Settler’s rest in Drogheda
BETWEEN 1920 and 1946, some 10,000 emigrants made their way from the United Kingdom to South Africa to take up the offer of free land to farm.
They were sponsored by the 1820 Memorial Settlers Association, established to honour the original British colonisers of the Eastern Cape, and like their 19th-century predecessors, their real reason for being there was to counter black domination of the region.
Among them was a young Louth man, Kivas Richardson Brunskill, who moved to South Africa in 1925, but he died less than a year later, under unusual,though not apparently suspicious, circumstances, succumbing to a heart attack at the age of only 24.
Brunskill was the only son of Reverend Thomas Redmond Brunskill, who lived at St Mary’s Rectory,Dublin Road, Drogheda, a fine Edwardian mock-Tudor house at Dublin Road designed by architect Frederick Shaw in 1911. Having long since passed out of ecclesiastical hands, the house is now known as Knockmount. Otherwise it remains much as it was, standing on 1.8 acres of beautifully wooded grounds and with original features inside such as ornate plaster ceilings, fireplaces and oak floors.
It has been renovated and extended, however, and now stands at 2,992 sq ft on two floors with a basement. There are six bedrooms on the first floor, all fitted with sinks. As some of the plumbing is in place, it may be possible to install an en suite. Otherwise, there’s a shower room, bathroom and separate toilet on this floor.
The ground floor has an old-style kitchen with an Aga and there’s a back kitchen, boot room, larder and utility separately. The reception rooms consist of a drawing room, dining room and living room, all with fireplaces, as well as an office. The basement has a wine cellar and store.
Knockmount is for sale for €950,000 with Savills, (01) 663 4350.