Ballymore Villa

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• Ballymore Villa as part of the Jackson-Bennet estate
• Ballymore Villa - 1800's to 1900's
• 1976 to present

Ballymore Villa as part of the Jackson-Bennet estate

The Jackson-Bennet estate built a number of houses along the coast Eastwards from Cuskinny Bay in the 1820's - Ballymore Cottage (the house across the road), The Priory, Ballymore Lodge, Ballymore House, Ballymore Cottage (upper). The little humpbacked bridge at Cuskinny was also built around then.
It is probable that Ballymore Villa was converted from an older, smaller cottage at that time.

The names of the houses give no indication of the relative sizes. Ballymore Villa is not on as grand a scale as the other houses in the group. The story goes that Jackson-Bennet installed a mistress in Ballymore Villa. Perhaps he was one of those strange people who lie to their teeth despite the absolute certainty of eventual discovery and ensuing hystrionics. "M'dear, I'm building a number of cottages and lodges, but you'll get a Villa".
Bennet's Court is up on the hill behind us, and a pathway runs down through the woods. This would have been most convenient for him if he wanted to drop in for a cup of tea or something.
Purchasers may be relieved to note that no form of 'droit de seigneur' carried over into the deeds of the house.

The construction of a string of houses along the shore was an important part of the business of the Jackson-Bennet estate.
Marrying money was one department. Think Jane Austen, Mr Darcy and so on. Officers of British warships in the harbour were a source of good matches on a variety of social levels. Regular changes of officers in the four harbour forts and the barracks in Cork provided a similar source. Various relations or connections of Jackson-Bennet could be installed in suitable properties in order to gain them advantage in the social whirl. Marriage to a rising star like a Horatio Hornblower was the only way to rise through the very strictly defined social orders.
Generating influence was another key activity. The stamping grounds from the wealthy merchant houses in Rochestown via the West ferry to Great (Cobh) Island and beyond that via the East ferry towards Middleton and Youghal was a sort of Irish Riviera. Jackson-Bennet's string of South-facing houses on the shoreline were well placed. He was perceived as a man of property and influence.
The houses were also production units. Most of them had walled gardens and heated greenhouses, which produced exotic fruits to add to the estates general agricultural output - which Jackon-Bennet supplied to the sailing ships in the harbour below him.

Before the Napoleonic Wars, Cobh (or 'Cove' as was named then) was a small fishing village. Slater's Commercial Directory of Ireland 1846 (Pages 224-225 and Pages 226-227) mentions that "even so late as 1797, it was characterised by Mr. Holmes, the tourist, as 'a wretched, dirty place, inhabited chiefly by sailors and fishermen'".

By 1846, Slater notes that Cove 'boasts handsome ranges of houses, well stocked shops, elegant hotels, convenient lodging-houses, an intelligent population, and, above all, an active trade'. The Slater pages linked above give an interesting insight into some of the detail of Cove society and trade in 1846. Note that Cove is the original home of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.
The war brought fortifications all around the harbour, a Port Admiral, huge convoys of merchant ships and men-o-war to protect them.
In addition to providing a safe haven for convoys between England and "the Colonies", the harbour saw the export of vast quantities of food from Ireland to feed the armies.

By the end of the war in 1815, Cobh and Cork merchants had done very nicely thank you, and were upwardly mobile in all sorts of ways.
Before 1820, there were only three main 'roads' (for want of a better term) on Great Island, the only land link with the mainland was a very muddy ford at Belvelly which could only be crossed at low tide. Travel in the harbour area was by water. The early 1800's witnessed an opening up of land routes to and on the island, with the Jackson-Bennet estate sitting in the best part of that playground.

