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. 182. “(Digby, B.PB) A two storey mid-C18 house with a front of nine bays and an open bed pedminet-gable, the two end bays on either side being advanced; rather similar to the front of Ballykilcavan, Co Laois. The house is linked by canted arches to large barn wings, in a wide-spreading and particularly attractive Palladian composition.”
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. 178. “A mid-C19 Italianate house of two storeys with central one bay balustraded attic rising above the roofs on either side. Three bay entrance front; central Venetian window; 1st floor windows in outer bays with entablatures and balconies on console brakcets; Venetian windows below. Single-storey balustraded portico. In recent years the home of Captain Sheppard.”
Detached three-bay two- and three-storey over basement Italianate-style house, c.1790, on a symmetrical plan retaining early aspect comprising single-bay three-storey central bay with prostyle tetrastyle portico to ground floor, single-bay two-storey advanced flanking end bays and four-bay two-storey side elevations. Now in use as clubhouse. Hipped roofs (behind parapet wall to central bay) with slate. Clay ridge tiles. Cut-stone chimney stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods (on consoled eaves course to flanking end bays). Uncoursed squared rubble stone walls to basement. Limestone ashlar walls over. Cut-stone dressings including stringcourses to flanking end bays having consoled moulded cornices over. Cut-stone balustraded parapet wall to central bay with piers having cut-stone coping and finials. Square-headed window openings (Venetian windows to ground floor flanking end bays and to first floor central bay; window openings in recessed panels to first floor flanking end bays having corbelled cut-stone balconies with pierced fret work detailing). Cut-stone sills. Cut-stone pilaster surrounds to Venetian openings having moulded necking and archivolts with keystones. 6/6 timber sash windows to Venetian windows with fanlights and 2/2 sidelights. Moulded cut-stone surrounds to openings to first floor flanking end bays with entablatures over. Timber casement windows. Square window opening to top floor central bay. Moulded cut-stone surround. Fixed-pane timber window. Shallow segmental-headed window openings to ground floor side and rear elevations. Cut-stone sills. Cut-stone surrounds with rusticated voussoirs. 6/6 timber sash windows. Pair of round-headed door openings behind cut-stone prostyle tetrastyle portico with moulded necking to piers, plain frieze, moulded cornice and balustraded parapet wall over. Cut-stone surrounds to door openings. Glazed timber panelled double doors. Overlights. Interior with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from road in own grounds. Tarmacadam forecourt/carpark to front. Landscaped lawns to rear. Detached six-bay single-storey outbuilding with attic, c.1810, to west on an L-shaped plan about a courtyard comprising three-bay single-storey range with three-bay single-storey projecting wing to left having segmental-headed integral carriageway. Gable-ended roof on an L-shaped plan with slate (gabled to attic windows). Clay ridge tiles (crested red clay ridge tiles to attic windows). Cut-stone bellcote to gable. Cut-stone coping to gables. Square rooflights. Cast-iron rainwater goods on eaves course. Roughcast walls. Painted. Rendered wall to side elevation. Unpainted. Shallow segmental-headed openings. Stone sills. Red and yellow brick surrounds. Timber fittings. Segmental-headed integral carriageway. Red and yellow brick surround with keystone. Fittings not visible. Gateway, c.1810, to courtyard comprising round-headed opening with red brick piers having yellow brick dressings, terracotta keystone, wrought iron double gates and round-headed pedestrian gateway perpendicular to left. Remains of detached outbuilding, c.1810, to parkland possibly originally folly comprising random rubble plinth wall with yellow brick over having square-headed door opening with cut-stone block-and-start surround having wrought iron gate and cut-stone hood moulding over. Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge with dormer attic, c.1810, to south on a symmetrical plan with single-bay single-storey projecting bay to centre on a canted plan, single-bay single-storey canted bay window to side elevation and single-bay single-storey return to rear. Gable-ended roof with slate (polygonal to projecting bay; hipped to return). Crested red clay ridge tiles (rolled lead ridge tiles to projecting bay). Cut-stone chimney stack with moulded stringcourse and coping. Timber eaves and bargeboards (forming open-bed pediment to gable ends). Cast-iron rainwater goods. Limestone ashlar walls. Moulded cut-stone stringcourse. Square-headed window openings (including to canted bay window). Stone sills. Timber casement windows. Round-headed window openings to projecting bay (paired to gables). Cut-stone sills and surrounds (some with keystones). Timber casement windows. Round-headed door opening. Cut-stone surround. Timber panelled door. Gateway, c.1810, to south comprising pair of cut-stone piers with vermiculated panels having moulded cornices, plain friezes and cut-stone capping with wrought iron double gates, square-headed flanking pedestrian gateway to left (unpierced corresponding flanking wall to right), cut-stone outer pier with vermiculated panels, moulded cornice and capping, and limestone ashlar flanking boundary wall with moulded detailing and cut-stone coping.
