Crossroads home with a history comes onto local rental market

The Dunsany estate contains many fine houses which, over the years, have fallen into various stages of neglect. However, one that was continually lived in over the years has been at Dunsany Crossroads, in more recent times known as the gamekeeper"s residence, and which over the years has housed the local schoolteacher and the co-op manager. The two-storey three-bedroom property has undergone extensive renovations in recent times, with the added touch of the present Lady Dunsany, Maria Alice Plunkett, and the Dunsany Home Collection. The house had been christened the 'Welleran House" after the writings of the 18th Lord Dunsany, Edward Morton Drax Plunkett, one of whose publications was 'The Sword of Welleran". There has been renewed interest in the writings of the 18th Lord, who was also a well-known soldier, big game hunter and chess player. One of his novels, 'My Talks With Dean Spanley", has been recently released as a film starring Peter O"Toole and Sam Neill. It was described as Edward John Morton Drax Plunkett"s 'funniest book and, in its unique way, a remarkable tour de force'. The book is written from the eyes of a narrator who strikes up a friendship with an Edwardian dean who, when supplied with the rare port, Imperial Tokay, starts recalling his former life as a dog, with the narrator intrigued that a man of God could have a knowledge of reincarnation. Edward Plunkett, grandfather to the present holder of the title, was a fantasist, playwright and short-story writer who is best-known in this county for his nurturing of the talents of Slane poet Francis Ledwidge and writer Mary Lavin of Bective. He was also chess champion of Ireland, a renowned cricketer, soldier, adventurer and traveller. Born in London in 1878, Plunkett was educated at Eton and Sandhurst and became an officer in the Coldstream Guards, serving in the Boer War from 1899 to 1902. During his service in South Africa, he worked as a press censor in Cape Town with Rudyard Kipling. In 1904, he married and settled in Dunsany, beginning his literary career. With Lady Gregory, WB Yeats and George Moore, he was to play a huge part in the Irish literary renaissance in the years before the First World War. World War I interrupted his writing. He allowed the Irish National Volunteers to drill in the ground of the castle. He joined the Royal Inniskillin Fusiliers, and while at home on a weekend pass for the Easter holiday in 1916, went to Dublin to see how he could help quell the rebellion, getting wounded in the eye by a gunshot as a result. He later saw further action in France, experiencing front-line combat again. Local memoirs of Dunsany"s time in Meath include 'The Curse of the Wild Woman", 'Patches of Sunlight" and 'My Ireland". He died in 1957, having published more than 55 volumes and hundreds of plays, articles and introductions. The Welleran house is located in the centre of Dunsany village, with views of the fields and woodlands of the Dunsany Estate. The original house dates back to the 18th century, and was enlarged in the 19th century by Horace Plunkett and his nephew, the writer 18th Lord Dunsany, to be used as a private residence and administration office for the manager of the first agricultural co-operative in Ireland. It has recently been modernised and transformed into a comfortable family house. All the bathroom accessories are designed by the Plunketts and all decorative items are part of the Dunsany Home Collection. It is available to be let with or without furniture at a rental in the region of €1,500 per month. The agent is Raymond Potterton & Associates, where the contact is Martin Fitzsimons on (046) 902 7666.