Richard Montgomery (1738–1775) grew up on the original estate. His father
Thomas Montgomery is recorded as leasing the estate as his Dublin residence in 1736. It was then under a different name. The house was substantially altered and enlarged by
James Gandon for
John Beresford in about 1790. It is said the house was named as Beresford's son was marrying a woman from
Abbeville in France. Beresford's first wife was also French and had died in 1772. For a period in the early 19th century the house was owned by the antiquarian Austin Cooper. The house was owned by the Cusack family for over a century from 1830 until 1940. In 1945, the architect
Michael Scott is recorded as carrying out work on the house for Percy Reynolds, who bought the house in the 1940s. In 1969 the house was bought by Charles J Haughey, then a minister for finance, who became Taoiseach in 1979. Renovation works were carried out by
Sam Stephenson. In 2003, after his retirement, Haughey sold it to Manor Park Homes, which intended to redevelop it after his death, which occurred in 2006. Manor Park Homes went bankrupt during the
Irish financial crisis, and in 2012, the house was offered for sale at a guide price of €7.5 million, about a fifth of the 2003 price. Parts of the Abbeville estate were separated to provide sites for homes for members of the Haughey family, including his widow, and these remain in family hands. Abbeville was purchased in 2013 by the Japanese Nishida family, owners of the
Toyoko Inn hotel group. ==Access==