{"id":60210,"date":"2025-09-12T20:11:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/60210\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T20:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:11:16","slug":"historic-former-boarding-school-home-outside-carlow-town-for-sale-for-e1-1m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/60210\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic former boarding school home outside Carlow Town for sale for \u20ac1.1m"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everton was a pioneering independent Catholic college before the Church got education fully under its control\n<\/p>\n

Asking price: \u20ac1.1m (guiding for auction)<\/p>\n

Agent: Jordan (045) 433550<\/p>\n

When a young Darragh Jordan was enrolled in Clongowes Wood School back in the day, he was likely the only new pupil moving to a boarding school from a former boarding school.<\/p>\n

His family home, Everton House, a detached period home on the Carlow and Laois border, had been leased for use as a boarding school in 1823 making it one of the very first schools to open for Catholic children in Ireland after the repeal of the Education Act of 1695. The latter had made it illegal for Irish children to be educated to a Catholic ethos under the penal laws.<\/p>\n

Historians estimate that at this time, 9,000 so called \u2018hedge schools\u2019 were operating throughout Ireland, with a total daily roll of up to 400,000 students.<\/p>\n

These were unofficial operations run clandestinely by teachers who were paid for by parental whip-around, and while most were attended in barns and private homes, many operated outdoors (as the name suggests), in spots where British forces could be observed approaching and allow pupils and teachers a quick getaway.<\/p>\n

\"Dining<\/p>\n

Dining room<\/p>\n

The arrival of Catholic Emancipation and the introduction of the 1831 Education Act saw regular schools rolled out across the country, and led the Catholic Church to start taking control of the education of Catholic children. But, in between, there was a brief window in which a few pioneering schools existed outside the formal control of the church.<\/p>\n

One of these was the classical day boarding school set up at Everton House in 1823, when educator George Alexander Lynch took out his lease from the Thomas family, who owned the grand property (and who would trade up to Belmont, a huge castellated house outside Carlow, which was demolished in the 1970s).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The drawing room<\/p>\n

The school opened with 32 boarders to start with, each paying \u00a340 a year, which was well above an average annual income at the time. We can therefore presume Lynch\u2019s institution was aimed at the scions of wealthier Catholic families.<\/p>\n

The classical day boarding school also earned the sobriquet \u201cpoets corner\u201d because of its popular association in local lore with three leading Irish wordsmiths of the era.<\/p>\n

One of its teachers was the poet JJ Callanan, born in Cork in 1795, who taught here before departing for Portugal to work as a tutor. He wrote To a Sprig of Mountain Heath while teaching here. He died in Lisbon in 1829.<\/p>\n

Additionally, James Clarence Mangan is said to have composed Dark Rosaleen during time spent here, and John Boyle O\u2019Reilly is also alleged to have composed Carlow Robin here. However, the latter was born in 1844, after the school closed, so any association with the house, if at all, came much later. Only Callanan\u2019s presence at the school is documented.<\/p>\n

\"Front<\/p>\n

Front gates<\/p>\n

The first Christian Brothers school opened in Dublin\u2019s inner city in 1828 and after the National School system was set up in 1831, the Catholic Church\u2019s efforts to monopolise the education of its flock would put pressure on \u201cunofficial\u201d schools like Lynch\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the boarding school closed in either 1835 or 1838, after which the house was taken over by the FitzMaurice family who remained here into the 20th century.<\/p>\n

\"Everton<\/p>\n

Everton House outside Carlow Town was a pioneering boarding school in the early 1800s<\/p>\n

Today’s News in 90 Seconds, Friday, September 12<\/p>\n

There were stories of Everton being damaged by fire during the War of Independence and Civil War period, although no records attest to it. But World War I veteran Major Arthur FitzMaurice (formerly of the Royal Irish Rifles) did lodge an insurance claim regarding substantial damages following a \u2018burglary\u2019 which took place at Everton in the fraught period between 1919 to 1922.<\/p>\n

In the latter half of the 20th century, the property was owned by prize cattle, pig and sheep breeder Alfred Little.<\/p>\n

