Friday 30 June 2023

Prince Edward in NI

The Duke of Edinburgh is paying a two-day visit to Northern Ireland.

On Thursday His Royal Highness, Colonel, 2 Rifles, visited Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn, County Antrim.

During the afternoon HRH attended a DofE Gold Awards celebration at Hillsborough Castle, County Down.

Today, Friday, 30th June, Prince Edward visited Garvagh and Mussenden Temple, Downhill, County Londonderry.

Slacke of Ashleigh

THE REV WILLIAM RANDAL SLACKE OWNED 2,390 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY LEITRIM

WILLIAM SLACKE, of Annadale, County Leitrim, the family seat, married his cousin Angel Anna Slacke, having had issue (with four daughters),
RANDAL JAMES, his heir;
James Wilkinson;
William.
Mr Slacke died in 1810, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

DR RANDAL JAMES SLACKE, of Strokestown, County Roscommon, who wedded, in 1800, Jane, daughter of James Cooper, and was father of

THE REV WILLIAM RANDAL SLACKE (1808-77), Rector of St John's, Newcastle, County Down, who espoused, in 1834, Mary, daughter of Jacob Owen, of Mountjoy Square, Dublin, and had issue,
OWEN RANDAL, his heir;
William Randal, Colonel, Royal Engineers (Newcastle, County Down);
Margaret Jane.

The Rev William Slacke, who served at St John's for no less than thirty-three years, was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR OWEN RANDAL SLACKE CB JP (1837-1910), Captain, 10th Royal Hussars, Divisional Commissioner for the Northern Division, Ireland, who married firstly, in 1863, Katherine Anne, eldest daughter of Sir Charles Lanyon, of THE ABBEY, County Antrim, and had issue,
CHARLES OWEN, his heir;
Helen Marie.
Sir Owen wedded secondly, in 1875, Fanny Rose (31 Chesham Street, London), third daughter of Peter Connellan DL, of Coolmore, County Kilkenny, and had further issue,
Randal Beresford;
Roger Cecil.
Sir Owen was succeeded by his eldest son,

CHARLES OWEN SLACKE (1872-1916), of Wheatfield, Belfast, who espoused, in 1902, Kate, daughter of the Rt Hon SIR DANIEL DIXON, 1st Baronet, of Ballymenoch, Holywood, County Down, and had issue,
RANDAL CHARLES, born 1904;
Edith Avril, born 1908.
Photo Credit: History of Newcastle

Captain Slacke, Royal Irish Rifles, was killed in action.


ASHLEIGH HOUSE, Maghera, County Down, is a Georgian two storey, late Regency style gentleman’s residence of ca 1840, set at the end of a winding drive to the north of the Bryansford Road, approximately half a mile north-west of Newcastle.

The main building is roughly square in plan, with a projecting porch to the front and a long narrow wing to the north which links to outbuildings.

The front façade is symmetrical.


In the centre of the ground floor is a large projecting porch set with a slightly projecting bay.

Granite steps lead to a broad timber panelled door to the west front of the porch, a fanlight above with chamfered top corners and margin panes.

The rear elevation of the this north wing appears to have some large modern windows, but the main hipped roof section of the house appears largely original.

There are original outbuildings to the north.

The house was built by the Rev William Randal Slacke, Rector of St John's, Newcastle.

He lived in the house until his death in 1877.

His widow lived in it during the 1880s, and then her son, Colonel William Randal Slacke, lived in it occasionally until at least 1918.

The house appears to have been rented to others for certain years during this period (e.g. 1861-65 & 1907-10), when William Slacke lived in the rectory, and his son was serving elsewhere.

The elder son, the Rev Owen Randal Slacke, was Rector of Bryansford, 1919-28.

I wish to express my gratitude to History of Newcastle for their assistance with this article.

First published in June, 2019.

Ballymacarrett

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837


BALLYMACARRETT, a town and parish, forming part of the suburbs of Belfast, in the barony of Upper Castlereagh, County Down.

This place, previously to 1825, was simply a townland in the parish of Knockbreda, or Bredagh, and in the history of the county, published in 1744, is described as containing only two buildings, MOUNT POTTINGER and a mill.

It is now become a populous and flourishing town, occupying a site formerly covered by every tide, but which has been reclaimed by an extensive embankment stretching from Connswater westward to the river Lagan, opposite to the quays of Belfast, and thence on the shore of that river to ORMEAU, the splendid residence of the Marquess of Donegall.

Click to enlarge  (Image: OSI)

The town forms an appendage to Belfast, from which it is separated only by the river Lagan, which here separates the counties of Down and Antrim, and over which is a stone bridge of 21 arches: it is irregularly built, but has been greatly improved by the formation of several new streets; and a handsome bridge of five arches [the Albert Bridge], about 400 yards above the long bridge, and opening a more direct communication with the southern part of Belfast, has been lately erected under an Act obtained in 1831.

Belfast Newsletter Advertisement

The first manufacture established here was that of glass; and since the first glass-house was built, in 1776, two other extensive establishments have been erected [this site was located approximately where the former Sirocco Works existed].

Remaining kiln of Ballymacarrett Glass Works behind Richardson's Chemical
Manure Company, 19 Short Strand, Belfast, 1930 (Image: Alexander R Hogg)

A pottery upon a very large scale was soon afterwards established; and previously to the removal of the duty on salt, there were two extensive works for the manufacture of that article from rock salt brought from England, for exportation, which are now discontinued.

The Lagan foundry, for the manufacture of steam-engines, and other machinery on the most improved principles, affords employment to 140 persons: and in 1832 the first patent machine for making paper ever introduced into Ireland was made at these works.

