Set amid 550 acres of woodland, streams, and parkland, Stradbally Hall has been home to the Cosby family for over five centuries. The current house, designed by the celebrated architect Charles Lanyon, was completed in 1862 in a grand Italianate style, complete with a ballroom and sweeping staircases. It replaced an earlier Georgian house built in 1772, which itself stood on the site of a still older residence dating back to the 1500s.

The Cosby family’s roots in Stradbally stretch back to the mid-sixteenth century, when Francis Cosby, an English soldier and settler, was granted the surrounding lands. Historical records describe him as a ruthless military commander during the Tudor campaigns in Ireland — feared by both Irish and English tenants alike.

Local tradition remembers him less as a landlord and more as a tyrant. He was said to have levied illegal rents and shown particular cruelty toward the Catholic population of the area. According to enduring folklore, a large oak tree once stood in front of the original house — known locally as “The Devil’s Chair.”

It was beneath this tree, so the stories claim, that Cosby ordered executions, hanging men, women, and even children from its branches. The tree’s sinister reputation grew, and it was believed that the land itself became tainted by the blood spilled there.

Although the original tree is long gone, its legend persists. Locals and visitors to the estate have reported strange occurrences near the spot where the Devil’s Chair once stood – shadowy figures moving through the trees at dusk, faint cries carried on the wind, and, on rare occasions, the vision of ghostly bodies hanging from the branches of an invisible tree.

Whether the story is rooted in fact or local folklore, the legend of the Devil’s Chair remains one of the most chilling tales attached to Stradbally’s long and complex history.

Stradbally Hall continues to serve as the family seat of the Cosbys and is well known today as the venue for the Electric Picnic music festival. Beneath the music and lights, however, the land still carries echoes of a much darker past — a reminder that even the most beautiful estates can harbour shadows of cruelty and loss.