When the present owners bought Fruit Hill, County Wexford some 25 years ago, the house was a roofless shell, having been allowed to fall into dereliction for much of the last century. Long associated with the Glascott family and believed to date from the second quarter of the 18th century, the building is wonderfully idiosyncratic in appearance, from the façade’s pediment containing a Venetian window and flanked by dormer windows, to the ground floor where the fenestration was lowered on one side (the drawing room) but not the other (dining room). The gable-ended main block, its upper portion still carrying evidence of having been weather-slated, is only one room deep but extended at the rear by two wings to form a U-shaped house. The owners have not so much restored Fruit Hill as brought it back from near-death, a task few others would have been sufficiently brave to take on, since little more than the walls – and not even all of those – remained on the site. Their work here is an admirable labour of love and testimony to the fact that no building should be deemed beyond rescue.
I’m completely seduced by this house. Your article does it and the owners proud.
What a wonderful legacy!
All praise and strength to the elbows of those involved . No doubt there were tears and tantrums,yes , and doubts too . But your family ,county, country and history will always be grateful . I am in exile in Australia , where the brief built history is so unappreciated and of flimsy fabrication.Thankfully , they are only now beginning to appreciate the multi – millennial aboriginal history of the nation . It is always a proud boast of mine that the only historic buildings here ,owe their design and construction to the early Irish settlers . Obviously , we built to last , as your efforts are testimony !
… this is a superbly timely rescue & restoration … earlier, it would simply have slipped slowly back into the ground .
Fabulous. Can we see the interiors please?!
Beautiful house, noble cause and no doubt gratifying exercise to new owners as well as to Irish heritage. If only more could do the same.
A lovely success story and praise well deserved to the owners who had the vision to restore this charming old house.
Bravo, to all concerned.
What an entrancing house! It looks much earlier than ‘second quarter’, much more characterful and friendly. A real tribute to the owners’ dedication and taste.
[…] Hill, Co Wexford recently featured here (see https://theirishaesthete.com/2020/03/07/a-labour-of-love), a sensitively restored house believed to date from the second quarter of the 18th century and […]