“When we first came to view Clohamon House, it was a wisteria-covered Hidden Ireland hotel, but we became immediately aware it was a home of great presence sitting confidently in its ancient surroundings,” says the owner of this most impressive Georgian pile on a picturesque site over the meandering river Slaney in Co Wexford.
Dating from 1780, the charming bow-fronted house has an understated elegance with an almost feminine feel. Perhaps it is the gentle curvature of the great hallway inside its southwest front facade, or indeed one of two ancillary accommodations in a stunning cut-stone courtyard called the Dairy Maid’s apartment.
When the owners purchased it in 1998, they undertook a series of works to upgrade the 550sq m (5,920sq ft) seven-bedroom residence, with advice from the Irish Georgian Society. PVC windows were replaced with proper sash counterparts, while damp-proof coursing was installed under new pitch-pine flooring sourced from architectural salvage companies. Previous owners had sold off much of the property’s collection in a sale deemed “items fit for a castle” as reported in The Irish Times in 1998, when 600 important lots were sold off. Because original Georgian fireplaces left the house, the owners spent considerable time searching for proper replacements, one of which came from a Georgian pile in Edinburgh, while a second was sourced in Dublin. These two fine chimney pieces now take centre stage in the formal drawingroom and diningroom of the private rural idyll.
When the estate was last purchased, the house did not have a staircase, with access to upstairs solely from a stairwell to the rear. This was addressed by the current owners who installed a staircase sympathetic to its era.
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The property, thought to succeed and likely incorporate part of an earlier 17th-century long house known as Clohamon Castle, has had its share of owners, including author Walter Sweetman, and the Levinge family, notably Sir Richard Levinge of Arthur Guinness & Co – which goes to explain why the property operated as a Guinness fishing lodge for many years. It comes with fishing rights for salmon and brown trout for the river Slaney which forms a boundary to the 23-acre (9-hectare) estate.
The family have entertained here on a grand scale, from 21st birthday celebrations in the walled garden to black-tie New Year’s Eve galas. A benefit is that there’s plenty of room for guests to stay over, most notably in the seven bedrooms in the main house, coupled with one bedroom where the milkmaid once lived and in the granary. Set in beautiful cut-stone outhouses with lattice windows, there’s also a two-bedroom Granary Cottage, with 141sq m of accommodation that would benefit from an upgrade.
Lands here are highly fertile, suitable for livestock, horses and tillage crops; the family currently grow barley. They’ve also kept horses. Gardens include a super formal space with buxus hedging that replaced a paddock, which creates a contrast to a walled garden with an orchard. An old belfry (minus its bell) adds interest to the bucolic setting of this beautiful home.
It’s really a smashing place, full of architectural merit and a location far from the madding crowd. It’s about an hour and a half from Dublin Airport but, to be honest, you’d never want to leave. It is with “terrible sadness” that the current owner is moving, but also “comforting to know that new owners will come on board and care for it”.
The slice of heaven, which is Ber-exempt, is now on the market through Lisney Sotheby’s International, seeking €1.5m.
