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Riversdale House
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Riverdale house is situated at Knockvicar that is seven miles outside Carrick on Shannon over looking lovely Lough key. This building is one of Irelands few Georgian houses. A landlord called George French built it around 1792. He came from England. At the time there were 600 acres of land with the house. The next owner was a Dr Frazer the owner until his death. He was an army doctor and he kept his medicine in alcoves under the stairs. The last of Dr Frazer's family are not long dead. Dr Frazer's daughter happened to meet her husband Captain C.J O Sullivan who was attached to the Connacht Rangers in Boyle in the early part of the Century at a garden party in Rockingham. She became the world famed screen actress, Maureen O Sullivan. The house was now in perfect condition. Mr Nutley a Protestant orange man was the next owner. He had a stud farm and lived in this house for only fifteen years. |
After Mr Nutley, Captain Ash was the next owner. Captain Ash was called to the war and the house was left derelict for a couple of years and was by then in poor condition. In 1941 it was brought by a Miss Burke and is still in that name. In 1941 the whole estate was bought for £1.400. The farmland attached to Riverdale house has a historical background. It has the remains of a monastery, which was known, as a Cistercian monastery. The monastery was devastated, by English setters in 1599 which was after The Battle of the Curlews, the same time as Boyle Abbey. The Bishops seat was down at Knockvicar Locks and its remains are now of historical interest. Riversdale house with its large acreage of farmland provides facilities for both young and old. It is now a thriving guesthouse.