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.
p. 253. “Originally a plain two storey early C19 house; Doric porch with coupled columns. The seat of Thomas Needham. Acquired mid-C19 by William Moran, who had made money in jute in Bengal, and who added two storey wings in a slightly Oriental style. Probably at the same time, the original block was given a balustraded roof parapet and pediments on console brackets over the ground floor windows. Sold ca 1900; now an old people’s home. At some period after the sale of the house by the Morans, the Hindu-Gothic decoration was removed from the wings.”
The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
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. 262. “(Trench/IFR) a house of two storeys over a basement, built 1745 by Col Francis Sadleir, who used to climb the scaffolding during the building and read accounts of that year’s Jacobite rising to the workmen. Attributed by the Knight of Glin to Francis Bindon, stylistically as well as on account of Col Sadleir’s connection to Bindon and to Bindon’s chief patron, Lord Bessborough. Seven bay entrance front, all the windows and the round-headed doorway having block architraves and large keystones which in the upper storey, break into the frieze of the entablature. Bold cornice. Archway to yard, flanked by walls with niches, at one side of front. Three bay side elevation, also with block architraves. Plain seven bay garden front. Interior much altered 1866-68. Wide and deep hall, lined with rather unusual fluted Doric pilasters and square columns of oak and divided by screen of arches. Staircase of good C18 joinery in staircase hall at side, leading up to large top-lit domed landing, with shallow arches and marbled half-columns; rather Soanian in character but presumably dating from 1866-68 remodelling. Room on right of hall with C18 panelling and ceiling with oval garland. Drawing room with Victorian plasterwork cornice. The old castle where the family originally lived stands a short distance away from the house; it is still roofed and has glass in its windows. It is unusually long for its height, with tall chimneys and machicoulis. Sopwell passed to the Trenches through the marriage of Mary Sadleir, daughter of the builder of the house, to Frederick Trench MP.”
The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale Colliers January 2025 E53 YN99 10 beds5 baths1322 m2
THE SOPWELL HALL ESTATE, BALLINGARRY, COUNTY TIPPERARY, E53 YN99, IRELAND A most distinguished early 18th-century Irish country house positioned within an estate of some 300 acres, including attractive parkland and mature woodland and a 16th-century castle. 5 Principal Reception Rooms, 10 Bedrooms The house is privately and centrally positioned deep within mature parkland. The accommodation at Sopwell Hall is grand and beautifully executed, with the principal house comprising some 14,235 square feet or 1,322 square metres.
The castle, built circa 1590, is now unoccupied but largely intact. The stone outbuildings are of the highest quality and richly augment the house and castle.
A Studio, Gardener’s Cottage, Bailiff’s House and 2 Gate Lodges complete the accommodation to present some 18,342 square feet or 1,704 square metres of possible accommodation in total. In all the estate extends to some 300 acres or 121.4 hectares
Sopwell Hall is situated in a triangle of the historic towns of Birr, Roscrea and Nenagh. The nearest small town is Borrisokane, which is some 5 miles or 8 kilometres away. The International airports at Dublin, Cork and Shannon are within easy driving distance.
The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
GEORGIAN ELEGANCE Built in 1745, to a design attributed to the renowned architect Francis Bindon, Sopwell Hall is imposing yet welcoming and conforms to the best traditions of early Georgian architecture. A popular and highly regarded architect, Bindon’s most noted country house designs are classically derived, like that at Russborough House, where he worked in collaboration with Richard Cassels. Indeed, this collaboration may have influenced the design of the top-lit domed landing at Sopwell Hall. Symmetrical in composition, Sopwell Hall is a beautifully balanced structure occupying a slightly elevated site with commanding views over the surrounding gardens and countryside. The house stands three storeys over basement with direct access from the ground and basement levels. All the windows on the seven bay façade and the round-headed front doorway have cut-stone block architraves and large keystones, which on the upper storey break into the frieze of the entablature under a pronounced cornice. Each side elevation has three window bays, one with block architraves and the other a Venetian window. The overall effect is extremely elegant and aesthetically pleasing. Substantial compensation monies received on the dispersal of wider estate lands hugely benefitted the house and core estate, with exceptional expenditure apparent on the building of significant stone outbuildings and considerable upgrading works to the house interior between circa 1866 to 68.
The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
The handsome fluted Doric pilasters in the main reception hall were added at this time along with shallow arches and marbled half-columns to the large top-lit domed landing. Ornate cornicing was added to the drawing room and dining room. A large orangery style conservatory adorned the south-eastern elevation but was sadly removed in the 1950’s due to disrepair.
The current owners created an elegant sunken garden within the space incorporating period limestone walls, steps and terracing. A high archway leads to an enclosed courtyard off the other side elevation. This courtyard itself leading to an adjacent yard which includes the impressive range of stone outbuildings.
PRIVATE ESTATE The Sopwell Hall Estate is a haven of tranquillity and privacy that is rare in the 21st-century. Positioned at the end of a half-mile drive Sopwell Hall occupies a central position within its own estate and enjoys a panoramic view over the park and woodland. Interspersed with mature specimen trees the parkland pasture surrounds the house. The outer parts of the estate comprising a perimeter woodland belt and creating a great sense of privacy and seclusion. Among the many ancient and specimen trees throughout the estate are some particularly fine Spanish chestnut, a noted ancient beech wood and a rare Siberian crab-apple tree. The woodlands include indigenous oak, beech, ash, larch and spruce. Unsurprisingly there is, too, much wildlife to be found on the estate. Red squirrels, pine martens, foxes and hares are regularly sighted, and buzzards, owls and falcons can also be found.
The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
Since 1985, when the current owners acquired Sopwell Hall, a substantial amount of restoration and improvement works have been carried out in the gardens and wider pleasure grounds, which had become neglected. Spacious lawns were laid down, the two gate lodges restored and a hard tennis court installed. The sunken garden was created at the southwestern end of the house, incorporating a central water-lily pond, limestone walls and steps to create terracing. Works on the Walled Garden commenced in 2009 and, with expert advice, a fruit orchard planted to include apple, pear, plum, medlar, walnut and cherry trees and incorporating some old heritage varieties. Behind a mixed hedgerow divide lies a productive garden, with a large soft-fruit cage, a flower garden, herb garden and vegetable beds. All through the year there is a kaleidoscope of colour throughout the grounds with a great display of daffodils announcing the arrival of Spring, many of the 30 or so varieties found at Sopwell are original to the estate and are enhanced by arrays of snowdrops and crocuses. The ancient beech wood displays an abundance of bluebells and is quite a magical scene. Numerous shrubs and trees provide rich colour in all seasons. A large border flowerbed contains a wide selection of shrubs and climbers underplanted with various perennials and bulbs. Several varieties of climbing roses, clematis and wisteria adorn the various outbuildings in the coachyard and the large arched entrance. In the 18th-century and 19th-century many pleasure walks and bridleways were created around the estate with many still evident and in use today. Part of the original 1,000-acre estate demesne is now owned by Coillte, the semi-State forestry group, and across which forest walks, and horse riding can be enjoyed. The Sopwell Estate itself is private and exclusive.
