Abbeyleix House, Georgian country house in County Laois, Ireland

Abbeyleix House is an 18th-century country house in County Laois, Ireland, set within a large estate that includes formal gardens, woodland, and open farmland. The building rises three stories and is approached by long tree-lined drives that frame its broad front facade.

Thomas Vesey, later Viscount de Vesci, commissioned James Wyatt in 1770 to build the house on higher ground; the old abbey lands had been bought by Denny Muschamp in 1675 and passed to the Vesey family in 1699. The area was flood-prone, so de Vesci moved his workers and tenants to a planned estate town beside the coach road, 2 km northeast of the house. The de Vescis lived here until the mid-1990s; Sir David Davies restored the house and demesne from 1995, and John Collison bought it in 2021.

The town of Abbeyleix was laid out by the de Vesci family as a planned estate town, with workers' dwellings moved to higher ground east of the house. The estate passed to John Collison in 2021, and the house remains a private residence.

The house stands about 2 km southwest of Abbeyleix town, which lies along the old coach road; the estate covers some 1,000 acres of walled gardens, farmland and woodland. Access is by private drive, so plan on arriving by car. The grounds are private property, so check opening arrangements before travelling.

The Cistercian monastery near the River Nore was founded in 1183, and after the dissolution of the monasteries 1,500 acres of its lands were granted to the 10th Earl of Ormond. In 1675 the wealthy landowner Denny Muschamp bought the old abbey lands, which passed in 1699 to his daughter, who had married Sir Thomas Vesey.