‘The jewel in the glen’

GLENCAR Lodge, a Victorian hunting lodge associated with the Gore-Booth family, is up for sale in one of Co Leitrim’s most beautiful spots.

The lodge, in scenic Glencar valley and Yeats’ country, close to the lake and waterfall, dates to 1840, and was built by the family whose most famous member was Countess Constance Markievicz.

She was the new Irish beauty presented at a court of Queen Victoria. The countess went on to becomethe first woman elected to the British parliament in 1918, and was also elected to the first Irish Dáil.

The Gore-Booth family, dating back to Cromwellian times in Ireland, had several 19th century British MPs in its midst. In 1830, Sir Robert Gore-Booth MP built the Grecian Revival home Lissadell House in Co Sligo, on the family’s huge estate.

Sir Henry Gore-Booth was father of poet and trade unionist Eva and her sister Constance. The latter went on to marry a Polish Count, while deepening Gore-Both family links with poet and writer WB Yeats.

Glencar Lodge was built by the Gore-Booths within a short inland journey of Lisadell House, and it was sold in 1868 to Col JJ Whyte of the Queen’s Own 7th Hussars. Col Whyte had also previously bought an estate in Sligo from the Gore-Booths in 1851, and divided his time between 9,000 acres in Sligo and Glencar for fishing and shooting, as well as being High Sheriff for Leitrim and a Justice of the Peace.

The servants quarters in a separate building at Glencar served during the Troubles as a RIC barracks, then as garda station, and later, a post office.

Set against a wooded valley, the lodge itself is an extended Victorian villa with enclosed small rear courtyard. Here, a former outhouse with dove-cote roof has now been converted to a bright sun room. given the area’s under-appreciated attractions for country pursuits, the fact the dove cote is topped with a salmon is appropriate.

The house, owned by Sligo businessman Frank Slevin, is on an acre and a half of mature and private grounds, with features like the original Victorian land drains still intact for the architectural puristsThe lodge has been upgraded and modernised, without losing its period charm, says auctioneer Bryan J Corcoran of Sligo, who describes the lodge as “the jewel in the glen” and prices it at €475,000.

It is likely to be bought as a holiday home, by anoccupant interested in relaxation, hunting, fishing and shooting: ideal as it is near Glencar Lake, Lough Gill, Rosses Point, Benbulben and the Dartry Mountains. Location of the lodge is nine miles north of Sligo city, off the Sligo-Enniskillen N16 road, a 15 minute drive from Sligo, which is set for infrastructural growth in yet-to-be-confirmed National Spatial Strategy terms.

The lodge has a porch with old tiled floor, three reception rooms, and there is a superb barrel vaulted ceiling in the drawing room. Floors are polished pine, and thekitchen has units of beech, as well as integrated appliances and a Rayburn cooker.

There are four bedrooms, some with the original fireplaces. There is also a family room, second kitchen and two bathrooms. The lodge has oil central heating and double glazed hardwood windows. The site is bounded by natural stone walls and ditches, and mature trees. There are views of Glencar Lake from the top of the garden and a garden pond.