Long elegant windows, secret doors, a handsome diningroom with opposing original fireplaces looking out on a lake - not to mention links with Mildred Ann Butler, one of Ireland's greatest painters - make Kilmurry House something special.
This enchanting country house, part of Kilkenny folklore for over 300 years, offers 37 rooms as well as cottage and self-contained apartment. It is is to be sold by agent HOK who is quoting a guide price of £1.3 million (€1.65).
There are many wonderful rooms at Kilmurry, each with its own particular appeal. The "garden" room with its south, east and west facing windows is the ideal place to sit during long summer evenings. The formal ballroom, occupying the entire west wing, boasts five bay windows with French doors leading to the formal gardens. It is used twice a year for parties. The original house is made up of a naturally lit reception hall, five main reception rooms, seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, kitchen, ground-floor guest annex and guest cottage. Built in the 18th century for Charles Kendall Bushe, Chief Justice of Ireland, the front of the house is flanked by single-storey early 19th-century classical wings with Wyatt windows and dies surrounded by sphinxes. The left-hand wing forms the entrance front with a centre-piece of doric pilasters and half-columns.
The secluded grounds are quietly picturesque and run to more than 20 acres The formal gardens lead to more informal areas which include the ornamental lake, paddocks and a kind of arboretum. The three-acre walled garden is laid mostly in grass with raised vegetable beds. There are four horse boxes and a paddock, as well as numerous outhouses which could be converted. A little stream disappears under the main lawn and ends up in the lake. The artist Mildred Ann Butler (1858-1941) lived at Kilmurry for most of her life. Her prized water-colours are exhibited in galleries through out the world. The titles of most of her works conclude with the words: " at Kilmurry". Mildred Ann Butler literally left her mark on Kilmurry. One of the bedrooms used by her throughout her life has a long glass window. On the very top left hand corner pane she has written her signature - as if to say, Kilmurry was my canvas. There is another link between Mildred and Kilmurry in the dining room which features an imposing and quite magnificent carved Irish oak chimney-piece. It was sculpted in 1890, by E Holohan, Mildred Ann's sister.
