Free Web Hosting Provider - Web Hosting - E-commerce - High Speed Internet - Free Web Page
Search the Web

Go to:
The Interior of the Castle
A Brief History of  Anner Castle

All the rooms in Anner Castle are traditional, spacious, high-ceilinged rooms, many of which retain original features such as fireplaces and mouldings. The furnishings are in keeping with this period style and each room creates its own individual character. Enjoy sitting around a blazing log fire, chatting with friends or family. The castle, with its four bedrooms ( three of which are very spacious) is ideal for families, either several generations of one family or two families sharing. Alternatively it is very suitable for up to four couples, with or without small children.

	On entering through the double wooden doors from the columned porch you will find yourself in the Entrance Hall which leads to the Drawing Room, the Tower Sitting Room, the Kitchen and a Downstairs Cloakroom (with shower and toilet). Log fires may be lit in both the Drawing Room and the Tower Sitting Room. The kitchen is equipped with an electric cooker, a fridge/freezer, a microwave oven, a dishwasher and a spin drier. After climbing the original wide wooden staircase you will find four Bedrooms, a Bathroom (with bath, shower and toilet) and a Balcony leading off from a sizable Landing. Two of the bedrooms are within the twin octagonal towers and look out over the lawns and garden whereas the other two bedrooms have wonderful views over the parkland to the mountains across the valley.
The Drawing Room  with dining tables		The Entrance Hall

Ground Floor	First Floor

KEY: C - Chest of drawers, CB -Kitchen cupboards and work surfaces, CK - Cooker, 4 rings, grill and oven, D - Dressing table, DW - Dishwasher, E - Electric convector heater, FF - Fridge/freezer, FP - Fireplace, G - Gate at top of stairs, for small children, M - Microwave,S - Stainless steel sink with double drainer, SD - Spin dryer, SH - Storageheater, T - Table, W - Wardrobe

The kitchen, in the farmhouse style, is fitted with laminated pine units at the hall end. A counter divides them from the dining area, which has a large pine table and chairs for up to ten people. The downstairs cloakroom has a shower unit, so in effect, there are two bathrooms.

A holiday at the castle gives you sole occupancy as the owner lives nearby, through an archway, in a stone house, converted from the restored coach houses and stables of the former outer yard. Visitors may have complimentary use of the owner's washing machine and tumble drier by arrangement.

The castle is fitted with storage heaters in the hall, the landing  and the kitchen. The bedrooms each contain an electric convector heater. There is also, on request, a cot, which conforms to E.U. safety standards. It is possible to bring extra travel cots if required as long as the maximum number in the party does not exceed ten people plus one baby as agreed with the Irish Tourist Board.

	The MANDEVILLES, a Norman-Irish family already long in Co. Tipperary, first came to Ballinahimore, as it was then called, in 1684 when it was purchased by Ambrose Mandeville. The old house, on high ground near the banks of the river Anner, not far from the great ford, was one of those gaunt square castles so often found in Ireland. Ambrose's grandson, John Shaw Mandeville, married Sophia Herbert of Carrick on Suir, a younger sister of Dorothea, author of 'Retrospections of Dorothea Herbert', in 1803. These books give a fascinating insight into the lives of such families and the original manuscript has been given to Trinity College, Dublin by the family.
Anner Castle before the 1926 fire
Nicholas Herbert Mandeville, married an heiress, Elizabeth Roe, eldest daughter of John Roe of Rockwell, Co. Tipperary and inherited the property in 1842. Soon after he employed a Cork architect, Mr Anderson, to design an extension to the old square castle. Only a small part of the old building was incorporated in the new design, mainly in the SW corner. This earlier stonework is still clearly visible. The extension included the building of a very tall tower in the NW corner, living accommodation culminating in the twin octagonal towers and a new entrance porch. It took about 12 years to build, during which Mr Anderson fled to America, leaving the work only half completed, as one of his earlier high towers for another castle collapsed! It is thought that he helped design the Capitol building in Washington D.C..Cork architect, William Atkins, completed the building. The rebuilding gave much needed work in famine times and a fine song was written about the building of sweet Ballina - later renamed Anner Castle. In Burke's 'Guide to Country Houses' the impressive entrance front and battlemented towers have been praised.

In 1926 Anner Castle was made over to my father Geoffrey and it was in October that year that the castle was almost completely gutted by fire: only the NE octagonal tower with its pitch pine staircase was saved. Luckily, the large cabinet, known in the family as the 'Brian Boru' and a beautiful mirror were saved. They are still in the castle's reception rooms. My father decided to rebuild the front half of the castle to his own design. In August 1933 he married Frances de la Poer, whose family lived at Gurteen le Poer. My father served in the Royal Navy and my mother ran the farm. We lived in Anner apart from a short period before the war when my father was lecturing at the Royal Naval College. He was killed in action in 1942. The family went to live in England in 1948 and Anner was let to long term tenants until 1977. My mother returned to Ireland in 1965 and lived on the estate in Ballyna Chalet until her death in 1986. She, Linda and I decided, in 1977, to let the castle for self catering holidays. In 1991 Linda and I began to convert the old stables and coachhouses into a house for ourselves. We came home to Anner in March 1996. Geoff Mandeville