The Richmond Revival
The Richmond Revival aims to bring revival and restoration through culture and gatherings to both the property and the people who come through our door.
Acquired by the Ó Cinnéides in 2020, the journey of restoration and realising the potential role of Richmond House for the local community is in its birthing stages.
The Richmond Revival is a self-funded, not-for-profit. It was set up to facilitate the restoration and revival of Richmond House through offering a relaxed space where people can gather and enjoy cultural events, creativity, and have fun in a local place.
A respite from the grind of daily life.
Here you’ll find live music concerts and gigs, cultural events, arts events and educational activities. The property also provides spaces and rooms for hire for people to hold private functions, classes or workshops. Completing the offering, you’ll find a range of accommodation options for your stay in Fermoy at the Richmond Revival and a gated, private car park.
the Richmond Revival vision
A sustainable offering of creativity, culture, performance and camaraderie, story telling and authenticity.
The Richmond Revival aims to establish Richmond House and its grounds as a sustainable, creative hub. It is one that helps Fermoy become known as a place where the local community and visitors alike can enjoy accessible and meaningful cultural and performance art experiences.
While our approach is informal and grassroots, our ambition is anything but modest. We aim to become:
- A place where artistic and creative endeavours are supported, nurtured, and developed.
- A destination that showcases high-quality, original work—highlighting the skill, craft, knowledge, and passion of Irish creators in particular, and inspiring others to follow suit.
- A culturally vibrant hub that fosters ambition, collaboration, and experimentation, while offering accessible and meaningful ways for creators to engage with audiences
revival and restoration through culture and gatherings
We set out to create a welcoming space here at the Richmond Revival where people can simply enjoy their time—whether as audience members, performers, artisans, or makers. A space that promises high-quality, affordable experiences with great energy—without the need to travel to a city. It’s a local venue designed to serve our local people (though not à la The League of Gentlemen, of course!).
origins and history
The original name of Richmond House is Richmond, An Gáirdín Rúndach. An Gáirdín Rúndach translates to The Secret Garden — a fitting symbol for rediscovery and nurturing of the creative spirit.
The listed, period property was built circa 1830. It first appeared on the Ordnance Survey map of 1840. The house itself is an eight bay, two storey structure built using Bath Stone in the Italianate style that was popular during this period.
The first owner of the house was a Mr. H Smyth in 1837, and it later passed into the hands of Captain George Walker in 1847. It is believed that George Walker was related to the Johnnie Walker Whiskey Family.
Indeed the pond, which is a key feature of the property, was a holding pond for a local distillery, which would seem to support this claim. Richmond Hill, which runs parallel to the property, is known locally as Walkers’ Hill.
The property was later owned by The Furlongs, a prosperous family of Millers hailing originally from Co. Wexford. The Furlongs owned a number of properties in Cork, including Ballinamona Castle and House in Shanballymore (An Sean Bhaile Mór).
Coincidentally, the family was well known for breeding horses and had a Grand National winner with ‘Reynoldstown‘ two years in a row in 1935 and 1936. It had been rumoured that the winning horse was stabled at one point in Richmond, which would have been a much bigger estate at the time, however, from the research we’ve done, we believe this is unlikely.
The Presentation Sisters
the presentation sisters
Knowing the background of the Presentation Sisters, provides an insight into the spirit of the role and meaning the property came to embody.
The Presentation Sisters were founded by Nano Nagle in Cork in 1775. Born to a wealthy family in 1718, Nano was sent to France by her parents to be educated, thus avoiding the strict penal laws at the time which barred Catholic children from attending school in Ireland.
Following her return to Ireland in 1746 on her father’s death, Nano established secret schools (hedge schools) through the Presentation Sisters for Catholic children barred from education by oppressive British laws. Therefore, the name Richmond, An Gáirdín Rúndach/The Secret Garden, is a fitting testament to Nano Nagle and what she stood for in the Irish context of her time.
lady of the lantern
Between the years 1920 to 2020, Richmond served a number of functions in the hands of The Presentation Sisters — a primary school for girls, a Novitiate for novice nuns, and later the headquarters for the upper echelons of the order.
The Presentation Sisters kept the house in very decent state of repair on the whole. Extensive work had been done to the roof and a heating system had been installed. The downside to their stewardship was, practical overtook beautiful in many instances, however, given the circumstances experienced in the country in general, you can understand how this had to be the case even though it is lamentable now with hindsight.
The overarching result of some of these changes could be seen in the institutional feel to the interiors that existed prior to our acquiring the estate, as well as some ugly design decisions being made with function very much outclaiming form.
Some of the rooms had been partitioned, the exterior timber doors had been replaced with PVC, and all but one of the original fireplaces were removed. That one remaining original fireplace dates back to The Furlong period of ownership and bears their coat of arms. However, almost all of the original cornicing and ceiling roses remain intact and because of their practical maintenance upkeep, most restoration requirements of the house, bar things like the electrical system and things of that nature, are predominantly cosmetic.
The Ó Cinnéide Family are the present custodians of ‘Richmond, An Gáirdín Rúndach’ and aim to restore the house and grounds to its former glory. The family took possession of the keys at the end of August 2020 and have been working relentlessly on the property pretty much ever since. It’s a long haul project and we have a vision and are committed to it.
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.
old chinese proverb
