Abbeyleix House, County Laois 

 
featured in Great Irish Houses. Forewards by Desmond FitgGerald, Desmond Guinness. IMAGE Publications, 2008. 

Designed by James Wyatt for Lord Knapton, later the 1^st Viscount de Vesci, building began in 1773. Built between 1773 and 1778, it was a typical plain Georgian box. By the mid-19^th century the De Vesci’s had grown wealthier and wanted the house to look somewhat grander.  

Many of the adornments – such as architraves and large ballast rails – were added in the 1840s to the design of  Thomas Wyatt, a nephew of James Wyatt, added these adornments. The De Vesci family retained the house until 1994 when the present owner Sir David Davies acquired the property and began the latest phase of restoration. 

When David Davies acquired the house in 1994, he employed John O’Connell, one of Ireland’s foremost conservation architects, to restore the building. 

Sir David was determined to preserve and reuse all the original architectural elements, which included acquiring at auction the 18^th century original window sashes. Fortunately, the Penrose Wyatt Collection fo Drawings in the National Library of Ireland had office drawings relating to the gold room/saloon of Abbey Leix so they could be accurately returned to their 18^th century states. 

One of the main decisions taken by Sir David was to alter a wing built in the mid 19^th century to the west of the building. The original idea had been to drive the house more towards the west, with the addition of a new dining room, large library and billiard room beyond. This was never completed. Today it has become a wonderful and sympathetic addition to the main house. “It was a horrible concrete looking thing with three chimneys,” says Sir David. “John O’Connell was asked to make it look sympathetic with the rest of the house. I now call the finished product the John O’Connell wing!”  

The nearby courtyard and 19^th century dairy have been retained, as has the area where carriages and service stores for the house were kept. What appears to be a single storey structure from the outside has two floors inside. It was dug out so its height would not impact on the lines of the main house. On the opposite side of the main house is an unusually short extension of the basement to the first floor. A mezzanine level allows movement between each floor. The grand forecourt, which has been executed to an Italianate design, provides a tremendous podium for the house to sit upon. 

Inside, the entrance hall is very much the heart of the house. The hall floor, unlike many 18^th century properties, is not Portland stone but French limestone. The fireplace, which is not original and dated earlier than the house, came from a De Vesci house in London. The screen columns are all original, while the stuccowork is a fine example of neo-Classical design. Great mahogany doors, many with original locks and handles, lead from the hall. 

As was often the fashion at the time in the early 20^th century, the entrance hall doubled as a sitting room in winter months, and large curtains across the entrance door helped retain the heat. Sir David has returned the hall to what it is likely to have looked like in 1770. There are two great Irish tables – one from 1720 is pine, painted to look like ebony, while the other is a slightly later piece, dating to 1750. A set of four chairs, designed by Wyatt for Dunsandle House in Co Galway, were bought from Russborough. The stone colouring is true to 18^th century form. Indeed, the colouring is authentic throughout with the dining room primarily cream and the drawing room a plaster or rose pink colour. The original dining room was a long way from the kitchen ans so now its primary purpose is as a music room and sir David has held a number of concerts in it. 

[p. 39] The fireplace here is shown on early drawings for the room and it is fascinating to compare the vision for this great neo-classical room with the reality. The room has, however, been subjected to two great upheavals. The first was a fire in the 1950s but the second – and far more serious – occurred in 1996 during the restoration. 

[picture credit: The front of the house shows the refacing, which took place in the 19^th century. The façade is rendered and the finish gives the impression of sandstone. ] 

[grissailes by de Gree in the music room which was originally designed as a dining room] 

“A smouldering fire, confined to this room and the one adjacent, resulted in the doors leading to the second suite of rooms being badly burned. The ceilings in both rooms also had to be taken down, cleaned and restored. As much of the ceiling design is executed in gold, it was resistant to the worse of the fire damage. Cliveden Conservation, a company specialising in restoration and renewal of plasterwork and marble fireplaces, restored the ceilings of the two great rooms after the fire, but also copied and carved the original Wyatt fireplace in the drawing room which was so badly damaged that it had to be replaced. Also reinstated were the French limestone tiles in the front hall. 

Primarily the music room was designed to have a typical ‘wedding cake’ interior with a strong emphasis on cream and gold colourings. Sir David has opted for more Adam colours such as pink and green and the result is magnificent. The pelmets were designed by O’Connell and have blended into the overall design seamlessly. Pull-up curtains have been installed as draw curtains would have taken up too much space. The double doors, with brass handles and carvings, were modelled from another Wyatt design. It is thought the mahogany came from Honduras and was already 1,000 years old when it was felled for the house in 1770. 

The drawing room is one of the most elegant and best proportioned rooms in the house. Sir David has a young family and so the room is also comfortable. The ceiling features a circular motif design with two large panels either side. The room also suffered extensive damage during the recent fire and required extensive restoration that took more than a year to complete. Many of the panels had to be removed and repaired or replaced.” 

[picture caption: the music room showing the neo-classical plaster decoration designed by James Wyatt. According to John O’Connell it is probably the most authentic Wyatt room in Ireland, aside from the great dining room at Curraghmore.] 

