homes historical ireland

A desire to escape from the formality of country house life during the eighteenth century led to the emergence of small, comfortable holiday retreats known as villas. Undoubtedly the best example of such a building in Ireland is Belvedere - an exquisite house with an unusual elongated plan set in a fine landscape park overlooking Lough Ennell....

Original Georgian home of noted Anglo-Irish family, was then rebuilt in Gothic revival style. Although burnt in 1933 the remaining towers and turrets, mostly ivy clad, give this enchanting structure a fairy tale air....

Built during the 1820's for William Wallace Legge, a prominent Belfast merchant, the house has stood in lands little changed for over a century and a half. The estate that was planted shortly after the house was built, now supports a heritage of magnificent mature trees and woodland.

The house was presented to the City in 1946 by William Barnett. Leased to the National trust in early 1970's, many visitors have fond memories spent in the house and grounds. It was almost totally destroyed...

A plaque at 125 Hyndford Street marks the rock star's birthplace....

This National Trust property is open again albeit to a very limited extent after a closure of more than twenty years. The parkland of the eighteenth century thatched cottage once a manor house was laid out by John Sutherland, 1745 to 1826, a disciple of Capability Brown.

There are fine views of the Mournes and Newry. The walled garden is under cultivation and there are some imposing mature trees, including exotics. 18th-century mansion was home to Isaac Corry, General in Chief of the Iri...

Ignatius Rice House, birthplace of Brother Edmund Ignatius Rice (1762-1844) retains many of the artifacts of a late 18th century strong farmers home. Admission is by application to the adjoining Monastery....

Cavanacor House was built in the early 1600s and is the ancestral home of James Knox Polk, eleventh President of the United States of America.

King James II dined here on the 20th April, 1689 and granted a protection to the house. The tree he dined under still stands in the grounds....

Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st US President, in office from 1881 - 1885. From this thatched cottage at Cullybackey, his father set out for the New World.

The house has now been extensively restored with clay floors, open flax-straw thatched roof and early furniture. The site also incorporates an interpretive centre, a display of early agricultural machinery....

A few minutes walk from the town centre lies the Knockreer section of the National Park. Access is via Deenagh Lodge gate which is opposite the Cathedral, and this leads to a pleasant pastoral landscape with fine views of the Lakes and mountains especially from the gardens of Knockreer House. The house, which was the home of the Grosvenor family, is now the field study centre for the National Park....

Benvarden has been in the ownership of the Montgomery family since 1798 and most of the landscaping and planting of the mature trees was carried out by them in the years 1800-1820.

The Walled Garden, about 2 acres in area, appears on a map dated 1788 and has been cultivated since then without interruption, although with alterations to the layout from time to time.

The Garden is one of the finest and best maintained in the North of Ireland and ranges from beautiful rose bed...