Lismacue House

THE BAKERS OWNED 1,328 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TIPPERARY

THOMAS BAKER, the first of this family who settled at Lattinmore, County Tipperary, went over to Ireland with the Lord Deputy, the Earl of Sussex. His widow, Anne Baker, who was living at Knockroid, Barony of Clanwilliam, 1642, put in her claim, and that of her son, Walter, as sufferers in 1641.

This son,

WALTER BAKER, entered Trinity College, Dublin, 1640, aged 17, as second son of Thomas Baker, of Lattin, born at Ballincallagh, 1623.

He obtained a re-grant from CHARLES II of the lands at Killenaliff, Lattinmore, and Lattinbeg, Yorticord and Kilpatrick, County Tipperary, containing 1,200 Irish acres.

This patent was enrolled in 1677, and it states that the lands were in Thomas Baker's possession "long before the Great Rebellion" of 1641.

He wedded Martha Osborne, and left issue, three sons and two daughters.

The second son,

RICHARD BAKER, of Lattinmore, County Tipperary, succeeded his father.

He married and left issue, a son,

WILLIAM BAKER, High Sheriff of County Tipperary, 1726, who purchased, in 1700 (from Colonel Blunt), the estate of Lismacue.

He espoused, in 1700, Margaret, eldest daughter of Hugh Massy, of Duntrileague, County Limerick, and had issue (with two daughters),

HUGH, his heir;
Charles;
Thomas;
Richard;
William;
Walter;
Godfrey.

The eldest son,

HUGH BAKER, of Lismacue, married, in 1730, Catherine, daughter of Robert Ryves, of Ryves Castle, Ballyskiddane, County Limerick, and died in 1772, having had issue,

WILLIAM, his heir;
Thomas;
Hugh;
Walter;
Edward;
Kilner;
Elizabeth; Margaret; Catherine.

The eldest son,

WILLIAM BAKER, of Lisnacue, Colonel, Irish Volunteers, wedded Elizabeth, second daughter of the Very Rev Charles Massy, Dean of Limerick, and sister of Sir Hugh Dillon Massy, 1st Baronet, of Donass, and had issue,

WILLIAM, his heir;
Hugh, father of HUGH;
Charles Massy;
Robert;
Elizabeth; Catherine; Grace; Margaret.

Mr Baker died in 1808, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

WILLIAM BAKER, of Lismacue, who espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Roberts, 1st Baronet, of Britfieldstown, County Cork, but dsp.

Mr Baker was murdered in 1815, when he was succeeded by his nephew,

HUGH BAKER (1798-1868), of Lismacue, who married Marion, only child of Charles Conyers, of Castletown Conyers, County Limerick, and had issue,

HUGH, his heir;
CHARLES CONYERS MASSY, of Lismacue, which he purchased from his brother's heirs;
William;
Augustine Fitzgerald (Sir);
Marion Elizabeth; Anne; Elizabeth Henrietta; Mary Rachel.

Mr Baker was succeeded by his eldest son,

HUGH BAKER (1845-87), of Lismacue, who wedded, in 1879, Frances Elizabeth, daughter of John Massy, of Kingswell, County Tipperary, and had issue,

HUGH, b 1880;
Alice Maud Massy, b 1883.

Mr Baker's brother,

CHARLES CONYERS MASSY BAKER JP (1847-1905), of Lismacue, espoused, in 1880, Harriet Booth, daughter of George Allen, of Oakdale, Surrey, and had issue,

ALLEN, his heir;
Conyers;
Massy;
Dennis;
Irene.

Mr Baker was succeeded by his eldest son,

ALLEN BAKER (1881-1969), of Lismacue, who married firstly, in 1910, Frances Violet, eldest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel William Cooper-Chadwick, of Ballinard, County Tipperary, and had issue,

WILLIAM, his heir;
Mary Rachel; Elizabeth Anne.

He wedded secondly, in 1935, Julia Dorothy, daughter of William Parry Evans.

Mr Baker was succeeded by his son and heir,

WILLIAM BAKER (1913-), of Lisnacue, who espoused, in 1950, Brenda Katherine, daughter of John Gillespie Aitken, and had issue, an only child,

KATHERINE (Kate) RACHEL BAKER (1952-), of Lismacue, who owns and manages the estate with her husband, James Nicholson.

Garden front

LISMACUE HOUSE, near Bansha, County Tipperary, was completed in 1813 to the design of William Robertson.

William Baker purchased Lismacue in 1705 from Charles Blount and the estate has been owned by his descendants ever since.

The house is two-storey building over a basement in a mildly Tudor-Gothic style that is far more restrained than his more exuberant later work.

The external walls are rendered with ‘eyebrows’ over the windows and restrained pinnacles and crenellations, including, most unusually, a single small battlemented pediment on each front.

The façade is three bays wide, with a single storied Gothick open porch supported on elegant square columns.

Its tripartite arrangement is echoed by the door-case behind.

Entrance front

The two other fronts are both five bays wide while the lower wing to the north, terminates in a gable, almost entirely filled with a single large window with robust Gothic tracery

The interior is classically late Georgian, covered with a thin Gothick layer.

The large rooms have good plasterwork, a fine wide staircase, and a wonderful set of mahogany doors on the ground floor.

Several rooms retain their early wallpaper, dating from the 1830s.

Outside is fine open parkland, with wonderful views of the Galtee Mountains and the Glen of Aherlow, and a superb (and unusually long) avenue of lime trees, dating from the 18th century.

The present owners are Jim Nicholson and his wife Kate, who inherited Lismacue from her father, William Baker.

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