Beaulieu House and Gardens (Kevin O'Sullivan, "Let it shine: the woman behind Ireland's first big solar farm", ''The Irish Times'
March 6, 2021
/ref>) is an estate in

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

, Ireland. It was thought to be built in the 1660s, although later research seems to suggest it was built around 1715 incorporating elements of an earlier structure, and it includes a terraced walled garden. It is located east of

less than half a mile from the estuary of the River Boyne. It is one of the earliest remaining examples of an unfortified major house built in Ireland and one of very few of the type built in the Dutch style. A similar surviving example is the Red House in Youghal which was constructed around 1703.

History

The lands around the current Beaulieu were owned by the de Verdun family at the end of the 12th century. The Plunkett family, originally from Dublin, married into the de Verduns and became associated with the area from the early 14th century onwards. The lands of Christopher Plunket, 2nd Earl of Fingall were confiscated by the

English Commonwealth The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execut ...

after the Confederate war in the mid-17th century. The predecessor to the present house was a Jacobean manor house constructed in

1628 Events January–March * January 19 – (26 Jumada al-Awwal 1037 A.H.) The reign of Salef-ud-din Muhammad Shahryar as the Mughal Emperor, Shahryar Mirza, comes to an end a little more than two months after the November 7 dea ...

. Sir Benjamin Tichborne, 1st Baronet of England ( – 6 September 1629), MP for Petersfield 1588-1589 and Hampshire 1593 had a younger son and judge, Sir Henry Tichborne who went on to defend the attempted siege of Drogheda in 1642 in the

Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (from ga, Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in the kin ...

. Henry was awarded lands at Beaulieu in 1666 and the manor on which to rebuild if he wished and he did so with the input of two further generations. His eldest son was Sir William Tichborne of Beaulieu whose eldest son was another

Henry Tichborne Sir Henry Tichborne PC (Ire) (1581–1667) was an English soldier and politician. He excelled at the Siege of Drogheda during the Irish Rebellion of 1641. He governed Ireland as one of the two Lord Justices from 1642 to 1644. In 1647, he fou ...

who was made a Baronet (1697) and later

Baron Ferrard of Beaulieu Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

(1715); however, the younger Henry had no surviving sons though he did have a daughter who succeeded to Beaulieu. The family later intermarried with the family of Admiral Nelson. The house remains with descendants and the rural villages of

Beaulieu Cross Beaulieu, from the French for "beautiful place", may refer to: Places Belgium * Beaulieu metro station in Brussels Canada * Beaulieu, or Lougheed House, a mansion in Calgary, Alberta England * Beaulieu, Hampshire, a village in the New Forest * ...

and Beltichburn in the nearby country was named after the house and them respectively. The walled garden has of formal plant landscape and a good variety of horticulture. , the owner planned to install 20,000 photovoltaic panels generating 5 megawatts on 23 acres of the property.

Tourism

Visitors

Guided tours of the estate are available on selected days during the summer months. The grounds and house also offer the ability to host weddings, trade shows, conferences or training days.

Motor racing museum

Gabriel De Freitas, the late owner who was in the 10th generation of the Tichbornes raced under the name

Gabriel Konig In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

, and was a prominent 1960s-1970s female racing driver. She collected classic racing and rally saloons alongside a few other classic luxury cars which form the motor racing museum. As such the venue has parallels to

Beaulieu Abbey Beaulieu Abbey, , was a Cistercian abbey in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1203–1204 by King John and (uniquely in Britain) populated by 30 monks sent from the abbey of Cîteaux in France, the mother house of the Cistercian order. Th ...

and its National Motor Museum in Hampshire in the United Kingdom.

References

External links

Beaulieu House
- official site {{authority control Buildings and structures in Drogheda Houses in County Louth Museums in County Louth Historic house museums in the Republic of Ireland Automobile museums in the Republic of Ireland Queen Anne architecture in Ireland