eden

RICHARD JOHN STACPOOLE, D.L., J.P., of Edenvale, Co. Clare and later of Godfrey House, Hatherley Road, Cheltenham, High Sheriff of Co. Clare in 1894, Lieutenant, Clare Artillery, b. 7 May 1870, educ St. Columba’s College, Cheltenham College, m. 19 Jul 1894, GERALDINE NORAH ISABELLA – Burke’s Landed Gentry of Ireland 1958 Edition. The building ended up in the possesion of the Health Board as a sanatorium in the 20's. www.daft.ie/clare/houses-for-sale/ennis/eden-vale-ennis-c...

It's for sale for €3.5 million. It was a TB sanatorium in the 1940s.

GeoHive 25" map link

An 1842 description of Edenvale, from Johann Kohl

. . . Edenvale is one of the prettiest country-seats in the county of Clare, and I had every reason to congratulate myself on having accepted an invitation to spend a few days with the owner, an influential Protestant landholder. The Britons, including the Irish, certainly understand better than any other people the art of selecting an appropriate site for a country-seat, and then converting it into a kind of paradise. . . . On my arrival, I found my worthy host busy with his trees and flowers, and we immediately undertook a little tour round the lovely glen on the margin of which his house is situated. One of the most remarkable spectacles that presented itself during my visit, was a complete eclipse of the sun, caused by an immense flight of rooks. Never in my life had I seen so many birds collected together. It was as if all the feathered tenants of the hundred thousand ruined castles, abbeys, and towers of Ireland had assembled to hold a monster meeting. The silent glen was at once filled by their loud and discordant cries, and their droppings poured down like a shower of hail; and yet the inhabitants of Edenvale assured me the spectacle was no uncommon one, the rooks having long made the glen one of their favourite haunts. It was at least an hour before the wild concert was at an end, and the air clear of the ungainly vocalists, and when the swarm had passed, I felt as if a thunder storm had rolled away. . . . In England, where servants are kept at a proper distance, it is seldom that they venture on the familiar impertinence of which I saw frequent instances in Ireland. My worthy friend’s coachman, a well-fed, merry-looking fellow, accompanied us through the stables and farm buildings, and pointed out every remarkable object to my attention, with a constant flow of eloquence, while his master followed modestly behind us. ‘This stable you see, sir,’ proceeded the coachman, ‘we finished last year. And a deal of trouble it cost us, for we had to begin by blowing away the whole of the rock there. But we shall have a beautiful prospect for our pains when the trees yonder have been cut down. And look down there, your honour, all them is his dominions (pointing to his master), and in two months he’ll have finished the new building he has begun.’ Now no English servant would have made equally free with his master, and yet the Irish servants are taken from a far more dependant class than the English peasants. At Edenvale I heard of another old woman to whom popular belief ascribed supernatural powers. Her name was Consideen, and I met with her in a neighbouring cabin, into which I entered in the course of one of my excursions. Leaning on a stick the old octogenarian prophetess sat by the turf fire of her friend. She told me she had often seen death, leaning on two crutches, and standing at the end of the meadow, when any of her family was about to die. Old as she was, she said, she knew she should not die yet awhile, for death would be sure to come and give her warning when her time drew near. . . .

From www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/strangers_gaze/... [fascinated by this photo; my g-g-grandmother was a Stacpoole, but I cannot yet find the exact connection]

Niall McAuley Works for me, at least.

Beautiful Capture!

A real moment in time. The railway bridge has not changed much in 100+ years!

It really hasn't! If any of you have pics of the ads on the bridge over the years, we'd love to see them. Personal favourite was "Butty Bridge" - ad for rashers and sausages!

Fantastic detail a pleasure to view.

Christine Curtin Thank you!