Townley Hall

Townley Hall
Doric portico at Townley Hall
General information
Status	Private dwelling house
Type	House
Architectural style	Georgian
Town or city	Tullyallen, County Louth
Country	Ireland
Coordinates	53°43′39″N 6°26′37″W / 53.7274417°N 6.443661°W / 53.7274417; -6.443661
Construction started	1794
Completed	1802
Technical details
Material	limestone
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Francis Johnston
Developer	Blayney Townley Balfour
References
[1]

Townley Hall is a Georgian country house which stands in parkland at Tullyallen some 5 km west of Drogheda, County Louth in the Republic of Ireland. It was designed by Irish architect Francis Johnston for the Townley Balfour family and built between 1794 and 1798.

The house is 27 metres (89 feet) square, built in local stone with simple neoclassical lines, broken only by a Doric portico. The interior is dominated by a spiral staircase in a domed rotunda. The building replaced a previous house which once stood some 100 metres (330 feet) to the north of the present building

The Townley estate had belonged to the Townley family since Cromwellian times. Blayney Townley, MP had inherited the wealth of his nephew, William Balfour, in 1739 and added Balfour to his surname. The Townley estate passed to his grandson, also Blayney Townley Balfour, later the MP for Belturbet, who in 1794 commissioned Francis Johnston to design the present house. Other buildings on the site, which were designed by Johnston, include the entrance gates and gate lodge, a dovecote, walled garden, farmyard and farmyard houses.^{[citation needed][2]}

Mrs Townley Balfour, wife of the grandson of Blayney jnr, died childless in 1955 and the property passed to her cousin David Crichton. He sold the house and 350 hectares (860 acres) of land in 1957 to Trinity College, Dublin for used as an agricultural school. In 1969 the college sold 200 hectares (490 acres) of farmland to the Land Commission and 150 hectares (370 acres) of woodland to the Forestry Department.

In 1967 Professor Frank Mitchell of Trinity College bought the house with some 25 hectares (62 acres) of surrounding land and ran it as a study centre for several years.

The house is now owned by the School of Philosophy and Economic Science, a registered charity based in Ballsbridge Dublin, who use it as a residential study centre.^[3]

The house and grounds are private and access is strictly by appointment.^{[citation needed]}

Among the residents of Townley Hall were, according to documents held by national Library of Ireland (MS 50,863).

• Anne Mary Balfour (1820–95).
• Blayney Balfour Townley (1832)^[4]
• Blayney Reynell Townley Esq. (head of household 1911)
• Elizabeth Sarah Balfour (1820–60).
• Florence Henrietta Townley Balfour (1881–93).
• John Willoughby Cole, 2nd Earl Enniskillen 1833^[5]
• Kathleen Balfour (1820–60).
• Letitia Frances Balfour (1828–85)
• Lowry Vessey Townley Balfour.
• Madeline Elizabeth Townley (1867-1955)
• Mary Frances Balfour (1820–60).
• Rev. William Townley Balfour (1888–95).

(Eight servants in 1911).^[6]

• Beaulieu House and Gardens
• Dowth Hall

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Townley Hall, Tullyallen.

• Website of the estate
• "Townley Hall- History of the house". Retrieved 26 June 2014.
• Townley Hall Collection at the Library of Trinity College Dublin