Churchill House, Chapeltown, County Kerry
Mark Bence-Jones. 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.
p. 83. “(Denny, Bt, of Castle Moyle/PB) A C18 house with a central breakfront and a curved bow at back.”
Church Hill House, GLEBE (TR. BY.) BALLYNAHAGLISH ED, County Kerry
Detached five-bay two-storey over basement house, built c. 1760, with single-bay full-height breakfront having single-bay full-height bowed projecting bay to south elevation. Renovated and extended, 1832, with two-bay single-storey lateral wings. Subsequently in use as monastery, c. 1910. Now in private residential use. Pitched and hipped slate roof with lead ridge rolls and rendered chimneystacks. Painted and rendered walls. Timber six-over-nine and six-over-six pane sliding sash windows with limestone sills. Tripartite window above entrance. Round-headed doorway having painted Ionic doorcase, engaged columns in 1830’s style, decorative iron fanlight, timber panelled door, brass bell pull and limestone threshold. Stable complex, built c. 1760, to west. Gateway, built c. 1760, to east comprising pair of limestone ashlar piers with ovoid finials having cast-iron gates.
http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-list.jsp?letter=C
At the time of Griffith’s Valuation, Rev. Henry Denny was leasing Church Hill from Sir Edward Denny when it was valued at £27. According to Bary the house was in the hands of the Denny family for much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries until it passed to the Neligans, possibly in the 1880s. In 1906 it was owned by William Neligan and valued at £27. It is still extant and occupied.
featured in Great Irish Houses. Forewards by Desmond FitzGerald, Desmond Guinness. IMAGE Publications, 2008.
p. 140. “For two decades an architectural phenomenon has been going on in a quiet and scenic corner of County Kerry overlooking Tralee Bay. A modest Irish country dwelling has been turned into one of Ireland’s hidden treasures by an American industrialist, Fred Krehbiel, who opened a factory in Shannon in 1970, married Kay, from nearby Ballyduff, and started his search for an Irish country house. With its view of the bays and framed by the Slieve Mish mountains and the picturesque village of Fenit, it was Churchill that caught their eye. It is hardly surprising the prehistoric Irish also chose the site as a settlement given its strategic positioning and commanding vista.
With two storeys over basement, the structure at Churchill is typical of the glebe tradition of 18th and 19th century Ireland. They often contained three bays but Churchill has five, a hopped roof and a pair of chimneystacks close together. The uniformity of design with other glebe buildings – there is a church on the property’s doorstep – owes much to the house’s ecclesiastical function as a residence for members of the nearby clergy.
Churchill though, is an amalgamation of two separate buildings – the first was erected in 1741 and has a bow on the garden front. In the 18th century the house was said to have been one floor over basement, while in the 19th century another floor and a bow were added to the back. By 1832 it had fallen into disrepair and was turned into a double house or two-storey dwelling. The house was now the property of the Denny family, and much of the interior, such as moulded panels and door architraves, dates from the mid 19th century. The Denny family made several additions to the house.
The house passed from the Denny family shortly before 1884. It was bought by Sir John Chute Neligan, a County Court judge, who left the property to his son, Captain William John Neligan of the Kerry Militia, whose initials appear on the carved chimneypiece in the study. Following a battle with alcoholism, William died and left the house to the Dominicans in Tralee, who occupied Churchill until 1920. In the 20th century the house changed hands three times before the Krehbeils secured it in 1983 and began the process of careful restoration and renewal.
When the Krebiehls first bought the property Churchill was close to ruin. Most of the plasterwork was in need of immediate repair, dry rot was evident, the plumbing and wiring needed attention, and just one toilet and one sink worked in the main house, while both baths were unusable. “For the next ten years we discovered one disaster after another,” Fred Krehbiel recalls.
The Krehbiels wanted to create a country house experience on a modest scale that was still rugged enough to perform as a family home. In the early days they had 27 nieces and nephews to stay and Churchill was certainly more functional than stylish. Yet as the family grew up and the finances recovered after saving the fabric of the building, they drew up plans for the interiors and the gardens.
The conservation architect John O’Connell has directed the project at all stages, including the addition of the library, pavilion and barn, using mostly Irish craftsmen. Throughout the property, where possible, the furnishings are Irish. The interior design was collaboration between Imogen Taylor and Pierre Serrurier of Colefax and Fowler and Kay Krehbiel, and the team used the natural flora at Churchill, such as the plentiful fuschia, to inform their patterns to great effect.
