A brief History

The history of Moy House can be traced back to the early nineteenth century when it was an elegant summer home to the landlord Sir Augustine Fitzgerald. The story goes that the architect’s plans for Moy got mixed up with plans for an Italian Villa so hence the Italian feel and somewhere by the sea on the Italian Rivera is the Anglo Irish version!!

Major Studdert from Newmarket on Fergus ran the estate and was responsible for building the bridge across the road from the main entrance so that the West Clare Railway would stop especially for them. It is called the Major’s Bridge to this day. One of Major Studdert’s daughters is reputed to have had a row with her fiancée one night in front of the house and to have had thrown away her engagement ring. It is probably still here so make sure to keep a look out as you take a stroll around our gardens!

In 1933 the house was bought by the Daly family. Eventually the house came on the market in 1997. At this stage the Atlantic elements had taken their toll on it and it was looking every one of its 200 years. It was bought by the current owner Antoin O’Looney who was born and reared in Lahinch . As a child Antoin and his friends would come up to Moy House to collect the apples and conkers so this house holds a wealth of happy memories for him. The long and arduous refurbishment took almost two years to complete. In order to use its basic two story plan he had to excavate more than six thousand cubic feet of ground. This was in effect a small hill which enclosed the entire basement area and shut off the view of the ocean. With all that soil now making up a lawn field sloping towards the shore the house is given a much more dramatic elevation.

Each of our nine bedrooms have been named after some of the local townlands owed by Sir Augustine Fitzgerald .