Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Strokestown House

We signed up for the tour of the house, and since no one else showed up for it at our time slot, Haley and I got a private tour!  The home has been in the Pakenham-Mahon family from 1653 to 1981. 

In the 16th Century there was a castle on the property belonging to the OConor Roe Gaelic Chieftains.  In the 1600's the land was given to Nicholas Mahon as a reward for his support of the British colonization of Ireland.  His grandson, Thomas Mahon, built the mansion in 1653, using a portion of the castle wall in its construction.  During the famine years, the landowner was Major Denis Mahon.  Considered a poor landlord and viewed unfavorably by his tenants, he was accused of  hiring faulty ships to send people overseas, and he was assassinated in November 1847.  His only daughter, Grace Catherine Mahon, vowed never to return to the family home again.   At the time of her father's assassination, she was away having recently wed Henry Sandford Pakenham.  He was heir to large landed estates in Westmeath, Longford, and Roscommon.  Between the two of them, they had over 26,000 acres and Grace was able to pay the debts of the estate and keep it going, though she herself never returned to Strokestown.  Grace and Henry had one son, Henry Pakenham Mahon and he lived in Strokestown.  He and his wife, Mary, had one child, Olive Pakenham Mahon.

Olive grew up in Strokestown and all of the items in the home belonged to her and her family.  She married  Captain Edward Charles Stafford-King-Harman in July 1914 and he was killed in Belgium in November 1914.  She was pregnant and moved back home to Strokestown, bearing their daughter Lettice,  in 1915.  She then married Wilfrid Stuart Atherstone Hales in December 1921 and they took up residence at the mansion in Strokestown.  They had three children together, and all carried the last name of Hales-Pakenham-Mahon.  (and we think Schlueter is a long last name!)

Olive and Wilfrid continued to live in the home and it eventually began to fall into disrepair.  Their children had all moved away, and none wanted to put the money into the home and lands that was needed to get it back into working order.  Their son, Major Nicholas Hales Pakenham Mahon, convinced them they should sell the estate.  In 1979, the Westward Garage Company wanted to buy a portion of the estate to expand  their business.  Olive refused to sell unless they bought the entire estate.   They worked out an agreement that Olive and Wilfrid would retain a life estate and that they would leave all the personal property, archives and documents with the estate.  Wilfrid passed away in 1980, and Olive went to live with her son in England and passed away in 1981.  According to obituaries written at the time, Olive was very well-liked in Strokestown.

Thus, the tour of the house is rather astounding because there is so much stuff there, and it is all original  to  the owners - not  replicas or anything.  Olive obviously lived a rather bountiful life and left behind a truly remarkable legacy for the rest of us to share.  The records kept from the famine years have been found to be the most extensive archived history of the famine in existence.  Thanks to Olive and her family, we were able to see a significant piece of Irish history and it is a tour I would definitely do again.


Haley pointed out the ski's in the front entryway - they look a lot like Dad's old ski's!


In the above picture is a wake table.  Apparently, in times past, when a family member passed away, the body was placed on the table and the locals could come through the front entry, circle the body for a viewing, and trudge back out the front door.  I also noted that the donation box had a lot of dollars, so I assume the tour gets a lot of Americans!





I loved the corner chair, and the jack-rabbit was just, well, HUGE!



This was Wilfrid's bedroom.  You can see the hats on the wardrobe.  They traveled to many different places, like China and Vietnam.  A very full life.






I loved the art-work above the mantel, and the dog statue!

Below is the school-room.


I loved the desks!


This baby buggy was state of the art in the day - a sign of the wealth of the family.


This was Olive's bedroom.


The tour guide told us something about this bedspread, but I can't recall what it was!  I know it was hand-made, but I think there was more about it...




The small brown box is an electric outlet!  Again, very advanced for the times.


Through the window above you can  see  a part of the old castle wall.  In the mirror, you can see our tour guide!



This is obviously a chamber pot.  What was funny, and our tour guide pointed this out, there was one in Wilfrid's room also, but the difference was that the one for women has directions for use - HA!!  As if...


This next room was the toy room.  Here you can see that the kids had everything they could have wanted, including all the latest toys.  True for Olive as a child, and for her kids as well.




Some of the dolls were a little creepy, especially the ones with eyes missing!


The little car above is the one Olive is using in the picture below.

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