Sopwell Hall is at the end of a half mile drive and is at the centre of the estate. The property is entered through fine cast iron pillared gates set within a cut-limestone entrance splay and adorned by the charming front Gate Lodge. The drive leads through undulating open parkland to a gravelled forecourt in front of the house. Of the circa 300 acres or 121.4 hectares within the estate about two-thirds comprise mature parkland grazing and one-third is in woodland, with about 74 acres or 29.9 hectares in mature woodland and some 20 acres (8 hectares) in a commercial plantation. Some 185 acres of grazing lands are let annually on an 11-month conacre basis. This arrangement could possibly continue, or the lands could be farmed in-hand. A walled enclosure adjacent to Killaleigh Castle has a useful range of outbuildings. Sopwell Hall and its circa 300 acres are entirely private and bordered by some 500 acres of Coillte (the semi-State forestry company) forestry and approximately 160 acres of farmland is used as part of a training farm for Gurteen College, which is 3 miles away. These three holdings combined constituting the original core estate at Sopwell. The Sopwell Hall Estate is private and exclusive with no third-party Rights of Way across the estate. There exists a Wayleave to allow mast collection in the beech wood by Coillte, but it appears not to have been exercised in over 30 years. The estate has the benefit of a Right of Way across some adjacent lands. The Coillte forestry which adjoins the estate greatly enhances the enjoyment of living at Sopwell Hall, as it provides great amenity for long walks in beautiful surroundings. Whilst being wonderfully secluded the estate is nearby to town amenities and easily accessible, with the M7 motorway accessible some 12.4 miles or 20 kilometres away at Roscrea (Junction 22).
The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
16TH CENTURY CASTLE The Castle, called Killaleigh Castle, is long unoccupied but largely intact. Built, circa 1590, by the Gaelic MacEgan Clan as a fortified Castle or Tower House under an Elizabethan grant until 1662, when the Clan’s lands were forfeit. Killaleigh Castle with its immediate lands and over 1,000 acres coming into the possession of a Col. Thomas Sadlier, Adjutant General to Henry Cromwell, for his military achievements. Through buying up debentures on lands awarded to fellow officers who wished to return to England he had an accumulated estate of over 5,000 acres by the end of the 17th-century. The castle was in a ruinous state and Col. Sadlier rebuilt it and doubled it in size, adding a second overlapping rectangular section in the mid-17th-century and, presumably, the unusually tall chimneys. It is a fine example of the transition from basic fortified castles to more comfortable castles or houses, albeit still with fortification as evident from the mâchicoulis.
In 1745 a Francis Sadlier, grandson of Col. Thomas Sadlier, built the imposing Sopwell Hall to become the principal and statement house on the estate, with the castle then uninhabited. The Sopwell Estate ownership passing to the Trench family in 1797 through the marriage of his daughter, Mary. The Trench family remaining in ownership until 1985, when the current owners purchased Sopwell. Whilst in need of complete restoration the castle appears to be largely structurally sound and comprising some 3,976 square feet or 369 square metres could provide useful additional amenity, were it required and subject to any necessary consents. It stands within a walled enclosure that also contains the Bailiff’s House and a long range of single storey outbuildings.
The Bailiff’s House comprises some 1,480 square feet or 137.5 square metres of potential accommodation.
The outbuildings extend to some 5,812 square feet or 540 square metres of net internal space. Killaleigh Castle and the Bailiff’s House are positioned a short distance from Sopwell Hall and can be accessed from an internal roadway or independently from the rear or castle entrance.
THE LOCATION Sopwell Hall is situated in a triangle of the historic towns of Birr, Roscrea and Nenagh. Nearby Ballingarry village is a five minute drive away and has a church and ‘The Glue Pot’ pub. The small town of Borrisokane is some 5 miles or 8 kilometres away and includes a primary and secondary school, a doctor’s surgery with adjacent health centre, a butcher and two grocery stores, a petrol station, pubs and a hardware shop. Alternatively, Cloughjordan town is equidistant. The larger towns of Birr, Roscrea and Nenagh providing wider shopping, schooling and leisure amenity. Birr, a designated Irish Heritage Town has wide streets with many elegant Georgian buildings. Birr Castle and Science Centre includes the great Leviathan of Parsonstown astronomical telescope that was the largest in the World from 1845 to 1917. The town annually hosts a Vintage Week and Art Festival, The Irish Game and Country Fair, and The Irish Hot Air Balloon Festival; there being a strong aviation link with The Ormond Flying Club based at Birr Airfield. Birr Theatre and Arts Centre is a local cultural and social amenity for the arts, dance, film, music and theatre. Roscrea town provides access to the M7 motorway, about a 20 minute drive from Sopwell Hall and accessing Dublin and Limerick cities with an array of shopping facilities, theatres, restaurants, pubs, wine bars, café’s, boutique salons and leisure spas. The M7 giving motorway access to Dublin, Shannon and Cork International airports. Equestrian, walking and cycling facilities are abundant in the area with Sopwell Hall within easy reach of mountain trails. The Slieve Bloom, Silvermine, Slieve Bernagh, Slieve Aughty, Slieve Felim and Arra mountains all being nearby. Locally there are walking trails in the Knocknacree Woods and Scohaboy Bog and of course privately within Sopwell estate itself. For equestrian enthusiasts there are many riding schools and clubs in the area and the local Ormond Hunt has in the past met at Sopwell Hall. Horse racing takes places at Tipperary and Limerick. Golf courses within a 30-minute drive include those in Nenagh, Roscrea and Birr. Nearby Lough Derg, less than a 20-minute drive from Sopwell, is referred to as Ireland’s Pleasure Lake and is perfect for the water sport enthusiast with good sailing breezes and uncluttered expanses providing superb conditions for sailing, windsurfing and cruising. Lough Derg is the largest lake on the River Shannon, the longest river in Ireland and Great Britain. A harbour and marina in Portumna town provides cruiser boat rental and there are further harbours nearby at Terryglass and Dromineer, which has one of the oldest yacht clubs in the world. Lough Derg offers good trout, pike and bream fishing and walks on the Lough Derg Way. Sopwell Hall offers many amenities within the estate with historic bridleways and walking paths throughout the open parkland and mature woods. With over 90 acres of woodland there is also potential to create a small sporting estate. Tranquil and private Sopwell is a preserve of wildlife. Ballingarry village 2.8 miles or 4.6 km, 6 minutes driving Birr town 10.3 miles or 16.6 km, 18 minutes driving Roscrea town (M7 motorway) 12 miles or 19.3 km, 20 minutes driving Nenagh town 13.3 miles or 21.4 km, 22 minutes driving Dublin city 93 miles or 150 km, 55 minutes driving Limerick city 39 miles or 63 km, 54 minutes driving Cork city 99 miles or 160 km, 2 hours 4 minutes driving Dublin airport 1 hour 48 minutes driving Shannon airport 1 hour 10 minutes driving Cork airport 2 hours 5 minutes driving. Property specific Eircode postcode E53 YN99 GPS LOCATION 59.9924039 (latitude), -8.0490516 (longitude) Gate Lodge (entrance gates) Eircode E53 AY94 GPS LOCATION 52.9962936 (latitude), -8.0462998 (longitude) Elevation above sea level: 77 metres or 252 feet
Accommodation
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
GRACIOUS ACCOMMODATION From the gravelled forecourt to the front of the house wide limestone steps lead through both outer and inner doors into the magnificent reception hall. Spacious and well-proportioned it is lined with distinctive fluted Doric pilasters and divided by a screen of arches. Fine ceiling plasterwork includes twin ceiling roses and decorative cornicing. The large marble chimney piece is original to the 1745 build and has an open fire.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
