Virginia Park

THE MARQUESSES OF HEADFORT WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY MEATH, WITH 7,544 ACRES

THEY OWNED 14,220 ACRES IN COUNTY CAVAN AND 12,851 ACRES IN WESTMORLAND

THOMAS TAYLOR, of Ringmer, Sussex, died in 1629, and was succeeded by his son,

JOHN TAYLOR, of Battle, Sussex, who died in 1638, leaving an only son,

THOMAS TAYLOR,

Who removed to Ireland, in 1653, in the train of Sir William Petty, in order to undertake the Down Survey, in which kingdom, he purchased lands in 1660, of which the town and townlands of Kells formed a portion, having disposed of his estates in England. 

After the Restoration, he was appointed one of the sub-commissioners of the court of claims. In 1669-70, he was deputy receiver-general under Sir George Carteret, and immediately before his death he officiated as vice-treasurer and treasurer-at-war.

Mr Taylor married, in 1658, Anne, daughter of William Axtell, of Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, and had one surviving son, THOMAS, his heir, and one daughter, Anne, married to Sir Nicholas Acheson Bt.

He died in 1682, and was succeeded by his son,

THE RT HON THOMAS TAYLOR (1662-1736), who was created a baronet, 1704, designated of Kells, County Meath, and sworn of the Privy Council in 1726.

Sir Thomas wedded Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Cotton Bt, of Combermere, and had issue,

THOMAS, his heir;
Robert (Very Rev), Dean of Clonfert;
Henry;
James;
Henrietta; Salisbury; Anne.

Sir Thomas was succeeded by his eldest son,

THE RT HON SIR THOMAS TAYLOR (1657-96), 2nd Baronet, MP for Maidstone, 1689-96, Privy Counsellor, who married Mary, daughter of John Graham, of Platten, County Meath, and left, with a daughter, Henrietta, an only son, 

THE RT HON SIR THOMAS TAYLOR, 3rd Baronet (1724-95), KP, MP for Kells, 1747-60, who wedded, in 1754, Jane, eldest daughter of the Rt Hon Hercules Langford Rowley, by Elizabeth, Viscountess Langford, and had issue,

THOMAS, his successor;
Robert, a general in the army;
Clotworthy, created Baron Langford;
Henry Edward, in holy orders;
Henrietta.

Sir Thomas was elevated to the peerage, in 1760, in the dignity of Baron Headfort; and advanced to a viscountcy, in 1762, as Viscount Headfort.

His lordship was further advanced, in 1766, to the dignity of an earldom, as Earl of Bective.

In 1783 he was installed as a Founder Knight of St Patrick (KP), and sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

THOMAS, 2nd Earl (1757-1829), who espoused, in 1778, Mary, only daughter and heir of George Quin, of Quinsborough, County Clare, and had issue,

THOMAS, his successor;
George;
Mary; Elizabeth Jane.

His lordship was created, in 1800, MARQUESS OF HEADFORT.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

THOMAS, 2nd Marquess (1787-1870), KP, MP for County Meath, 1812-29, Lord Lieutenant of County Cavan, 1831-70, who wedded firstly, in 1822, Olivia, daughter of Sir John Stevenson, and had issue,

THOMAS, his successor;
Robert;
John Henry;
Olivia; Mary Juliana; Virginia Frances Zerlina.

His lordship espoused secondly, in 1853, Frances, daughter of John Livingstone Martyn.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

THOMAS, 3rd Marquess, KP PC (1822-94), High Sheriff of County Meath, 1844, Cavan, 1846, who espoused firstly, in 1842, Amelia, only child of William Thompson MP, and had issue,

Thomas;
Evelyn Amelia; Madeline Olivia Susan; Adelaide Louisa Jane; Isabel Frances; Florence Jane.

He married secondly, in 1875, Emily Constantia, daughter of the Hon Eustace John Wilson-Patten, and had further issue,

GEOFFREY THOMAS, his successor;
Beatrix.

His lordship was succeeded by his surviving son,

GEOFFREY THOMAS, 4th Marquess (1878-1943), a Senator of the Irish Free State, 1922-28, who wedded, in 1901, Rose, daughter of Charles Boote, and had issue,

TERENCE GEOFFREY THOMAS, his successor;
William Desmond;
Millicent Olivia Mary.

His lordship was succeeded by his elder son,

TERENCE GEOFFREY THOMAS, 5th Marquess (1902-60),

• Geoffrey Thomas Taylour, 4th Marquess (1878–1943);
• Terence Geoffrey Thomas Taylour, 5th Marquess (1902–60);
• Thomas Geoffrey Charles Michael Taylour, 6th Marquess (1932–2005);
• Thomas Michael Ronald Christopher Taylour, 7th Marquess (b 1959).

The heir apparent is the present holder's son, Thomas Rupert Charles Christopher Taylour, styled Earl of Bective (b 1989).

The Taylour family became very much involved in the political life of the locality, and several members of the family served as MPs for Kells and the county of Meath.


They were also a "Patrick Family", the 1st Earl, and 1st, 2nd and 3rd Marquesses all having been appointed Knights of St Patrick.

His seat, Headfort House, in County Meath, was the only Adam house in Ireland.

In 1901 the 4th Marquess, an eminent horticulturist, caused a sensation when he converted to Rome to marry a showgirl called Rosie Boote.

A figure of great dignity, she remained the dominant personality in the family during young Michael's youth and early adult life.

Virginia, in the county of Cavan, was named after ELIZABETH I, "the Virgin Queen".

