The Tower House at Castle Coole
The first building at Castle Coole was a defensive structure. Built in 1611 by Captain Roger Atkinson, this fortified tower house took its name from the lough on the estate which was known as Lough Coole. Historical references recount attacks on the tower house, then known as Castle Atkinson, in the 1640s and 1689. This house was subsequently sold to the Corry family (later the family of the Earl of Belmore). As the family enjoyed increased prosperity in the 17th century, Col. James Corry inherited the land from his father. The 76-year-old Col. decided to build himself a new home on the site of the existing tower. His ambition would make major developments to the estate. His new house would become know what we know as the Queen Anne House.
The Queen Anne House at Castle Coole
Though nothing now remains of the first grand house of the Corry family, we know it was built in c.1709-10 by Irish architect, John Curld. Copies of his plans and elevations survive in the collection of Lord Belmore. These drawings tell us is that this was a somewhat conservative house for its date. Made of red brick in the style of an English villa with Dutch architectural features, it was accompanied by a large walled deer park which was also mostly lost.
The seven-bay façade of two stories height featured a dormered attic in a high wide-eaved roof and had four tall chimney stacks. The key to the plan of the ground floor notes ;passage to the now dwelling house' which helps pinpoint the location of the earlier 17th century tower house which would have been enclosed in a bawn to the north side. A description of the house from 1718 mentions it had ramparts and gates for defence. Curld's elevation drawings of the ground floor plan also show a walled courtyard to the west front of the house, again this may have been enclosed by a gate. Surviving estate records detail the extensive repairs which were needed to the house, including re-slating and painting, were carried out in 1780 by Armar Lowry-Corry.
The most striking feature of this old estate was not the house, but the formal gardens which followed in the mid-1700s. Flower beds were laid out in a symmetrical pattern connected by paths. The impressive gardens also included, a sunken bowling green, orchards and a water garden. The magnificent man-made water garden featured a boating lake in the shape of a banjo with canals flowing in and out of it. Parts of canal can still be seen in the landscape today. These earthworks are frequently cited and referred to as a defining type-site for this form of gardening. This makes the landscape at Castle Coole a special archaeological discovery as it is ‘the most complete archaeological survival in Ulster of an 18th century formal garden layout’.
An archaeological discovery
While there are earthwork traces of early gardens across Northern Ireland, few can match the complexity, completeness and preservation of those at Castle Coole. Lying as they do at some distance from the later grand house their ‘reading’ in the landscape has not been badly compromised by later landscaping schemes. The importance this infers is reflected in the earthworks site being designated as a Scheduled Monument.