[the study with the carved festoons in the style of Grinling Gibbons.] 

p. 40. “The original house ended where there is now a set of four scagliola columns when in the 1840s the De Vescies decided to create a long gallery through to where the glass conservatory once stood. Sir David decided to partition the gallery, given its proximity to the kitchen, in order to create a dining room with both a formal and informal dining space. The Knight of Glin helped with the furnishings. ‘All the furniture and paintings here have been brought in the last 25 years,” Sir David says. “It was a time when the Knight was persuading people to buy Irish furniture and paintings and bring them back to Ireland. Much of the stuff here was bought in America. It’s important these furnishings in the house don’t come across as a museum piece. This is very much a family home.” 

“The great wing built off the house has the largest and longest butler’s pantry in Ireland, which leads to the upstairs kitchen. The floors in this area are of oak found on the estate. Beyond the kitchen is a wonderful family room in what was formerly the billiard room. The entire first floor is made up on family rooms, bedrooms, dressing rooms and en suite bathrooms. All the original bath and tap finishings have been retained, with slate flooring used under the baths to prevent damage. The real richness at work at Abbey Leix is the contrast between the formal and informal, between the everyday and the elaborate. In its simple elegance, it remains as true to the early 18^th century original as any house in private ownership today.” 

[picture caption: The white chimneypiece in the drawing room is to the design of James Wyatt. The Irish mirror was designed by Francis and John Booker of Essexbridge, Dublin.] 

[The present dining room was a large tri-partite library in the mid 19^th century.] 

[The formal dining table, which had a fine collection of Wyatt dining chairs, can seat up to 24 guests. The painting is of Sir David Davis by Lord Dunsany.] 

 
featured in Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915. 

 
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. 1. Abbey Leix, Co Leix: “[Vesey, De Vesci, V/PB] A three storey late C18 block, built from 1773 onwards by Thomas Vesey, 2nd Lord Knapton and afterwards 1st Viscount de Vesci, with some interiors being designed by James Wyatt. Seven bay entrance front, with three bay pedimented breakfront; frontispiece of coupled Doric columns and entablature around entrance door. Five bay garden front with three bay breakfront. In C19 the elevations were made more ornate with a balustraded roof parapet, entablatures over the windows, balconies and other features. A large conservatory was also added at one side of the house, which was blown away by the “great wind” of 1902 and replaced by a wing containing a new dining room. The principal rooms in the main block have ceilings and, in the old dining room, walls decorated with Wyatt plasterwork. The hall has a screen of fluted Ionic columns;  

from myhome.ie. The fireplace mantel of siena and white marble in the front hall, with a well-carved centre panel,  is from a Dublin mansion [from Georgian Mansions in Ireland, as well as following information about paintings] There’s a portrait of Le Grand Dauphin by Pierre Mignard, and pictures of Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Armagh [ he was an ancestor of the family through the marriage of Sir Thomas Vesey, 1st Baronet, with his granddaughter Mary Muschamp]; of John Vesey, archbishop of Tuam; Sir Thomas Vesey, Bt, 1712, afterwards Bishop of Ossory the first Lord Knapton; Mrs Colclough, wife of Caesar Colclough, of Duffrey Hall, Co Wexford and sister of the first Lord Knapton; Agmondesham Vesey, father of Ann, Lady Bingham, as a child [also an ancestor of the Veseys of Lucan, which estate he acquired by his first marriage with Charlotte, daughter of William Sarsfield, who was the elder brother of the celebrated Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, and by whom he had an only daughter, Anne, wife of Sir John Bingham, Baronet, ancestor of the present Earl of Lucan. He left the estate to his oldest son of his second marriage, so subsequent owners are not descended from the Sarsfields]; and of the Elizabeth, wife of the first Lord Knapton. This last painting is by Stephen Slaughter, and dates to 1744.

BJ cont. “the drawing room is hung with a C19 blue wallpaper. The demesne contains some magnificent trees, including oaks which are part of a primeval forest. A formal garden with terraces and ironwork balustrades was laid out by Lady Emma Herbert, who married 3rd Viscount 1839; inspired by the garden of her Russian grandfather, Count Simon Woronzow, at Alupka, near Yalta, in the Crimea. Towards the end of C19, in the time of 4th Viscount, whose wife was Lady Evelyn Charteris, daughter of 10th Earl of Wemyss, Abbey Leix was the Irish outpost of the “Souls.” The garden is now open to the public.” 

Colliers International 

Tel: 01 633 3700 

PSRA Licence No. 001223 

€20,000,000 

9 beds, 10 baths, 2500 sq metres, 

Eircode: R32 E2W4
A splendid and most distinguished Irish 18th-century mansion positioned within a remarkable and ancient woodland demesne of over 1,000 acres. Abbey Leix is one of the most venerable 18th-century houses in Ireland and, following a spectacular restoration, it is also one of the most congenial. In any list of important Irish country houses Abbey Leix has a prominent place. The late-18th-century mansion, clothed in the Italianate manner in 1859-60, enjoys a remarkable position within a private estate comprising some 1,120 acres and includes some of Ireland’s most notable remaining ancient woodland and extensive frontage to the River Nore. The accommodation is grand and beautifully executed with the mansion comprising some 26,910 square feet or 2,500 square metres. 

The mansion is augmented by 10 lodges and cottages on the estate. Abbey Leix was designed in 1773 by the noted architect James Wyatt. The house is an elegant three-storey Classical mansion of seven bays, the three central bays under a triangular pediment. The arrangement of rooms is elegant and simple, with three major rooms on the park front. There is a deep hall, with a screen of columns separating it from the east-west-running staircase hall and corridor. The music room at the south-eastern corner of the house retains the light, decorative plasterwork for which Wyatt was so admired. Plaster roundels framed by swags of husks were decorated with grisaille by the artist De Gree a few years after completion, probably about 1785. In the middle of the 19th-century the Italianate character was adopted and the great Classical library and a conservatory were added. 