It owes its origin to the plantation of Ulster in 1609.

The lands eventually passed into the possession of Lucas Plunkett, Earl of Bective, a Roman Catholic, who was later created Earl of Fingall.

It can also be said that Lucas Plunkett, along with his son Christopher, frustrated the plans of the Government to proceed with the development of the town and its incorporation during his tenure.

He was sympathetic to the rebel Irish and sided with them against the planters during the 1641 Rebellion and the Williamite Wars of 1688-91, earning him the label of 'traitor'.

Consequently it fell to Thomas, 1st Marquess of Headfort, and his successors, to fulfil the patent in relation to the development of the town in the second half of the 18th century and 19th century - the patent which was originally granted to Captain Ridgeway in 1612.

Lord Headfort maintained a beautiful park beside Lough Ramor, where he had a hunting lodge (above) in plain, rambling, Picturesque cottage style; a two-storey house with a three-bay centre and single-storey, three-bay wings.

The family often stayed here during the summer or autumn months, between 1750 and 1939.

The former hunting lodge, located on the shore of Lough Ramor, is now a hotel, Virginia Park Lodge.

First published in July, 2011. 

The Caldwell Baronetcy

The founder of this family in Ulster, JOHN CALDWELL (1603-39), a merchant in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, was born at Preston, Ayrshire. By his wife Mary, daughter of Anthony Sweetenham, of Chester, he was father of

JAMES CALDWELL (c1630-1717), a merchant of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, settled at Rossbeg, afterwards named Castle Caldwell, County Fermanagh.

He wedded, about 1655, Catherine, daughter of Sir John Hume, 2nd Baronet, and had issue,

Charles, (Lt-Col), (1702-17);

HENRY, his successor;

Hugh;

John.

He was created a baronet in 1683, being designated of Wellsborough, County Fermanagh.

Sir James, High Sheriff of County Fermanagh, 1was attainted by the Irish Parliament of JAMES II, 1689.

He was succeeded by his elder son,

SIR HENRY CALDWELL, 2nd Baronet, High Sheriff of County Fermanagh, 1693, a merchant at Ballyshannon, County Donegal.

Sir Henry died ca 1726, and was succeeded by his son,

SIR JOHN CALDWELL, 3rd Baronet, who wedded, in 1719, Anne, daughter of the Very Rev John Trench, Dean of Raphoe, and had issue,

JAMES, his successor;

Hume;

Henry, father of the 6th Baronet;

Catherine.

The second son, Hume, was a very distinguished officer in the Austrian service, and attained the rank of colonel. He was killed in a sally from the fortress of Schweidnitz, in 1762.

Sir John died in 1744, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

THE RT HON SIR JAMES CALDWELL, 4th Baronet (c1722-84), Deputy Governor of Fermanagh, 1752, High Sheriff of County Fermanagh, 1756, who being in the service of the Empress Maria Theresa, was created by that princess COUNT OF MILAN, in the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1766, Sir James, in passing through Vienna, having had an audience of leave of the Empress-Queen, Her Imperial Majesty, in a very gracious manner, charged him with a magnificent gold box, to present to the Dowager Lady Caldwell, mother of Colonel Caldwell, as a testimony of Her Majesty's gratitude for the signal services performed by that gallant officer. 

Sir James raised, in 1760, at his own expense, a body of Light Horse (20th Dragoons), comprising 250 men, which he commanded for some years, for the defence of the Kingdom of Ireland. 

This regiment was disbanded in 1763. Sir James is said to have declined a peerage as well as the position of chamberlain to the Empress of Germany.

He espoused, in 1753, Elizabeth, daughter of the Most Rev Dr Josiah Hort, Lord Archbishop of Tuam, by whom he had (with four daughters) three sons,

JOHN, his successor;
Fitzmaurice;
Josiah John.

Sir James was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR JOHN CALDWELL, 5th Baronet (1756-1830), of Castle Caldwell, County Fermanagh, Count of Milan, Aide-de-Camp to the Viceroy of India, 1782, Governor of County Fermanagh, 1793; Lieutenant-Colonel, Fermanagh Militia, High Sheriff of County Fermanagh, 1798, Captain, Belleek Infantry, 1802.

He married, in 1789, Harriet, daughter of Hugh Meynell, and had two daughters, the elder of whom, Louisa Georgiana, wedded, in 1823, to Sir J W Hort Bt; and the second, to Sir John Colpoys Bloomfield, of Redwood, County Tipperary.

On his death, in 1830, his Holy Roman Empire Countship expired, and the baronetcy reverted to his cousin,

SIR JOHN CALDWELL, 6th Baronet (1775–1842), born at Quebec, Treasurer-General of Canada, 1810, who espoused, in 1800, Jane, daughter of James Davidson, and had issue,

HENRY JOHN, his successor;
Anne (1805-41).

Sir John was succeeded by his only son,

SIR HENRY JOHN CALDWELL, 7th Baronet (1801-58), who married, in 1839, Sophia Louisa, daughter of David Runwa Paynter, though the marriage was without issue.

The title expired on the 7th Baronet's death in 1858.

CASTLE CALDWELL, near Belleek, County Fermanagh, stands on an isthmus overlooking Lower Lough Erne.

It was built between 1613-19 by Thomas Blennerhassett on the 1,500 acre estate he acquired under the Plantation of Ulster.

The castle was purchased by James Caldwell in 1662.

Castle Caldwell ca 1830 (historic OS map)

First published in July, 2011.