An interconnecting arch links to the stair hall. To the left of the main hall is a study and to the right a charming timber panelled morning room, with original marble chimneypiece and decorative ceiling work. The drawing room and dining room are each impressive and, again, accessed from the central main hall. Displaying the very best features and proportions of fine Georgian architecture each is filled with natural light, has impressive large marble chimneypieces with open fires and ornate cornicing.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
The stair hall incorporates a fine 18th-century carved timber staircase lit from a large Venetian window on the stair return and from the large top-lit domed landing above. Concealed doors lead to a guest WC and a roof terrace. A secondary stair hall accesses the floor below and the upper floors. A small kitchen on this level serves the dining room. A feature of the main reception rooms and, indeed, the entire house is the abundance of natural light with ample tall and large glazed windows.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers. Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale Colliers January 2025
The broad carved staircase, complete with original handrail and spindles, leads to a generously large landing on the first floor. Impressive architecturally, there are six matching scagliola sienna marble columns and a large, perfectly proportioned domed ceiling, with a glazed atrium at the apex, which is surrounded by fine plasterwork. There are five principal bedrooms and four bathrooms on this floor. The Master Bedroom Suite occupies the south-eastern corner. The bedroom enjoys a dual aspect and has marble chimneypiece with an open fire and interconnecting doors to an en-suite bathroom and to Bedroom 2, which could be used as a dressing room and links to its own bathroom. The bathroom, off the master bedroom, is charming with the design inspired by a bathroom in the Chateau de Rambouillet in France. Bedroom 3 has a dual aspect with fine parkland views towards Knockshegowna Hill (Cnoc Sí Uwa, which translates as ‘Hill of Fairy Una’) and an interconnecting door to Bedroom 4, which in turn connects to an en-suite bathroom. These rooms combined could make a large suite with a bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. Bedroom 5 retains the original 1745 oak panelling and has an interconnecting door to a shared bathroom with Bedroom 4 and/or can utilise a family bathroom across the hall. A laundry room with linen shelving is positioned off a secondary stair hall, which accesses the second floor and floors below. The second floor provides five further bedrooms and a bathroom and has a games room, study, large store and access to the roof.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
The lower ground floor has a large axial central hall that opens at ground level to both the courtyard and the sunken garden. It includes a sitting room with an open fire. A large kitchen has glazed double French doors to a South facing garden terrace, an open fireplace with a vintage water heater, and a range of fitted timber wall and floor cupboards with solid timber worktop, a large Belfast style sink, an integrated Viking Professional electric oven with six gas hob plates, clay tiled flooring, spot lighting and interconnecting door to a pantry. The old servant’s hall has an open fireplace and 5 recessed alcoves. The Wine Cellar has 20 wine bins and additional racks. A boot room, store, laundry, boiler room, estate office and staff apartment complete the accommodation on this floor. The staff apartment has a bedroom, bathroom and small living room or lobby. The Studio is positioned in the upper floor of the adjacent courtyard buildings and is a large space comprising some 660 square feet or 61 square metres and has a solid fuel stove, fitted cupboards, book shelving and timber flooring.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
THE COURTYARD Positioned immediately adjacent to the main house the courtyard comprises an impressive range of single and two-storey cut-stone outbuildings that include a Coach House, garaging, a Studio, workshop and various stores. Exceptional expenditure on their building is apparent as they are extensive and surprisingly elaborate for outbuildings. They are thought to have been constructed between circa 1866 to 68 following the receipt of substantial monies for the sale of estate lands. Combined they extend to some 3,346 square feet or 311 square metres of net internal space.
THE BAILIFF’S HOUSE The Bailiff’s House, originally a steward’s house, is positioned adjacent to Killaleigh Castle within the walled enclosure. Whilst in need of restoration the structure appears generally sound and the layout is very pleasing. It extends to some 1,480 square feet or 137.5 square metres.
THE GARDENER’S COTTAGE The Gardener’s Cottage is positioned within the Walled Garden, abutting the wall at the very north-western end. It extends to some 722 square feet or 67 square metres over 2 storeys.
FRONT GATE LODGE The Front Gate Lodge is architecturally impressive and is positioned just inside the main entrance gates to Sopwell Hall it is set out over a single storey and extends to 566 square feet or 52.6 square metres. There is a living room, kitchen, bedroom bathroom and laundry room and provides useful accommodation.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
BACK GATE LODGE The Back Gate Lodge or Castle Gate Lodge is positioned at the top of the rear entrance. Extremely picturesque the accommodation extends to 681 square feet or 63.3 square metres over 2 storeys and includes a living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. It has been recently restored and provides charming accommodation.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Gate lodge at Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
Features
The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale Colliers January 2025
RESTORATION AND UPGRADING Acquired by the present owners in 1985 both Sopwell Hall, the outbuildings and the lands required substantial restoration and upgrading, therefore comprehensive programme of work has been undertaken in the subsequent years. Conservation works included the repair and restoration of timber panelling and plasterwork and all the windows being taken out and refurbished. Fine Georgian chimneypieces were sourced and installed to replace three less suitable Victorian ones added in the circa 1866-68 remodelling. The entire house was re-wired and re-plumbed, and a modern oil-fired central heating system installed, complete with an efficient condenser boiler and thermostatic controls for zoned areas. A smoke alarm and monitored security alarm were installed. Rooms were re-commissioned to provide or create five bathrooms, two new kitchens, a laundry room, boiler house and a roof terrace. Great emphasis was given to ensuring security of services with a private well water supply added to augment a mains water supply, a powerful generator installed to provide back-up in the event of an outage on the mains electric supply and two large (3000 gallon or 11,500 litre) oil tanks installed to provide long term on-site storage. Woodland on the estate providing a stable supply of logs for the open fires in the house. Sympathetic to the historic importance of the house and yet cognisant to create a country home suitable for the 21st-century the extensive restoration and improvements works undertaking over the last 35 years present Sopwell Hall as a comfortable and elegant home. A fine collection of period furnishings adds to the overall charm of Sopwell. While not included in the sale it is understood the majority could possibly be subsequently purchased by a successful buyer. TENURE and POSSESSION The property is offered for sale freehold and it is the intention to provide vacant possession on completion of the sale. FIXTURES and FITTINGS All fitted carpets and curtains will remain in the property on closing and will become the property of the purchaser. The light fittings, furniture and any other chattels within the house or other buildings are excluded from the sale. As are the garden statuary, ornaments and machinery. The majority are understood to be available by separate negotiation and/or the owner retains the right to hold an auction of the contents of the house on the premises prior to a sale completion. RIGHTS OF WAY The property is offered for sale subject to and with the benefits of all matters and rights of way which affect the property. It is understood there are no Rights of Way across the property, aside from the small Wayleave outlined.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.
