Meet the Characters

Brian Ború  
c. 941 – 1014 AD

The founder of the O’Brian dynasty, whose direct descendants would eventually build Dromoland Castle. 

Brian Boru, known as Ireland’s “Last High King”, was a busy man. He rose to power as the King of Thomond (an area centred around what is now modern County Clare) but that was just the beginning. Over the course of his lifetime, he won an unrelenting stream of wars and conquests, defeating invading Viking forces and working his way through an astonishing list of more that 150 challenger kings across Ireland, until he was literally the last king standing. As the only monarch in Irish history to ever actually rule the entire island, it could also be said that Brian Boru was Ireland’s first true High King.

His authority was hard won, requiring constant defence and continual campaigns to subjugate various holdouts and upstarts. This included two full circuits of Ireland in 1005 and 1006, when Brian was in his 60s: a very great age for anyone in that time period. By 1011, the last of the challengers was finally put down, and Brian was acknowledged as the undisputed High King of Ireland.

Briefly.

In 1012 Brian’s old enemy, Máel Mórda mac Murchada of Leinster, rose up in rebellion, aided by Viking forces from Orkney and the Isle of man. The two year struggle came to a head in the great Battle of Clontarf on Good Friday, 23 April 1014. The fighting was brutal. When it was over, an estimated 10,000 men were dead, including both Máel Mórda and the mighty Brian Boru. His men had won the day by a narrow margin, but the reign of Ireland’s Last High King was over.

But his bloodline was strong. Six centuries later, the O’Brien (“son of Brian”) dynasty were still among the most powerful clans in Ireland, with their lands still centred around what was the original Kingdom of Thomond. In 1642, 23 generations after Brian Boru, Sir Donogh of Dromoland was born.

Máire Rua  
c. 1615 – 1686 
Mother of Sir Donough (Donat) O’Brien (1st Baronet) 

Maire Rua (Red Mary) was a powerful woman in 17th century Ireland and she lives on as a notable (and often notorious) figure in Irish history and folklore. She had a shrewd head for business and a knack for advantageous alliances, which allowed her to hold onto the vast estate that would become Dromoland through some of Ireland’s most volatile times.

Legend has it that Maire Rua was a ruthless, bloodthirsty woman, a murderous black widow who dispatched a dozen (or even two dozen) husbands and engaged in all manner of…“unladylike”…behaviour. It’s difficult to say whether any of the terrible stories have a kernel of truth or whether they’re just the sort of slanderous nonsense that history tends to throw at powerful women. What we do know is that Maire’s second husband, Conor O’Brien, at least lived long enough to give her eight children.

The eldest, Donough, was only a child when his father was killed. Maire had nothing to do with this death: Connor died fighting for Irish independence against Oliver Cromwell’s forces. This should have meant confiscation of the O’Brien estate, at best, but Maire wasn’t about to let that happen. To secure Donough’s birthright, Maire proposed to—and married—a Cromwellian officer named John Cooper, and sent young Donough off to England to be educated. He became known as Donat, a less obviously Irish form of his name, to help him blend in with the English aristocracy. When he came of age and returned to Ireland, Donough moved the family seat from Leamaneh Castle, near Corofin, to a 16th century tower house in Dromoland, on the same site where the hotel stands today. Maire joined him there to live out her remaining years.

There’s no evidence that John Cooper went with them, which is probably just as well.

Sir Donough (Donat) O’Brien  
1642-1717 
1st Baronet 

Sir Donough wasn’t born a Sir. While his parents both came from aristocratic Irish lines, neither of them held a hereditary title. However, he was born rich, and he made the most of it. He had inherited his mother’s business acumen, but not her ruthless streak. Donough devoted himself to building vital infrastructure and investing in local villages, such as Newmarket-on-Fergus and Corofin. As his projects grew, so did his wealth, until people began to call him “the richest commoner in Ireland.”

Whether this rankled him, we’ll never know, but when England’s King James II was running out of money, Donough had the opportunity to upgrade his social standing. In exchange for an undisclosed fee and a promise to fund a troop of soldiers for the defence of the realm, Donough was able to purchase a hereditary title. A commoner no more, Donough O’Brian became the 1st Baronet.

Catherine Keightly 
Married Lucius O’Brien in 1707 

Donough’s son and heir was a sad disappointment. It must be said that Lucius O’Brien was not a particularly distinguished member of the family. Prone to running up huge debts with his bad habits and getting himself into terrible situations with his bad decisions, he did not even live long enough to inherit the Dromoland estate.

He did manage to marry a rich and well-connected woman—Catherine Keightly—who was a first cousin of England’s Queen Anne, and have four children with her. But before long, Lucius was off gallivanting again, leaving his young family behind in Ireland. In 1717, while frolicking in France, Lucius was taken ill, ultimately dying from an ulcer of the liver. He was just 41 years old. That same year, Sir Donough also died, which meant that his title passed directly to his 12 year old grandson, Edward, along with his vast fortune and lands.

