| Photo Information |
Copyright: Terez Anon (terez93)
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 59 W: 72 N: 227]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-g-g.gif) (579) |
| Genre: Places |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2006-07 |
| Categories: Ruins |
| Exposure: f/5.8 |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2008-04-25 19:02 |
| Viewed: 583 |
| Points: 2 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Not a great photo of the thing, but this is the old Lemaneagh Manor House. There are a number of colorful tales surrounding the building and its inhabitants. It’s described as a “fine but bare old mansion with curious gardens, courtyards, fishpond and outbuildings” which lies between Inchiquin and Kilfenora. About the house in particular: the first structure on the site was first mentioned in 1550 when it was granted to Donough O’Brien, who was hanged in 1582. It then passed to the Dromoland O’Briens and was inherited by Conor O’Brien. An inscription on a gateway that was later moved to the walled garden at Dromoland stated that it was “built in the year 1643 by Conor O’Brien and by Mary ni Mahon, wife of the said Conor.” The fortified manor house is actually two combined structures. The oldest part, seen at the right, is a five-story tower that dates to 1480. Parts of the narrow windows, several small chambers and a spiral stairway were incorporated into the rest of the house. It’s a four-storied house and was probably built on the site of an earlier hall. There were also extensive walled gardens, a summer house and a fortified wall and gates. Tradition says that Maire Ruadh (Mary O’Brien) built niches into the walled garden because of a blind stallion she owned that was so fierce when he was let out of his stall attendants had to jump into them for safety. Conor and Maire’s son remained at the house for a time but it was abandoned around 1705 and quickly became a ruin. Only the four walls with the windows are left in what must have been one of the most magnificent houses of the period. The lower windows and doors were blocked to prevent access, which have now been replaced. One of the original fireplaces still remains in the Old Ground Hotel at Ennis. The house is located 3 miles east of Kilfenora on the Carran/Ballyvaughan Road (L51). The current owner doesn’t allow access to the house itself, so it can only been seen over the low roadside wall.
This got kind of long-winded, but I couldn’t resist. There are quite a lot of stories surrounding Maire Rua (1615-1686). She was a historical figure, the daughter of Torlach Rua MacMahon, Lord of Clonderlaw and Mary O’Brien, daughter of the third Earl of Thomond. It’s unknown where she was born. Her first husband was Daniel Neylon, by whom she had three sons. She married Conor O’Brien around 1639, who according to surviving records received a Thousand Pound fortune with her. They consequently built a more comfortable mansion on the site of an original 15th century tower house at Leamaneh. The couple had 8 children. According to local tradition, Conor O’Brien reportedly built gates to close in the people of Burren, as a road through the enclosure leads into the wilderness, and wouldn’t let anyone through who didn’t ask permission from him and his wife; thus, some inhabitants supposedly gathered into a mob, broke through the gates and forced O’Brien to promise free access from that time on. Speaking of his wife, Maire, or as she is known in East Clare, Maureen Rhue (Little Mary) or Moll Roo in English, she is said to have been somewhat sadistic; she reportedly hung her disobedient menservants by their necks and her maids by their hair from the corbels on the old peel tower, located at the center of the building. Others claim that she even cut the breasts off of maids who displeased her. She was reportedly also a “black widow,” in that after the death of her third-from 1878 to 1881-she supposedly married 25 more husbands. She had fiery red hair and she and Conor O’Brien used to ride at the head of their troops during raids and battles. Another colorful story states that when Conor was mortally wounded in battle (1651) at the Pass of Inchicronan leading his men against Cromwellians, servants carried him home to this house; when she heard of her husband’s injuries, Maire was said to “have neither spoke nor wept,” but shouted to attendants carrying him: “What do I want with dead men here?” After, however, she nursed him until his death later in the day, then put on a magnificent dress, called her coach and set off to Limerick, which was being besieged by her husband’s killers. As punishment for Conor’s rebellion, his property would have been forfeit, so upon being made a widow, she reportedly offered to marry any of the general’s men who would have her, which in effect preserved the lands and property for her 10-year-old son, Donat. A Captain John Cooper actually took her up on the offer. Unfortunately for him, one day during a quarrel, Cooper reportedly insulted Conor O’Brien, whereupon the irate Maire reportedly jumped out of bed and kicked him in the stomach, from which he later died! Although this story is probably legend, she was, however, granted a royal pardon in 1664 on murder charges brought against her two years previously, which were related to her supposed involvement with Conor O’Brien’s raiding parties in the 1640s. Other wild stories include that she supposedly threw her third husband out of the window of Leamaneh, or forced him to ride his horse over the Cliffs of Moher. Eventually, Maire was supposedly captured by her enemies after killing the last of her 25 husbands, and was sealed up in a hollow tree on the property; her red-haired ghost is reported to haunt the long avenue front. It is claimed by some that she is buried at Coad church in Kilnaboy parish, along with her two daughters. Her son, Donough, was brought up as a protestant and eventually became “the richest commoner in Ireland.” Despite the rather fanciful stories, it is clear that she was a remarkable woman. |
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