Ardbraccan House, Palladian country house in Meath, Ireland
Ardbraccan House is a Palladian country house in the townland of Ardbraccan, County Meath. Its main block is a four-bay, two-storey Georgian structure completed in the 1770s, with two flanking wings begun in 1734 to designs by Richard Castle. A linking tunnel built under Bishop Thomas O'Beirne connects the house to the stable block and outbuildings.
The house was designed in the 18th century by noted architects and became an important regional building during that period. From the 1770s until 1885 it served as the residence of the Church of Ireland bishop of Meath.
The Irish name Ard Breacáin means "high place of Saint Brecan", and the parish church of St Ultan's, built around the same time as the house, is attributed to Daniel Augustus Beaufort. A legend holds that gravestones from the Catholic cemetery at Markiestown were taken and used as steps into the servants' quarters, a story tied to rivalry over tithes paid to the Church of Ireland.
The house stands in the townland of Ardbraccan near Navan, County Meath, and the M3 motorway, opened in 2010, runs through part of its historic demesne. A tunnel links the main block to the stable block and outbuildings, which Thomas O'Beirne developed following Beaufort's plans. The house was opened to the public after its late-1990s restoration.
A legend holds that gravestones from the Catholic cemetery at Markiestown, some miles away, were taken and used as steps into the servants' quarters. Whether this was myth or fact, the cemetery lost all its gravestones between the mid and late 18th century.
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