I had a wonderful visit to Lissan House at the weekend, courtesy of the Friends of Lissan Trust. Jane Greer, our knowledgeable and passionate tour guide, enthralled us with the history and stories of the house and its extensive lands in a tour that lasted almost two hours! Jane has obviously benefited from an association with the last family member to have lived in the house, Mrs Hazel Radclyffe-Dolling, who sadly passed away in 2006. I was very pleasantly surprised by the numbers of people that turned up on Sunday to see the house and there were large groups for all the tours, so there is plenty of interest out there in the property. The house was also the former residence of the artist, Sir Robert Ponsonby Staples and a blue plaque awarded by the Ulster History Circle marks this.
Many of you will remember Lissan House from the BBC's Restoration series, when it finished runner-up to the Victoria Baths in Manchester. Well, the house is still very much in need of help, both financial and logistical. For more information on how you might help contact the Friends of Lissan Trust.
Hear Elsie Bell talk about Lissan House here. If you have any other stories about Lissan House you are welcome to share them here.
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3 comments:
Looks like a really interesting place. Nothing much on the website about the farming angle, though, sadly.
Thanks Luigi, I haven't checked the website thoroughly but yes I don't think there is much on the farming history of the property. Actually, the website was designed by Hazel Radclyffe Dolling herself and the Friends of Lissan Trust are reluctant to alter it for understandable reasons. However, our guide did mention something about the history of the walled garden and how there was no record of pesticides, or other chemical inputs, ever being applied to that part of the property. Based on this I beleive that the 'Friends' are looking at options to develop it as an organic farm. I think there would be all sorts of options here such as local marketing, rural restaurant. It would be interesting to know more about the plans and to research a bit more about the history of farming in the general area.
Great ideas. Amazing that pesticides or other chemical inputs have never been used on the site. I wonder, though, whether they just mean modern stuff. Surely they must have used some inorganic pesticides in the old days? Maybe even some natural pesticides?
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