Knockanally House is a fine and attractive substantial house that, although converted to a public use, has retained most of its original form and character. The scale and fine detailing of the house suggest its social and historic importance as the residence of a patron of high status in the locality. The construction in limestone ashlar attests to the high quality of stone masonry traditionally practised in the locality and this is especially evident in the cut-stone detailing that gives the composition its Italianate tone, including the decorative balconies, surrounds to openings, and so on, all of which have retained a crisp intricacy. The house has been very well maintained and retains important original salient features and materials including multi-pane timber sash fenestration, timber fittings to the door openings, and slate roofs having cast-iron rainwater goods. It is believed that the interior spaces are similarly intact, and timber panelled internal shutters are visible to the window openings. The house is complemented by an extensive range of ancillary structures that are individually of architectural heritage importance. The range of outbuildings to west provide insight in to the working life of a planned estate, and the use of red and yellow brick dressings – notably to the gateway leading in to the courtyard – provides an attractive example of polychromy in the grounds. The folly also provides insight in to the planning of an estate, in this instance for recreational and aesthetic purposes. The gate lodge to south has also been well maintained to present an early aspect and, despite the modest-scale, is a highly ornamental piece that forms an attractive feature on the side of the road. Also of particular interest is the gateway leading in to the grounds, the construction of which again attests to the high quality stone masonry of the region, and the gates of which are a good example of early surviving wrought iron work. The grounds of the estate are also of interest – parts having been converted to use as a golf course, the grounds immediately surrounding the house and various outbuildings have been preserved as originally intended and are important for the purpose of the context of the buildings.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
The history of Knockanally, County Kildare is rather opaque, although it is known that the Coates family, the first of whom appears to have arrived in Ireland in the early 1700s, acquired the land on which it stands from the Aylmers who lived not far away at the now-derelict Donadea Castle (see Another Blot on the Landscape « The Irish Aesthete). Some kind of residence was built at Knockanally and in the mid-18th century this was occupied by one William Coates, known to have died in 1766 when the property was inherited by his eldest son, Matthew. When his grandson William Lancake Coates died in the following century, Knockanally was inherited by William Coristine Coates, the son of his cousin. His descendants appear to have continued living on the estate until it was taken over by the Irish Land Commission in 1942 and subsequently divided among various farmers. The immediate demesne and main house were then sold to a Captain Sheppard, who in turn sold it to the Maharani of Baroda. In 1959, ownership passed to the Rehabilitation Institute, which used the house as a convalescent home for the victims of polio.Further changes of ownership seem to have followed before Knockanally was bought in 1983 by Noel Lyons, who turned the land into an 18-hole golf course.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
As it appears today, Knockanally dates from c.1843 when commissioned by William Lancake Coates on a site east of the original house. The architect responsible was Dublin-born William Deane Butler, much of whose work involved designing institutional buildings such as court and market houses, although he did receive commissions for a number of country houses also. As noted by the late Jeremy Williams, Knockanally is almost a cube, ‘if its height is assessed on the three-storied central bay.’ Of two storeys over basement and faced with wonderfully crisp limestone ashlar, the building is entered via an Ionic portico flanked by Venetian windows with a third directly above it. On this level, windows within shallow recesses open onto balconies: these can also be found on each of the four-bay side elevations. Seemingly the interior featured a central, double-height and top-lit hall. Williams has noted that this is a reduced version of the hall in Dublin’s Broadstone station, designed by John Skipton Mulvany who, he suggests, may therefore have had a hand in Knockanally. As for the very substantial and elaborate gatelodge at the entrance to the former estate, J.A.K. Dean dates this to c.1870, too late to have been designed by either Butler (who died in 1857) but may have come from Mulvany as he lived until that date.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
In September 2010 it was reported that one of the country’s banks had appointed a receiver over Knockanally Golf Club, set in 125 acres; this move came a few days after creditors of Ferndale Leisure, the holding company behind the club, had met to appoint a liquidator; at the time, with an economic recession at this height, quite a number of Ireland’s golf clubs were going into receivership. Three years later, the club, the main house, gate lodge and a number of golf ‘lodges’ in the grounds, was sold to a Warwickshire-based company, St Francis Group for €1.1 million: some years earlier, this portfolio had been valued at €3.5 to €4 million. Quite what has happened since then seems to be unclear. Refurbishment work was carried out on the house and other buildings on the site, but in September 2018 the local Leinster Leader reported that the golf club had again closed down and was to be offered for sale. Since then, both the house and gate lodge have remained closed and boarded up, with inevitable deterioration in the fabric of both buildings. A dreadful waste.
Knockanally, County Kildare, photograph courtesy of Irish Aesthete.
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. 170. “Moore, sub Thomson-Moore/IFR) A Victorian Jacobean house, with a strong resemblance to Kintullach Castle, Co Antrim and to Tempo Manor, Co Fermanagh, which assumed its present form 1863 and has been attributed to Thomas Turner, of Belfast; clearly, the three houses are by the same hand. Curvilinear gables, rectangular and round headed plate glass windows, some of them having entablatures crowned with strapwork. Open porch with curvilinear gables supposed on coupled piers. Square turret at one end, with open belvedere and ogee spire. Now a school.”
It was a school before it was a hotel. My mother had aunts who were nuns there and who are buried in the grounds.
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. 166. “(More O’Ferrall/IFR) The old castle here, which had square corner towers, originally belonged to a branch of the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare. It was sold ca 1705 to the brothers Edward and Edmund Reilly, of Co Cavan, prosperous merchants of Dubln, on which city Edmund was Alderman. Passed to the More O’Ferralls with the marriage of Edmund’s descendant, Susan O’Reilly, to C.E.More O’Ferrall 1849. In 1784, the old castle was abandoned by the family in favour of a single-storey thatched house, which was burnt 1880. Two years later, D.M.J. More O’Ferrall had the old castle dynamited, presumably to provide stone for the large new house which he built between then and 1886, to the design of W.J. Hopkins, of Worcester. The house is in a restrained Victorian Jacobean style, with long, asymmetrical elevations on both the entrance and garden fronts; of two storeys with a gabled and dormered attic in the high-pitched roof. Curvilinear gables; windows mostly rectangular sashes, originally with plate glass; except for a large mullioned window in the garden front, lighting the stairs. Many improvements to the house were carried out by Mr Roderic More O’Ferrall during the years following WWII. The exterior, which had formerly been faced in red brick, was made much more attractive by being rendered in grey cement; and at the same time astragals were put into the windows. The sitting room was hung with a grey and white early C19 French pictorial wallpaper; and the large drawing room, which at times in the past had been divided into two separate rooms, was charmingly redecorated in Georgian Gothic; the orange colour of the walls being set off by the white of the slender Gothic piers and other Gothic ornament. Mr More O’Ferrall has also laid out a garden with notable collection of trees and shrubs.”
