Lissadell House facts for kids
Lissadell House is a beautiful old country house in County Sligo, Ireland. It looks like a grand Greek building. This special house was built between 1830 and 1835. It was made for Sir Robert Gore-Booth by an architect named Francis Goodwin. After Sir Robert, his son, Sir Henry Gore-Booth, took care of the house and the land around it.
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About Lissadell House
Lissadell House is a very grand building with two floors and a basement. It is made from strong Ballysadare limestone. The house has a special entrance on the north side. It was the very last house in Ireland built in this particular Greek style.
Before it was sold in 2003, Lissadell House was unique. It was the only house in Ireland that still had all its original furniture. This furniture was made just for the house. It was designed to match the architect's vision perfectly.
Lissadell was also the first country house in Ireland to have its own gas supply. This meant it had gas lights and heating before many other big homes.
Where is Lissadell House?
The house is located on the south shore of the Maugherow Peninsula in northern County Sligo. It looks out over Drumcliff Bay. The house is in a place called Lissadill. Its name comes from an old Irish phrase, Lios an Doill Uí Dálaigh. This means "O'Dalys Court of the Blind." It might be named after a famous school for poets that was here long ago in the 1200s.
History of the Estate
The land for Lissadell House was first given to an English soldier named Sir Paul Gore. This happened in the early 1600s. He received the land for helping the English crown during a war. The land used to belong to a monastery and local Irish chiefs. The first main house on the estate was Ardtarmon Castle. This was a strong, fortified house from the 1600s. The current Lissadell House replaced an even older house that was closer to the shore.
The estate used to be very large, about 32,000 acres. Today, it is much smaller, less than 500 acres. Lissadell House was the childhood home of some very famous people. These included Constance Gore-Booth, who was an Irish revolutionary. Her sister, Eva Gore-Booth, was a poet and fought for women's rights. Their other siblings were Mabel, Mordaunt, and Josslyn Gore-Booth.
The famous poet William Butler Yeats also spent holidays here. He made the house even more famous in the first lines of his poem:
"In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz"
The light of evening, Lissadell,
Great windows open to the south,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
In 2003, the Cassidy-Walsh family bought the estate. They started a big project to restore the house. They wanted to make it beautiful again.
Concerts at Lissadell
Lissadell House has also hosted some big music concerts:
- Westlife - Where We Are Tour: 30 July 2010
- Leonard Cohen - Leonard Cohen Tour 2008–2010: 31 July; 1 August 2010
See also
- List of works by Francis Goodwin