BER Details
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Killaleigh Castle at Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Killaleigh Castle at Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Killaleigh Castle at Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Killaleigh Castle at Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.Killaleigh Castle at Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale January 2025 photograph courtesy Colliers.The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale Colliers January 2025The Sopwell Hall Estate, Ballingarry, Tipperary for sale Colliers January 2025
To arrange a viewing for this significant estate please call Callum Bain Mobile +353 86 8118367 or Email callum.bain@colliers.com Joint Agent David Ashmore – Ireland Sotheby’s International Realty
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Detached seven-bay two-storey over basement house, built c.1745. Hipped slate roof with rendered chimneystacks. Ruled-and-lined render to walls, with cut stone cornice and eaves platband. Cut-stone block architraves to all windows on ground and first floors of front and east side elevations. Timber sliding sash windows, four-over-four pane to upper floors, two-over-two pane to basement at rear. Segmental-headed windows to basement of front elevation. Timber panelled front door having round-headed block architrave with plain fanlight. Cut-stone doorcase with pilasters to double-leaf panelled door in south elevation. Flight of limestone steps up to main entrance and balustrade to basement level added in 1860s.
Appraisal
Sopwell Hall was built in the mid-eighteenth century by Colonel Francis Sadleir and the house has been attributed to Francis Bindon who had connections with the owner. The roof and part of the interior of Sopwell Hall were remodelled in 1866-68 and extensive outbuildings added. Constructed of fine quality materials, with crisp cut limestone details of particular note, the building is well maintained and in good condition after many years of restoration work carried out by the present owners. Located on extensive landscaped grounds which incorporate a seventeenth-century fortified house, two gate lodges, cut-stone outbuildings and a walled garden.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Two yards of single and two-storey outbuildings, built c.1870, enclosed by high stone walls located north-west of the main house at Sopwell Hall. Hipped slate roofs having cut-stone chimneystacks. Exposed squared limestone walls having cut stone quoins, cornices, sills and surrounds to openings. Small-pane timber windows having top opening ten-over-fifteen pane casements. Timber battened doors. Limestone carriage arch having ball finials and flanked by niches, leading to eastern yard, with limestone piers to gateway at north side and to western yard. Eastern yard has multiple-bay single-storey outbuilding with carriage arch and six-bay outbuilding with two-storey centre bays. Western yard has single-storey L-plan outbuilding with advanced and higher centre blocks with segmental-headed carriage arches and flanked by lower two-bay blocks. Three-bay two-storey building to north-west corner of walled garden, having pitched slate roof with chimneystack.
Appraisal
A complex of outbuildings of the highest quality constructed at the same time as the remodelling of the eighteenth-century Sopwell Hall in the late 1860s and replacing all of the original outbuildings. The buildings retain the majority oftheir original features and character and are in good condition following recent restoration.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, built c.1865, with pedimented entrance portico in antis. Hipped slate roof with rendered chimneystack. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls having cut limestone portico, quoins and plinth. Segmental-headed openings, paired to gables, with one-over-one pane timber sash windows and moulded limestone surrounds with brackets beneath sills. Timber panelled door with overlight, set in square-headed opening inside portico, latter with fluted Doric columns. Ornamental cast-iron piers and gate flanked by rectangular limestone piers with cast-and-wrought-iron gates and railings; cast-iron railings, cut limestone piers and rendered quadrant walls.
Appraisal
This gate lodge is notable for its apparent architectural design. The classically-inspired portico is an interesting addition to this small-scale building and is clearly the work of skilled craftsmen, as are the carved limestone window surrounds, sills and brackets and the segmental-headed windows which enrich and enliven the façade. The gates are highly decorative and add further interest to the site. This building forms part of a significant group of related structures with the buildings of Sopwell Hall demesne.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Detached three-bay two-storey former steward’s house with advanced gabled end bay and hipped porch, built c.1875, having single-storey annex to southwest. Pitched slate roofs having cut-stone chimneystack and ceramic ridge tiles. Squared limestone walls, rendered in parts. Timber mullioned and transomed casement windows, one dormer. Timber panelled door in shouldered-arch opening. Stone outbuildings to rear having pitched slate roofs and bellcote.
Appraisal
Built immediately west of Killaleigh Castle, a 17th century fortified house, the construction of the steward’s house involved the removal of part of the medieval bawn wall. Alterations to Sopwell Hall and the rebuilding of the outbuildings was carried out in the late 1860s, and the steward’s house is likely to have been built as part of this phase of work. An exceptionally long outbuilding is located to the northeast of the castle, part of which predates the later nineteenth-century phase of work. Both the outbuildings and the steward’s house are of the highest quality construction with fine stonework, and their location on an archaeological site is of added importance.
Sopwell Hall, Ballingarry, County Tipperary, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
The Tipperary Gentry. Volume 1. By William Hayes and Art Kavanagh. Published by Irish Family Names, c/o Eneclann, Unit 1, The Trinity Enterprise Centre, Pearse St, Dublin 2, 11 Emerald Cottages, Grand Canal St, Dublin 4 and Market Square, Bunclody, Co Wexford, Ireland. 2003.
Sadlier
p. 220. There appears to have been two separate families of Sadlier in Tipperary. Thomas Sadleir, a Colonel in Cromwell’s army was the ancestor of the Sadleirs of Sopwell Hall and Castletown in Tipperary. At various times in the 1650s Colonel Sadleir was governor of Wexford and of Galway. While he was in Galway he was given teh task of looking after the priests who were in prisons in Ireland. He received £100 from the government to move them to Inishboffin and build cabins there for them. The colonel was allotted land in Tipperary in lieu of his pay. He probably bought up debentures too. By the end of the 17th century he had over 5,000 acres of land.
His great grandson, Francis Sadleir of Sopwell Hall, had no son and he cut off the entail to the family lands, as he had no liking for his cousin Thomas of Castletown. When he died in 1797 his estes were divided between his two daughters.
This family was represented thereafter by the family of Castletown.
The other Sadleir family in Tipperary was descended from John Sadleir, an adventurer, who did not come to Ireland until the 1660s, when his lands had been secured under the Act of Settlement….
p. 221. Clement Sadleir was the third son of John Sadleir of Ballintemple, who was married to Grace the daughter of William Chadwick of Ballinard. They had seven sons but only three of them produced sons from whom descended the Sadleirs of more modern times. They were Clement of Shronell, Nicholas of golden Garden and Sadleirs Wells and Ricahrd of Holycross and Scalaheen.
Clement of Shronell had a son William who seems to have died in the early 1790s, and it was his son, Clement, who married Johanna Scully.
Apparently named after an English property, Sopwell in Hertfordshire, which was inherited by the Sadleir family. In 1655 a Cromwellian soldier, Colonel Thomas Sadleir, was granted Kinelagh Castle, county Tipperary, which he renamed Sopwell Hall. This property remained in Sadleir possession until it was inherited by Mary Sadleir who, in 1754, had married Frederick Trench of Woodlawn, county Galway, the parents of the 1st Lord Ashtown. The present house was built by Mary’s father, Francis Sadleir, in the mid 18th century. Wilson refers to it as the residence of Mr. Sadlier in 1786. Sopwell Hall was left to Francis Trench, brother of 1st Lord Ashtown, who was living at Sopwell Hall in 1814. In 1837 Lewis records the Trenches in possession and writes that “on the demesne are the ruins of the ancient castle formerly occupied by the Sadleir family”. The Ordnance Survey Name Books, in 1840, refer to Sopwell as “a spacious building, the residence of Stewart Trench”. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation the 2nd Lord Ashtown, son of Francis, was occupying the house, valued at £40 and held by him in fee. By 1906 Sopwell was valued at £80 and occupied by the Honourable Cosby G. Trench. The Trench family were still resident at Sopwell Hall in the 1970s. In 1840 the Ordnance Survey Name Books noted that Sopwell was one of the largest demesnes in the country.
