Sherwood Park, Ballon, [Bence-Jones says Tullow] Co Carlow
Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988, Constable and Company Ltd, London.
supplement
“A mid-C18 house of two storeys over basement. Pedimented breakfront; round-headed window with sidelights (too widely-spaced to be Venetian) over Gibbsian doorcase. In 1783 a seat of the Bayly family.” https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/10301707/sherwood-park-sherwoodpark-co-carlow
Detached five-bay two-storey over basement Classical style house with dormer attic, c. 1750, with ashlar façade having pedimented breakfront with Gibbsian doorcase, sidelights, Venetian and lunette window openings to upper floors, slate-hung side and rear elevations and gable ends. Now in use as guesthouse. Detached Palladian style flanking wings. Interior retains original joinery. Gateway comprising piers with urns having gates.
Gateway, c. 1750, comprising cut stone piers with urn finials having decorative wrought iron gates.
Record of Protected Structures:
Sherwood Park, Ballon. Townland: Sherwood Park
Sherwood Park is an important, Palladian composition of circa 1750, with a house flanked by barns. The façade is of five bays and two storeys over a basement, of granite ashlar with a pedimented breakfront, pedimented doorcase with a blocked architrave and the original raised, fielded panel door, sidelights which are the same height as the other windows on the ground floor, Venetian grouping on the first floor and a small, half-moon window in the pediment. The windows have late-19th century sashes with large panes of glass. The façade has raised coigns and a cornice. The house has a high basement and high ceilings thereby giving the façade noble proportions. The rere façade and the East, gable walls are slate hung. The roof is high pitched and has end stacks which are cemented and cut down from their original height. The wings are built of coursed-rubble stone with small stones fitted between the larger stones for decorative effect. They are of three bays with blank Venetian windows in the centre, blank oculi and blank windows. The wings have recently been reroofed
Importance: regional, architectural, interior, artistic, social.
https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/app/uploads/2019/10/Carlow.pdf
Sherwood Park
By Jimmy O’Toole quoted from his book ‘The Carlow Gentry’ p. 19 Jimmy O’Toole, The Carlow Gentry: What will the neighbours say! Published by Jimmy O’Toole, Carlow, Ireland, 1993. Printed by Leinster Leader Ltd, Naas, Kildare.
A period Georgian residence built circa 1700 [1750?] by Arthur Bailie. Robert Baillie had an all-consuming passion for acceptance as a country squire. From a financial base created through a successful business, he set his sights on establishing a seat in the country, and along the way, he hoped to win the approval and respect of the upper echelons of the gentry’, through a no less august body than the members of the two houses of parliament in Dublin. It was a grand plan that went seriously wrong. Baillie ended up in bankruptcy and the family moved to live in County Carlow where his youngest son, Arthur, financed the building of Sherwood Park, with a combined dowry and legacy of £450 left to his wife.
The Baillie story started in Dublin where the family had a prosperous upholstery business in Abbey Street and Capel Street. William Conolly had a fine town house in Capel Street which he occupied while the Castletown mansion was being built on the estate bought by the Conollys in 1709. As a result of their acquaintance in the city, Baillie decided, around 1718, to rent property from Conolly in Celbridge and, by 1720, Robert had completed the building of his new country home, Kildrought House. He was regarded as one of the estate’s most improving tenants, and eventually became middleman on several pieces of land and houses in the area.
William Conolly was impressed with the enterprise and success of his new tenant, and when Baillic decided to ask his landlord, then Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, to support a proposal that he be given a commission for six tapestries for the new parliament building then under construction, he was confident his proposal would win Government approval. On 4th April, 1728. the commission was approved for two tapestries, depicting the Battle of the Boyne and the Siege of Derry. The quoted price of £3 each – not a great deal even in those days – was based on an understanding that Baillie would get the contract to furnish the new building. He was given four years to complete the tapestries, a commission it seems that had more to do with prestige than profits.
Bureaucracy got to work (a contradiction in terms), and two years later. Robert was still waiting for the dimensions of the two pieces. At the same time, costs were mounting because he had engaged the services of designer Johann van der Hagen, a landscape, marine and scene painter working in Dublin, and weaver John van Beaver. Eventually, the tapestries were completed and placed in position on 10th September, 1733, in the House of Lords, where they can still be seen. Financially, the project was a fiasco. Baillie did not get the contract for the furniture, and in lieu of reducing the number of tapestries from six to two, the M.P.s voted an additional payment of £200. The final balance of £136.6s.3d was not paid until September, 1735.
