This is a County Down family, claiming descent from James Cleland of that ilk, Lanarkshire.
THE REV JOHN CLELAND (1755-1834), sometime Prebendary of Armagh, Rector of
Newtownards, 1789-1809, became tutor to the young Lord Castlereagh
and subsequently acted as agent for the Londonderry estates.
John Cleland was a student at the Rev William Neilson's Classical Academy in Rademon, County Down. A murder attempt occurred against him in 1796; he passed on information against the United Irishmen in 1797; agent for Marquess of Londonderry, 1824; bought land in Killeen & Ballymiscaw, 1830.
He married, in 1805, Esther, daughter and co-heiress of Samuel Jackson, of Stormont, by his wife Margaret Vateau, only child and heiress of Paul Peter Isaac Vateau, the descendant of a French Huguenot family, and had issue,
SAMUEL JACKSON, his heir;Robert Stewart;Sarah Frances.
Mr Cleland was succeeded by his eldest son,
SAMUEL JACKSON CLELAND (1808-42), who wedded, in 1834, Eliza, daughter of James Joyce, of Thornhill, and had issue,
JOHN CLELAND JP DL (1836-93), of Stormont Castle, Dundonald, County Down, High Sheriff of County Down, 1866, who wedded, in 1859, Therese Maria, only daughter of Captain Thomas Leyland, of Haggerston Castle, Northumberland, and Hyde Park House, London, and had issue,
ARTHUR CHARLES STEWART CLELAND (1865-1924), of Stormont Castle, Lieutenant, 3rd Battalion, Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment, who married, in 1890, Mabel Sophia, only daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel H T D'Aguilar, Grenadier Guards.
Mr Cleland died at Field Green, Hawkhurst, Kent.
STORMONT CASTLE, Dundonald, County Down, is a Scottish-Baronial mansion of 1858, built by the Belfast architect Thomas Turner.
This mansion replaced the original castle.
The entrance front is three storeys high and eight bays wide, with a two-storey canted bay window.
Remaining windows have square-topped sashes, with bartizan turrets at either end.
There is a tall tower at the eastern end, with a large door surround and balustrade on top, turrets on tower corners, crow-stepped castellation, and three rounded arch windows at top.
Gryphons brandish shields at either side of the main staircase
The Castle's lofty tower is reminiscent of The Prince Consort's Tower at Balmoral Castle.
John Cleland's grandson began extending the Georgian house after 1842, though work did not begin on the new Castle (above) till 1858.
It was at "Storm Mount" that, ca 1830, Cleland created what was described as "a plain house": A mid or late Georgian house of a traditional type, it was in the form of a plain rectangle with a central projection to the south, presumably for the entrance.
Associated plantings were very modest; there was a small fringed meadow at the front and an orchard on the hillside to the north west.
A directory entry of 1837 referred (probably inaccurately) to the house as 'Storemont'; and, by 1864, the "Parliament Gazetteer" still did not rank it amongst the principal residences of the area.
In those days the most substantial such residence was Rose Park, a name still in use in the residential area (and indeed in Rosepark House, a Government building occupied by the Exchequer and Audit Department and by part of the Department of Finance and Personnel).
It was in the course of removing Rose Park, in the process of consolidating Cleland's holdings, that his son Samuel Jackson Cleland was killed by the collapse of a wall in 1842.
Sir James Craig (later 1st Viscount Craigavon) lived there until 1940, when he moved out to make more room for officials engaged in War work.
Lord Craigavon was succeeded in office by Mr J Andrews and thereafter by Sir Basil Brooke Bt (later 1st Viscount Brookeborough).
While both had offices in the Castle, no Prime Minister resided there with any regularity between 1940 to 1969.
On the arrival in office of Captain Terence O'Neill in 1963, substantial reinstatement and improvement works were carried out.
These included the removal of an ugly glass entrance canopy and the restoration of the old ballroom as an improved Cabinet Room.