Sopwell Hall, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Sopwell Hall, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Sopwell Hall, County Tipperary dates from c.1745 but the house was extensively remodelled in the second half of the 1860s and it was at that time that the first-floor landing was given its present appearance. Exceptionally wide, the space is generously lit by a circular glazed dome resting on a sequence of shallow arches. These are supported by what appear to be marble columns. In fact, the latter are only painted and one quirky detail is that the surface pattern of each column features a number of human profiles, said to represent members of the Trench family who were then owners of the property.
Sopwell Hall, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Sopwell Hall, County Tipperary, photograph by Robert O’Byrne.
Kinelagh Castle, County Tipperary is likely to have begun as an O’Carroll tower houses built in the 15th century. In 1655 the land on which it stands was granted to an English solder, Colonel Thomas Sadleir who renamed the building Sopwell Hall after his family home in Hertfordshire. He doubled the size of the property by adding the section to the right, and also appears to have inserted at least some of the cut-stone windows and the corbelled corner turrets. The Sadleirs remained in residence until c.1745 when a smart new house, also called Sopwell Hall, was built a short distance away.
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.
p. 233. “(Friere Marreco/LG1952) A house by Michael Priestly, built 1746 for John Vaughan, of Buncrana Castle. Of five bays; the entrance front of two storeys over a concealed basement with an attic above the cornice; the garden front, facing the river Foyle, of three storeys with an attic; the basement on this side constituting a full storey owing to the ground falling away. The attic, on both fronts, is blind except for a Diocletian window in the central pediment-gable; which, on the entrance front, is carried on a three bay breakfront; but on the garden front is floating. The entrance front has a fanlighted doorway with a rusticated surround; there are also rusticatinos round the windows and rusticated quoins. The garden front is quite plain; it is flanked by low, gable-ended buildings running back towards the river and forming a deep court; these were used by Vaughan – who was a merchant – as offices and warehouses. Port Hall is now the home of Anthony Marreco, long associated with Amnesty International.”
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.
p. 81. “(Wray/LG1863; Mansfield/LGI1912) Now demolished…
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Laurentinum, County Cork, photograph courtesy of Irish Georgian Society.
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.
p. 182. “(Creagh/IFR: Morrogh-Bernard/IFR; MacCarthy-Morrogh/IFR) A Georgian house of two storeys (originally three) over a high basement. Six bay front with pilastered porch. Eaved roof.”
The Buildings of Ireland. Cork City and County. Frank Keohane. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. 2020.
p. 27. Of mid-C18 Palladian interiors, good representative examples with panelled dados, lugged architraves, fielded panelling and chunky cornices are found at Coole Abbey House, Assolas, Cloghroe, Kilshannig, and Blackrock House. Curiously, the heavy Palladian lugged architrave remained in use in the county long after it fell out of fashion elsewhere. At Lisnabrin, Dunkathel, Burton, Rockforest and Muckridge, the form is encountered in late C18 Neoclassical interiors, suggesting an innate conservatism among local joiners. The finest joinery in most houses is reserved for the staircase, and in many cases these have survived. The best early C18 staircases, at the Red House and Annes Grove, have alternating barley-twist and columnar balusters, big Corinthian newel posts, ramped handrails and carved tread-end brackets. Mount Alvernia (Mallow), Carrigrohane and Cloghroe all have good mid-C18 staircases of a similar type; that at Lota is exceptional in its use of mahogany and for its imperial plan. Good Neoclassical staircases, geometrical in form with delicate ironwork balustrades, survive at Maryborough, Newmarket Court and Castle Hyde; the destruction of those at Vernon Mount is a particularly sad loss.
The best early plasterwork is that of the Swiss-Italian brothers Paolo and Filippo Lafranchini at Riverstown, where highly sculptural late Baroque figurative ornament is applied to the walls and ceilings of the Saloon… Filippo alone decorated two rooms at Kilshannig, blending late Baroque figures with lighter acanthus arabesques and putti. Rococo plasterwork featuring scrolling acanthus and birds comparable to the Dublin school of the 1760s is encountered in the Saloon at Castlemartyr, and at Maryborough. At Laurentium (Doneraile) and the Old College (Youghal), it is rather more hesitant. For the most part, stucco workers remain anonymous, so it is a happy circumstance that Patrick Osborne’s accomplished work at the former Mansion House at Cork is recorded. He also probably worked at Lota, as well as at Castle Hyde. Good Neoclassical plasterwork in low relief and employing small-scale classical motifs of the type made fashionable by Robert Adam and James Wyatt is found at Maryborough, at Old Court House (Rochestown), and at the Old College and Loreto College at Youghal.
Set within a mature park landscape with entrance gates and a gate lodge to the north, Laurentinum House was constructed circa 1745. Originally a three-storey structure, the top floor was removed around 1850 and the porch was also added around this time. For many years prior to the dawn of the twenty-first century the house lay unoccupied and fell into disrepair. Marred by a leaking roof, damaged ceilings and floors among other problems, the current owners sought to completely restore the property and applied to the Irish Georgian Society in 2003 for a grant to assist in these conservation works. Between 2003-2007 the Irish Georgian Society awarded over €10,150 toward the works at Laurentinum House.
Brief description of project: Over €9,000 was given in 2003-2004 for the restoration of the timber sash windows. This included installing new sash cords, staff beads, and parting beads and other pane and timber repairs, as well as authentic replacements when absolutely necessary. In 2005 a further €1,150 was granted for the recreation of the front door which was badly damaged by water ingress and rot. In conjunction with other bodies which financially contributed to the roof restoration and reinstatement of the interior platerwork, the Irish Georgian Society grants significantly helped in the restoration of this mid-eighteenth century home.
Architectural description: Laurentinum house is an L-plan house of six bays and two storeys over a half-basement. It has a hipped slate roof with rendered and block lined walls at the front and side elevations. To the front at basement level, the walls are channelled ashlar with a cut limestone string course between it and the ground floor. The entrance is market by a flat-roof porch with flanking pilasters, a moulded cornice, a stepped parapet, and a square-headed door opening with sidelights. The inner, timber door is double-leaf and is bordered by fluted Ionic pilasters. Timber sash windows of nine-over-six configuration are to ground floor with six-over-six sash windows to all other floors. A round-headed twelve-over-eight window with a fanlight at half-landing is to the rear elevation. A rendered, rubble stone, three-bay, one-storey lodge is situation to the rear of the house.
Detached L-plan six-bay two-storey house over half-basement, built c. 1745, facing south-east. Former second floor removed and house re-roofed c. 1850, having projecting porch to front, one-bay deep addition to three-fifths of rear under catslide roof, and single-bay three-storey flat-roof addition to south-west elevation. Hipped slate roof with oversailing eaves, rendered chimneystacks and cast-iron rainwater goods. Rendered rubble limestone walls, painted lined and ruled to front and side elevations and limewashed to rear. Front elevation has channelled ashlar to basement, cut limestone quoins and cut limestone string course between basement and ground floor. Flat-roof porch has tripartite front elevation, with render pilasters flanking openings, moulded cornice, stepped parapet with panels, square-headed door opening with flanking sidelights having cut limestone sills, approached by flight of limestone steps. Square-headed inner door is glazed timber and double-leaf, flanked by fluted Ionic-style pilasters with limestone plinths, in turn flanked by walling with panelling having moudled surrounds. Square-headed window openings, some blind to south-west elevation, with limestone sills and having timber sliding sash windows, recently repaired to front, nine-over-six pane to ground floor, and six-over-six pane to first floor, basement and to rear elevation. Round-headed twleve-over-eight pane stairs window to rear elevation with fanlight. Some brick voussoirs evident to rear elevation. One-over-one pane to south-west addition. Farmyard to rear. Three-bay single-storey lodge set at junction of farmyard lane and main avenue, now disused, having pitched slate roof with projecting eaves and rendered brick chimneystack, exposed and rendered rubble stone walls, and having square-headed timber casement window and timber battened door to front, and rounded-headed window and door openings to rear with limestone voussoirs, doorway now blocked. Double-leaf wrought-iron gates adjacent to lodge. Set in mature parkland landscape. Entrance gates and lodge to north.
