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. “[Lawder/ LGI 1912] A plain 2 storey 3 bay early 19C house.”
Lawderdale House, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached L-plan three-bay two-storey country house, built c.1850, with gabled projecting entrance bay. Hipped corrugated-iron roof with brick and ashlar chimneystacks, bargeboards and a tower, built in 1983. Roughcast and cement rendered walls. Timber sash windows with stone and concrete sills. Timber panelled door to entrance bay. Two-storey stone outbuildings to rear yard. Range to east built in 1875, abutted by lean-to outbuilding, built c.1980. Walled garden to east of house. Ruinous private chapel to adjacent field.
Appraisal
Formerly the seat of the Lawder family, Protestant landowners, this country house is all that remains of an estate of over five thousand acres. Although modified in recent years, the substantial residence still retains its character, which is contributed to by well-designed outbuildings with sandstone dressings, a ruinous chapel and walled garden.
Lawderdale House, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage survey states that Lawderdale was built in the early 1850s and has a tower which was added in the 1870s. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation it was the property of William Lawder and was valued at £18. In 1906 it was the property of James Ormsby Lawder and was valued at £30. It is still extant.
THE LAWDERS OWNED 3,748 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY LEITRIM
WILLIAM LAWDER, of West Barns, Dunbar, Haddingtonshire, younger son of Sir Robert Lauder of the Bass, and Isabella, his wife, daughter of John, 1st Lord Hay of Yester, married Jonet Liddell, and had issue,
MAURICE, his heir; Robert; Hugh; William; John.
Mr Lawder died in 1556, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
MAURICE LAWDER, of Balhaven and West Barns, Bailie of Dunbar, 1561, MP for Dunbar, 1585, who wedded firstly, Nichola Home, and had issue,
WILLIAM, his heir; John; Robert; Jonet; Helen; Margaret; Nichola.
He espoused secondly, Margaret Hamilton, who dsp 1580; and thirdly, Alison Cass, by whom he had issue,
Jonet; Isobel.
Mr Lawder died in 1602, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
WILLIAM LAWDER, of Belhaven and West Barns, Bailie of Dunbar, 1602, who married firstly, Elizabeth Hepburn, and had issue,
ALEXANDER, his heir; William.
He wedded secondly, Margaret, daughter of James Hume, of Friarlands, Dunbar, and had issue,
James.
Mr Lawder died in 1618, at Clonyen, Killeshandra, County Cavan, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
ALEXANDER LAWDER, of Balhaven, West Barns and Clonyen, who espoused Katherine Pringle, and had issue,
GEORGE, his heir; Violet.
Mr Lawder died in 1631, and was succeeded by his only son,
GEORGE LAWDER, of Balhaven, West Barns, Haddingtonshire, and Mount Lawder, County Cavan, who married firstly, Elspeth Lawder, and had issue,
Robert; Jane.
He wedded secondly, Agnes Bothwell, and had issue,
James, of West Barns; Catherine.
Mr Lawder espoused thirdly, Isobel ________, and had issue,
WILLIAM, of whom hereafter; Launcelot; Andrew; John; George.
Mr Lawder died in 1649.
His third son,
WILLIAM LAWDER, of Bawnboy and Drumalee, County Cavan, High Sheriff of County Cavan, 1681, was, with his nephew Launcelot, attainted by the parliament assembled by JAMES II at Dublin in 1689.
He married Dorothy Trench, and had issue,
William; FREDERICK, of whom hereafter; James.
Mr Lawder’s second son,
FREDERICK LAWDER, of Cor, County Cavan, High Sheriff of County Leitrim, 1705, wedded Rebecca, daughter of David Rynd, of Derryvolan, County Fermanagh, and had issue,
William; Thomas; FREDERICK, of whom we treat; Christopher; James.
The third son,
FREDERICK LAWDER, of Mough (or Lawderdale) House, County Leitrim, espoused, in 1744, Rebecca, daughter of Christopher Rynd, of Fenagh, County Leitrim, and had issue,
RYND, his heir; Henry; Frederick; James; Deborah; Phœbe; Rebecca.
The eldest son,
RYND LAWDER (1746-1811), of Mough House, married Mary, daughter of John Beatty, and had issue,
JOHN, his heir; Frederick, settled in the USA; Rynd, surgeon, 7th Hussars; James, surgeon, East India Company; William Henry; Rebecca; Maria; Marcella; Margaret.
The eldest son,
JOHN LAWDER (1776-1853), of Mough, wedded, in 1816, Ellen, daughter of Matthew Nesbitt, of Derrycarne, County Leitrim, and had issue,
Rynd, dsp; MATTHEW NESBITT (Rev), succeeded his brother William; John, dsp; James, dsp; WILLIAM, of whom next; Francis; Henry; Edward; Ellen; Margaret.
The fifth son,
WILLIAM LAWDER JP DL (1824-76), of Mough, succeeded his father and changed the name of his residence to Lawderdale.
Mr Lawder died unmarried, and was succeeded by his brother,
THE REV MATTHRE NESBITT LAWDER (1820-81), of Lawderdale, who espoused, in 1848, Anne, daughter of John Gumley, though the marriage was without issue, and he was succeeded by his cousin,
JAMES ORMSBY LAWDER JP DL (1847-), of Lawderdale, High Sheriff of County Leitrim, 1909, who married, in 1872, Jane Eliza, daughter of the Rev Edwin Thomas, Vicar of Carlingford, County Louth, and had issue,
CECIL EDWARD; Violet; Pearl Edith.
The only son and heir,
CECIL EDWARD LAWDER, born in 1877, Lieutenant, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, wedded, in 1909, Violet Wood, second daughter of J Basden Orr, of Kelvinside, Glasgow.
LAWDERDALE HOUSE, Ballinamore, County Leitrim, is a plain two-storey, three-bay house, built ca 1850, with a gabled projecting entrance bay.
A hipped, corrugated-iron roof with brick and ashlar chimneystacks, bargeboards and a tower, were built in 1983.
The walls are roughcast and cement rendered.
There are two-storey stone outbuildings to the rear yard.
A range to the east was built in 1875, abutted by a lean-to outbuilding built about 1980.
