Derrynane House, DARRYNANE MORE Td., County Kerry by Eilíse McGuane

Figure 1: Derrynane House from the south

Derrynane House, County Kerry, once known as Derrynane Abbey, was the ancestral home of Daniel O’Connell, one of Ireland’s most celebrated figures in modern Irish history (fig. 1).  From his infancy to his death in Genoa in 1847, Daniel and his family spent most of their summers at Derrynane.  Described as the ‘Mecca of the lovers of Liberty’, Derrynane is now in use as a museum to the life and times of the Liberator and his family, and some 300 acres of the lands of Derrynane, together with Derrynane House, make up Derrynane National Historic Park.  The house and the estate remained in the possession of the O’Connell family until 1948, when it was handed over to the Derrynane Trust, who in turn presented it to the nation in 1964.  In 1967, the house was opened by President Eamon de Valera as a museum to Daniel O’Connell, and Derrynane National Historic Park was officially opened by President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, on the bicentenary of the birth of Daniel O’Connell in 1975.

Figure 2: Georgian farmhouse (1702; demolished late 1960s) (taken from Derrynane National Historic Park, 1994, p. 4)

The oldest part of Derrynane House was built by Daniel O’Connell’s grandfather Captain John O’Connell in 1702 (fig. 2).  The north-facing two-storey house of 1702 was extended or replaced by the Captain’s son, Dónal Mór, and this three-storey Georgian farmhouse survived until its demolition by the Office of Public Works in the late 1960s.  The house was subsequently owned by O’Connell’s uncle, “Hunting-Cap” O’Connell, until it passed on his death to his nephew Daniel in 1825.  At this time, Daniel O’Connell extended the house with a spacious dining room and drawing room to the south, and the addition of a crenellated library wing to the east.  The orientation of the main entrance to the house was altered at this time, from the old approach from the north to the entrance visitors use today, which meets the house on the east.

Figure 3: Interior of chapel (1844) built by Daniel O’Connell

One of the most iconic features of the property is the chapel built on to the house in 1844, following O’Connell’s release from prison (fig. 3).  It is linked to the main building by a single-storey passage, entered from the courtyard to the east of the house.  The single cell private chapel was roughly modelled on the ruined monastery chapel of nearby Abbey Island.  As O’Connell is closely linked with Catholic Emancipation (1829), the chapel at Derrynane has seen a strong history of conservation and the involvement of many prominent religious figures.  Indeed, it is believed that Pope Pius XII donated £100 to the conservation of Derrynane House and chapel.

Figure 4: Derrynane House from the east with slate-hung castellated library wing (1825)

No significant additions were made after O’Connell’s death and the house remained in the family’s possession until Daniel’s great-granddaughter Fannie left the house due to illness in 1958.  Following great efforts by the Derrynane Trust, the house was purchased by Bord Fáilte in 1964 in an effort to preserve it for posterity and to prevent it from private purchase.  The house as you see it today, following the restoration completed by the Office of Public Works in 1967, consists essentially of the south and east wings built by Daniel O’Connell in 1825, linked to the chapel by older buildings now used principally as a caretaker’s residence (fig. 4).  This part of the house contains the main entrance hall, with the dining room and study opening directly off it on the ground floor.  At first floor level, visitors can visit the drawing room and the old library, now displayed as a bedroom.

To the north of the house, the site of the original house of 1702 is marked out by paving in the courtyard.  An audio-visual theatre was created in the early 1990s to the rear of the house which seats nearly 100 visitors.  Tea-rooms and a new coach house were also developed at this time to enhance visitor amenities.

Figure 5: Derrynane estate on Ordnance Survey 2nd Edition (1:2,500 scale surveyed 1896)

Plantation and garden walks were laid out by the O’Connells in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, principally north and west of the house (fig. 5).  The old Gothic Revival summer house in the gardens is directly associated with Daniel O’Connell, who built it as his solitary study (fig. 6).  The main area of the gardens to the north can be reached from the house by a tunnel, which runs under the road adjacent to the house.

Figure 6: Gothic Revival summer house (pre-1842) built by Daniel O’Connell (Photograph courtesy of the Photographic Unit, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government)

Derrynane National Historic Park is administered by the Office of Public Works.  Derrynane House and National Park is open to the public from April to November.  Click here to visit Derrynane House on the Heritage Ireland website.  Click here to view the record for Derrynane House in the NIAH Gardens Survey.

Eilíse McGuane

Research on Derrynane House has been carried out as part of the Masters in Urban and Building Conservation, UCD, with Architectural Research funding from the Heritage Council of Ireland.