Darragh Jordan\u2019s parents Bernard and Kate acquired Everton House in 1987. The Carlow town based solicitor and his banker wife wanted something more rural, with grounds for their three children to grow up in.<\/p>\n

\"Darragh<\/p>\n

Darragh Jordan, who grew up at Everton House, which is still owned by his family<\/p>\n

\u201cWe moved in when I was three, and the house and the land was just one giant playground for us kids. The house has a front stairs and a back stairs and all sorts of nooks and crannies. But because it\u2019s an old house and it creaks, mum could tell exactly where we were at any time,\u201d Jordan says.<\/p>\n

“The house also overlooked everywhere on the 21 acres, so she could always see us play outside. There\u2019s a wooded area with trees to climb in and a stream runs through it. Every kid\u2019s dream really. We kept ponies, and both my sisters took part in competitions and did really well. We hosted Carlow Pony Club events. There\u2019s a lot of memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Jordan family moved in, they closed the old kitchen in a small room at the back of the house and moved it to its more central and larger present incarnation.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The kitchen<\/p>\n

A rickety old garage adjoining the house was rebuilt to provide a large utility and boot room for the outdoors focused family. In the courtyard, a derelict building was knocked and surface tennis courts were installed in its place.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents redid all the windows, some were restored and others replaced, all according to the rules under which the historic house is listed. Then they built a big new section of stables \u2013 this means the house is perfect for anyone who wants to keep ponies or horses. We did livery here for a time, and we were always working with horses when we were young.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Bernard\u2019s passing and the fact that none of the children are now living at home, the family is now selling up after almost four decades in residence.<\/p>\n

Everton\u2019s origins are something of a mystery. While the earliest records emerge in the early 1800s, the two-storey double bow-fronted residence is constructed in a style typical of the mid to late 1700s.<\/p>\n

\"Courtyard<\/p>\n

Courtyard and coach house<\/p>\n

The house comes with a courtyard and a range of outbuildings and also its own gate lodge, which offers rental opportunities or accommodation for elderly parents.<\/p>\n

The land spans just over 21 acres. And while the house actually sits a few hundred metres on the Laois side of the border, its location just 3.5 kilometres from Carlow town means it has long used a Carlow address.<\/p>\n

It is substantial in size at 5,382 sq ft \u2013 five times the size of an average family abode. Internally, the house showcases a wealth of period features including timber sash windows, working window shutters, high ceilings and decorative coving, all contributing to its historic architectural character.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The entrance hall<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an entrance hall with a grand hand-carved staircase and chequered black and white floor tiling; a bow-fronted drawing room with a timber floor and marble chimney piece; a bow-fronted formal dining room also with a marble chimney piece; a living room. again with a marble chimney piece; a study; a home office; a back hall; boot room and guest WC.<\/p>\n

The kitchen comes with a two-oven oil-fired Aga, granite worktops and French doors leading to the rear garden. There are six bedrooms upstairs, of which three are en suite, and there\u2019s also a main family bathroom.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

One of the six bedrooms<\/p>\n

The grounds are entered via electric gates to a winding tree-lined driveway, and its 21 acres are laid out in four paddocks, with mature tree boundaries and almost four acres of mature woodland.<\/p>\n

Positioned at the gates, the lodge offers 630 sq ft of accommodation divided into a sitting room, a kitchen\/dining room, two bedrooms and a bathroom.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The two-bedroom gate lodge<\/p>\n

The courtyard to the rear of the main house includes a lofted coach house with three loose boxes, a tack room, store and potting shed. A separate American barn houses three more loose boxes and a storage area.<\/p>\n

Recreational amenities include the tennis court and a floodlit all-weather arena. There is also a dedicated pump house\/boiler house.<\/p>\n

Nearby Carlow town offers amenities including two large shopping centres, and rail links to Dublin and Waterford.<\/p>\n

The Jordan estate agency is selling Everton at auction on October 9 in the Talbot Hotel Carlow, with a guide of \u20ac1.1m attached.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everton was a pioneering independent Catholic college before the Church got education fully under its control Asking price:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,19,17,35908],"class_list":{"0":"post-60210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-mark-keenan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}