Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / Ireland / Oughterard / Ross Lake House Hotel
Ross Lake House Hotel
Oughterard, County Galway, Ireland · Independent · Near Luxury
Killaguile House is the real name: James Edward Jackson built it in the years around his 1863 marriage, on land he bought in 1853 from Robert Martin of Ross House, and the hotel name came from the fishing lake beside the drive. The Heilmans opened it as Ross Lake House in 1971, and Henry and Elaine Reid kept thirteen rooms from February 1982 until a 2022 sale. A fire on 16 December 2023 wrecked the empty house, and it has not reopened.
- 13 rooms
- Opened 1971
- Neighborhood: Cross
About Ross Lake House Hotel
- Jackson was land agent for Lord Iveagh at Ashford Castle. The holding ran to about 1,200 acres of limestone before the Land Commission broke the estate up.
- A German couple, the Heilmans, bought Killaguile in 1969, renamed it for the lake, and opened the hotel in 1971. It had already closed again before the Reids arrived.
- The burned house sold in 2026, fire-damaged, with a three-bedroom cottage in the grounds. A reopening has been talked about. Guests cannot book a room.
History
James Edward Jackson bought the townland of Killaguile from Robert Martin of Ross House in August 1853 and built the house in the years around his 1863 marriage to Madeline Bushe. He was land agent for Lord Iveagh at Ashford Castle. The Heilmans bought it in 1969, renamed it Ross Lake House after the nearby fishing lake, and opened a hotel in 1971. Henry and Elaine Reid reopened thirteen rooms in February 1982 and sold in 2022. The empty house was badly burned on 16 December 2023 and has not returned as a hotel.
The setting
The house is at Killaguile, Rosscahill, off the N59 between Oughterard and Moycullen, up a tree-lined drive with the lake the hotel was named for close by. Galway city is about twenty-two kilometres off. It is not Ross House, the Martin place nearby, and it is not open.
Open Ross Lake House Hotel in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.