Dunsandle House

THE BARONS DUNSANDLE AND CLANCONAL WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY GALWAY, WITH 33,543 ACRES

The family of DALY, or O'DALY, is of very ancient origin, deducing its descent from Niall of the Nine Hostages, monarch of Ireland in the 4th century, who was also common ancestor of the O'NEILLS of Tyrone and O'DONNELLS of Tyrconnell, from whom the pedigree of this family is lineally traced in the Heralds' office.

THE RT HON DENIS DALY (c1638-1721), son of James Daly, of Carrownakelly, by his wife, Anastase D'Arcy (niece of Patrick D'Arcy), had a son,

DENIS DALY, of Carrownakelly, whose son,

JAMES DALY (1716-69), MP for Athenry, 1741-68, Galway Borough, 1768-9, married firstly, Bridget, daughter of Francis, 14th Baron Athenry; and secondly, Catherine, daughter of Sir Ralph Gore Bt, by whom he had issue,

St George;
DENIS, of whom we treat.

The younger son,

THE RT HON DENIS DALY (1748-91), of Dunsandle, County Galway, married, in 1780, the Lady Henrietta Maxwell, daughter of Robert, 1st Earl of Farnham, and had issue,

JAMES, his heir;
Robert (Rt Rev), Lord Bishop of Cashel and Waterford;
Henrietta; Katharine; Charlotte; Elizabeth; Emily; Mary.

Rt Hon Denis Daly (Image: Wikipedia)

Mr Daly was succeeded by his eldest son,

JAMES DALY (1782-1847), MP for County Galway, 1812-27, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1845, in the dignity of BARON DUNSANDLE AND CLANCONAL, of Dunsandle, County Galway.

His lordship  married, in 1808, Maria Elizabeth, second daughter and co-heiress of Rt Hon Sir Skeffington Smyth Bt, MP, of Tinny Park, County Wicklow, and had issue,

DENIS ST GEORGE, his successor;
Charles Anthony;
SKEFFINGTON JAMES, 3rd Baron;
Bowes Richard;
Robert;
Margaret Eleanor; Rosa Gertrude Harriet.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

DENIS ST GEORGE, 2nd Baron (1810-93), DL, Captain, 7th Dragoons, who wedded, in 1864, Mary, daughter of William Broderick, though dying without legitimate male issue, the family honours devolved upon his next brother,

SKEFFINGTON JAMES, 3rd Baron (1811-94), who died unmarried, when the family honours reverted to his cousin,

JAMES FREDERICK, 4th Baron (1849-1911) (son of the Hon Robert Daly, youngest son of the 1st Baron), Assistant Private Secretary to Lord Beaconsfield, 1874-80, Private Secretary to the First Lord of the Treasury, 1885-87, Assistant in the National Debt Office, 1888.

The 4th Baron died unmarried, when the titles became extinct.

Dunsandle House (Image: Irish Times)

DUNSANDLE HOUSE, near Athenry, County Galway, was a five-bay, three-storey country house, built ca 1780, now in ruins and roofless.

It was said to have been the finest house in the county, famed for its neo-classical plasterwork. 

Various visitors commented that it had a good cellar and a fine library.

The basement housed some of the servants, the money room, and the boiler.

On the ground floor were the drawing room, the bathrooms, the function room and one of the sitting rooms.

There was also a spacious hallway which led into a highly decorative interior with neo-classical plasterwork.

Photo credit: Eamonn McNally

The second floor had more sitting rooms, several bedrooms and a very large bath, and the attic was used for storage and for water tanks.

According to The Buildings of Ireland,

Although ruinous, the high quality of construction employed in this country house is clearly evident. String courses, cornice and window surrounds are the work of skilled stonecutters and masons. The associated outbuildings and the fine entrance archway enhance the house. The detailing hints at the formerly splendid architectural quality that has been lost in the ruination of Dunsandle House.

The centre block had three storeys over a basement with five-bay entrance and garden fronts, each with a three-bay pedimented breakfront; joined by long, straight screen walls with pedimented doorways and niches to low and wide-spreading two-storey wings.

The saloon had elaborate plasterwork; a coved rococo ceiling in the morning-room; Adamesque ceiling in the drawing-room.

Dunsandle was sold by Major Bowes Daly MC, grandson of the 2nd Lord Dunsandle, about 1954.