Waringstown House

THE WARINGS OWNED 2,438 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY DOWN

This branch of the ancient family of WARING of Lancashire, whose patriarch, MILES DE GUARIN, came to England with WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, was established in Ulster during the reign of Queen MARY, when its ancestor fled to that province to avoid the persecution of the Lollards.

In the reign of JAMES II, the Warings of Waringstown suffered outlawry, and their home was taken possession of by the Irish at the period of the Revolution, and most of their family records destroyed.

JOHN WARING settled within the civil parish of Toome, County Antrim, and married Mary, daughter of the Rev Thomas Pierse, Vicar of Derriaghy, in that county, by whom he had three sons and several daughters.

One of Mr Waring's sons, Thomas, carried on the family tradition of tanning, having settled in Belfast about 1640. Since he was English and not Presbyterian, he had no difficulty in dealing with the Cromwellian regime.

Having become one of its most prosperous citizens, Thomas Waring was appointed Sovereign (mayor) of Belfast, 1652-55. He lived in Waring Street.

The eldest son,

WILLIAM WARING (1619-1703), became possessed (by purchase from the soldiers of Lord Deputy Fleetwood's regiment of horse) in 1656, of the district of Clanconnell (of which the Waringstown estate formed a part), and shortly after built the present mansion house and adjoining church.

Mr Waring, High Sheriff of County Down in 1669, wedded firstly, Elizabeth, daughter of William Gardiner, of Londonderry, and had issue,

SAMUEL, his heir;
Mary, m Richard Close of Drumbanagher.

He espoused secondly, Jane, daughter of John Close, and had further issue, with six daughters, seven sons, of whom THOMAS was High Sheriff of County Down, 1724, and JOHN, ancestor of Samuel James Waring, created Baron Waring.

The eldest son,

SAMUEL WARING (1660-1739), of Waringstown, High Sheriff of County Down, 1690, MP for Hillsborough, 1703-15, married, in 1696, Grace, daughter of the Rev Samuel Holt, of County Meath, and had issue,

SAMUEL, his heir;
Richard, died unmarried;
Holt, a major in the army;
Jane, m to Alexander Macnaghten;
Sarah; Frances; Alice.

The eldest son,

SAMUEL WARING, of Waringstown, High Sheriff of County Down, 1734, died unmarried, in 1793, and was succeeded by his nephew (fifth son of Major Holt Waring),

THE VERY REV HOLT WARING (1766-1830), of Waringstown, Dean of Dromore, who married, in 1793, Elizabeth Mary, daughter of the Rev Averell Daniel, Rector of Lifford, County Donegal, and had issue,

Eliza Jane;
Anne;
Louisa;
Frances Grace, m Henry Waring, of Waringstown;
Jane.

The Dean's cousin and son-in-law,

MAJOR HENRY WARING JP (1795-1866), of Waringstown, espoused, in 1824, Frances Grace, fourth daughter of the Very Rev Holt Waring, of Waringstown, Dean of Dromore; and had (with three other sons, who died in infancy),

THOMAS, of whom presently;
Holt;
Henry;
Mary Louisa; Elizabeth Mary; Frances Jane; Anne; Susan; Selina Grace.

Mr Waring was succeeded by his eldest son, 

COLONEL THOMAS WARING JP (1828-98), of Waringstown, High Sheriff of County Down, 1868-9, MP for North Down, 1885-98, who married firstly, in 1858, Esther, third daughter of Ross Thompson Smyth, of Ardmore, County Londonderry. She dsp 1873.

He wedded secondly, in 1874, Fanny, fourth daughter of Admiral John Jervis Tucker, of Trematon Castle, Cornwall, and had issue,

HOLT, his heir;
Ruric Henry, Lieutenant RN;
Esther Marian; Mary Theresa; Frances Joan Alice.

Colonel Waring espoused thirdly, in 1885, Geraldine, third daughter of Alexander Stewart, of Ballyedmond, Rostrevor, County Down.

The eldest son, 

HOLT WARING JP DL (1877-1918), married, in 1914, Margaret Alicia (1887–1968), youngest daughter of Joseph Charlton Parr, of Grappenhall Heyes, Warrington, Cheshire,  banker, industrialist, and landowner, though the marriage was without issue.

MRS MARGARET ALICIA WARING CBE JP, widowed in 1918.

When her husband was killed in action at Kemmel Hill, France, she chose to remain at the Waring family's 17th century home, Waringstown House, and became active within the local community.

Mrs Waring took a keen interest in Orangeism, serving as Deputy Grand Mistress of Ireland, County Grand Mistress of Down, and District Mistress of Down Lodge No. 4 in the Association of Loyal Orangewomen of Ireland in 1929.

In 1929, she was elected to the Northern Ireland parliament as the official Unionist candidate for the single-seat constituency of Iveagh in County Down.

Mrs Waring  was one of only two women standing for election and, as the only one to be elected, became the third female member of the Northern Ireland parliament (her two predecessors being Dehra Parker and Julia McMordie).

In 1933, she was appointed CBE for Political, Philanthropic, and Public Services.

Following her retirement from parliament, Mrs Waring continued to participate in public affairs.

From the mid-1930s, she was a member of the Northern Ireland war pensions committee, and in 1934 became a member of the Northern Ireland unemployment assistance board.

A longstanding enthusiast for cricket, in 1923 she was the first woman elected onto the committee of the Northern [Ireland] Cricket Union, and in 1954 became its president.

Failing health in later life having caused her to withdraw from wider public activities.

