Ballynatray House

Ballynatray is a very large house of late-Georgian appearance, built above a wide double bend of the River Blackwater a few miles upstream from Youghal. The settin is unrivalled. An amphitheatre of oak covered hills slope steeply downwards on all sides to where the ruins of Molana Abbey, containing the classical Coade-stone ‘tomb’ of Raymond le Gros, one of Strongbow’s knights, and a statue of its founder, St Molanside, nestle amongst the trees on the riverbank. On the hill beyond is Templemichael Castle, one of three tower houses guarding the Rincrew headland, once home to a Preceptory of the Knights Templar.