Robert French - Bryansford House, Newcastle, Co. Down

For a dull and wet Thursday morning in Dublin we head up to the "Wee North" today to gather some sunshine in Newcastle! Bryansford House looks like a significant pile with a certain symmetry to its frontage suggesting - almost- a semi-detached building?..We learned that this house was the main estate house at Tollymore Park demense - now an NI state forest park of the same name ( Tollymore_Forest_Park ) . Originally built for James Hamilton, Earl Clanbrassil ( James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Clanbrassil (second creation) ) in the 1730s, it was the family seat for several generations of the Earls of Roden ( Earl_of_Roden ) , who developed the estate lands. The house itself fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1952. The estate, its forest, follies, barns and bridges (some of which we have visited before ( ...nlireland/9248163576/ ) ) thankfully survive.......Photographer: Robert French. .Collection: Lawrence Photograph Collection ( http://catalogue.nli.ie/Collection/vtls000313414 ) . .Date: Catalogue range c.1865-1914. Likely after c.1880. .NLI Ref: L_CAB_02393 ( vtls000338136 ) . .You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie ( http://catalogue.nli.ie )