Baltyboys House, also known as Boystown House, is an 18th-century
Georgian country house
image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
close to
Blessington
Blessington, historically known as Ballycomeen (, from the Irish surname ''Ó Coimín''), is a town on the River Liffey in County Wicklow, Ireland, near the border with County Kildare. It is around 25 km south-west of Dublin, and is situat ...
,
County Wicklow
County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...
, Ireland.
Baltyboys House is a mansion built in the
Georgian style. The estate sits on one hundred acres.
[ It is located a mile from ]Russborough House
Russborough House is a Georgian Palladian house between Blessington and Ballymore Eustace near the Blessington Lakes in County Wicklow, Ireland. The house was designed by Richard Castle for Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown and built between ...
, near Poulaphouca Reservoir
Poulaphouca Reservoir, officially Pollaphuca (), is an active reservoir (for both water supply and electricity generation) and area of wild bird conservation in west County Wicklow, Ireland named after the Poulaphouca waterfall on its south-wes ...
.
The estate was previously owned by the Smiths, a gentry
Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...
family. Elizabeth Grant Smith, the wife of Colonel Henry Smith, wrote extensively about managing the estate, particularly during the Great Famine. Dame Ninette de Valois
Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, ...
, the great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Grant Smith, was born at Baltyboys.My home, Baltiboys, a country house situated some two miles from the village of Blessington in County Wicklow, stood in the middle of a beautiful stretch of country at the foot of the Wicklow Hills. The original house was burnt in the rising of 1798; the house was now a long two-storeyed building with a spacious network of basement rooms. It was a typical Irish country house of about 1820-30, late Georgian in part, consisting of one main wing and two smaller ones.
In January 2014 the estate sold for €4.925 million by the owner, Elizabeth McClory, daughter of Vincent O'Brien
Michael Vincent O'Brien (9 April 1917 – 1 June 2009) was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the ''Racing Pos ...
and second wife of Kevin McClory
Kevin O'Donovan McClory (8 June 1924 – 20 November 2006) was an Irish screenwriter, film producer, and film director. McClory was best known for producing the James Bond film '' Thunderball'' and for his legal battles with the character's cre ...
. Baltyboys was not listed on the market, instead being sold through a private auction at Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...
.
References
Sources
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Buildings and structures completed in the 18th century
Buildings and structures in County Wicklow
Country houses in Ireland
Georgian architecture in Ireland
Houses in the Republic of Ireland