“A little further on is Glenbeg, a place for which nature has done much and art but little. Overhanging the river is a lovely beech walk, perhaps not to be equaled in the kingdom for situation and growth of timber.”
History
Glenbeg House was built in 1626 on lands formerly owned by Sir Walter Raleigh, which were bought by Sir Richard Boyle (the Earl of Cork) just prior to his execution in 1602. The house was built on a forgotten ancient settlement, the remains of which can be found in the foundation stones of the house. Relics of a prior Celtic age in the form of an Ogham Stone at least 2,500 Years old with its distinctive carvings can be seen outside.
The House was built as a Fortified Jacobean Manor by Barnabus Tottenham, a retainer and settler for the Earl of Cork.
Glenbeg is situated on a bluff overlooking the Backwater Valley; the house was surrounded by a large protective wall, known as a 'Bawn', to provide protection in very unstable times.
Tottenham died at the early age of 35 and his widow married John Jackson, from a merchant family located in Cork city whose roots lie in the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Jackson Family was recorded in the Civil Survey of Waterford as living at Glenbeg (Glanbeg) in Ballyduff in 1654. When Cromwell captured the local Castle of Mocollop in 1650 the then current occupant of Glenbeg, John Jackson purchased the ruined castle and lands from Cromwell’s Forces.
The Jacksons acquired several thousand acres of land over the next 200 years, developing large cherry orchards using stones from the Bawn wall and creating Parkland with vistas and features in the style of Capability Brown, one of 18th century England's greatest architects, at Glenbeg.
Glenbeg received its first restoration in the 1820s and 30s. The house was “modernized” in the Georgian Style, large windows were added, ceilings raised, new Stables and Servant Accommodation were built.
Following the devastation of the Irish Potato Famine the house and lands were sold to the Foley family under the Encumbered Estates Act in 1850. Large Famine Cooking Pots can still be seen in the courtyard.
Nelson Trafalgar Foley, the patriarch of the Foley family, originally from Wales, owned a number of properties locally including lucrative fishing and milling businesses. One of their ancestors was Speaker of the House of Parliament while Admiral Thomas Foley, their great-grand uncle, was one of Nelson’s 'Band of Brothers'. Admiral Foley was victorious in the Battles of Copenhagen and Cairo against Napoleon. The Foleys, trained nautical engineers, worked on the development of the steam-powered navies of the United Kingdom, Kingdom of Naples and Roosevelt’s White Fleet.
Nelson Foley's sister, Mary, married in Scotland and gave birth under difficult circumstances to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Conan Doyle’s early years were torturous. His father Charles Altamont Doyle, an alcoholic, was admitted to an asylum leaving the family in poverty. Mary immersed the young Conan Doyle in the illustrious history of her family, allowing him to spend time in Ireland as a child. The Foleys subsequently funded his medical training and provided the early environment here on the Blackwater River for him to develop his writing talent. He would go on to reach world fame through his literary creation, Sherlock Holmes.
The Foleys ultimately sold much of their holdings in Ireland during the land reforms in the 1870s to local farming families and Glenbeg continued its existence as a large family farm.