FROM ‘THE LANDED GENTRY & ARISTOCRACY OF CO. KILDARE’ BY TURTLE BUNBURY & ART KAVANAGH (IRISH FAMILY NAMES, 2004).
Major Ambrose O’Ferrall’s youngest son, Charles Edward More O Ferrall, was born on 17th May 1805. As a boy he was one of the first students to enroll at Clongowes Wood College, the boarding school outside Naas founded by the Jesuits in 1814. He later went to the Jesuit College of St Acheul near Amiens in France. On 29th November 1849, Charles married 23-year-old Susan O’Reilly, heiress to the Kildangan Castle estates outside Monasterevin, Co. Kildare. Five years later, on October 18th 1854, Susan died giving birth to their only child, Dominick. Charles served as High Sheriff of Co. Kildare during the Crimean War (1856) and passed away on 2nd November 1875.[1]
Upon Charles’s death in 1875, 21-year-old Dominick More O’Ferrall succeeded to Kildangan. He was subsequently DL and JP for County Kildare. In 1879, a year of much political unrest in the Irish countryside, he served as High Sheriff of Kildare. In 1880, a fire destroyed the single-storey thatched house at Kildangan, built by the O’Reillys a hundred years earlier. Two years later, Dominick dynamited the old Geraldine castle and used the stones to build a Victorian Jacobean style house to the design of WJ Hopkins of Worcester. The new house, which cost £18,570, came with its own state-of-the-art heating system, something of a novelty for Irish houses at this time. Electric lights were added in 1910. During his lifetime Dominick also considerably extended the Kildangan estate, with the advice of the eminent British landscape gardener John Sutherland, who laid out the celebrated gardens. He married Annie, daughter of Colonel Francis MacDonnell, CB, of Plas Newydd, Monmouthshire. Dominick died in February 1942.
Dominick and Anne’s eldest son Roderic was known internationally as a successful breeder and trainer of bloodstock. He was born in 1903 and educated at Eton and Worcester College, Oxford. He married Anne Biddle, only daughter of William Christian Bullitt of Washington DC, former US Ambassador to France. Mrs. Biddle was a famous figure on the Irish horseracing circuit during the 1950s and 1960s. During her marriage to Roderic, shed horses trained by Paddy Prendergast at Rossmore Lodge on The Curragh. After the marriage broke up, her horses were trained by Michael Dawson. It was with Dawson that she achieved her most important success as an owner when Sindon won the Irish Derby in 1958. She then moved her horses to her farm at Palmerstown, outside Naas, with Tommy Shaw as her private trainer. [2] She then made history by becoming the first woman trainer to be licensed by the Turf Club. By this time she was “Mrs DB Brewster”. She also had jumpers trained at Grangecon by Paddy Sleator. The best of these was Knight Errant one of only two horses to have won both the Galway Plate and the Galway Hurdle. In the legal battle that followed her separation from Roderic, Mrs. Biddle caused a sensation by accusing her husband of being “a fairy”. Apparently the term was virtually unknown in Ireland at the time – when a journalist for the Irish Press quoted it in a report the news editor called him to his office to explain it. Shortly before his death, Roderic was married again to Patricia Richards, the Australian born ex-wife of the 9th Earl of Jersey.[3] Roderic’s extensive connections included Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, who personally redecorated the dining room at Kildangan. He was president of the Bloodstock Breeders Association. Roderic based his equine activities at Kildangan Stud in County Kildare. Four years before his death in 1990, Roderic sold the farm to Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai. Kildangan continues to be a world famous stud farm to this day.
Roderic’s brother Francis, who died in 1976, married Mary Mather Jackson and was a chairman of the Anglo-Irish Bloodstock Agency in London. The youngest brother Rory was founder (1936) and chairman of the advertising firm of More O Ferrall. [4] The company became part of the Clear Channel media company in 2002. In September 1947 he married Lady Elizabeth Hare, sister of the 4th Earl of Listowel, and the wealthy widow of the Guinness heir, Viscount Elveden.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Originally a FitzGerald castle, Kildangan was purchased by the merchant brothers Edward and Edmund Reilly in 1705.
[2] Palmerstown was subsequently purchased by the former truck driver turned millionaire Jim Mansfield, architect of the City West business park and Weston Airport. He is not to be confused with the Mansfields of Morristown Latten.
[3] The 9th Earl’s second wife Virginia Cherrill went on to become the wife of Hollywood star Cary Grant.
[4] In 1936 Lady Elizabeth married Major Arthur Guinness, Viscount Elveden, who was killed in action in Holland in February 1945. Her grandson Edward is the present and 4th Earl of Iveagh. Her brother Lord John Hare was an influential Conservative statesman in the 1950s and 1960s. Another brother Lord Richard was a highly regarded academic specializing in Russian literature and social thought. Her eldest brother, the 5th Earl of Listowel, was prominent in the Colonial Office, serving as Secretary of State for India and Burma in 1947
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. 164. “(Aylmer/IFR) A three storey C18 house of stone, with rusticated brick surrounds to the windows; originally belonging to the Hendricks. Three sided bow in centre of front, containing entrance door; two bays on either side of this. The ends of the house are three bay; one side has round-headed, fanlighted windows on the ground floor, recessed in blind arches filled in with brick. Passed to a branch of the Aylmers with the marriage of Charlotte Hendrick to Michael Aylmer 1853. Sold by Col. R. M. Alymer 1938; subsequently a convent, when a chapel was built to one side of the front and an incongruous modern porch added to the central bow; now owned by Cement-Roadstone.”
