Wednesday 19 December 2012

The Ogilby Estate

THE OGILBYS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LONDONDERRY, WITH 9,735 ACRES

The Ogilby estate was located near Limavady in County Londonderry.

John Ogilvie [sic] was a member of the vestry of Drumachose Parish in 1729. The family name was changed to Ogilby by his son Alexander, and the family lived in Catherine Street until John's great-grandson John built a manor-house at Ardnargle.

Ardnargle House today is plain, of two storeys with five bays; built ca 1788 by John Ogilby.

The house was given a porch, a three-sided bow, window surrounds with cornice brackets and a modillion cornice ca 1854 by Robert A Ogilby. There is Victorian Classical plasterwork in the hall and principal reception rooms.

Ardnargle was originally a dower house for Pellipar at Dungiven.

Pellipar House

Ardnargle is stated to be a good, commodious square house with its front facing southwards; and commanding beautiful views of the Roe Valley; good ornamental gardens with excellent fruit trees, now gone.

John Ogilby planted a great portion of the trees which now form the parkland. 

An artificial pond, supplied with spring-water, was used for skating during the winter months.

The Ogilbys were a Huguenot family who settled in Limavady at the time of the Ulster Plantation. 

All the records of the family were destroyed by fire in Scotland, in 1784. The original Ogilby residence was Calhame, Aberdeenshire.


The Ogilby family has had a proud military tradition: Major Robert Alexander Ogilby married Sarah Wheeler, daughter of Rev George Bomford Wheeler, a founder of the Irish Times, TCD classic scholar and contributor to Dickens' magazine, "All Year Round"; a DL for County Londonderry; captain 4th King's Own Regiment; and took part in the Zulu war (1879, medal).

The Ogilbys also owned land at Woolwich which was acquired from the Skinners' Company. Ogilby street in Woolwich is named after them.

In 1902, Maurice Marcus McCausland, of Drenagh, married Eileen Leslie, daughter of R A Ogilby DL, of Pellipar. 


There is a charitable Ogilby family Trust still extant: The Army Museums Ogilby Trust is a registered charity founded in 1954 by the late Lieutenant-Colonel Robert James Leslie Ogilby DSO JP DL (1880-1964), son of Robert Alexander Ogilby.

This made Ogilby a kinsman of both the Earl Alexander of Tunis and the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, through the line of the Alexanders of Limavady. He was also brother-in-law of Brig.-Gen. George Delamain Crocker.


Colonel Ogilby entered the Army as a 2nd lieutenant, 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards 1903-1905; a lieutenant, 2nd Life Guards; High Sheriff, 1911; 29 Aug 1914 joined the Special reserve Officers as lieutenant; 29 Feb 1915, captain (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards; 1916, Major and 2nd in Command of the 7th Norfolk Regiment; 1916, lieutenant-colonel commanding 2/114 London Regiment (London Scottish). He served with the British Expeditionary Force (dispatches London Gazette); served 1916-1919 in the war; Belgian Croix de Guerre, Star, 1914; DSO and bar, 1917.

Earlier generations of Ogilbys distinguished themselves as scholars: Lieutenant-Colonel Sir David Ogilby (1767-1834), who was a distinguished Orientalist; and his Kinsmen from the 'other' Ogilby castle, in County Tyrone, now in ruins, Altinaghree.

Robert Obilby (1790-1846), bleacher, owned the bleach field at Garvagh; resided at Woodbank, Garvagh; and donated the local village school.

Robert Ogilby was the son of Alexander Ogilby of Catherine Street, Limavady, and of Mary Alexander, daughter of James Alexander, of Roe Park, now a hotel on the outskirts of Limavady.

William Ogilby (1804-73), was a London barrister, zoologist, co-founder of the Royal Zoo in London, who knew Darwin and had a correspondence with him and his son, an ichthyologist, who migrated to Australia (1853-1925) and who identified and registered 5,000 different species and subspecies of fish.