Within five years, Baillie was facing financial difficulties, and by 1749, after several judgements had been obtained against him, he had sold Kildrought House, and some of his land to Dublin brewer Thomas Welsh for £300. The family then moved to Carlow, where in 1751, Arthur Baillie leased 1,402 acres at Kilbride from John Palmer of St. Ultan-in-the-Fields, Middlesex, for an annual rent of £70, and on a renewable 21-year-lease. In 1753, Arthur married Williamina Katherina Finey, daughter of his next door neighbour in Celbridge, George Finey, who was Conolly’s agent. When Mrs. Katherine Conolly died in 1752, she left Williamina a legacy of £150; her father died the same year leaving her £300. It was to his youngest son that the task of sorting out Robert Baillie’s financial affairs fell. Robert died in 1761, and his wife Suzanna died in 1767.
On his Sherwood Park estate, The Freeman’s Journal reported that Arthur Baillie was a vast improver and employed a greater number of poor folk than any other gentleman in that county. His employees proclaimed him to be a kind master and a most fair magistrate. Matters in dispute were for the most part amicably settled before the disputing parties left the yard. Williamina also got the approval of the ‘Journal’ – “Mrs. Baillie is a fine woman, abounding with every generous and sympathetic virtue, and is avowedly allowed to be the standard of politeness; none of that stupid insipid ceremony prevails.”
Two of Robert Baillies five sons, Richard and William, pursued military careers. But it was as a result of his hobby as an engraver that Captain William Baillie won international fame. The second eldest of the family, William, born 5th June, 1723, was eighteen when he entered the Middle Temple in London to study law, but he dropped out after a short time and accepted a commission in the army, against his father’s wishes. He fought as an ensign in the 13th Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Culloden; he served in Germany and in 1756, he was a captain in the 51st Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Minden. In failing health, he later sold his army commission and took the office of Commissioner of Stamps, a post from which he retired in 1795.
In an article in Carloviana in 1969, Hilary Pyle said Baillie seemed to have regarded himself as an amateur, and undertook his work through sheer enthusiasm and without any pretensions to genius. He even described his engravings on his book-plate as “amusements of Captain Will Baillie”. He published over one hundred plates, including engravings depicting the works of such masters as Rembrandt. Frans Hals, and Rubens. He died at his Lisson Green home in Paddington, London, on 22nd December. 1810, at the age of eighty-eight.
A large part of the Baillie estate was sold in 1833, to George Rous K’eogh. following the death of Mrs. Jane Baillie, widow of George Baillie, who died in 1827. In the 1871 census, a John M. Bailey (presumably a descendant) was listed as owning 603 acres at Sherwood Park. Another variation on the spelling of the name was Bayly. The house and part of the land was sold about 1890 to the Webster family, who lived there until the late 1960s. After a year in the ownership of the Crowley family, Sherwood Park was sold to its present owners. Paddy and Maureen Owens
For sale Sept 2022
AMV €1,950,000
Sherwood Park House, Kilbride, on approx. 90 acres, Ballon, Co. Carlow
Eircode: R93 W3F6
A stunning Georgian three storey over basement period property approached through a significant gated entrance on approx. 90 acres with extensive road frontage of over 1km � Beautiful views over the rolling parklands towards Altamont Gardens � Sherwood Park House is in a delightful private setting, well set back off the road through a fabulous entrance � The lands spilt by a public road, are of top quality with extensive road frontage and are mainly in tillage � It is a perfect hideaway from city life, and yet remarkably close to all the amenities of Dublin and its surrounds Type of Transaction For Sale by Public Auction Thursday, 20th October 2022 at 3pm at the Mount Wolseley Hotel, Tullow, Co. Carlow and will be offered in the following lots: � Lot 1 – Period residence and yard on approx. 16 acres (6.5 ha) – Excess 800,000 � Lot 2 – Derelict cottage on approx. 74 acres (29.9 ha) – Excess 1,150,000 � Lot 3 – The entire on approx. 