Strokestown Park House Traditional Geocache
Croaghan: Hi,
There has been no response from the cache owner so I'm Archiving this cache.
It may be possible to reactivate it. If you wish to do so please contact me via my profile and quote the Geocaching.com ID for the cache so I know which one you are referring to.
Please be aware that reactivation is not guaranteed and will depend on individual circumstances.
Many thanks,
Niall
Croaghan - Volunteer Reviewer for Geocaching.com (Ireland)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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The town of Strokestown, County Roscommon, boasts one of the widest main streets in Europe, due to the grandiose notions of the Second Lord Hartland (d. 1835) who demanded that it be wider than the Ringstrasse in Vienna.
At one end of this tree lined mall lies a magnificent Gothic arch that leads to Strokestown Park House, one of Ireland's finest Palladian houses and seat of the Pakenham Mahon family from 1660 to 1979. The estate was given to Sir Nicholas Mahon in the mid-17th century as a reward for his support of Britain in her programme of colonial expansion.
It now belongs to Westward Garage.
The first Baron Hartland upon accepting a Union peerage in 1800, made several additions and modifications to the house, including the inlaid mahogany doors, chimney-pieces and cornices as well as the library. In 1819 Lieutenant General Thomas Mahon second Lord Hartland, employed the architect J. Lynn to carry out some more improvements, such as the addition of the porch and giant pilasters to the front. Except for the gardens, few changes were later carried out at Strokestown and it remained the centre of a vast 30,000-acre estate until recently.
Major Denis Mahon, who succeeded to Strokestown on the death of the third and last Lord Hartland in 1845, was so unpopular a landlord during the famine years that he was shot whilst returning from a meeting of the Roscommon Relief Committee in 1847, apparently on suspicion of having chartered unseaworthy ships to transport emigrants from his estate to America.
His successors were much better regarded and his great-granddaughter and last owner, Mrs Olive Hales-Pakenham-Mahon, was a much loved figure in this part of Ireland. She died in 1981, leaving a house filled with the trappings of three centuries of unbroken family occupation.
(extracts from "Irish Country Houses" (Appletree Press))
The cache is a suspended metal nano/micro. Bring your own pen and name and date only please.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)