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Archiver > GENIRE > 1998-06 > 0896792840


From: Tom Magness< >
Subject: Re: COX of Wexford
Date: 2 Jun 1998 06:07:20 -0700


>From 100 Wexford Country Houses by Dan Walsh

Coolcliffe, co. Wexford, was built in 1727 by Arthur Cox. It contained
a floor area of 3,670 square feet, and was a five bay two storey house
facing north with a bow in the western cable and no basement. Entrance
was throught an ornamental granite doorway with a fanlight window above
it. All the windows had a granite dressing. Interior highlights
included a magnificent free standing spiral staircase of twenty-five
steps, and a lounge with bow windows, that featured a white mantlepiece,
where dances and grand balls wer held.

Entrance to Coolcliffe was via a half-mile long avenue with a gate-lodge
of contemporary design at its head. Enhancing the beauty of Coolcliffe
was a lawn that covered twenty acres. It had cut-stone steps leading
from one level to another as the land sloped towards the Coragh river.

By 1784, John Cox was in charge, and this man's son, William Allen Cox,
was executed by the insurgents during the 1798 Rebellion. Sir William
Cox occupied the house in 1837, and Thomas Lacy writing in 1863,
described Coolcliffe as "lately the residence of Sir William Cox." John
Barden was the recorded owner in 1876.

Last lived in by the Gannon family in 1965, Coolcliffe is now a ruin.

Derived from Sights and Scenes of Our Fatherland by Thomas Lacey,
published in 1863, Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis,
published in 1837, and Landowners of Ireland, published by Her Majesty's
Stationary Office in 1876.

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