Hare Lodge and Lord Castlemaine

In the nineteenth century the island continued to be occupied by the Duffy family who now served a new master in the person of Lord Castlemaine. William Handcock as M.P. for Athlone was rewarded for his support for the Union by being raised to the peerage in 1812. He was created Baron and took the title Lord Castlemaine. He soon decided to build a new home in keeping with his status. He employed a leading architect, Sir Richard Morrison, to design it. The building, Moydrum Castle, was completed in 1814 it appears that having designed his castle that he also engaged Morrison to design a hunting lodge on Hare Island which was an ideal retreat for him allowing himself the opportunity to engage in fishing, shooting and boating on Lough Ree.

The architecture on Hare Island is vastly different to that of any other island on Lough Ree. Apart from Hare Lodge the main buildings are two two-storey farm-houses located beside the lodge. Castlemaine liked to entertain and hold soirees and balls. We know, for example, that his Royal Highness, Prince George of Cambridge, stayed on Hare Island as a guest of Lord Castlemaine's in May 1850.

Hare Lodge has been described by Mark Bence-Jones as: "An engagingly hybrid early 19th century 'cottage' on an island in Lough Ree, giving the impression of having been concocted out of the 'leftover' from several different houses of various styles and periods: a c.18th century classical door-case with a pediment on console brackets, Georgian gothic windows, a mullioned bow-window with leaded lights and a regency veranda with slender iron columns under the eaves of the roof".