In those days the Prime Minister occupied what became the Secretary of State's office, with the Secretary of the Cabinet using the other major front room on the ground floor.
Captain O'Neill (afterwards Baron O'Neill of the Maine), Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, resided, when in Belfast, at nearby Stormont House, originally built as a residence for the Speakers of the NI House of Commons.
His successor, Major James Chichester-Clark (later Baron Moyola), had premises on the first floor converted into a self-contained flat and regularly stayed there.
Since 1974, when Northern Ireland reverted to direct rule from Westminster, the Castle became the administrative headquarters for successive Secretaries of State.
Today, Stormont Castle serves as the Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers.
Although Stormont Castle is a house of the 1850s, the grounds date from the time of a former house of 1830. There are a few mature trees from that era.
There is a fine restored glasshouse with 'bothies' on the back (ca 1857).
Formal bedding in the vicinity of the glasshouse and immediately to the west of the Castle was recorded, in its original form, in R Welch’s photographs of 1894 but have now gone.
The demesne was purchased over the period 1921-78 for the Parliament Buildings and now amounts to about 400 acres.
SAMUEL JACKSON CLELAND (1808-42), who wedded, in 1834, Eliza, daughter of James Joyce, of Thornhill, and had issue,
JOHN, his heir;Mr Cleland was succeeded by his eldest son,
James Vance;
Robert Stewart;
Samuel Frederick Stewart;
Margaret.
JOHN CLELAND JP DL (1836-93), of Stormont Castle, Dundonald, County Down, High Sheriff of County Down, 1866, who wedded, in 1859, Therese Maria, only daughter of Captain Thomas Leyland, of Haggerston Castle, Northumberland, and Hyde Park House, London, and had issue,
ARTHUR CHARLES STEWART, his heir;Andrew Leyland Hillyar, b 1868;Florence Rachel Therese Laura, b 1894.
Mr Cleland was succeeded by his eldest
son,
ARTHUR CHARLES STEWART CLELAND (1865-1924), of Stormont Castle, Lieutenant, 3rd Battalion, Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment, who married, in 1890, Mabel Sophia, only daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel H T D'Aguilar, Grenadier Guards.
Mr Cleland died at Field Green, Hawkhurst, Kent.
STORMONT CASTLE, Dundonald, County Down, is a Scottish-Baronial mansion of 1858, built by the Belfast architect Thomas Turner.
This mansion replaced the original castle.
The entrance front is three storeys high and eight bays wide, with a two-storey canted bay window.
Remaining windows have square-topped sashes, with bartizan turrets at either end.
There is a tall tower at the eastern end, with a large door surround and balustrade on top, turrets on tower corners, crow-stepped castellation, and three rounded arch windows at top.
Gryphons brandish shields at either side of the main staircase
 |
| Cleland arms |
The Castle's lofty tower is reminiscent of The Prince Consort's Tower at Balmoral Castle.
John Cleland's grandson began extending the Georgian house after 1842, though work did not begin on the new Castle (above) till 1858.
It was at "Storm Mount" that, ca 1830, Cleland created what was described as "a plain house": A mid or late Georgian house of a traditional type, it was in the form of a plain rectangle with a central projection to the south, presumably for the entrance.
Associated plantings were very modest; there was a small fringed meadow at the front and an orchard on the hillside to the north west.
A directory entry of 1837 referred (probably inaccurately) to the house as 'Storemont'; and, by 1864, the "Parliament Gazetteer" still did not rank it amongst the principal residences of the area.
In those days the most substantial such residence was Rose Park, a name still in use in the residential area (and indeed in Rosepark House, a Government building occupied by the Exchequer and Audit Department and by part of the Department of Finance and Personnel).
It was in the course of removing Rose Park, in the process of consolidating Cleland's holdings, that his son Samuel Jackson Cleland was killed by the collapse of a wall in 1842.
