Cashel House Hotel
Cashel
Connemara
Co. Galway
Ireland
T: +353-95-31001
F: +353-95-31077
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Founder Member of
Ireland's Blue Book
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History
 Geoffrey Emerson, who is said to have designed
it for Captain Thomas Hazell, built Cashel House, a house
with asymmetrical gabled elevations, in 1840. Geoffrey
Emerson is a great, great grandfather of the present
owners. The Hazells were English Landowners and were
also agents for a Scottish firm buying Kelp - a type
of seaweed. The old Kelp store still stands by the pier
opposite Doon House. Captain Hazell and his Wife celebrated
their 40th Wedding Anniversary at Cashel House in 1885.
The Rose Hedge out side the Bar is said to be his present
to her on that occasion. Mrs Hazell laid out a lot of
the Gardens and planted many of the Flowering trees and
Shrubs that you see today.
From 1919 to 1951 Cashel House was the home
of Jim O`Mara T.D. and his family. Jim O`Mara was the
first official representative of Ireland in the United
States and he devoted his life and talents to make Ireland
a nation. Jim O`Mara was a keen botanist and found happiness
in Cashel House. Over the years he carried out a
lot of work on the Gardens. The three streams, which
flow through the Garden, were a delight to him with their
banks clothed with bog plants and Spirea & Osmunda
ferns. O`Mara turned the orchard field into a walled
garden of rare trees, Azaleas, Heather's and dwarf Rhododendrons,
which his children named 'the Secret Garden'. Jim O`Mara
and his wife celebrated their Golden Jubilee in April
1945 in the gardens of Cashel House under a flowering
Chilean Fire Tree.
In 1952 Cashel House became the home of Lt
Col and Mrs Brown Clayton, formerly of Brownes Hill in
Carlow. During their time at Cashel House the Browne
Clayton's had Harold McMillian, the late British Prime
Minister, stay as their guest. The Browne Clayton's also
gave the Garden its notable collection of Fuchisas.
Dermot and Kay McEvilly purchased Cashel
House in 1967. Total refurbishment began immediately,
with a fine collection of antiques being added and offering
all modern facilities. The house reopened in May 1968
and 'Cashel House Hotel' was born. Prior to the McEvilly`s
acquiring the house Lt Col Browne Clayton had been ill
for a number of years. During this time the Gardens had
become overgrown, the restoration of which is still ongoing.
The original house was preserved by the McEvillys`s and
any additional building was done to the side and rear
of the main house to maintain its original elegance.
It was in Cashel House that the late General
and Madam De Gaulle of France spent two weeks of their
Irish holiday in May 1969.
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