A very extensive rope-yard and sail-cloth manufactory, affording employment to 130 persons, are carried on; and two large vitriol works, of which one, established in 1799, was the second erected in the kingdom, are in full operation for supplying the bleachers, dyers, and calico printers in the neighbourhood.

There are also extensive starch manufactories, and meal and flour mills driven by steam and water; and two large mills for spinning linen yarn were erected in 1834, and employ more than 300 persons.

The manufacture of calico and muslin is carried on upon a very extensive scale, affording employment to several hundred persons.

Here is a constabulary police station.

This place was erected into a parish by an Act in the twelfth year of GEORGE III's reign.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the diocese of Down, and in the patronage of the rector of Knockbreda: it is endowed with the tithes of Ballynafeigh, an adjoining townland, augmented from Primate Boulter's fund.

The church, a neat building, was erected in 1826 by aid of a grant from the Board of First Fruits and by subscription.

In the RC divisions the parish forms part of the union or district of Belfast, in the diocese of Connor; the chapel was built in 1829.

There are places of worship for Presbyterians, and for Covenanters and Wesleyan Methodists.

There are five schools in which about 298 boys and 182 girls are instructed; also three pay schools, in which are about 90 boys and 50 girls.

First published in May, 2021.

Thursday 29 June 2023

Dromana House

THE VILLIERS-STUARTS WERE THE SECOND LARGEST LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY WATERFORD, WITH 30,882 ACRES

LORD HENRY STUART (1777-1809), third son of John, 1st Marquess of Bute, married, in 1802, the Lady Gertrude Amelia Mason-Villiers, only daughter and heir of George, 2nd Earl Grandison, of Dromana, and had issue,
HENRY, his heir;
William;
Charles;
Gertrude Anelia.
Lord Henry was succeeded by his eldest son,

THE RT HON HENRY STUART (1803-74), of Dromana, County Waterford, Privy Counsellor, MP for Banbury, 1830-1, Colonel, Waterford Militia, who was alleged to have wedded, in 1826, Theresia Pauline Ott, and had issue, an only child,
HENRY WINDSOR.
Mr Stuart, Lord-Lieutenant of County Waterford, 1831-74, was elevated to the peerage, 1839, in the dignity of BARON STUART DE DECIES, of Dromana, within the Decies, County Waterford.

He added the surname of VILLIERS to his name in 1822.

Without a lawful heir, the peerage expired following Lord Stuart de Decies's decease in 1874.

His only son,

THE HON HENRY WINDSOR VILLIERS-STUART JP DL (1827-95), of Dromana-within-the-Decies, County Waterford, MP for County Waterford, 1873-85, Vice Lord-Lieutenant of County Waterford, 1871-73, High Sheriff of County Waterford, 1889, wedded, in 1865, Mary, second daughter of the Ven. Ambrose Power, Archdeacon of Lismore, fourth son of Sir John Power Bt, and had issue,
HENRY CHARLES WINDSOR, his heir;
Gerald;
Maurice Ambrose;
Horace Gervase;
Patrick;
Mary Therese; Gertrude Gwendoline; May; Winifred Frances.
Mr Villiers-Stuart was the author of Nile Gleanings, Egypt After the War, and other works; and was commissioned by the Government in 1882 to visit Egypt, and report upon the condition of the populace after the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir.

His eldest son,

HENRY CHARLES WINDSOR VILLIERS-STUART JP (1867-1908), of Dromana, High Sheriff of County Waterford, 1898, espoused, in 1895, Grace Frances, only daughter of J A R Newman DL, of Dromore House, County Cork, and had issue,
ION HENRY FITZGERALD, his heir;
Geraldine Mary; Nesta Mona.
Mr Villiers-Stuart was succeeded by his son,

ION HENRY FITZGERALD VILLIERS-STUART (1900-48), of Dromana, who wedded, in 1928, Elspeth Richardson, and was succeeded by his only son,

JAMES HENRY ION VILLIERS-STUART (1928-2004), of Dromana, who married, in 1952, Emily Constance Lanfear, daughter of Major Charles Plenderleath Graham, and had issue,
Caroline Elspeth, b 1955;
Barbara Emily, b 1955.

THE MEDIEVAL CASTLE of Dromana occupied a spectacular site, high above the River Blackwater.From the 13th century onwards this was the seat of the FitzGeralds, Lords of the Decies, a junior branch of the Earls of Desmond.

In the 1670s the FitzGerald heiress, Katherine, the ‘Lady of the Decies’, ward to CHARLES II, married Colonel Villiers, son of Lord Grandison.

Their descendants succeeded as the Earls Grandison until 1800, when the only child of the 2nd Earl (of the second creation) married Lord Henry Stuart, younger son of Lord Bute. 
Their son was subsequently created Lord Stuart de Decies, a title that recalled his long family connection with the region. 
The castle of Dromana was attacked and damaged in the wars of the 1640s and 50s, though its base can still be identified from the river, and indeed is still inhabited. 
About 1700, instead of rebuilding the castle, two new ranges were built at right angles to one another along the courtyard walls. 
Both were simple gable-ended two storey structures, possibly just intended for occasional occupation, their only decoration being a robust, pedimented block-and-start door case in the manner of James Gibbs.

Work on a larger new house commenced in about 1780, directly in front of the longer 1700s range.

The principal façade was of two storey and nine bays, quite plain, with a parapet and a rather curious segmental-headed armorial doorcase.

