Drayton Villa in Clara, County Offaly dates from 1849 when built for Lewis Goodbody at the time of his marriage to Rebecca Clibborn. The Goodbodys were a Quaker family who had moved into this part of the country in 1825 and established a number of industries in the town, including a milling business and a jute factory, taking advantage of the river Brosna, The original block was of three bays and two storeys over basement, but in the mid-1860s another two-storey bay was added to the west side of the house, while a conservatory (since lost) was built on the building’s east side. Drayton Villa remained home to successive generations of Goodbodys until 1934 when it was sold to the Roman Catholic church for use as the parish priest’s residence. In February 2020, the house and 25 acres of land were offered for sale for €675,000 and subsequently bought by Offaly County Council ‘for public purposes’. Local media reports suggest that the land might be used for building a new school but nothing seems to have happened and in the meantime Drayton Villa has sat empty and boarded up. Is this the kind of example a local authority wants to set for the maintenance of its architectural heritage?