Staircase Hall

Staircase and ceiling

The flying staircase is impressive and is one of the most notable features of Glin. The chair rail is beautifully made of mahogany inlaid with harewood. Note the fine quality plasterwork on the freize below the gallery and the charming cornucopiae which decorate the spandels about the Venetian window looking onto the garden.

The ceiling was redecorated in the late 1860s by the Dublin firm of Sibthorpe. The Celtic Revival initials of 'The Big Knight' and his wife, Isabella, are incorporated into the roundels of the ceiling.

Staircase and hall

Pictures and other objects

Between the arches leading to the hall
A painting of Glin and the Shannon estuary in 1837 by Jeremiah Hodges Mulcahy, a Limerick artist who had an art school there. The Castle can be seen in the far distance. This painting is flanked on either side by a pair of gilt brackets labelled by Jackson of Essex Bridge, Dublin, which date from about 1790.

The blue and white china is mostly English or Chinese dating from the 18th century. The largest delft plate in the Chinese manner is Dublin made and comes from Newbridge House, Co. Dublin.

Over the two doors
Two paintings of unknown ladies by Robert Hunter, who worked in Dublin in the latter part of the 18th century.

Staircase walls
The colours of the Royal Glin Hussars hangs on the left-hand wall.

On the right
Is a large framed piece of printed cotton which is a reproduction of the so-called 'Volunteer Furniture' showing Lord Charlemont reviewing the Volunteers in Phoenix Park. It is a copy of an original piece of printed cotton made in Leixlip in 1782 and this gives us a graphic picture of 'volunteering' in the 1780s.

On the left ramp
The staircase is a singular piece of Irish craftsmanship - the coat of arms of John Boyle, 5th Earl of Orrery (the biographer of Swift), executed by Nathaniel Bermingham in cut paperwork. It dates from about 1740.

Below on the left-hand ramp of the staircase
A charming portrait of a lady of the Pollock family of Mountainstown, Co. Meath, at her writing desk. This is possibly by John Trotter, a Dublin artist and dates from about 1785.

Up the stairs on the left
A portrait of Charles 2nd in the style of Mary Beale.
Nearby hangs a portrait, by an unknown artist, of Charles William FitzGerald, Marquis of Kildare (later 4th Duke of Leinster) as a baby, painted in about 1820. He died in 1870.

On the right-hand ramp
A gouache of 1820 by William Turner de Lond showing Limerick with St. Mary's Cathedral, the Courthouse and a carriage in the foreground.
Next to it is a 19th century watercolour of Limerick.
Also, an early 17the century engraving from Pacata Hibernia, a book that recorded Sir George Carew's Irish wars. This engraving depicts the Castle of Glin being seiged in 1600.

Up the stairs on the right
A copy, by Elaine Guest, of a Rubens sketch of The Annunciation, the original of which was in her father, Lord Wimborne's collection at Canford Manor, Dorset. Elaine Guest was the mother of Veronica FitzGerald (wife of the 28th Knight).

Next to it, a copy of Tintoretto's Bacchus and Ariadne, possibly by William Etty. The original is in the Ducal Palace in Venice.

Either side of the Venetian window
A pair of early 19th century marble plaques showing Charon ferrying the dead over the river Styx. They are said to have come from Roche's hanging gardens in Limerick.

First floor, left-hand wall
The Adoration of the Magi in the style of Titian.

First floor, right-hand wall
The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine, a 16th century Parmesan Italian picture brought back by Richard FitzGerald, the duellist, from his continental travels in the 1730s.

Furniture

A magnificent Cork made sideboard with two cellarets en suite carved with grotesque masks which must date from about 1812-20. This probably replaced some of the 18th century furniture that was sold in the sale at Glin in 1803.

Centre of the hall
A Spanish 18th century charcoal brazier.

Top of the stairs
A gilt William 4th console decorated with shamrocks bearing the label of James Del Vecchio of Dublin.
The mirror above is also inscribed on the back by the Del Vecchio firm in 1832.

The set of four Bordeaux fruitwood chairs date from the marriage in 1828 of Eyre Massey, 3rd Lord Clarina, to Susan Barton of Straffan, Co. Kildare - the famous Bordeaux wine-making family.