Page 7 - Ballinacurra House
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Wedding Planning Guide
History of Ballinacurra House
The exact date of when the property was actually built is unknown. We do know that it was built by John Swete Esquire, a former High Sherriff of Cork, who was also the cousin of the Duke of Marlborough’s paymaster. The first record of the house existing that we have been able to find was on a map drawn in 1770. So it is somewhere about then!
It has always been a private family home – and was even used as a Cork Convent’s summer house for about 10 years. The most colourful owner was John Danford who was a traveller, writer, painter and sculptor and owned the property in the 1950s. He spent his years painting and celebrating his worldwide travels by theming the style of the bedrooms in the house. Some of his original works are still in the Ballroom to this day – and the remainder of his works are in the University of Birmingham’s library.
The current owners, Des & Lisa McGahan bought the property in 2000 and spent 3 1⁄2 years renovating, upgrading and developing the property. We wanted to bring it up to modern standards in terms of power showers, flat screen televisions, wifi, etc but retain the personality of a 250 year old house.
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