| Description |
Belvidere is situated close to the shore of Lough Ennell with a ruined castle to the north west. It is a five-bay two-storey over basement former country house or fishing lodge built in the mid-18th century to designs by Richard Castle for Robert Rochfort, who became 1st Earl of Belvedere in 1757. Not long afterwards Rochfort made Belvedere his main home in preference to Gaulstown. Belvedere later passed on to the Marlay Family and then to Lt Col Howard-Bury. This house is very much associated with the Jealous wall, a sham folly, built to the south about 1760 to block out the view of Rochfort or Tudenham, the home of the 1st Earl’s brother George. Following the death of the 2nd Earl of Belvedere in 1814 Belvedere was inherited by his sister Jane, Countess of Lanesborough and descended to her great grandson Charles Brinsley Marlay. It was valued at £37 at the time of Griffith’s Valuation (publ. 1854) when he was resident. It’s valuation had increased to £47 by 1906. Following his death in 1912 he left Belvedere to his cousin, leader of the 1921 Mount Everest expedition Col Charles Howard Bury. When he died in 1963 he left Belvedere to a friend Rex Beaumont who sold the house in 1981 to Westmeath County Council who have restored the house and demesne in recent times. The house and gardens are open to the public and have become a major visitor attraction. |