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. “(Godley, Kilbracken/, B/PB) A two storey late-Georgian house, with a principal front of eight bays. Pedimented breakfront, with three windows in lower storey, emphasised by plain pilasters, which are also used to emphasise the slightly projecting end bays. End windows of facade, in lower storey, set in shallow arched recesses. Projecting porch in adjoining front; courtyard at back. Largely gutted by a fire a few years ago; afterwards rebuilt, the architect of the rebuilding being Mr Austin Dunphy.”
Killegar, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached eight-bay two-storey country house, built in 1813, with basement level to rear elevation. Pitched slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles and ashlar chimneystacks. Two-bay pedimented breakfront to principal south-east-facing elevation with projecting end bays. Rendered walls with tooled stone string course to breakfront and end bays. Square-headed window openings with tooled limestone sills and timber sash windows, round-headed in blind arched openings in end bays. Derelict brick and cut stone entrance porch to north-east-facing side elevation with timber sash windows and timber panelled double door in flat-headed opening with decorative doorcase flanked by side lights. Round-headed door opening with timber and glazed door to garden elevation flanked by engaged Tuscan columns flanked by windows. Wrought-iron railings to basement. Plan altered c.1940 with the removal of two rooms. Fire in 1970 destroyed many of the principal rooms in the house. Pedimented multiple-bay two-storey outbuilding to cobbled yard. Limestone ashlar gate piers give access to rear yard.
Appraisal
Constructed to a Classical design, Killegar House is a fine country house. The building expresses noteworthy architectural motifs, including a pedimented breakfront, symmetrical fenestration and a Tuscan doorcase. Its split-levelled plan gives the house an unusual character, with its principal elevation now being accessed from the garden. Though damaged by fire and altered during recent decades, the house remains exemplary of early nineteenth-century demesne architecture. Located at the end of a long driveway, which winds through lakeland, Killegar House and its finely-executed, though ruinous, outbuildings are a significant part of County Leitrim’s architectural heritage.
Killegar, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Killegar, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Killegar, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Killegar, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
From a distance Killegar, County Leitrim looks quite splendid. The house is approached via a long and densely wooded drive, with occasional glimpses through trees and meadow of a slender lake, Lough Kilnemar. Finally the approach enters more open ground dropping down to the left and offering views across the parkland to Killegar itself, a building of two storeys and eight bays, the centre pair forming a pedimented breakfront with handsome engaged Tuscan doorcase flanked by windows. The house faces south-east, a sequence of terraces descending to the lake’s glistening surface. One understands how John Kilbracken (who died almost eight years ago) could write in 1955, ‘It’s easy to love Killegar, as I realised more than ever when I came here for the first time after my father’s death. I can imagine selling it when I’m in Portofino, or Manhattan, or Paris (and imagine the villa, penthouse or atelier I’ll buy instead)…’ But he never did so, his love for the place overwhelming any urge to make money from it (thus proving him a most unlikely Irishman). But the consequences of passion combined with penury grow all too apparent the closer one draws to the house.
As seen today, the greater part of Killegar dates from c.1813, the same year the estate’s then-owner John Godley married Catherine Daly, a daughter of Denis Daly of Dunsandle, County Galway and his wife Lady Henrietta Maxwell (for more on Dunsandle and its lost interiors, see Dun and Dusted, December 9th 2013). But there was an older property on at least part of the site built around 1750 and incorporated into the new house. This takes advantage of the sloping site to have two storeys at the front but effectively only one at the rear where a courtyard was created. As so often, the architect is unknown and indeed one may not have been employed since Killegar’s design was always relatively simple. One curiosity is that the principal entrance, having initially been placed at the centre of the garden elevation, was subsequently moved to one side where a large pedimented porch was added. Thus visitors to the house stepped not into the main hall but into a rather narrow passage from whence they moved to the small drawing room. This was the first of an enfilade of rooms running the length of the main block. Above them were the bedrooms with a wonderful prospect of Lough Kilnemar (otherwise known as House Lake) although the view from the passage to the rear was of the service yard.
The Godleys were the latest in a succession of owners of the land on which Killegar stands. For centuries this part of the country was under the control of the O’Rourke clan, but as part of the plantation policy in the 17th century they were dispossessed and in 1640 Charles I granted a large parcel of some 2,784 Irish acres to the Scottish settler Sir James Craig: this territory subsequently became known as Craigstown. However further generations of Craigs did not manage their Irish estates well. They appear to have been prone to bickering, fell into debt and in 1734 were declared bankrupt. Craigstown was accordingly put up for sale and bought for £5626, eight shillings and four pence by a Dublin merchant Richard Morgan who had made his money in textiles. Richard Morgan’s only daughter, Mary married the Rev Dr William Godley, a landless clergyman who was rector of Mullabrack, Co Armagh and whose father had also been a Dublin merchant and alderman. The Godleys had arrived in Ireland at some date in the 17th century, probably from Yorkshire. Killegar came into their ownership because although the estate was left by Richard Morgan to his son (also called Richard), the latter despite two marriages only had a single daughter who died while in her teens. And his only brother, William, a pupil and disciple of John Wesley (and an early Methodist) died in Dublin at the age of 20. So on the death of Richard Morgan the younger in 1784 there were no direct male heirs. The estate ought then to have passed to Mary Morgan’s eldest son, John Godley, a lawyer. However, despite his background the will was disputed and was only settled after twenty-six years of litigation in 1810. By then John Godley had died and so it was his son, another John Godley, who took possession of Killegar. It was he, hitherto a city merchant, who married Catherine Daly and decided to build the present house.
In addition to the main house, John Godley built a church, school and school-teacher’s house at Killegar, together with the two gate-lodges and eight other cottages on the estate before dying in 1863 at the age of eighty-eight. By this date his eldest son, John Robert Godley, had already died. The latter is generally deemed the founder of the Canterbury region of New Zealand, settled in the mid-19th century as a colony following the beliefs of the Church of England. He served as leader of the settlement that became the city of Christchurch but then returned to England where he died two years before his father. Therefore in 1863 Killegar passed to the next generation, John Arthur Godley, then in his teens and at school. A few years after leaving Oxford, he served as Assistant Private Secretary to the Prime Minister William Gladstone and in 1880 was appointed Commissioner for Inland Revenue, a position he held for the next two years. In 1883 he became Under-Secretary of State at the India Office, remaining there until his retirement in 1909 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kilbracken of Killegar. But of course, a career as a senior civil servant in London meant he had little time to spend on his estate in Ireland. Killegar was instead given on a long lease first to his uncle Archibald Godley and then in turn on his death in 1907 responsibility for running the place passed to Archibald Godley’s only child Anna who lived until 1955. As a result, Arthur Godley’s son Hugh, second Lord Kilbracken, never spent much time at Killegar, only bringing his own family to Ireland for the first time in 1927.
