel John Eyre, an Englishman rewarded for his part in the Galway campaign, was granted 800 acres here with the power to empark the land, and set about replacing an earlier O’Madden tower house on the site with something altogether new. Where his neighbours still lived in fortified towers, Eyre built for symmetry and light: sash windows, a balanced classical front, and that grand central staircase. Over the main door ran the motto Welcome to the house of liberty.
The interiors drew admiring visitors. In 1731 Mary Granville noted the ‘great many fine woods and improvements that looked very English’ in the parkland. A chimneypiece followed designs by the Italian architect Sebastiano Serlio, and a private chapel was added in 1677. The house was brick, faced with rendered rubble, plain enough outside and rich within.
The Eyres held it for generations and produced their share of local legend. Giles Eyre, a huntsman and duellist at the close of the 18th century, is often said to have been the model for the fictional Charles O’Malley in Charles Lever’s novel. Financial trouble caught up with the family in the 1800s, and a fire in the early 1900s took the roof and upper floors. Then came Hearst and the staircase. The demesne gates were rescued and restored in the 1990s and still frame the approach; the house behind them is an unstable, roofless ruin, so admire it from a distance rather than climbing on the stonework.
What to see
While you cannot go inside, a few things reward the stop:
- The shell – The outer walls still trace the symmetrical front, and standing before them gives a real sense of the scale, and of the light that once poured into the central hall.
- The demesne gates – Restored in the 1990s, a fine piece of estate architecture and the best spot from which to frame the ruin.
- St John the Baptist Church and its lych gate – A short walk into the village brings you to this Victorian Gothic church of 1867; the lych gate carries an inscription to W.H.G. Eyre (1860–1925), the last of the family to live on the estate.
- The old market house – Built by the Eyres around 1680–1700, it has been market house, courthouse, school, cinema and town hall in its time. Now privately owned and idle, its Georgian front is still the village landmark.
Walking
Eyrecourt stands roughly midway along the Beara-Breifne Way, a long-distance waymarked walking and cycling route, and the castle and its demesne are visible from the trail. The gentle parkland and farmland around the village make for quiet walking with the ruin on the skyline.
Practical information
- Access and admission – The ruin is on private land but visible from the public footpath along the demesne. No charge.
- Safety – It is an unstable, roofless shell. Keep clear of the walls, do not climb the masonry, and mind children.
- Parking – Limited roadside parking near the village centre, a short walk from the gates.
- Facilities – None on site. The village has a shop, post office and a couple of pubs.
- Getting there – Eyrecourt is on the N65 between Portumna and Loughrea; about 45 minutes from Galway city. Public transport is limited, and the nearest railway station is at Athlone, around 30 km north.
Nearby
- Portumna – about 15 km south on Lough Derg, with its 17th-century castle and forest park.
- Ballinasloe – the market town north of the N65, famous for its October horse fair.
- Aughrim – the interpretive centre for the 1691 battle, off the N65 towards Ballinasloe.
- Loughrea – a lakeside town west along the N65, with its medieval friary and cathedral.
The staircase is in Detroit for good, but the shell and its restored gates are worth the short detour off the N65. Go in the morning, when the low light picks out the brickwork and you will have the demesne path to yourself.