Strokestown Park, House museum in Strokestown, Ireland

Strokestown Park House is a Palladian-style Georgian house built around 1735 to a design attributed to Richard Castle, incorporating part of an earlier 1696 structure. Its seven-bay, three-storey front has a balustraded parapet and a central stone portico with paired columns and a triangular pediment. An extra floor, the portico and a Regency library were added around 1820.

Captain Nicholas Mahon was granted about 2,700 acres in the Barony of Roscommon in February 1666, and a further grant in 1678 became the Strokestown estate. A house was completed by John Mahon in 1696, and the present house was built around 1735, attributed to Richard Castle. In 1847 the estate evicted 3,000 people; after Major Denis Mahon was killed that November, his daughter Grace Catherine never returned.

The estate tells the story of how landowners lived during the Famine while ordinary people suffered from hunger and hardship. Exhibits show the contrast between the mansion's luxury and the struggles of those who worked the land around it.

The site opens for visits on select days and offers guided tours through the rooms and exhibitions. Wear comfortable shoes as you will be walking through both the house and the surrounding gardens.

The National Famine Museum opened in the estate's former stable block and holds documents kept by the Mahon estate, including tenant records from the 1840s. In 1847 alone the family evicted 3,000 people, and Major Denis Mahon was killed in November of that year.