A copy of Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland - 1842 - Cork includes more in-depth accounts of the history and importance of Cove (as the town was then called) in naval and shipping affairs.
viz. "The number of small craft on the coast, and of fishing hookers, pilot boats, lighters, and pleasure yachts in the river; the dense population of its shores, inured to hardships and privations, and other considerations, tended to render Cork in the estimation of the British statesmen one of the most important places in the empire: and the vast expenditure of public money for supplies during the war; the detention at Cove, sometimes for months together, of large fleets of war, and powerfule expeditions, with vast numbers of merchant vessels; the sums laid out on public works in the harbour, the barracks at Cork, Ballincollig, and Fermoy, the powder-mills and Ballincollig, and various other works, for many years gave an extraordinary impulse to its commercial prosperity."
The report also gives a picture of life and travel in the harbour area at the time.

By 1900, the Jackson-Bennet estate was in trouble. Head-of-the-family resided in Liverpool, where the bulk of his shipping trade was based. Back on the estate, son-number-one was having a really good time. So good in fact that the dad took legal action, complaining that the son was "wasting the estate". Exit that son with a handshake more bronze than golden.

A rot seems to have set in however, as records show a series of loans being raised. In 1905, the estate passed to the Hornes - a wealthy Cobh/Queenstown merchant family. Bad karma continued however, with the Horne siblings fighting for control (for which read 'sale') of the family assets. The dispute seems to have been bitter and it culminated in a family split.
One of the documents dealing with the dispute in 1945 lists Ballymore Villa as being let to a Mr Edmund Mulcahy at two shillings per week.

Ballymore Villa - 1800's to 1900's

The house in it's current ground plan must have been standing before 1830, as the current public roadway was built around then as part of relief works. The person in charge of works either designed some curves into the road just for the hell of it, or he was running it between the two houses.
Up until then, the way from Cobh up to the village of Ballymore (and the Jackson-Bennet Arms) passed along the hill behind us. People passed along that road at the pleasure of the Jackson-Bennets. There's a story of a priest having to circle the estate having being refused permission to use the road to get to a sick parishoner in Ballymore village.
This old road is now the private driveway to Bennet's Court, which is now the Cuskinny Convalescent and Physiotherapy Centre.

Although the present construction seems to date from 1820/1830, the section that runs East-West must be older than the arm that runs southwards - which seems to have been tacked on. The stonework is different. The roof-pitch is slightly different, as is the carpentry around the dormer windows.

The steep pitch of the roof implies that it would have been thatched initially. A drawing of nearby Ballymore Cottage as a thatched building exists.
The thatch was eventually replaced by 24" slates, but we're not sure when.

From 1830 at least the house was two-up, three down dwelling. Within living memory, the current kitchen and hall formed a single high room going right up to roof level. The two upstairs rooms in the arms of the L-shape were accessed via steep ladder-like steps.

The privvy was out back in a bijou stone-built hut - and still exists in an upgraded pull-the-chain cast-iron thuderous-roar long-drop form. Just the thing for a spot of almost al-fresco meditation, with a peaceful view of the woods if one leaves the door open.

We discovered a slate-lined drain leading away from a hole near the front door. Presumably this was where the fireside bath-tub was emptied.

At some stage in the early to middle 1900's, the central high room was divided by a stud lath-and-plaster wall. The narrower section contained the hallway, staircase and open landing. A new ceiling and floor divided the high room into the kitchen below and a new room above.
The materials used indicate that the new upstairs space was divided into the current bathroom, third bedroom and enclosed landing at a later stage.

Recent history of the house:

We bought the house in 1976.

Apart from replumbing, installing central heating, laying a solid floor in the dining room, nothing major was done until 1986.

In 1986, we got ambitious

• Complete rewiring
• Replaced all external doors and windows with painted teak replicas
• Added the conservatory (white-painted teak)
• Replastered the gable against which the conservatory stands
• Replaced all facias, soffits and bargeboards
• Lined chimneys
• Replaced the timber suspended floor in the living room with a solid floor
• Replaced joists and floor of one bedroom.
• Replastered most downstairs internal walls and ceilings.
• Three Velux windows in the back roof

Very Recent history:

• The conservatoty received a complete paint makeover. The ridge flashing and all roofing seals were replaced.
• General repainting of doors, windows, internal walls and ceilings