Headfort House is a large country house on the southern outskirts of
Kells in
County Meath
County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
History
The house was constructed in the 1760s for
The 1st Earl of Bective to a design by the Irish architect
George Semple
George Semple (c. 1700 – 13 April 1782) was a notable Irish builder and architect.
Life
His earliest known work is the steeple, in height, of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, which he designed and erected in 1749.
He also built St Patric ...
. The interiors were designed by the Scottish architect
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
.
It remained wholly in the private hands of the Taylour family,
Marquesses of Headfort
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
, until 1949, when the family leased the main house to the newly formed Headfort School. They moved to the East Wing, and provided the element of the building in-between the wing and the main house
as a house for the school's headmaster.
The 6th Marquess of Headfort later sold the East Wing, renamed as Headfort Court, and with its own garden, along with the school premises in the 1980s (on terms allowing the school to continue) to an American, B.J. Kruger, and on his death, the estate was divided. The East Wing / Headfort Court became a distinct property, as did part of the grounds, and the main house and much of the grounds were purchased by a charitable trust, the Headfort Trust, to preserve the buildings and support the school.
In 2004, the house was selected by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) for inclusion in its List of 100 Most Endangered Sites
[ ]
The school closed in March 2020 but was reopened under new management in September 2020.
Robert Adam's illustrations of Headfort House interior
File:Robert Adam - Headfort House, Ireland, Section of One End of the Parlor - B1975.2.788 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg
File:Robert Adam - Headfort House, Ireland, Saloon Ceiling - B1975.2.797 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg
File:Robert Adam - Headfort House, Ireland, Section of the Staircase - B1975.2.799 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg
File:Robert Adam - Headfort House, Ireland, Section of the Staircase - B1975.2.800 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg
File:Robert Adam - Headfort House, Ireland, Elevation of the Eating Parlor - B1975.2.793 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg
File:Robert Adam - Headfort House, Ireland, Elevation of the Eating Parlor - B1975.2.794 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg
See also
*
List of buildings in Ireland
List of notable Irish buildings includes buildings in Ireland that are currently in-use which are landmarks of historical, cultural or governmental significance. For ruins, see National monuments of Ireland.
* Albert College Building, Dubli ...
References
External links
Irish Georgian Society ProjectKells - The Big Houses
{{Historic Irish houses , state=collapsed
Houses in County Meath
Buildings and structures completed in the 1760s