Heritage Sites And Stately Homes

In County Londonderry.

Downhill & Mussenden Temple.

This ruin is that of a palatial mansion built in the late eighteenth century for Fredrick Augustus Hervey bishop of Derry and fourth earl of Bristol, the design was by Michael Shanahan of Cork. After a disasterous fire it was rebuilt in the mid ninteenth century. It was occupied by the RAF during the second World War, thereafter it was abandoned.

A little nothhwest of here on the edge of a precitipious cliff stands Mussenden Temple a round and domed Neoclassical building, it was designed to be used as a library, by the Bishop. It is thought to have been modelled on the Temple of Vesta at Trivoli. The Bishop is said to have dedicared the temple to his cousin, with whom he is reputed to have had an affair.

The bishop on occasions allowed mass to be said in the crypt of the temple, for his Roman Catholic tennants.

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The property is owned by the National Trust, and the temple can be hired for wedding services or private functions

	President Wilson's House.
	This whitewashed two storey farmhouse is from where President Woodroe Wilson's grandfather emigrated. The property is still owned by teh Wilson family, some of the original furniture remains as well as a few photographs