Stradbally Hall
Coordinates: 53°00′38″N 7°09′19″W / 53.01061°N 7.1554°W Stradbally Hall is a large house in Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland. It is owned by the Cosby family and is positioned in the heart of Stradbally, around ten minutes from Portlaoise on the N80. The estate has hosted the Electric Picnic boutique arts and music festival since it began in 2004 and also hosts other events such as the National Steam Rally. The Stradbally Woodland Railway operates a short narrow gauge track on the grounds.
During the English colonial plantations of Laois and Offaly, Elizabeth I of England took possession of the Franciscan religious house in Stradbally, which she then gave to Francis Cosby as a reward for his part in suppressing the native Irish. The family rebuilt large parts of the estate and landscaped it to their tastes and desires, including the addition of a hermitage. Encountering financial difficulties, the family left Ireland for the city of Bristol, England in the early eighteenth century. An account written at the time described how the family returned rather quickly to Stradbally "not all of us liking England".
...
Wikipedia