Kerdiffstown House, KERDIFFSTOWN, Johnstown, County Kildare
Kerdiffstown, Naas, Co Kildare courtesy National Inventory.
Detached five-bay three-storey over basement former house, c.1860, retaining early fenestration with three-bay full-height canted projecting entrance bay to centre and three-bay three-storey side elevations to north-west and to south-east. Renovated, c.1940, with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch added to centre to accommodate use as nursing home. Renovated and extended, c.1950, comprising eleven-bay two-storey flat-roofed wing to west with single-bay double-height bowed linking bay. Wing refenestrated, c.1990. Hipped roof behind blocking course with slate (polygonal to canted projecting bay). Clay ridge tiles. Rendered chimney stacks. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Flat-roof to porch with semi-circular projection over door opening. Flat-roof to wing to west behind parapet wall. Materials not visible. Squared rubble stone walls. Red brick Flemish bond to canted projecting bay. Cut-stone dressings including quoins to corners, cornice and blocking course. Rendered walls to porch. Painted. Rendered walls to wing to west. Unpainted. Square-headed window openings (round-headed to ground floor side (north-west) elevation in red brick surrounds). Stone sills. Red brick block-and-start surrounds. 3/3 and 6/6 timber sash windows. Square-headed door opening. Timber panelled door. Overlight. Square-headed openings to wing to west. Concrete sills. Replacement uPVC casement windows, c.1990. Set back from road in own landscaped grounds approached by avenue. Attached seven-bay double-height Classical-style private chapel, c.1940, to south on a T-shaped plan with round-headed openings, single-bay single-storey flat-roofed transepts to south-east and to south-west, single-bay double-height lower bowed apse to south and single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to north forming part of linking bay to house to north. Gable-ended roof with slate. Concrete ridge tiles. Rendered coping to gables with cross finials to apexes. Metal rainwater goods on profiled eaves course. Flat-roofed to transepts and to porch behind parapet walls. Materials not visible. Half-conical to apse. Copped-clad. Rendered walls. Ruled and lined. Unpainted. Rusticated cut-granite plinth. Rendered dressings including ruled-and-lined piers to corners, moulded necking over (forming stringcourse) and moulded surround to gables forming pediments. Cut-stone coping to profiled parapet walls to transepts and to porch. Round-headed openings to nave. Concrete sills. Moulded archivolt to opening to north with drip moulding and plaque over. Fixed-pane stained glass windows. Square-headed openings to remainder. Concrete sills. Timber fittings. Square-headed door opening. Moulded surround with keystone. Timber panelled door. Detached four-bay single-storey outbuilding, c.1860, to west. Reroofed, c.1940. Now disused. Gable-ended roof. Replacement corrugated-iron, c.1940. Iron ridge tiles. Corrugated-Perspex rooflights. Rendered coping to gables. Remains of cast-iron rainwater goods. Rendered walls over rubble stone construction. Unpainted. Square-headed openings including integral carriageway. Stone sills. Fittings now gone. Detached nine-bay two-storey outbuilding, c.1860, to north-west with series of eight elliptical-headed integral carriageways to ground floor. Reroofed, c.1990. Flat-roofed. Replacement iron-clad, c.1990. Roughcast walls. Unpainted. Square-headed window openings (slit-style to first floor). Stone sills. No fittings (window opening to ground floor now boarded-up). Elliptical-headed integral carriageways. No fittings (most now blocked-up with rendered over).
Kerdiffstown House is a fine and well-maintained substantial country gentleman’s residence that has been significantly extended over subsequent decades. Originally a symmetrically-planned house of graceful Georgian proportions with the primary (north-east) front centred about an imposing canted projecting bay, the earliest block retains most of its original character, features and materials. The juxtaposition of rubble stone with red brick in the construction achieves a pleasing decorative effect, while the cut-stone dressings – particularly to the parapet – reveal a high quality of stone masonry that retains its crisp intricacy. The house retains much of its original features and materials, including mutli-pane timber fenestration and a slate roof, and it is possible that an important early interior also survives intact, despite a subsequent change of use. Comprehensively extended in the mid twentieth century to accommodate use as a hospital or nursing home, the additional ranges are typical of their period of construction and reveal a functional planning system – the contrast of styles is nevertheless attractive. Complementing the scheme is the adjoining private chapel, which links the two phases of building, reflecting the Classicism of the house together with the modern construction methods of the additional ranges. A striking feature on the approach avenue to the house from the south, the chapel is a highly ornamental piece that uses render throughout to decorative effect. Although based on a conventional plan the materials used throughout, including concrete, are comparatively modern. The chapel incorporates decorative stained glass windows, which may be of some artistic interest. The house is complemented in the grounds by a range of outbuildings, in various states of repair: the range to west, although in poor repair, retains much of its original features and materials; the range to north-west, on the other hand, is an important reminder of the various activities undertaken on the estate in the past and is a fine stable complex with an attractive arrangement of carriageways. The house and attendant outbuildings, attractively set in landscaped grounds, are an important reminder of the almost independent societies that private estates were in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while the additional structures are an important lesson in how outmoded or ‘unsustainable’ buildings can be successfully rejuvenated to accommodate an alternative purpose.
Kerdiffstown, Naas, Co Kildare courtesy National Inventory.Kerdiffstown, Naas, Co Kildare courtesy National Inventory.Kerdiffstown, Naas, Co Kildare courtesy National Inventory.Kerdiffstown, Naas, Co Kildare courtesy National Inventory.Kerdiffstown, Naas, Co Kildare courtesy National Inventory.Kerdiffstown, Naas, Co Kildare courtesy National Inventory.
