Castle Coole

Castle Coole - about an hour from Aughnacloy - has always had a special place in my mom's heart and we looked forward to visiting there again, this time with the girls on the Monday of our second week in Ireland. Here's the family connection...

In the 1950s, the 7th Earl of Belmore sold the castle to the National Trust but still kept private apartments there for his family (and they continue to reside there to this day). The National Trust hired my great aunt and uncle, the Wrights, as caretakers for the castle and they lived there for a number of years. During that time, my mom (and various other cousins and family members) would go stay at Castle Coole on vacation. My mom remembers staying in the rooms on the third floor that would previously have been used by the children, governesses and nannies of the castle (but which were not being used in that way any longer).

At the family barbecue the day before, my mom's cousin Jack told me of a time when he and his cousins were staying at Castle Coole and they were all in one large bedroom in the basement, with sleeping areas separated by large screens. The snores from one of the family members was so loud that the boys could not sleep, killing themselves laughing. Apparently that was an event that was good for massive teasing for a long time.

My aunt and uncle lived in the basement apartments, which are HUGE, and despite being called the basement many of the rooms had full size windows which let light in from the servants passages that surrounded the castle. Here are some of the basement rooms that the castle has set up for tourists ...


The dining room where the help would eat. This was a great place for servants - the head cook even had a 2 room apartment over the kitchen.



Photos all by Kim - this is one of my favourites.

The large windows shown in the basement rooms above look out on these ingenious passageways... ingenious for the time, though Brya thought it was all rather unfair...

... these "outdoor" passageways completely encircle the castle - underground! The light comes through the grating above that sits flush in the ground. This allowed servants and workers to get around the castle quickly without being seen (and, thus, the issue that Bryanna did not like). Today though, I just find it fascinating.

Just inside the castle walls off this passageway is a room they have set up as the scullery - the washing up and food prep room. They have it organized for kids to have fun in - as ours did...



Our little scullery maids.

Through a wide arch in the passageway around the castle, runs the huge tunnel leading from the castle down the hill to the outbuildings. The tunnel is how many of the servants who lived in rooms in the outbuildings made their way to the castle and it is also where coal, wood and other supplies would have been stored. Journal entries by previous servants reveal  that Castle Coole was a great place to work, with food and room and a small salary provided, but that it was cold! Keeping the lanterns and fireplaces filled and lit was a full time job for many of them.

Lianne and Kim in the tunnel.
There is an electric light in the ceiling of the tunnel behind us, but before electricity the only light in this long underground tunnel came from wells in the roof.



Where the tunnel comes out, leading to the outbuildings.



The girls dashing across the square within the outbuildings.
Horses and carriages would have come in here and servants would have had rooms on the upper floor.

After exploring wherever we could get to, I picked up a book about Castle Coole in the gift shop as photos could not be taken in the beautiful rooms throughout the building. On our way home later in the day, I was leafing through it and stopped in shock as a passage in the introduction caught my eye. Written by the current Earl who was reminiscing about his boyhood at the castle in the 50s, he said this...

The national trust's caretaker originally lived in part of the basement, and forays were often made down to Mr. and Mrs. Wright's kitchen around teatime where large portions of fruit cake were liberally handed out...Tourism had not reached Fermanagh in the same way it had reached Kerry, and few people actually came to marvel at Wyatt's masterpiece, so Mr. Wright had time to read, mostly his own books on the Wild West, in the Library in front of an electric fire.

How glorious and exciting and gratifying to my mom and her cousins to hear of their relations, Ben and Caroline Wright, still remembered so warmly after all these years by the Earl.