Tullanisk (or Tullynisk), Birr, Offaly  https://aguidetoirishcountryhouses.com/2025/01/31/tullynisk-or-tullanisk-formerly-known-as-woodville-county-offaly/

Whigsborough, Birr, Co Offaly  – now a restaurant 

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. 284. “(Drought/LGI1958) A two storey three bay gable-ended C18 house with a one bay extension of the same height on the left and a slightly lower one bay extension on the right. Round-headed doorway. Gothic tower, probably late C18, on fornt of stables. Fine Classical gate piers with swag friezes.” 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/14930001/whigsborough-house-whigsborough-county-offaly

Detached four-bay two-storey over basement country house, built c.1760, with outbuildings to rear. Set within its own grounds. Pitched slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles, rendered chimneystack with terracotta pots, cast-iron rainwater goods and tooled stone coping to gables. Roughcast render to walls. Timber sash windows and stone sills to all elevations and oculi to front and rear elevations. Main entrance with round-headed door opening with timber panelled double doors flanked by tooled limestone engaged Doric columns surmounted by petal fanlight. Door accessed by flight of punch-dressed limestone steps flanked by with low sweeping walls. Wrought-iron bootscraper to base of steps. Round-headed door opening to rear site with fanlight and timber panelled door with stone threshold. Multiple-bay two-storey stables to rear site with pitched slate roof and random coursed stone walls. Timber lintels to square-headed door and window openings and timber battened doors. Main entrance with square-profile gate piers of channelled limestone with carved stone swags to frieze surmounted by cornice and capping stone with flanking quadrant walls and wrought-iron gates. 

Whigsborough House overlooks a sloping lawn. In excellent condition, this house portrays some interesting architectural details. A round-headed doorway with a petal fanlight and six-over-six sash windows are two items of significance. Accompanying this house is a wide range of outbuildings, including stables, gardener’s sheds and a walled garden with thick buttressed walls and a tower or folly façade overlooking front lawn. Without a doubt, Whigsborough House makes a positive architectural impact on County Offaly. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/14930002/whigsborough-tower-whigsborough-co-offaly

Gothic style tower façade, erected c.1770, abutting outbuilding and walled garden to north, situated within the grounds of Whigsborough House. Random coursed stone wall to tower with crenellated parapet and pointed-arched window opening with tooled stone tracery. Wall much overgrown with ivy. Outbuilding to north with pitched slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and cast-iron rainwater goods. Roughcast render to random coursed stone walls. Segmental-headed integral carriage arch opening leading through to walled garden, with cut stone voussoirs and cobbled flooring. Square-headed door openings with timber battened doors. Walled garden to north with random coursed stone walls with large buttresses supporting south-eastern wall. Gardener’s shed to south of garden with pitched slate roof and random coursed stone walls. 

Appraisal 

This folly to Whigsborough House, abuts the stable and gardener’s complex and is accessed through a large walled garden with thick buttressed walls. This folly is a façade overlooking the extensive grounds of the house. According to the house’s owner a stream with a cut stone bridge once lead to the tower, ferrying people directly to this unusual structure. 

https://www.independent.ie/life/home-garden/homes/history-of-a-house-26431790.html

Caitriona Murphy 

March 21 2008 0:00 AM 

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Character, charm and comfort: three fundamental features of a country pile and without which any large house could easily become soulless. Lucky then that Whigsborough House in Co Offaly, soon to be listed, has all three of these things in spades. 

At 756 sqm, no one will quibble about its size. With 10 bedrooms, six reception rooms, a library and kitchen inside and 13 acres of land outside, this house is certainly not short on space. 

However, it is the warmth of the house that makes it so special. 

Current owners Eamonn and Anna Heagney have decided to sell the house in order to downsize, but they don’t mind admitting that the move will be a big wrench for both themselves, their four daughters and their beloved pony, Foggy. 

“There’s something about the house that just embraces you,” explains Anna. “It’s something really, really special — a warmth and atmosphere that reaches out to you.” 

Swedish-born Anna knew Whigsborough before she and Eamonn bought the place as she had rented the house for a number of years. 

The pair now run the property as a guesthouse and they have developed their services such a high level that Whigsborough House is currently the only guesthouse in Co Offaly to grace the inside of the prestigious Bridgestone Guide. 

Although the main house was in excellent condition when they moved in, the family undertook major renovation of the basement floor, including installation of under-floor heating. 

“We made this floor our own private house, with all the guest accommodation upstairs,” explains Eamonn. 

“We renovated in a way that was sympathetic to the original house — the walls are all whitewashed and we found lots of the original bread ovens or kilns in the walls.” 

The house is choc-full of character, with part of the house dating back to 1715. 

Originally Dowris House, the residence was added to over the years and the archaeological find known as the Dowris Hoard was unearthed on the grounds of the original estate. It’s said that the Dowris Hoard was found in either 1825 or 1833 by two men trenching potatoes. 

History and romance fill the house; from the circular petal window in the library, where a maid would place a lighted candle to signal to her local lover, to the maple-floored ballroom and 1.5-acre walled garden outside. 

Surrounded by London Plane trees, the interior of the house pays compliment to its rural setting. The kitchen cabinets and bookshelves in the library were made from trees which fell on the estate. 

Outside, the yard has an array of outbuildings including six stables, a 325 sqm stone lofted barn and stone coach houses, one of which has already been converted into an apartment. 

Whigsborough House stands on 13 acres in Fivealley, Birr, Co Offaly and is for sale by private treaty. Contact DNG Purcell Birr on 057 9120270. Asking price €1.8m 

https://www.discoverireland.ie/Food-And-Drink/whigsborough-house/62859

Fivealley 
Birr 
Offaly 
Republic of Ireland 

 +353 57 9133318  

whigsborough@eircom.net 

Whigsborough House is a beautiful Georgian house set in mature grounds, just five miles from the town of Birr.  
 
Whigsborough House has a growing reputation for hospitality, good food and wine and is a unique and very special dining experience. Pre-booking essential.