Mourne Park House was gutted by a fire
Owner Marion Russell had put house on the market for £10m
The historic £10 million Mourne Park House which was badly damaged by a blaze on Saturday was once the scene of wild parties with Hollywood stars, an exhumed body and a family rift over heirlooms which led to its owner being jailed.
A devastating blaze has hit historic Mourne Park House, once valued at £10 million.
On Saturday morning fire fighters rushed from Newcastle to battle the flames at the stately holiday home of the Earl of Kilmorey in Kilkeel.
Emergency services were called to the scene shortly after 10am.
It is believed the fire broke out on the third floor of the Co. Down mansion, the ancestral home of former NIO minister Sir Richard Needham.
Over 10 appliances including the fire service’s command centre were on hand to quell the blaze
Mourne Park House and its extensive 880 acres of land has been up for sale for some years.
The 17-bedroom property has attracted famous guests in its time, including the Queen Mother, King Edward VII and thespian Errol Flynn.
Before his death by heart attack in 1959, playboy actor Flynn was the toast of Ulster high society, frequenting parties in Mourne Park House and the lavish gardens surrounding.
It was built in 1806 by Robert Needham, 11th Viscount Kilmore.
The title Viscount Kilmore was created in the Perrage of Ireland for the first Robert Kilmore, a Member of Parliament, back in 1625.
Since then the owners have struggled to keep the house up to standard, burdened further by the property market collapse.
Mourne Park House was valued at £10m prior to the recession, but depreciated by almost £7m after the crunch.
The mansion has had its fair share of recent drama, however.
Marion Scarlett Needham Russell, an heiress and descendant of the Earl of Kilmorey, spent 14 days in jail for contempt of court back in 2002.
At the time Mrs Russell stated that she believed her brother and sister were trying to profit from items in the house.
She kept antiques to herself, saying she was protecting them as a link to her past and as personal mementos.
Her sister, Debonair Norah Needham Horsman, and brother Philip James Anley, were reported to have intentions of selling the heirlooms – at the time supposedly worth £750,000.
When her brother and sister had a court order her to hand the family items over, Mrs Russell refused, and her siblings applied to have her jailed for contempt of court.
Mrs Russell then handed herself in to police and spent 14 days in jail at Maghaberry prison.
She inherited the house from her father in 2001, turning it into a home for her husband and two children.
There they lived in the main house, renting other buildings in the family seat out.
Things came to a head in the family feud when Mrs Russell’s father’s body was exhumed and moved to a local graveyard to prepare for the sale of the house.
Back then, a source close to Mrs Russell said: “She has total respect for the court and the law, but believes she is acting on a point of principle to salvage something before everything was destroyed.”