Heritage

There are many stories and original artefacts from our benefactors, Letitia and Naomi Overend, all of which can be discovered in a wonderful interactive Heritage Experience. We were delighted to receive funding from the Heritage Council in 2024 to add a new film about the family and an interactive exhibition on ‘Dining Through the Decades’ which offers another rich layer to the sustainable food legacy and story of Airfield Estate.

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  Airfield House

  Original home to the Overend family, today Airfield House is an interactive tour and exhibition which brings visitors closer to this admired Dublin family. Here you’ll view family photographs, letters, original clothing and display cases with information on their prize-winning Jersey herd, vintage cars and their much loved Victorian toys and books.

  We focus not just on the way of life the family lived at Airfield, but also on their fantastic charitable work for organisations such as St John Ambulance and The Children’s Sunshine Home (now The Laura Lynn Foundation) to name but a few.

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  The Overend Family

  Airfield has been the home of the Overend family since 1894, when Trevor Overend, a Dublin solicitor, moved there with his wife, Lily Butler, and their daughters, Letitia and Constance. Tragically, Constance passed away just before her first birthday. Naomi was born in 1900, and the sisters grew up in a large, loving extended family. Airfield was a hub for family gatherings and celebrations.

  These ladies rolled up their sleeves to take on everything from farming and cattle trading to car maintenance. They were notable local figures, owning three cars at one stage (unheard of at that time). One of the cars was a Rolls Royce, which they insisted on having a tow bar for transporting their Jersey cows, and a course on car maintenance so that the sisters could keep the car on the road for as long as they needed it.

  It was their sense of community and charitable work that they are remembered for most. Tuned in to the social challenges of their time, they opened their hearts and home to some of Ireland’s most vulnerable, offering respite care to injured soldiers during two great wars, using their dairy herd and life-saving pasteurisation to donate to the safe milk depot, single-handily reducing infant mortality in Dublin, and funding The Sunshine Home for children with rickets – a charity known today as The Laura Lynn Foundation. Airfield was left in trust to the people of Ireland by Letitia and Naomi Overend in 1974.

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  The Cars

  Letitia and Naomi Overend shared a love of cars and with their father Trevor, took part in rallies across Ireland well into their old age.

  Letitia was most famous for her 1927 Rolls Royce, which is now pride of place in our Vintage Car Garage alongside Naomi’s Austin Tickford and their mother’s Peugeot Quadrilette, lovingly nicknamed ‘The Flea’.

  In 2022 we began the process of restoring the Rolls Royce thanks to support from The Heritage Council. The four wings were removed and stripped back to the bare metal. Old filler and repairs were replaced before the wings were realigned and prepared for painting. This process has happened at least 4 times in the last 100 years!

  The starter motor and Bendix were also reconditioned and other mechanical repairs carried out.

  

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  Their Travels

  Leaving their good work and charitable achievements at home, these two women understood the importance of rest and relaxation.

  Travelling extensively over the years to exotic locations such as the Middle East, Egypt, Croatia, India and North America to name a few, Letitia and Naomi enjoyed exploring new cultures, food and first class travel.

  The younger of the two, Naomi, was an enthusiastic skier and found herself in Austria in 1938 to witness the arrival of the Nazis. Fascinating letters sent home during this trip can be viewed during your visit, and don’t forget to look out for her skis which are propped up behind their original travel trunks.

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  Heritage Tours

  Join our tour guide for a tour of the original Overend home daily at 12 pm & 2 pm.