Kerdiffstown House. Image: Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
A three-storey seven by three bay 18th century stone house with rusticated brick surrounds to the windows, originally belonging to the Hendricks family. The full-height canted bow now occupying the central three bays of the main front and containing the entrance door is probably a later addition as it is of brick, whereas the wall behind is of stone. One of the three bay end elevations has round-headed fanlighted windows on the ground floor, recessed in blind arches filled in with brick. The house by marriage to the Aylmers in 1853 and was sold by Col. R.M. Aylmer in 1938. It subsequently became a convent, and was renovated for this purpose in 1940, when a severely plain apse-ended classical chapel was built; rather later, c.1950, some unsightly additions were made including a modern porch and a two-storey accommodation block. The present horrible plastic windows are a more recent erosion of the historic fabric, probably perpetrated c.1990.
Descent: Hans Hendrick (d. 1889); to grandson, Hans Hendrick Aylmer (later Hendrick-Aylmer) (1856-1917); to brother, Algernon Ambrose Michael Aylmer (1857-1933); to son, Col. Richard Michael Aylmer (1887-1975), who sold 1938 to Dominican order for use as a Convent…. sold to Cement Roadstone Ltd. (fl. 1980); now a Society of St. Vincent de Paul Holiday Centre.
Jigginstown, County Kildare, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
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. 161. “(Wentworth, Strafford, E/DEP; Fitzwilliam, E/PB) The palace which Thomas Wentworth, afterwards Earl of Stafford, built ca 1636 when Lord Deputy of Ireland, for his own use and also perhaps with a view to its being occupied by Charles I; though it was never a Royal Palace, but Strafford’s own property, and remained the property of his descendants. It is said to have been designed by John Allen, who came to Ireland from Holland, was “factor” for the Dutch and “being skilful in architecture was esteemed and consulted by the most eminent of the nobility in their buildings.” It appears to have consisted of one principal storey, of red brick, on a high, stone-faced basement; and with a high-pitched roof containing a dormer attic; it had a frontage of no less than 380 feet, consisting of a long central block flanked by two projecting pavilions or towers. Part of the basement was vaulted, of very fine brickwork, wih panelled and moulded brick columns; there were brick fireplaces and massive brick chimneystacks. According to tradition, there was an elaborate formal lay-out with terraces and fishponds. Also according to tradition, the building was never completed; but this is not wholly true; Wentworth told Archbishop Laud 1637 that he had “in a manner finished it,” at a cost of £6000, and he seems to have been frequently in residence herere, for many of his letters were written from “The Naas.” It was here that the great Ormonde signed the “Cessation” with the Confederates 1643; after the Restoration, he removed some of the marble doorcases and chimneypieces to Kilkenny Castle, or Dunmore House. In C18, the building was allowed to fall into ruin, now all that remains are some of the walls and the vaulted basement.”
Jigginstown, County Kildare, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Strafford (1593-1641), Lord Deputy of Ireland 1632-1640 for King Charles I.
And supplement:
“As well as the extensive walls and vaulted basement of the main block, other buildings survive: notably the two corner pavilions.”
House & Family History: Jigginstown was to be a palace, a house appropriate for the ruler of Ireland in the 17th century; that ruler was Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, of Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire. Strafford was a loyal servant to Charles I and suffered for his devotion by losing his head, an event that precipitated the Civil War. Because of the Civil War the grand red brick house Strafford started to build was never completed and slipped into ruin during the years of civil strife. In the 1960s its half-buried cellars were still visible.
Jigginstown also known as Sigginstown House, or Strafford’s Folly was 380ft in length, making it one of the largest unfortified structures built in Ireland. It was also one of the earliest brick houses in Ireland – the bricks being imported from Holland. John Allen was a master builder who is presumed to have acquired his skills in Holland.
The owner, Thomas Strafford, Lord Wentworth, had hoped to entertain the king in it. But it was not to be. During the 1630s, Wentworth served as Lord Deputy of Ireland before becoming a leading advisor to the king in London. However he was accused of treason, sentenced to death, and executed before a crowd of 200,000 on 12 May 1641. The house was destroyed in the 1640s. The house can be assumed to have been largely completed by his death, as Strafford wrote that “I have, in a manner finished it.”
According to Maurice Craig, writing in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 1970, it seems that Wentworth was working on three possible outcomes. One, the King would accept it as an Irish Palace; two, that it would be left on Wentworth’s hands; or the King would use it occasionally, leaving it in the Lord Deputy’s hands at other times.
Described in 1656: “It’s plan was simple, a long three-storey building with two square wings; twenty-four large windows made up the first floor together with two entrances, each with a flight of twelve steps. The ground floor consisted of a row of windows designed to provide light for the large cellars. The brickwork, some of which still survives was excellent and there was also some marble columns and pavements. By the 1650s, however the house was in ruins and most of the lead and iron used in its construction had been removed for use as ammunition.”
Later described at the end of the 17th century with slight exaggeration as “having a chimney for every day of the year.” The ruined building was surveyed by Edward Lovett Pearce in 1726. Some of his assumptions are disputed – his internal divisions and room usages. It has also been suggested that his reconstructed elevation of two storeys above basement may be incorrect. Either way the scale of the building was huge, the large cellars are still standing and can be appreciated today.
In the late 1960s, a student project led to the removal of the ivy from the ruins, and a general cleanup of the site. In recent years, the Office of Public Works has been involved in stabilizing the ruins.
