Knocktopher Abbey in Co Kilkenny, a Victorian Gothic-style home with a total of 22 beds and 23 bathrooms, is on the market for €1.75 million.
The property is made up of the Abbey building along with converted stables and coach houses that are divided into seven self-contained units, giving a total of 1,866sq m of living space.
The home is set on around 17 acres of grounds, and can be accessed through limestone pillars to a winding gravel drive that is flanked on either side by mature woodland.
The Abbey is surrounded by landscaped gardens which incorporate pleasure walks, a yew tree-lined walk and many specimens of oak, maple and sycamore trees.
The grounds also feature an embedded Celtic cross garden design, serpentine flowerbeds and a tarmacadam tennis court.
The period building incorporates many signature features of the era, including pointed arches, lancet windows and a pyramidal roofed porch tower.
It also features the presence of the remains of the first Carmelite Friary in Ireland within the property, along with the Trinity Holy Well, dating back to 1356.
The origins of the house date back to the 14th century when it was established by James Butler, the 2nd Earl of Ormond, as a settlement and friary of the Carmelite order, which existed there until 1536.
A section of the old abbey abuts an earlier Norman castle, part of which can still be seen on the property today.
The detached, three-bay, two-storey with dormer attic property was rebuilt in 1866 following a fire and is constructed of deep grey limestone offset by granite.
Knocktopher Abbey is built on a T-shaped plan and is centred on a single-bay, three-storey tower.
The main entrance foyer retains many original details, one of which is the main staircase.
The building also boasts a pitched slate roof, cast-iron rainwater goods and cut granite sills and thresholds amongst many other period features.
Many rooms at Knocktopher Abbey also retain features from the Victorian era, including moulded plasterwork cornice, carved timber surrounds to the windows and door openings, which frame original timber panelled doors.
The accommodation is laid out over three floors, including an entrance foyer, a reception area, a large open plan bar/recreation area with customer toilets, a commercial kitchen and eight individual suites, each containing its own kitchen/lounge area, bedroom and separate bathroom.
In addition, there is the great hall, bistro and numerous ancillary rooms, such as staff quarters, lounge areas, laundry and service rooms.
The ground floor accommodation comprises an entrance lobby, reception/office, residents' lounge/recreation area, customer bathrooms and a bedroom suite overlooking the gardens with a feature bay window. This suite contains a kitchen cum dining space, an open-plan living/bedroom area and bathroom.
Further, on the ground floor is the bistro with separate access to the front of the abbey, a large commercial kitchen with a vintage AGA, ancillary storage rooms, boiler room and access to the back stairwell. The tower wing is also accessible at this level, but it is in need of restoration.
On the first floor, the accommodation has a large landing/lounge area with feature bay windows, three guest suites which are self-contained with kitchen and bathrooms, a staff lounge area, staff accommodation and the great hall, which is complete with a barrel-vaulted ceiling and a separate kitchen.
The second floor includes a further five suites of varying sizes, alongside ancillary rooms used for storage and laundry.
The converted stable block and coach house buildings located on the western side of the Abbey contain a further seven self-catering cottages, which are a mix of one and two bedroom units and are of single and two-storey layout.
They have each been used as holiday rental properties since conversion in the 1990s.
Knocktopher is a rural village which is around 20 minutes outside Kilkenny City and 33km from Waterford City.
The village is adjacent to Thomastown, where there is a frequent train service to and from Dublin and Waterford City, and access to and from Dublin is via Junction 10 on the M9 motorway, around 2km from the village.
For more information and photos of Knocktopher Abbey, visit myhome.ie
