Postcards of Boyle

Rockingham - Residence of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

This is a colour tinted view of Rockingham House, the seat of the King family in Boyle. The British flag is flying, and one gets a sense of the enormity of the house from the sweeping curved driveway. Built by John Nash for General Robert King in 1810, it orginally had two storeys and an elegant dome. Twelve years after it was completed, an extra storey was added, and the dome forfeited. The house was restored around 1863 after a serious fire. It was gutted a second time in 1957, and the owner, Sir Cecil Stafford-King-Harman had notions of rebuilding it to it's original two storied, domed grandeur, but discovering the huge costs associated with this, decided instead to sell the estate to the Government. Many of the ancillary demesne structures survived, but the ruin of the main house was demolished. The estate is now managed as a forest park by Coillte.