Coopershill House

The original owner’s of Coopershill House (co-ordinates 54.1381 -8.4154) Arthur and Sarah Cooper lived in a 16th century house which was alongside the Drumfin to Riverstown road, this building is still standing today, though it is now used to store hay and straw.

In the early 1750s, Arthur and Sarah Cooper decided to build a new house for themselves and they engaged an architect and a builder, placed two buckets of gold sovereigns on the ground and instructed them to build a grand manor house on a nearby hill.

The building of the house started in 1755 under one of the best known architects of the time, Francis Bindon, of Ennis in County Clare, and took a staggering nineteen years to build, finally being completed in 1774.

Coopershill was first occupied by Arthur and Sarah‘s son, Arthur Brooke Cooper, who married Jane Francis O’Hara from nearby Annaghmore or Nymphsfield as it was then known.

A long winding drive through ancient woods and deer pastures brings you to the enormous front door of this splendid grey granite three-storied Georgian Mansion.

Coopershill House has been home to eight generations of the O’Hara family, and which contains many of the original 18th century features and furniture, with eight elegant bedrooms each with a particular distinguishing feature.

With 14 foot high ceiling’s throughout the house, the dining room has the wall portraits of the O’Hara ancestors peering down on the visitors.

Antique tables are beautifully set with Irish crystal and bone-handled cutlery.

Nestled on 500 acres of estate farmland and woodland, Coopershill also have Peacocks which wander elegantly on the croquet lawns and roost in the splendid trees around the house at night.

Coopershill is not open to the public for tours, but instead, you may stay in this fascinating house, as it is now open as a hotel.