At the same time the front of the house was enclosed within an Entrance Court with terraces added to the rear. A comprehensive and sympathetic restoration was undertaken in 1995. The whole north-west corner of the accommodation was redesigned to provide a new family room (out of rooms subdivided in the 1966), kitchen, and butler’s pantry. A new state dining room was created out of two-thirds of the original library, the remainder now comprising a smaller library. A considerable programme of conservation of the major rooms followed. The works create a 21st-century family home with an appropriate balance between comfort and informality on the one hand and grandeur for entertaining and the display of art on the other. Abbey Leix has one of the most important collections of trees in Ireland. Whereas elsewhere in Ireland the primeval forests of oak, birch, alder and willow have been almost entirely depleted, the woods on Park Hill across the river from the house are among the last surviving remnants of Ireland’s ancient woodland. 

Abbey Leix, like so many places in Ireland, owes its origins to religious settlement, and specifically to the French Cistercian monks who came to Ireland in the mid-12th-century. An ancient stone bridge on the estate, known as Monk’s Bridge, marks where they located their abbey. The present demesne evolved out of the monastery’s granges, woods and fields. One tree, the oldest oak in Ireland still survives from this period. The de Vesci family fashioned a landscape as beautiful as the house they built during their ownership between 1675 and 1995. A stud farm is positioned within the original farmstead and includes an attractive range of cut-stone outbuildings. 

A beautiful principal yard, complete with a clock tower, was built of local limestone in 1822. The quadrangular yard contains 24 loose boxes. A separate farmyard has a range of farm sheds. The farmland provides good grazing. The limestone soil is highly fertile and ideal for rearing and keeping bloodstock, being well laid out in gently undulating fields and paddocks. The lands are well sheltered by the surrounding woodland. Positioned centrally within the estate the house is quiet and private, the wooded drive being c. 1 mile long. “As few places elsewhere, Abbey Leix gives a sense of the longue durée of Irish history. Having been home to French Monks, O’More Princes, Ormonde Earls, de Vesci Viscounts, and a Welsh Knight, the house, its park and woods form a microcosm of our past.” William Laffan, 2017. 

https://archiseek.com/2014/1773-abbeyleix-house-abbeyleix-co-laois

1773 – Abbeyleix House, Abbeyleix, Co. Laois 

Architect: James Wyatt 

A seven-bay, three-storey over basement with dormer attic Classical-style country house, begun 1773, with a pedimented breakfront having a cut stone Doric door-case to the ground floor. Originally brick, later rendered by Thomas Henry Wyatt. Five-bay elevation to garden front with breakfront having cut sandstone doorcase and Wyatt style window openings to flanking bays. 

“A good landlord, and an improving man, his first care was to remove the old village on the banks of the Nore, and to build a new one, long known as New Abbeyleix, on a better site further from the river.f He also demolished the former family residence, and, in 1773, erected in its place the present mansion, which took several years to complete.” 

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2013/12/abbeyleix-house.html

THE VISCOUNTS DE VESCI WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN THE QUEEN’S COUNTY, WITH 15,069 ACRES 

This and the illustrious family of De Burgh, Marquesses and Earls of Clanricarde, derive from a common progenitor; namely, 

JOHN, Earl of Comyn and Baron of Tonsburgh, Normandy, son of BALDWIN II of Boulogne, founder of the house of BLOIS, in France. 

From the eldest son of this noble John descended the house of Clanricarde; and from the younger, 

EUSTACE DE BURGE, Baron of Tonsburgh, that of which we are now to treat. 

This Eustace had two sons, Charles and John, both companions in arms of WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 

 
The elder son, 

CHARLES, built the castle of Knaresborough, in Yorkshire, and was succeeded by his brother, 

JOHN FITZ RICHARD, who wedded Margaret, aunt of King STEPHEN, and was succeeded by his eldest son, 

EUSTACE FITZ JOHN, feudal lord of Knaresborough, who espoused Beatrix, daughter and sole heir of Ivo de Vesci, by Alda, only daughter and heir of William Tyson, Lord of Alnwick, and was succeeded by his elder son, 

WILLIAM, who assumed the name and arms of VESCI, and had a grant from HENRY II of Alnwick Castle. 

He was sheriff of Northumberland during the greater part of that reign, and was a principal commander in the battle fought near Alnwick, wherein the Scottish army sustained a signal overthrow. 

This William’s elder son, 

EUSTACE DE VESCI (1169-1216), one of the twenty-five feudal barons appointed to enforce the observance of MAGNA CARTA, married Margaret, daughter of WILLIAM, King of Scotland. 

 
This nobleman was succeeded by his son, 

 
WILLIAM DE VESCI, who espoused firstly, Isabel, daughter of William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury; and secondly, Agnes, eldest daughter of William Ferrers, Earl of Derby; and in right of the latter had a share of those lands assigned to him in Ireland, belonging to William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. 

 
He died in 1253, and was succeeded by his eldest son, 

 
JOHN DE VESCI, who was summoned to parliament, 1264, as Baron Vesci. 

 
His lordship dsp 1289, and was succeeded by his brother, 

 
WILLIAM DE VESCI, who was summoned to parliament in 1295, and was one of the competitors for the crown of Scotland during the reign of EDWARD I. 

