An elderly woman died in a fire at her home near Borrisokane, Co Tipperary, early yesterday morning.
Ms Caroline Hogan (77), lived with her three brothers and sister, all in their late 60s and 70s, in the five-storey 18th century farmhouse at Mount Falcon, Congor, off the main Nenagh to Birr road.
The fire broke out in Ms Hogan's second-floor bedroom shortly before 7 a.m. The other members of the family escaped without injury after her sister raised the alarm. Ms Hogan died at the scene. Her remains were taken to Nenagh County Hospital for a post-mortem.
Three fire crews, from Borrisokane, Nenagh and Cloughjordan, brought the blaze under control. There was extensive damage to the rear of the hereditary family home, constructed in the 1720s.
Gardai and fire services were last night trying to establish the cause of the fire, believed to have started accidentally. Borrisokane gardai are overseeing the investigation. The house stands on a large tillage farm owned by the Hogan family. Shannon Development relocated an abandoned regency gothic Church of Ireland church built on the property to Bunratty Folk Park in 1998.