11 October 2022
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

Famous actress – Angela Lansbury – who had 2 houses in County Cork, Ireland – has passed away

Jessica Fletcher brought us hours of enjoyment. Did did you know the late actress behind the role had a Cork connection?

Born in London, and made famous in the USA the actress Angela Lansbury enjoyed not one but two houses in Cork, Ireland over the years. The Irish citizen sadly passed away today. She was 96.

“The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 AM today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” her family said in a statement.

The actress had enjoyed a long and successful career but is best remembered by younger viewers for her stint as mystery writer and crime fighter Jessica Fletcher on the “Murder, She Wrote” TV series. That show ran for 12 seasons, from 1984 to 1996, with Lansbury outwitting criminals and even noticing what the police failed to. The jocular killer would always be unmasked within the hour.

“‘Murder, She Wrote’ has given me more worldwide attention than any other role I played in the movies or on the stage,” she said in 2013 while receiving an honorary Academy Award. “It’s a wonderful thing to be known in Spain, Portugal, in Paris, in France and Germany and everywhere.”

Her final house: was in East County Cork

Where: Corymore House, Ballywilliam, Cloyne, Co Cork, P25 HW74

Designed by her friend the famous pottery maker Stephen Pearce; Lansbury has a U-shaped clifftop house on 9.2 (22.8 acres) hectares at Ballinwilliam, Ballycotton, Co Cork. It’s south of the village of Churchtown South. Lansbury first moved in with her husband in late 1992. The U shape is designed to create a sheltered courtyard, which neutralises the strong sea breezes. Architectural Digest visited the property in 2007. Lansbury spent summers and Christmas’ at the house, and it appears to still be in her ownership. When Lansbury spoke at nearby Grainstore Entertainment Venue by Ballymaloe House, East Cork on 3 August 2014 she was in fine form:

Her earlier house: was in North Cork

Where: Knockmourne Glebe, Curraheen, Conna, Co Cork, P51 K6X6 & a separate ‘1969 Rofab’ precast concrete bungalow nearby that guests used to stay in.

Conna is rural by any stretch of the imagination; It is 20 minutes East of Fermoy, or 40 minutes North East of Cork City. It is very much inland, whereas most celebrity hotspots in Cork tend to be near water. Situated on the River Bride. Conna village contains several pubs, a shop, a post office, a Roman Catholic church, and a nearby Church of Ireland chapel. The village is dominated by Conna castle, a five-story tower house situated on a limestone outcrop near the river. It was 1970 that the Lansbury Family purchased Knockmourne Glebe. The solid premises had been constructed in 1827 for Rev. Thomas Spread Campion, the then Rector of Knockmourne and Ballynoe. Lansbury came to Ireland for a break, she described it as an oasis. Two of her children needed to tackle their addiction to drugs. The house’s rural location was its attraction. She used to cycle to Conna village. Lansbury left the property sometime between the 70s and 1990.

Landbury sold Knockmore Glebe in 1980. It is not clear when she sold the guest bungalow, but in recent years, in 2018 the Irish Examiner published some interior photos. The article referenced that it used to be precast concrete but had since been upgraded.