 
This nobleman was Justice in Eyre for all the royal forests beyond Trent, and one of the Justices-Itinerant touching the pleas of the forest, Governor of Scarborough Castle, and Lord Justice of Ireland, where he was Lord of Kildare. 

 
His lordship died in 1297, leaving an only daughter, Isabel; and the male line of his family was continued by his brother, 

 
THOMAS DE VESCI, who settled in Newlands, Cumberland, where the family continued until his descendant, 

 
WILLIAM VESEY, having the misfortune to kill his antagonist in a duel, fled into Scotland, whence he removed to Ireland, in the reign of ELIZABETH I. 

 
He wedded a daughter of the family of Ker of Cessford, and was succeeded by his only son, 

THE VEN THOMAS VESEY, Archdeacon of Armagh, 1655; whose son and heir, 

THE MOST REV JOHN VESEY (1638-1716), was consecrated Lord Archbishop of Tuam. 

[Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915: 

“The Most Rev. John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam, father of the purchaser (of Abbeyleix), may also be called the founder of this family in Ireland, for from him descended the Veseys of Lucan, Co Dublin; Hollymount, County Mayo; and Derrabard, Co Tyrone; as well as Baron Fitzgerald and Vesey, a title now extinct, and the family of Vesey-Fitzgerald. During the vice-royalty of Tyrconnell he suffered great hardships at the hands of the native Irish, though it was only when their lives were in danger that he and Bishop Tenison, of Killala, consented to quite Connaught. fn. see Dictionary of National Biography. Taking his wife and twelve children, he fled to London, where he lived in straightened circumstances, having no means of subsistence save a lectureship of £40 per annum, which the interest of his friends obtained for him. While in England he was attainted by James II’s Irish Parliament, but after the Revolution he returned to his diocese, and resumed the prominent part which he had been accustomed to take in the affairs of the country, of which he was twice appointed Lord Justice. It was probably as some recompense for his misfortunes that his eldest son, Thomas, when only 25 and during his father’s lifetime, was created a Baronet… He took great pleasure in laying out and planting his seat at Hollymount, Co Mayo, described by John Wesley, when he visited it some forty years afterwards, as “one of the pleasantest places in Ireland.” There he died on 28 March 1716, having been in failing health for two years. ] 

This learned prelate, who was thrice one of the Lords Justices of Ireland, left issue, 

THOMAS; 
Agmondisham, ancestor of the Earls of Lucan; 
John, in holy orders; 
William; 
Francis; 
Mary; Elizabeth; Anne. 

His Grace was succeeded by his eldest son, 

THOMAS VESEY (c1668-1730), who was created a baronet in 1698, denominated of Abbeyleix, Queen’s County. 

Sir Thomas, subsequently taking holy orders, was consecrated Lord Bishop of Killaloe in 1713, and translated to the see of Ossory in the following year. 

[Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915: 

p. 13. “The above-mentioned Sir Thomas Vesey had a singular career. Born at Cork in 1673 [ie. differs from webpage date], of which city his father was then Dean, he received his education at Eton, and Christ Church College in Oxford…. It is said that he had early intended to take Orders, but it was not until 1699, after he had returned to Ireland, that the young Baronet was ordained a deacon. Preferment in his father’s diocese naturally followed, and in the following year, soon after he was priested, he was presented to a Galway living, and preferred to the Archdeanery of Tuam – an office which he resigned in 1703. During the vice-royalty of the second Duke of Ormond he acted as his chaplain, and on his recommendation was appointed by Queen Anne to the Bishopric of Killaloe, which he held for little more than a year, beign translated in 1714 to the See of Ossory. Notwithstanding that his rapid promotion was due to court influence, his character both as a man and a prelate stood high, and he was greatly respected by his clergy. We have no records of his residence at Abbeyleix, though it is known to have been the birthplace of his only son, born in 1709 [fn. The Compete Baronetage, by G.E. C.], and it seems probable that he constantly lived there. Some difficulty appears to have arisen with regard to his title to the estate, for in 1711 he invoked the aid of Swift to assist him in getting an Act of Parliament to settle the matter. The Bishop died in Dublin on 6 Aug 1730, and was buried in St. Anne’s church.By his wife Mary Muschamp, who survived til 26 Feb 1749, he had one son and two daughters, of whom the younger, Elizabeth, a versatile and accomplished woman, married first William Handcock, of Willbrook [fn. now called Moydrum Castle, and the residence of his representative, Lord Castlemaine], Co Westmeath, and secondly he cousin Agmondesham Vesey, MP, of Lucan, Co Dublin. [fn. Kildare Journal of Archaeolgoy, vol. vii, no. 6, p. 404]. As Mrs Vesey, the friend of Dr. Johnson, she was long prominent in London society for her literary receptions, celebrated in the pages of Horace Walpole and Madame D’Arblay.”] 

He wedded Mary, only surviving daughter and heir of Denny Muschamp, of Horsley, Surrey, Muster-Master-General of Ireland, and his wife, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the Most Rev Michael Boyle, Lord Archbishop of Armagh, by whom he had issue, two daughters, and a son, 

SIR JOHN DENNY VESEY, 2nd Baronet, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1750, by the title of Baron Knapton. 

[Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915:  

p. 13. Sir John Denny Vesey, 2nd Bt, of Abbeyleix, succeeded his father in the title and estates. He had matriculated as a Gentleman Commoner at Christ Church, Oxford, in July 1727, but relinquished his studies on entering the Irish Parliament as M.P. for Newtown Ards before the end of that year. For ths borough he sat for 23 years, and on 10 April 1750, in recognition of his political services, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Knapton, taking his title from a townland on his property adjoining Abbeyleix, which in its turn had been named from Knapton in Yorkshire, a former seat of the family… Lord Knapton, who had been appointed Governor and Custos Rotulorum of the Queen’s County in 1746, during the rebellion in Scotland, died on 25 June 1761, aged 52.] 

He espoused, in Elizabeth, daughter of William Brownlow MP, of Lurgan, County Armagh, by the Lady Elizabeth Hamilton, his wife, daughter of the 6th Earl of Abercorn, and had issue, 

THOMAS, his successor; 
Elizabeth; Anne; Jane. 

His lordship [who had been appointed Governor and Custos Rotulorum of Queen’s County in 1746, during the rebellion of Scotland]  

died in 1761, and was succeeded by his son, 

THOMAS, 2nd Baron (1735-1804), [the former’s only surviving son, second Lord Knapton] 

who was created, in 1776, VISCOUNT DE VESCI, of Abbey Leix. 

[Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915:  

“His only surviving son, Thomas, second Lord Knapton, served in Lord Drogheda’s Regiment of Horse, in which he was promoted to the rank of Captain Lieutenant a few months after his father’s death. He was subsequently a Captain in the 123rd Regiment of Foot. {fn. Kelly’s Almanack and Directory for 1795. In 1782 he acted as a General of Volunteers}. After he had retired from the service, on 24 April 1769, he married Selina Elizabeth. He had a town house in Dawon St, Dublin, inherited from his father, but on his marriage moved to a newer and more fashionable residence at 26 Merrion Square. A good landlord, and an improving man, his first care was to remove the old village on the banks of the Nore, and to build a new one, long known as New Abbeyleix, on a better site further from the river. (fn. History of Queens Co p. 154). He also demolished the former family residence, and, in 1773, erected in its place the present mansion, which took several years to complete. During the administration of the Marquess Townsend, Lord Knapton was in opposition, but he accorded his support to the measures of his successor, Earl Harcourt. [fn. The Irish Parliament in 1775, p. 174]. It was not, however, for political reasons, but for having “acted with great spirit and propriety in discountenancing and suppressing the outrageous proceedings of the White Boys” {fn. Harcourt Papers, vol. x p. 198}that he was, on 18 July 1776, advanced to the Viscounty of de Vesci. Besides being an active magistrate, he was a hospitable man, and frequently gathered round him parties of friends. ….Lord de Vesci died at Abbeyleix of a paralytic stroke on 13 Oct 1804. ] 

His lordship married, in 1769, Selina Elizabeth, eldest daughter and co-heir of the Rt Hon Sir Arthur Brooke Bt, of Colebrooke, County Fermanagh, by whom he had issue, 

JOHN, his successor; 
Arthur, in holy orders; 
Charles; 
Elizabeth; 
Selina, m Andrew Nugent, of Portaferry. 

The 1st Viscount was succeeded by his eldest son, 

JOHN, 2nd Viscount (1771-1855), of Abbey Leix, who wedded, in 1800, Frances Letitia, daughter of the Rt Hon William Brownlow, of Lurgan, County Armagh. 

[Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915:  

p. 16. Of the second Viscount we have the following account, written the year before he died, by an anonymous writer [ he died at Portaferry, Co Down, the residence of his son-in-law, Col Patrick Nugent]]: “,,,An ever resident landlord, he has spent all his life amidst his tenantry; and whereever you turn the fruits of his paternal care are seen.” His elder son, the 3rd Viscount de Vesci, died at 4 Carlton House Terrace, London, on 23 Dec 1875 [he was MP for Queens co, 1835-7, and 1841-52; a representative peer, and an Ecclesiastical Commissioner for Ireland] leaving, with other issue, John Robert William, 4th Viscount, H.M.L. for the Queen’s county, sometimes Lieut-Col of the Coldstream Guards, and of the Honorable Artillery Company of London, who was created Baron de Vesci of Abbeyleix in the peerage of the UK in 1884. On his decease, 6th July 1903, this barony expired, while the Irish honours devolved on his nephew, the 5th and present holder…. note that the 2nd Visciount was MP for the borough of Mayborough, 1796-97, a Representative Peer, and for many years, Lord Lieut. of Queen’s Co.] 

They had issue, 

THOMAS, his successor; 
William John; 
Catherine. 

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son, 

THOMAS, 3rd Viscount (1803-75), 

• John Robert William Vesey, 4th Viscount (1844–1903); 

• Yvo Richard Vesey, 5th Viscount (1881–1958); 

• John Eustace Vesey, 6th Viscount (1919–83); 

• Thomas Eustace Vesey, 7th Viscount(b 1955). 

The heir apparent is the present holder’s second son, the Hon Oliver Ivo Vesey. 

 
In a Country Life article of 1991, entitled ‘Abbeyleix, County Laois …’, the late John Cornforth provided a short but still serviceable account of Vesey family history, largely based on the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland list of the de Vesci papers as it then stood: 

… The Veseys first appeared in Ireland in the second quarter of the 17th century and, like a surprising number of families, rose through service in the Church of Ireland. The first of them, the Venerable Thomas, ended up as Archdeacon of Armagh in 1655 and died in 1662. 

