Russborough is about 30 minutes from Dublin on the N81, it is well sign posted after Blessington. Travel by car is the only way to get there, there are no tour buses or local buses.
- entrance fee for the house is €10
- entrance fee for the maze is €3
- toilet are dirty and unkempt
- tea room is not inviting and appears run down
- building and grounds lack maintenance
I was very disappointed with my visit to Russborough House and Maze. It is overpriced at ten Euro for a tour with 20 others that last six rooms and 35 minutes. Additionally no photographs are allowed in the house, one of the main reason for visiting Irish Country Houses. The whole atmosphere is depressing, the building lacks basic cleaning and good maintenance.This country house although one of the most stunning buildings from afar would not be on my list to visit again. It lacks any vibrancy or welcome that I found at Powerscourt only the day before. Cars are parked right in front of the main building even though there are two car parks out of sight on both sides of the house – this again means that photographs of the front of the house cannot be taken without all the cars in the frame.
Russborough could be so much more and I hope it will be in the future, however at present it is not in my opinion worth the money or worth traveling out of your way to see it.
The only saving grace for Russborough is the maze. The entrance fee for it is separate to the house, but children can have fun here for quite a while, the maze is good and unlike others you can spend a lot of time in it and take a while to get to the middle and back again.
The History of Russborough
Russborough House is a stately house situated near the Blessington Lakes in County Wicklow, Ireland, between the towns of Blessington and Ballymore Eustace. It is a particularly fine example of Palladian architecture, designed by Richard Cassels for Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown, and built between 1741 and 1755. The interior of the house contrasts with the austere exterior by way of some ornate plasterwork on the ceilings by the Lafranchini brothers, who also collaborated with Cassels on Carton House.
Russborough has housed two fine art collections, begun with the Milltown estate, whose collection was donated to the National Gallery of Ireland upon the death of the last Earl. Alfred Beit bought the house in 1952 where he housed his own family’s collection, comprising works by many great artists, including Goya, Vermeer, Peter Paul Rubens and Thomas Gainsborough. This collection was since robbed four times, in 1974 by a gang including British heiress Rose Dugdale, in 1986 by Martin Cahill (nicknamed “The General”), in 2001, and in 2002. Two paintings, Gainsborough’s Madame Bacelli and Vermeer’s The Letter Writer, the latter probably the most valuable painting of the collection, were stolen twice across the thefts, although each was subsequently recovered. The Beit collection has donated many of its works to the state and the house remains open to the public, having been opened by the Alfred Beit Foundation in 1978.
Last point – they title the house as the “most beautiful house in Ireland” – it’s not. Anyway here is their website.
