A wonderful history lies behind the country estate at Jamestown Court in Co Westmeath, currently offered for sale by the Christie's International Real Estate exclusive Affilate in Ireland, Sherry Fitzgerald. Located just outside Mullingar, it was built in 1720 and has been impeccably restored and maintained both inside and out.

A wonderful history lies behind the country estate at Jamestown Court in Co Westmeath, currently offered for sale by the Christie's International Real Estate exclusive Affilate in Ireland, Sherry Fitzgerald. The current owner stumbled upon some fascinating stories about their home and the following is taken from “The MacGeoghgan Family Society Newsletter” from May 1991.

Jamestown Court was built in 1720 by Kedagh Mac Geoghegan (also known without the “Mac”) What made Mr Mac Geoghegan particularly remarkable in addition to his legendary deeds, was the fact that in a time of persecution of Catholics and particularly landed Catholics, he was able to retain both his Catholicism and his extensive landholdings. Kedagh was the son of Bryan Geoghegan of Carne, and Mary Geoghegan, of Donore. He built Jamestown Court in about 1720 on the site of a previous fortified house. It was designed in the early Paladian style by Richard Cassells, a noted architect of the time. Much of the stone for the construction was taken from the ancient Geoghegan (originally, probably De Lacy) castle of Carne, which stood on a small bill about a half mile North of the site.

Kedagh married Anne Brown, daughter of Sir John Brown of Mayo, in 1736 and they had four children: John (“Jack The Buck”), last Lord of Moycashel, who died unmarried in 1776 from wounds suffered in a duel over a London actress; Kedagh, died unmarried in Lisbon, Portugal in 1783; Arthur, who married Marcellina, daughter of Sir Thomas Barnwell, but had no children; and Mary, who married Thomas Nagle, of Cork, in 1763. The estate remained in the Nagle family for three generations (Thomas, Richard, and Richard II, who served as a Member of Parliament for Westmeath from 1832 to 1837). The property then passed to the Nugent family for many years obtaining the estate through Teresa McGeoghegan who married Edmond, Count Nugent, in 1798.

Jamestown Court is located just over the railroad tracks running from Mullingar to Clara, about a mile west of Castletown Geoghegan, off the Mullingar – Horseleap highway. The buildings are not visible from the road, but are reached by a private lane which passes through the ancient gatehouse on the west side of the railroad. A 3-story 18th century tower house built within an old 5th century earthen fort also stands on the property.

Perhaps the most well-known story about Kedagh relates to his habit to meet and dine with the grand jurors in Mullingar at the time of Assizes. Even though he was a papist, and therefore out-lawed from serving on the grand jury, he nevertheless was respected and enjoyed an unusually cordial relationship among the gentry of the area. It was his custom to drive into town in a “coach-and-four” from his estate at Jamestown Court. On one such occasion during the Summer Assizes of 1768, one of the jurors, a George Stepney of Durrow, offered Kedagh Geoghegan, £20 for his four horses, i.e. £5 apiece in conformity with the penal laws of the time that no Catholic could own a horse worth more than £5. It so happened that Geoghegan’s horses were worth at least twenty times that sum. Kedagh excused himself and retiring to the inn stables where the horses were housed he shot all four of the animals dead. Returning to Stepney, he told him he could have the horses for nothing! From that date on, the Geoghegans drove to Mullingar in a carriage pulled by four oxen.

The estate at Jamestown Court has been meticulously restored over the years and is now on the market through Sherry FitzGerald Davitt & Davit and Christies International Real Estate. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/oWwlqn.