90 acres (36.4 ha) – Excess 1,950,000 Description Sherwood Park House is an enchanting period property which is nestled in a rural location that offers stunning views of the County Carlow countryside. It is a detached five-bay, three-storey over basement property brimming with original features and steeped in history. It was built c. 1750 by Arthur Baillie, a Kildare man and son of renowned Robert Baillie, whose tapestries depicting the Battle of the Boyne and the Siege of Derry have hung in Parliament House in Dublin’s College Green for centuries. He was also the brother of William Baillie, an engraver considered one of the most accomplished of his time. Ingenuity, creativity, and good taste ran in the Baille family, and nobody could disagree once they cross the threshold of Sherwood Park House. This classical beauty is approached via a tree lined gravel drive and proudly sits in all its Palladian glory. The symmetrical style of architecture was very popular in the mid 1700’s and gives the property a noble appearance. Once you step into the main entrance hall however, what greets you is a beautiful, warm, and luxurious home. The feature staircase is the first thing to greet you and is a fine example of what is to come. The property has lofty ceilings throughout. Sash windows, cast iron fireplaces and original joinery are also to be found, as are picture rails, paneled archways, and cornicing. The list is plentiful and makes for a phenomenal listing. Accommodation itself in Sherwood Park House is superb. There is a large drawing room, dining room, breakfast room, kitchen, and utility. There are also five extremely generous bedrooms in all and a host of bathrooms available. The basement has good ceiling height, in keeping with the style of the property and is divided into five separate rooms. There is so much choice in this property you may need to take a minute. If you do, we suggest the feature landing on the first floor, which has views for miles across the landscape and is truly formidable. Outside the property there is a beautiful garden with lawn. There are two yards to the rear with various outhouses. This breathtaking residence offers a real chance to own a piece of history and yet build a fantastic future in County Carlow. Location Sherwood Park House is located in the townland of Kilbride approx. 23km from Carlow town and a short distance from the village of Ballon. There are a number of amenities available in Ballon including Ballon National School, church and community hall on the Main Street. The village is served by Bus Éireann route 132, several times a day to Dublin via Tullow and Tallaght. In the other direction the route serves Kildavin and Bunclody. A number of Ring a Link and Wexford Local Link buses also serve the village. Both Carlow railway station and Muine Bheag railway station are approximately 18km away. Carlow town is also easily accessible from Sherwood Park House and has fantastic connections to the rest of the country due to its excellent position off the M9 Motorway. Dublin City Centre can be reached by car in just over an hour, as can Dublin Airport. Rosslare is also only an hour and twenty minutes away on the N80, giving superb access to Rosslare Europort. Carlow is extremely well serviced by train to Heuston Station as it is on the Dublin Carlow Waterford line, and for travel by bus there are a number of Bus Eireann and private bus routes to Dublin and many other towns. Grounds and Gardens The property is entered through a stunning recessed gate way and also has a separate entrance to the yard and lands. The main gates lead you to mature gardens surrounding the house with many mature specimen trees. Off the secondary entrance there is a walled in garden which frames the paddock fronting the road and yard access. The top quality lands are laid out in grass and (mainly tillage) and have extensive frontage extending to over a kilometre. The lands are split by L6060 and to the section east of this road there is a derelict cottage and small woodland area. Additional information � Ground floor ceilings approx. 3.7 metres � 1st floor ceilings approx. 2.5 metres � Dual oil fired central heating and solid fuel central heating � Small carport, accessible from back door � Mains electricity, mains water, septic tank for foul drainage, solid fuel central heating plus private water supplies with well. Inclusions in the sale The carpets and curtains will be included in the sale. BER Exempt Viewings By appointment only at any reasonable hour. Directions: Eircode: R93 W3F6 Solicitor: Michael Crowley of Patrick F. O’Reilly & Co. Solicitors, 9 – 10 South Great George’s Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 679 3565 Contact Selling Agent: Will Coonan T: 01 628 6128 E: willc@coonan.com Philip Byrne T: 01 628 6128 E: philipb@coonan.com
Accommodation
Note: Please note we have not tested any apparatus, fixtures, fittings, or services. Interested parties must undertake their own investigation into the working order of these items. All measurements are approximate and photographs provided for guidance only.
Features
BER Details
BER: Exempt
Negotiator
Coonan Maynooth
This delightful Georgian farmhouse next to the famous Altamont Gardens is listed by Maurice Craig, the foremost authority on Ireland’s architectural history, and beautifully located, with sweeping views over the countryside.
Source: www.ireland-guide.com
Irish Historic Houses 