Rockfield House
NAME Rockfield House/Rockfields/Cluain Mhuire
AREA LOCATION Blackrock, Newtown Park Avenue.
MAP LOCATION OSI maps of 1838-1845 and 1898-1913 place it in the townland of
Rockfield and it is annotated as Rockfield House on both.
GENERAL Rockfield House was built c1760 on the 200 acre Rockfield Estate and
is reminiscent of a French Georgian Chateau with a splayed high apex roof. A three storey
over basement with five bays with a beautifully carved Venetian window on the top storey
above the entrance. It is now part of Cluain Mhuire run by St John of God. Its facade is
protected, as are its entrance gates and piers topped with pineapples on Temple Hill
together with gatelodge (just beside the ESB sub-station) possibly by LA McDonnell in
1905. *The house was split in the 1920's/30's . 'The larger part of the house with its entrance
through the granite piers on Newtownpark Avenue retained the name Rockfield, while the
part facing onto Newtownpark Avenue was named Garramore and given a new entrance
(still extant) further up Newtownpark Avenue.' Between 1914 and 1917 it became Rockfield
Auxiliary Hospital. The southern wing (ugly and not protected) was added c1900. It now sits
on just over 4 acres.
YEAR BUILT circa 1760
VALUATION In 1912 the valuation was 200 pounds and in the 1901 census it is
noted as having 30 rooms occupied by the family.
ARCHITECT Unknown, alterations for W P Geoghegan by Christopher Jolly in
1899/1900 building contractor.
SOURCES Thom’s directories, contemporaneous newspapers, NAI Census &
Wills, F E Ball and OSI Maps
OCCUPANTS
Land held by Jonathan Hogg from 1862
C1772 Lord Townsend's summer retreat
1776 Mr William Ralphson
Thomas Manning
Sir Frederick Flood, Bart, KC & MP
Edward Badham Thornhill
Sir Boyle Roche, MC Dublin Castle
1798 - 1803 Lady Louisa Packenham
1849 - 1873 Valentine O'Brien O'Connor
1874 - 1875 Mrs O'Connor
1876 - 1877 Lewis Heinekey
1878 - 1880 Mrs Heinekey
1881 - 1930 William Purser Geoghegan
1914 - 1918 Rockfield Aux Hospital for 8 patients under Nurse Miss Mary E Hayes
1920 - 1930 House was divided into two separate dwellings
1925 Rockfield Nurses Quarters - Miss E Hutchings, Matron
1935 - 1940 James Calvert - Rockfield
1950 - 1961 Robert and Alix Kelly - Garramore
1935 - 1959 Miss Muriel Plews - Rockfield House
1935 - 1960 Miss Gertrude Plews - Rockfield House
1935 - 1940 O Regan, MC - Garramore
1960 - 1970 Irish Sisters of Mercy - Private female psychiatric hospital
1961 Road widening scheme stretching from Garramore to Yankee Terrace.
1970 - todate John of Gods (Cluain Mhuire Centre)
STAFF
1901 Mary Wynne - Nurse
Maurice Leakey - Domestic servant
Julia Growney - Kitchen maid
Bridget Dunne - Cook
Charlotte McClelland - Parlour maid
Eliza Duneen - House maid
1911 Miriam E Hodges- Secretary
Charlotte McClelland - Parlour maid
Elizabeth Donineen (Downes?) 1st Housemaid
Katherine Donineen (Downes?) 2nd Housemaid
Lily Rourke - 3rd Housemaid
Mary Jane Dempsey - Cook
Maurice Leahy - Gas engineer/driver
1915 Isaac James Long - Gardener
CURRENT
STATUS Extant and in use
CONTRIBUTORS © June Bow & Karen Poff
* Information courtesy of Patrick Kelly.
DATE June 2017 updated October 2020
NAME Rockfield House/Rockfields/Cluain Mhuire
AREA LOCATION Blackrock, Newtown Park Avenue.
MAP LOCATION OSI maps of 1838-1845 and 1898-1913 place it in the townland of
Rockfield and it is annotated as Rockfield House on both.
GENERAL Rockfield House was built c1760 on the 200 acre Rockfield Estate and
is reminiscent of a French Georgian Chateau with a splayed high apex roof. A three storey
over basement with five bays with a beautifully carved Venetian window on the top storey
above the entrance. It is now part of Cluain Mhuire run by St John of God. Its facade is
protected, as are its entrance gates and piers topped with pineapples on Temple Hill
together with gatelodge (just beside the ESB sub-station) possibly by LA McDonnell in
1905. *The house was split in the 1920's/30's . 'The larger part of the house with its entrance
through the granite piers on Newtownpark Avenue retained the name Rockfield, while the
part facing onto Newtownpark Avenue was named Garramore and given a new entrance
(still extant) further up Newtownpark Avenue.' Between 1914 and 1917 it became Rockfield
Auxiliary Hospital. The southern wing (ugly and not protected) was added c1900. It now sits
on just over 4 acres.
YEAR BUILT circa 1760
VALUATION In 1912 the valuation was 200 pounds and in the 1901 census it is
noted as having 30 rooms occupied by the family.
ARCHITECT Unknown, alterations for W P Geoghegan by Christopher Jolly in
1899/1900 building contractor.
SOURCES Thom’s directories, contemporaneous newspapers, NAI Census &
Wills, F E Ball and OSI Maps
OCCUPANTS
Land held by Jonathan Hogg from 1862
C1772 Lord Townsend's summer retreat
1776 Mr William Ralphson
Thomas Manning
Sir Frederick Flood, Bart, KC & MP
Edward Badham Thornhill
Sir Boyle Roche, MC Dublin Castle
1798 - 1803 Lady Louisa Packenham
1849 - 1873 Valentine O'Brien O'Connor
1874 - 1875 Mrs O'Connor
1876 - 1877 Lewis Heinekey
1878 - 1880 Mrs Heinekey
1881 - 1930 William Purser Geoghegan
1914 - 1918 Rockfield Aux Hospital for 8 patients under Nurse Miss Mary E Hayes
1920 - 1930 House was divided into two separate dwellings
1925 Rockfield Nurses Quarters - Miss E Hutchings, Matron
1935 - 1940 James Calvert - Rockfield
1950 - 1961 Robert and Alix Kelly - Garramore
1935 - 1959 Miss Muriel Plews - Rockfield House
1935 - 1960 Miss Gertrude Plews - Rockfield House
1935 - 1940 O Regan, MC - Garramore
1960 - 1970 Irish Sisters of Mercy - Private female psychiatric hospital
1961 Road widening scheme stretching from Garramore to Yankee Terrace.
1970 - todate John of Gods (Cluain Mhuire Centre)
STAFF
1901 Mary Wynne - Nurse
Maurice Leakey - Domestic servant
Julia Growney - Kitchen maid
Bridget Dunne - Cook
Charlotte McClelland - Parlour maid
Eliza Duneen - House maid
1911 Miriam E Hodges- Secretary
Charlotte McClelland - Parlour maid
Elizabeth Donineen (Downes?) 1st Housemaid
Katherine Donineen (Downes?) 2nd Housemaid
Lily Rourke - 3rd Housemaid
Mary Jane Dempsey - Cook
Maurice Leahy - Gas engineer/driver
1915 Isaac James Long - Gardener
CURRENT
STATUS Extant and in use
CONTRIBUTORS © June Bow & Karen Poff
* Information courtesy of Patrick Kelly.
DATE June 2017 updated October 2020