1760 – Castle Hyde, Fermoy, Co. Cork
Along the banks of the Blackwater, Castle Hyde near Fermoy is one of the big houses of Cork that survived both landlord decline and the big house burnings of the 1920s. Dating from around 1760 or slightly later, and extended in 1801, it is in the Palladian style with two bow-ended pavilions linked to the main residence. In 1786 it was described as “a beautiful house, magnificent demesne, highly cultivated, the seat of Arthur Hyde”. The wings were added by Hargrave in or around 1801, the central block being slightly earlier and possibly by Davis Ducart.
The interior boasts a large hall with a screen of fluted Corinthian columns with a frieze of plasterwork, and plaster panelling on the walls. The stone staircase is oval and cantilevered, with a wrought-iron balustrade which ascends to the top of the house in the domed staircase hall, which is behind the principal hall.
The interior was described in the Dublin Penny Journal, February 14, 1835: “The mansion consists of a fine suite of rooms, a spacious hall, and circular stair-case, well executed Portland stone stairs, three stories high, which terminate at the attic in a domical and well-finished ceiling. Off the principal hall at either side, are spacious corridors, at the termination of which are two neat circular rooms, finished in perfect accordance with the rest, adding much to the extended – in all the most perfect uniformity has been observed, altogether making it a commodious and extensive house.”
While Lewis focused on the siting: “The principal seat is Castlehyde, the spacious and handsome mansion of John Hyde, Esq., beautifully situated on the northern margin of the Blackwater, in the midst of a highly picturesque and richly-wooded demesne extending on both sides of the river, of which it forms one of the most attractive scenes.” Lewis, Topgraphical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.
After years of neglect, it was restored at great expense by the American dancer Michael Flately.
Published January 31, 2025