Moore Hall - Co Mayo 1795
This ruinous mansion has a very interesting history. It was built by the Moore family sometime between 1792-95. They choose this site sitting above the shores of Lough Carra, however they were warned not to build here as it was deemed unlucky due to an ancient druid being killed here around 400AD. Regardless, construction began.
There have been some very important historical figures that have lived and visited the house. George Moore of the famine era (1810-70) was very well liked by the locals. Co Mayo is said to have been one of the worst hit areas during this dark period in Irish history and many landlords evicted and mistreated their tenants. George was different.
He had an interest in horse racing and he used the winnings from this to feed his tenants corn and gave them livestock. As a result of this all the tenants of Moore Hall survived the famine. What a guy.
One of George's sons, George Augustus Moore (1852-1933) was a very famous author who mixed with some very well known writers of the time like Oscar Wilde, Lady Gregory and W.B. Yeats. Quite the A list back in the day!
In 1923 at the height of the Irish Civil War George had a brother, Colonel Maurice George Moore. He was once a British Army officer and had just taken on the roll of Senator at the newly formed Seanad Éireann of the Irish Free State. The IRA were then burning down houses that belonged to Senators and this put Moore Hall on the list. One dark evening masked men called at the house whilst George was home. Needless to say the men took about burning the house down. A few weeks after the house was attacked George wrote a letter to The Morning Post talking about the events. It read:
'I was sitting in my lodge reading when armed men who were perfect strangers to me came to the door and demanded the keys, I had no option but to give up the keys, and suspecting what was on I pointed out to the leader that the house was not Colonel Moore's property. This had no effect. I sat up all night hoping that when all would be clear I could save even a portion of the library. At four o'clock I heard four loud explosions. At five I went to the place and found the whole house was seething in a mass of flames. I at once saw that all was hopeless.'
One can't help but think, was the site cursed as the locals said when construction began?
The day I visited it was blustery and heavy showers. I did notice at the top of the building an inscription in the stone in Latin which reads 'Fortis cadere cedere non potest' - can not yield a strong fall
Notice the doll on the left, that was there when we arrived 😱
