Ballynoe (or Newtown), Tullow, Co Carlow – private?
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. 27. “[Barratt/LGI1969] A small late-Georgian house of two storeys over basement. Thee bay front and sides; glazed and curving porch; eaved roof. Extended by a two bay Victorian addition of two storeys with pediment; further extensions again. In recent years the home of Major and Mrs S.G.R. Elton-Barratt.”
Detached two-storey over basement house, c. 1775, with stone façade having pedimented advanced bays. Extended to right, c. 1825, comprising three-bay range with central breakfront having bay windows to ground floor. Renovated, c. 1980, with bowed granite projecting porch added. Stable complex to site.
Record of Protected Structures:
Ballynoe House, Aghade, Tullow. Townland: Ballynoe or Newtown
A very curious house of different dates, with an asymmetrical façade of different styles. The house is said to date from circa 1775 and to have been a four-bay, two-storey house with a two-bay, deeply advanced breakfront and a basement. The breakfront and one bay survives and added to this a three-bay, two-storey house of circa 1820.The earlier house is built of coursed-rubble stone with brick dressings to the windows, a gable on the advanced bays, which has a strong cornice giving it the look of a pediment. The sash windows have six panes in each sash. The roof is hipped with wide eaves. The later house has painted, rendered walls and a breakfront, a high basement, oriel windows flanking the simple, round-headed doorcase. There is a most unusual semi-circular porch of four free-standing, granite piers – each pier is composed of three, cylindrical shafts. The low-pitched, hipped roof has wide eaves. The later house is probably by Thomas Cobden.
Importance: regional, architectural, artistic, interior, technical
Jimmy O’Toole, The Carlow Gentry: What will the neighbours say! Published by Jimmy O’Toole, Carlow, Ireland, 1993. Printed by Leinster Leader Ltd, Naas, Kildare.
Chapter: Riky of Ballynoe
http://www.igp-web.com/Carlow/Ballynoe_House.htm
Originally built by the Ricky family, this residence is a fine late Georgian two storey house which according to author Jimmy O’ Toole’ s book ” The Carlow Gentry” originally stood on circa 600 acres and was one of Carlow’ s smaller estates. Reduced this century to approximately 50 acres, Ballynoe has had a number of interesting owners over the years. Renowned architect Sam Stephenson owned the property for a time in the 1970s. The current owners have made Ballynoe House their home for the last fourteen years during which time they bred many fine draught horses from Ballynoe.
Situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty, the area has much to offer those interested in country pursuits. The Slaney Valley and the renowned Altamont gardens are just a five minute drive from the property with the choice of first class championship golf courses including Mount Wolseley Golf & Country Club in nearby Tullow, Killerig Castle Golf & Country Club, Carlow 27 hole championship course, Coolattin Golf Club. It is in the country of the Carlow Hunt, and there is also excellent trout fishing on the River Barrow which flows through Carlow town which also provides facilities for boating and cruising. There are a number of gun clubs in the area and private shoots within easy drive which are always in need of new guns. The scenic Wicklow way walk passes the nearby village of Clonegal and provides beautiful walks through the Slaney Valley and the Wicklow Hills.
This is a fine cut stone granite wall and cast iron gates set off a quiet country road leads onto a gravelled lane surrounded by mature trees. At its end stands Ballynoe House on an elevated site taking advantage of the fine views of the rolling countryside and farmland and the Wicklow and Blackstairs Mountains.
THE STUD FARM:- Circa 49 acres including residence, gardens and pleasure grounds the lands are arable of excellent quality currently in permanent pasture, with water to all paddocks and due to the lay of the lands can provide great shelter for livestock.
The enclosed cut stone stable yard, containing 9 loose boxes, tack and feed rooms, hay and straw barns are all beautifully maintained, and are an attractive addition to the property. A new machinery and feed storage shed was constructed in 1998.