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. 56. “[Guinness] An unusually attractive and spacious early to mid C19 glebe house in the Gothic taste, its entrance front flanked by a Gothic outbuilding which looks like a chapel or orangerie. Hall with trefoil panels; three reception rooms en suite, with simple Gothic decoration. Lately the home of Mrs. S Booth (nee Guinness), now married to Mr. Thomas Long.”
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
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. 34. “(de Pentheny O’Kelly/LGI1958; Mansfield/IFR) A C19 house with gables and bargeboards, hood mouldings and a turret and spire. The. Home of Lt-Col H.L. Mansfield, and of his widow after his death 1948.”
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
A Magnificent & Historical Period Residence on c. 25 Acres (10.11 Hectares) on River Liffey Originally the Family Seat of the O’Kelly Family for 150 years from 1820 to 1970. The present owners have occupied the residence as a private family home for 29 years having bought it in 1992. They are now downsizing as the children moved to live permanently abroad. Barrettstown House is one of 3 major houses in the area which had connected ownership previously. The other 2 are Morristown Lattin House and Yeomanstown House, nearby. Newbridge 4km, Naas 6km, M7 (Exit 10) 4km, Dublin 25km, International Airport 30km
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
This charming and impressive family home was built in the early 19th Century in the Gothic revival style, typified by a front gable with entrance porch, steep pitched roofs with decorative barge boards, cross-gables with pinnacles, masonry chimera and a three storey tower.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Interior original plasterwork is in excellent condition and includes a rare barrel-ceiling drawing room, while an ornately carved oak stairwell rises to the gallery above, on the first floor, where the original hand painted glass ceiling dominates the light filled hall below.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
A full refurbishment of the property was undertaken in 1993 – 1995 by the present owners, under the guidance of Historical Architecture Experts, Dunphy O’Connor Baird. Peter Johnson & Partners were responsible for interior design. The refurbishment included complete electrical wiring, new plumbing throughout, including new central heating system, new kitchen, new bathrooms, a spectacular orangery together with a large garaging complex. The property has been maintained in first class condition, presented in impeccable “move in” order. The lands are in one block all in permanent pasture with great shelter and many specimen trees including oak, beech, horse chestnut, cedar and scots pine. The accommodation in the main house extends to c. 10,570 sq.ft. (982 sq.m.). The Porch entrance leads into the Great Hall off which the drawingroom, library, gamesroom, study, diningroom, bespoke bar and kitchen/dining with Aga and understairs cloakroom are accessed.
The Orangery, gym and sauna, laundry, wine-cellar and boot room complete the ground floor. The large windows give full natural and wonderful vistas of the River Liffey and mature garden surrounding the house. On the first floor there are 9 bedrooms (5 of which are ensuite), a family double shower bathroom, a TV room, study and linen room. The property has easy access to M7 which brings you directly to Dublin to the north 30 minutes and to the south via the M7 and M9. The area is well serviced by buses and nearby Newbridge Train Station which connects with Heuston Station and Grand Canal Dock. The property is approached from the Barrettstown – Newbridge Road via double electric gates and a gravelled 300 metres avenue through post and railed paddocks to the main house, which has a commanding position on the north banks of the River Liffey on which it has c. 600 metres frontage. HISTORY: The O’Kelly Family connection with Barrettstown House commenced with Edmund O’Kelly (1800 – 1859). During the earlier part of the 19th Century, Edmund substantially increased the size of the house, incorporating a large drawingroom, diningroom and a 3 storied tower. It then passed to his younger brother Peter O’Kelly (1807 – 1858) witnessed by his initials which are embossed on the fireplace in the diningroom. By 1876 the total area of the Barrettstown Estate exceeded 3,100 acres. In the early 20th Century, many tenants at Barrettstown acquired ownership of the lands, via a scheme established throughout the country by the Land Commission, such that by 1966 the Estate had been significantly reduced to 122 acres. Since 1970 there have only been 3 subsequent owners, including the vendors. GATE LODGE: Comprises porch entrance, sittingroom with brick fireplace, kitchen, 2 double bedrooms, bathroom and enclosed fenced garden and garage.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
OUTSIDE: * Cobbled courtyard. * Boiler House, Tank House, Shed. * Very large triple garage – suitable for a few stables. * Tarmacadam Tennis Court. * The gardens and grounds are a feature of the property and have been manicured and maintained.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Barrettstown House is ideal for entertaining in the formal rooms which have 12 foot ceilings with ornate plasterwork, together with other original features including the impressive main staircase with minstrels gallery and historic fireplaces.
SERVICES: Mains water supply, puraflo system, oil fired central heating, flogas system, internet, monitored alarm and security system.
AMENITIES: Hunting: with the Kildares and South County Racing: Curragh, Naas, Punchestown Golf: Royal Curragh Golf Club, K Club Straffan, Naas and Newbridge Shopping: Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge and Kildare Retail Village in Kildare Town. Schools: Primary in Newbridge and Naas; Secondary at Newbridge College plus 3 others in Newbridge and Naas. Transport: Train from Newbridge and Sallins to Heuston Station and Grand Canal Dock in City (30 mins); Bus regular service to City Centre from Newbridge and Naas.
Accommodation
GROUND FLOOR: Entrance Baronial Great Hall: 15.89m x 4.56m With original plasterwork, leading onto the Ballroom/Drawingroom from double doorway.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Library: 4.55m x 4.55m Original plasterwork, black marble fireplace, fully fitted bookshelves, fitted for TV, garden vistas.
Family/Gamesroom: 4.55m x 7.5m Original plasterwork, marble fireplace, large windows opening out to vista of river and gardens, fitted for TV.
Drawingroom: 11.5m x 5.25m In typical romantic gothic style, this great room opens out from the Great Hall, ideal for entertaining, stunning rare original barrel ceiling (plasterwork originally commissioned in London), white marble fireplace, double doors opening out to Rotunda Terrace over the Liffey and gardens.
