Croghan House

Killukin Boyle (Roscommon) County Roscommon

Image
Map

Guy Lloyd III (1833-1906) in front of Croghan House 1899

Croghan House, as pictured above, was built circa 1820 by Guy Lloyd Esq. (1766-1842) of Norfolk. Albeit absentee, he was an improving landlord and beloved by his tenants.

According to Seamus Creighton, its design and construction were very similar to Kilmore's Rockfield House (architect JB Keane) and the Quinn Brick used would have been transported from the town of Sligo long before the introduction of railway lines. The great walls of the Demesne (still extant) were quarried in the neighbouring townlands of Bunreagh and Killapogue.

The four-storey mansion included a basement and about 33 rooms. The main door faced the Shannon and the bay windows overlooking a beautifully kept lawn, a water garden and a pleasure garden.

A path from the garden (by way of a private door in the Demesne walls) connected to the Holy Trinity Church, where the Lloyd family were interred.

At the main gate (on the Frenchpark-Carrick road) stood a gatehouse and a school for Protestants.

The inner yard (near the house) had a coach house, a stable for special hunters, kennels, a fowl-house and stores for fuel and water pumps. The middle yard included a steward's house, and various stables, granaries, and stores. The outhouses of the yard (containing cowhouses, hay barns, turf and timber sheds) are still extant.

His son, Guy Lloyd Esq. II (1803-1860) was the first to reside here. He was a member of the Grand Panel for Co Roscommon in 1828 and served as High Sheriff of Roscommon in 1833. He inherited his father's estate in 1842 and served as High Sheriff of Leitrim in 1847. He married Elizabeth King of Charlestown.

Their son Guy Lloyd III (1833-1906) D.L., J.P. (pictured in the above photo) inherited Croghan House in 1860. He served as High Sheriff for Co. Roscommon in 1867 and for Co. Leitrim in 1869.

His brother John Merrick Lloyd (1846–1929) was the last Lloyd to reside here. He married Francis Emily Darley of Farney, Co. Dublin circa 1900 and served as High Sheriff of Leitrim in 1902. He inherited Croghan House in 1906 and served as High Sheriff of Co. Roscommon in 1911.

In 1931, Captain William French (connected to the de Freyne of Frenchpark) purchased Croghan House and the estate. They were Catholic and had a special pew in the old gallery of St Michael's Church Croghan. They resided here until the estate was sold in 1958.

READ MORE The Lloyds of Croghan House by Seamus Creighton (Roscommon Historical Journal Vol. 3 page 17)

References

Buildings of Ireland: Croghan House outbuildings	Ireland	VIEW SOURCE
Landed Estates Database: Lloyd of Croghan	Ireland	VIEW SOURCE
1835 Tithe Records: Guy Lloyd	Ireland	VIEW SOURCE
1839 OS Croghan House Book: Guy Lloyd	Ireland	VIEW SOURCE
1857 Griffith's Valuation: Croghan House	Ireland	VIEW SOURCE
1901 Census: Croghan House Occupants	Ireland	VIEW SOURCE
1911 Census: Croghan House Occupants	Ireland

Type of Building:

Landed Estate

Post Comment

Comments

At the time of Griffith's Valuation, Guy Lloyd was the occupier of the house at Croghan, valued at £40. In 1749 the Census of Elphin shows that J. Lloyd, spinster, lived there. Wilson also notes it as a seat of the Lloyd family in 1786. Croghan House is no longer extant but an extensive range of outbuildings remains.