Both his sons followed him into the Church, the elder one, John, becoming Archbishop of Tuam [in 1679], a Privy Councillor and a Lord Justice of Ireland. Three of the Archbishop’s five sons also entered the church, with Thomas, the eldest, being made a baronet [in 1698] and a bishop [in 1713], in his father’s lifetime. He had the foresight to marry, [in 1699, Mary Muschamp], the granddaughter of an even more distinguished Archbishop, Michael Boyle, who was both Primate [1678-1702] and Lord Chancellor [1665-85]. … 

Through this marriage, Sir Thomas Vesey acquired the Abbeyleix estate, which was given to the couple as Mary’s marriage portion, by her father, Denny Muschamp. Muschamp was a tax farmer and land speculator as well as adviser to his father-in-law, Archbishop Boyle, and he became involved in Abbeyleix in 1675 through buying the rest of a 99-year Crown lease from the trustees of the will of Sir Edward Massey, an act that immediately led to litigation with the trustees and the beneficiaries of the will. That, together with other complications, led to a series of claims and counter-claims that caused the case to drag on until 1769. …  

In 1995, the 7th and present Lord de Vesci sold Abbey Leix sold most of the demesne (excluding, however, the part which went with Knapton). 

The purchasers were Sir David Davies, an Irish-born and based international banker and businessman, and his wife, Linda, whose ‘spectacular restoration’ of the house carried forward the de Vesci tradition of improvement and was the subject of an article by Jeremy Musson entitled ‘Abbeyleix, County Laois …’, published in Country Life on the 24th July, 2003.  

Prior to the sale of the house and its residual contents, Lord de Vesci had removed, among many other things, his collection of family portraits and the archive. 

However, later in 1995, agreement was reached for the sale of the latter to the National Library of Ireland, where it is now made more easily and widely accessible by the publication of the present catalogue.  

The de Vesci Papers are deposited at the NLI. 

 
Thomas Eustace Vesey, 7th and present Viscount de Vesci (b 1955) is managing director of Horticultural Coir Limited. 

 
ABBEYLEIX HOUSE is a seven-bay, three-storey over basement with dormer attic Classical-style country house, begun 1773, with a pedimented breakfront having a cut stone Doric door-case to the ground floor. 

 
Five-bay elevation to garden front with breakfront having cut sandstone doorcase and Wyatt style window openings to flanking bays. 

Two-bay single-storey wing to west, renovated ca 1840, with façade enrichments added. 

 
It was extended to the west, post-1902, comprising a seven-bay single-storey wing with breakfront having three-bay advanced centre bay. Balustraded forecourt of ca 1840, to the north. 

 
 
Formal gardens, post-1839, to south comprising series of artificial terraces with balustrades, flights of steps and ha-has. 

The house is set within a landscaped demesne approached by gravel drive; balustraded formal courtyard to Entrance Front with gravel drive and grass centrepiece; group of formal gardens to Garden Front including series of artificial terraces with balustrades, flights of steps and rubble stone ha-has; pond to sheltered garden to south-west.

https://www.myhome.ie/residential/brochure/the-abbey-leix-estate-abbeyleix-laois/4345736

4/11/2019 

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From Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915: 

 
P. 10. Abbeyleix house, the residence of the Viscount de Vesci, is a large four-storied rectangular building, situated in a splendid demesne, celebrated for its magnificent oaks, of over 700 acres, not far from the small but picturesque town from whence its name is derived. Externally it presents an uninteresting appearance for although constructed of red brick with a stone front, by plastering the whole it has entirely lost its Georgian character; internally, in spite of modern embellishment, much of the original work is still preserved. The character of the ornament is well shown in the Hall: two fluted columns support an entablature, and the Adam style appears both in the frieze and the fan decoration of the walls. There is a tall handsome mantel of siena and white marble, with well-carved centre panel, which was formerly in a Dublin mansion. Besides the masterly portrait of Le Grand Dauphin, by Pierre Mignard, a recent purchase of the present Viscount, this apartment contains pictures in oils of Michael Boyle, Archbishop of Armagh [an ancestor of the family through the marriage of Sir Thomas Vesey, 1^st Bt, with his grand-daughter Mary Muschamp.]; John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam; Sir Thomas Vesey, Bt, 1712, afterwards Bishop of Ossory; first Lord Knapton, in early manhood; Mrs Colclough, wife of Caesar Colclough of Duffrey Hall, County Wexford, and sister of teh first Lord Knapton; Agmondesham Vesey (father of Ann, Lady Bingham0, as a child; and Elizabeth, wife of teh first Lord Knapton [she was a daughter of William Brownlow of Lurgan, MP for county Armagh], by Stephen Slaughter, dated 1744. 

p. 11 “Passing to the left from the Hall we enter a large lofty sitting room, wiht three mahogany doors and carved wood overdoors; the decoration is in plaster panels enriched with Adam ornament. There is a conventional Adam ceiling and frieze, the mantel, doubtless contemporary, being of white marble carved. … At the opposite end of the house lies the grand staircase, in two flights, with light balustrade of iron and oak handrail, the plan being similar to that at Caledon.” 

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 Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915.: 

“The corridor bisecting the house passes through the staircase hall, and has been carried on to afford communication with a modern addition containing a library and breakfast room. In this corridor are a fine portrait of Nicholas de Launay, by Hyacinth Rigaud, and a pleasing picture, which has been engraved in mezzotint, of the Right Honourable William Brownlow, of Lurgan, Co Armagh, half-length seated, by Gilbert Stuart. [fn. He was father of Frances Letitia, Viscountess de Vesci, and ancestor of Lord Lurgan.]  