Major Daly was aide-de-camp to the Viceroy of India, and Master of the Galway Blazers.

 A reader has provided me with more information:

Major Bowes Daly divorced his first wife Diane Lascelles to marry a divorcee Mrs Hanbury (whose first husband Guy Trundle had an affair with Wallis Simpson). This created a scandal in Country Galway on a par with the abdication crisis of 1936!

Major Daly was the last of his family to reside at Dunsandle House and the furore over his re-marriage led to the Catholic clergy boycotting the Galway Blazers of which he was Master. He sold up in 1954 and the house was later demolished.

After going to East Africa he returned to Ireland and lived his last years on Lord Harrington`s estate in Co. Limerick. He is buried in Loughrea near his former home. 

The Irish land commission demolished parts of Dunsandle House and sold all the valuable parts of the house in 1958.

They divided the land of the estate between the local farmers.

Dunsandle arms courtesy of the NLI.  First published in December, 2011.

Robin Bryans, 1928-2005

Some time ago I recommended an anecdotal travel book to readers by an author called Robin Bryans.

The book is entitled Ulster: A Journey Through The Six Counties.

Merely by chance, a regular reader has drawn my attention to the fact that Mr Bryans has a website dedicated to him.

Robin Bryans was born in 1928, just off the Newtownards Road in east Belfast, his family moving shortly afterwards to Donegall Avenue in the city.

Before becoming a professional writer, he had a variety of jobs including shipyard worker and cabin boy on a dredger.

He was later to study at Barry Religious College in Wales and went to Canada as a missionary.

Later, in Canada, he lived as a trapper.

The common realities of his childhood among the Protestant working class in the 1930s – grinding poverty, mission halls, theatres, music, the ‘Bog Meadows’ – along with the desperate accident to his father which changed the life of the small family, became the subject matter of his most powerful writing,

‘We walked as though through a forest whose trees were made of steel, harshly etched against the morning sky. Instead of leaf-laden branches stretched out to catch the sun’s rays, I saw a multitude of cranes, swinging poles and a phalanx of gantries.’

During the 1960s and early 1970s, his output was prolific.

Published by Faber and Faber and acclaimed by critics worldwide, he embarked on a series of travel books celebrating Iceland (1960), Denmark (1961), Brazil (1962), the Azores (1963), Malta (1966) and Trinidad & Tobago (1967).

His Ulster: A Journey Through the Six Counties (1962) has long been regarded as a perceptive introduction at a critical moment in the history of Northern Ireland and a classic of the genre.

In the same period came the books on which his reputation as a writer rests, the four remarkable volumes of autobiography: No Surrender (1960), Song of Erne (1960) – a vivid and moving account of childhood excursions to Fermanagh.

Up Spake the Cabin Boy (1961) and The Protégé (1963) and two volumes of short stories, Tattoo Lily (1961) and The Far World (1962), also from Faber.  

No Surrender was hailed as the first book by an Ulster Protestant writer from the working class published by an international publishing house to receive national renown.

The Times described his autobiographical writing as

‘on all planes at once; humorous, detailed and objective as a Breugel village scene; quietly indignant over injustices practised by the toffs; puzzled, exploratory, expectant as a growing boy … He writes as one with a true sense of poetry.’

The volumes of autobiography have rarely been out of print since their first publication and are currently available from Blackstaff Press.

Selected Stories was published in 1996 by Lagan Press in Belfast, which occasioned a memorable reading in the Old Museum arts centre in his native city.

In his later life, Harbinson was dramatically involved in sensational and sometimes scandalous events among the political aristocracy.

A riveting account of these and of their parallels among Ulster’s political class from the 1940s until the 1960s can be read in his last three books The Dust Has Never Settled (1992), Let the Petals Fall (1993) and Checkmate, all from Honeyford Press under his own name of Robin Bryans.

A courteous, witty and gentle man, Robin Bryans’ last years were spent in London where, in addition to writing, he was involved in a school of music set up particularly to encourage the work of young composers.

He died at his home in London on Saturday, June 11, 2005. 

First published in April, 2012.

1st Viscount Allen

JOHN ALLEN, the founder of this family in Ireland, settled there some time towards the close of ELIZABETH I's reign.

He came from Holland to Dublin as factor for the Dutch merchants (the family had emigrated from England to Holland in 1580), and beside amassing a very large fortune, distinguished himself by a refined taste in architecture.

