Abbeyleix House

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Abbeyleix House
Abbey Leix - geograph.org.uk - 68377.jpg
Abbeyleix House in the 1980s
Ireland adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
General information
StatusPrivate dwelling house
TypeHouse
Architectural style Georgian, Classical
AddressAbbeyleix, County Laois
Town or city Abbeyleix
CountryIreland
Coordinates 52°53′46″N7°22′30″W / 52.8962°N 7.3750°W / 52.8962; -7.3750
Elevation100 m (330 ft)
Groundbreaking1773
Owner John Collison
Technical details
MaterialOriginally brick front and later rendered over
Floor count4
Floor area2,500 m2 (27,000 sq ft)
Grounds453.24 ha (1,120.0 acres)
Design and construction
Architect(s) James Wyatt and Sir William Chambers
DeveloperDeVesci Family

Abbeyleix House, sometimes called Abbeyleix Castle, is an Irish country house that was the residence of the Viscounts de Vesci in County Laois, Ireland. It was designed by architect James Wyatt and built by Sir William Chambers in 1773. The de Vesci family lived at Abbeyleix House until it was sold in the mid-1990s. Abbeyleix is the oldest planned estate town in Ireland. [1]

Contents

History

The house was near the original Abbeyleix, that was built by the O'Mores near the River Nore where there was a Cistercian Monastery, founded in 1183. On the dissolution of the monasteries, 1,500 acres (610 ha) of land were granted to the 10th Earl of Ormond. In 1675, Denny Muschamp, a wealthy landowner, bought the old abbey lands, these were inherited in 1699 by his daughter, who married Sir Thomas Vesey, 1st Baronet, who moved to Abbeyleix when he was created a baronet. In 1770, their grandson Thomas Vesey, 2nd Baron Knapton – later, in 1776, created Viscount de Vesci – commissioned the English architect James Wyatt to build him a new house in an elevated position. [2] The area was prone to flooding and de Vesci, wishing to improve the view from his new mansion, relocated the dwellings of his estate workers and tenants to a new site farther east on higher ground alongside the coach road, as a planned estate town, with the estate and mansion 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the southwest of the town. [3] [4]

Recently owned and restored by the businessman Sir David Davies, Abbey Leix House and estate was placed on the market in 2019, continuing into 2020, for a region of €20 million. [5] In June 2021, John Collison purchased the estate for a sum in the region of the advertised €11.5 million. [6]

The property

The large rectangular, three-storey house, with 117 windows, is considered to be one of the finest in Ireland. The property includes 1,000 acres (400 ha) of grounds, including walled gardens and farmland, and ten estate houses and cottages. [7]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">County Laois</span> County in Ireland

County Laois is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Historically, it has also been known as County Leix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilton House</span> Historic house and museum in Wilton, UK

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Wyatt</span> English architect (1746 - 1813)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viscount de Vesci</span> Title in the peerage of Ireland

Viscount de Vesci, of Abbeyleix in the Queen's County, now called County Laois, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1776 for Thomas Vesey, 2nd Baron Knapton and 3rd Baronet. The title Baron Knapton was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1750 for the first Viscount's father, John Vesey, 2nd Baronet, who had earlier represented Newtownards in the Irish House of Commons. The baronetcy, of Abbeyleix in the Queen's County, was created in the Baronetage of Ireland on 28 September 1698 for the first Baron's father, Reverend Thomas Vesey, Bishop of Killaloe (1713–1714) and Bishop of Ossory (1714–1730).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abbeyleix</span> Town in County Laois, Ireland

Abbeyleix is a town in County Laois, Ireland, located around 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south of the county town of Portlaoise. Abbelyleix is in a civil parish of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Combermere Abbey</span> Abbey in Cheshire, England

Combermere Abbey is a former monastery, later a country house, near Burleydam, between Nantwich, Cheshire and Whitchurch in Shropshire, England, located within Cheshire and near the border with Shropshire. Initially Savigniac and later Cistercian, the abbey was founded in the 1130s by Hugh Malbank, Baron of Nantwich, and was also associated with Ranulf de Gernons, Earl of Chester. The abbey initially flourished, but by 1275 was sufficiently deeply in debt to be removed from the abbot's management. From that date until its dissolution in 1538, it was frequently in royal custody, and acquired a reputation for poor discipline and violent disputes with both lay people and other abbeys. It was the third largest monastic establishment in Cheshire, based on net income in 1535.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pixton Park</span> Country house in Somerset, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Vesey, 3rd Viscount de Vesci</span> Anglo-Irish peer and Conservative politician

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Vesey, 3rd Viscount de Vesci and 4th Baron Knapton, was an Anglo-Irish peer and Conservative politician.

Sir Thomas Vesey, 1st Baronet (1668?–1730), was an Anglo-Irish clergyman. He was Bishop of Ossory from 1714 to 1730.

The High Sheriff of Queen's County was the British Crown's judicial representative in Queen's County, Ireland, Ireland from the 16th century until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Offaly County Sheriff. The sheriff had judicial, electoral, ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs. In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence. However, the sheriff retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in the county. The usual procedure for appointing the sheriff from 1660 onwards was that three persons were nominated at the beginning of each year from the county and the Lord Lieutenant then appointed his choice as High Sheriff for the remainder of the year. Often the other nominees were appointed as under-sheriffs. Sometimes a sheriff did not fulfil his entire term through death or other event and another sheriff was then appointed for the remainder of the year. The dates given hereunder are the dates of appointment. All addresses are in Queen's County unless stated otherwise.

Thomas Vesey may refer to:

Robert Thomas Flower, 8th Viscount Ashbrook was an Anglo-Irish peer, Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, and inventor.

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The Rt Hon. Thomas Vesey, 1st Viscount de Vesci and 2nd Baron Knapton, was an Anglo-Irish peer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Vesey, 2nd Viscount de Vesci</span> Anglo-Irish politician and peer

The Rt Hon. John Vesey, 2nd Viscount de Vesci and 3rd Baron Knapton, was an Anglo-Irish politician and peer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Vesey, 4th Viscount de Vesci</span> Anglo-Irish peer and British Army officer

The Rt Hon. John Robert William Vesey, 4th Viscount de Vesci, 5th Baron Knapton and 1st Baron de Vesci, "Yvo", was an Anglo-Irish peer and British Army officer.

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William Brownlow PC (I) of Lurgan, County Armagh was an Anglo-Irish politician.

John Eustace Vesey, 6th Viscount de Vesci, was an Irish peer.

The Rt Hon. Thomas Eustace Vesey, 7th Viscount de Vesci and 8th Baron Knapton, is the son of the 6th Viscount de Vesci and the former Susan Anne Armstrong-Jones, sister of the 1st Earl of Snowdon. He sold Abbeyleix Castle, saddled with £1.5 million in death duties, in 1994 to the financier Sir David Davies. In addition to being a nephew of the 1st Earl of Snowdon, he is a grand-nephew of the 6th Earl of Kenmare.'

References

  1. "Heritage House Abbeyleix | Museum, Research and Model Railway". www.abbeyleixheritage.com. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  2. "A brief history". Heritage House, Abbeyleix. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  3. Gerrard, David (2004). The Hidden Places of Ireland. Travel Publishing Ltd. pp. 212–213. ISBN   978-1-904434-10-8.
  4. "Abbeyleix – Why Build a New Town". Heritage House, Abbeyleix. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  5. "A Wyatt Wonder". The Steeple Times. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  6. "Stripe co-founder paid €11.5m for house on 1,120-acre Abbeyleix estate". independent. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  7. "117 windows, 1,000 acres: banker cashing in on palatial Laois home". The Irish Times. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2020.