The river façade contained a shallow double-height bow and was actually an extension of the smaller 1700s range.

Together these three buildings faithfully followed the line of the original bawn or courtyard.

The interior was elaborately fitted out for Lord Stuart in the 1840s, with a suite of very grand reception rooms and a massive imperial staircase but by the 1960s Dromana had become something of a white elephant.

The estate was sold and subdivided, and the house bought by a cousin who demolished the 1780s block and reduced it to more manageable proportions.


Happily, James Villiers-Stuart was able to repurchase the house in the 1980s.

His widow Emily still lives there, along with her daughter and family.

The Dromana demesne extends to 600 acres.




The steeply sloping riverbanks are covered with oak woods and the important mid-eighteenth century garden layout, with its follies, the Rock House and the Bastion, is currently being restored.

To the north of the estate, on a bridge across the River Finisk, is the renowned Hindu-Gothic lodge, originally erected to welcome the owner and his bride on their return from honeymoon in 1826.

They were so taken with this temporary structure in the latest Brighton Pavilion mode, that they had it rebuilt in more durable materials.

The most notable person associated with Dromana was Katherine, Dowager Countess of Desmond.

Born a daughter of the house, she died there in 1604, supposedly from falling out of a cherry tree at the reputed age of 140, having allegedly worn out three natural sets of teeth.

Another remarkable man was Lord Stuart de Decies himself, a Protestant aristocrat and large landowner with radical views.

As a young man he defeated the Waterford establishment in the famous 1826 election to give Daniel O'Connell and the Catholic Emancipation movement their first Member of Parliament.

First published in October, 2011.   SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY: THE DROMANA HOUSE WEBSITE.

Pottinger Memorial

Armorial Bearings of Sir Henry Pottinger at St George's Church, Belfast

St George's Church, High Street, Belfast, is directly opposite the Merchant Hotel.

Prior to checking out of the hotel in July, 2011, I paid this elegant Georgian church a visit.

Click to Enlarge

There is a memorial plaque on the wall to Lieutenant-General the Right Honourable SIR HENRY POTTINGER Bt GCB, the first Governor of Hong Kong.

The supporters in Sir Henry's coat-of-arms are a mandarin holding a scroll in his right hand; and a Scinde soldier.

Sir Henry was born on the 25th December, 1789, at the family residence of Mount Pottinger, Ballymacarrett, County Down.

Henry and his two brothers attended Belfast Royal Academy in Academy Street, off Donegall Street, Belfast.

He left, however, at the age of thirteen, when Lord Castlereagh obtained for him a cadetship in the East India Company.

Henry Pottinger rapidly learned the principal languages of East Asia and gained a reputation as an exceptionally experienced soldier and traveller.

Consequently he was rapidly promoted and, in 1840, Lord Palmerston, then Foreign Secretary, appointed him Envoy and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of China.

Following the Chinese defeat by British forces in the first opium war, Pottinger, in 1842, obliged the Emperor to sign the Treaty of Nanking, in which Hong Kong was ceded to the United Kingdom.

Pottinger became its first governor.

After serving in other colonial posts, Pottinger, his health declining, decided to return to the UK, but he died in Malta in 1856 and was buried in Valetta.

Despite his remarkable achievements, Pottinger was never really accepted by the establishment.

Despite being granted a baronetcy in 1839 (seemingly a hereditary peerage had been considered), his County Down accent was said to have been mocked by some aristocratic English politicians, and such financial rewards as he received were grudgingly conceded.

It was for this reason that, after his death, his brother William had a plaque erected in St George’s Church, Belfast, on which he bitterly lamented the ungracious treatment of Henry, which he attributed to “Hostile Influence” in governing circles.

The marble memorial in the church reads: 
ON CONCLUDING HIS SUCCESSFUL TREATY WITH CHINA,
IN THE YEAR 1842,
HE WAS DESTINED FOR THE PEERAGE
BY HER GRACIOUS MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA THE FIRST,
BUT LOST THIS HIGH DISTINCTION THROUGH THE SAME HOSTILE INFLUENCE
WHICH WAS EXERTED IN VAIN TO PREVENT PARLIAMENT REWARDING
HIS EMINENT SERVICES TO THE STATE

Wednesday 28 June 2023

Mooresfort House

THE MOORES, OF MOORESFORT, WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY TIPPERARY, WITH 10,199 ACRES

CHARLES MOORE JP (1804-69), MP for Tipperary, 1865-9, son of Arthur Moore, of Crookedstone, County Antrim, by Mary O'Hara his wife, purchased Mooresfort, County Tipperary.

He married, in 1835, Marian Elizabeth, daughter of John Story, and had issue,
Charles Henry O'Hara, deceased; 
ARTHUR JOHN, of Mooresfort;
Marian Edith;
Helena Blanche, a nun;
Laura Mary, m  G A Vaughan, nephew of 3rd Earl of Lisburne.
Mr Moore's younger son, 

COUNT ARTHUR JOHN MOORE JP DL (1849-1904), of Mooresfort, MP for Clonmel, 1874-85, Londonderry, 1899-1900, High Sheriff of County Tipperary, 1877, wedded, in 1877, Mary Lucy, daughter of Sir Charles Clifford, 1st Baronet, of Hatherton Hall, Staffordshire, and had issue,
Arthur Joseph Clifford, 1878-1900;
CHARLES JOSEPH HENRY O'HARA, his heir;
Edith Mary.
Mr Moore, Commander of the Order of St Gregory, Chamberlain to Pope LEO XIII, was created a Count by His Holiness in 1879.