Mrs Waring died at Waringstown House, Waringstown, County Down, on the 9th May, 1968.

The Waringstown estate was inherited by her nephew, Michael Harnett, his wife Anne, and their children, Jane and William.

WARINGSTOWN HOUSE, Waringstown, County Down, is said to be one of the earliest surviving unfortified Ulster houses.

It was built by William Waring - who also erected the adjacent church -  in 1667.

The house seems to have been originally of two storeys with an attic; with pedimented, curvilinear gables along the front, still existent at the sides.

The front was swiftly raised to form three storeys, thus providing a late 17th or early 18th century appearance.

The centre block is of six bays, with a pedimented doorcase flanked by two narrow windows.

The two central bays are enclosed with rusticated quoins, as are the sides of the centre block and wings.

The front is elongated by two short sweeps, ending in piers with finials.

There are lofty, Tudor-Revival chimneys.

Waringstown House lay empty for a period, when Mrs D G Waring died in 1968.

The Waring family used to own a town house at 13 Victoria Square in London.

THE DEMESNE grounds here have their origin in the late 17th century and are surprisingly modest, considering the considerable architectural importance of this house, built on rising ground (apparently on the site of a rath) by William Waring (1619-1703), who founded the village, formerly Clanconnel.

In 1689, the extension was added to the south by the Duke of Schomberg, who occupied the house before the battle of the Boyne.

Pineapple-topped gate pillars are in the yard, possibly of early 18th century date.

The original house had a bawn, outside of which lay, as shown on a map of 1703, a series of regular enclosures, some of which were gardens and orchards.

These formal grounds, evidently expanded by William's son, Samuel Waring MP (1657-1739), contained some fine trees: In 1802, the Rev John Dubourdieu noted that there were then oaks of great size, a notable walnut in the ‘yard adjoining the house’ and ‘some of the largest beech in this county’.

Some of these were evidently lost in the "Big Wind" of January, 1839, when it was reported that ‘a row of noble beeches were prostrated’.

Although in the later 18th century the grounds were naturalised and extended with additional shelter belt plantations by Samuel Waring (1697-1793), much of original early 18th century planting survived into the 19th century.

In 1837, for example, Lewis remarked on the ‘ancient and flourishing forest trees’ that then existed at Waringstown, noting also that ‘the pleasure grounds, gardens and shrubberies are extensive and kept in the best order’.

The Ordnance Memoirs, also written in the 1830s, noted that the early Victorian gardens here included an ‘ornamental ground very tasteful’ and a flower garden ‘reckoned the best in the county’; this were located to the south of the house.

To the northwest lay the kitchen garden, which was 18th century in origin and enclosed with clipped beech hedges rather than walls. It was approached by a long path from the house court and contained kitchen stuff and orchards; this is no longer used as originally intended.

To the west of the house there is a Victorian rockery, made of massive flints from Magheralin, with a pond and rustic stone arch, built sometime after 1834 and before 1860.

In the 1980s, Alan Mitchell made a list of the present collection of flora, now in possession of the owner of the house.

The UAHS publication for the area (1968) noted that the grounds and planting here associated with the building, were not just ‘of equal value as a setting and an amenity’, but were also important to the village of Waringstown itself - a self-evident observation perhaps, but worth re-stating.

By and large, the layout of the demesne has changed little from 1834.

The southern end is taken up by the cricket ground, which includes a rath.

First published in March, 2013.

Lecale

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY GAZETTEER OF IRELAND, PUBLISHED IN 1846

LECALE, a barony on the east coast of County Down.

It is bounded, on the north, by the barony of Dufferin, and the foot of Strangford Lough; on the north-east, by the entrance of Strangford Lough, which separates it from Ards; on the east and south, by the Irish Sea; and on the west, by the baronies of Upper Iveagh and Dufferin.

Its length, south by westward, is 9½ miles; its extreme breadth is 8; and its area is 61,592 acres, of which 336 acres are water.

The principal and almost only indentation of the coast is the bay of Killough.

Killough Bay (Image: William Alfred Green)

The only noticeable insular ground is Gun's Island.

The surface has a well cultivated, pleasant, ornate, and occasionally picturesque appearance.

Excepting the Ballynahinch River, with its little estuary, along the north-west, all the streams are of very meagre run and volume.

This barony contains part of the parish of Kilmegan, and the whole of the parishes of Ardglass, Ballee, Ballyculter, Ballykinlar, Bright, Down, Dunsford, Inch, Kilclief, Rathmullan, Saul, and Tyrella.

It was recently divided into two very nearly equal parts or baronial districts, called Lower Lecale and Upper Lecale.

First published in March, 2021.

Donard Lodge

DONARD PARK COMPRISED 783 ACRES OF LAND

The Earls Annesley derive their surname from the manor of Annesley in Nottinghamshire.

They were one of great noble families of County Down.

The vast Annesley estate stretched from Slieve Croob to Slieve Donard (Northern Ireland's highest mountain), including the village of Castlewellan and part of Newcastle.

They owned 25,000 acres of land in County Down, including 783 acres at Donard Park.

Their ancestral seat was Castlewellan Castle (which still, incidentally, looks as well as the day it was built in 1858 by the 4th Earl).

Lord Annesley and his successors also owned a "marine residence" just outside Newcastle in County Down.

Click to Enlarge

This large house, called Donard Lodge, pre-dated Castlewellan Castle by twenty-five years.

