Belvedere House and Gardens

Belvedere House and Gardens
Native name Irish: Teach Belvedere agus Gairdíní
Belvedere House exterior and the Drawing Room
Type	Country house
Location	Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland
Area	160 acres (65 ha)
Built	1740; 277 years ago (1740)
Architect	Richard Cassels
Architectural style(s)	Palladian
Owner	Westmeath County Council

Belvedere House and Gardens is a country house located approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) from Mullingar (Westmeath's county town) in Ireland on the north-east shore of Lough Ennell. It was built in 1740 as a hunting lodge for Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere by architect Richard Cassels, one of Ireland's foremost Palladian architects. Belvedere House, although not very large, is architecturally significant because of its Diocletian windows and dramatic nineteenth-century terracing. When Robert Rochfort decided to use Belvedere as his principal residence he employed Barthelemij Cramillion, the French Stuccadore, to execute the Rococo plasterwork ceilings which are among the most exquisite in the country.

The landscaped demesne boasts the largest and most spectacular folly in the country, The Jealous Wall, built to block off the view of his estranged brother's house nearby. There is also Victorian walled garden and many hectares of forest. The house has been fully restored and the grounds are well maintained, attracting some 160,000 visitors annually.

The house was initially built by Robert Rochfort as a retreat, having incarcerated his wife in their previous home at Gaulstown, for an alleged affair with his brother Arthur. Arthur was later put on trial and fined £20,000 which he could not pay. Arthur spent 18 years in debtors' prison in Dublin but was released upon Robert's death. Robert built the Jealous Wall after falling out with his brother George, who lived on the adjacent estate at Tudenham. His wife was only released on his death in 1774.

The estate passed to his son George Augustus Rochfort, the 2nd Earl. He was MP for Westmeath from 1761 to 1776 and High Sheriff of Westmeath for 1762. He left for England in 1798 and died in 1814. When his widow died in 1828, Belvedere passed to her grandson Brinsley Butler, 4th Earl of Lanesborough. He rarely visited Belvedere and it was subsequently inherited on his death by his cousin Charles Brinsley Marlay in 1847.