What is believed to be the ancestral home of a former Queen of Paraguay is due to go for auction in Dublin next month.
The building, a Georgian residence at the end of Clancy Terrace in Charleville, was where Eliza Lynch was born in 1833, the eldest child of a local doctor. Recent investigations into the background of Eliza Lynch have uncovered compelling evidence that the house currently on the market was the former queen’s home.
Last month Charleville Chamber of Commerce was to the fore in organ-ising the Eliza Lynch Commemorative Weekend which raised awareness of the former queen’s links with the town.
Her great grandson, His Excellency Miguel Lopez Solano, the Paraguayan Ambassador to the U.K. and Ireland, visited Charle-ville on two occasions, the more recent being as guest of honour at the Commem-orative Weekend.
Following on from that weekend and the huge amount of interest shown in the former Charleville native, the Chamber of Commerce has now expressed an interest in acquiring the building. “We are interested in securing the building for the purposes of preserving heritage from the Georgian times, pre-famine, and more importantly that this building is proving to be the home of Eliza Lynch,” confirmed Chamber President P.J. McCarthy this week. “We want to have an anchor spot to remember her by, she was the Queen of Paraguay and is highly revered by the natives to this day with many parks, shopping malls and streets named after her. There is an opportunity to build a tourism story around that.We would like to see the support of the community behind what we are endeavouring to do and that is to preserve our heritage,” he concluded.