DONARD LODGE, on the southern outskirts of Newcastle, County Down, stood close to the location of the present Donard Bridge, at the foot of Thomas's Mountain and Slieve Donard, close to the location of Donard car park.

The prospect from the house towards the harbour and sea must have been spectacular.

Marine residences were popular amongst the nobility during the Victorian era: Murlough House, not far along the coast towards Dundrum, was Lord Downshire's "marine residence."

Returning to Donard Lodge, doubtless it was the finest edifice and address in Newcastle, a distinguished two-storey classical house of granite ashlar, built ca 1830 by the 3rd Earl.

The entrance front had a central, projecting bay with a strikingly projecting three-sided bow at either side; the centre being joined on each side to the projecting ends by a short Doric colonnade.

One of these colonnades served as an entrance portico, the door being in one side of the central projection.

The garden front had curved and three-sided bows and round-headed ground-floor windows.

There was a fine, semi-circular conservatory at one end of the house.

The little girl standing in the foreground to the right of the conservatory provides an indication the the mansion's size.

The ground floor also joined on to stable buildings and yards.

About 500 acres of land above the mansion were planted with trees, and a beautiful garden was created by the Rev John Moore (of Rowallane) and his sister Priscilla, 3rd Countess Annesley.

Eighty acres of the demesne became the pleasure grounds, with winding paths, ornamental trees and shrubs, waterfalls, cascades, an aviary, a hermitage, shell house, spa house, spa well, visitors' dining house, ornamental dining house, and a variety of rustic stone seats and little bridges.

This scheme may well have been inspired by the near by Tollymore Park.

Annesley Estate Office, Newcastle

The Annesley estate office still stands in the town.

Priscilla, Dowager Countess Annesley, continued to reside at Donard Lodge until her death in 1891.

Following Lady Annesley's death, Donard Lodge was leased to a number of tenants, all of whom failed to maintain the mansion to a satisfactory standard.

The Lodge suffered a serious fire in 1941.

Its sad demise continued until 1966, when the noble Donard Lodge was blown up (one year before Castlewellan Castle was sold to the Northern Ireland Government).

First published in April, 2009.

Ballintemple House

THE BUTLER BARONETS OF CLOGHGRENAN WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CARLOW, WITH 6,455 ACRES

The family of BUTLER is one of the most ancient and illustrious in the British Isles; and for the services which, at different periods, it rendered to the Crown, it obtained titles of honour in each of the kingdoms of the realm.

THOMAS BUTLER, supposed to be lineally descended from Sir Edmund Butler, Knight, second son of James, 9th Earl of Ormond, was created a baronet in 1628, designated of Cloughgrenan, County Carlow.

Sir Thomas, High Sheriff of County Carlow, 1612-22, married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Colclough, Knight, of Tintern Abbey, County Wexford, and widow of Nicholas Bagenal, by whom he had four sons and three daughters.

He died ca 1640, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR EDMUND BUTLER, 2nd Baronet, who wedded Juliana, daughter of Bernard Hyde, of Shinfield, Berkshire, and had issue,

THOMAS, his successor;
James;
Eleanor.

Sir Edmund died ca 1650, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR THOMAS BUTLER, 3rd Baronet, who espoused firstly, Jane, daughter of the Rt Rev Dr Richard Boyle, Lord Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns; and secondly, in 1700, Jane, daughter of Edward Pottinger.

By his first wife he had two sons, of whom the elder,

SIR PIERCE BUTLER, 4th Baronet (1670-1732), MP for County Carlow, 1703-14, wedded, in 1697, Anne, daughter of Joshua Galliard, of Enfield, Middlesex.

Sir Pierce died without male issue, when the title reverted to his nephew,

SIR RICHARD BUTLER, 5th Baronet (1699-1771), MP for Carlow, 1730-60, who espoused, in 1728, Henrietta, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Percy, by whom he had four sons and six daughters.

Sir Richard was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR THOMAS BUTLER, 6th Baronet (1735-72), MP for Carlow, 1761-8, Portarlington, 1771-2, who married Dorothea, only daughter of  the Ven Dr Edward Bayley, of Ardfert, Archdeacon of Dublin, and niece of Sir Nicholas Bayley Bt, by whom he had four sons and as many daughters.

Sir Thomas was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR RICHARD BUTLER, 7th Baronet (1761-1817), MP for Carlow, 1783-1800, who espoused, in 1782, Sarah Maria, daughter of Thomas Newenham, and had issue,

THOMAS, his successor;
James;
Charles George;
Louisa.

Sir Richard was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR THOMAS BUTLER, 8th Baronet (1783-1861), High Sheriff of County Carlow, 1818, who wedded, in 1812, Frances, daughter of John Graham-Clarke, and had issue,

RICHARD PIERCE, his successor;
Thomas;
Henry William Paget;
Arabella Sarah; Louisa Charlotte; Laura Mary; Antoine Sloet.

Sir Thomas was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR RICHARD PIERCE BUTLER, 9th Baronet (1813-62), High Sheriff of County Carlow, 1836, who married, in 1835, Matilda, daughter of Thomas Cookson, and had issue,

THOMAS PIERCE, his successor;
Richard Pierce;
Walter Selby;
Emma.

Sir Richard was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR THOMAS PIERCE BUTLER, 10th Baronet (1836-1909), Vice Lord-Lieutenant of County Carlow, High Sheriff of County Carlow, 1866, who wedded, in 1864, Hester Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Alan Edward Bellingham Bt, of Castle Bellingham, and had issue,

RICHARD PIERCE, his successor;
Thomas Edmond;
Walter Alan;
Edith Alice; Maude Isobel; Dorothea Hester; Eleanor Frances. 

