Billionaire James Dyson granted permission to construct tennis court at Waterford home
Ballynatray Estate
A tennis court is to be constructed at a historic Waterford estate which is owned by vacuum cleaner magnate James Dyson.
The estate has undergone significant work since coming under the ownership last year of the multibillionaire for a reported fee of €30 million.
Previously planned at the site in recent months has been the restoration of the estate's gatehouses, various demolition works, and the installation of a new internal lift within the iconic residence.
Also being planned on the grounds is a helicopter landing area. These plans were subsequently appealed and are currently being inspected by An Coimisiún Pleanála (full story).
The plans which were approved this week include the construction of a tennis court on the estate's upper garden, which is a former 19th century production or kitchen garden for the house.
Gravel paths, flower beds, timber steps and hedging within the garden will be removed to facilitate the provision of the new tennis court.
Also contained within the approved plans are alterations to the estate’s folly.
The folly, located to the east of the estate’s stable yards, is a rubble stone structure which features a gothic arched doorway and window opening.
It was built in the late eighteenth century, and was created as a look-out to provide sheltered views across the estate.
There is currently no floor to the structure, and only a small number of its wall capping stones survive.
Upcoming works to the folly include the installation of a mono-pitched slate roof to match the structures original roof profile, and the installation of new timber-framed windows.
'We confirm there are no demolitions proposed to the Folly' a planning report submitted by the applicant outlined.
Ballynatray is an 850 acre estate which features an 18th-century classical-style house and an associated farm complex.
The house is listed within the Record of Protected Structures and by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
According to the Historic Houses of Ireland index, Ballynatray is eleven bays long and five bays wide, and of two storeys over a basement. The house has a late-Georgian appearance.
The index says: "The interior was clearly built for entertaining on the grandest scale, with a sumptuous suite of interconnecting reception rooms, all with stupendous views, wide, double mahogany doors and some fine early nineteenth century plasterwork."
The residence was seen last year almost entirely enclosed in scaffolding and screening as restoration works commenced.
The house was also extensively worked on in the late 1990s by a previous owner.
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