Belvedere House, Gardens & Park
Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
Tel: 044 49060
Fax: 044 49002
Standing in 160 acres of gardens and parkland on
the shores of Lough Ennell, Belvedere House, Gardens &
Park offer visitors one of the finest of Ireland's historic
houses together with beautifully restored gardens. The
magnificent Palladian mansion was built around 1740 for
Robert Rochfort, later 1st Earl of Belvedere. By all
accounts, Rochfort was a deeply unpleasant man. After accusing
his young wife of adultery with his younger brother
Arthur, he kept her prisoner in a nearby house for 31 years.
Arthur fled to England. When he returned to Ireland 20 years
later, the earl promptly sued him for adultery. Unable to pay the legal costs, Arthur spent the rest of his
life in gaol.
The earl also quarreled with another brother, George, who lived at Tudenham House just
across from Rochfort's mansion. To block out any view of Tudenham House, which was built on a far
grander scale than Belvedere House, the earl ordered the building of the
Jealous Wall, an impressive Gothic folly said to be the most extensive man-made `ruin' in Ireland. It stands three storeys high and
extends for 180ft.
The interior of Belvedere House has recently been completely restored and refurnished
using authentic period furnishings. Its most glorious features are the curved balustrade staircase and
the dazzling rococo plasterwork ceilings believed to have been created by the French stuccodore
Barthelemij Cramillion. The country house historian Marc Girouard wrote of the scrollwork in the
drawing-room that "it flickers and crackles like flames across the edge of the ceilings and stretches out a long tongue into
the curved recess of the bow window".
The visitor center at Belvedere House contains exhibits detailing the history of the house and
the flora and fauna that flourish in the grounds, while in the modern audio-visual theatre the tragic
story of the first earl's wife is told. Outside, there are two restaurants and a shop off the courtyard;
for children, a discovery & play area alongside an animal sanctuary.
