Documenting our Heritage

Ballymartle House,

Co. Cork

Page 1

I found Ballymartle mentioned in some ancient tatty book.

Now it’s actually great to see the house in the ‘flesh’ and find the walls still standing.

Not a cloud in the sky and I’m shooting straight into the sun

- the photography is a nightmare so bare with me here!

Looking up a wonderfully ornate staircase to the front door

Try to picture this without the undergrowth -

Ballymartle house must of been stunning in it’s day.

The remains of a table - looks like it was snuck under the front entrance for some protection against the weather?

The interior of the house is in poor condition.

The entire structure has rotted and collapsed from the roof down to the basement. We’ve dropped down here through the front door into the basement - we look back up at the front door which hangs open.

The remains of the cellar - this basement room is just under the main entrance corridor. Ballymartle seems to have an unusual layout, the narrow entrance corridor leads into a central hall with the main staircase then off to the right.

There’s fire damage in one corner of the house, but the rest seems to be just rotted and collapsed.

Maybe the roof was removed at some time and then the weather just took its toll?