His younger son,

CHARLES JOSEPH HENRY O'HARA MOORE MC JP (1880-1965), of Mooresfort, and Aherlow Castle, Captain, Irish Guards, married, in 1917, the Lady Dorothie Mary Evelyn Feilding MM, daughter of 9th Earl of Denbigh.


MOORESFORT HOUSE, near Lattin, County Tipperary, was built in 1725 as a three-storey block.

The house was remodelled in the 1850s by Charles Moore MP, converting the house to a two-storey building in order to have higher rooms.

The Italianate remodelling of the house included the addition of an ornate portico and pediment to the front elevation and canted-bay windows flanked by classically influenced pilasters giving the building an overall Victorian character.

The decorative stained glass window is due to the addition of a chapel designed by George Ashlin also added about this time.

The house retains notable interior features including timber shutters and graceful plasterwork to the drawing room depicting musical instruments.

The extensive ranges of outbuildings adjoining the house are still used to serve a working farm, and contribute positively to the over all setting of the house.


AHERLOW CASTLE, near Bansha, County Tipperary, was also a seat of Arthur Moore MP.

This small castle stands in the Glen of Aherlow.

It has a polygonal tower with loops at one end; a square tower at the other.

Former town residences ~ 64 Prince's Gate, London; 10 Grafton Street, Dublin.

First published in August, 2013.

Kilkeel

EDITED EXTRACTS FROM THE TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF IRELAND, 1837


KILKEEL, a post town and parish, and the head of a union, in the barony of Mourne, County Down, 15 miles from Newry.

It stands on a stream of 4½ miles in length, called the Kilkeel river, one mile above the stream's influx to the Irish Sea.

It contains several places of worship, and a few shops for the supply of the adjacent mountainous country.

This parish comprises 47,882¾ statute acres, of which about 11,000 are arable, and 12,000 pasture; the remainder consists of part of the Mourne mountains.

The only creek in the twelve miles of coast that bounds the parish is Annalong, where a small dock for fishing vessels has been excavated out of a rock.

An abortive attempt was made to open a small harbour for the town, by cutting through the bar across the mouth of the Kilkeel river; and at present the only creek in a long range of adjacent coast where even fishing vessels can obtain shelter, is at Annalong, five miles north of Kilkeel.

A nearer and better harbour, however, was a few years ago officially recommended to be formed at Greencastle.

There are coastguard stations at ANNALONG, Cranfield, and Leestone, all in the district of Newcastle; also a constabulary police station.

The Square, Kilkeel (Image: William Alfred Green)

Fairs are held on February 8th, May 3rd, August 2nd, and December 8th; and a manorial court is held in the sessions-house at Kilkeel, once in three weeks, for the manor of Greencastle and Mourne, by a seneschal appointed by the Earl of Kilmorey: its jurisdiction extends over the whole of the barony of Mourne, which is co-extensive with this parish, and is the property of his lordship, and pleas to the amount of £10 are determined either by attachment or civil bill.

The principal seats are MOURNE PARK, the splendid residence of the earl; and Shannon Grove.

The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Down, united in 1809, by charter of JAMES I, to the rectories of Kilcoo and Kilmegan, and the chapelry of Tamlaght (a small townland in Kilkeel), together forming the union of Kilkeel and the corps of the treasurership of Down Cathedral, in the alternate patronage of the Marquess of Anglesey and the Earl of Kilmorey.

The church was rebuilt in 1815, at a cost exceeding £5,000, raised partly by parochial assessment, and donations from the landed proprietors, and partly by a loan of £2,160 from the Board of First Fruits.

The glebe house is situated on a glebe of 30 acres, valued at £37 10s per annum, but subject to a rent of £19 7s 9d, payable to the Earl of Kilmorey.

In the Roman Catholic divisions the parish forms two districts, called Upper and Lower Mourne; for former containing a chapel at Ballymageogh; the latter, one at Glassdrumman and one at Ballymartin.

There are two Presbyterian meeting-houses; also meeting-houses for Methodists, Baptists, and Moravians.

Of the various schools, Needham Thompson built the school at Mullartown; and that for girls, at Ballinahatten, was built by the Rev J F Close.

The union workhouse, on a site of 7¾ acres, was completed in 1841, at an expense of £4,050, and is constructed to contain 900 paupers.

First published in May, 2021.

Tuesday 27 June 2023

Prince William in Belfast

The Prince of Wales is in Belfast today, launching his new initiative to tackle homelessness in the United Kingdom.

His Royal Highness was welcomed to the city by the Lord-Lieutenant of Belfast, Dame Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle DBE.

Hazelwood House

THE WYNNES WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY SLIGO, WITH 12,982 ACRES


This family claims descent from a distinguished chieftain of the 12th century, Rhirid Flaidd, Lord of Penrhyn, Merionethshire, within the ancient kingdom of Powys, who took the surname of Blaidd, or the wolf, from his maternal ancestor, Blaidd Rhudd, or the Bloody Wolf, Lord of Gest, near Penmorfa, Gwynedd, whose standard bore a wolf passant on an azure ground.

