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Life
1746-1813; architect; though English he dominated Irish country-house architecture, beginning with Mount Kennedy, Co. Wicklow (1772), executed by Thomas Cooley after 1782 [see note]; also designed Abbeyleix, Co. Laois (1773-5), produced Gothic designs for Slane, Co. Meath (1775); also a dining-room at Westport, Co. Mayo (1781), with stucco by Michael Stapleton; his visit to Ireland in 1785 was followed by work at Leinster House, Dublin (1785), and Curragmore, Co. Waterford (c.1787); he also completed the ‘sublime’ Castlecoole House, Co. Fermanagh (1790-98).
ODNB BREF
Note: Slane Castle in the Boyne Valley, Co. Meath, has been in the ownership of the Conyngham family since 1703 when the land was purchased by Brigadier-General Henry Conyngham, a veteran of the Williamite War whose family had settled in Donegal in 1611, during the Plantation of Ulster. it was previously occupied by the Fleming family of Norman descent who sided with James II and lost the property in the ensuing confiscations. The architecture of the eighteenth-century castellated house is ascribed to James Gandon, James Wyatt and Francis Johnston (who probably designed the gothic gate). Slane Castle has been the venue for rock concerts since the earliest 1980s and has hosted U2 during the composition of The Unforgettable Fire. It was itself badly damaged by fire in 1991, and since restored and reopened in 2001. It remains in the hands of the Conyingham family. (See Slane Castle on Wikipedia - accessed 25.07.2023.)
Thomas Cooley (1740-84), b. London, came to Ireland on winning the competition for the Royal Exchange in 1768, now the City Hall (completed in 1779); also Newgate Prison and the Royal Hibernian Marine School; also the Anglican Archbishop’s Palace in Armagh and country houses; commenced the plans for the Four Courts, to be completed by Gandon at his death.
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