Mr Allen was greatly esteemed, and consulted by the most eminent of the nobility and gentry in their buildings; particularly by the Earl of Strafford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in his large, intended edifice near Naas, County Kildare.

Mr Allen laid out the plan of his own house at Mullynahack, near Dublin, leaving it to be executed by his son.

He died ca 1641, and was father of

SIR JOSHUA ALLEN, an eminent and opulent merchant of Dublin, who served the office of Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1673, and received the honour of knighthood.

Sir Joshua, High Sheriff of Dublin City, 1664, completed the house at Mullynahack begun by his father, called "Allen's Court."

He married Mary, daughter of John Wybrow, of Cheshire, and had issue,

JOHN, his heir;
Eleanor; Elizabeth; Mary.

Sir Joshua died in 1691, and was succeeded by his son,

THE RT HON JOHN ALLEN (1660-1726), Privy Counsellor, High Sheriff of County Dublin, 1691, MP for County Dublin, 1692-3, County Carlow, 1695-9, County Dublin, 1703-13, County Wicklow, 1713-14, County Dublin, 1715-17.

Mr Allen wedded, in 1684, Mary, daughter of the Rt Hon Robert FitzGerald, and sister of Robert, 19th Earl of Kildare, and had issue,

JOSHUA, his successor;
Robert;
Richard, father of the 4th and 5th Viscounts.

He was elevated to the peerage, in 1717, in the dignities of Baron Allen, of Stillorgan, County Dublin, and VISCOUNT ALLEN, County Kildare.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

JOSHUA, 2nd Viscount (1685-1742), MP for County Kildare, 1709-26, who espoused, in 1707, Margaret, daughter of Samuel du Pass, of Epsom, Surrey, and had issue,

JOHN, his successor;
Frances; Elizabeth.

His lordship was succeeded by his son and heir,

JOHN, 3rd Viscount (1713-45), MP for Carysfort, 1733-42; who, being insulted in the public streets by some disorderly dragoons, in 1742, received a wound in the hand, which occasioned a fever and caused his death soon afterwards.

Since he died unmarried, his sisters became his heirs, and the title devolved upon his first cousin (refer to the children of the Hon Richard Allen, youngest son of the 1st Viscount),

JOHN, 4th Viscount, MP for County Wicklow, 1742-5, at whose decease unmarried, in 1753, the honours passed to his next brother,

JOSHUA, 5th Viscount (1728-1816), MP for Eye, 1762-70, who married, in 1781, Frances, daughter of Gaynor Barry, and had issue,

JOSHUA WILLIAM, his successor;
Letitia Dorothea; Frances Elizabeth.

His lordship was succeeded by his son and heir,

JOSHUA WILLIAM, 6th Viscount (c1782-1845), a military officer, who served under the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular Wars.

His lordship died unmarried, when the title expired.

STILLORGAN HOUSE, Stillorgan, County Dublin, was begun in 1695 by John Allen MP, afterwards 1st Viscount Allen.

It comprised a two-storey, seven-bay centre block, and single storey, seven-bay wings.

The house had dormered attics and high-pitched roofs.

The centre block had lofty, slender chimneys, two at each end.

The demesne had formal gardens, an obelisk, and a grotto by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce.

The mansion was demolished in 1860 and only the grotto and obelisk remain.

First published in August, 2018.  Allen arms courtesy of the NLI.

Narrow Water Castle

THE HALLS OWNED 3,648 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY DOWN

AND  2,656 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ARMAGH

The first of this family in Ulster was Brigadier-General Hall, a soldier in Cromwell's army, who distinguished himself at Poyntzpass, County Armagh, and thereafter obtained grants of lands in counties Down and Armagh. These lands were bequeathed to General Hall's elder son and are still in possession of the senior branch, the Halls of Narrow Water Castle. 

WILLIAM HALL settled in Ulster in the 17th century, and died at Red Bay, County Antrim, 1640, leaving a son,

FRANCIS HALL, of Mount Hall, County Down, who married Mary, daughter of Judge Lyndon, and had issue,

ROGER, of whom presently;
Edward, of Strangford; ancestor of HALL of Knockbrack;
Alexander Trevor;
Frideswide.

