A POLICE investigation is underway in Co. Cork today following a fire in the historic Vernon Mount House in Douglas last night.
Seven units of Cork fire brigade were dispatched to the scene at 9.40pm on Sunday evening, where it has been reported the blaze spread rapidly throughout the interior of the property.
Scroll down to see the fire damage at Vernon Mount House...
Busy night for crews as we attend a large fire #vernonmount, call received at 21.40. https://t.co/StE8yZHxs0
— Cork City Fire Brigade (@CorkCityFire) July 24, 2016
Engineers have since deemed the building unsafe.
A Garda Press Office spokesperson said they are awaiting a technical examination and are not as yet treating the fire as suspicious.
UPDATE: Engineers have declared #VernonMount unsafe. Shell of the building is still smouldering #Cork pic.twitter.com/I25yBjJDwA
— Eoin English (@EoinBearla) July 25, 2016
The mansion, which has been empty for decades, was at the centre of a €22,500 grant for urgent conservation.
BREAKING: Campaigners who were fighting to save #VernonMount #Cork say they warned authorities 2 weeks ago that wood was stockpiled inside
— Eoin English (@EoinBearla) July 25, 2016
Local residents had campaigned for the property to be the centrepiece of a new ‘super park’ in Cork to rival Dublin’s Phoenix Park.
#vernonmount A great loss to Cork tonight pic.twitter.com/ms0P01kjvP
— MBC Insurance (@MBCInsurance) July 24, 2016
The house has been plagued by water damage and dry rot, with the Irish Georgian society placing the property on its watch list in 2007, with concerns it was in a “desperate state of neglect”.
The property was built in 1784 for Cork Merchant, Atwell Hayes.
But his son Henry Browne-Hayes, made the mansion infamous after abducting young heiress Mary Pike, and attempting to use a fake priest to convince her to marry him – so he could access her £20,000 inheritance.
Whilst Browne-Hayes was sentenced to death and later transported to Australia for her abduction, Mary Pike was traumatised and suffered with mental illness for the rest of her life.
Local legend says that the mansion is haunted with the spirit of Mary Pike and ranked alongside Co. Wexford’s Loftus Hall as one of the most haunted structures in Ireland.
See our gallery to view the damage to Vernon Mount House
See More: Cork, Featured, Fire, Vernon Mount House