Study: 4.15m x 5.1m Opposite drawingroom, original historic “rent window”.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Bar: 2.13m x 5.2m Bespoke carpentry by David Pickett, green marble counter fitted for draught beer and TV.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Main Stairwell/Musical Gallery: This original oak staircase leads up to the minstrels gallery lit by the original hand painted glass ceiling. Cloakroom with w.c., w.h.b. Located beneath the stairs.
Diningroom: 5.45m x 9.91m Baronial room with original stone fireplace, architecturally initialled with original brass fire irons and fittings. Large bay window with views over river and lawns.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Orangery: 9.53m x 5.48m This beautiful room opens out from the diningroom onto the gardens and terraces by the Liffey.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Octagon: Toilet with w.c., w.h.b. At back of hallway entrance.
Kitchen: 9.42m x 6.46m Bespoke kitchen by David Prickett includes 4 oven Aga, Neff appliances, electric oven, gas stove, indoor BBQ grill, double fridge/freezer, dishwasher, large granite topped island with InSinkErator, fitted cupboards and baskets, microwave, electric sockets, original bells décor and stove, large window with vista of grounds. The Kitchen leads onto back hallway:
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Gym: 3.58m x 4.38m and sauna, laundry room, boot room, wine cellar and back door entrance off courtyard enclosure.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
FIRST FLOOR: Minstrels Gallery – a unique heritage feature of the house, lit by the original hand painted glass dome.
Main Bedroom/Suite: 4.99m x 7.51m Beautifully lit by two large windows with views over gardens and river. The marble bathroom has a walk-in shower, bath, double sinks, toilet and bidet, handpainted murals.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Principal Guest Suite: 4.99m x 6.09m With beautiful views of the gardens and grounds, original marble fireplace, shower ensuite.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ieBarretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
Study: 5.13m x 5.11m Double wardrobes and fireplace. TV Room: 3.79m x 3.49m With fireplace. Linen Room: Fitted shelving. Bedroom 3: 5.76m x 5.47m With fireplace, fitted wardrobes. Ensuite: Bath, walk-in shower, bidet. Bedroom 4: 4.52m x 4.13m Walk-in dressing room. Ensuite Bathroom: With bath, shower. Bedroom 5: 5.47m x 4.55m Fitted wardrobes. Ensuite shower room. Additional Bedrooms with Family Bathroom with Double Shower. Bedroom 6 5.32m x 5.06m With fireplace and wardrobe. Bedroom 7 5.03m x 3.34m With fireplace and wardrobe.
Bedroom 8 3.83m x 3.11m With fireplace and wardrobe. Bedroom 9 3.83m x 3.06m With fireplace and wardrobe
Features
• Exceptional original 19th century plasterwork throughout. • Elegant rooms intact with period features. • Hand carved main stairwell. • Minstrels gallery with original painted glass ceiling. • Wide vistas over river and gardens. • Rare Barrel ceiling – drawingroom historic 19th Century Architecture. • Exterior masonry chimera and emblems. • Granite terraces. • Cobbled courtyard. • Fountain. • Orangery. • Fishing on Liffey. • Tennis Court. • Electric gates. • Fully alarmed. • Gate Lodge. • Oil fired central heating.
Barretstown House, Newbridge, Co Kildare courtesy myhome.ie
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. 33. “(Borrowes, Bt/PB1939) An old tower-house with a two-storey, slightly Ruskinian Gothic-Victorian addition. The latter has rectangular, pointed and segmental-pointed plate glass windows, some of those in the upper storey rising into stepped dormer-gables. One side of the front has a four-storey tower with a stepped gable. Owned in recent years by Miss Elizabeth Arden, the parfumiere; afterwards by MR. W.G. Weston, who has presented it to the Irish nation.”
THE BORROWES BARONETS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY KILDARE, WITH 6,089 ACRES
This family derives (as proved by the patent from Sir William Roberts, Ulster King-of-Arms, granting an augmentation to the arms of Sir Erasmus, 1st Baronet) from a scion of the ancient house of DE BURGH, for centuries so eminent, both in England and Ireland, under the names of Burgh, Bourke, Burke, and Borough.
HENRY BORROWES, who settled in Ireland during the reign of ELIZABETH I, married firstly, Jane, daughter of the Rt Hon Sir Arthur Savage MP, of Rheban, County Kildare; and secondly, in 1585, Catherine Eustace, of Gilltown.
He was succeeded by his son,
ERASMUS BORROWES, of Gilltown, MP.
This gentleman, High Sheriff of County Kildare at the breaking out of the rebellion in 1641, testified, upon oath, that he was unable to resist the Irish by the Posse Comitatus; and that he had lost in goods, corn, and cattle, at his several houses of Grangemellon, Gilltown, and Carbally, £9,396; in debts, £11,932; besides a yearly income of £1,200, or thereabouts; in consideration whereof, and of his goods and rightful services, CHARLES I, in 1646, created him a baronet, designated of Grange Mellon, County Kildare.
Sir Erasmus married Sarah, daughter of Walter Weldon MP, of Woodstock Castle, and granddaughter maternally of the Rt Rev John Ryder, Lord Bishop of Killaloe, by whom he had, with a daughter, two sons, by the survivor of whom he was succeeded, viz.
SIR WALTER BORROWES, 2nd Baronet (c1620-85), who wedded firstly, in 1656 (the ceremony being performed with great pomp, before the Rt Hon Ridgeway Hatfield, Lord Mayor of Dublin), the Lady Eleanor FitzGerald, third daughter of George, 16th Earl of Kildare.
