Ballynure, Grange Con, Co Wicklow
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. “(Carroll/LG1863) A two storey stucco faced early C19 house of four bays between pedimented ends. Horizontal panels over central upper windows.”
Ballynure House, BALLYNURE DEMESNE, Grange Con, County Wicklow
Detached seven-bay two-storey with attic country house, built c.1800. The building consists of a five-bay centre block flanked by gabled single-bay projections, with corresponding projections to the rear as well as a roughly central stairwell bay, and a large part gabled part flat-roofed extension of the later 20th century. The walls are finished in rough render, (much of which has worn away to reveal the rubble construction), with granite surrounds to the squat attic windows to the front. The slated pitched roof has an overhang with bracketed eaves which is arranged as a pediment to the gabled projections to the front and rear, whilst the tall granite chimneystacks have various corbelled courses and uniform pots. The entrance consists of a largely glazed timber door with decorative leaded sidelights and segmental fanlights and panelled jambs. The windows are generally flat-headed and filled with six over six timber sash frames, however the front projections have tripartite frames with panelled mullions with decorative console brackets. At attic level to the front there is a row of squat windows with top-hung frames. Cast-iron rainwater goods. The house is set within an extensive demesne.
Appraisal
Well preserved late Georgian country house set with distinctive roof overhang. One of the county’s more memorable examples of early 1800s architecture.
featured in Great Irish Houses. Forewards by Desmond FitgGerald, Desmond Guinness. IMAGE Publications, 2008.
p. 56. “Ballynure is a very fine medium-sized house hidden away on a rise of grassland among stands of mature trees in the Wicklow foothills. Its delightfully distressed facade, which adds to the intimate feel of the place, disguises a perfectly restored interior. The house looks East with a wonderful view towards the Wicklow mountains.
It was David Reid Scott, 61, who inherited the “bankrupt farm and lovely Georgian house” and turned around its fortunes. He grew up in Ballynure and, over the years, saw his family struggling to maintain it. He was young and ambitious and headed for the City in London to make his name and, of course, to make some money. He loved the place and never had any doubt he wanted to save the house that had been in his family “forever.” Ballynure was in his blood.
The name itself is something of a mystery. Ballynure may be derived from Baile an iubhair – the homestead of the yews – but in the 18th century itsnamed often appeared in maps as New House. It is possible, then, that the name is a mistranslation from English into Irish and that a new house may have become An Yew House.
What is known, however, is that Cistercian monks from Baltinglass Abbey farmed the fertile lands around the house and built the first house there, a simple farmhouse. Following the dissolution of the monastery in 1541, Queen Eliz I granted Ballynure and its lands to Sir Henry Harrington. The family did not occupy all the land and some of it may have been separated off as freehold. In about 1617, under James I, some of it was granted to the Carrolls. Later that century, they extended the farmhouse. “The original house was probably no more than two upand two down over a cellar,” Reid Scott explains. “It was extended in Jacobean style and became the residence of the Carrolls.”
They were a typical Anglo-Irish family who lived on the estate but sent their children off to be educated in England. They were well off, but not rich. In about 1800, however, they decided to enlarge the Jacobean house. Although the architect is not known, the Carrolls adopted the villa design of the day and opted for a late Georgian style. By about 1810, the new house had been built around the Jacobean core.
Today, Ballynure is a beautifully proportioned seven-bay structure over three storeys with two large pedimented ends. The pattern of rooms is perfectly symmetrical. No basement was added to the original cellar. The principal architectural features are the lovely cornices on the ground floor and a fan window over the front door that is matched by one over the inside entrance to the stairway. “Thank God the Victorians never got their hands on it,” says Reid Scott.
The last of the Carroll family to live here was Henry Carroll, who was educated at Eton and Oxford and went on in 1826 to become High Sheriff of the county. He died childless and in the late 19th century Ballynure passed to relations, the Mitchell family from Scotland. James W. Mitchell lived there until his death in 1914, when he was succeeded by his son, Major Wilmot Mitchell of the 14th Hussars. His son, Christopher Mitchell, David Reid Scott’s grandfather, inherited Ballynure, but he preferred the world of horses to the [p. 59] conservation of Georgian houses. He helped to develop Punchestown racecourse, was a senior steward of the Turf Club and an active member of the Kildare Street Club, but Ballynure suffered as a result. “He was a doyen of the local hunting and racing scene,” Reid Scott says simply.
He saw his grandmother struggling to keep Ballynure financially viable. “My grandmother did her best to look after the house,” he adds. “She used to disappear into the gardens and when she got back she’d notice another piece of furniture or picture had vanished; sold to the Dublin dealers, usually with most of the proceeds to be invested in another horse.”
David’s mother died in a hunting accident when he was six and his father of cancer when he was twelve. He had to grow up quickly. The City was an obvious solution, a way of turning the tide and taking control of his home. He worked in New York for White Weld and had a spell in Saudi helping them invest their oil wealth while he built up some handy tax-free savings. “I adored the place and knew I wanted to keep it on. I helped out my grandmother financially when I could.”
He was 28 when his grandmother died in 1976, aged 84, and he inherited the house outright. He cut back the expenditure and started the restoration process on a very limited budget. In 1995, however, after a successful decade building a business, he sold his company. “I made some decent money,” he says. And the major work started [p. 61] on Ballynure. Five years later and the roof was secured, the walls had been replastered, doors and shutters replaced, and new heating and electricity systems had been installed. The original 19th century walled garden is now a paddock. The present garden around the house, with its herbaceous borders and banks of hydrangeas, have been designed and planted over the last twelve years.
The next step was to redecorate the house, a task which Clare Reid Scott, his wife, has performed with sympathetic good taste. Sadly, most of the furniture had been sold off to solve the house’s financial problems. David’s first wife, who was French, had some beautiful family furniture that she brought to the house. David has collected the rest at auction and through dealers. On the wall of the hall is a lively portrait of David, a modest man who has made the house once again a flourishing family home.
“Ballynure is a happy place,” says David. “Those who come have always felt that the house provides a wonderfully warm welcome.”
[picture caption: The front hall looking towards the sitting room with its original pillars and cornicing.]
[a view of the sitting room and the original 18th century white marble fireplace.]
[a pair of 18th century “Baigneuses” (bathers) adorn the top border of the garden.]
[the farm buildings were built shortly after the house]
Irish Historic Houses 