Monday 8 January 2024

Gloster House

THE LLOYDS OWNED 4,536 ACRES OF LAND IN THE KING'S COUNTY

EVAN LLOYD JP DL, of Yale, Denbighshire, Captain-General in the service of CHARLES I, in Ireland, son and heir of Sir John Lloyd, Knight, and grandson of Sir Evan Lloyd, 1st Baronet (c1622-63), the twelfth of his race lineally descended from YNYR OF YALE, married Mary, daughter and co-heir of Sir Richard Trevor, Knight, and had issue,
John, his heir;
Roger;
TREVOR, of whom we treat;
Catherine; Mary; Magdelen.
His youngest son,

TREVOR LLOYD, a captain in the army of CHARLES I, wedded, in 1639, Margaret Rose, daughter and heiress of Francis Medhop, of Gloster and Tonagh, King's County, by whom he acquired estates in the King's County and County Tipperary, and had a son and successor,

MEDHOP LLOYD, of the King's County, who, by his wife Hannah, daughter of Christopher Lovett, Lord Mayor of Dublin, 1676-7, had fourteen children, all of whom dsp with the exception of

TREVOR LLOYD who, inheriting the family estates, became of Gloster, in the King's County.

Mr Lloyd married Miss Waller, of Castletown, County Limerick (a descendant of Sir Hardress Waller, Governor of Limerick, during the Commonwealth), and had, with other issue,
JOHN, his heir;
Hardress, dsp;
Waller;
Harriet, m F Saunderson, of Castle Saunderson.
He was succeeded by his eldest son,

JOHN LLOYD, of Gloster, MP for King's County, 1768-90, who wedded, about 1777, Jane, daughter of Thomas Le Hunt, of Artrammon, County Wexford, and had issue, 
HARDRESS, his heir;
Trevor, died at Cambridge, 1796;
Thomas, lieutenant-colonel;
Evan;
John;
Alice; Harriet.
Mr Lloyd was succeeded by his eldest son,

HARDRESS LLOYD JP DL MP (c1782-1860), of Gloster, Lieutenant-Colonel, South Down Militia, MP for King's County, 1807-16, who died unmarried, and was succeeded by his natural son,

JOHN LLOYD JP DL, of Gloster, High Sheriff of King's County, 1866, who espoused, in 1872, Susanna Frances Julia, second daughter of John Thomas Rosborough Colclough, of Tintern Abbey, County Wexford, and had issue,
JOHN HARDRESS, his heir;
Evan Colclough;
Llewellyn Wilfred Medhop;
Mary Louisa Arthurina Gwendoline Colclough; Susanna Frederica Lillian Mary; Myrtle Susan.
Mr Lloyd died in 1883, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

BRIGADIER JOHN HARDRESS LLOYD DSO JP DL (1874-1952), of Gloster, High Sheriff of King's County, 1906, who wedded, in 1903, Adeline, daughter of Sir Samuel Wilson, MP for Portsmouth, 1886-92, though the marriage was without issue.


GLOSTER HOUSE, Shinrone, Birr, is thought to be County Offaly’s most important early 18th century house.

The Lloyd family came to Ireland from Denbighshire to serve in the army of CHARLES I, and acquired the estate by marriage in 1639.

Presumably they lived in the 17th century house until the building was enlarged in the 1720s.

Maurice Craig has remarked that “Gloster has features which can hardly derive from anyone other than Sir Edward Lovett-Pearce.”

Craig feels that Lovett-Pearce may have provided the design for his cousin Trevor Lloyd but left the execution to others, since “for all its charm, it is provincial in almost every respect”.

Gloster is unusually long and low, with thirteen bays and two stories.


The bays to either side of the breakfront have a series of elaborate pilasters, while the pairs of upper storey end-bays have blind niches in place of windows.

The elaborate, double-height entrance-hall has a series of bust-filled niches while there is very grand upper hall on the piano nobile.

This overlooks the entrance-hall though a series of round-headed openings.

Samuel Chearnley may possibly have had a hand in designing the gardens, which contain a canal, a lime avenue and a pedimented arch, flanked by obelisks in the manner of Vanburgh while a series of

later terraces in front of the house descend to a small lake.

Brigadier Hardress Lloyd and his wife had no children, so Gloster House was inherited by their nephew, Major Evan Trevor Lloyd.

Major Lloyd held the estate for several years when, in 1958, he sold it to an order of nuns.

In 1990, the religious order ended their activities at Gloster; and in 1992 the estate was sold to the Macra ne Feirme organization, which intended to operate the estate as a rural training centre.

The project proved to be unsuccessful and, after a few years, they sold it to a pharmaceutical organisation that held it until 2001, when it was purchased by the present owners, Tom and Mary Alexander, who have carried out a thorough and sympathetic restoration.

Famous visitors to Gloster include John Wesley, who preached here in 1749; while the famous Australian “Diva”, Dame Nellie Melba GBE, sang from the gallery in the upper hall in the early 20th century.

First published in January, 2018.  Select bibliography: Irish Historic Houses Association.

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