LEWIS GWYNNE AP CADWALLADER AP RYDDERCA AP DAVID, of Bala, wedded Sidney, daughter of Robert Wynne, of Maesmochnant, Denbighshire (of the Gwydir family), and had issue,
OWEN;
Cadwallader;
Catherine; Margaret.
The elder son,

OWEN WYNNE
 (c1620-70), the first who settled in Ireland, High Sheriff of counties Leitrim and Roscommon, 1659, married Catherine, widow of James Hamilton, son of Sir Frederick Hamilton, and daughter of Claud, 2nd Baron Hamilton of Strabane, by Lady Jane his wife, fourth daughter of George, Marquess of Huntly, and the Lady Henrietta Stewart, daughter of Esmé, Duke of Lennox, by which lady (who married 3rdly, John Bingham, of Castlebar) he had issue,
James, killed at Malplaquet;
LEWIS, of whom hereafter;
Owen (1665-1737), MP, Lieutenant-General in the army;
John;
Catherine; Lucy; Dorothy.
The second son,

LEWIS WYNNE, married Rebecca, daughter of John Bingham, and was father of

OWEN WYNNE (1687-1756), of Hazelwood, High Sheriff of County Sligo, 1723, Leitrim, 1724, MP for Sligo Borough, 1713-56, who wedded Catherine, daughter of John ffoliot, and had three sons,
James, Susanna, daughter of Sir A Shaen Bt;
OWEN, of whom we treat;
John, died unmarried 1778.
The second son,

THE RT HON OWEN WYNNE (1723-89), of Hazelwood, High Sheriff of County Sligo, 1745 and 1758, MP for County Sligo, 1749-76, Sligo Borough, 1776-89,  espoused, in 1754, Anne, sister of Robert, Earl of Farnham, and had issue,
OWEN, his heir;
John;
Henry;
Robert, of Rathmines Castle;
Richard (Rev);
William, barrister, MP;
Catherine.
Mr Wynne was succeeded by his eldest son,

OWEN WYNNE (1755-1841), High Sheriff of County Sligo, 1819 and 1833, MP for County Sligo, 1778-90, Sligo Borough, 1790-1800, who married, in 1790, the Lady Sarah Elizabeth Cole, eldest daughter of William, 1st Earl of Enniskillen, and had issue,
JOHN ARTHUR;
William Willoughby (Rev);
Anne; Sarah Frances; Elizabeth; Florence.
The eldest son,

THE RT HON JOHN ARTHUR WYNNE JP (1801-65), MP for Sligo, 1830-32, 1856-60, Privy Counsellor, Under Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, High Sheriff for counties of Sligo and Leitrim, married, in 1838, the Lady Anne Wandesforde Butler, daughter of James, 1st Marquess of Ormonde KP, and had issue,
OWEN;
James;
Sarah; Grace Florence.
The elder son,

OWEN WYNNE JP DL (1843-1910), of Hazelwood, High Sheriff of County Sligo, 1874, Leitrim, 1880, married, in 1870, Stella Fanny, youngest daughter of Sir Robert Gore-Booth Bt, and had issue,
MURIEL CAROLINE LOUISA;
Evelyn Mary; Madeline Mary; Dorothy Adelaide.
Mr Wynne, the last of his family in the direct male line at Hazelwood, was succeeded by his eldest daughter,

MURIEL CAROLINE LOUISA, MRS PERCEVAL, of Hazelwood, who wedded, in 1892, Philip Dudley Perceval, second son of Alexander Perceval, of Temple House, County Sligo, and had issue,

DOROTHY SOPHIE PERCEVAL, born in 1903.



HAZELWOOD HOUSE, near Sligo, County Sligo, is a large Palladian mansion on a peninsula in Lough Gill.

It was designed by the German architect John Cassels and built in 1722 of cut and polished limestone, in an Italian style, with a four storey facade and two lateral curving wings.


The hall door is reached by climbing a flight of stone steps leading onto a spacious platform which offers fine scenic views of the mountains of Leitrim and of North County Sligo. 

The Wynne family were seated at Hazelwood (or Hazlewood) House for three centuries, during which time all the heads of the Wynne household, with only one exception, bore the name of Owen Wynne.

The first occupant of Hazelwood House was Lieutenant-General Owen Wynne.

Hazelwood was the venue for numerous sporting and leisure events through the years, with yacht racing taking place on Lough Gill throughout the 19th Century.

Polo was another popular sport on the Hazelwood Estate; as was shooting, horse racing and rowing.

Owen Wynne died in 1910 at the age of 67 and with no male heir to take over the estates, so too came the end of the Wynne's occupation of Hazelwood House.

After the death of Owen Wynne in 1910, Owen's daughter Murial and her husband, Philip Dudley Percival, lived in Hazelwood House, selling off the livestock and machinery until they left Hazelwood House in 1923.

They still owned extensive lands, including a large estate centred around Lurganboy Lodge, near Manorhamilton in County Leitrim.

Generations of the Wynne family lived in succession in the house.

From 1923 until 1930, Hazelwood House remained empty, after which a retired tea planter called Berridge lived in the house, carrying out repairs and renovations until the house and lands were sold to the Irish state in 1937.

During the 2nd World War and until 1946, Hazelwood House was occupied by the Irish Army; after which the Irish Land Commission put the house up for sale.

Under the terms of the sale however, the buyer was to demolish the house,level the site and remove all the materials.

Later in the same year (1946), Hazelwood House was sold to St Columba's Mental Hospital, who spent some £4,000 repairing the building, using it for a number of years as a home for mental patients.

In 1969, an Italian company called Snia bought Hazelwood House and built a factory to the rear (South) of the house.

Snia had employed up to 500 people producing nylon yarn.

Like many businesses during the recession of the early 1980s, Snia hit on hard times and the factory closed down in 1983.

Four years later, in 1987, the factory and Hazelwood House were sold to the South Korean company Saehan Media who produced video tapes until 2005, when, due to a downturn in business as a result of the digital revolution, Saehan Media, too, closed down with the loss of over 150 jobs.

