Sunday, 9 October 2022 | 10.8°C Dublin
Premium subscribers enjoy unlimited access to all articles. But there's more: discover your full benefits now.
E laine De Roise who was a fan of du Maurier’s iconic Rebecca encapsulated novel’s spirit
An aerial view of Manderlay, Crosstown, Wexford shows the sea and driveway to the house
One of the reception rooms at Manderlay
The main family bathroom at Manderlay with views of the sea
A grand piano takes centre stage in another reception area
The pantry/boot room comes with timber units and a sink
Looking out across the water
The front door and hallway with view of the sea
Colourful tile patterns in the bathroom and hallway
Elaine De Roiste in one of the reception rooms. Photo by Tony Gavin
Manderlay, Crosstown, Wexford Town Asking price: €1.25m Agent: Savills Country Agency (01) 663 4350
" Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” The opening line of Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier’s chilling and best-known novel, is among the most famous openers of any book written. The story is set in Manderley, a big old meandering estate house by the sea.
Widower Maxim de Winter brings his new young bride to live in a house where she is not accepted and where Rebecca, his first wife, is all but venerated. The 1938 psychological thriller has never been out of print and Alfred Hitchcock won the 1940 Academy Award for Best Picture with his hair-raising version starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Dame Judith Anderson. A Netflix adaptation was made in 2020 and Rebecca has spawned numerous TV adaptations.
One of the reception rooms at Manderlay
The novel inspired Elaine De Roiste to build her own house in Co Wexford on the shores of the Slaney estuary where the river meets the sea. “I absolutely love the original film and I’m a big Laurence Olivier fan as well. I was always fascinated by the first line of the novel. I like the name, I like the way it rolls.”
At first glance, in its scenic site overlooking water Elaine’s seven-bedroom house overlooking the estuary shares much with original home setting for the novel and the film. But looks can be deceptive.
The main family bathroom at Manderlay with views of the sea
Her Manderlay (her own spelling to differentiate from the original) was built in 2004, 66 years after the novel was published. “When I first saw the site, I climbed up on the gate and looked at the view and thought ‘Oh, I’ll build Manderlay here,’ and I did. I suppose there is a lot of the romantic in in me,” Elaine said.
The 5,800 sq ft house became the family home on land owned by her husband’s family and it proved to be an ideal place to rear four sons. “I wanted to build by the sea, I love the sea. We had this place so we didn’t have to buy the land.
Elaine De Roiste in one of the reception rooms. Photo by Tony Gavin
Get the best home, property and gardening stories straight to your inbox every Saturday
Enter email address This field is required Sign Up
“We can walk to Wexford town, it’s just three kilometres away, which is nothing or we can go down and walk on the beach whenever we want. It’s an idyllic place for children.”
The old look and the venerable feel of the house is no accident. “I’ve always been interested in architecture, old houses and detail,” Elaine explains, “I wanted this house to look and feel like it had been here forever, to have that old world feel when you walked in. So I spent a lot of time looking at period houses. I think it’s Edwardian houses where they have a hall and a sitting room all in one and that’s what inspired the entrance. When you walk in here, there’s a big sitting room in the hall, a fireplace and the stairs. I think it’s an Irish thing we just love the idea that when you come to the door, you’ll see this big welcoming fire.”
The pantry/boot room comes with timber units and a sink
Elaine wanted to create “a whole, big sense of family in the house, you know, a feeling of homeliness”.
Along with all the spaces one expects to find in a modern house, Manderlay also has a basement, a feature that came about inadvertently. The site is on an incline and Elaine had toyed with the idea of a split level.
“We were only going to have two rooms and a small front room in the basement. But as it progressed and I had all this space at the back that I was going to have to fill with stone, I just decided to turn the extra space into a big games’ room,” Elaine says.
“I put a snooker room at the back with a bar. The middle room is a big TV room. I thought we’ll have this great space where the boys and their friends might hang out and chill. But now, they are all gone to university and it’s empty.
Colourful tile patterns in the bathroom and hallway
“I’m kind of sitting here like the woman who lived in the shoe, she’d so many children she didn’t know what to do... now all the children are away living their dreams,” Elaine says, “maybe it’s time for me to do the same.”
Facing southeast and laid out over three floors, the house has a grand pillared portico leading into the porch with black and white church tiles. The hall doubles as a reception with an open fire.
The front door and hallway with view of the sea
The sitting room has a cream marble fireplace and access to a south-easterly facing sunroom with French doors. The sunroom can also be accessed off the kitchen. Another living room off the hall overlooks the river and features a black marble fireplace, a gas fire and a solid walnut floor.
The kitchen/dining area is reached through the back hall. The kitchen is equipped with an oil-fired Aga, fitted units and worktops in black granite or elm. Located off the kitchen is a WC, a laundry room, a pantry/boot room and a storage room.
Looking out across the water
The landing on the first floor is lit by a full-length granite cloister-style window looking down over the estuary.
There are five bedrooms and the master and two others have ensuites. Two have walk-in wardrobes.
The family bathroom has a dramatic free-standing bathtub. In the basement there’s a large cinema room, an office, a brick wine cellar and a games’ room with a marble-topped bar. There’s also two more double bedrooms with a shared bathroom.
There’s cream marble tile as well as hardwood oak and walnut flooring, granite sills and steps.
It has a BER rating of B2 and three acres attached.
But very much unlike its du Maurier novel namesake, this Manderlay comes with good karma and good will.
Savills dreams of returning €1.25m.
A Mediahuis Website © Independent.ie