Newhall House and Estate

Newhall is an Irish country estate near Ennis in County Clare, which includes a 17-bedroom 17th-century Georgian country house. The estate, held by successive members of the gentry, contains a holy well, and has an associated legend concerning a mermaid. It also includes gate lodges, woodlands, parklands, lakes and Killone Abbey, a national monument (founded 1190 by Donald Mor O’Brien meaning ‘the Great’ O’Brien, King of Thomond, for nuns of the rule of St. Augustine) and Saint John the Baptist Holy Well which is recognised by the Catholic church as a miracle well for sore eyes, headaches and toothaches.

History
In 1544 King Henry VIII of England granted Kilone Abbey and the parish of Killone, including Newhall, and much other property in County Clare to Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond. This is after Murrough gifted the crown of Thomond to the King of England. In 1580 Killone Castle was the property of the Baron of Inchiquin. There is now no trace of the castle beyond Newhall House.

The original house was bought from the O'Briens by their cousin Charles MacDonnell (MP for Clare) in 1764 who greatly extended the property building on a new front, probably designed by Francis Bindon. Occupied by Robert and Florence Vere O'Brien in the 1890s though Slater notes it as a seat of Charles R.A. MacDonnell in 1894. It was a home of the Joyce family of County Galway in the 20th century.

In 2016, the house was purchased by the Commane family, a local family originating ancestrally from Newhall, and who are restoring it to its original form.

Saint John the Baptist Holly Well
In the year 1190, Saint John's well was founded by Donald Mor O’Brien. It is situated on the Newhall estate, a few miles from the town of Ennis. The ruins of the Monastery are still to be seen. It is now used as a graveyard. Some people go out, on Saint John's feastday and do the rounds in their bare feet, in honour of his feastday. In one account collected by researchers, it was described thus: "It is the principal well in Clare. When you pass the well, the first thing you notice is a big lake, where people go out boating. It is a lovely place to go in the Summer for a walk."

Architecture
President of the Irish Georgian Society, the Knight of Glin said "Newhall is considered to be one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the county. It is a three-storey house with a pink brick façade. The design is attributed to Francis Bindon." To the south east of the property a large dungeon exists and a tunnel runs down to the lake approximately 8 feet deep connecting the cellars.

Legend of the Mermaid
County Clare folklore tells how a member of the O’Brien family living in Newhall house close to Killone Lake noticed supplies of wine in his cellar were being inexplicably depleted.

Convinced there was a thief and determined to catch the culprit, one night he stayed up late and discovered the perpetrator was a mermaid who swam upstream to the house from the lake. Recovering from his surprise, he shot the creature and wounded her (in other versions a servant scalded her badly with a pot of boiling water).

Bleeding profusely and screaming in pain, she fled back to her habitual abode, but not before delivering a curse: ‘As the mermaid goes on the sea/So shall the race of O’Briens pass away/Till they leave Killone in wild weeds.’ It was also said that every seven years the lake turned red, an evocation of the mermaid’s blood.

This was among the legends collected and published over a century ago by Thomas Johnson Westropp who noted, ‘The lake, like the stream already noted at Caherminaun, turns red at times from iron scum and red clay after a dry summer. This is supposed to be caused by the local Undine’s blood, and to foretell a change of occupants in Newhall. Strange to say, I saw it happen last when the place was let by MacDonnells to the O’Briens.

The cellar at Newhall has its outer section roofed with large slabs, and the inner consists of long, low, cross vaults. In the end of the innermost recess is a built-up square patch, which sound hollow, and is said to show the opening closed to keep out the thievish mermaid.’