The eldest son,

ROGER HALL, of Mount Hall, High Sheriff of County Down, 1702, wedded, in 1686, Christian, daughter of Sir Toby Poyntz, of Acton, County Armagh, and had issue,

TOBY, his heir;
Roger;
Rose.

The eldest son,

TOBY HALL (1691-1734), of Mount Hall, High Sheriff of County Down, 1715, married, in 1712, Margaret, daughter of the Hon Robert FitzGerald, and sister of the 19th Earl of Kildare, and left at his decease, two daughters, Christian and Elizabeth, and a son,

ROGER HALL, of Mount Hall, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1739, County Down, 1740, who wedded, in 1740, Catherine, daughter of Rowland Savage, of Portaferry, and had issue,

SAVAGE, his heir;
Dorcas; Anne; Catherine; Elizabeth; Sophia.

The son and heir,

SAVAGE HALL (1763-), of Narrow Water, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1795, County Down, 1800, married, in 1787, Elizabeth, fourth daughter of John Madden, of Hilton, County Monaghan, and had issue,

ROGER, his heir;
Savage (Rev), father of SAVAGE and WILLIAM JAMES;
SAMUEL MADDEN FRANCIS, succeeded his brother;
Anne; Catharine; Elizabeth; Jane.

The eldest son,

ROGER HALL JP DL (1791-1864), of Narrow Water, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1815, County Down, 1816, wedded, in 1812, Barbara, fourth daughter of Patrick Savage, of Portaferry, County Down; though dsp 1864, and was succeeded by his brother,

SAMUEL MADDEN FRANCIS HALL JP DL (1800-73), of Narrow Water, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1869, who espoused, in 1845, Anne Margaret, youngest daughter of Andrew Savage Nugent, of Portaferry; though dsp 1873, and was succeeded by his nephew,

WILLIAM JAMES HALL JP DL (1835-96), of Narrow Water, Major, Royal Artillery, High Sheriff of County Down, 1878, County Armagh, 1880, who married firstly, in 1863, Elizabeth Theodosia Catherine, second daughter of the Rev William Brownlow Forde, of Seaforde, County Down, and had issue,

ROGER, his heir;
William Charles.

He married secondly, in 1875, Florence Selina, youngest daughter of George Brooke, of Ashbrooke, County Fermanagh, and had further issue,

Francis, born in 1876.

Major Hall was succeeded by his eldest son,

ROGER HALL MC JP DL (1864-1915), of Narrow Water, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1900, County Down, 1901, Captain, 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, who married, in 1891, Elvira Adela, daughter of John Meade, of Earsham Hall, Norfolk, and had issue,

ROGER;
Elizabeth Adela.

Captain Hall was succeeded by his son,

ROGER HALL JP DL (1894-1939), of Narrow Water, High Sheriff of County Down, 1926, who wedded, in 1919, Marie de Lourdes, daughter of Sir Joseph Armand Patron CMG OBE, and had issue,

ROGER, his heir;
William Joseph (Sir), KCVO, b 1934;
Noël, b 1936;
Moira; Christian; Margaret.

Mr Hall was succeeded by his eldest son,

ROGER HALL (1929-2007), of Narrow Water, who married, in 1953, Maeve Patricia, daughter of  Robert John Pryce, and had issue,

TOBY ROGER, b 1954;
Marcus Savage, b 1965;
Lassara Mary, b 1966.

*****

An entry in the deaths column in the Belfast Newsletter in 2007 reads:

Roger Hall, who had lived in the Co Down mansion all his life, passed away peacefully at the Southern Area Hospice on Saturday following an illness. He was in his seventies. Tributes were paid yesterday to a “very charming, pleasant man” who treated everyone the same, whatever their political or religious beliefs.

Mr Hall was the son of a staunch unionist, Roger Hall, Senior, who fell in love with a Catholic girl from Spain. According to historian and close family friend Dr Liam Bradley, his new wife insisted their children be brought up as Catholics after they married. While Mr Hall’s father paid the price of losing many of his unionist associates as a consequence, he gained respect from people on both sides of the community.

The Hall family still live at their ancestral home.

Sir William Hall, KCVO, was HM Lord-Lieutenant for County Down, 1996-2009.

NARROW WATER CASTLE, near Warrenpoint, County Down, is a large, imposing Tudor-Revival mansion of about 1836, by Thomas Duff of Newry.

