Lily's Blog

When I wrote a post recently on wild flowers in the field beside our house, I mentioned the fact that I had worked for a number of summers when at secondary school and college in Lyons Estate, which was then a research station for UCD Dept of Agriculture. I worked for a Lecturer in Grassland research.

The main house, Lyons House was a beautiful Georgian house, which was used for labs, offices and canteen. At that time alot of the original Georgian features were intact but the house had begun to fall into disrepair. Even still the house had a ‘grand’ feel to it and we were free to wander around the grounds, beautiful gardens and artificial lake.

I looked up the UCD website for information on Lyons Estate.
UCD Lyons Research Farm, which is part of the original Lyons Estate, is located adjacent to the village of Newcastle in Co Kildare. Lyons Estate was originally purchased by UCD in 1963. The estate consisted of approximately 1,200 acres including Lyons House. The house itself was formerly the seat of Lord Cloncurry and is a period house of national importance. In the early 1990s, the university disposed of the house and approximately 620 acres of land. The farm now consists of approximately 580 acres. It is used for teaching and research field activities by the School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine.

The late Dr Tony Ryan of Ryanair, bought Lyons House and land in 1996 and carried out extensive restoration work on the main house itself and to other houses and out-buildings on the estate.

On Thursday I saw in the Property section of the Times that his family is now preparing to sell Lyons House and its 600 acres.

Looking at the photographs, I can be transported back in time to when the now beautiful drawing room in the photograph was the office of Professor Ruane, then head of UCD Dept of Agriculture. (Me a student can’t have been in there that often, but do recognise it). I also recognise the large entrance hallway.

Quoting from the Times piece;
Tony Ryan, whose vast wealth came late in life, through Ryanair, threw all his energies into creating one of the finest estates in the country, complete with formal gardens, and a state-of-the-art equestrian centre for his beloved thoroughbred horses.

The result was a very grand house in immaculate taste. Irish furniture had been bought from all over the world and decorators from London toiled to create a grand country house atmosphere. Formal rooms, such as the dining and music rooms with their 18th century wall paintings of famous Irish views, are countered by big welcoming spaces like the Orangerie which comfortably takes 20 for lunch.

And quoting again from the Times article;

The Village at Lyons, a series of renovated and new cut-stone houses on the edge of the estate by the Grand Canal, will not be included in the sale. The design for this scheme was based on the estate’s original canal station, and it is now run as a separate business, with a popular restaurant at its centre.

About two years ago my sister and I went to the restaurant in The Village at Lyons for lunch. The place is hugely worth a visit.

One small thing I remember from all those years ago was how the accounts department didn’t know how to classify a ’secondary school student’ for payroll purposes. They didn’t have any such category. I was given the most suitable job description they could find, so they could pay me. Whilst I can’t remember my exact job description, I do remember that my salary was in excess of what a student could reasonably have expected to earn. I always think of this as a good example of how inflexible large organisations become, to their own cost.

The downside of this however was I always had this ‘good job’ to return to each summer. Thus I didn’t travel like I should have had, when at college. I made up for it later though.

Dr. Ryan did a beautiful job restoring Lyons House. He lived there while in Ireland until his death in 2007. The price being quoted for the house and lands is €80 million, down from a valuation of €100 million at the height of the property boom.

I just hope Lyons Estate finds another good owner.