He married secondly, Margaret, fifth daughter of the Rt Hon Sir Adam Loftus MP, of Rathfarnham.
By the former he had, with a daughter, an only son, his successor,
SIR KILDARE BORROWES, 3rd Baronet (c1660-1709), MP for Kildare County, 1703-9, who espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Dixon, and sister of Robert Dixon, by whom he had two sons and three daughters.
Sir Kildare was succeeded by his elder son,
SIR WALTER DIXON BORROWES, 4th Baronet (1691-1741), MP for Harristown, 1721-7, Athy, 1741, who inherited the estates of his maternal uncle, Robert Dixon, already mentioned, in 1725.
He married, in 1720, Mary, daughter and co-heir of Captain Edward Pottinger, by whom he had three sons; the second and third died unmarried, and the eldest succeeded to the baronetcy, and became,
SIR KILDARE DIXON BORROWES, 5th Baronet (1722-90), High Sheriff of County Kildare, 1751, for which county he had been some years before (1745) returned to parliament.
He married firstly, in 1759, Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of John Short, of Grange, Queen’s County, by whom he had three sons and one daughter; and secondly, in 1769, Jane, daughter of Joseph Higginson, of Mount Ophaley, County Kildare, by whom he had four sons and two daughters.
Sir Kildare was succeeded by his eldest son,
SIR ERASMUS DIXON BORROWES, 6th Baronet (1759-1814), who wedded, in 1783, Harriet, youngest daughter of the Very Rev Arthur Champagné, Dean of Clonmacnoise, and great-granddaughter (maternally) of Arthur, 2nd Earl of Granard, and had issue,
WALTER DIXON, his successor; Arthur; Kildare; ERASMUS, 8th Baronet; Marianne; Harriet; Elizabeth.
Sir Erasmus was succeeded by his eldest son,
SIR WALTER DIXON BORROWES, 7th Baronet (1789-1834), who died unmarried, and was succeeded by his only surviving brother,
THE REV SIR ERASMUS DIXON BORROWES, 8th Baronet (1799-1866), Rector of Ballyroan, Queen’s County, who married, in 1825, Harriet, daughter of Henry Hamilton, and niece of Hans Hamilton, MP for County Dublin, and had issue,
Kildare (1828-37); ERASMUS; Walter Joseph; Henrietta Mary; Adelaide Charlotte Marianne; Eleanor Caroline.
Sir Erasmus was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
SIR ERASMUS DIXON BORROWES, 9th Baronet (1831-98), of Barretstown Castle, High Sheriff of County Kildare, 1873, Queen’s County, 1880, who espoused firstly, in 1851, Frederica Eaten, daughter of Brigadier-General George Hutcheson, and had issue, a son,
KILDARE, his successor.
He married secondly, in 1887, Florence Elizabeth, daughter of William Ruxton, and had further issue,
Walter (1892-1915); Mary Adelaide Vernon.
Sir Erasmus was succeeded by his son,
SIR KILDARE BORROWES, 10th Baronet (1852-1924), who married, in 1886, Julia, daughter of William Holden, by whom he had no issue.
Sir Kildare was Captain in the 11th Hussars and aide-de-camp to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He retired from the army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
The baronetcy expired on the death of Sir Eustace Dixon Borrowes, 11th baronet, in 1939.
BARRETSTOWN CASTLE, Ballymore Eustace, Naas, County Kildare, is an old tower-house with a two-storey, Gothic-Victorian addition.
The latter has rectangular, pointed and segmental-pointed plate glass windows.
One side of the front has a four-storey tower with a stepped gable.
The first historical mention of the place is in a 1547 inquisition held after the dissolution of the monasteries, when Barretstown Castle was listed as the property of the Lord Archbishop of Dublin, from whom it was promptly confiscated by the Crown.
Thereafter the Castle was held by the Eustace family on a series of “permanent leases.”
In the 17th century, Sir Walter Borrowes married a daughter of the Earl of Kildare and acquired the estate, and the family retained possession for over two centuries.
Members of the family, such as Sir Kildare Borrowes, 5th Baronet, represented Kildare County and Harristown in the former Irish Parliament.
Unlike the Eustace Baronets of the 16th and 17th centuries, the five Borrowes Baronets, who spanned the 19th century, played no part in public life.
Sir Kildare, 10th Baronet (1852–1924), whose father, the Rev Sir Erasmus, 8th Baronet, had significantly modified the residence in a medieval, romantic, asymmetrical style, was the last of the family to live at Barretstown.
In 1918, the Borrowes family left Ireland and Barretstown was purchased by Sir George Sheppard Murray, a Scotsman who converted the estate into a fine stud farm, and planted many of the exotic trees that dominate the landscape.
In 1962, Elizabeth Arden acquired the castle from the Murray family. Over five years, Arden extensively reconstructed, redecorated, and refurnished the castle.
Her influence dominates the look of the house to this day.
The door of the castle is reputed to have been painted red after her famous brand of perfume Red Door, and remains so to this day.
After Arden’s death in 1967, the billionaire Garfield Weston took up residence.
Under his ownership the grounds were significantly improved, particularly through the addition of a magnificent lake in front of the castle.
The Weston family, which owns Dublin’s famous Brown Thomas department store, presented the estate to the Irish government in 1977, during which time it was used for national and international conferences and seminars, as well as being used as a part of the Irish National Stud.
The Irish government has leased the castle and its grounds to the Barretstown Gang Camp Fund for the next 90 years.
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. 291. “(Kennedy, sub Kennedy, Bt/PB) A two storey house of mid C19 appearance. Three bay front with enclosed porch between two three sided single-storey bows; irregular four bay side elevation. Eaved roof on bracket cornice. Home of the Straffan Station Stud.”
Irish Historic Houses 