It replaced an earlier house, known as Mount Hall, of which a wing survives.

There are many oriels and gables with finials.

At one corner of the entrance front there is a gatehouse tower with four cupolas, inspired by various English originals, such as the gatehouse at Tixall in Staffordshire.

At the other side of the house is a tall, polygonal, battlemented tower with a round turret.

The granite stone for the new Victorian mansion came from the family estate at Mullaghglass in County Armagh.

Many of the interior features, like the library fireplace, were carved by Curran and Sons of Lisburn.

*****

WILLIAM HALL is believed to have arrived in Ulster in 1640, settling in Red Bay, County Antrim.

His son, Francis Hall, is said to have purchased the original Narrow Water Castle estate, including the town of Warrenpoint, in the 17th century for £1,500 and constructed Mount Hall, the family residence prior to Narrow Water Castle, in 1707.

The house subsequently passed down the family line from father to son, Francis Hall, Roger Hall, Toby Hall to Savage Hall.

By 1820, it was the property of Roger Hall.

In the early 1830s he employed Thomas Duff of Newry to enlarge Mount Hall, and also to erect gate lodges and screens.

The new house (Narrow Water Castle) was completed in 1837, with Mount Hall remodelled as servants’ accommodation.

Roger Hall was married to Barbara Savage, whose family crest and monogram appear with his own throughout the house and on some of its purpose made furniture which was manufactured by Curren & Sons of Lisburn.

Joseph Paxton and Thomas Smith were employed to landscape the demesne with serpentine walks and formal gardens.

Byrne states that,

a mound on the North-West of the castle is crowned with seven gigantic oaks in a circle, inside of which are rustic seats … A little northward of the house is a tastefully constructed rustic bower, inlaid with seats all round, with a circular rustic table in the centre. 

The floor is paved with variegated pebbles. The bower is surmounted with a carved golden eagle with outspread wings.

Roger Hall was also responsible for the erection of Warrenpoint Shambles in 1834; and the gallery in Warrenpoint Parish Church.

When he died, the property passed to his son Samuel Madden Hall; on whose death it passed to his nephew, William James Hall, who erected the farmyard to North-West of the walled garden.

He died in 1896 (a memorial tablet and the chancel window of Warrenpoint Parish Church were installed in his memory).

The estate passed to his son, Roger Hall (one of the nave windows in Warrenpoint Parish Church was installed in his memory).

In 1939, the estate became controlled by trustees but remained occupied by the Hall family.

During the 2nd World War the upper floors and basement of the house were used by British and American Troops, as was the demesne.

The house was vacated as a family residence in October, 1999.

It is presently used as a function and conference centre.

*****

Today there are still over 300 acres of parkland and farmland; and another 400 acres of forest, lakes and woods.

Inside, all of the rooms overlook beautiful scenery.

A map of 1800 shows this house with garden, grove and shrubbery, orchard, pasture, woods, and parkland trees.

It is thought that Sir Joseph Paxton made plans for the Italian Garden, notable for its impressive grass terraces, balustrading, cut-stone steps and urns.

Horizontal ground was once filled with flower beds, remembered in photographs but now grassed.

Early 20th century photographs also show the wild garden in the Pleasure Grounds to the north-west of the house, said to have been created by Thomas Smith of Newry.

This is no longer maintained.

Articles in garden journals at the end of the 19th century mention the garden; and remarkable trees are noted in Trees of Great Britain and Ireland of 1909 and 1910.

A folly summer-house survives on high ground in woodland.

There are extensive plantations of trees.

The parkland trees, though, are few and far between.

The walled garden is not cultivated and the glasshouses have gone.

The Head Gardener’s House (or Steward’s House) is impressively large; and 18th century outbuildings are listed.

Two gate lodges survive: Castle Gate and Tudor Lodge by Duff, contemporary with the house.

However, Duff’s Newry Gate has gone, as has the earlier rear gate.

The south-east corner of the demesne is a golf course.

First published in August, 2010.

Glenmore Lodge

THE STYLE BARONETS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY DONEGAL, WITH 39,564 ACRES 

This family, which was originally of Ipswich, Suffolk, derives from

WILLIAM STYLE, of that place, whose son,

SIR JOHN STYLE, obtained an aldermanic gown in London, and wedded Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Guy Wolston, Knight, of London, by whom he had

SIR HUMPHREY STYLE, Knight, of Langley Park, Beckenham, High Sheriff of Kent, 1543, during the reign of HENRY VIII, and one of the Esquires of the Body to that monarch.

