English: An architectural gem: Bellamont House and its history Bellamont is "one of the finest examples of Palladian architecture in Ireland". It is at the centre of a 90 acre estate bounded by lakes and rivers, known as Bellamont Forest, which lies between the Dartrey estate to the north 897437 and the town of Cootehill, founded by the Coote family, to the south. Both Bellamont and Dartrey lie in a beautiful drumlin landscape of rounded hills and lakes dotted with wooded islands. Bellamont House was built for Thomas Coote, an Irish judge, in 1728 by his nephew, the brilliant architect Edward Lovett Pearce (1699-1733). Pearce also built the former Houses of Parliament, now the Bank of Ireland, in Dublin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lovett_Pearce

The Cootes are an old Irish family who settled in this area in the 17th century. Judge Thomas Coote's grandson Charles (1738-1800) succeeded to the estate in 1766 and was made Earl of Bellamont the following year. As a local magistrate, he had taken a leading role in putting down the 'Oakboy' revolt of 1763, following which he was tried and acquitted of murder https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2_ZstVBZSfIC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA110#v=onepage&q=&f=true . But it seems that he was at heart an eccentric adventurer. For all his "gallantry and high spirits" he was also variously described as "that mad man", "disgustingly pompous" and "an inveterate womanizer". An ardent Francophile, he insisted on making his maiden speech to a bemused Irish House of Lords in French. He had at least 16 children of whom 11 were by women other than his wife, and there was general hilarity when in a duel he received a serious bullet wound in the groin. On his death the estate passed to an illegitimate son - inevitably called Charles! http://www.thepeerage.com/p5841.htm

In 1874 the Cootes sold Bellamont Forest to the Dorman Smith family. One of them, Eric, a well-known but controversial character was a colonel in the British Army during the 2nd World War. He was removed from his post by Winston Churchill, with whom he then continued a long legal battle over the issue. Eric then changed his name from Smith to O'Gorman and retired to Bellamont where he became a Catholic and enthusiastically took up republicanism. He is said to have sold lead from the roof of Bellamont house for the cause, and to have allowed the IRA to train on the estate. He is buried at St John's, Dartrey, so the Protestants got him in the end. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Dorman-Smith

In 1987 John Coote, an Australian descendant of the Coote family who had left Bellamont in 1874, purchased the estate. An interior designer by profession, he is well-known in London for his restoration of the old Libyan embassy which was so badly damaged by the SAS in the siege of 1984. He has now restored his Bellamont House to the decorative style of the 18th century while at the same time maintaining all the comforts of modern living. This architectural gem was described in 1990 as "one of the most perfect examples in these islands of a Palladian villa" http://www.robbreportcollection.com/Coote-Cootehill

John Coote has been among those trying to encourage local Cootehill people to become interested in their heritage and involved in the restoration of the many historical sites and structures that are nearby, and particularly those in neighbouring Dartrey estate https://www.geograph.org.uk/gallery/dartrey_a_great_irish_estate_paradise_lost_11444 . This has led to the recent formation of the Dartrey Heritage Association http://www.briansdesign.com/oaks/ with several restoration projects there now underway 1499423. It is hoped that such work will attract visitors to the lakes and islands of this strikingly beautiful part of Ireland http://www.anglocelt.ie/news/features/articles/2009/03/11/37004-dartrey-temple-can-be-tourism-magnet

POSTSCRIPT - March 2010

Sad news from Cootehill: John Coote is to leave Bellamont House, built by his Irish ancestors in 1728 and on which he has expended so much care over the last 23 years. The estate is up for sale through Knight Frank (Ireland). Guide price: in excess of 10 million Euros http://www.countrylife.co.uk/property_news/article/447324/Luxury-property-in-Ireland-for-sale.html - reduced to 7.5 million Euros (June 2010) http://william-montgomery.com/properties/bellamont.htm