The Ogilbys built the local School in Dungiven during the 19th century, amongst others charitable works.

I am particularly grateful to Londonconstant for kindly providing so much of the biographical information herein relating to the Ogilby family.


 Addendum
Male descendants of this family are alive and well in the USA. Amongst the worthies of this branch, more recently, was the Bishop of the Phillipines and Episcopalian Bishop of Pennsylvania, the late Right Reverend Lyman Cunningham Ogilby (1922-1990), whose great-grandfather, Leonard Ogilby, emigrated from Dungiven to the USA.

First published in February, 2010.

15 comments :

Anonymous said...

Pellipar is a nice house, worth a look.

W.

Unknown said...

Interesting article, thanks.

Can I just add that The Army Museums Ogilby Trust is based in Salisbury and is really useful for finding British army museums,for research into British army ranks and for research into military genealogy.

Unknown said...

re Woodbank Garvagh - I am glad to tell you that Woodbank House has not disappeared - it is still a much loved family home on the outskirts of Garvagh. My husband and I are very slowly refurbishing and repairing it to bring it back to it's former glory. PC

Unknown said...

Is this the connection to there being a block of flats in Woolwich SE18 6PX being called Limavady House? Noticed there is also John Wilson street nearby... spotted by a work colleague when in London for the Olympics this summer. They remembered i hail from Limavady and wondered what was the connection.

Many thanks in advance, A Halle (nee Hunter), Caithness

Garvagh said...

Very interesting. Robert Ogilby, who built Woodbank House, had a sister, Catherine, who married William Orr. Orr built the Moneycarry green. Most of their large family went to America.

I hope things are proceeding well with Woodbank House!

Garvagh said...

Elizabeth MacCausland, one of the five daughters of the Rev. Oliver MacCausland, Rector of Finlgan, County Londonderry, married Robert Ogilby of Woodbank. Elizabeth's mother was Hannah, daughter of Redmond Conyngham, Esq., of Letterkenny, County Donegal.
[Burke's Landed Gentry (18710]

Susan said...

This is pretty interesting. I wonder if we are related (way back). My grand father was Leslie Ogilby. I have been unable to find out his father's name. Thanks for all the info.
Susan Leslie

Garvagh said...

Burke's LANDEDS GENTRY (1894), "Ogilby of Ardnargle and Pellipar House". has some interesting details.

James Harris said...

Very interesting info here. My mother came from Garvagh and remembers Woodbank House.
My great grand mother lived at Banagher in property owned by Robert Ogilby in 1858.

Steve Prince said...

Robert Ogilby is laid to rest at Christ church
Harrogate North Yorkshire

Unknown said...

Are there any records of the tenants that were on the Ogilby Estate in the 1800's?

Unknown said...

Just been reading this and find it very interesting as my motherinlaw is from
Donegal irland,maidan name mary Elizabeth ogilby her father was Robert ogilby a police officer

Unknown said...

As an Ogilby I'm really interested in the story behind the name

Unknown said...

Really interesting reading.Im an OGILBY originally from Grange,Bready,Strabane,Co.Tyrone.N.Ireland.My Father was James Ogilby,born on the 9th of February 1919.He was in the Royal Navy for over20 years.Im really interested in these stories behind the name and if I'm a decendent.Mamie Ogilby,6,Mill Park,Bolea,LimavadyCo.Londonderry.N. Ireland.Bt 49.Oqd.

Susan said...

I visited the castle in 2019. It's lovely place and was pretty exciting as I'm an Ogilby.I also had access to a fourth cousin that is a genealogist that has all the family, So far.
I bought the book and really enjoyed it. I copied this from Joy Ware's face book site.
"You can purchase a book about it If you are in Ireland, the Strabane Tourist Information Centre bookshop still has some copies. If you are in Australia you can email joy.altnachree@gmail.com and she can post you one in Australia. Good to see the interest in the book! It's a great castle story!"