Foresthaze Developments purchased the estate in 2006, though fell into receivership in 2013.

In 2015, the estate was purchased by David Raethorne, with plans for a whiskey distillery and visitors' centre on the site.

The Lough Gill Whiskey Distillery opened in December, 2019.

Hazelwood House itself remains boarded up and in poor condition.

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland holds the Wynne Papers.

First published in August, 2011. 

Monday 26 June 2023

Belfast in 1836: I

BELFAST SIXTY YEARS AGO [1836]: RECOLLECTIONS OF A SEPTUAGENARIAN, BY THE REV NARCISSUS BATT

FROM ULSTER JOURNAL OF ARCHÆOLOGY, 2ND SERIES, VOLUME II, NUMBER TWO, 1896


DONEGALL PLACE, now full of shops, was, half-a-century ago, a quiet street of private houses.

Some of them had gardens and trees in the rear, and there was quite a grove at the corner of the square where Robinson & Cleaver now have their establishment.

The residents were either merchants of the town, or country gentlemen who came to Belfast for society in winter, as fashionable people now go to London for the season.

At the beginning of this century the country had hardly settled after the Insurrection, and distant journeys were tedious and costly.

My father, Samuel Hyde Batt, has been a week in coming from England, and my Uncle William, when in Trinity College, used to ride to Dublin, with a groom behind carrying his luggage.

There was good local society, and people were hospitable.

My mother was often taken in a sedan chair to spend the evening at some neighbour's, and we gave parties in return; when, after dinner, I, as a child, was admitted to the drawing-room to be petted by the ladies, and allowed to stand by their whist-tables.

There were four members of our family domiciled in Donegall Place.

My father, Samuel Hyde Batt, lived at No. 6 (now Cuming Bros.'), where I was born.

His brother, Narcissus, lived where the Royal Hotel is now till his new house at Purdysburn was finished.

Thomas, afterwards of Rathmullan, lived at No. 4 (now Hogg's).

Thomas Greg Batt, son of Narcissus, was a director in the Belfast Bank.

The Rev William Batt lived near Fountain Street, where he died, long after the rest were gone.

Our house had belonged to my grandfather, Captain Batt, who came from County Wexford in 1760.
The other inhabitants were Hugh Montgomery, of Benvarden and Ballydrain (a director in the Northern Bank); James Orr, of the Northern Bank ; William Clark JP, father of the late director of the Belfast Bank; James Douglas, of Mount Ida; Sir Stephen May, Mrs May, John and William Sinclaire, Henry J Tomb; Captain Elsemere, RN; Henry William Shaw; James Crawford, wine merchant; John S Ferguson and Thomas F Ferguson, linen merchants; and Dr John MacDonnell, one of the MacDonnells of the Glens of Antrim, whose bust is in the Museum.
He was a great friend of my mother's.

His library, and the skeleton in it, inspired me with awe.

The Nelson Club was next door to us before it removed to Donegall Square.

Thomas L Stewart resided in the Castle, at the corner of Castle Place - a plain mansion with a walled garden in front, now removed.

Though our premises behind reached to Callender Street, there was not much playground for me, so I used to take the air in the dull walk round the Linen Hall, or in Maclean's fields, then rural enough.

The old paper-mill near the Gas Works in Cromac Street, with its dam and little waterfall, was a pleasant object for a walk, the Owen-na-varra, or Blackstaff, being then comparatively unpolluted.

On these walks I used often to see some young men who subsequently made a figure in the world, as Hugh McCalmont Cairns, George A  C May, subsequently Chief-Justice, and Thomas O'Hagan, afterwards Lord Chancellor.

My generation of Belfast boys was not so distinguished, though Canon Tomb and Rev Alexander Orr, both from our street, were respected clergymen.

Some of my early companions were unfortunate: three boys, of good family, while yet young, destroyed themselves.

I was too delicate for school, and only attended the Academy in Donegall Street for a short time.

It was a dingy edifice at the corner of Academy Street, but the masters were of the clever Bryce family.

One of my tutors was James Rea, a brother of the famous attorney, John Rea, a most amiable man, who died young.

Our house was rather gloomy, but the front windows commanded a good view of whatever was going on.

An old negro organ-grinder, with his dancing dogs, interested me.

Sometimes a party of Orangemen from Sandy Row encountered the Hercules Street butchers, and stones flew about.

Dr Tennent's mansion was the only large house in Hercules Street.

Lord Arthur Chichester and Emerson Tennent, son-in-law to Dr Tennent, were once chaired through Donegall Place, and I was sorry that the handsome chairs, with their gilt canopies and rose-coloured silk hangings, were torn in pieces by the crowd after the procession.

Beards were uncommon 60 years ago, and the mob showed their disapproval of Lord Belfast's venturing to wear one, calling him "Beardie" when he was a candidate for Parliament in 1837.

The cholera cart in 1834 is a more dismal remembrance.

It went through our street draped in black, with a bell to warn people to bring out their dead.

There was a great panic, and people were afraid of being buried alive, as it was necessary to remove the infectious corpses speedily.

Still our servant's mother was duly "waked" when she died of cholera.

My mother made the daughter change her dress when she came home, and the clothes were burnt.

The houses of decent working people in the middle of Belfast were by no means uncomfortable, though there were bad slums about Ann Street.

The best houses, however, had cesspools, and sanitary arrangements were deficient.

Some of the little docks near the end of High Street were very foul, yet I liked to walk on the quays, which were not yet encumbered with sheds, but open to the breeze from the lough.

