Moydrum Castle

Did You Know?

• The Lords Castlemaine were prominent members of Lough Ree Yacht Club, and Major G.S. Handcock served as Hon. Secretary.
• In 1920, Major G.S. Handcock chaired a committee that agreed on the design of the Shannon-One-Design dinghy.
• Photographer Anton Corbijn's cover image for U2's 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire was a virtual copy of a picture from Simon Marsden's book In Ruins, for which U2 paid compensation.

Background

The English Crown granted the lands of Moydrum to the Handcock family, originally from Devon, during the 17th-century Cromwellian plantations. William Handcock, a later head of the family, served as MP for Athlone in Grattan's Parliament. He initially opposed the Acts of Union 1800 but was promised a peerage for supporting it; he voted in favour and was created 1st Baron Castlemaine in 1812. To create a suitable residence, he commissioned architect Richard Morrison to remodel and enlarge an existing family house built around 1750. The resulting Gothic-revivalist castle was finished in 1814. Samuel Lewis's 1837 Topographical Dictionary described it as a handsome castellated mansion beautifully situated in an extensive demesne with a small lake.

Destruction

During the Irish War of Independence, on 20 June 1921, Major-general Thomas Stanton Lambert was killed near Moydrum by an IRA flying column during a failed attempt to take him prisoner for a planned exchange with general Seán Mac Eoin. In reprisal, the Black and Tans burned several farmsteads in south Westmeath. Angered by these burnings, local IRA members decided to burn Moydrum Castle as a symbolic target, since it was the seat of Lord Castlemaine, a member of the House of Lords. On the night of 3 July, a group of IRA members went to the castle. Lord Castlemaine was not in Ireland, but his wife, daughter and several servants were present. The IRA gave the occupants a brief period to gather some valuables before forcing them out, then set the castle alight, completely destroying it. After the Irish Free State was established, the Irish Land Commission improved, divided and sold much of the barony's land. The Baron and his family never returned to Moydrum.