The Hellfire Club, Dublin Mountains
The notorious Hellfire Club was founded in Athy, Co. Kildare in the 1730s by young bucks(adult sons of the nobility and the officer corps with no real responsibilities and a reputation for bad behaviour). Moving to Dublin, the members met in many houses, especially in the taverns and clubs along Dame Street and Cork Hill. They were renowned for their evenings of licentiousness, blasphemous toasts and devil worship. To avoid public glare and critical notice they removed themselves to a premises on Montpelier Hill, just outside Dublin (the ruins can still be seen from various vantage points around the city). It was built as a hunting lodge for William Conolly, the Speaker of the Irish Houses of Commons, around 1720. After his death in 1729 it was purchased in 1735 by the Hellfire Club. It was said that the devil appeared at their card games. The building’s ruination came when, during a night of drunken gambling, a bottle of brandy was poured over a servant who had accidentally spilt wine over a member’s clothing. The servant was then set alight, and the screaming unfortunate tried to put out the fire with the window curtains but to no avail and the whole place was gutted. Then abandoned, the building was allowed to become the macabre-like ruin it is today.
