Fascinating history of house once owned by a princess

by Síofra Grant

Tucked away near Lismacaffrey, in the far reaches of Westmeath, sits the beautiful Coolamber House. Visible through a copse of trees, the house and gardens, built in the early 19th century, have born witness to fascinating events through the history of Westmeath and further afield.

Ten years ago, the Durkin family bought and renovated the farmhouse and have lived there since. From 2002 until 2016, the house lay empty following the death of the princess who had taken up residence there following World War II.

The house has a long and colourful history and has been linked to events in history in the most unexpected ways. It has connections from the Louvre to the Olympics. It has been a safe haven and an enterprise, and now Ann Marie Durkin, current owner, has taken on the mammoth task of recording Coolamber’s 200 years of stories.

“My next project for this year is to document the history of the house and the people that lived in it,” Ann Marie said. The project began when she decided to turn a dairy shed on the farm into a sort of Coolamber heritage centre.

“The house is a really significant part of the community, lots of people over the years have worked there, in many different capacities, on the farm or in the house.

“People are coming forward and I’m seeing photographs from different places in the house from nearly 100 years ago – which is brilliant.”

The Durkins have made keeping the integrity of the property intact a top priority. The house used to be much bigger, as during the time of the window tax, it was essentially split in half to save money.

Ann Marie has recently been to Dresden to meet the descendants of the Prince and Princess of Saxony, the last inhabitants of Coolamber. She is also planning to meet the O’Reillys, the original owners.

“Our house is always referred to as the Princesses house because of everyone’s familiarity with the princess that lived there,” she said.

In 1948, Princess Virginia and her husband Prince Ernest of Saxony arrived at Coolamber House, having fled their home in Dresden in 1945.

“It’s just fascinating,” Ann Marie said. “Everyone knows the Prince and Princess but he (Ernest) wrote a book.

“The book was in German, so, as a part of the project, we translated the book, which is called, ‘From the Palace to the Farm’.”

The book is Ernest’s account of his Journey from Dresden, to Paris and all the way to Westmeath.

“He describes the terror of when the Russians invaded Dresden and how he was trying to save some of his family heirlooms.

“They left with nothing because they had fled, but they were actually one of the biggest monarchies in the world, and they owned a crown belonging to St Louis.

“It was a French crown and the prince always believed that it belonged to the French government, so he met with them. When he married Princess Virginia, that was in Paris, and he decided it was best to return the crown.”

The crown that once belonged to St Louis IX was commonly known as ‘The Crown of St Louis’; now, however, it is better known as the ‘Crown of Liége’. It was gifted by the saint to the Dominican Convent there in 1267.

Ernest returned it in 1947 shortly before he came to Ireland. Luckily, Ernest’s good deed served him well and the French government rewarded his kindness generously.

“In return for the crown, the French government bought our house for the Prince.”

That was documented in Ernest’s book and confirmed to be true by his grand niece, who Ann Marie has visited. “She said it was absolutely true.”

Ann Marie clearly cares deeply for the house, and has a passion to tell the stories of those who lived and work there.

She has also been working on uncovering the history of the first family of the house, the O’Reillys.

“Oh they have a fascinating history as well,” she said. “And, we’re meeting some of the descendants of that family in Prague, as well.

“Another interesting thing we found out about are the Nugent O’Reilly family”, from whom the O’Reillys are descendants. “They changed their name from Nugent to O’Reilly at the time because there was no heir.”

The name change made it easier for the family to marry. “So they went from Nugent to O’Reilly.”

The family also have connections to one Ireland’s most notable musicians from before the house was built, when famed blind harpist Turlough O’Carolan composed a piece of music for one of the Nugent daughters.

“When they were Nugents, there was a girl called Grace Nugent, who was the youngest daughter. There was a famous blind harper called O’Carolan, and back then, they (musicians) would have gone around to all the houses to play music.

“When he came to Coolamber, he was asked to compose a piece for the youngest daughter. We’ve found that piece of music now and it’s called Grace Nugent.

“Last Christmas we had a harpist from Longford, who played the harp at one of our Christmas events and I was telling her about this piece of music and she performed it, and it was just a really lovely moment.”

Further down the line in the history of the O’Reillys, Philip O’Reilly is another former resident who stands out. “He represented Ireland in polo and won silver in the Olympics.” That was in the 1908 Summer Olympics. It would be 16 years before Ireland could officially participate in the Olympics as a nation.

Phillip is also buried on the property in the family graveyard.

Ann Marie is working on the project completely solo, aside from communicating with local historians from time to time.

She is looking forward to getting to meet the descendants of those that came before her and discovering even more secrets of the incredible Coolamber House.