Sir Thomas was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR RICHARD PIERCE BUTLER, 11th Baronet (1872-1955), OBE DL, High Sheriff of County Carlow, 1905, who wedded, in 1906, Alice Dudley, daughter of the Very Rev and Hon James Wentworth Leigh, and had issue,

THOMAS PIERCE, his successor;
Joan; Doreen Frances. 

Sir Richard, Honorary Colonel, the Remount Service, was succeeded by his son,

SIR THOMAS PIERCE BUTLER, 12th Baronet (1910-94), CVO DSO OBE JP, Resident Governor of the Tower of London and Keeper of the Jewel House, 1969-71, who espoused, in 1937, Rosemary Liége Woodgate, daughter of Major James Hamilton Davidson-Houston, and had issue,

RICHARD PIERCE, his successor;
Caroline Rosemary;
Virginia Pamela Liége.

Sir Thomas was succeeded by his son,

SIR RICHARD PIERCE BUTLER, 13th Baronet (1940-), of London, a company director, who married, in 1965, Diana, daughter of Colonel Stephen John Borg, and had issue,

THOMAS PIERCE;
Stephen Patrick;
Rupert Dudley;
Anne Virginia. 

Ballin Temple House (Image: Turtle Bunbury)

BALLIN TEMPLE, near Tullow, County Carlow, was a fine three-storey Georgian mansion with a five-bay entrance front.

The centre bay was distinguished by a Venetian window and a pedimented Grecian-Doric porte-cochere.

The centre of the garden front had a colonnaded semi-circular bow. 

The mansion was destroyed by fire accidentally in 1917.

It existed as a shell for a number of years, and has subsequently been demolished apart from its elegant portico.

The following is a section of Turtle Bunbury's article about Ballintemple,  Ancient World, Ancient Fish:

Sir Richard Butler’s successful restoration of his family’s ancestral riverside estate at Ballintemple, County Carlow, has earned his small stretch of the River Slaney a well deserved alphabetical placement between Ashford and Ballynahinch Castles in the highly elite Great Fishing Houses of Ireland.

The project, commenced four years ago in conjunction with Robin Eustace Harvey, involved restoring both river banks, rebuilding the weirs and creating twenty four salmon pools.

Ballintemple started life as a sanctuary for members of the Knights Templar on leave from the Crusades. The estate formed part of William Marshall's vast inheritance through his marriage with Strongbow’s daughter in the late 12th century. 500 years later, the land was granted to Sir Thomas Butler of Cloghrennan, a first cousin of the “Great Duke” of Ormonde.

Sir Richard is the thirteenth generation in descent from Sir Thomas. His forbears generally played a modest role in the affairs of state. Perhaps the most notable family member was Piers Butler, sometime Senator of South Carolina and co-signatory of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

One hundred years ago the Ballintemple estate amounted to some 7,000 acres, upon which Sir Richard’s grandfather developed his passion for breeding Aberdeen Angus and Clydesdale shire-horses. He married Alice Mease, a granddaughter of the American actress Fanny Kemble.

On moving to the ancestral manor house at Ballintemple, the well-travelled Lady Alice described the estate as "one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen … in the spring the woods are literally carpeted with bluebells, the bluest and largest I have ever seen, often having fifteen bells on one stalk".

The burning of Ballintemple House in 1917, attributed to a plumber's blow-lamp and dry-rot filled rafters, was a great loss to Carlow’s architectural legacy. The shell was later demolished and only the 19th century classical portico now remains.

The Butler family then relocated to England where Sir Richard’s father, Sir Tom Butler, served as Resident Governor of the Tower of London. Subsequent confiscation’s and compulsory purchases by the Irish Land Commission whittled the Butler estate down to a few acres when Sir Richard inherited the property.

Sir Richard Butler, a former director with Chase Manhattan and founder of the Pestalozzi Children's Trust, could never shake off his desire to return to his Irish homeland. His family likewise continue to view Ballintemple as an intrinsic part of their heritage. Over the past decade, Sir Richard and his neighbour Robin Eustace Harvey have been steadily resurrecting the estate.

An ancient wood of some 20 hectares running along the riverbanks has been designated a Special Area of Conservation by Duchas. Sir Richard’s eldest son Tom has created an exceedingly nutritious 10-hectare organic farm while Tom’s Canadian wife Pam (aka Kamala Devi) runs a popular yoga retreat at Ballintemple during the summer.


The reopening of the Ballintemple fishing beat in 2003 met with widespread approval by fishermen and conservationists alike. The Slaney is one of Ireland’s longest rivers, wending its way 120 kilometres from the Glen of Imaal in the Wicklow Mountains south through Carlow and Wexford and into the sea at Wexford Harbour. It offers salmon in spring and sea trout in summer.

 First published in February, 2012.

Cleggan Notes

LORD RATHCAVAN TELLS ME ABOUT CLEGGAN LODGE, COUNTY ANTRIM

"I BELIEVE Fisher was a Manchester merchant who was involved in the iron ore mining in North Antrim above the Glens."

"Hence Fisher's Pond and the scutch mill which he also constructed, powered by the water from the Pond." 

"I presume he rented from O'Hara and that, when he left after the iron ore mining failed, O'Hara sold."

"I have a copy of the offer for sale in 1897 when my great-grandfather bought it, not for the Shane's Castle Estate but as a personal asset."