I saw a fine ship, the Hindoo, launched near the present Harbour Office.

The steamers Chieftain and Eclipse were comparatively small, but their smoke-stacks had iron ornaments, like crowns, on the top.

I once left at night for Dublin by steamer, and in the morning found the vessel stuck in the mud where the Queen's Island is now.

Before the present improvements in the Port of Belfast, the navigable channel wound like a serpent through the muddy estuary of the Lagan, still crossed in my time by the Long Bridge.

It was our custom to spend a month or two in summer at the seaside.

Holywood was then the popular resort.

The old baths were where the stream falls into the sea near the old Parish Church.

The bathing-box was on piles a long way out, and another wooden pier led to the little channel where boats were moored.

Beyond Holywood all was rural and woodland.

The Carrickfergus side was agreeable too, but not so near Belfast.

I remember being shown the "suicide's grave" in the salt marsh at Ringan's Point, beside what is now the entrance to Fortwilliam Park, on the shore side of the road; and a public-house (Peggy Barclay's) by the wayside rejoiced in the sign of the "Mill for grinding old people young."

The picture represented men and women hobbling on crutches into the hopper of the mill and dancing out merrily below.

I must have been greatly struck with this painting, as I remember it so well, and I sometimes wish now I could find out that mill.

There are still a few of the older-fashioned style of buildings remaining in Belfast, though mostly disguised with stucco - even in High Street some old shops remain by the side of the lofty modern erections, and some of them bear the old names, like that of Patterson, recently removed from the corner of Bridge Street, the evidence of a long-established business.

The oldest houses are those at the corner of Skipper Street, and those next Forster Green's.

The latter was where the Biggers had long resided, and next to them lived a family called Quinn, where, in earlier times, Lord Castlereagh lodged.

NOTES: 1. Narcissus Batt was Founder of the Belfast Bank; 2. Narcissus and Thomas were members of the Corporation for preserving and improving the port and harbour of Belfast.

First published in November, 2011.

Binevenagh

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


BINEVENAGH. a mountain on the mutual border of the parishes of MAGILLIGAN and Aghanloo, barony of Keenaght, County Londonderry.

It is situated 2¾ miles east of Lough Foyle, 5 south-south-east of Magilligan Point, and 5½ north-east of Limavady.

It is prevailingly verdant, but exhibits some fine specimens of columnar cliffs, and successive terraces of fallen strata, descending tier below tier till they subside into the sandy flats which bound the lough and the ocean.

Binevenagh Mountain (Image: William Alfred Green)

Its summit has an altitude of 1,260 feet above sea-level, and commands a panorama of great extent and uncommon brilliance.

The immediate foreground is sheep-walk, "clothed with flocks;" the more distant foreground consists of the flats of Magilligan, Aghanloo, and Myroe, and the valleys of the Foyle and the Roe, streaked with the silvery belts of the rivers, and powdered and gemmed with cottages, hamlets, villages, seats, and plantations.

The middle grounds display the narrow strait and the wide expansion of Lough Foyle, the ruined fortresses of Greencastle, the ranges and terminations of Inishowen, the inter-texture of land and water along the coast, and the strife and acclivity and plain for ascendency along the skirts of the hills; and the backgrounds are the blue ocean peaks of distant Donegal, the ocean blending with the horizon, and prominences of Antrim receding away to the Giant's Causeway, and the swelling curves of the schistose mountains of Londonderry cutting skylines behind the basaltic forelands which abut boldly upon the plain.

Binevenagh abounds with objects of interest to the naturalist.  

First published in May, 2021.

Sunday 25 June 2023

Norwood Tower Chart

Click to Enlarge

A map dated 1938 showing Norwood Tower in its grounds, with two gate lodges, extensive outbuildings, greenhouses, walled garden, pond, walks and paddocks.

Norwood Tower was probably one of the largest private homes in east Belfast.

The grounds comprised about 50 acres.

Circular Road can be seen to the north of the mansion.

Is the smaller building below Norwood Tower a summer-house?

Or a gardener's lodge?

A path runs down to it from the front garden.

The main drive to the west now forms part of Norwood Court; while the drive to the east is now Norwood Drive.

 Norwood Tower (Image: Mrs Primrose Henderson, 2011)

Norwood Tower was the residence of the Hendersons, proprietors of the Belfast Newsletter newspaper.

Norwood Tower was demolished for housing development ca 1954.

Ardnagreena House is just outside the picture; its gate lodge remains, though the Victorian villa was demolished in the 1990s.

Ardvarna House and its gate lodge were demolished after the 2nd World War.

First published in May, 2011.

Saturday 24 June 2023

Skipper Street, Belfast

Merchant Hotel

Skipper Street, Belfast, runs from Waring Street to High Street.

This is one of the the oldest streets in Belfast, where the River Farset used to flow openly along High Street itself (it still does, though it's culverted).

High Street ca 1830, looking westwards

The street was thus named because skippers of sailing vessels lodged here.

This street is mentioned as far back as 1685; it was, however, significantly affected by the 1941 blitz.

In 1974, The Albert Inn stood at 3 Skipper Street; then it changed its name to the Blackthorn Bar.

High Street, looking eastwards towards the Albert Clock

The buildings are now all relatively recent since many, if not most, were destroyed by bombing during the 2nd World War.

The most notable premises today are the Merchant Hotel - formerly the Ulster Bank head office - which now runs along the entire left-hand side of the street (the even numbers).

The Spaniard bar is situated at number three and Jackson Sports is located at the corner of Skipper Street and High Street.

First published in July, 2009.

