What's The Name of This Place?

Kintarō Hattori

Hi Folks,

When I've been on the way to Newgrange Farm (a lifetime ago it seems) with the little one, we pass this very impressive looking house. Any idea of the name or it's history? I'm just curious as it's very impressive and in such a fantastic location:


https://www.google.com/maps/@53.7056419,-6.4476486,3a,26.1y,161.04h,90.49t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sEcf-NYDLg-_lKigsuzX0Ug!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DEcf-NYDLg-_lKigsuzX0Ug%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D149.48%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en-GB

burger1979

I dont know the name of the house but I was in it a few years back. No one lives there, but it is owned by now by the Devenish family, they own the old house and lands down the road from that house. That building was being used a kind of corporate retreat i think, offices setup, large rooms, bedrooms etc. There is a chapel/church on site too. It was i believe once owned by a tax lawyer/judge. There is a pond in the back, with a statue of gollum in it. Its a bit freaky looking.

un5byh7sqpd2x0

It goes by the name of Dowth Manor or Netterville, the passage tomb of Dowth is in the next field to the right of your streetview location

HarbourRed56

Hi folks. Saw on the journal.ie yesterday (Mon. 21st 2020) a report about a dig at Dowth Hall. Is this the same building or nearby to it. Small extract below.

"IT’S HARD TO imagine how a passage tomb can be simply forgotten about.

These structures took unfathomable levels of manpower to construct in Neolithic Ireland and were sites of great importance.

But during the centuries between then and now, nature took its toll. The cairns covering some of these the tombs become overgrown with weeds, and then earth, until the previous grand burial site turns into nothing more than an unusual mound.

Newgrange was once like this but has been restored to some of its former glory. All eyes are on it for today’s winter solstice, when a thin beam of light passes through a box above the entrance of the passage and traces it’s way into the main chamber – but this was only discovered in recent decades.

Newgrange itself was re-discovered in 1699 when the mound was quarried.

Its sister tombs of Knowth and Dowth lay overgrown too, with latter remaining in an extremely poor state of repair after it was blown up with dynamite during the 1850s (archaeology has a long way).

There are fleeting mentions over the years to ‘caves’ in the area which may refer to the tombs, and local folk memory.

But no such records existed for the Dowth Hall passage tomb, located quite literally a couple of fields over from the Dowth tomb (yes, one is Dowth and the other is Dowth Hall, it can be confusing) and three kilometres from Newgrange.

It didn’t even exist as a strangely shaped mound in a field. It was right under the nose of the other Boyne valley tombs, yet it had disappeared from the history books.

It grabbed headlines in summer 2018 when it was re-discovered during a survey ahead of restoration work on Dowth Hall – an 18th-century structure built on top of the tomb – by agri-technology firm Devenish, and a subsequent dig in partnership between the company and UCD’s School of Archaeology."

beauf

Govt should buy it back. Make a heritage attraction out if it. The house on top is a ready made Visitor center.

John Hutton

HarbourRed56 wrote: »

Hi folks. Saw on the journal.ie yesterday (Mon. 21st 2020) a report about a dig at Dowth Hall. Is this the same building or nearby to it. Small extract below.

"IT’S HARD TO imagine how a passage tomb can be simply forgotten about.

These structures took unfathomable levels of manpower to construct in Neolithic Ireland and were sites of great importance.

But during the centuries between then and now, nature took its toll. The cairns covering some of these the tombs become overgrown with weeds, and then earth, until the previous grand burial site turns into nothing more than an unusual mound.

Newgrange was once like this but has been restored to some of its former glory. All eyes are on it for today’s winter solstice, when a thin beam of light passes through a box above the entrance of the passage and traces it’s way into the main chamber – but this was only discovered in recent decades.

Newgrange itself was re-discovered in 1699 when the mound was quarried.

Its sister tombs of Knowth and Dowth lay overgrown too, with latter remaining in an extremely poor state of repair after it was blown up with dynamite during the 1850s (archaeology has a long way).

There are fleeting mentions over the years to ‘caves’ in the area which may refer to the tombs, and local folk memory.

But no such records existed for the Dowth Hall passage tomb, located quite literally a couple of fields over from the Dowth tomb (yes, one is Dowth and the other is Dowth Hall, it can be confusing) and three kilometres from Newgrange.

It didn’t even exist as a strangely shaped mound in a field. It was right under the nose of the other Boyne valley tombs, yet it had disappeared from the history books.

It grabbed headlines in summer 2018 when it was re-discovered during a survey ahead of restoration work on Dowth Hall – an 18th-century structure built on top of the tomb – by agri-technology firm Devenish, and a subsequent dig in partnership between the company and UCD’s School of Archaeology."

Dowth Hall is right beside it, to the left in image the OP links to.


The building this thread is about is the Netterville Institute. (This incorporates Dowth Castle, a three story tower house.) It, the red brick building, was built as an almshouse. There is also a medieval church and graveyard right beside it. There is public access to the graveyard OP, go in and have a look next time you are there, you can get right beside the tower house too. There is also a nice memorial to the fenian John Boyle O'Reilly.



The Nettervilles were one of the few Catholic families who kept their land during the penal days.



(The Nettervilles owned Dowth Hall and all the land around it).

John Hutton

I took this atop the Megalithic Passage Tomb of Dowth right beside it.