Surrounding the house and gardens are fine ornamental standing trees, an attractive circa 2 acre old stone walled ornamental garden with extensive orchard, herb & vegetable area, heated swimming pool with adjoining changing rooms and sauna housed in a timber framed pavilion.
To the western boundary of the property lies the river Slaney and Ballynoe has the benefit of salmon fishing rights for approximately 2kms on the bank adjoining the property. It is an area of outstanding natural beauty near the popular Aghade Bridge with a picturesque river walk along the bank. The fishing along the bank is excellent with eight weirs, four named pools a long the beat providing varied and productive water at mort levels. A small fisherman’ s lodge along the bank provides welcome refuge from the summer showers
April 18 2013
Five years ago, Ballynoe House on 50 acres at Ardattin, Co Carlow, was valued at €3.8 million. Today, the estate is for sale by private treaty from joint agents Sherry FitzGerald and Browne Corrigan, with an asking price of €1.25 million.
At this price, there appears to be value and it’s likely to attract savvy overseas interest.
The property, in lovely Slaney river valley countryside, is a short drive from junction five on the M9 (Dublin to Waterford) motorway – about an hour south of theRed Cow interchange and nine miles from Carlow town.
The owners – Willem and Anneke Savelkouls – fell in love with Ireland during a hunting holiday two decades ago and bought the estate in 1995. They first used it as a holiday home but eventually moved to Ireland to pursue country sports, breed horses and keep sheep.
Now they’re downsizing “with a lot of regrets” and returning to the Netherlands but will “miss the space, the way of life where everything goes so easy” – and even the Irish weather.
Ballynoe House was originally home to a Carlow “gentry” family followed by a succession of British army top brass. For a few years in the 1970s, it was owned and used as a weekend retreat by the late architect Sam Stephenson(best remembered for his controversial Central Bank in Dame Street and Dublin City Council offices at Wood Quay designs).
His primary legacy – one of the most unexpected and jaw-dropping features to be found in any Irish country house – is an outdoor swimming pool and modernist pavilion with sauna and changing rooms plonked into an early 19th-century walled-garden.
It’s as shocking and unexpected as any of his Dublin structures. Why did he bother when the property has access to natural swimming in the Slaney? This carbuncle could be easily removed. If not, the pool and pavilion will need some costly overhaul and maintenance.
The spacious late-Georgian house (with Victorian extensions) has a curved porch entrance leading into 9,149sq ft (850sq m) of bright, well-maintained accommodation arranged as two storeys over basement.
The ground floor has a big welcoming reception hall and two large reception rooms with high ceilings, big windows and great natural light.
There’s also an open-plan living room/kitchen and a very large study which once housed a private school.
Upstairs are seven bedrooms: a master suite, five family bedrooms sharing two further bathrooms, and a separate guest bedroom suite with a shower room.
The garden or basement level, which can be accessed from internal staircases or directly from outside, is pleasantly bright and includes a games room, an extra bedroom, a wine cellar, a drying room, office and a self-contained apartment (living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom) for a live-in caretaker or housekeeper.
An attractive, spick-and-span granite courtyard has extensive stabling, tack room, hay loft, woodshed and barn.
The surrounding 50 acres are “richly fertile lands, which include good pasturage and woodland” with some very fine trees and what the agents accurately describe as “a fabulous stretch of the river Slaney” – 1.25 miles (2km) of private riverbank with some noted weirs and pools for private salmon and trout fishing.
Willem Savelkouls, incidentally, hasn’t adopted the Irish angler’s habit of whopping exaggeration and admits, with disarming honesty, to never having landed a salmon – despite frequent efforts – but, has, over the years, “caught lots of trout”.
Perched high above the riverbank is a little fisherman’s chalet with a log fire and picture window overlooking a mesmerising vista.
You could travel the length and breadth of rural France and not find a more idyllically Arcadian spot for a picnic, river bathing, angling or just plain idling. No wonder the Dutch found it “wonderful” and “unbelievable”.
Irish Historic Houses 