Bessborough House is a large Georgian house near Piltown, County Kilkenny that was the family seat of the Ponsonby dynasty, Earls of Bessborough. Originally built in the 1740s for the 1st Earl of Bessborough. It was likely designed by

Francis Bindon Francis Bindon ( 1690 – 1765) was a popular architect and painter in 18th century Ireland. Bindon was highly regarded by his contemporaries and was commissioned to design buildings and paint portraits for some of Ireland's most prominent figu ...

. The house was gutted by fire in February 1923, during the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...

. However, it was rebuilt in late 1929 for The 9th Earl of Bessborough, who served as the 14th

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

in the early 1930s. The 9th Lord Bessborough sold the house in the late 1930s. Kildalton Castle and estate were owned by the Dalton Family, and was awarded to Colonel John Ponsonby, one of the leaders of the

Cromwellian invasion of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the Commonwealth of England, initially led by Oliver Cromwell. It forms part of the 1641 to 1652 Irish Confederate Wars, and wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three ...

. The Oblate Fathers who established a seminary there in 1941, over the following 30 years some 360 were ordained for the order there, they would study philosophy at UCD and theology at the Our Lady's Scholasticate in Bessbrough. Bessborough House was sold by the Oblates in 1971 to the

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

and was opened in 1980 as Kildalton Agricultural College.

References

Buildings and structures in County Kilkenny Palladian architecture in Ireland {{Ireland-struct-stub

See also

References