Appraisal
This distinguished classically-proportioned eighteenth-century house was built by Michael and Catherine Creagh and modified in the nineteenth century by reducing its height and giving it a nineteenth-century appearance with projecting eaves and a low hipped roof. The building retains much of its fabric, such as the varied timber sash windows and the fine portico and inner doorway. The house is set in a mature parkland setting and retains a disused lodge along the avenue.
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.
p. 181. “(Beamish/IFR) A low three bay house of one storey with a dormered attic, built ca 1740 by Abraham Beamish, who used timbers of bog oak for the high-pitched roof.”
Detached seven-bay two-storey over basement house with dormer attic, c. 1745, retaining early fenestration with pedimented breakfront having round-headed window opening and cut stone dressings including doorcase, sills and eaves course. Interior retains open well staircase.
Record of Protected Structures:
Philipstown Manor, Kineagh. Townland: Philipstown
A very important, early-18th century house of seven bays and two storeys over a basement with a T plan. The walls of the house have a distinct batter and the façade has a three-bay breakfront with a high-pitched pediment. The walls were rough cast in recent years but the original, granite detailing survives and is of very high quality with a simple basemould, a platband over the ground floor, frieze and cornice. The square-headed, architraved doorcase, approached by a flight of granite steps, has a strong cornice and all the windows have moulded, granite sills – including those on the rere of the house. There is a round-headed window in the tympanum. All the windows retain the sashes that replaced the originals in circa 1820 and most of the glass is the original crown glass. The roof is hipped and covered with natural slates. (The roof was reslated in the recent past). There are two-bay, single-storey wings flanking the house which date from the early 19th century, have white-washed walls and altered fenestration. The return on the rear contains the staircase. The design of the house is particularly interesting in that though it has the breakfront of a Palladian house the pitch of the pediment has more in common with the seventeenth century.
Importance: regional, architectural, interior, artistic, social
Dating back to 1745, Phillipstown Manor is a former shooting lodge situated in the heart of Co Carlow.
The detached seven-bay, two-storey over-basement house at Rathvilly has been owned by the Brophy family for more than 70 years and still retains some original architectural features, such as round-headed window openings and cut-stone dressings around the doors, sills and eaves.
Inside, the house has been renovated over the years, including the installation of central heating, re-roofing and some new doors and windows. However, it may still require some upgrading or decoration work by the new owner.
The accommodation includes a reception hall, drawing room, dining room, kitchen with oil-fired Aga, back hall, shower room and smaller rooms.
Upstairs, the first floor contains four bedrooms, a nursery and bathroom with electric shower. Continuing up another level, the second floor has two more bedrooms, one with a walk-in wardrobe.
While the house originally had more land with it, it is being offered for sale with 162ac.
This is all in grass and has been used for cattle production by the owners. The land is laid out in a single block surrounding the house and yard.
The farmyard has been added to over the years and now consists of a mix of some stone-built and some modern farm buildings.
Altavilla, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.
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. 3. “(Bateman/LGI1912; Greenall, Daresbury, B/PB) A house built ca 1745-46 by John Bateman undoubtedly to the design of Francis Bindon; consisting of a centre block of three storeys over basement joined by screen walls to two storey flanking wings enclosing courts. Centre block with six bay entrance front, two bay breakfront, tripartite pedimented and rusticated doorcase; wings with two modified Venetian windows, having niches in their centre section, in th upper storey; straight screen walls with rusticated doors flanked by niches. Garden front of centre block with two bays on either side of a nice and oculus; quadrant walls on this side joining centre blocks to wings, showing the influence of Vanbrugh. Its pedimented interior doors and fielded panelling were burnt. The hosue became a ruin but has now been restored by second and present Lord Daresbury, though without a top story.”
Altavilla, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.
Bence Jones writes that this house was built by the Bateman family in the mid 18th century to the design of Francis Bindon. In 1786 Wilson refers to it as the seat of Jon Bateman. The Ordnance Survey Name Book records that Altaville House was a rectangular building of four storeys built in 1749 by Mr Bateman and that it was then [circa 1840] undergoing repairs by Peter Griffin of Corgrieff. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation it was inhabited by Peter Griffin who had carding mills and offices closeby. He held the property from William Dickson. It is still extant.
Altavilla, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached six-bay two-storey over basement country house, built between 1745-46, having shallow breakfront to front (south) elevation. Centre block joined by screen walls to two-storey flanking wings enclosing courts. Roughly dressed parapet to roofline with limestone copings, carved limestone eaves course, carved fox to breakfront and rendered chimneystacks. Coursed rubble limestone walls with galleting and having carved plinth course, quoins. Rendered walls to east and west elevations. Square-headed openings with six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows, limestone sills and voussoirs with galleting. Square-headed openings to basement having three-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows, limestone sills, voussoirs with galleting and cast-iron sill guards. Round-headed opening to first floor, east elevation having spoked fanlight over six-over-six pane timber sliding sash window and limestone sill. Oculus to west elevation with limestone surround and spoked fixed window. Round-headed niche to rear (north) elevation having carved limestone impost course, voussoirs with galleting and limestone sill. Square-headed opening to rear, basement with six-over-three pane timber sliding sash windows and limestone sill. Four-bay two-storey L-plan wing to west having hipped slate roof with yellow brick eaves course and rendered chimneystack. Dressed limestone walls to front (south) elevation and rendered walls to rear (north) elevation. Square-headed window openings to ground floor with remains of three-over-three pane timber sliding sash windows, tooled limestone voussoirs and sills. Round-headed niches to first floor having carved keystones, voussoirs, shared sill and flanking square-headed window openings with limestone sills. Camber-headed door opening to rear having yellow brick voussoirs. Square-headed carriage opening to rear with timber battened doors. Six-bay single-storey outbuilding to north with pitched slate roof and rendered chimneystack. Render over roughly dressed limestone walls. Square-headed window openings with limestone sills. Square-headed openings having timber battened doors. Pair of square-profile channel rendered piers to west having dressed limestone walls with round-headed niches having limestone sills and copings. Elliptical-headed carriage arch to north-west with double-leaf cast-iron gates. Dressed limestone walls with limestone coping adjoining east elevation having square-headed pedestrian entrance with carved limestone block-and-start surround and drop keystone with flanking round-headed niches having limestone sills, voussoirs and keystones. Pair of square-profile monolith chamfered limestone piers with carved caps and plinths to south. Single-bay single-storey gate lodge to south. Hipped slate roof having overhanging eaves with rendered chimneystacks and cast-iron brackets. Roughcast rendered walls. Square-headed window and door openings. Pair of square-profile rusticated piers to south with carved caps and double-leaf cast-iron spear-headed gates. Rubble limestone boundary walls to site.
