Beaulieu House is a 17th-century house and gardens, among the first unfortified residences built in Ireland. It was created around an old Plunkett property by Sir Henry Tichbourne, who was granted the lands in 1666 by Charles II.
Set on the north bank of the River Boyne between Drogheda and the Irish Sea, the estate was originally owned by the St. Oliver branch of the Plunkett family. Sir Henry Tichbourne served in the Army in Ireland and as Governor General of Drogheda during the Restoration period.
The Tichbourne family transformed Beaulieu House into its present form in the mid-17th and early 18th centuries, and it has remained largely unchanged since. Once a stone Plunkett castle, the house now combines brick and stone, rendered in the late 19th century, with distinctive Dutch brick surrounds around the windows and doors—a style unique in Ireland.
The walled garden, thought to have been designed by Dutch artist Willem Van Der Hagen in the 1720s, is one of the earliest of its kind in Ireland. Today, Beaulieu House is owned by Cara Konig, the eleventh generation of her family to live there. Guided tours of the house and its four-acre walled garden are available.
Please see the website for further details. www.beaulieuhouse.ie or email info@discoverboynevalley.ie
