Barntick House

Barntick House

Ciaran Murphy

Date stone of 1661, with initials of T.H. (Thomas Hickman). May have been a mantlepiece plith originally.

Ciaran Murphy

the "Rush in Plaster" which comes from the main entrance room. This is a very early plastering method which preceded the "lat in plaster" method and is very local to County Clare.

Barntick House

Associated families, etc.

Butler, Hickman, Powell, Peacocke, Cassidy (O’Grady),

Lingard, Roche, Lyons, Murphy.

Townland

Barntick (Clareabbey)

Location

E of the Kildysart road, 7 km S of Ennis

Present condition

House: Standing. Inhabited.

Demesne: A quantity of mature trees. Original gateway.

Utility buildings standing and used. Garden walls demolished.

Features

A deep. square, basically seventeenth-century, three storey, three bay, hip-roofed house over a basement, with an unusual central, possibly eighteenth century, stone square lit central front doorcase, approached by a flight of six steps, and a stone cornice. The windows contain early glazing bars. Originally there were five bays, but the nearest windows to the front are now blind. There is a string course and an interesting hipped-roof structure to this house which faces east. There are two large chimney stacks. A heavy central wall from north to south indicates its seventeenth-century origin. Inside there are one metre square shafts from the attic to the basement. A fine yard and utility buildings adjoin the north and west sides, and there is a large brick-walled kitchen garden to the south.

History

The basic house was built in 1661 as is recorded on a stone keystone, which was once over the front door, and which is still on the property. In 1799, Jos. Peacocke Esq. of Barntic voted in favour of the legislative Union of Ireland with Great Britain. A senior representative of the Peacockes now lives in New Zealand. In 1814, the house was the residence of Mr Daniel Powell. It belonged to Sir David Roche (M.P. for Limerick between 1832-1844, who was created a Baronet in 1838) also of Carass, County Limerick, in the 18305, and to Standish Deane O’Grady Roche, J.P., half-brother and heir to Sir David Vandeleur Roche, Bart. (Sir David’s son) of Carass, County Limerick, in 1887. However, in 1855 the house is recorded as being leased to John Lyons, together with two hundred and thirty-eight acres. Also in the nineteenth century (1849) a man reputed to be the steward was shot on the doorsteps of the house by someone who was waiting for him under a nearby lime tree. The property was the scene of considerable disturbance by the Terry Alts during this period of the nineteenth century. It has been in the hands of the Lyons and Murphy families since the 1850s, when they were initially tenants.

Weir, Hugh W.L. Houses of Clare, Ballinakella Press, 1985

With kind permission of the author.

Note: The photographs below are a sample from a very large collection documenting the restoration work carried out in Barntick House and have been kindly supplied by Ciaran Murphy.