 |
| It has been suggested that this was designed by James Gandon, although others have pointed out that while this is certainly feasible, certain elements, most notably the head and keystone of the arch, appear to be of a later date and have provincial character. |
| From the mid nineteenth century as with so many other estates, things started to go downhill for the fortunes of the Crofton's and their big house. While not among the best examples of improving landlords did keep their rents low and endeavored to help their tenants as much as possible. In 1865 a fire destroyed the entire house of Mote Park, as another had destroyed their caslte a century previously. While the house was being rebuilt in 1866, the family occuppied the old barrack room in the farmyard. From the 1870's onwards, the one feared power of the Landlord was on the decline. Despite the Land Acts, tenants made no effort to purchase their land. Arrears of rent increased with arrears accounting for over 30% of total rent received by the 1890's. It is clear that the house itself was also falling into disrepair as evidenced in the photgraph of sheep grazing on what were once pristine gardens |
 |
 |
 |
| CROFTON HOUSE AUCTION |
| Lord Edward Crofton died in 1912 to be buried in the family vault at Killmaine. In many respects, he had become disillusioned with life on the estate long before his death, showing little interest in his Irish properties. Instead, he preferred, among other things, his role of Representative Peer at Westminster. As he was a bachelor, his title, along with the subsequently conferred superior title of baron was passed to his nephew, Arthur Edward. Although he took a practical interest in his inheritence, the of the Land Acts meant most of the estate was sold to piecemeal in the early twentieth century. Ownership of what was left was passed on to his children and then to his grandson, Edward Blaise, to whom the title eventually passed. He was the last Crofton to reside at Mote, but moved to England in the 1940's. A sign that the final demise of the big house was forthcoming as evidenced by the public auction of October, 1947. It drew quite a large public interest as evidenced by the photograph taken of the house on the morning of the auction. |
|
| The 1950's and early 1960's saw the final nail driven in the big house's coffin, the Land Commission demolished the house completely. Much of the beautiful woods that surrounded the house were cut down, and replaced with newmixed species. The remaining land was divided int o several properties for families transferred from nearby congested districst. Now, instead of the big house, many smaller farm houses remain scattered over what was once the Crofton Estate. While the present Lord Crofton Guy, son of Edward Blaise, lives and works as a diplomat in Germany. Mote Park still attarracts many visitors however, marketed now as a heritigage walkway, almost 10 miles in length and taking in whatever original features still remianing in tact. |