Corravahan

Corravahan, or Coravahn as it was called by a number of former owners, is a substantial early nineteenth century classical country house of c. 1840, designed by William Farrell in a restrained late-Georgian style. The house, which was originally built as a rectory by the powerful Beresford family, replaced the original eighteenth century parsonage at Drung. Essentially a square, regular three-bay three storey block over a basement, the West elevation has a full height two-bay bow, the entrance front has a single bay, single storey central porch, and there is a substantial return to the North.

The principal rooms on the ground floor include the drawing and dining rooms, study and library. The main bedrooms are on the first floor while the upper floors were used as a nursery floor and include a schoolroom.

Corravahan continued in use as the rectory until 1870, although it had been sold to the rector, the Reverend Charles Leslie, later bishop of Kilmore and a cousin of the Leslie family from nearby Glaslough, or Castle Leslie. The house retains many of its original period fittings; chimneypieces, plasterwork, joinery and timber sash windows, many with their original glass panes.

The original ruled-and-lined lime rendering was removed from the South elevation in the 1890s, revealing the rubble limestone beneath, while the surrounding grounds include gardens and mature woodland, with many fine specimen trees and shrubs.

Bishop Leslie’s descendants lived on at Corravahan until the late twentieth century. After the last lady owners died in the 1970s, the house was only occupied occasionally until purchased by the present owners, Ian and Rachael Elliott in 2003. The Elliotts have undertaken a sympathetic programme of conservation and repair, while the restoration of the eighteenth and nineteenth-century gardens is continuing. The upper yard contains a coach house and stables, along with former staff accommodation.