Ardress House

About

Ardress House is a country house in Annaghmore, County Armagh, in Northern Ireland. The house was owned by the Clarke, then Ensor families, including the writer and lawyer George Ensor. The estate, which includes orchards, a farm and a dairy, borders the River Tall. Collections within the house include eighteenth-century paintings and furniture. In 1959, the National Trust acquired Ardress from Captain Charles Ensor with support from the Ulster Land Fund.

History: Ardress House was originally a farmhouse built around 1700 by the Clarke family, after their original home was destroyed during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Dating for the construction of the house is supported by dendrochronological analysis undertaken by Queen's University Belfast. In 1760, the heiress Sarah Clarke married George Ensor, a Dublin-based architect. After about twenty years of marriage the couple moved to Ardress House, which they remodelled in a neo-classical style. Ensor doubled the size of the house and added a classical portico. His main focus was on the decoration of a drawing room, which was stuccoed by the artist Michael Stapleton. George and Sarah's son, also named George, was born in 1769. A...