This gentleman espoused Bridget, daughter of Sir Thomas Baldrey, Knight, and had three sons, viz.

Edmund;
OLIVER, of whom presently;
Nicholas, Alderman of London.

The second son,

OLIVER STYLE (1542-1622), after serving the office of Sheriff of London, 1606, purchased the manor of Wateringbury, Kent, and retired there.

He was succeeded by his only surviving son, 

THOMAS STYLE (1587-1637), of Wateringbury, High Sheriff of Kent, 1634, who married Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Robert Foulkes, of Mountnessing, Essex, and had issue,

THOMAS, his successor;
Elizabeth; Susan; Anne.

Sir Thomas was created a baronet in 1627, designated of Wateringbury, Kent.

He was succeeded by his only son,

SIR THOMAS STYLE, 2nd Baronet (1624-1702), who married firstly, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Airmine Bt, of Osgodby, Lincolnshire, and had, with other issue,

Thomas;
OLIVER, succeeded his father;
Elizabeth; Mary; Susan; Anne.

Sir Thomas wedded secondly, Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Twisden Bt, of Bradburne, Kent, one of the judges of the Court of King's Bench, and had, with other issue,

THOMAS, succeeded as 4th Baronet;
Margaret.

Sir Thomas was succeeded by the only surviving son of his first marriage,

SIR OLIVER STYLE, 3rd Baronet (c1670-1703), who died a few months after he inherited, and leaving no issue, the title devolved upon his half-brother,

SIR THOMAS STYLE, 4th Baronet (c1685-1769), who pulled down the ancient mansion of Wateringbury Place, and erected a new seat, where he kept his shrievalty in 1710.

He espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Charles Hotham Bt, and had issue, with two daughters,

CHARLES, his successor;
Robert (Rev);
William, Lieutenant-General.

Sir Thomas was succeeded at his demise by his eldest surviving son,

SIR CHARLES STYLE, 5th Baronet, who married, in 1770, Isabella, daughter of Richard, 1st Viscount Powerscourt, by whom he had Dorothy, wife of John Larking, and a son, his successor at his demise in 1774,

SIR CHARLES STYLE, 6th Baronet (d 1804), who wedded, in 1794, Camilla, eldest daughter of James Whatman, of Vintners, Kent, and had issue,

THOMAS, his successor;
THOMAS CHARLES, 8th Baronet;
Isabella Anne; Mary.

Sir Charles was succeeded by his elder son,

SIR THOMAS STYLE, 7th Baronet (d 1813), an officer in the army; at whose decease, unmarried, in Spain, the title devolved upon his brother,

SIR THOMAS CHARLES STYLE, 8th Baronet (1797-1879), MP for Scarborough, 1837-41, who wedded, in 1822, Isabella, daughter of Sir George Cayley Bt, of Brompton, Yorkshire, and had a daughter, EMMA (1828-34).

• Sir William Henry Marsham, 9th Baronet (1826–1904);
• Sir Frederick Montague, 10th Baronet (1857–1930);
• Sir William Frederick, 11th Baronet (1887–1943);
• Sir William Montague, 12th Baronet (1916–81);
• Sir William Frederick, 13th Baronet (b 1945).

The heir apparent is the present holder's only son Shannon Gay Style (b 1969).

*****

The Rev Robert Style, younger brother of the 5th Baronet, was Vicar of Wateringbury and Rector of Mereworth.

His eldest son,

CHARLES STYLE (1777-1853), of Glenmore, Stranorlar, County Donegal, married, in 1812, Frances, eldest daughter of John Cochrane, of Edenmore, Stranorlar.

*****

SIR THOMAS CHARLES STYLE, 8th Baronet, JP DL, inherited the Glenmore estate in County Donegal. His cousin,

SIR WILLIAM HENRY MARSHAM STYLE, 9th Baronet (1826-1904), JP DL, of Glenmore.

It is thought that Sir William Frederick Style, 13th Baronet (born 1945) lives in the USA.

THE LODGE, Glenmore, County Donegal, was a Georgian house, built in the mid to late 18th century.

It was renovated for Sir William Style, in the Neo-Tudor style, in the early 20th century.

