The House
The house was designed by the renowned architect Richard Cassells, who designed Leinster House Dublin. Thomas Mahon represented Roscommon in Grattan’s Parliament in Dublin and his son Maurice acquired a seat in the House of Lords after supporting the Act of Union 1800. Denis Mahon a cousin of Maurice inherited the estate in 1845 just at the start of the Great Famine1845-1848
Major Denis Mahon initiated emigration schemes whereby tenants from the Estate were given passage to Grosse Ile in Canada. Given the conditions on board ship, the fact that the passage took from six to eight weeks, and the weakened state of those who were included on the scheme, there was a huge death toll and the Landlord was held responsible in the minds of those who remained on the estate. In November 1847 Major Mahon was shot dead as he returned to Strokestown Park after attending a meeting of the Board of guardians to Roscommon Town. He was the first landlord to be assinated during this period. His daughter, Grace Catherine, who married Henry Packenham was on her honeymoon at the time of her father’s death, never returned to the house, choosing to live instead in the Isle of Wight. It was her son Henry who took an interest in the estate. He carried out several renovations. The house is unique to day in that it retains its original furnishings and you can browse freely through the stately surroundings.
The Gardens
The 4acre 18th century walled pleasure garden has been fully restored to its original splendor. The garden served both as a source of fruit and vegetables for the house as well as a suitable retreat for the family and their guests. An ornamental pool, tennis court and croquet lawn were features of the old garden. To day there is a complex of glass houses and potting sheds. The walls were flued so that in winter, fires could be lit, the heat from which could be carried through the walls of the building, protecting the tender young plants from the frost. They grew melon, pineapple, bananas, tomatoes peaches, plums and pears. The garden boasts at having the longest herbaceous border in Britain and Ireland.
The Famine Museum
The Famine Museum uses a combination of original documents and images from the Strokestown Park collection to explain the circumstances of the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s. The collection includes actual letters written by the tenants on the estate at the time of the famine. The aim of the Museum is to educate and provoke discussion of this most tragic time in our history.
1922 – 1976
Olive Mahon inherited the estate on the death of her father Henry. By this time Olive had her share of personal tragedy. In July 1914 she married Edward Stafford King Harmon from the Rockingham estate in Boyle. Edward went missing at the Battle of Ypres in the First World War. Olive was pregnant with her first child at the time and because she had a girl and not a boy, it meant that she could not inherit the Rockingham estate, which like many others was a male entailed estate. Olive married again in 1921 an English army officer who was sent to Strokestown to investigate an ambush carried out during the War of Independence. From 1950 onwards Olive and her husband spent all of their time at Strokestown. She was known as “The Lady of the Manor”. 1976 Jim Callery, a native of the town land of Cloonahee which was part of the Mahon Estate and the Directors off Westard Garages bought the estate after discovering documents in the house written by tenants of the town land of Cloonahee during the famine pleading with the landlord to provide some form of relief for them as their potato crop had failed and they had no food. Jim Callery and his co directors realized the significance of what they unearthed and they decided to restore the estate.
So many of our big houses have been allowed to fall into ruin and we must all be eternally grateful to everyone involved in the restoration of this magnificent Estate.
The Estate is open to the public from April until October. Our group from Oughterard and our retired teachers formed new friendships on the day and please God we will have many more days together again.
Mary Kyne.