The drawing room and dining room, also on this floor, have a south aspect, and overlook the beautifully laid out pleasure grounds: the former, spacious apartment, though lacking in any Georgian interest, contains several oil-paintings, including Thomas, first Viscount de Vesci, by Gilbert Stuart; Margaret, wife of Sir Arthur Brooke, Bart., of Colebrook, Co Fermanagh. [fn. she was the only daughter of Thomas Fortescue, of Reynoldstown, Co Louth, and sister of the first Lord Clermont]. There is also a case of miniatures, in which are examples of the work of Nathaniel Hone, Adam Buck, Gervaise Spencer, and others. 

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Georgian Mansions in Ireland with some account of the evolution af Georgian Architecture and Decoration by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson. Dublin University Press, 1915: 

“In the bedrooms most of the joinery is modern, but the Georgian brass grates, in some cases black-leaded, have been well-preserved.” 

p. 11. Nothing now remains of the Abbey founded at Leix, in the territory of the O’Mores, by the Cistercians in 1183, though some of the buildings were not finally demolished till the last quarter of the eighteenth century. This establishment, caleld in some documents “the little Abbey of Lenix,” existed till the dissolution, when the site, which is said to be that of the present mansion, together with some 820 acres in the immediate neighbourhood, passed to the Crown, being granted in 1562 to Thomas, Earl of Ormond, [p. 12] “Black Tom,” for services against the rebels. It does not appear that it was ever a residence of the Butler family, but it remained in their possession till in or about 1698, when it became the property of Thomas Vesey, who had lately marrieed a wealthy heiress in the person of Mary, the only daughter of Denny Muschamp, of Horsley, Surrey, Muster-Master General in Ireland, and who in the same year was created a Baronet of Ireland. 

p. 12. The most reverent John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam, father of the purchaser, may also be called the founder of the family in Ireland, for from him descended the Veseys of Lucan, County Dublin; Hollymount, County Mayo, and Derrabard, County Tyrone; as well as Baron FitzGerald and Vesey, a title now extinct, and the family of Vesey-Fitzgerald. During the vice-royalty of Tyrconnell, he suffered great hardships at the hands of the native Irish, though it was only when their lives were in dangerthat he and Bishop Tenison, of Killala, consented to quit Connaught. Taking his wife and twelve children, he fled to London, where he lived in straitened circumstances, having no means of subsistence save a lectureship of £40 per annum, which the interest of his friends obtained for him. When in England he was attainted by James II’s Irish Parliament, but after the Revolution he returned to his diocese, and resumed the prominent part which he had been accustomed to take in the affairs of the country, of which he was twice appointed Lord Justice. It was probably as some recompense for his misfortunes that his eldest son, Thomas, when only 25, and during his father’s lifetime, was created a Baronet. Swift occasionally mentions the Archbishop, who published several sermons, as well as a “Life of Primate Bramhall” and appears to have been a man of refined tastes. He took great pleasure in laying out and planting his seat at Hollymount, County Mayo, described by John Wesley, when he visited it some forty years afterwards, as “one of the pleasantest places in Ireland.” There he died on 28 March 1716, having been in failing health for two years. 

p. 13.  

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https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/12802949/abbeyleix-house-abbeyleix-demesne-abbeyleix-demesne-co-laois

Single-arch rubble stone hump back road bridge over river, built c.1840, with cut granite voussoirs. Random rubble stone walls with cut granite voussoirs. Round-headed openings with cut granite voussoirs and rubble stone lining. Sited spanning river; iron gate to centre of bridge; cut stone retaining walls to river banks to north and to south; tubular steel cow grill to east. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/12802947/abbeyleix-house-abbeyleix-demesne-abbeyleix-demesne-co-laois

Freestanding six-bay single-storey boathouse, built c.1850, with yellow brick piers and open gable ends. Double-pitched slate roof with scalloped slate and red clay tiles, concrete ridge tiles, decorative cresting, timber eaves and decorative timber bargeboards and open framing to gable ends. Coursed rubble stone to base of walls with yellow brick intermittent piers. Square-headed window openings with concrete chamfered sills, yellow brick dressings to lintels and timber lattice panels. Yellow brick internal walls. Sited to west of river on an elevated site; section of iron railings to open gable end to west; gravel drive to east; grass river banks to north and to south. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/12802950/abbeyleix-house-abbeyleix-demesne-abbeyleix-demesne-co-laois

