Outstanding Kilkenny building was 'altogether a very grand and venerable place'

The burning of Desart Court is perhaps not as famous as that of Woodstock House simply because there is now not a single remnant of the house left, while at Woodstock the ghostly edifice of the grand structure still lingers.

Its story however is equally dramatic and its demise  a major loss to Kilkenny as Desart Court was one of the most beautiful mansions in the South-East set in a strikingly landscaped demesne.  

Desart Court was burnt on the night of February 22, 1923 on the same night that another estate house Bessborough suffered an arson attack.

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It was located about five miles from Kilkenny City and was a stunning early Georgian house of blue limestone and one of the earliest large mansions erected by the land-owning class.

In its time it was described as one of Ireland’s ‘most outstanding architectural triumphs’. 

The grand house was designed by the architect Sir Edward Lovett Pearce for John Cuffe between 1730 and 1733.

Later, John Cuffe was elevated to a peerage as Baron Desart in November 1733 and took his seat in the Irish House of Lords. 

The striking Palladian mansion sat on an estate of 5000 acres and was famed for its two grand carved staircases with ornate scroll-work.

The main house consisted of a two storeys over basement design and was linked to two other, two storey wings by niched quadrants. The centre block was distinguished by four Doric and Ionic columns and a rusticated doorway. 

Inside the decoration was lavish: the interiors boasted elaborate Rococo plasterwork ceilings in the entrance hall and drawing room and the décor featured rich tapestries, oil paintings, Chippendale chairs, wood panelling and fireplaces from Sienna.

Dorothea Herbert the diarist and a descendant of the Cuffes, said of the house: “It is altogether a very grand and venerable place.”

On the night of the attack a group of men demanded entrance to the house at about 10.30pm. The only occupants at the time were two ladies and an old gardener, Mr Townsend.

The raiders proceeded to chop the mansion’s furniture and pile it up in the centre of the rooms. They then doused everything with petrol and set it alight.

They also took a hatchet to the doors and windows and threw the wood from these onto the fire too. 

The burning was supposedly a reprisal but if so it was misplaced as the Cuffes had contributed significantly to Kilkenny life in the decades before the attack.

At the time of the fire the fifth Earl of Desart was away in England while his sister in law, the Dowager Countess also known as Lady Desart was still living in Ireland.

She had made an immense contribution to Kilkenny life with various philanthropic projects including a theatre in Patrick Street, the woollen mill and model village at Talbot’s Inch, the Kilkenny Woodworkers, the Carnegie Library, Aut Even Hospital, and Desart Hall.

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She had also been very involved in the Gaelic League alongside her other brother in law, Captain Otway Cuffe.

In recognition of this lifetime’s work, she had been made a Senator in the new Free State Government in December 1922.

Tragically it may have been this very honour which incited the destruction of Desart Court as a number of homes belonging to members of the Free State Senate were singled out for attack at the time.

Lady Desart however, was no longer in residence in the house which had once been her marital home.

She had not originally wanted to leave Desart Court after her husband’s death in 1898 but eventually did and the fifth earl took up residence in 1899.

He was Hamilton John Cuffe, who after the progressive Land Act of 1903, actually sold the majority of the estate to his tenants and had a deep affection for his Irish house.

A decade after the arson attack he wrote to his daughter: “I can’t bear to think of Desart - it is sadness itself. All gone, all scattered - and we were so happy there.”  

After the burning he never returned to Ireland again.

He handed the estate over to his niece, Lady Kathleen Pilkington who eventually restored Desart Court with the help of architect Richard Orpen after receiving compensation for the attack.

A special sitting of the District Court adjudicated on the compensation claim for Desart Court which comprised three separate claims, one for the building, one for the furniture and chattels and one for furniture which was the Earl of Desart’s own property.

Although he had not been in situ at the time, the house was fully furnished as the property was kept ready for his return.

A figure of £124,000 was decided between the parties for the building and £6496 for furniture. The Judge expressed the opinion that the compensation was ‘a reasonable ‘amount’.

He also said; “I think the name of Desart is well known in Kilkenny  and they have done a great deal of good in Kilkenny. I am glad that Desart Court is going to be re-built.” 

Lady Kathleen Pilkingotn had completely rebuilt Desart by 1926 and held a large ball to celebrate the event.

Thereafter she spent part of each year living in Desart Court until anti-English sentiment in the locality led her to put the property up for sale.

The Kilkenny People carried an advert for the sale of the property in 1934 and all the property’s furniture and antiques were sold in April that year.

In the end the Land Commission bought the house and the estate with the land divided amongst local farmers. 

One of these eventually became the owner of Desart Court and in 1945 a demolition sale of the property took place before it was finally razed to the ground in 1957. 

Today nothing remains of the fine mansion that once stood so splendidly beneath Ballykeefe Hill.

The house’s cellars were filled in and the site completely grassed over when it was knocked.

However it is said that after long periods of dry weather, the ghostly outline of the house can become fleetingly visible again in the grass of the meadow where it once stood.     

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