A Field Trip to Emo Court seemed an ideal choice for the 22nd Gerard Manley Hopkins Festival. In most beautiful suroundings, visitors can explore past Jesuit links and links to a more leisurely aspect of Ireland's past.
Emo Court, with its Jesuit links is a ideal choice for a field trip for the 2009 Hopkins Festival. Emo Court is located near the village of Emo in County Laois, Ireland, is a large neo-classical mansion, formal and symmetrical in its design and with beautifully proportioned rooms inside. It was designed by the architect James Gandon in 1790 for the first Earl of Portarlington. It is the only house to have been designed by Gandon. Other buildings by him include the Custom House and Kings Inns, both in Dublin. Gandon was so busy with his work in Dublin that he found little time to work on Emo Court. This may be one of the reasons that it took so many years for Emo Court to be made habitable, let alone finished.
The Gardens
The gardens are divided into two main areas. The Clucker, which contains some fine and rare specimen trees and a vast range of azaleas and rhododendrons and other shrubs. This part of the garden is at its magnificent best in late Spring. The Grapery is an arboretum though which wind a series of pathway, each opening to vistas across the surrounding Slieve Bloom Mountains or towards the house. This is a marvellous place to visit in Autumn especially when it is a blaze of dramatic colours.
Irish Jesuits Acquire Emo Court in 1930
Jesuit Novices at work in Emo Court
In 1929, the Society of Jesus decided to look for a new novitiate house which would be suitably remote and peaceful. Emo Court with 280 acres of land was bought for £2,000.
In August, the new Novitiate of the Irish Province was opened and 52 novices moved from St Stanislaus ' College, Rahan, Tullamore . A large shed (called the ambulacrum ) was raised at the back of the house so that exercise could still be taken in bad weather. This shelter was used as a temporary chapel while alterations were being made within the house. A chapel was built by amalgamating the rotunda and the (now) library and removing columns, doors, a mantlepiece and walls. Anything that was removed was stored in the basement.
The ballroom or saloon (originally the library) at the east end of the house became the community refectory, and the marble columns here too were removed and stored.
By the late 60s, there were only 15 Novices, of whom 6 had dropped out during their two years training. It was exceedingly expensive to run the house for so few men, so the Jesuits left Emo for Manresa House in Dollymount, Dublin . Over 500 young men had begun their lives as Jesuits at Emo .
Father Browne SJ lived at Emo Court
One of the first Jesuit priests based in Emo Court was Father Frank Browne SJ (1880-1960). He is remembered as a brilliant photograper who left an archive of some 42,000 photographs of Irish people, castles, cottages, and everyday scenes.
Father Browne also had links with the ill-fated Titanic. Somebody had kindly bought the young Jesuit a ticket for the ship's voyage from Southampton in England to Cherbourg, France, and then to Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland. Browne took many photos onboard.
The story goes that an American couple he met on the ship had offered to pay for his voyage from Ireland to New York. Browne telegraphed his Jesuit provincial in Dublin from the Titanic, asking permission to accept the generous offer. A cable came back: "GET OFF THAT SHIP - PROVINCIAL" . Browne later described the event as "the only time holy obedience saved a man's life."
The Jesuits were excellent landlords and turned the grounds into a productive farm and orchard and used part of them for playing fields. Some drastic changes were made in the interior, to provide a chapel and assembly room. The Jesuits wanted functional space and the architecture was not their primary concern. But, without their intervention, it is more than likely that Emo Court would have suffered the fate of many big houses at the time. They were simply abandoned and left to fall into decay. Some stand as picturesque ruins, others have disappeared without a trace.
