Welcome to woodlawn house
Here is a brief history of woodlawn house,
Reverend John Trench purchased the Woodlawn estate at public auction in 1702.
His son Frederick, a Dublin lawyer, married the wealthy heiress Mary Sadleir and her dowry of £5000 paid for the first Woodlawn House to be built. Frederick’s son, also called Frederick, was awarded the title Baron Ashtown in return for his vote in favour of the 1800 Act of Union, at the time this exchange was described as a shocking and corrupt act of bribery.
The second Lord Ashtown married another wealthy heiress, Elizabeth Oliver Gascoigne, and in 1859 it was her dowry that paid for Woodlawn to be lavishly remodelled and extended, to become one of the finest country houses in County Galway.
The 1911 census records the fifty-room house, with 28 bedrooms, being occupied by just Lord and Lady Ashtown and their daughter, Grace.
They had no shortage of staff to look after them as there were thirteen servants working inside the house: a governess, a butler, a footman, a hall boy, a house keeper, a cook, a lady’s maid, a lady’s room maid, three house maids, a kitchen maid and a still room maid. During busy times it was estimated the total number of staff employed on the Woodlawn estate reached more than three hundred people. The third Lord Ashtown inherited Woodlawn when he was just twelve years old. He became one of the richest landowners in the whole of Ireland, holding more than 24,000 acres, which brought in an annual rent of around £10,000, about 8 million euro in today’s money. From 1906 to 1910, the third Lord Ashtown edited a monthly magazine, Grievances from Ireland, which suggested Irish nationalism was treasonable. Consequently he became a serious target for the IRA and on the 27th April 1921 he received a letter from the IRA headquarters demanding his departure from Ireland. Woodlawn House was to be confiscated and used to accommodate Catholic refugees from northern towns. A few months later the contents of the Woodlawn House, the farm and all livestock were sold at auction.
Lord Ashtown went into exile in London and only returned to Ireland after the Civil War was over. He found Woodlawn House vandalised and ransacked and continued on at the house in much-reduced circumstances. Derek Le Poer Trench was the last member of the Trench family to occupy the house.
Facing financial disaster he ended his own life with a shotgun.
*Please note that woodlawn house is not open to the public.
But if you want to visit http://www.abandonedireland.com/wl.html you can see some photography taken from inside the mansion.
*Side Note
There are many structurs for you to see along on the way to GZ so be sure to take time to stop, observe and read the history that the heritage group have outlined on information signs.
THE CACHE
This cache is a mystery container placed to be muggle proof, it has little room for coin shaped TB'S or swag items.
TOTT
Please bring your own writing implement.
FTF
Cache in trash out ♻️🚮😃