The first Lord Kilbracken had been a Liberal and, perhaps as a result of having worked for Gladstone, was fully supportive of tenants’ rights to buy the land they farmed. Unlike the great majority of Irish landlords, he encouraged the sale of his estate with the result that even before the passing of the Wyndham Act of 1903, all but Killegar’s home farms had passed out of family ownership.
While certainly admirable, an obvious consequence of Lord Kilbracken’s action was that it left subsequent generations of Godleys with limited income from land: thus the second Lord Kilbracken qualified as a barrister and, like his father before him, spent the greater part of his professional life in London, with only holidays at Killegar. Although he moved into the main house on his retirement in 1943, it was already apparent there were insufficient resources to sustain the place and so at the time of his death in 1950 Killegar and the remaining 420 acres, was on the market with two identical offers made of £8,000.
At the time of his father’s death, John Godley, third Lord Kilbracken was travelling overland to New Zealand to take part in celebrations marking the centenary of the foundation of Christchurch. Initially he was prepared to go ahead with the sale of Killegar but by the time he reached Sydney, Australia he had come to the conclusion that the estate ought to remain in the family, and the following year he came back to Ireland determined to take over responsibility for the place. Clearly although he never regretted this decision, it had consequences he could not have foretold.
John Kilbracken, journalist and bon viveur, was throughout the course of his long and hectic life the very embodiment of the impoverished Irish peer possessed of big house and small income. A man of exceptional intelligence and charm, his various books are to be recommended, not least for their ability to make sundry travails sound highly entertaining. For example, in Living like a Lord (1955) he devotes a chapter to recounting the story of how he almost came to play the part of Ishmael in John Huston’s Moby Dick, parts of which were filmed in the County Cork port town of Youghal. Typically, as a result of having amused Huston one night over dinner, he found himself caught up in a six-month maelstrom of screen tests and costume fittings before eventually being relegated to the part of an extra carrying a live pig onto a vessel. However, owing to technical issues the scene had to be re-shot with someone else as pig carrier. Thus he never made the final cut, although he did work as a supplementary script writer, for which – naturally in his narrative – he received no screen credit.
But in relation to Killegar perhaps the greatest challenge he had to face occurred in 1970 when the house was gutted by fire. A rebuilding programme followed, testament to his devotion, but sadly many of the contents were forever lost. he struggled on and since his death in 2006 Killegar has been occupied by his second wife Sue and their son Seán. As the pictures above indicate, it remains as much a battle as ever to keep the house from falling into desolation. With little land (and proportionately little income) Killegar is now at a turning point in its fortunes, the last big house in County Leitrim to remain in the hands of the original family – but for how much longer? There comes a moment when the struggle becomes overwhelming with an outcome insufficient to justify the effort. One feels Killegar is nearing that moment. It is on the brink, from which there can be no return.
‘So there she is for you: beautiful Killegar, happy Killegar, funny tumbling-down Killegar, waiting to open her seductive arms to me.’ John Kilbracken, 1920-2006.
Jamestown, County Leitrim, photographer Edward King Tenison, Kilronan album, c. 1858, NLI ref TEN87
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. 160. “(O’Beirne/LGI1912) A hybrid house with a mixture of Georgian and Victorian features; probably a C18 house re-roofed and remodelled C19. Gables with elaborate bargeboards; lunette windows above mullioned windows; two storey three bay end with pillared porch.”
Jamestown House, JAMESTOWN, Jamestown, County Leitrim
Jamestown, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached four-bay two-storey house, built c.1780 and extensively remodelled c.1930. Hipped slate roof with ridge tiles, cast-iron rainwater goods and rendered chimneystack. Roughcast render to walls. Entrance porch with glazed timber door attached to east end of facade. Single and double timber sash and replacement uPVC windows with stone sills. Cast-iron pump to west wall. Site bounded by random stone wall, rendered piers and cast-iron gates. Piers with cast-iron gates to coach house, erected c.1860.
Appraisal
Although this house has been extensively remodelled, it continues to be significant due to its historical association with the O’Beirne family. It is part of a group of former demesne structures, which were built by Hugh O’Beirne, a campaigner for Catholic Relief leading up to the Rebellion of 1798. The adjacent former coach house, outbuildings, lodge, walls and gates add a further dimension to the site and highlight its former importance within the townscape of Jamestown. The cast-iron gates leading to the coach house are of artistic and technical merit. Decorated with anthemion heads, they appear to be unique n the locality.
Jamestown, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
Detached six-bay two-storey former coach house, built c.1820, with two-bay pedimented breakfront and half-octagonal rear return. Hipped slate roof with ridge tiles and ashlar chimneystack. Limestone and sandstone roughly dressed random coursed walls with quoins and tooled stone eaves course. Partly blocked-up segmental-arched integral carriage arch openings with cut limestone jambs and brick arches to breakfront and returns. Replacement timber casement windows with brick and cut limestone surrounds and stone sills. Windows inserted into door openings. Cut stone oculus to tympanum. Replacement timber and glazed door to return. Ruinous roughcast rendered outbuildings to north surrounding central yard. Single ashlar gate pier to north.
Appraisal
Classically designed, this former coach house is a fine example of nineteenth-century architecture. The well-proportioned building is enhanced by a subtle breakfront, tooled stone dressings and hipped-roofed return to the rear. The derelict outbuildings contribute to the setting and form an interesting group of structures with Jamestown House, which was home to the O’Beirne family.
Jamestown, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.Jamestown, County Leitrim, courtesy National Inventory.
At the time of Griffith’s Valuation Hugh O’Beirne was occupying a house at Jamestown, barony of Leitrm, valued at £40. Jamestown House was held by the O’Beirne family until the twentieth century though in 1894 Slater refers to it as the seat of Gilbert King, junior. In 1906 it was also valued at £40. It is still extant and occupied.
Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
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. 285. “(Wilmot-Chetwode/LGI1912) A two storey five bay late-Georgian house with a fanlighted doorway; extended at the back by a lower wing linking it to a three storey bow end block with a four story polytonal tower. Recently the house of Mr and Mrs Denis Quirke.”
Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy National Inventory.
Detached five-bay two-storey late-Georgian house, built c.1820, with two-storey lower returns to rear. Double-pitched and hipped slate roofs with nap rendered chimneystack and profiled cast-iron rainwater goods with lion mask motifs. Nap rendered walls with ruled and lined detail, limestone plinth and sill/stringcourse to first floor. Square-headed window openings, set into recessed arches to ground floor level, with limestone sills and three-over-six and six-over-six timber sash windows. Diastyle Doric portico to entrance with timber door and wrought-iron fanlight over. Timber panelled internal shutters to window openings; vaulted ceiling to porch with coffers having plaster centrepieces. House set back from road in own grounds; landscaped lawns to site; gravel drive and forecourt to approach; sandstone step to entrance. Group of detached rubble stone outbuildings to site. Detached gate lodge to site (12800404).
Detached gable-fronted gate lodge, built c.1880. Double-pitched slate roof with decorative red clay ridge tiles and limestone ashlar chimneystack on a hexagonal plan. Nap rendered rendered walls, painted, with limestone ashlar pediment to gable. Square-headed window openings with limestone sills and timber casement windows. Timber door. Interior not inspected. Gatelodge set back from road in grounds shared with main house at right angles to road; landscaped lawns surround lodge; gravel drive to front. Gateway to site comprising group of limestone ashlar piers with flanking walls having round-headed recessed niches and wrought iron gates and railings.
Woodbrook, County Laois courtesy National Inventory.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
I’VE said it before and I’ll say it again. Some homes are born great while still others have greatness thrust upon them. In the case of Woodbrook House in Portarlington, however, it happens to be both.
I mean, check out the history on this one for a start. The Woodbrook Estate came into being on the marriage of Knightly Chetwood (do you think he was bullied?) to Hester Brooking at St Michans Church in Dublin in 1698.
By 1713, Knightly, now doubtless Knightrider, befriended Jonathan Swift and a long friendship began. In fact, Swift travelled to Woodbrook frequently, and used it as his weekend retreat where the bulk of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ was written in the library.
To think that Swift, like all men with ideas above their Luas station, spent many an hour musing on the little people in this very room. Sure don’t we all.
Not content with being born great, Woodbrook House then began to have greatness thrust upon it in the form of extensive and sympathetic restoration, most of which has occurred in the last three years.
This home is now back to its 18th century glory with a bang. In fact a wing from this century, complete with a four storey tower that was banjaxed in the 1970s (weren’t we all) has now been reinstated.
The restoration has been massive and systematic. All roofs have been replaced using 18th century slate where required, timber sash windows, rewiring, oil fired heating system, new plumbing and sewage system, broadband, alarms – you name it, it’s been done.
My favourite is the Canadian hot tub on the tower roof terrace – the perfect place from which to ponder awhile about those that have less.
With a reception hall, stair hall, six reception rooms, orangerie, a master bedroom suite with twelve further bedroom suites and a selection of offices and stores on offer, it is difficult to see who wouldn’t want to buy this home.
Whether thinking of a commercial or private use or both, quite frankly, Woodbrook House is simply the best. Carpe diem.
For further information contact Savills Hamilton Osborne King 01 663 4350 or visit www.savills.ie
Probably where Swift wrote part of Gulliver’s Travels
Woodbrook since the rebuilding by Ray Simmons. Image Courtesy ofJJ Dunne NBD PhotographyAs it was in 1980
In 1918 Walter Strickland wrote an article on Woodbrook in the Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society , Vol. IX., which is available as a download at the end of this article. As he had access to the Chetwood papers, his account is unlikely to be ever bettered. In summary Knightley Chetwood acquired the lands that had belonged to his wife’s family on his marriage to Hester Brooking in at St Michan’s Church in 1698 (something that he appears to have overlooked when they separated later in life). There was probably an existing building on the site as he was writing from Woodbrook in 1712. By 1715 he had engaged builders and was consulting his father-in-law’s friend Jonathan Swift about the gardens. He had the usual problems that anyone has when building a house, such as when the brick layer, John Mulloy, disappeared with the property of other tradesmen on the site. It is hard to make sense of the drawing reproduced in the Kildare Archaeological Society of the 18th century house. There is a very grand neo-classical doorway, perhaps taken from one of the seven architects’ designs (including one by James Gandon) that Valentine Knightley Chetwood commissioned pre 1771 that were not executed due to Valentine’s death that year – it has a slight resemblance to Gandon’s design for the entrance to the Rotunda. That door is said to be where the 5 storey tower is in the later building. In Colum O’Riordan’s House and Home, describing the Chetwood drawings at the Irish Architectural Archive, he describes the ground floor survey of 1770 as showing “a warren – a vaguely L shaped building with an indeterminate number of accretions around an older core”
A drawing of the pre 1815 house that was reproduced in the Kildare Arch. Journal in 1918
In the late 1790s or early 1800s part of Woodbrook was destroyed by fire. Jonathan Chetwood, working with the architect James Shiel, rebuilt it about 1816, building the present entrance and hall, the dining-room and drawing-room, and changed the entrance from its former position facing the lake. The library and range of rooms beyond, including the great kitchen, part of the old house, remained though portions of the upper part were afterwards altered by Edward Wilmot Chetwood and his successors, who also added the tower on the side facing the lake, near where the old entrance had been. Elizabeth Hester Chetwood, granddaughter of Crewe Chetwood, (a younger brother of Valentine Knightley Chetwood of Woodbrook), married Robert Rogers Wilmot and had a son Edward Wilmot who took the name Chetwood in 1839 when he inherited Woodbrook.
The old kitchen was a large room with an arched fire-place at one end, and at the opposite end a great dresser filling the whole wall. On the top of this dresser are painted these lines : BE CLEANLY. HAVE TASTE. HAVE PLENTY. NO WASTE.
The west wing kitchen at Castletown House, Kildare – the quote from Matthew is Conolly’s response to the servants’ imprecation on the opposite wall “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”The Galleried Kitchen at Strokestown House
The gallery which ran around the side was put up in 1858 by Lady Janet Wilmot Chetwood, in order, it is said, that she might be able to visit and superintend her kitchen without going down stairs and along the passage leading to it. In the 1940s the poet John Betjeman stayed often and fell in love with the house, and its galleried kitchen (from which the mistress could drop the menu of the day to the cook below).