In
1858, the Cleland family commissioned the local architect Thomas Turner
to convert the existing plain dwelling into a flamboyant baronial
castle.
To what extent the original house survives is not clear. Conventional wisdom, supported by some map evidence, is that the symmetrical five-bay block facing south is the "baronialised" shell of the Georgian dwelling.
To what extent the original house survives is not clear. Conventional wisdom, supported by some map evidence, is that the symmetrical five-bay block facing south is the "baronialised" shell of the Georgian dwelling.
To this, Turner added the entrance tower to the east.
The whole image and particularly the outline of the building was given a baronial character with turrets, battlements, bartizans with conical caps, iron cresting and weather vanes.
The whole image and particularly the outline of the building was given a baronial character with turrets, battlements, bartizans with conical caps, iron cresting and weather vanes.
The
Cleland monogram was used on the shields held by the snarling stone
gryphons which still guard the main entrance to the Castle.
The
1850s also saw extensive development of the demesne which was extended
to the main Upper Newtownards Road, with the old lodge for Rose Park
becoming the lodge for the remodelled baronial Stormont.
The Clelands finally left in 1893, preferring to live elsewhere, and the demesne was let out.
At
some stage Stormont Castle was rented by Charles E Allen JP, a director
of the shipbuilding firm of Workman and Clark Limited.
On
his departure from Belfast, the Castle became vacant and, in April,
1921, both it and the surrounding land were offered at auction, but
withdrawn when no bid higher than £15,000 was obtained.
Later
in 1921, however, it was acquired, with 235 acres of land, as a site
for the Parliament Buildings of the new Northern Ireland state.
On September 20th, that Parliament resolved that
Stormont Castle demesne shall be the place where the new Parliament House and Ministerial Buildings shall be erected, and as the place to be determined as the seat of the Government of Northern Ireland as and when suitable provision has been made therefore.
While
there was initial uncertainty about the use to be made of Stormont
Castle itself, it was later decided that it should become the official
residence of the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
Sir James Craig (later 1st Viscount Craigavon) lived there until 1940, when he moved out to make more room for officials engaged in War work.
Lord Craigavon was succeeded in office by Mr J Andrews and thereafter by Sir Basil Brooke Bt (later 1st Viscount Brookeborough).
While both had offices in the Castle, no Prime Minister resided there with any regularity between 1940 to 1969.
On the arrival in office of Captain Terence O'Neill in 1963, substantial reinstatement and improvement works were carried out.
These included the removal of an ugly glass entrance canopy and the restoration of the old ballroom as an improved Cabinet Room.
In those days the Prime Minister occupied what became the Secretary of State's office, with the Secretary of the Cabinet using the other major front room on the ground floor.
Captain O'Neill (afterwards Baron O'Neill of the Maine), Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, resided, when in Belfast, at nearby Stormont House, originally built as a residence for the Speakers of the NI House of Commons.
His successor, Major James Chichester-Clark (later Baron Moyola), had premises on the first floor converted into a self-contained flat and regularly stayed there.
Since 1974, when Northern Ireland reverted to direct rule from Westminster, the Castle became the administrative headquarters for successive Secretaries of State.
Today, Stormont Castle serves as the Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers.
Although Stormont Castle is a house of the 1850s, the grounds date from the time of a former house of 1830. There are a few mature trees from that era.
There is a fine restored glasshouse with 'bothies' on the back (ca 1857).
Formal bedding in the vicinity of the glasshouse and immediately to the west of the Castle was recorded, in its original form, in R Welch’s photographs of 1894 but have now gone.
The demesne was purchased over the period 1921-78 for the Parliament Buildings and now amounts to about 400 acres.
First published in April, 2012.
8 comments :
The original Cleland married a gggggaunt of mine . He is described as having acquired his money by nefarious means . I'd one think he wa a paricularly nice fellow . I wonder if anyone knows what he got upto?