The little 2nd Baronet was much too young to manage his own affairs, let alone a massive estate, so Catherine had to step in. She controlled Dromoland on Edward’s behalf until he came of age, making many improvements in that time and probably deciding many of the features of the walled gardens. At this point the 16th century tower house was severely out of fashion: draughty, dreary, and without much style. In 1730, it was demolished, and construction began on a new iteration of Dromoland Castle. This mansion was built in the ‘Queen Anne’ or Palladian style, and its design was very likely influenced by Catherine’s tastes. Not much remains of this building, which would eventually make way for the gothic baronial Castle we know and love today, but the current Queen Anne Court, which formed part of the mansion’s stables and now contains 29 guest rooms, was rebuilt inside and redecorated in 1963, when the castle was redesigned as a hotel.

Sir Edward O’Brien 
1705 – 1765 
2nd Baronet 

Sir Edward O’Brien was obsessed with two things: building and horses. Both of these passions made a substantial impression on Dromoland Castle. Along with the new Queen Anne Castle and the “pleasure gardens”, constructed under the direction of his mother, Edward and his architect John Aheron scattered Dromoland’s landscape with a variety of interesting features that remain among the estate’s most beloved landmarks: the octagonal lily pond, the grotto, the Belvedere, and the Temple of Mercury.

The Temple of Mercury, or so the story goes, was constructed as a memorial to one Very Important Horse. Edward could occasionally get a little overexcited when it came to horse racing. After all. he was one of Ireland’s most famous and successful horse breeders. On one occasion, he was so fired up that he bet the entire estate on the outcome of a single race. Happily, he won, or we probably wouldn’t be writing this today. Sean Buis, the lucky horse, came home to a hero’s welcome, and when his earthly days were done, was given a hero’s burial beneath fleet-footed Mercury’s monument.

One more sign of Edward’s love for his racehorses can still be found at Dromoland Castle. Etched into an arch in the Queen Anne Courtyard are the latin words “In Equus Patrum Virrus”, meaning “the strength of a nation is in its horses.”

Perhaps. But closer to home, the truth was that Dromoland’s horse-mad Baronet’s excesses were rapidly weakening the estate’s financial position. Construction projects and horse races have one thing in common. They’re expensive, and Edward had no problem spending on them. It’s lucky, then, that the bride his mother chose for him came to Dromoland with a £20,000 dowry. In today’s terms, that’s almost $7.5 million USD. This renewal of the family’s fortunes would come in handy.

Sir Lucius O’Brien 
1731-1795 
3rd Baronet 

By anyone’s standards, this Lucius was a huge improvement over the last Lucius. He was also much more sensible and dependable than his father, Edward, had ever been. A scholar, astute politician, and a champion of progress, the 3rd Baronet just loved making things better.

He was a Dublin MP who was largely responsible for the construction of the Grand Canal, which transformed transport in Ireland, and an early backer of Arthur Guinness, because he believed beer was healthier than whiskey and thought the brewing industry should be supported. When he felt Ireland’s progress was impeded by England’s unreasonable trade barriers, he was at the forefront of the movement that eventually led to the first independent Irish Parliament. While the parliament eventually disbanded under political and financial pressure, it was a landmark moment in Ireland’s history, and a massive accomplishment for this distinguished son of Dromoland.

Lady Charlotte 
Married Edward O’Brien,
the 4th Baronet, in 1799 

Lady Charlotte arrived in Dromoland on the eve of another great change for the estate. Her husband, Edward, had decided to tear down the Queen Anne mansion and replace it with something better. Much better. He wanted the new Dromoland Castle to be a masterpiece, but he had inherited his father’s seat in parliament, along with his title, and it meant he spent much of his time away from home. His wife, however, was an educated, and capable woman, so Edwardl left the project in her hands. The final result was the magnificent gothic-revival Dromoland Castle that we all enjoy today, thanks to Lady Charlotte. She oversaw most of the 15 year construction process, including one very special feature: the region’s first flushing indoor toilet.

Outside of her duties as site manager, Lady Charlotte had many absorbing projects of her own. She was passionate about education, and opened several elementary schools in the area. This wasn’t well received by the locals (who had their own ideas about educating their own children) and soon closed down, but she didn’t seem discouraged. There was always another good deed to do. In 1822, she decided to open an embroidery school, which was much more popular. Embroidery was a hugely valuable skill, especially for young women with few other options at this point in history.

The school’s fortunes would rise and fall over the decades. It closed in 1830, because a critical mass of pupils kept emigrating to America, only to reopen in the 1840s, while the Great Famine raged. Charlotte’s daughter Grace took over operations, keeping the girls employed and fed, while Charlotte herself organised daily food distributions to every hungry person who showed up at Dromoland’s gate. As the local area slowly recovered, the school closed its doors again, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Decades later, Florence Vere O’Brien, who had married Charlotte’s grandson, brought it back to life on a much grander scale. While poking around in the family archives, Florence fell in love with some of Charlotte’s old lace patterns. Inspired, she threw herself into the artform, launching lace-making classes in Ennis, starting the hugely successful “Clare Embroidery” business, and reviving the fortunes of “Limerick Lace”, a company that had fallen on hard times. Florence became an internationally renowned designer, and her work won prizes at two World Fairs: Chicago in 1893, and St. Louis in 1904.

Today, the O’Brien women’s passion for textiles lives on in Charlotte & Co, Dromoland Castle’s Boutique, which champions the best of independent Irish design in all its forms.