Jane(tta) Erskine had married Edward Wilmot-Chetwode in 1830, the year after her father John Thomas Erskine, 25th/8th Earl of Mar had OD’ed on opium. The fifteen 1840 murals, which had been attributed to Edwin Hayes, were commissioned for her to remind her of Scotland. Hayes, now known as a great marine artist, was also a noted set painter and created highland castle murals. There are very similar murals by Hayes at Manor Kilbride in Wicklow (which was designed by Cobden for George Ogle Moore circa 1843). However the estate agents marketing the house in 2022, Conway Estates, state recent research proved them to be the work of Scottish artist David Ramsay Hay . It is one of 3 complete rooms of his work known to survive the others being 73 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2 and the staircase hall at Preston Hall in Scotland .
Murals by Hayes at Manor Kilbride, Wicklow
There was a vaulted room beneath the study, accessed through a trapdoor. This is where the historic correspondence with the Duke of Marlborough, the Duke of Chandos, Swift and others was stored in trunk. Fortunately the Swift letters had been transcribed in 1856 for Swift’s biography. The rest were destroyed by damp.
The Land Commission took over the 250 acre estate from the 100 year old Gladys Chetwood- Aiken in 1965 “The richly planted and picturesque lawns” described in Thomas Lacy’s 1863 “Sights of Our Fatherland” rapidly disappeared beneath the subsistence farming dictums and dictates of Oliver J and Dev. In 1969 Oliver J had the sale of 300 excellent ash beech and elm trees and 6 tons of cut beech at Woodbrook Demesne.
Denis Quirke, who had already devastated the demesne of Bert House with his notions of prairie stud farming, bought the house and 100 acres, and cleared even more of the tree and hedges, destroying the largest heronry in Ireland. The Quirkes sold in 1976, and Denis Quirke died soon afterwards.
The 1840 OS map vs an aerial view of 2000
In the 1970s the devastated demesne featured in an IGS exhibition in Portlaoise called “Open Your Eyes”. Few did. The new owners were an absolute disaster area, whose idea of restoration was to demolish pretty much everything apart from Shiel’s 1816 villa – the great kitchen and all the original 1700s building were turned into rubble. Such dumb dolts and blockheads should be confined to spaces where they can’t do too much damage. The truncated house was bought by Jim and Brenadette Robson who offered elegant country house accommodation to tourists, long before Ireland’s Ancient East was fashionable.
The emasculated building in the 1990sThe 1816 vaulted front hall with its inlaid floor, probably of oak, photographed in the 1990s
The historian and photographer Robert Vance viewed Woodbrook “Many moons ago” He writes “The OS showed woods and an ornamental lake within the acreage to be sold. On arrival I saw the woods were clear-cut and the roots had been used to fill in the lake. The parkland was now overgrown with rushes. The farmer pointed out the stump of a walnut tree he had cut. It had been planted by Jonathan Swift 250 years previously. The early buildings, servants’ wing and stables were left as a vast pile of brick, rubble and nettles behind the house.”
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The very shook remains struggled on and it was for sale again in 1990 for £200,000 and then again in 1998, for €550,000
The current owner, Ray Simmons, has rebuilt a replica of the demolished part of the house and planted trees.
An impressive and substantial late Georgian house comprising 2 and 3 storeys privately set within its own lands . Extensive any sympathic restoration over the last number of years included the rebuilding of a mid 18th century wing complete with 4 storey tower and undertook much of the structural repairs necessary but repairs in some parts of the residence are incomplete.
Woodbrook House represents an opportunity for a potential purchaser to complete and decorate the house to their liking and perhaps would consider a commercial use subject to the necessary planning consents . Approx. 39 ha / 98 acres with the laid out to pasture and tillage interspersed with maturing parkland trees.
About 1,398 square meters/ 15,078 square feet comprising in brief : reception hall, stair hall, 6 reception rooms, kitchen, Orangerie, Master Bedroom Suite, 12 further bedroom suites, a number of offices and stores. Gate Lodge ( 1 bedroom ), large selection of stone outbuildings and yards and two walled gardens. •
Portarlington 4km • Emo 7.5km • Portlaoise 16km • Kildare 14km • Dublin 80km • Dublin Airport 60-minute drive • The Heritage Killenard Hotel & Golf Club 5 minute drive • Ballyfin House 25 minute drive • The K- Club 50 minute drive • The Curragh Racecourse 25 minute drive • Punchestown Racecourse 45 minute drive (times approximate)
History The Woodbrook Estate came in to being on the marriage of Knightly Cherwood to Hester Brooking at St. Michael’s Church Dublin in 1698 . Hester brought 620 acres of land and Tinakill Castle with her as a dowry and in 1700 the couple set upon building a residence there . A letter dating as early as 1712 describes “the continued building works and improvements” to the property. In 1713 Cherwwod befriended Jonathan Swift when the latter returned to Ireland as Dean of St. Patrick’s. A long friendship and correspondence ensued . Swift travelled frequently to Woodbrook, using it has his weekend retreat , and it is here in the library he penned much of Gullivers Travels. Unfortunately, as with many of Swifts friendships, he and Cherwood had a falling out and spent their latter years not speaking to each other. On February 17th 1752 , Chetwood died in London.
His son Valentine, who in 1758 was High Sherrif of Co. Laois , succeeded him. He in turn passes away in 1771 and was succeeded by his son Jonathan . The family continued to reside on the estate until 1963 until the blood line ran out .
The original house was a modest 2 storey property comprising drawing room, ding room, library and 4 bedrooms, but like many Irish country houses embellished as family circumstances allowed.
Entrance Hall; with ornate domed ceiling. Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Entrance Hall; with ornate domed ceiling, Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
In 1750 a grander 3 storey wing was added incorporating a 4 storey tower.
A fire in 1790 saw the demise of the drawing room but cleared the way for the now existing Regency wing.
The drawing room houses a collection of wall paintings depicting scenes of Scottish Castles, created to remind the new Mrs. Cherwood, a daughter of the Earl of Mann and descendant of the Kings of Scotland, of her homeland. The paintings, executed in the style of Watteau, remain intact to day and have only recently been proved to be the work of Scottish artist David Ramsay Hay. It is one of 3 complete rooms of his work known to survive the others being 73 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2 and the staircase hall at Preston Hall in Scotland.
