Newbridge Estate

Newbridge Demesne is an early 18th-century Georgian estate and mansion situated in north County Dublin, Ireland. It was built by Archbishop Charles Cobbe in 1736 and remained the family home of the Irish Cobbe family until 1985 when it was acquired by Dublin County Council in a unique arrangement with the family.

Set within 400 acres of partially wooded park, Newbridge House is one of the finest surviving examples of Georgian architecture.

On June 19, 1736, Charles Cobbe, then Bishop of Kildare, paid £5,526.5.6 for the townlands of Donabate, Lainstown, Haggardstown and Newbridge, containing 490 acres. However Bishop Cobbe had a prior interest in these lands, having come to the financial assistance of the Weyms family (port owners) some years earlier. when they had difficulty in repaying a mortgage taken out on the lands. On 21 July 1742 Bishop Cobbe made his second purchase of lands in the parish. These consisted of the townlands of Kilcreagh, Corballis and Baltra, containing in all 510 acres. The purchase price was £6,425.00. As with the first purchase the Cobbe interest came into being through the owner, Maurice Keating, having difficulty in repaying a mortgage. The final purchase of land by the Cobbe family was made in 1811, when Charles purchased the fields north of Newbridge Demesne and bordering on Turvey Avenue.

The Archbishop was succeeded by his son, Thomas, who in 1751 married Lady Elizabeth Beresford, daughter of the Earl of Tyrone. She brought a wealth with her, thus enabling major improvements to be made to the house. In the Red Drawing Room, added by them, they lavishly entertained and hung many of their superb pictures purchased on their behalf by the incumbent of Donabate Church, the Rev. Matthew Pilkington, who was well qualified to do the buying, as it was he who composed the first major English Dictionary of Painters.

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