If you’ve ever dreamed of being a lord or lady of the manor, purchasing Prehen House, a grade-one listed property overlooking the river Foyle less than 4km outside the walled city of Derry, could make that wish come true.
The landmark property has plenty of room to host friends for the weekend and offers acres of space and riveting stories to regale guests with.
Facing west across the water, the detached two-storey over-basement Georgian property is set on an elevated site of almost 10 acres and comes to market with a consecrated Russian Orthodox Chapel, a consecrated Church of Ireland church, a separate three-bedroom, one-bathroom guest cottage, stables and various outbuildings.
It extends to 675sq m (7,265sq ft) and was described in 1835 as “commodious” by George Downes in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs.
Classic Portobello Victorian imbued with modern style and efficiency for €1.595m
Wisteria-clad home with American-style luxury interiors on 14-acre estate outside Naas for €4.95m
Remarkable 45-hectare estate worthy of Gatsby in Co Westmeath for €8 million
Trendy Dalkey three-bed with garden room for €895,000
Prehen House is on the market for €415,888 (£350,000) through agents Savills, less than the €450,000 median price of a house in Dublin, according to the first-quarter MyHome property report. It amounts to €613 per square metre.
It’s a lot of space at a value rarely seen in the country homes market.
The rubble-stone-fronted, seven-bedroom, three-bathroom main house has sandstone window dressings and gorgeous period features. These include a Portland stone entrance hall, with four main reception rooms leading off it.
The house features handsome chimneypieces, six-panel doors and six-over-six sash windows with working shutters throughout.
The kitchen would benefit from updating but has an Aga in situ. It has a flagstone floor, while the library has gilded floor-to-ceiling bookcases and tall bay windows. The basement features fine brick-vaulted space.
The diningroom is painted a vivid burnt orange and has painted murals on the walls and a bullseye effect on the ceiling; it is characterful and another talking point should your party tire of hearing about the property’s previous residents.
The manor house dates from about 1740 and is thought to have been designed by architect Michael Priestley – the initials MP have been found on its rafters. It was built for Andrew Knox, MP for Donegal, after he married Prehen heiress Honoria Tomkins.
It also boasts a story of star-crossed lovers involving the daughter of the house and a John MacNaghten, the son of a Derry merchant who inherited the Benvardon Estate in Co Antrim as a child. He attended Trinity College Dublin but didn’t complete his degree there.
A widower and notorious gambler, MacNaghten racked up debts that his friends stood surety on. Lord Massereene, brother-in-law to his late wife, got him a job as tax collector for the county of Coleraine (now Co Derry). He embezzled four times his annual salary, which his trusting friends then had to repay.
Despite this conduct unbecoming of a gentleman, Knox took pity on him and put him up in Prehen, where he is said to have taken a shine to Knox’s daughter, Anne Knox, reportedly then aged 15.
Romantic versions of the tale portray her as his lover and wife – they are said to have eloped. In other versions the so-called marriage – for some say it was a sham – was forbidden by her father.
One can imagine that Knox may well have noted MacNaghten’s debt-accruing abilities to be concerning and decided to get his daughter out of the house and down to Dublin.
MacNaghten got word of her departure and thought it a good idea to round up a band of men to try to kidnap Anne, holding up her carriage at gunpoint.
Her father was travelling with her and he and his men returned fire, and she was fatally wounded and died – apparently killed by a bullet from MacNaghten’s gun.
MacNaghten was arrested and tried for murder at Lifford Courthouse in December 1761. Found guilty, he was taken to be hanged and is said to have jumped from the rope with such gusto that it snapped, propelling him into crowd.
Instead of fleeing the scene, he apparently instead shouted out that he didn’t want to be forever known as “half-hanged MacNaughten” and voluntarily climbed back on to the gallows – incidentally, built by the Knox family – to be hanged a second time.
Adjacent to the house is a pasture known as Post Office Tree Field, so called because it is believed that is was under a tree here that MacNaghten and Anne Knox secretly exchanged love letters.
Imagine if these walls could talk.
