Abbeyleix House, sometimes called Abbeyleix Castle, is an Irish country house that was the residence of the Viscounts de Vesci in

County Laois 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. Hist ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It was designed by architect

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism, neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to ...

and built by

Sir William Chambers __NOTOC__ Sir William Chambers (23 February 1723 – 10 March 1796) was a Swedish-British architect. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, the Gold State Coach and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. ...

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.

History

The house was near the original

Abbeyleix Abbeyleix (; ) is a town in County Laois, Ireland, located around south of the county town of Portlaoise. Abbelyleix is in a civil parish of the same name. Abbeyleix was formerly located on the N8, the main road from Dublin to Cork. At one p ...

, that was built by the O'Mores near the

River Nore The River Nore ( ) is one of the principal rivers (along with the River Suir and River Barrow) in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region of Ireland. The river drainage basin, drains approximately of Leinster and Munster, that encom ...

where there was a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

, founded in 1183. On the dissolution of the monasteries, 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 Viscount de Vesci, of Abbeyleix in the Queen's County, now called County Laois (pronounced "leash"), 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 cre ...

– commissioned the English architect

to build him a new house in an elevated position. 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 to the southwest of the town. 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. In June 2021, John Collison purchased the estate for a sum in the region of the advertised €11.5 million.

The property

The large rectangular, three-storey house, with 117 windows, is considered to be one of the finest in Ireland. The property includes of grounds, including walled gardens and farmland, and ten estate houses and cottages.

References

{{Reflist

External links

''1773 – Abbeyleix House, Abbeyleix, Co. Laois''
Houses in County Laois Houses completed in 1773 Georgian architecture in Ireland