Bayswell House

Detached five-bay two-storey over part-raised basement house with dormer attic, c.1775, on a T-shaped plan with single-bay two-storey central return to west. Extensively renovated, c.1900, possibly with dormer attic added. Now in use as guesthouse. Hipped slate roof on a T-shaped plan (hipped to dormer attic windows) with terracotta ridge tiles, rendered chimney stacks, and cast-iron rainwater goods on roughcast eaves having iron brackets. Unpainted roughcast walls (over part slate-hung construction to side (south) elevation). Square-headed window openings (round-headed window opening to return) with cut-limestone sills, replacement two-over-two timber sash windows, c.1900, retaining three-over-three timber sash windows to basement having wrought iron railings, and fixed-pane timber windows to dormer attic (eight-over-eight timber sash windows in bipartite arrangement to return having overlight). Round-headed door opening approached by six cut-limestone steps having wrought iron bars, timber panelled doorcase, and timber panelled double doors having fanlight. Interior with timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from road in own grounds.

A well-appointed substantial house representing an important element of the late eighteenth-century domestic architectural heritage of County Kilkenny. Incorporating pleasing Classically-derived proportions with the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor lending an elegant quality to the site the composition of the house is centred on an attractive doorcase displaying early joinery. Having been well maintained the house presents an early aspect with much of the historic fabric surviving intact both to the exterior and to the interior. At one time having associations with the Byrne family of Clara Castle (c.1450) in Clara Upper (not included in survey) the house remains of additional importance for the connections with the Butler and the McMahon Delany families.