[3] The house was built in circa 1830 by Thomas Mackey Scully,[4] of a wealthy Anglo-Irish family from Naas, and named Bess Mount; in 1836 it became Airfield.

[6] The Scullys were one of many landowning families who lost financially in the Great Famine (1845–50); in 1852 Airfield was in the hands of the Encumbered Estates' Court, who sold it to the printer Thomas Cranfield.

[11][12] Letitia and Naomi were noted for their philanthropic work with the Children's Sunshine Home, St John Ambulance, DSPCA and National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; breeding of Jersey cattle; their world travelling; and their fondness for classic cars.

When Trevor died in 1919 he, unusually for the time, left almost all his money to the women of the house, allowing them financial independence.

The two daughters never married and were often regarded as eccentrics, driving their pre-war cars and refusing to sell their land for development, instead maintaining a Victorian-era farm in the midst of a suburbanising region.