1773
Abbeyleix
Co. Laois
country houses
Irish country houses
James Wyatt
Laois country houses
1773 – Abbeyleix House, Abbeyleix, Co. Laois
Architect: James Wyatt
A seven-bay, three-storey over basement with dormer attic Classical-style country house, begun 1773, with a pedimented breakfront having a cut stone Doric door-case to the ground floor. Originally brick, later rendered by Thomas Henry Wyatt. Five-bay elevation to garden front with breakfront having cut sandstone doorcase and Wyatt style window openings to flanking bays.
“A good landlord, and an improving man, his first care was to remove the old village on the banks of the Nore, and to build a new one, long known as New Abbeyleix, on a better site further from the river.f He also demolished the former family residence, and, in 1773, erected in its place the present mansion, which took several years to complete.”