durrow abbey co. offaly conservation plan - Offaly County Council

thought that Hector John Toler carried out work
to the house at Durrow. A new house was under
construction by 1837 as reference is made in
Lewis’s Topograpical Dictionary published in that
year. Construction at Durrow continued until 1839
when Hector John Toler was assassinated. A eulogy
given by Lord Oxmantown of Birr stated that:
“He was in the act of building a splendid residence,
to be permanent residence of his family,
and consequently the center of a great expenditure...”
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Hector John Toler was succeeded by his wife at
Durrow and the construction of the house continued
until 1843 when it was recorded that a fire
destroyed the eighteenth century house. However,
the recently built house for Hector John Toler survived
intact. A contemporary newspaper ar ticle
described the events as follows:
“This magnificent abbey is nearly destroyed. On
Saturday evening last, it took fire, and before
assistance could be procured to arrest the
progress of the flames the abbey was almost
reduced to ruin. This noble structure remained
in an unfinished state as the entire works were
stopped immediately after the murder of the
late munificent proprietor, Lord Norbury. The
new building which was not completed, joined
the old one, which it was intended to adopt as
a wing by facing it with stone; in this por tion all
the valuable furniture was stored and this par t
of the extensive building is totally destroyed.”
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The house was eventually completed in the second
half of the nineteenth century with a grandly scaled
Gothic Revival front, facing east, consisting of three
storeys over a sunken basement, with an off-center
three-storey entrance porch. The simple massing of
the house was richly ornamented with gable end
bay windows, tall chimney stacks and corner turrets,
all carved from the same Irish limestone used
in the ashlar facings of the external walls. The materials
and craftsmanship evident in its construction
were superb. Behind the house was a more simply
detailed three storey service range. This wing faced
a sunken cour tyard to its south, two sides of which
were bounded by a single storey range of stores,
providing a peaceful and secluded cour t. A por tecochere
was added to the front at the end of the
nineteenth-century.
Durrow Abbey House c. 1900, from south-east
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