Rokeby Hall

14/09/2026

The conservatory this evening. Fabulous light even though it was raining.

04/09/2026

The location of the kitchen at Rokeby has changed several times since the 18th century. Our 21st-century kitchen is back in the original service wing but easily accessible from the main house. It has south facing windows with lovely garden views.

28/08/2026

Gorgeous evening light.

26/08/2026

Elizabeth Montagu née Robinson, the 'Queen of the Bluestockings', who was a close friend (and third cousin) of Primate Robinson. The only record we have of his thoughts and plans for his new Rokeby Hall estate come from the letters he wrote to her, which still survive. On his death, his title of Lord Rokeby of Armagh passed to her brother Matthew Robinson by special remainder.

She said she never invited idiots into her house. She was not joking. Elizabeth Montagu's gatherings in Mayfair became the most celebrated intellectual salon in eighteenth-century England, drawing Samuel Johnson, Horace Walpole, Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, and every significant figure of the age into her famous semicircle of chairs, where conversation replaced card playing and women were expected to participate as equals in the discussion. Johnson named her Queen of the Bluestockings, which is rather like being awarded an honour by the institution you helped found.

She was born in York on 2 October 1718, educated unusually well for a woman of her era, and married at twenty-four to Edward Montagu, a wealthy coal proprietor thirty years her senior. When he died in 1775 he left her one of the wealthiest widows in Britain. She managed his coal mines herself, expanded them, and used the profits to build Montagu House in Portman Square, completed in 1782, with a famous feather room whose walls were hung entirely with birds' plumage. She threw an annual May Day feast for London's chimney sweeps, providing them with a meal, new clothes, and dancing, every year until her death.

In 1769 she published An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear, a defence of Shakespeare against Voltaire's criticisms, written in vigorous and polished prose. It ran through five editions in her lifetime. Johnson praised it. Voltaire did not respond.

Died on this day in 1800, Elizabeth Montagu, Queen of the Bluestockings. She managed coal mines, fed chimney sweeps, and defended Shakespeare against Voltaire. History tends to remember the semicircle of chairs. She was considerably more than a hostess.

Follow History Roadshow for a new untold story every day.

24/08/2026

A quieter day today after a busy Heritage Week. We welcomed two hundred people through the week this year. Thanks to all who came to tour the house and explore the garden. We enjoyed meeting everyone and we hope you enjoyed your visit.

22/08/2026

The view from Rokeby towards Slieve Gullion this evening. It's clear that the site for Rokeby Hall was very deliberately chosen in the 1780s to take full advantage of the amazing views to the north, visible from in front of the house and framed through the windows from inside. This view is invariably the first thing that visitors to Rokeby comment on when they arrive. The agricultural landscape is constantly changing and it never fails to delight.

19/08/2026

The team from Sashwindows.ie returned last week to reinstate shutters and panelling around the new windows they installed in May. Some final paintwork is still needed but everything looks fantastic and our Heritage Week visitors have been very impressed.

16/08/2026

This is fantastic. Rokeby when in Velzeboer ownership, before the demense was split up. This certainly provides some answers to questions we had about the garden development over time.
Thanks to Aerial-Scan - a new project to digitise aerial photographs of Ireland from the Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography and make them publicly available.

14/08/2026

Just in time to welcome guests for Heritage Week which starts tomorrow, our main door has been beautifully renewed and restored. The door is mahogany and we think it dates to the mid-nineteenth century, although the hinges are possibly the original eighteenth-century hinges. The painstaking work, which included stripping the door inside and outside, treating the timber, restaining, and cleaning all the brass hardware, was carried out over the last couple of weeks by Classic Sash Painters (a.k.a. PH Painting Services) and we're delighted with the end result.

08/08/2026

One week to go! Heritage Week is a great opportunity to visit many of the properties owned by our fellow members of Historic Houses of Ireland.

Below you will see listings for our members' events from guided tours to specialist talks to hands on workshops across National Heritage Week.