Rappa Castle: A Historic Country House in County Mayo
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Ireland
- Primary era
- Unclassified
- Eras represented
- Unclassified
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Manor House
On this page5 sections
History
Rappa Castle is the ruin of a country house in Rappacastle, County Mayo, Ireland. The property was held by the Bourke family before it was granted to Crofton, a soldier in Oliver Cromwell’s forces, after the seventeenth-century reconquest of Ireland. A Cromwellian soldier served in the army involved in that campaign.
The Bourke and Crofton Connection
In the seventeenth century, William Knox of Castlerea, born in 1630, married a daughter of the Crofton family associated with Rappa Castle. Through this marriage, the property entered the Knox family and remained in its possession until the 1920s.
The Knox Estate
Francis Knox, the third son of Francis Knox of Moyne Abbey and Dorothy Annesley, was born in 1726. In 1761 he married Mary Gore of Belleek, the heiress of Rappa, and settled at the property. He later became High Sheriff of Mayo, an office with county administrative and judicial responsibilities.
Rappa passed in 1818 to Francis Knox’s son, Annesley Gore Knox (1768–1839). He served as High Sheriff of Mayo in 1825 and had eight sons. His eldest son, Annesley Knox (1798–1878), inherited the estate and held the office of High Sheriff of Mayo in 1829. After his death, three sons survived him, and Annesley Arthur Knox inherited Rappa. He served as High Sheriff of Mayo in 1884.
Departure of the Knox Family
The Knox family left Rappa after the Irish War of Independence, the 1919–1921 conflict between Irish republican forces and the British government. The property then passed to William Gillespie, who lived in the old house with his 13 children until its upkeep became too expensive.
Gillespie built a new family house in front of the old one. The Gillespie family remained there until 2001, while the remains of the earlier castle survived behind the newer house. Rappa Castle is now listed as a protected structure under County Mayo’s heritage-protection system.
Remains
Rappa Castle survives as the ruins of a country house. The remains of the old castle lie behind the newer Gillespie house, which was built in front of it after the original dwelling became too costly to maintain. This arrangement preserves the physical relationship between the earlier residence and the later family house on the property.
