I bought this because I hold Richard Bassett in high esteem as an historian and travel writer; a biography of Wilhelm Canaris, and a memoir, Last Days in Old Europe. And for another reason; I thought it was a biography of the 19th century Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sissi).
Summerhill is the most dramatic of the great Irish Palladian houses, writes Mark Bence-Jones. It was burnt in 1922 and stood as a spectacular burnt-out shell until, in the late 1950s, the ruin was demolished; an act of destruction, which, at the time, passed almost unnoticed, MB-J again.
The Hofberg Imperial Palace in Vienna has fared better. Within the palace are the empress’s apartments. She was a keep fit fanatic and her gym equipment is on display. Although she was 5ft 8in she weighed only 50 kg and had a 19 inch waist. She was anorexic but her health improved when she was away from the Imperial Court which she found suffocating. The upshot was that she left Vienna to live a peripatetic life. Using her imperial steamer, Miramar, Sissi travelled round the Mediterranean. Her favourite places were Cape Martin on the French Riviera, and Sanremo on the Ligurian Riviera.
She also went to England where she bought a country house, necessary as she had a retinue of up to eighty courtiers and servants. She was already an accomplished equestrian and took up hunting with the Cheshire Hunt. It was suggested she might like the hunting in Ireland so she rented Summerhill. A lot of money was spent to make the house suitable for her stay with one room converted to a private chapel, direct private telegraph lines installed to Europe so that calls would not be routed through England, and a room for use as a gymnasium. She also had to be shown how to jump the Meath banks and ditches. As well as hunting with the Meath, she also hunted with the Ward Union which had started in 1854 and the Kildare. Her mentor and guide in all this was “Bay” Middleton, who was a successful amateur jockey as well as riding to hounds. My grandfather told me, so it must be true, that she used a gold chamber pot if necessary when out hunting; and there used to be a plaque by a fearsome hedge and ditch she had jumped.
But if you want to know more about Sissi you might read this biography and tell me if it’s any good.
Meanwhile I am looking forward to turning the clock back a hundred years to read about the 18th century Empress Maria Theresa.
Do you know if the ruin was quarried and the stone recycled or was it simply broken up. It gives some comfort to know that the spirit lives on when some of the elements of a structure are reused .
I don’t know, but you might find Robert O’Byrne’s article about the house of interest, though very sad.
https://theirishaesthete.com/2013/04/01/my-name-is-ozymandias/
Fascinating ! Thank you for passing on this formidable woman’s legacy and the introduction to little known Irish history and most importantly our shared equestrian & architectural legacy.It makes both exciting and comforting reading in Autumn 2025, especially during such times that lack all precedent.
Sissi would ride from Meath to Dunshaughlin so that my Gx3 grandfather could escort over for the Kildare hunt. As you say a formidable horsewoman.
Sissi also hunted with the Roman hunt, once only, in January 1870.Breakfast was organized by Prince Borghese which she took with the ex-King of Naples. Among others, Alfred Austin, the future Poet laureate was there. The American consul, Maitland Armstrong, particularly admired her ankles and black stockings.
You have been entered for Best Comment of the Year.
Thank you!
The owner of Summerhill at the time of Sissi’s visits in 1879 and 1880 was Paddy, the 4th Lord Langford, who remained in situ as the guest of his tenant. Lord Langford died in 1919 but remarkably his second wife was still alive c1970 when a new biography of Sissi was uncomplimentary about her late husband. She was put out and was reported as saying “Paddy was never like that and I’m going to write and tell the author so”. One can only imagine the author’s surprise at receiving such a letter so long after the events in question.