When Utred Augustus Knox finished construction on his country manor house built as a gift for his would-be bride in 1876 he scarcely could have imagined what the world would become 150-years later. The current caretakers of Knox’s family home are celebrating his vision and his labour of love now in the sesquicentennial year of Mount Falcon.
Mount Falcon stands today as a stately yet comfortable-in-its-surroundings reminder of a bygone era of Victorian ideals. Morality and technological as well as cultural advancement defined how the upper-crust sought to build their vision of an English lifestyle in the West of Ireland. The home, though modest by some standards of the landed gentry, has an elite pedigree having been designed by renowned architect James Franklin Fuller, designer of several Guinness-family retreats as well as what is today known as Kylemore Abbey.
The larger estate, which originally covered over 2,000 acres, has survived the Great Famine era, the Industrial Revolution, two World Wars, the fight for Irish Independence, the time of the Troubles, the dawn of the Space Age and the Information Age, and now well into the 21st Century. Mount Falcon is a testament to the enduring nature of its builders, owners, and visitors who still look to the home as a space that exists nearly outside of time and away from the concerns of modern life, regardless of the century.
This year the family and staff of Mount Falcon will be celebrating that longevity of construction and vision as well as welcoming the many guests who will enter the main hall to feel the warmth of the turf fire and soak in the calm of this gem of the West.
While Mount Falcon began life as a family home it has always been a place for visitors to escape their busy lives in a bucolic setting. From its earliest days Mount Falcon welcomed extended family and friends to give its residents access to country pursuits like fishing, hunting, horseback riding, and even just spending time walking the estate to take in the fresh country air. But it was the Aldridge family who paved the way for Mount Falcon to eventually become one of Ireland’s great hotels.
Major Robert Aldridge and his wife Constance, affectionately known by later generations as just Connie, eventually turned Mount Falcon into a guesthouse after World War II and hosted visitors until 2000 when at the age of 91 Connie sold the estate. Though the Major died in the Autumn of 1976 he and Connie played host to celebrities and dignitaries throughout their run as Mount Falcon’s first hoteliers. Among those who were able to enjoy Connie’s renowned hospitality were Vivien Leigh of Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire, Inspector Jaques Clouseau himself of the Pink Panther, Peter Sellers, former Irish president Dr. Patrick Hillary and former Taoiseach Jack Lynch.
Connie and her husband’s work laid the foundation for what Mount Falcon was to become. Though Connie died in 2003 her legacy lives on in today’s Mount Falcon hotel. The estate house was briefly owned and partially refurbished before Alan Maloney and his brothers, Barry and Michael purchased the property in 2002 and undertook a massive renovation and construction project to create what we know today as the Mount Falcon hotel. The Maloney family was inspired by Connie’s work and reputation and the heritage that she, her husband and successive generations of the Knox family worked tirelessly to preserve. Today Mount Falcon has 100-acres of wooded and manicured estate land, walking trails, a Falconry, clay pigeon shooting range, luxurious spa and leisure centre, a fishing lake, and 2-miles of fishery on the River Moy, which is still known as one of Europe’s, if not the world’s, best salmon fisheries.
To arrive at Mount Falcon today is to participate in a legacy stretching back over a century and a half of community and hospitality. The land, as ever, is the centre piece of an estate that in contemporary terms represents a lineage of devoted owners and caretakers whose love of the outdoors is the very reason they poured so much of themselves and their fortunes into building and keeping this home. A warm hearth, a good meal, and an excellent host remain trademarks of the Mount Falcon offering. As the founding partner of the hotel, Alan Maloney continues the tradition of welcoming guests from around the world and down the road to his home. Just as Connie did for decades, Alan plays host to locals celebrating birthdays and christenings alongside todays Hollywood royalty, sporting legends and political figures.
Since 1876 the manor house at Mount Falcon has been a constant on the landscape. Standing in front of the original Scottish Baronial façade one can, without much effort, imagine the home as it was a century ago with family and staff mulling about inside busy with the chores and concerns of everyday life in turn-of-the-century rural Ireland. For today’s staff of the hotel, it is one of their goals to help first time visitors and returning guests alike feel when they walk through the large wooden front door and see the fireplace burning that they are coming home to a welcoming experience just as past guests have.
