Dunleckney Manor

Dunleckney Manor is a Tudor Gothic manor house set in nine acres of parkland and formal gardens near the River Barrow in County Carlow. The property is available for holiday rentals between May and October. Dunleckney is 1 hour south-west of Dublin and is well-located for exploring popular tourist attractions around Kilkenny and Carlow. Local things to do include horse racing, fishing, walking and visiting local food and drink producers. The house is accessed via an electric gate and a long cherry-tree lined avenue. The house has five large reception rooms on the ground floor including a drawing room, library, dining room, living room. These rooms are accessible from the 50ft high staircase hall that sits at the centre of the house. There is games room with pool table and dart board next to the living room. On the first floor there is a cinema room with DVD player, cinema screen and widescreen TV. Around the first floor landing are three large double bedrooms: the Tower bedroom, Bagenal room and the Nursery. The Nursery bedroom has an adjoining dressing room/sitting room with space for a cot. These bedrooms share two bathrooms - each with a shower and bath. Towards the rear of the house is the ensuite Herb Garden double bedroom and the three room Yew suite containing two double beds, a single bed and bathroom with a slipper bath. On the ground floor towards the rear of the house is the Laburnum Suite with a large oak double bed, single bed and ensuite shower/bathroom. Outside, the grounds have been restored to their original designs and feature parkland, ancient trees, a pond, pleasure gardens and a walled garden with outdoor seating. The first manor was built on the site in the early 1600s by the Bagenal family. The founder of the Irish branch of the family, Sir Nicholas Bagenal, was Commander of the English army in Ireland for Elizabeth I. Property and land was the reward in those days for serving the Crown. Such was their influence in the region that the local town - Bagenalstown - bears their name to this day. The kitchen block and the walled garden at the back of the present house are all that remain of this period. The estate passed to the Newton family by marriage when the Bagenals ran out of male heirs in the early 1800s. The ‘new’ Manor was built in the 1830s by Walter Newton, son of Sarah Bagenal. Sarah was the daughter of the adventurer and duellist Beauchamp Bagenal - the last of the male line. The manor is representative of the Gothic Revival that became fashionable after the long Georgian period. It was designed as a Tudor Gothic mansion by the English architect Daniel Robertson, an admirer of Pugin - the foremost exponent of this style. Among Pugin’s many great works is the Palace of Westminster. Robertson also renovated Oriel College, Oxford.