A fascinating history of Irish aristocracy, charismatic Swiss spies, art dealers, iconic musicians and James Turrell’s Irish Sky Garden.
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.
The majority of the large mature trees were planted. The estate’s most notable trees are the Monterey 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 ‘ha-ha’.
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.
The estate changed hands several times operating as a hotel, restaurant and outdoor pursuits 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, Bachman was originally a journalist and then during his Swiss military service, trained as a spy and quickly rose to the rank of colonel.
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.
Bachmann purchased Liss Ard Estate as a front for the Swiss government and ran it as an equestrian centre and country hotel.
Due to the prevailing South Easterly winds in the event of chemical fallout from a nuclear war, it was thought that West Cork would be the safest place in Europe and an ideal location for a safe house for the Swiss government in case of invasion or nuclear attack.
The house was resold and in 1989 a German art dealer Veith Turske ran the estate for Swiss investors.
In December 1989 James Turell first visited. Turske invited him to the estate as an artist in residence. Turell moved into Liss Ard Estate in 1990 and lived on the estate for almost 2 years with his young family. He soon started drawings for his Irish Sky Garden.
The Estate was sold in 2021 and during the next several years underwent a full renovation of all common areas, wellness centre and guest rooms and became a member of Relais & Chateaux in 2023.
