Clare Park

THE McGILDOWNYS OWNED 3,811 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ANTRIM

JOHN McGILDOWNY, of Ballycastle, County Antrim, son of Edmund McGildowny, of Ballynaglogh, married Mary Gray, and had issue,

John, of Clare Park;
CHARLES, of whom presently;
Edmund, of Clare;
Mary, m John Montgomery Casement, of Magherintemple.

Edmund McGildowny was principal agent for the Earls of Antrim, specifically Lord and Lady Mark Kerr, 1800-32. His correspondence for this period, along with other material concerning the estate, can be found in the McGildowny Papers, deposited at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. The McGildownys undertook coal-mining in the area during the 19th century.

The second son,

CHARLES McGILDOWNY, of Clare Park, wedded, in 1819, Rosetta, daughter of E D Boyd, of Ballycastle, and dying in 1842, left an only son and heir,

JOHN McGILDOWNY JP DL (1820-87), High Sheriff of County Antrim, 1844, Captain, Antrim Militia, who married, in 1851, Rose Anna, daughter of Hugh McCalmont, of Abbeylands, County Antrim, and had issue,

CHARLES, his heir;
HUGH McCALMONT, succeeded his brother;
John Edmund;
Robert (1864-89);
William, DSO, army officer;
Elizabeth Margaret.

Mr McGildowny's eldest son,

CHARLES McGILDOWNY, of Clare Park, born in 1852, was succeeded by his brother,  

HUGH McCALMONT McGILDOWNY JP (1854-1923), of Clare Park, who wedded, in 1905, Mary Rose, daughter of the Rev Thomas Alexander Cameron VD, Honorary Chaplain, 2nd Volunteer Battalion, The Black Watch, of Farnell, Forfarshire, and had issue,

HUGH CAMERON, b 1907;
John Ralph Lyon, b 1910.

Mr McGildowny died in 1923, as the result of a riding accident, and was buried at Clare Park.

His son, 

HUGH CAMERON McGILDOWNY (1907-72), of Kensington, London, Captain, Irish Guards, High Sheriff of County Antrim, 1952, married, in 1952, Gladys Muriel Sinclair Burne.

Unfortunately I have no further knowledge of the McGildowny family, nor Clare Park.

If any readers can provide further information or photographs please contact at earlofbelmont@btinternet.com.

Dr Patrick Smythe-Wood lived at Clare Park from 1959-78

CLARE PARK, near Ballycastle, County Antrim, was a long, irregular, partly castellated house, the nucleus of which was a three-bay, gable-ended house of about 1698.

The house was originally inhabited by McDonnells, before becoming the residence of the McGildownys in the 18th century.

Somewhat irregular two-storey wings were added during the 18th century, one of which was prolonged by a stable range.

Post-1880, the original block was given two bows and a battlemented parapet.

Overhanging oriel windows were added to the wings.

A slender, three-storey, square, battlemented tower, quite ecclesiastical in demeanour, was built at the junction of the right-hand wing and the stable range.

Sadly, the house and grounds were unoccupied for some time and fell into a ruinous state.

Clare Park ca 1985 (Image: Jyl Darlow)

The house has since been razed to the ground.

Site of Clare Park House

There was a walled garden on the south side of the house.

In 2013, the twenty-two acre grounds are for sale.

The demesne was set in a spectacular cliff-top site above the County Antrim coast, near Ballycastle.

There was a walled garden on the south side of the house.

The main entrance to Clare Park had a three-bay gate lodge (above, in 1936) of ca 1860; lancet windows; stuccoed walls; stone quoins; elaborate cast-iron gate-posts.

First published in January, 2013.