Historic elegance by the River Liffey

Lisney has taken on the sale of Marshfield House, an elegant three-storey house with frontage on to the

Liffey in Leixlip, Co Kildare. The six-bedroom Queen Anne house set on eight acres had been asking close to €2 million. However, it is now back on the market at €1.75 million.

Marshfield House, built between 1711 and 1713, was constructed on behalf of Benjamin Rayner, a Leixlip innkeeper. He had obtained a 90-year lease from a Joseph Marriot. As part of his lease Raynor was "obliged to produce two dozen trouts yearly and every year at Christmas".

Given that the property has a quarter of a mile of Liffey frontage and fishing rights over the river, well-known for its salmon and trout stocks, one imagines it wasn’t too much of an annual imposition.

The five-bay house faces the river and the property boundary is in the middle of the river. From the bank you are looking across at Lucan Demesne, a public park of 200 acres of woodland and grassland located in Fingal, Kildare, and south Dublin.

Bishop in residence

The house is said to take its name from archbishop Narcissus Marsh, founder of Marsh’s Library.

His niece Grace Marshfield was an early occupant, and according to one of the estate agents on whose books the property had earlier been asking €1.95 million, it is believed that the bishop himself resided at the property for a time.

It has a beautiful entrance hall with feature arch and original carved staircase.

While more than 300 years old, the 390sq m (4,200sq ft) house is well-maintained and doesn’t really need modernisation apart from a few superficial décor updates.

At hall level, there are two reception rooms. The drawingroom has a carved marble Adams-style fireplace with black granite surround.

There is also a garden room, a more recent addition, and a pine kitchen which features an exposed red-brick chimney breast.

The next owner might like to change this or paint the units a fashionable shade of grey. There are three bedrooms on the first floor and on the half landing the stairs spurs off to the next floor where there are another three bedrooms. The master bedroom has an en suite bathroom.

The house has numerous stone outhouses and a garage as well as the remains of two stone follies, one at the entrance and one at the edge of the Liffey. Both are completely camouflaged by ivy but would be worth restoring.

Eight acres

Set on about eight acres the property comes with four post-and-railed paddocks that can be accessed through a separate entrance to the lands via a road known locally as the “Black Avenue” which leads to St Catherine’s Road.

The property is a two-mile drive from Weston Airport. Dublin Airport is 11 miles away. Dublin city centre is a similar distance.