About: Marlfield House, Clonmel

Marlfield House was the former residence of the Bagwells, a wealthy and politically influential Irish Unionist family in south Tipperary from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. It is located about three kilometres west of the town of Clonmel on the northern bank of the River Suir. It was built by John Bagwell in 1785. The main entrance gate, considered of exceptional quality, was designed by the local architect William Tinsley and the conservatory by Richard Turner. In January 1923, the main house was badly damaged in an arson attack by anti-Treaty IRA forces during the Irish Civil War. The fire destroyed the library and historical papers of historian Richard Bagwell. It was targeted because of Bagwell's son John Philip Bagwell was a Senator in the new Irish Free State.