Description |
Seat of the Crofts family for over three centuries, "Velvex-town" was occupied by Thomas Crofts in 1814, by T. Lucas Crofts in 1837 and by Reverend William Crofts in the early 1850s. Reverend William held the house and 708 acres from Penrose Fitzgerald and the buildings were valued at £21. Hajba writes that the original house was replaced by an elaborate Italianate mansion in the late 1870s but when this burnt down in 1895 they moved back into their old home. She also writes that Velvetstown is one of the few North Cork houses still occupied by the family that built it. The Irish Tourist Association survey noted in the 1940s that the walls of the Italianate mansion were still standing though the chimneys had been taken down. |