Townley Hall, Georgian country house in Tullyallen, Ireland

Townley Hall is a 27-metre-square Georgian country house built of local stone in simple neoclassical lines, broken only by a Doric portico. Its interior is dominated by a spiral staircase set within a domed rotunda. It stands in parkland at Tullyallen, about 5 km west of Drogheda, County Louth.

The Townley estate had belonged to the Townley family since Cromwellian times. Blayney Townley, an MP, inherited his nephew William Balfour's wealth in 1739 and added Balfour to his surname. His grandson, also Blayney Townley Balfour and later MP for Belturbet, commissioned Francis Johnston to design the present house in 1794. It was built between 1794 and 1798. In 1957 the house and 350 hectares were sold to Trinity College Dublin for use as an agricultural school.

The Townley Balfour name comes from Blayney Townley, an MP who inherited his nephew William Balfour's wealth in 1739 and added Balfour to his own surname. The house stayed with that family until Mrs Townley Balfour died childless in 1955. Today the School of Philosophy and Economic Science, a registered charity based in Ballsbridge, Dublin, runs it as a residential study centre.

The property operates as a residential center and visits require advance arrangement through scheduled appointments. Plan ahead if you wish to see the interior, as access is not available on a walk-in basis.

The 1794 commission went to Francis Johnston, who also designed the entrance gates and gate lodge, a dovecote, walled garden and farmyard buildings on the estate. The present house replaced an earlier one standing about 100 metres to its north.