The history of the Bunbury family can be traced back almost 1,000 years to Baron de St. Pierre, a Norman knight who served with William the Conqueror at The Battle of Hastings in 1066.

The family was granted land in Cheshire, in a place known as St. Boniface’s Borough, from where the name ‘Bunbury’ itself evolved. They remained there for centuries, until the English Civil War (1642 – 1651), where they found themselves on the opposite side of Oliver Cromwell, who stripped them of their land and titles.

Members of the family then moved to Ireland and County Carlow, where they settled as tenants of the Butler family – the Dukes of Ormonde, who controlled almost the entire south-east of the country and whose seat was at the magnificent Kilkenny Castle. They purchased Lisnavagh from the Butlers in 1702, and over the centuries that followed, the estate grew until at its height it comprised some 6,000 acres and a house of approximately 30,000 square feet.

The changing social and political landscape in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw estates such as Lisnavagh face challenging times and several changes, but loving care and careful management helped it to survive them all.