Bellinter House ( ga, Teach Baile an tSaoir) is a large classic country house of

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heritage, recently renovated and opened as a 34-room luxury spa hotel. It is in 12 acres of parkland beside the

River Boyne The River Boyne ( ga, An Bhóinn or ''Abhainn na Bóinne'') is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newberry Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows towards the Northeast through C ...

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 ...

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some 10 km (6 miles) from Navan. Bellinter takes its name from the Irish ''Baile an tSaoir'', which means ''the home of the carpenter''. It is built in a Palladian style with six bays built over three floors (including basement) made of coarse rubble with fine limestone dressings. Adjoining the main part of the building and connected by single story arcades are two storey wings, creating a courtyard. In the grounds are stable block, ice house and other outbuildings.

History

Bellinter House was built in 1750 by

Richard Cassels Richard Cassels (1690 – 1751), also known as Richard Castle, was an architect who ranks with Edward Lovett Pearce as one of the greatest architects working in Ireland in the 18th century. Cassels was born in 1690 in Kassel, Germany. Althou ...

as a country house for wealthy Dublin brewer John Preston in an estate of around 600 acres of grazing and woodland. After John Preston's death the estate passed to John's grandson,

John Preston, 1st Baron Tara John Preston, 1st Baron Tara (4 November 1764 – 18 July 1821), was an Irish politician. Preston was the son of John Preston, a descendant of a younger brother of Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara, second son of Christopher Preston, 4th V ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town of County Meath, Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 30,173, making it the tenth largest settlement in Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Blackwater, around 50&nb ...

for 17 years, who died in 1821. In 1892 the property was bequeathed by John Joseph Preston to Gustavus Briscoe, a family friend and

High Sheriff of Meath The High Sheriff of Meath was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Meath, Ireland, from the conquest until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Meath County Sheriff. The sheriff ...

in 1897, who once rode a horse up the stairs at Bellinter which then refused to come down and had to be winched down three weeks later. In 1907 the property passed to his son Cecil and then George, who in 1955 sold it to the Holdsworth family. It was the residence of the Holdsworth family from 1957 to 1966, when it came into the control of the

Land Commission The Irish Land Commission was created by the British crown in 1843 to 'inquire into the occupation of the land in Ireland. The office of the commission was in Dublin Castle, and the records were, on its conclusion, deposited in the records tower t ...

, who sold off most of the land for farming. After being left vacant for a time, the house itself, with 12 acres of land, became home to the Sisters of Sion. In 2004 it was sold and transformed into the present hotel by publican and hoteliers Jay Bourke and John Reynolds for €2.3m. It opened in late 2006 after a reputed €16m refurbishment. In 2016, the house was acquired for €3m by Broadreach Investments, an investment vehicle majority owned by Barry O'Sullivan. Bellinter House has been determined by the Irish Government Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government as a building that is intrinsically of significant architectural interest for the purpose of section 482 of the TCA 1997.

References

{{Authority control Houses in County Meath Houses completed in 1750 Hotels in County Meath Country houses in Ireland Richard Cassels buildings

History

See also

References