Drawing room: with original grey marble fireplace. Suite of oil paintings by David Ramsy Hay depicting scenes of Scotland . Wired for phone , smoke alarm and music.
Suite of oil paintings by David Ramsy Hay depicting scenes of Scotland, Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
Dining Room ; with original Kilkenny marble fireplace. Silver cupboard. Wired for phone. Smoke alarm, music and service bell to kitchen .
Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
Staircase Hall: with ornate ceiling and decorative arched window .
Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
Library: with original fitted bookcases including a “secret door “ and original Kilkenny marble fireplace. Wired for phone, smoke alarm. Music and tv Breakfast Room; with original Kilkenny marble fireplace. Wired for phone, smoke alarm and music.
Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King..Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
Kitchen: with full range of bespoke cupboards and granite counter tops . Full range of integrated appliances including two oven Aga, 4 electric ovens, twin microwaves, twin dishwashers, 5 ring gas hob, twin 6ft refrigerators. Trapdoor to vaulted 17th Century cellar . Wires for phone, smoke alarm and music. Galleried Hall: over lit by ornate dome. Grey a marble fireplace . Wired for phone, smoke alarm and music. Billiard Room : with fireplace . Wired for phone, smoke alarm and music. Study : Anteroom with fireplace leading to octagonal study . Wired for phone, smoke alarm and music. Orangerie : with double glazed pvc roof . 4 pairs of timber double doors with fanlights opening to south facing garden. Master suite with fireplace . Wired for phone, smoke alarm, tv and security lights on the grounds. Leading to dressing room and master bath plumbed for bath separate shower, wc, twin whb, twin heated towel rails. 12 further bedrooms all with bathrooms ensuite . Smoke alarm and phone. All ensuites plumbed for bath/shower, wc, whb and heated towel rail . A selection of offices and store rooms including strong room. Gardens and grounds At the entrance to the estate there is a Gate Lodge with a kitchen, living room, shower room and mezzanine bedroom . Extensive yards behind the house comprise a large range of stone outbuildings in varying repair, some benefit ting being re roofed in natural slate. Immediately beyond these yards lie 2 walled gardens. The lands are laid out to pasture and in crop and benefit from extensive tree planting (c 1,000) throughout the estate including a very impressive avenue of Lime trees and planting to reestablish the parkland lost in the 1970’s. Also filled in around this time was a large lake in the field off to the right of the avenue and north and east of the house which could possibly be reinstated . Fixtures & Fittings A full inventory is available on request and separate negotiation. Title Freehold Title Protected Status Woodbrook House is a listed protected structure .
Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
Synopsis of restoration work to date Extensive and sympathetic restoration has been undertaken in the last number of years to restore the property to its former 18th Century glory and reinstate the 18th Century wing complete with 4 storey tower that was lost in the 1970’s . Great effort has been taken when restoring , rebuilding or replacing to use materials sympathetic to the original craftmanship of the house . The schedule of works to date to the main house include ; restoration and replacement of all roofs using reclaimed 18th Century slate where required: replacement of all windows with traditional timber sash windows, reinstating the original hand spun 18th Century glass where possible and taking the opportunity to install a “Ventrolla” draught exclusion system to all windows .
Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
The current owner undertook much of the structural repairs necessary but repairs are incomplete; complete rewiring with 5 separate zones ; installation of new gas fired heating system with 5 separate zones; insulation of new plumbing with 2.5 bar pressure to power showers to all bedroom suites; installation of a new well with all bathing water passing through a water softener system; installation of a “Puraflow” sewage treatment system with superfluous capacity fro present accommodation, i.e. could potentially take accommodate extension/conversion of outbuildings subject to the necessary consents; new insulation and fireproofing throughout, wired for high specification integrated fire alarm system; wired for 3 phone lines wireless broadband, and Phonewatch, fittings throughout and the replacement of all gutters and down pipes .
Features
*An impressive and substantial Late Georgian House. *Approximately 39 Hectares (98 Acres) . *Vendor would consider splitting the Estate in two Lots . *Lot 1 – Woodbrook House, Gate Lodge on approx. 10 Acres . *Lot 2 -Approx. 89 Acres of Land .
BER Details
BER: Exempt
Woodbrook, Portarlington, County Laois courtesy Savills Hamilton Osborne King.
The name Woodbrook has been given to a number of houses in different parts of Ireland, and the natural assumption would be that it derives from the property having once had a brook in woodland. In the case of Woodbrook, County Laois, however, it combines the second syllable of original owner Knightley Chetwood’s surname along with the first syllable of that of his wife Hester Brooking: hence Woodbrook. An article written by Walter Strickland and published in the Journal of the Archaeological Society of the County of Kildare in 1918 provides a detailed account of the origins of the Chetwood family and their arrival in Ireland following the restoration of Charles II in 1660. There is some uncertainty as to how Knightly Chetwood, whose family had been impoverished English gentry, managed to acquire the lands in County Laois on which Woodbrook now stands: Strickland proposes that it may have come to him via his spouse, but without being able to say precisely how this should have been the case. In any case, some years after the couple’s marriage in August 1700, despite living contentedly in County Meath, he embarked on a project to build a residence on his midland’s property, albeit with some reluctance: at one stage he implored a friend to find him another house in Meath, since otherwise he would be condemned to ‘go and live in a bog in a far off country.’ Indeed, being as Strickland says ‘an uncompromising Tory,’ following the accession of George I in 1714, Chetwood found it best to live, if not in a bog then certainly in a far-off country, spending a number of years in mainland Europe before returning to Ireland around 1721 when he took an oath of allegiance to the Hanoverian monarch and abjured the Stuart pretender. It may have only been after this time that serious work commenced on the house at Woodbrook.
