Liss Ard Estate was built in 1853, a year after the Irish famine, by the O’Donovan’s, an Anglo-Irish family from Co. Limerick. The estate was originally over 3,000 acres.
Glen Teigh (Lake House) was built in the 1870s as a summer residence for the family.
Unusually the walled garden walls were extended to 4 meters (13 feet) high, from the original height of 3 meters (10 feet). This was designed as a deterrent to keep local people from stealing produce.
1910 – 1950: The majority of the large mature trees were planted. The estate’s most notable trees are the Monetary Cyprus and the Cedar of Lebanon ‘cedrus libani’, estimated to be about 160 years old. Native to the mountains of the Middle East, they can grow up to 24 meters (80 feet) and spread to 15 meters (50 feet) wide.
A fun feature of the estate is the Ha-Ha wall to the side of the manor house. A sunken wall that creates an optical illusion of a continuous landscape while creating a barrier to prevent cattle from trespassing close to the property and bothering residents. First recorded in France in the early 18th century it very quickly became fashionable in English country estates. The name derives from the French reaction to the discovery of the optical illusion as they exclaimed with surprise and delight ‘Ah-Ah’.
In 1924 The O’Donovans sold Liss Ard estate including the 3,000 acres of land and retired to Devon in England.
John and Mary-Ellen Connolly bought the estate in 1924 and raised their 4 daughters there until just after the second world war in 1947. John refused British Prime Minister Churchill’s request for wood for the war effort in the early 1940s, thus preserving trees for future generations to enjoy.
Mary-Ellen was an avid gardener and developed the walled garden, including the extensive glass houses on the south facing wall, growing edibles and cut flowers for the estate and also supplying local nurseries with plants.
1947 – 1970s: the estate changed hands several times operating as a hotel, restaurant and outdoor persuits centre.
The charismatic character Albert Bachmann first visited Ireland in the late 1960s due to his interest in horses and soon fell in love with the country. Born in Zurich in 1929, a journalist, who during his military service in Switzerland trained as a spy and quickly rose to the rank of colonel. By 1975 Bachmann was head of the private intelligence agency and the commander of the ‘Stay behind programme’ made up of elite army members trained to stay in Switzerland in case of invasion from Soviet states. During the mid 20th century cold war period Bachmann felt that there was a very real threat of invasion to Switzerland due to its strategic position in central Europe.
1972: Bachmann built 8 cottages on Tragumna beach 2 miles from Liss Ard. the Swiss Government consists of a federal council with the 7 members serving as collective heads and 1 leader.
In 1976 Bachmann purchased Liss Ard as a front for the Swiss government and ran it as an equestrian center and country hotel.
The estate was bought by the Swiss government as part of the long-term strategy of the highly secretive ‘Stay behind organisation’. Due to the prevailing South Easterly winds in the event of chemical fallout from the Soviet block Ireland would be the safest place in Europe and as the most westerly country in Europe, West Cork was seen as an ideal location for a safe house for the Swiss government in case of invasion or nuclear attack.
In the 1980s the house was resold and in 1989 a German art dealer Veith Turske ran the estate for Swiss investors.
1990: Redevelopment of the estate began including woodlands, flower meadows and ponds. The property was extensively renovated.