Altavilla, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.
Altavilla House, formerly the seat of the Bateman family is a notable example of eighteenth-century domestic architecture. It was built to the design of Francis Bindon. Formerly three storeys, the balanced classical proportions and restrained use of detailing, mainly limited to the finely carved limestone door surround, are characteristic features of eighteenth-century domestic architecture. The garden front shows the influence of Vanbrugh where the quadrant walls join the centre block to the wings. The parapet and staircase give the façade an air of grandeur befitting its status. The site retains one of its striking wings and a simple gate lodge, which are important survivals, and help to preserve the original context of the site.
Altavilla, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Altavilla, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.Altavilla, County Limerick, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached five-bay three-storey house, c. 1740, on a U-shaped plan with lugged stone doorcase, lunette window openings, pediment to rear and hipped roof. Interior retains original joinery including open-well staircase. Partly derelict with roof removed.
Fruit Hill, Co Wexford recently featured here (see https://theirishaesthete.com/2020/03/07/a-labour-of-love), a sensitively restored house believed to date from the second quarter of the 18th century and notable for being U-shaped with two wings projecting behind the one-room-deep residence with only a narrow passage between them. A similar house stands, just about, in neighbouring County Carlow and is called Mount Pleasant. Mark Bence-Jones’ Guide to Irish Country Houses includes four properties of the same name, but this is none of them. Indeed, little documentation exists about the Carlow house and some of it is erroneous.
Mount Pleasant was built and occupied by the Garrett family. The first of them, James Garrett was the son of a Captain John Garrett, one of five brothers who came to Ireland in the 17th century around the time of the Cromwellian Wars and, like many others, was rewarded for his efforts with a grant of land in County Laois. James Garrett on the other hand settled in Carlow around 1700 when in his mid-20s. He may have been responsible for building a house called Janeville, or it could have been his son whose tomb in the local church refers to ‘the charitable Thomas Garrett of Janeville deceased, Aug.31st, 1759, aged 48 years.’ The same church also contains a monument to another Garrett, the inscription of which runs as follows: ‘Here lie deposited in humble hope of a joyful resurrection the mortal remains of James Garrett, late of Mountpleasant, Esq. – Vain would prove an attempt at panegyric; since no eulogy could do justice to his merits. Reader, wouldst thou be had in everlasting remembrance? Endeavour to emulate his virtues. He departed this life July the 17th, 1818. Aged 72 years.’ Because James Garrett might have been the son of Thomas Garrett, it has often been assumed that the latter’s house, Janeville, was renamed Mount Pleasant by the former, and that they lived in the same property. In fact, this is not the case as Janeville and Mount Pleasant – which is seen in today’s pictures – are different houses, albeit in the same part of the county.
Some four miles apart, Janeville and Mount Pleasant were both once Garrett houses and dated from the early years of the 18th century, but while the first of these is still intact, the second, as can be seen, has fallen into ruin. Stylistically they share similarities, both having five bay facades centred on a granite doorcase with sidelights. Both are also of three storeys, although only two are visible from the front of Janeville which as a delightful Venetian window on the first floor above the entrance. The attic windows can be seen on the double-gabled side elevations. Mount Pleasant, on the other hand, features attic windows on its façade, with a tiny Diocletian window in the centre. And the rear of the building is like that of Fruit Hill, County Wexford, with wings creating a U-shaped house. At Mount Pleasant, the centre of the back evidently had a Gothic arched window, now blocked and the entire west wing was, at some unknown date, allowed to fall into dereliction, the owners only occupying the eastern side of the building. It was sold a couple of years ago, but no work has been done on the property and so the decline continues. However, as Fruit Hill shows, no house is ever beyond redemption; perhaps this one may yet find a saviour.
Mount Pleasant House, Fennagh. Townland: Mount Pleasant.
A five-bay, three-storey house of circa 1740 with a rare, U-shaped plan having wings at the rear. The façade has lime-rendered walls with a lugged, square-headed, architraved, granite doorcase with a cornice and sidelights and there is a minimal cornice under the eaves. The windows have sashes with six panes each with the exception of the second floor which has low windows with only three panes each. In the centre is a tiny lunette. The roof is hipped with small slates.The rere is deeply recessed in the centre and has a high-pitched gable with a lunette. The tall, round-headed window for the staircase has been blocked up. The interior contains the original open-well staircase and original joinery. Over one third of the house is derelict.
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. supplement
p. 300. “A handsome gable-ended ashlar faced mid-C18 house of three storeys over a vaulted basement; the top storey treated as an attic. five bays, one bay pedimented breakfront centre with Venetian window over fanlighted doorway with sidelights. Quoins, blocking round doorway; Gothic astragals in fanlight. A seat of the White-Spunner family.”
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Detached T-plan five-bay three-storey over basement country house, built c.1740, with central pedimented breakfront and extensions to rear. Set within its own grounds. Pitched slate roof with ashlar limestone chimneystacks and some cast-iron rainwater goods. Ashlar limestone front elevation with limestone cornice, plinth course and quoins. Roughcast rendered to side and rear elevations with limestone quoins. Venetian window to pedimented breakfront with continuous limestone sill and oculus to pediment. Square-headed window openings with tooled limestone sills and timber sash windows. Round-headed door opening to front elevation with tooled limestone Gibbsian surround with cornice, flanked by sidelights. Timber and glazed double doors and decorative fanlight. Door accessed up four limestone steps flanked by a plinth wall. Entrance to south of house with wrought-iron double gates flanked by limestone pier. Principal entrance to east of house with wrought-iron double gates supported by rendered piers and flanked by quadrant walls incorporating a cast-iron post box. Ruined gate lodge opposite entrance.
Appraisal
An important example of a mid eighteenth-century country house, Milltown Park House makes a valuable contribution to the architectural heritage of County Offaly. The house displays a high degree of architectural detailing typical of the Irish Palladian style, most notably the Gibbsian door surround, Venetian window arrangement, oculus and pedimented breakfront. Although the house is embellished with these fashionable eighteenth-century architectural features, the form of the house with the oversized chimneystacks located over the end gable walls appear outdated. Though no longer used, the principal gate with gate lodge was once an elegant entrance to Milltown Park House.
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
Quadrangle of two-storey outbuildings and stables to north-west of Milltown Park House, built c.1740, with random coursed walls, yellow brick reveals to openings and pitched and half-hipped roofs. Quadrangle accessed through carriage arch opening in south-facing range.
Appraisal
The large quadrangle of outbuildings and stables, to the rear of the Milltown Park House, contribute to the setting of the house. It provided accommodation for the large number of staff for this substantial country house. The stables and outbuildings display a degree of architectural detailing in the brickwork surrounding the window openings and in the oriel windows.
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of National Inventory.
