Marlfield House

Marlfield House
Marlfield House, Ireland
Location in Ireland
General information
Location Gorey, County Wexford
Country Ireland
Coordinates 52°40′08″N 6°16′31″W / 52.66875°N 6.27524°W / 52.66875; -6.27524
Completed 1852

Marlfield House, County Wexford is an Irish country house built in 1852[1] and was one of the two houses owned by the Earls of Courtown.[2][3] It was a dower house on the Courtown estate[1][4][5] and is a good example of a rural regency style house.[6][7] Owning two residences was not uncommon for wealthy families during the 19th century and the Stopfords (the family name of the Earls of Courtown) were no exception. Guests regularly came to stay at both Marlfield and Courtown House, the principal family home, located about three miles from Marlfield. The Stopford family was ultimately unable to support their lavish lifestyle and Courtown House no longer exists. Marlfield House was further improved in 1866 by James Thomas Stopford (1794-1858), fourth Earl of Courtown. The house has historic connections with James Walter Milles Stopford (1853-1933), sixth Earl of Courtown, Major James Richard Neville Stopford OBE (1877-1857), seventh Earl of Courtown, and James Montagu Burgoyne Stopford (1908-1975), eighth Earl of Courtown. It is now a hotel.

Architecture

Marlfield House was built in 1852 and modified in 1866 and is an important part of the 19th-century heritage of the area around Gorey. It is a medium-sized house with a T-shaped floor plan. The two sides are bowed and three stories high; the garden front is four stories with a breakfront. The walls are rubble-stone on a cut-granite base, with red brick quoins at the corners. The interior retains timber door surrounds and doors, fine plasterwork, and classical-style chimneypieces, some in white marble.[1]

Hotel

Marlfield House was purchased from the Earls of Courtown by Mary and Ray Bowe in 1977 and following extensive restoration involving the introduction of six state rooms was opened to guests in 1978. Marlfield is one of Ireland's most luxurious historic country house hotels.[8][9][10][11] Each room at Marlfield is completely different and decorated with fabrics, tapestries, paintings and flowers and many rooms have four-poster beds. The six state rooms are particularly luxurious. The official star rating of the hotel is 4 stars and it is classified by Fáilte Ireland.

Notable guests

Notable guests include film director Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks who stayed at the hotel for two months in the summer of 1997 while filming Saving Private Ryan on Ballinesker beach in the village of Curracloe in County Wexford.[12][13]

Other notable guests include Peter Ustinov, Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Victoria Tennant, Duke of Kent, Robert Redford, Margaux Hemingway[14] & James Bond star Pierce Brosnan.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Marlfield House, County Wexford". National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
  2. ↑ Lyall, Sarah (1 June 1997). "A Stay in the Country". The New York Times. p. 12.
  3. ↑ Christi Daugherty; Jack Jewers (4 January 2011). Frommer's Ireland 2011. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 283–. ISBN 978-0-470-44200-5.
  4. ↑ Stephen Birnbaum (1 December 1990). Birnbaum's Ireland, 1991. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-55728-0.
  5. ↑ Lambe, Fintan (2010-03-24). "Earl of Courtown pays visit to family's ancestral home". Gorey Guardian. Independent.ie. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
  6. ↑ Patricia Schultz (15 November 2011). 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, the second edition: Completely Revised and Updated with Over 200 New Entries. Workman Publishing Company. pp. 75–. ISBN 978-0-7611-6871-3.
  7. ↑ Patricia Schultz (22 May 2003). 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Lifelist. Workman Publishing. pp. 87–. ISBN 978-0-7611-4829-6.
  8. ↑ Hunter Publishing (2001). Historic Houses, Castles & Gardens. Johansens.
  9. ↑ Albert Dittes (30 May 2013). Three Adventist Titans: The Significance of Heeding Or Rejecting the Counsel of Ellen White. TEACH Services, Inc. pp. 69–. ISBN 978-1-4796-0038-0.
  10. ↑ The Hidden Houses of Ireland: Where to Find Them. Gill & Macmillan. 1 January 1999. ISBN 978-0-7171-2730-6.
  11. ↑ Wendy Arnold; Robin Morrison (July 1989). The historic hotels of Ireland: a select guide. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-87701-609-0.
  12. ↑ Jackson, Kathi (1 Jan 2007). Steven Spielberg: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 70. ISBN 978-0313337963. Retrieved 3 Jul 2014. Marlfield House Hotel
  13. ↑ Horan, Niamh (18 May 2008). "Movie king Hanks looking for a slice of castle luxury". Irish Independent. Dublin: Irish Independent. Retrieved 3 Jul 2014. Marlfield House
  14. ↑ Whitla O'Reilly, Marie (1 Mar 2001). "An Irish Idyll - County Wexford's Romantic Marlfield House Is the Perfect Escape for Celebrities, Royalty, and Commoners Alike". The World & I. News World Communications. Retrieved 3 Jul 2014. Marlfield, moreover, is "good enough" for celebrities and royalty
  15. ↑ "007 in Ballymoney". Irish Independent. Irish Independent. 15 Aug 2001. Retrieved 3 Jul 2014. Marlfield House
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