Deal for buyer who will rescue Kildare demesne
The elderly owner of a historic Co Kildare estate which figured in the 1798 rebellion is offering to make a financial contribution to any purchasers prepared to restore his vast Palladian-style house. Richard Robinson (90), a former aircraft engineer and the last of his family, is selling Newberry Hall Demesne and its expansive 444-acre farm in Carbury, Co Kildare, exactly 100 years after his father bought it for £8,500.
Even with the recent fall off in property values, Navan estate agency Raymond Potterton expects the demesne to sell for between €7 million and €7.5 million but says that Mr Robinson is willing to make a “generous financial concession” to new owners guaranteeing to return it to its former glory. How much the restoration work will cost has not been established though Mr Potterton acknowledges that it will involve a “serious amount of money”.
The large, rambling two-storey over basement home joined to two pavilion wings dates from the 1760s and has become quite rundown in recent years. Mr Robinson was, like his father, educated at Clongowes Wood College and was only four years married when his wife, Margaret Ryan, was killed in a road accident. He never remarried.
The entrance hall of Newberry Hall and the three main reception rooms on the ground floor still retain a great deal of their period decor even if the place is in some disarray with the wallpaper now faded and falling from the walls. The overall impression is of travelling back in time. New owners will want to completely refurbish and modernise the house without destroying its sense of history.