"My great-grandmother née Cochrane considered living there and they added a top floor (very badly) and I think the double staircase."

"But the idea was dropped with World War I and the death of their son in World War I."

"It fell into disrepair until my grandfather bought Cleggan from his father in 1927."

"Cleggan was always part of the medieval O'Neill Estate and was mortgaged to Lord Mount Cashel and became part of the disputed Estates Office in Dublin from whom the 1st and last Earl O'Neill rented it in 1820 after Shane's Castle was burnt in 1816."

"It was he who built this thatched Cottage Orné with eyebrow windows."

"At the same time he built architecturally similar houses on Ram's Island."

"Lough Beg and in the Shane's Castle deer park, where he and his brother (both bachelors) entertained women and gambled.'

"They also owned Tullymore Lodge near Broughshane and had a private racecourse there which is now the Ballymena Golf Club, whose freehold, I believe, is still owned by The Shane's Castle Estate."

First published in June,2010.

Holyhill House

THE SINCLAIRS OWNED 2,152 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE

THE REV JOHN SINCLAIR, son of James Sinclair of the Caithness family, was the first of the family who settled at Holyhill, County Tyrone.

Mr Sinclair, Rector of Leckpatrick, 1665-6, was succeeded by JOHN his son, father of JOHN, whose son,

WILLIAM SINCLAIR, who died before his father, married Isabella, daughter of Thomas Young, of Lough Eske, County Donegal, and had issue,

JAMES, his heir;
Thomas;
Rebecca.

The eldest son,

JAMES SINCLAIR DL (1772-1865), of Holyhill, wedded, in 1805, Dorothea, daughter and heir of the Rev Samuel Law, and had issue,

WILLIAM, his heir;
James;
Alexander Montgomery;
Mary; Dorothea; Marion; Rebecca; Ann; Isabella; Caroline Elizabeth.

Mr Sinclair was succeeded by his eldest son,

WILLIAM SINCLAIR JP DL (1810-96), of Holyhill, County Tyrone, and Drumbeg, County Donegal, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1854, Barrister, who espoused Sarah, daughter of James Cranborne Strode, and had issue,

JAMES MONTGOMERY, his heir;
William Frederic;
William Frederic;
Donald Brooke;
Alfred Law, Lt-Col, DSO;
Jemima Sarah; Dorothea Mary.

Mr Sinclair was succeeded by his eldest son,

JAMES MONTGOMERY SINCLAIR JP (1841-99), of Holyhill and Bonnyglen, Inver, County Donegal, High Sheriff of County Donegal, 1899, who married, in 1868, Mary Everina, youngest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Barton, of The Waterfoot, County Fermanagh, and had issue,

WILLIAM HUGH MONTGOMERY, his heir;
Everina Mary Caroline; Rosabel.

Mr Sinclair was succeeded by his only son,

WILLIAM HUGH MONTGOMERY SINCLAIR (1868-1930), of Holyhill and Bonnyglen, called to the Irish Bar, 1897; Vice-Consul at Manilla, 1900-02; at Boston, 1902-4; Buenos Aires, 1904-7; Emden, 1907-9; Consul for the States of Bahia and Sergipe, 1909.

Mr Sinclair wedded, in 1924, Elizabeth Elliot (Bessie) Hayes, of Philadelphia, USA, though the marriage was without issue.

HOLYHILL HOUSE, near Strabane, County Tyrone, is a plain, three-storey, five-bay Georgian house.

The demesne and house, located in the townland of Hollyhill and the parish of Leckpatrick, date from the late 17th century.

Holyhill House, whitewashed, three-storey with five bays, seems be ca 1736, when William Starratt surveyed of the estate.

It was originally attached in front of an earlier house, which was removed in the early 19th century and replaced with the present building.

*****

William Hugh Montgomery Sinclar served from 1900 in the consular service in Manilla, Boston and Buenos Aires, during which time his mother sold off most of the estate to its tenants between 1904-05 under the terms of the 1903 Land Act.

William Sinclair married the American heiress Elizabeth Elliott Hayes.

Upon her death in 1957, the estate was left to a distant Sinclair relation, Major-General Sir Allan Adair Bt, who sold many of the heirlooms and burned a lot of the estate records.

When Ballymena Castle was demolished it in 1957, Sir Allan installed ten stained-glass windows from the castle, where they remain today.

Sir Allan sold the property in 1983 to Hamilton Thompson, a Strabane pharmacist.

During the Plantation of Ulster, the lands were held by the 1st Earl of Abercorn, who granted them sometime before 1611 to his younger brother, Sir George Hamilton, of Greenlaw, who built a timber house that year.

A document of ca 1680 records that

Ballyburny alias Holihill belonged to “James Hamilton Esq. a Minor Sonne to Sir George Hamilton ye Elder” before 1641 and was distributed to Sir George Hamilton afterwards. 

This first house was burned in 1641, and at some time thereafter the property was granted to the family’s agent in the Strabane barony, David Maghee, whose son, Captain George Magee, sold the house to the Rev John Sinclair, who came to Ulster from Caithness and was instituted in the parish of Leckpatrick (in which Holyhill is located), in 1665-66, and to Camus, 1668.

The residence purchased was rebuilt after 1641, either by James Hamilton or one of his immediate descendants.

The Rev John Sinclair purchased Holyhill with incomes from two parishes: his 1703 memorial re-erected in Leckpatrick Parish Church lauds his staunch defence of the established church and persecution of dissenters.

The Abercorn Papers contain numerous letters about and between the Earl of Abercorn and Mr Sinclair going back as early as 1749.