Very few Kerry houses remain and only one of them, Tarbert House, has managed to retain its Irish furnishings and so the project at Churchill is particularly important. Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin, gave his advice and put the Krehbiels in touch with Irish furniture dealers in Dublin. Furnishings of note at Churchill include a pair of mid-18th century armchair and an 1830s wine cooler, again with paw feet.
The Irish feel is clear. In the drawing room, which has a large window opening onto the front garden, an Irish table bought from a Dublin dealer stands in one corner. A landscape by Paul Henry entitled Peat Ditches – one of the first paintings the Krehbiels bought – hangs to the side of the chimneypiece. They saw the picture when passing Pyms Gallery in London and bought it because they were struck by the uncanny resemblance to the views from Churchill.
The purchase sparked a lifelong affinity with Irish art and the Krehbiels have acquired one of the finest private collections in the country with pieces from the 16th century up to the present, put together with the help of art historian William Laffan. When wall space started to run out, the Krehbiels commissioned O’Connell to convert a barn into elegant Georgian and Victorian style rooms. The gallery tells the story of Irish art from the earliest period to about 1880; more recently a gallery of modern and contemporary art has been built.
The chimneypiece in the drawing room is original to the house, while the Irish mirror overhead was brought in from London. An Irish peat bucket sits by the fireside, a Flemish tapestry hangs on a facing wall, while the wall furnishing is completed by a William Orpen painting Woman at the Window and a large Killarney scene by John Henry Campbell. Two porcelain vases from the early 1800s stand either side of the tapestry.
In the library, the initials of William Neligan, dated 1887, on the chimneypiece are in fine condition. Most of the pictures [p. 144] date to the 18th or 19th century, including works by Orpen and Lavery.
In the dining room a traditional Irish wake dining table takes centre place while an Irish sideboard is set to one side. All the chairs in the room are Irish. Wonderful lion head woodwork is found on the walls. The Cup the Cheers by Henry Jones Thaddeus, one of the owner’s favourite paintings that depicts Irish rural bachelorhood, sets the scene on the left wall. The rest of the walls are taken up with prints in the 18th century style that now add uniformity to the room. The chandeliers were bought for the Krehbiel’s US property and imported.
A small kitchen that was originally in the basement has been removed allowing for a larger traditional Irish kitchen on the ground floor, adjacent to a new conservatory wing. Bucking the trend, the table and chairs are early 20th century American, and the family find themselves [p. 147] spending most of the tiem in this area of the house.
As well as restoring and rectifying the house’s structural issues, the Krehbiels set about recovering some of the surrounding land as the estate had been reduced to just five acres. By the 19th century, farmland had consumed the kitchen gardens, orchards and pleasure grounds and many of the trees. Today, Churchill stands proudly in more than 200 acres. In 1993, the project to restore the gardens began. Jim Reynolds and his design team have magnificently recaptured the spirit of the place. The linear driveway was returned to its circular origins, which were revealed when the flowerbeds were dug, the walled gardens were created and stable buildings converted.
A more recent building added to the grounds is Kay’s Cottage. Fred Krehbiel takes up its story: “Kay had said [p. 148] that Churchill was turning out to e a lot more work than expectd, and that in fact she only wanted a small cottage for summer visits and not another house requiring constant maintenance. So I built her a cottage as a present, but she has yet to make the move!”
Major work at Churchill is now complete and the Krehbiels have turned their attention to Ballyfin in County Laois, with plans to open a 24 room country house hotel by 2010. An early 19th century Richard and William Morrison designed house, it was originally built for Sir Charles Coote. Fred Krehbiel expands on plans for the house: “Ballyfin is being turned into a small hotel which we hope will offer the finest possible service in a wonderful country house environment with an emphasis on comfort and country pursuits. The house and demesne has undergone a careful restoration and is being furnished with period antiques and Irish paintings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.”
Churchill, though, continues to delight the visitor with its wonderful main house, the romantic splendour of Kay’s cottage, the simplicity and elegance of the pavilion, and the sheer delight of the gardens and surrounding scenery. It is a national treasure reborn that can face the future with renewed sense of purpose and panache.”
[photo credit p. 147: A Pietro Bossi chimneypiece in the Chinese painted room in the pavilion with blue decorated rococo chairs made for David Garrick by Thomas Chippendale. Another Bossi chimneypiece in the main gallery. The bedroom is furnished with Viennese painted furniture of around 1800.]
[Kay’s cottage ornee, modelled on the cottage at Kilfane, County Kilkenny.”
Irish Historic Houses 