Inside abandoned ghost mansions left to rot for more than 100 years after war carnage
ABANDONED ghost mansions were left to rot for more than 100 years after they were gutted by war carnage.
The derelict “Big Houses” which dot the Irish countryside once belonged to posh pro-British landowners known as the Ascendancy.
Around 300 Big Houses were torched or blown up by the IRA during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War between the IRA and the British-backed Irish Free State.
The rest were emptied with the Irish Land Act 1923, which seized the estates and gave the land to Irish farmers.
Here’s a tour of the spookiest Big Houses left empty to this day.
Moore Hall, County Mayo
The IRA blew up Moore Hall in County Mayo in 1923, even though its owner Maurice George Moore had backed Irish independence.
He was a member of the Irish Free State’s Senate – which the IRA slammed for letting Britain keep Northern Ireland.
His sprawling mansion was built by his ancestor George Moore in the 1790s, after he made a fortune as a wine merchant in Spain.
Maurice said: “I was sitting in my lodge reading when armed men who were perfect strangers to me came to the door and demanded the keys.
“I had no option and sat up all night hoping that when all was cleasr I could save even a portion of the library.
“At four o’clock I heard four loud explosions. At five I went to the place and found the whole house a seething mass of flames.
“I could do nothing but stand by and await the end with the same feelings that one had when standing by the open grave of a very dear friend – for I really loved that old house.”
Moore Hall fell into disrepair, with its 80-acre estate overrun with trees and shrubs.
St John’s Castle, County Tyrone
Ballygawley Park in County Tyrone was burned down by the IRA in 1922.
It was the seat of the pro-British Stewart family until fruit merchant JP McLaurin bought it in 1918.
The mansion is one of the relatively few Big Houses burned down in Northern Ireland.
Tyrone House, County Galway
The IRA torched Tyrone House in County Galway in 1920, during the Irish War of Independence.
It targeted the house over rumours the Black and Tans army deployed to crush Irish nationalists was about to use it as a field hospital.
The house was owned by the rich St George family, who had lived in Ireland since the Norman conquest.
Writer Violet Martin described the house, built in the 1770s, as “rather dilapidated” when she visited it in 1912.
It was empty when the IRA arrived – save for a bed-bound caretaker whom the IRA carted in his bed out of the house before setting it alight.
Coolbawn House, County Wexford
Coolbawn House in County Wexford was “burned to the ground” by the IRA in 1923.
Built in between 1823 and 1839 with white granite from the nearby Blackstairs mountains, the house belonged to the Bruen family.
The Bruens were hated after the Irish Potato Famine, with one local knocking the nose off a statue of landlord Francis Bruen on nearby Tomanine Bridge.
With its faux-medieval pinnacles and spires, their house was known as “Bruen’s Folly” – and was usually empty, with the Bruens preferring to collect their rents from England.
Henry Bruen sold the house to magistrate James Richard Dier during the Irish War of Independence – with the IRA putting paid to plans for it to become a hospital.
Now ivy has grown over the mansion’s granite staircases and ornaments, and it is an oddly peaceful place.