In 1756, Lord Abercorn wrote to his agent, Nathaniel Nisbitt,

When you chance to see Mr Sinclair of Hollyhill, tell him I have not the counterpart of his deed of Holyhill; and that I therefore desire he will give me a copy of it. If he seems to think his title called in question, you may say you know of no such thing, but that you believe I am desirous of having my privileges ascertained.

On his retirement in 1757, Nisbitt recommended to Lord Abercorn that Sinclair take his place as he was “a rough honest man.”

With income as Abercorn's agent, John expanded his demesne in the late 1760s.

He was succeeded at Holyhill by son George, who had been apprenticed to a linen merchant.

George Sinclair died in Limerick between 1803-04, with his body being buried in the old parish graveyard in 1804.

George was succeeded by his nephew, James, who later served as JP in counties Donegal and Tyrone, and took part in parliamentary inquiries in the 1830s and 1840s, including the Devon Commission and the inquiry into the Orange Order, which he held in very low regard, and spoke in favour of Catholic Emancipation at a public meeting of “the nobility, gentry, clergy and freeholders of the County of Tyrone.”

*****

The house is set in a maintained ornamental garden with herbaceous borders and lawns.

A water garden was added in the 1970s.

There are mature trees beyond, in what was described by Young in 1909 as a, ‘… richly wooded park.’

These form a shelter belt round this fine parkland, together with and stands of woodland.

The walled garden is partly cultivated and retains glasshouses.

First published in February, 2017.

Stackpole Court

THE EARLS CAWDOR WERE THE LARGEST LANDOWNERS IN CARMARTHENSHIRE, WITH 33,782 ACRES

This is a branch of the ducal house of ARGYLL, springing from the Hon Sir John Campbell, third son of Archibald, 2nd Earl of Argyll.

SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL OF CAWDOR (c1629-97) wedded Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Lort, 2nd Baronet (c1637-c1673), of Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire, and sole heiress of Sir Gilbert Lort, 3rd Baronet, by whom he had issue,

JOHN CAMPBELL OF CAWDOR (1695-1777), of Cawdor Castle, Nairnshire, and Stackpole Court (son and heir of Sir Alexander Campbell), married Mary, eldest daughter and co-heir of Lewis Pryse, and had issue,

PRYSE, his heir;
John Hooke, Lord Lyon King of Arms;
Alexander;
Anne.

The eldest son,

PRYSE CAMPBELL (1727-68), of Cawdor Castle, and Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire, MP for Inverness-shire, 1754-61, Nairnshire, 1761-8, Cardigan Boroughs, 1868, Lord of the Treasury, 1766, wedded Sarah, daughter and co-heir of Sir Edmund Bacon Bt, and was succeeded by his son,

JOHN CAMPBELL (1753-1821), who was elevated to the peerage, in 1796, in the dignity of Baron Cawdor, of Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire.

His lordship had previously represented the town of Cardigan in parliament.

He wedded, in 1789, the Lady Caroline Howard, eldest daughter of Frederick, 5th Earl of Carlisle, and had issue, his eldest son,

JOHN FREDERICK, 2nd Baron (1790-1860), who married, in 1816, the Lady Elizabeth Thynne, eldest daughter of Thomas, 2nd Marquess of Bath.

His lordship was advanced to the dignity of an earldom, in 1827, as EARL CAWDOR.

• John Frederick Campbell, 1st Earl (1790–1860);
• John Frederick Vaughan Campbell, 2nd Earl (1817–98);
• Frederick Archibald Vaughan Campbell, 3rd Earl (1847–1911);
• Hugh Frederick Vaughan Campbell, 4th Earl (1870–1914);
• John Duncan Vaughan Campbell, 5th Earl (1900–70);
• Hugh John Vaughan Campbell, 6th Earl (1932–93);
• Colin Robert Vaughan Campbell, 7th Earl (b 1962).

The heir apparent is the present holder's son James Chester Campbell, styled Viscount Emlyn (b 1998).

Stackpole Court (Image: the National Trust)

STACKPOLE COURT was a large mansion built ca 1736, and enlarged in the 19th century.

It was erected upon the undercroft of a much earlier house, the original hall of which was later used as a cellar.

The Stackpoles had owned the estate since the early 12th century, and the old castellated house may date from the 13th century or earlier.

There are references to a house here owned by the Stackpools by Gerald of Wales in 1188.

From the mid-16th century the estate was owned by the Lort family, and later passed to the Campbells by marriage in the early 18th century.

The Cawdors were major landowners in Pembrokeshire, with 17,735 acres of land.

The mansion was demolished in 1963, when the Cawdors moved to a new house on the estate.

Much has already been written about the house and outbuildings.

Golden Grove

GOLDEN GROVE, near Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, is a large country house, the ancestral home of the Vaughan family, and the centre of a large estate.

The present house was designed in the Tudor or Scottish baronial style by Sir Jeffry Wyatville ca 1825 for the Cawdor family who inherited the estate from the Vaughans.

Building continued until 1834 when the stable block was finished, following the completion of the service wing in 1828, the main block in 1830 and the staircase in 1831.

The clock mechanism and the bells are dated 1830 and sit in a square clock tower.

Seats ~ Cawdor Castle, Nairnshire; Stackpole Court, Pembrokeshire; Golden Grove, Carmarthenshire.

Former town house ~ 74 South Audley Street, London.

First published in February, 2021.  Cawdor arms courtesy of European Heraldry.