Friday 23 June 2023

Whitla of Ben Eadan

THE WHITLAS OWNED 545 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ANTRIM

This family was of Scottish origin, the founder of the Ulster branch having settled in County Antrim from Ayrshire during the plantation of Ulster, and settled in the townland of Gobrana, Glenavy, where the family continued to reside until 1860.

WILLIAM WHITLA, of Glenavy, County Antrim, born in 1655, had issue by his wife, Elizabeth, three sons,
GEORGE;
James;
Valentine.
The eldest son,

GEORGE WHITLA (1689-1762), of the townland of Gobrana, Glenavy, married, in 1727, his cousin, Elinor Whitla, by whom he had four sons and three daughters,
William, of Derrychrin (1729-94);
John, of Lisburn;
Francis, of Glendona;
VALENTINE, of whom we treat;
Elizabeth; Eleanor; Jane.
Mr Whitla's youngest son,

VALENTINE WHITLA (1735-1802), of Gobrana, wedded, in 1779, Jane, daughter of John Bashford, by whom he had five sons and a daughter,
GEORGE, of Inver Lodge, Larne, JP;
JAMES, of whom hereafter;
Francis;
William John;
Valentine, of Ben Eadan, JP (1786-1865), dsp;
Jane.
Mr Whitla's second son,

JAMES WHITLA JP (1781-1862), of Gobrana, espoused, in 1806, Catherine, third daughter of Alexander Gunning JP, of Carrickfergus, and had issue,
GEORGE ALEXANDER, his heir;
Valentine (1821-57);
William John, died young;
Francis, died young;
Alicia Jane; Katherine; Anne; Susannah; Frances.
Mr Whitla died at Dunmurry, County Antrim, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

GEORGE ALEXANDER WHITLA JP (1818-67), of Ben Eadan, Captain, Royal Antrim Rifles, who married, in 1858, Isabella Frances, youngest daughter of the Rev John Hammond, of Priston Rectory, Bath, Somerset, and grand-niece of George Hammond, of Portland Place, London, Under Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs and First British Minister to America, and had issue,
JAMES ALEXANDER, his heir;
Valentine George, Major, 3rd Hussars;
Mary Isabel Hammond; Ellen Constance; Isabella Frances Alexandra.
Captain Whitla's widow married secondly, in 1869, Sheffield Grace Phillip Fiennes Betham, Cork Herald of Arms (second son of Sir William Betham, Ulster King-of-Arms).

His eldest son,

JAMES ALEXANDER WHITLA (1859-1913), of Ben Eadan, near Belfast, Major, 4th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, wedded, in 1881, Honoria Maria, third daughter of John Handcock Townshend, of Myross Wood, and had issue,
GEORGE TOWNSHEND, b 1882; 4th Battalion, RIR;
Edith Constance; Norah Kathleen; Alice Mildred.

BEN EADAN HOUSE (above) was built in 1849 on the site now occupied by St Clement’s Retreat House, which stands above St Gerard’s Church.

In the 1890s, this house was owned by the Whitla family.

The site was acquired by the Church in 1951.

The rest of the land was acquired by the Belfast Corporation to complete the link between Belfast Castle and Hazlewood.

Some of the original farmyard buildings still survive.

The House was replaced by St Clement's retreat house ca 1960.

First published in June, 2015.

Killinchy

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


KILLINCHY, a post-town and parish, partly in the barony of Dufferin, but chiefly in the baronies of Upper and Lower Castlereagh, County Down, nine miles from Downpatrick.

It contains 13,686 statute acres, of which 6,437¼ (including Dunsy Island and Islandmore in Strangford Lough, and 75¾ acres in that lough) are in the barony of Dufferin.

Bawn Island [? Sketrick] and some other insulated ground on the island-powdered bosom of Strangford Lough, belongs to the parish.

The land is chiefly in tillage, and in a high state of cultivation; there is no waste land and but little bog; clay slate abounds, and a thin seam of coal is visible at the lough.

There are several corn-mills; and fairs are held in the town on January 5th, April 6th, July 6th, and October 5th.

Killinchy has a constabulary police station, and has a sub-post office to Comber and Killyleagh.

Petty sessions are held in the court-house on alternate Saturdays.

Strangford Lough from Killinchy (W A Green/NMNI)

At Whiterock is a small but excellent harbour, with a small pier, at which vessels of 80 tons can load, and from which a considerable quantity of agricultural produce is exported.

THE living is a rectory, in the diocese of Down, and in the alternate patronage of the Viscount Bangor and the Earl of Carrick.

The church, a large and handsome edifice with a square, embattled tower, situated on an eminence, was built in 1830, at an expense of £900 [£105,000 in 2020], whereof one half was raised by subscription, and the remainder by parochial assessment.

The glebe house was built in 1789, by the then incumbent, and there is a glebe of 12 acres.

The parochial schools are principally supported by the Rector; the school-house, built in 1825, is a good plain edifice containing separate school-rooms for boys and girls, and residences for the master and mistress.

There are ten other public schools, six of which are connected with the National Board; the remaining four are aided by annual donations from Lord Dufferin, the Gordon family, and the Rector.

The Earl of Limerick, about 1730, gave part of the townland of KIllinchy to the Incorporated School Society.

HERE are the remains of Balloo Fort, near which many silver coins of the reigns of KING JOHN and other monarchs were found in 1829.

The ancient castle of the family of Whyte stood on the site of Killinchy Fort, and in 1802 many silver and copper coins were found in its vicinity.

In the church-yard is the tomb of the family of Bruce.

First published in April, 2021.