The first mention of a manor on the land is following the
Norman invasion of Ireland. In 1226,
King Henry III gave a grant to
Justiciary of Ireland Geoffroi de Morreis (de Marisco) to hold an eight-day annual fair following the Feast of
St. James at his Manor of Adare. The lands subsequently were granted to the Earls of Kildare, members of the Welsh-Norman
FitzGerald family who came to Ireland in 1169. In 1536, the
act of attainder was passed against
Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare, whose lands, castles and manors were forfeited to the crown. In a letter dated 24 March 1547, the boy king
Edward VI granted the
Earls of Desmond "the manors and dominions of Croom and Adare, in the county of Limerick, to hold for life." The grant was short lived; the
Desmond Rebellions brought control of the lands to the
St. Leger family. For the next century, the lands passed from 10 families: St. Leger,
Zouch, Gold, Rigges, Wallop,
Norreis (Norris),
Jephson, Evans, Ormesby (Ormsby), and then Quin. Thady Quin, Esq. (1645–1726) of Gortfadda,
County Leitrim, purchased the
moiety in 1669 and continued to add surrounding land through 1702. He received the last
land grant for Adare, on 16 December 1684, to hold the lands for a thousand years, "paying to Gilbert Ormsby and his heirs the rent of £230." The earliest section of the first manor house was presumably a square or oblong tower, likely erected by Thady Quin at the end of the 17th century. The
deed of conveyance, dated 23 February 1721, transferred the following land to Thady's eldest son, Valentine Quin: Valentine Quin was the grandfather of
Valentine Richard Quin (1752–1824), the first Earl of Dunraven. Valentine Richard Quin, MP for
Kilmallock (1799–1800), was created a Baronet of Great Britain in 1781 and was raised to the peerage in 1800 as Baron Adare. He was advanced to a Viscountcy in 1816 as Viscount Mount Earl and became Viscount Adare and the first Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl on 5 February 1822. He chose the title of Dunraven in honour of his daughter-in-law Caroline Wyndham, daughter and heiress of Thomas Wyndham of
Dunraven Castle, who in 1810 had married his eldest son and heir,
Windham Henry Quin. Around 1785, the first Earl of Dunraven made significant alterations to Adare Manor, raising more walls and changing the entrance from the south front to the northwest side. In 1786, it was described as "a very noble structure with fine and extensive
demesnes". Valentine Richard Quin's earldom lasted only two years; upon his death to 1824 the title passed to Windham Henry Quin, the second Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl. The new Earl, who was suffering from
gout and confined indoors, rebuilt his home, turning it from a classic
Georgian mansion into a large
Tudor Revival manor. Building the new manor involved the rebuilding, enlarging and subsequent demolition of the earlier 18th-century manor house of the Quin family. Although Lady Caroline claimed that Adare Manor was planned entirely by her husband at first, the initial architectural plans for the house were made by
James and
George Richard Pain. The client dispensed with their services, however, around 1838, and Lord Dunraven continued with the design of the house himself with help from English architect
Lewis Nockalls Cottingham. The initial phase of construction was completed under master mason,
James Connolly, together with the second Earl of Dunraven and his wife, who incorporated their favourite buildings into the design.
Augustus Pugin was hired in 1846 to design some of the interior features including the great hall. The three-storey southern range and the tower with pyramidal roof, completed by the third Earl of Dunraven between 1850 and 1862, were built to the designs of
Philip Charles Hardwick. The new manor was built of large blocks of grey, red and brown limestone. On the
parapet of the south front, a verse from
Psalms 127:1 is etched in old English characters: "Except the Lord build the house: their labour is but lost that build it." Further verses "Love God onely," "Honour and obey the Queen," and "Eschew evil and do good" are carved onto the
colonnade. At the time of
Griffith's Valuation in 1868, the property was valued at only £130 (); in 1906 the buildings at Adare Manor were valued at just £182 (). It was then renovated and converted to become the Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort. took effective control of Adare Manor and consolidated the hotel, golf, land and various Lodge & Villa owners and lenders into a single group to protect the assets and prepare it for sale. Ultimately after a protracted sales process this resulted in Adare Manor being bought by Limerick businessman
J. P. McManus for an estimated €30 million in 2015. On 28 and 29 January 2016 many of the hotel contents were sold at a public auction. == Design ==