Detached seven-bay three-storey over basement with dormer attic Classical-style country house, begun 1773, with pedimented breakfront having cut stone Doric doorcase to ground floor. Five-bay elevation to garden front with breakfront having cut sandstone doorcase and Wyatt style window openings to flanking bays. Two-bay single-storey wing to west, renovated c.1840, with façade enrichments added. Extended to west, post-1902, comprising seven-bay single-storey wing with breakfront having three-bay advanced centre bay. Balustraded forecourt, c.1840, to north. Formal gardens, post-1839, to south comprising series of artificial terraces with balustrades, flights of steps and ha-has. Slate mansard roof hidden behind balustraded parapet with rolled lead ridge tiles, rendered panelled chimneystacks with yellow clay pots and cast-iron rainwater goods. Flat-roofed dormer attic windows, flat-roof to wing not visible behind guilloche parapet, roof to wing not visible behind guilloche parapet. Nap rendered walls with ruled and lined detail, unpainted, with sandstone dressings including quoins, quoins strips, stringcourses and cornice. Nap rendered to wings with ruled and lined detail. Square-headed window openings with stone sills on corbels. Gibbsian surrounds to ground floor windows, shouldered surrounds to first floor windows with balconettes to breakfront windows and architraves to top floor windows with keystones, all with three-over-three and six-over-six timber sash windows. Wyatt-style surrounds to Garden Front. Tripartite door arrangement, cut-limestone Doric frontispiece with entablature with timber panelled double doors and decorative overlight. Gibbsian surround to door opening to Garden Front with timber French door. Round-headed window openings to wing with concrete sills, pillared surrounds, moulded archivolts and timber casement windows with overlights. Timber panelled internal shutters to window openings; entrance hall: stone tiled floor; decorative marble fireplaces; Ionic screen wall; Wyatt-style plasterwork to walls and to ceiling. Abbeyleix House is set within landscaped demesne approached by gravel drive; balustraded formal courtyard to Entrance Front with gravel drive and grass centrepiece; group of formal gardens to Garden Front including series of artificial terraces with balustrades, flights of steps and rubble stone ha-has; pond to sheltered garden to south-west. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/12802951/abbeyleix-house-abbeyleix-demesne-abbeyleix-demesne-co-laois

Multiple-bay two-storey stable complex, built c.1800, on a quadrangular plan with courtyard. Pair of round-headed integral carriageways with belfry and ogee dome to east and series of elliptical-headed carriageways. Multiple-bay two-storey range, c.1800, to east on a triangular plan with kitchen courtyard connecting to Abbeyleix House. Detached four-bay single-storey rubble stone stable range, c.1800, to west. Double-pitched slate roof on quadrangular and triangular plans with rolled lead ridge tiles, roughcast chimneystacks with red clay pots, timber eaves and cast-iron rainwater goods. Timber belfry to apex with corner pilasters and ogee dome. Double-pitched slate roof to stable range with concrete ridge tiles and timber eaves. Roughcast render over rubble stone walls, unpainted. Random rubble stone to stable range. Square-headed window openings with concrete sills, some rendered surrounds and two-over-two, three-over-three and three-over-six timber sash windows. Series of lunette window openings to first floor with concrete sills and timber fixed-pane windows. Round- and elliptical-headed carriageways (two integral) with rendered surrounds and timber panelled double doors. Square-headed door openings to stable range with timber panelled half-doors. Utilitarian interiors with timber stalls. Set adjacent to west of Abbey Leix House approached by gravel drive; tarmacadam and gravel courtyard to centre of quadrangular range; cobbled courtyard to centre of triangular range. 

https://theirishaesthete.com/2019/08/05/an-18th-century-house-guest/

‘I must return to give you an account of Lady De Vesci’s. I am quite in love with her and with their state of living. It is entirely without form, everybody doing as they please, and always a vast number of people in the house. Lady Knapton, his mother, lives with them, and seems no restraint upon anybody, she is so good-humoured. We were about six or seven ladies and as many gentlemen, divided into different parties about the room, some working, some reading, some playing cards, and the room being large and very full, it had a most comfortable appearance. It opens into the library on one side and the dining-room on the other. As it rained most of the time I was there I did not see much of the grounds, but the park is not laid out, as they have employed all their time and money in making a comfortable house first, which I think the most sensible plan. Lady De Vesci was very loth to let us go so soon, but Mr. Dawson had business at home that prevented our staying longer. However, we go again into their neighbourhood the end of next week, as Sir Robert and Lady Staples have been very pressing with their invitations, and insisted upon our naming the time, which we accordingly did, and Lady De Vesci begs we will come to her again after that, to meet Lord and Lady Tyrone, so you see we have enough to do; besides we have a ball to go to on Wednesday next, which a distant neighbour has invited us to, and when all this is over we meditate a trip to Dublin, to buy some things we have occasion for.’ 
From Lady Caroline Dawson to Lady Louisa Stuart, September 1778. 

The Irish Aesthete: Buildings of Ireland, Lost and Found. Robert O’Byrne. The Lilliput Press, Dublin, 2024.

p. 2. Abbeyleix House, County Laois – June 2016

“Abbey Leix was designed in 1773 by James Wyatt for Thomas Vesey, Lord Knapton (later first Viscount de Vesci). As originally built, the house was an elegant three-storey classical mansion of seven bays, the three central bays under a triangular pediment. In the middle of the nineteenth century the third Viscount de Vesci and his wife Emma, daughter of the 11th Earl of Pembroke, added a great classical library and a conservatory, extending the eighteenth-century library to twice its length. Their architect was T. H. Wyatt (descended from a cousin of James Wyatt).

“These alterations gave the building a more pronounced Italianate character through added features such as stone details, Gibbsian window surrounds, emphatic quoins and balconies. The most notable external work was the addition of a balustrade parapet running around the attic, thereby masking dormer windows on an additional storey to provide staff accommodation. Portland cement render applied to the exterior drew these changes together, giving the impression of a unified composition. At the same time as alterations were being made to the building, Lady de Vesci embarked on redesigning the gardens to the rear. Here, a series of elaborate formal terraces was introduced. It has been proposed that the design of these terraces was inspired by those at Alupka in the Crimea, the palace of Lady de Vesci’s Russian maternal grandfather, Prince Worontsov, although more likely they were the invention of Abbey Leix’s chatelaine. In the mid-1990s the house and estate were sold to Sir David Davies, who embarked on a thorough restoration of both. More recently, Abbey Leix was bought by Irish entrepreneur John Collison.”