| Summerhill House | |
| Native Name Lang: | ga |
| Map Type: | Ireland |
| Status: | Private dwelling house |
| Building Type: | House |
| Architectural Style: | Palladian Baroque |
| Classification: | Demolished |
| Location Town: | Summerhill, County Meath |
| Location Country: | Ireland |
| Coordinates: | 53.4802°N -6.7326°W |
| Altitude: | 50m (160feet) |
| Est Completion: | 1731 |
| Demolition Date: | Arson (4 Feb 1921) Demolition (1959) Final clearance (1970) |
| Height: | 30m (100feet) |
| Other Dimensions: | 300 feet in length |
| Material: | limestone |
| Floor Count: | 3 |
| Architect: | Designed by Edward Lovett Pearce Completed by Richard Cassels |
| Developer: | Hercules Langford Rowley |
| Known For: | The largest house in Ireland |
| Rooms: | circa 100 |
Summerhill House was a 100-roomed Palladian house in County Meath, Ireland which was the ancestral seat of the Viscounts Langford and the Barons Langford. Built in 1731, it was likely designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce and completed by Richard Cassels in the Palladian style, although Sir John Vanbrugh, who was related to Pearce and with whom he trained, is thought to have also influenced the design of the house, which could be seen by the great arched chimney stacks and the palatial grandeur and scale.[1]
The house demonstrated the power and wealth the Langford Rowley family had at the time. They owned vast amounts of land in counties Meath, Westmeath, Cork, Londonderry, Antrim, and Dublin as well as in Devon and Cornwall in England. The house also welcomed royalty, and ranked architecturally amongst the finest and most modern mansions in Europe.[2]
Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin and president of the Irish Georgian Society described its loss as "probably the greatest tragedy in the history of Irish domestic architecture".[3]
In 1661, Sir Hercules Langford, 1st Baronet bought Lynch's Castle located on the Summerhill demesne in County Meath and many other townlands from The Rt Rev. Dr. Henry Jones, the Lord Bishop of Meath who had been awarded it by Oliver Cromwell.[4] [5]
Earlier, John Rowley came to Ireland during the reign of James I, as sole agent for the building of the towns of Derry and Coleraine for the London Society. Upon the incorporation of the city of Derry in 1613, he was, by charter, appointed first Mayor of Derry city. He was later knighted for his services at the time of the Restoration. He also married Mary, daughter of Sir Hercules Langford, 1st Baronet.
One of Rowley's daughters, Anne, married Sir Tristram Beresford, 1st Baronet, ancestor to the family of Tyrone. Another daughter, Mary, married James Clotworthy, and by him had an only daughter, who married Robert FitzGerald, 19th Earl of Kildare, and who was grandmother of Lieutenant-General The 1st Duke of Leinster.
He only left one son, Hercules Rowley and via his son's marriage to Frances Upton, his only son and heir, Hercules Langford Rowley, married in 1732, Elizabeth Ormsby, later created The 1st Viscountess Langford.
Around this time he built the house at Summerhill.[6] [7]
Later in 1743, Langford also acquired what was to become Langford House on Mary Street in Dublin city as his town residence while sitting in parliament.
The Empress of Austria visited Summerhill in February 1879. The preparations were a well kept secret, the first thing that had to be sorted is where would she stay. Meath hunted the best hounds and Summerhill was centrally located so Summerhill was picked. When she was on one hunt in Dunshaughlin, as they came to Maynooth they came across two men repairing a demesne wall of the Catholic seminary. As the deer they were hunting jumped into the land of the college, the empress followed without knowing where she was going and nearly jumped on the President of the college, Professor William Walsh, who later became the Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland. Throughout her trip she was accompanied by George "Bay" Middleton who was widely rumoured to be her lover.
On 13 November 2010 one famous riding whip appeared in a country house auction in Slane Castle held by Adams. This whip was owned by the Empress and was given to Robert Fowler who was the Master of the Meath Hounds at the time of her stay in Summerhill. The whip had been lost and had been found not long before the auction in Rahinston House. The whip was found in a mahogany presentation case with a silver crest plate bearing the Imperial Arms of Habsburg. The whip was estimated at €3,000-€5,000 but reached a total of €37,000.[8]
Summerhill House was damaged by fire on a number of occasions including during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
In 1845, the Parliamentary Gazeteer describes the house as being in a state of decline, with much of its extensive mature woodlands having been removed.[9]
It suffered problems when farm hands went on strike and damaged farming equipment in 1919. Republican workers and farm hands were evicted from their homes and after months of agrarian agitation eventually on 4 February 1921, the Irish Republican Army invaded and took the estate and distributed the lands and farms around the house equally amongst the workers and their families, before they set the house on fire where it was mostly destroyed.
The house and estate had been inherited in 1854 by The 4th Baron Langford (1848–1919). He engaged the architect John McCurdy to restore parts of the house in 1869.[10]
He was succeeded by his son, the young 5th Baron (1894–1922), who died prematurely and was in turn succeeded by his elderly cousin, Colonel William Chambre Rowley, who became the 6th Baron.
In 1922, Colonel The 6th Baron Langford (1849–1931), who had only inherited the barony the previous year, sought compensation from the Government of the Irish Free State. After three years of negotiation with the Compensation Board, a sum of £43,500 was paid to Colonel Lord Langford, approximately one third of the value of the house and contents destroyed in the fire. The elderly Lord Langford invested the money in gilt-edged stocks and moved to Middlesex in England.
Even in a ruinous state, the house was still said to be one of the architectural wonders of Ireland and made the house even more romantic in some minds much like the ruined Seaton Delaval. The calcinating of the external limestone gave it a more patterned and less harsh look similar to rustication in a way that can be seen at Russborough House.
Summerhill House stood as a ruin until it was totally demolished in 1970.
The house stood on the summit of a hill with the main entrance from the village of Summerhill with another entrance from a mile long avenue on the Dublin road. In all, there were four avenues leading out to the four points of the compass.[11]
It consisted of a centre block and two wings, the mansion was massively built of limestone and of great length. Four semi-columns with Corinthian capitals ornamented the front; the main order was carried up the full height of the house like Renaissance Palaces in Rome. There was a portico in front of two sunken gardens behind with a raised grassy platform for a sundial; a large rose garden as well as another very large garden. When the Langford mansion was built the path went up the hill and around the portico.[12]
A broad flight of stairs led to the entrance of the mansion. There was a large and very lofty hall, which was similar to Leinster House in Dublin. The hall contained plaques and oil portraits. To the right on entering was the library. The drawing room had a southern aspect, and contained several portraits of the Rowley family. The state dining room was detached from the main block and had beautifully covered ceilings. Two symmetrical grand staircases led to the bedrooms.[13] [14] [15]
The Lafranchini brothers are said to have designed some of the interior stucco work and ceilings of the house.[10]
A gothic mausoleum was also constructed around 1781 not far from the house and elements still survive at a religious institution in County Meath.
Robert Adam was commissioned to complete an extension to the already sprawling house in 1765 however these designs composed of a quadrant link connecting two wings, were never fully executed.