page_title: Newbridge Estate
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Newbridge Estate / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Newbridge House, Donabate, Co. Dublin
context_page_description: Newbridge Demesne is an early 18th-century Georgian estate and mansion situated in north County Dublin, Ireland. It was built in 1736 by Charles Cobbe, Archbishop of Dublin, and remained the property of his Cobbe descendants until 1985. It was then acquired by Dublin County Council, in a unique arrangement, under which Newbridge House would remain the family home.
  Set within 400 acres of partially wooded parkland, Newbridge House is one of the finest surviving examples of Georgian architecture.
context_section_description: On June 19, 1736, Charles Cobbe, then Bishop of Kildare, paid £5,526.5.6 for the townlands of Donabate, Lainstown, Haggardstown and Newbridge, containing 490 acres. However Bishop Cobbe had a prior interest in these lands, having come to the financial assistance of the Weyms family (port owners) some years earlier. when they had difficulty in repaying a mortgage taken out on the lands. On 21 July 1742 Bishop Cobbe made his second purchase of lands in the parish. These consisted of the townlands of Kilcreagh, Corballis and Baltra, containing in all 510 acres. The purchase price was £6,425.00. As with the first purchase the Cobbe interest came into being through the owner, Maurice Keating, having difficulty in repaying a mortgage. The final purchase of land by the Cobbe family was made in 1811, when Charles purchased the fields north of Newbridge Demesne and bordering on Turvey Avenue.
  The Archbishop was succeeded by his son, Thomas, who in 1751 married Lady Elizabeth Beresford, daughter of the Earl of Tyrone. She brought a dowry with her, thus enabling major improvements to be made to the house. In the Red Drawing Room, added by them, they lavishly entertained and hung many superb pictures purchased on their behalf by the incumbent of Donabate Church, the Rev. Matthew Pilkington, who was well qualified to do the buying, as it was he who composed the first major English Dictionary of Painters.
  Their eldest son, Charles Cobbe, died in 1798, when their eldest grandson, another Charles, became heir apparent. He joined the army, served in India, and returned to Bath in 1805. Four years later he married Frances Conway and immediately came to live at Newbridge, where he carried out much refurbishing with the aid of his wife's money. During the family's absence in Bath, the Estate had become run down. Charles's considerable energies were used to build it up again. He threw down the "wretched mud cabins" occupied by his tenants and built new houses on his estate which were paid for by the sale of some of the family's most prized paintings, such as the Gastor Poussin and a Hobbema. Charles Cobbe died in 1857 and was succeeded by his son, another Charles. He, in turn, died in 1886, leaving no male issue, his estate passing to his wife for her lifetime. Before her death she persuaded Thomas Maberley Cobbe, a grandnephew of her late husband, to return to Newbridge from America to take over the estate. He died young in 1914, leaving two infant sons, Thomas and Francis, of whom the latter died in 1949. Thomas did not marry, and on his death in 1985 he was succeeded by Francis's family, Hugh, Alec, and Mary. The property was then acquired by the County Council, but the Cobbe family will continue to reside at Newbridge House from time to time, due to a special arrangement with the County Council.
caption: Newbridge House main entrance
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