Thornhill House, Strandhill Road,

This semi-detached, four-bay, three-story, eleven roomed house, along with two mews apartments and a large walled garden, is offered for sale by private treaty.

The main house which dates from the early 1800s, and extends to 280.26m2 (3017ft2), has not been lived in since 1988 and currently awaits a visionary hand to restore it to its former glory. The property also provides two one-bed mews apartments (77.96m2), at the rear of the main house which are in need of some upgrading. Beyond this is a large, well-maintained, walled garden (0.17 of an acre) which provides a unique haven within Sligo town.

The house is of great historical interest as George Thomas Pollexfen, the uncle of the poet William Butler Yeats, lived here when it was simply called Thornhill until his death in 1910. Yeats stayed here for six months from 1894 to 1895, and Pollexfen influenced Yeats’ interest in the occult and astrology, initiating Yeats into The Golden Dawn in London in 1893. Pollexfen’s grave is in St John’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Sligo where he is buried alongside his parents William and Elizabeth Middleton Pollexfen who died in 1892. The Pollexfens were a noted mercantile family in Sligo and founded the Sligo Steam Navigation Company in 1865 which provided weekly sailings to Glasgow and Liverpool.  

This sale offers a unique opportunity to revive this grand residence, which is a protected structure, and create a modern family home in an idyllic setting.