We know more about the early development of the Woodbrook estate than would usually be the case thanks to surviving correspondence between Knightley Chetwood and Dean Swift, who not only provided its proprietor with advice but visited the place on a number of occasions. There was likely some kind of residence already on the site, not least because Chetwood was able to write letters from there even before his new house had been built. Strickland cites a note from Swift to his host dated 6th November 1714 and composed when he had arrived at Woodbrook to find the Chetwoods away from home. The following month, after the dean’s departure, Chetwood informed him, ‘This place I hate since you left it.’ Swift is believed to have been responsible for planting a grove of beech trees close to the house, although these were cut down in 1917 for sale to the then-Government. The two men also make regular reference to an area of the estate called the ‘Dean’s field.’ Once Chetwood returned from his self-imposed exile and turned his attention to erecting a new house, Swift’s opinion was again sought, the dean recommending in June 1731, ‘I can only advise you to ask advice, to go on slowly and to have your house on paper before you put it into lime and stone.’ Unfortunately, it was around this time that the friendship of almost twenty years came to an end. Chetwood seems to have had a tricky, volatile character. He had already become estranged from his wife, husband and wife formally separating in 1725, and he was inclined to find himself embroiled in rows on a regular basis: that he and Swift should fall out accordingly seems to have been inevitable. Chetwood died in London in 1752 and Woodbrook then passed to his elder surviving son, Valentine but since he spent most of his life out of Ireland, it was the younger son Crewe Chetwood who stayed in Laois. The next generation, Jonathan Cope Chetwood, did live at Woodbrook from the time he inherited the property in 1771 until his own death in 1839. As he had no immediate heir, the estate went sideways passing to Edward Wilmost, a great-grandson of Crewe Chetwood, who duly took the additional surname of Chetwood. However, following the death during the Boer War of Edward Wilmot-Chetwood, Woodbrook passed to another branch of the family, being inherited by Major Harold Chetwood-Aiken; his widow lived there until 1965 when what remained of the estate was taken over by the Land Commission.
The evolution of the house now standing at Woodbrook is complex, even by Irish standards. The original building commissioned by Knightley Chetwood can be seen in a pencil drawing reproduced in Strickland’s 1918 article and shows the long east-facing entrance front, seemingly single-storey but with two-storeys visible to one side and dominated by a great doorcase beneath a steeply-pitched roof. A 1770 ground floor survey is described by Colum O’Riordan in House and Home as depicting ‘a vaguely L shaped building with an indeterminate number of accretions around an older core.’ Much of this structure appears to have been damaged or destroyed in a fire in the early 19th century, after which Jonathan Cope Chetwood undertook extensive alterations to the house, not least the addition of a new neo-classical entrance front facing south. Designed c.1815 by James Shiel, it included a spacious hall off which opened drawing and dining rooms. The older part of the building contained the library and staircase, and, beyond these, service quarters including a double-height kitchen one wall of which was filled with a great dresser and above which, according to Strickland, were painted the words ‘BE CLEANLY. HAVE TASTE. HAVE PLENTY. NO WASTE.’ Later in the 19th century, further changes took place, not least in the drawing room where the walls were covered with 15 murals representing scenes of the Scottish Highlands: still extant (although some are currently undergoing restoration), they were painted in 1840 by artist David Ramsay Hay, commissioned by Lady Jane Erskine, daughter of the 25th/8th Earl of Mar and wife of Edward Wilmot-Chetwood, as reminders of her native country. At some unknown date, a five-storey polygonal tower was added towards the rear of the house on the east side. Alas, the later decades of the last century were not kind to Woodbrook. All the ancient trees, not least those lining the avenue to the house, were all cut down in 1969. The lake to the immediate east, created by Jonathan Cole Chetwood, also suffered devastation causing the loss of what was said to have been the largest heronry in the country. Then, in the 1970s, the owners of the house demolished almost all of what had stood behind Shiel’s early 19th century extension, everything that had remained from the original building constructed by Knightley Chetwood, along with the great kitchen and the polygonal tower. This strangely truncated property somehow survived until the present century when another owner ambitiously reconstructed the sections that had been reduced to rubble just a few decades earlier. In consequence, at least on the exterior, Woodbrook looks much as it did when still occupied by the last members of the Chetwood family. Just under two years ago, the house and surrounding lands changed hands once more, and the current owners have embarked on an ambitious and admirable programme of restoration and restitution, with thousands of trees being planted, the lake being brought back to life and the surrounding lands improved. Similar considerate work is taking place inside the building so that in due course Woodbrook will once again take its place among County Laois’s finest country houses. It’s always thrilling to visit a property which is undergoing renewal, and the owners of Woodbrook deserve all the applause and support they can get.
After Monday’s post about the main house at Woodbrook, County Laois, here are the the south gate lodge and gate screen into the estate. The lodge itself is a curious structure which may, or may not, have been designed by James Shiel at the same time as he was coming up with proposals for the house. The facade is dominated by an substantial ashlar pediment with window beneath, the latter flanked by deep recesses, one of which has a door into the building. So generous are the recesses that the pediment has to be supported by a pair of slender iron columns. The gate screen itself, of limestone ashlar and wrought iron, is more standardised with its piers, quadrant walls and arched niches in the outer sections. Here also is an old milestone advising that Dublin lies 47 miles distant.
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. 283. (Franks/IFR) A Georgian house rebuilt after being burnt ca 1920, and given a decidedly “Twenties” flavour. Windows with small panes; prominent roof; small pediment on entrance front. Porch with two recessed Grecian Doric columns.”
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. 273. “A three bay C18 house with a pedimented breakfront and a high roof.”
Tinnakill House is owned by Dermot Cantillon and Meta Osborne and managed by Ian Thompson.
We keep a resident band of 40+ broodmares and sell foals, yearlings and breeding stock at all the main Irish, UK and French sales.
The farm extends over 215 acres and is situated in a beautiful part of rural Co Laois. We look out on the Slieve Bloom mountains and yet are only 15 minutes from the M9 motorway, with ready access to all the major Irish stallion farms.
We have 53 boxes, (plus a 3-stall isolation unit) 14 all-weather paddocks, lunge ring, horse walker and extensive sheltered paddocks.
Detached three-bay two-storey Georgian house with dormer attic, built c.1770, with pedimented central breakfront and two-storey return to rear. Now in ruins. No roof, originally double-pitched and hipped, with nap rendered brick chimneystack and ashlar coping to pediment. Nap rendered rubble limestone walls with ashlar bands to eaves and to pediment; inscribed plaques/datestones, dated 1874 and 1987. Square-headed window openings with limestone sills, red brick dressings and remains of six-over-six timber sash windows. Round-headed window opening to first floor central breakfront and oculus to pediment. Round-headed door opening with limestone block-and-start doorcase and timber panelled door with fanlight. Interior retains timber panelled internal shutters to window openings; fireplace to first floor with cast-iron hood and stone mantle over. House set back from road in own grounds; semi-circular stone steps to entrance. Group of detached single- and two-storey rubble stone outbuildings to site.