“Anyone who has read Alain-Fournier’s Le Grand Meaulnes will remember the author’s evocation of Les Sablonnières, ancient home of the de Galais family which has seen better days. It is here that the novel’s eponymous hero, having disappeared from school, comes across a magical costume party and falls in love as much with the place as with the girl he meets on that occasion. Thereafter both he and the narrator are driven by a desire to recapture a lost moment and as a result are repeatedly driven to return to Les Sablonnières. Milltown Park, County Offaly is like an Irish version of Alain-Fournier’s fictional house. Hidden from sight on all nearby roads, unknown even by many of the local residents and only discovered at the end of a long, verdant drive, it seems to seep memories and to be haunted by the past. Replete with echoes and reverberations, it is a sleeping beauty of a building, deep in dreams of what once took place within its walls and waiting for someone to come along and stir it into life again. ”
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
“In a blind oculus set into the facade’s pediment is the date 1720 but the accompanying initials W.S. suggest this was added long after the house was finished, since at the time of its original construction the estate was owned by the Spunner family: they only became White-Spunners in the 19th century after the son of Benjamin White and Elizabeth Spunner changed his name from Thomas Spunner White to Thomas Spunner White-Spunner on inheriting Milltown. Behind and to the north of the house is a large model farm courtyard built in 1840 so perhaps the initials and date on the front of the property were added at the same time.
“In fact, Milltown is only slightly later in origin. The lands on which it stands appear to have been in the ownership of the Spunners since the 1500s and the ruins of an earlier residence remain. By the 18th century, with circumstances in the country more settled than had previously been the case and the economy accordingly more buoyant, the Spunners must have decided to embark on erecting a more fashionable home for themselves.“
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
‘From time to time, the wind, laden with a mist that is almost rain, dampens our faces and brings us the faint sound of a piano which someone is playing in the closed house. At first is it like a trembling voice, far, far away, scarcely daring to express its happiness. It’s like the laughter of a little girl in her room who has gone to fetch all her toys and is displaying them to a friend. I am reminded, too, of the still timorous joy of a woman who has left to put on a lovely dress and returns to show it off without being sure of the effect it will have…This unknown tune is also a prayer, an entreaty to happiness not to be too cruel, like a greeting and a genuflection to happiness…’ From Le Grand Meaulnes
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
“In Maurice Craig’s wonderful (and wonderfully named) 1976 book Classic Irish Houses of the Middle Size, although Milltown Park does not feature many of its architectural elements are discussed. So, for example, when considering the elevation of these buildings, he writes of the widespread use of a tripartite opening, commenting ‘I prefer this term rather than “Venetian window” because it covers a number of pseudo-Palladian features which, though inter-related, can be distinguished from one another. It should be borne in mind that a round-headed door flanked by side-lights [as found at Milltown Park] is first cousin to a “Venetian” window. Such a door occurs in Vanbrugh’s Seaton Delaval, where the sidelights are separated from the door by piers of walling…’
“From grand Seaton Delaval in Northumberland to modest Milltown Park in Offaly in twenty-odd years is quite a journey, but the latter house shows how taste could travel and fashions be adopted by other architects such as Sir Edward Lovett Pearce (whose father, after all, was a first cousin of Vanbrugh). Note how the same tripartite design is used on both the ground floor (for the smart Gibbsian doorway) and that above but slightly bungled because, as indicated by the photograph below of the landing, the ceiling was too low to accommodate the full height of the central window. Thus its upper section is blind. Another indication of Milltown Park’s ‘country cousin’ status are the blunt gable-ends with oversized chimney stacks. The house shares characteristics with two others in neighbouring County Laois, Summergrove and Roundwood: all have five-bay limestone facades with a central breakfront featuring tripartite windows on the ground and first floor and a pediment above. They represent, as Maurice Craig notes, ‘the middle ground between farmhouse and mansion: a shade unsophisticated but with great charm.’
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
“The interior of Milltown Park displays the same mixture of sophistication and naïveté, a broad awareness of current trends without a full understanding of how best to implement them. The design of some rooms clearly received more attention than did others. The entrance hall with its lovely flagged floor concludes in a screen that might have been inspired by Brunelleschi. And the front section has a ceiling decorated with pretty rococo plasterwork, generic in style but no less charming for that.
“This is the only room with such ornamentation, although the drawing room has a good marble chimney piece and the morning room a fine neo-classical cornice frieze. But it is the handsome sturdiness of Milltown Park that most appeals, embodied by the broad first floor landing with its wide oak boards and views over the surrounding parkland. This was never an especially grand house, inspired more by aspiration than pretension, and embellished only as and when funds permitted. Hence its endurance for almost three centuries. Now, for the first time since being constructed, it is to be sold: a potentially hazardous moment in its history. Milltown waits to be awoken from its current slumber but whoever undertakes this task should have the sensitivity not to despoil the house’s special character. The place is vulnerable and requires – and deserves – special care. Wanted: one country gentleman prepared to share a property with a host of memories and happy to permit the ghosts of its past wander free.“
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
Serving as a peaceable kingdom, the historic Georgian mansion is sequestered in its own walled demesne of 285 acres at the heart of Ireland between Dublin and Limerick. Originally built by the Spunner family in 1720, the estate has remained in their possession ever since. Today, an unprecedented opportunity for investment of this kingdom has arisen. Surrounded by a magnificent avenue of ancient lime trees, the abode is one of the first small Irish Palladian houses built on four floors. Masterfully proportioned, it features four reception rooms, eight bedrooms, and extensive basement with kitchens and staff quarters. Recent improvements to the basic fabric of the house—the roof, chimneys, wiring, and water supply—have prepared it so new ownership can concentrate on customization of lifestyle design. Historical treasures include gorgeous plasterwork ceilings, stone and Kilkenny marble flagged floors, fine cornicing, a marble chimney piece with a fine grate, an iron fireplace, and original William Morris wallpaper. The grounds comprise 100 acres of prime tillage, 90 acres of pasture, and 70 acres of woodland. Outbuildings include a six-bay Dutch barn, greenhouses, and an impressive 1840s quadrangle of stone farm buildings with slate roofs.
Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.Milltown Park, County Offaly, photograph courtesy sales advertising.
Detached T-plan five-bay three-storey over basement country house, built c.1740, with central pedimented breakfront and extensions to rear. Set within its own grounds. Pitched slate roof with ashlar limestone chimneystacks and some cast-iron rainwater goods. Ashlar limestone front elevation with limestone cornice, plinth course and quoins. Roughcast rendered to side and rear elevations with limestone quoins. Venetian window to pedimented breakfront with continuous limestone sill and oculus to pediment. Square-headed window openings with tooled limestone sills and timber sash windows. Round-headed door opening to front elevation with tooled limestone Gibbsian surround with cornice, flanked by sidelights. Timber and glazed double doors and decorative fanlight. Door accessed up four limestone steps flanked by a plinth wall. Entrance to south of house with wrought-iron double gates flanked by limestone pier. Principal entrance to east of house with wrought-iron double gates supported by rendered piers and flanked by quadrant walls incorporating a cast-iron post box. Ruined gate lodge opposite entrance.
An important example of a mid eighteenth-century country house, Milltown Park House makes a valuable contribution to the architectural heritage of County Offaly. The house displays a high degree of architectural detailing typical of the Irish Palladian style, most notably the Gibbsian door surround, Venetian window arrangement, oculus and pedimented breakfront. Although the house is embellished with these fashionable eighteenth-century architectural features, the form of the house with the oversized chimneystacks located over the end gable walls appear outdated. Though no longer used, the principal gate with gate lodge was once an elegant entrance to Milltown Park House.
The Irish Aesthete: Buildings of Ireland, Lost and Found. Robert O’Byrne. The Lilliput Press, Dublin, 2024. p. 26. Milltown Park, County Offaly. June 2014.
Irish Historic Houses 