Our Cleland family story is that there were four Cleland brothers that settled in Northern Ireland during the Plantation years. We are related to the family that settled in Crossgar at Creevycarnonan. Tracing the genealogical tree on our side of the Cleland family has not been easy and I would appreciate insights from anyone with knowledge of this branch of the family.
I have been trying to research the Cleland family from Canada. Rev. John Cleland was related to the family in Creevycarnonan. According to Henry Burrell, husband of Jane Cleland of Saintfield/Kilmore (written in 1880) - "Rev. John Cleland, Andrew, Robert and Jane and 2 more sons who died in South America. Jane married Hugh Taylor. The 2 sons who died in South America left a large fortune to be divided among the brothers. They appointed the Rev. John Cleland executor, with a clause in the will reading 'Not my will but thine be done' so the Rev. John kept every cent which accounted for his being so rich and the rest of the family comparitively poor. Andrew married Mary Cleland and had 2 children, a son and a daughter. The son named William and the daughter Jane. William married Margaret Davidson, daughter of Robert Davidson of the Noch near Rathfriland. Jane the daughter married James Quaile and had no family. William and Margaret Cleland had a family of seven, 5 sons and 2 daughters. Robert, Joseph, Andrew, James, Martha Ann, Jane and William." More information available. Would love to hear from anyone who knows this family of Creevycarnonan (Crossgar).
well that would explain him being a person of ill repute !! . He seems to also have married Ester at the age of 50 when she was 20 . Makes one wonder .
I'm trying to track down my Cleland branch all the way from America. I had two 6x great grandmothers whose maiden names were Cleland (not sisters but possibly related??). Mary Cleland Murdoch came to the colonies in 1767 with her husband and children and Hannah Cleland Plunkett came about 15-20 years earlier with her husband and family. Hannah's father was Robert Cleland and Mary's was Samuel Cleland, both men supposedly born around 1700. I have no proof Robert or Samuel ever made it to the colonies despite the first census in America (1790) listing a few Robert and Samuel Cleland's in the same area my ancestors settled (South Carolina). I would also be hard pressed to believe they would have still been alive at almost 100 years old just because of the time period. So no proof they came to the colonies, too many Robert's and no Samuel's in the PRONI records I have looked at, and now I'm starting to worry I don't even have the correct names. Just because he's so elusive, does anyone happen to have a Samuel in their records?
Are James dawsett Rose cleland and rev John cleland related?
My maiden name is Cleland. My dad moved from Ireland to Alberta, Canada in 1926 when he was 5. They had lived east of Hillsborough, across from the Annahilt (sp?) Baptist church on Windmill Road.
My mom took us “kids” to show us where dad was born in 1999. The place was then owned by a Mr. McAllister
I took my family there in 2018 to show them where their granddad was born. It was then owned by Mr. McAllister Jr.
My dad was Harold Robert Cleland. His parents were William and Isabel (Beattie). His siblings were William , Ellen, Agnes, Isabel and Albert (born in Alberta)
Apparently, my grandmother wanted to get my grandfather away from the pubs, so they moved to Canada. Being Protestant, imagine my grandfather’s surprise when he found out his kind neighbour was Catholic! They did get along well after though.
We were able to find the family plot at the church. My great grandparents were Samuel and Margaret. There are also my dad’s uncle and aunt buried there. Robert and his wife (I don’t remember her name) had been murdered by their adopted son in the 1940s. It seems he may have had mental health problems.
When we went in 2018, we also went to Scotland to find the town of Cleland. They didn’t have much information at the library, so we were sent to Motherwell. A gentleman there showed us huge maps of the Cleland estate from the mid-1800s. It had a pottery and a colliery and apparently a cave where political men on the run from the British could hide!
I did not find out that the land the northern Irish parliament was on had belonged to Clelands until we got home, otherwise we could have checked it out.
I am a Cleland looking to find out where our family originated from, we are all currently based in Co Down NI.
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