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
supplement
p. 304. “[Cassan/LGI1912] A three storey five bay gable-ended C18 house. Quoins rising through bottom storey only, ending at string-course; Gibbsian doorcase.”
Detached seven-bay two-storey coach house, built c.1860. Now in use as outbuilding. Detached two-storey outbuilding, now derelict. Remains of detached house to site, now in ruins. Walled garden to site, now derelict. Double-pitched slate roof with brick chimneystack, ashlar coping; timber laths and rafters. Coursed rubble limestone walls with projecting course to eaves. Elliptical-headed carriageway to ground floor with limestone ashlar voussoirs. Square-headed window openings to first floor with limestone sills and remains of timber windows. Timber floors to lofts in ruinous condition. Former coach house is set back from road in own grounds; landscaped grounds to site (now part-overgrown). Detached single-storey house, c.1950, on site of earlier ranges. Gateway comprising monolithic piers with wrought iron gate.
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. 256. “(Kemmis, sub Walsh-Kemmis) A house of late Georgian appearance, of two storeys over a basement. Entrance front with two three sided bows and pedimented one bay projection in centre; Grecian Ionic porch with acroteria. Castellated gateway at entrance to demesne. Now a home for the elderly.”
THE KEMMIS FAMILY WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN QUEEN’S COUNTY, WITH 5,800 ACRES
Of the early period of the Kemeys family the accounts are somewhat confused, but it is generally agreed that their origin was Norman.
They rose to prominence at the period of the conquest of Gwent and Glamorgan.
The original form of the name is uncertain, though it is said to be Camois or Camys, identical with Camois in the Roll of Battle Abbey.
They were known as “Kemeys of Began” as early as the 13th century.
The Irish branch claims descent from the ancient family of Kemeys of Newport, Monmouthshire, which family bore as their arms vert on a chevron argent, three pheons sable.
THOMAS KEMMIS (1710-74), of Shaen Castle, Killeen, Straboe, Rossnaclough, and Clonin, Queen’s County, wedded Susan, daughter of John Long, of Derrynaseera, and had issue,
JOHN, of Shaen;
James, major-general;
THOMAS, of whom we treat;
Joshua;
William Edward;
Elizabeth.
The third son,
THOMAS KEMMIS JP (1753-1823), of Shaen Castle, crown and treasury solicitor for Ireland, patron of Rosenallis, married, in 1773, Anne, daughter of Henry White, of Dublin, and had issue,
THOMAS, his heir;
Henry;
William;
James;
Richard;
Anne; Mary; Elizabeth.
The eldest son,
THE REV THOMAS KEMMIS (1774-1827), of Shaen Castle, and Brockley Park, Queen’s County, Patron of Rosenallis, married Mary, daughter and heir of Arthur Riley, of Airfield, County Dublin, and had issue,
THOMAS, his heir;
Arthur;
Henry;
Mary.
The eldest son,
THOMAS KEMMIS JP, (1798-1844), of Shaen Castle and Straboe, Patron of Rosenallis, High Sheriff, 1832, married, in 1834, Mary Henrietta, eldest daughter of the Rev Robert Blackwood Jelly, of Portarlington, and had issue,
THOMAS, his heir;
Robert;
William;
Arthur;
Jane.
Mr Kemmis was succeeded by his eldest son,
THOMAS KEMMIS JP DL (1837-1906), of Shaen, High Sheriff, 1860, who married, in 1858, Victoria Alexandrina, eldest daughter of Hans H Hamilton QC, of 26 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin, and had issue,
THOMAS HENRY, his heir;
Augusta Mary; Helen.
His only son,
THOMAS HENRY KEMMIS JP DL, of Shaen, captain, Royal Fusiliers, born in 1860, wedded, in 1904, Mary Caroline, eldest daughter of Charles Stewart Trench, of Clay Hill, Virginia, USA, and had issue,
WILLIAM FREDERICK, b 1905;
Victoria Mary, b 1908;
Elizabeth Gertrude, b 1911.
SHAEN HOUSE, near Port Laoise, formerly Maryborough, County Laois, is a house of late Georgian appearance.
It comprises two storeys over a basement.
The entrance front has two three-sided bows; pedimented one-bay projection in the centre; Greek Ionic porch with acroterion.
There is a notable castellated gateway at the demesne’s main entrance.
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. 238. “(Dease, sub Bland/IFR) A C19 Classical house of two storeys over basement. Semi-circular pillared porch. Attractive Victorian domed conservatory at end of house, facing onto a formal garden. The other end of the front is prolonged by a range containing a domestic chapel in simple Gothic and an archway leading into the yard. Circular entrance hall; handsome library. The seat of a branch of the Deases of Turbotstown; inherited by Mr Rory Bland, of the Blandsfort family.”
Detached seven-bay two-storey over basement house, built c.1850. Extended, c.1890, with domed conservatory and private chapel added. Designed by Richard Turner. Detached gate lodge, c.1890, to site. Double-pitched and hipped slate roof with chimneystack to centre with decorative clay pots and overhanging eaves on paired timber brackets. Limestone ashlar walls with limestone quoins and stringcourses. Nap rendered to side elevations with ruled and lined detail. Square-headed window openings with limestone sills and single pane timber sash windows. Wyatt-style window opening to centre first floor. Square-headed door opening with timber panelled door. Timber panelled internal shutters with window openings; marble fireplace to room to front. Set back from road in own grounds; landscaped grounds to site; gravel drive and forecourt to approach. Group of detached outbuildings to site. Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge with dormer attic to site with gabled projecting porch.
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. 232. “(Redmond/LGI1937 supp) A single-storey Georgian house with curved bow.”
Detached single-storey late-Georgian villa with dormer attic, built c.1825, with single- and two-storey bows. Stable complex to site. Detached gate lodge to site. Double-pitched and part-conical slate roof with nap rendered chimneystacks and overhanging box eaves. Roughcast rendered walls, painted. Square-headed window openings with limestone sills and replacement six-over-six timber sash windows, c.1990. Wyatt-style window openings to bowed projecting bays. Round-headed door opening with timber panelled door with sidelights and overlight. Interior not inspected. House is set back from road in own grounds; landscaped grounds to site; gravel drive and forecourt to approach. Stable complex to site with group of detached single- and two-storey outbuildings. Detached lodge to site with bowed ends.
Irish Historic Houses 