The house was demolished in the 1990s.

The Glenmore estate is renowned for its game activities.

First published in November, 2014.  Style arms courtesy of European Heraldry.

Stormont Castle

THE CLELANDS OWNED 4,385 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY DOWN

This is a County Down family, claiming descent from James Cleland of that ilk, Lanarkshire.

THE REV JOHN CLELAND (1755-1834), second son of Moses Cleland, of County Down, married, in 1805, Esther, daughter and co-heiress of Samuel Jackson, of Storm Mount, County Down, by his wife Margaret, only child and heiress of Paul Peter Isaac Vateau, descendant of a French Huguenot family, and had issue,

SAMUEL JACKSON, his heir;
Robert Stewart, b 1810; died under age;
Sarah Frances, m Robert Richard Tighe, of Woodstock.

John Cleland was a student at the Rev William Neilson's Classical Academy in Rademon, County Down; tutor to Lord Castlereagh; Prebendary of Armagh; Rector of Newtownards, 1789-1809; murder attempt occurred against him, 1796; he passed on information against the United Irishmen, 1797; Lord Londonderry's agent, 1824; bought land in Killeen & Ballymiscaw, 1830.

The Rev John Cleland's eldest son,

SAMUEL JACKSON CLELAND (1808-42), of Storm Mount, Dundonald, County Down, married Elizabeth (1817-92), daughter of James Joyce, of Thorn Hill, Belfast, and had issue,

JOHN, his heir;
James Vance, Captain (1838-86), of Ennismore, co Armagh;
Robert Stewart, Lieutenant-Colonel (1840-81), died of his wounds at Muree;
Samuel Frederick Stewart (1842-1902);
Margaret.

Samuel Jackson Cleland's premature death, aged 34, is said to have been caused by the sudden collapse of a wall at Rose Park (which he was demolishing at the time), close to his new residence, Stormont Castle.

The CLELAND MAUSOLEUM at Dundonald grave-yard, which was erected in his memory, cost the considerable sum of £2,000 to build in 1842 (about £228,000 today).

Samuel Jackson Cleland's eldest son,

JOHN CLELAND JP DL (1836-93), of Stormont Castle, Dundonald, County Down, High Sheriff of County Down, 1866, wedded, in 1859, Therese Maria, only daughter of Captain Thomas Leyland, of Haggerston Castle, Northumberland, and Hyde Park House, London, and had issue,

ARTHUR CHARLES STEWART, his heir;

Andrew Leyland Hillyar, b 1868;

Florence Rachel Therese Laura, b 1894; m  E U Blackett, of Wylam, Northumberland.

The eldest son, 

ARTHUR CHARLES STEWART CLELAND (1865-1924), of Stormont Castle, Lieutenant, 3rd Battalion, Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment, wedded, in 1890, Mabel Sophia, only daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel H T D'Aguilar, Grenadier Guards.

Mr Cleland died at Field Green, Hawkhurst, Kent.

STORMONT CASTLE, Dundonald, County Down, is a Scottish-Baronial mansion of 1858, built by the Belfast architect Thomas Turner. 

It replaced a previous house.

The entrance front comprises three storeys high and eight bays wide, with a two-storey canted bay window.

Remaining windows have square-topped sashes, with bartizan turrets at either end.

There is a tall tower at the eastern end, with a large door surround and balustrade on top, turrets on tower corners, crow-stepped castellation, and three rounded arch windows at top.

Gryphons brandish shields at either side of the main staircase

Cleland arms

The Castle's lofty tower is reminiscent of The Prince Consort's Tower at Balmoral Castle. 

John Cleland's grandson began extending the Georgian house after 1842, though work did not begin on the new mansion until 1858.

It was at Storm Mount that, ca 1830, Cleland created what was described as "a plain house": A mid or late Georgian house of a traditional type, it was in the form of a plain rectangle with a central projection to the south, presumably for the entrance. 

Associated plantings were very modest; there was a small fringed meadow at the front and an orchard on the hillside to the north west.  

A directory entry of 1837 referred (probably inaccurately) to the house as 'Storemont'; and, by 1864, the "Parliament Gazetteer" still did not rank it amongst the principal residences of the area. 

In those days the most substantial such residence was Rose Park, a name still in use in the residential area.

It was in the course of removing Rose Park, in the process of consolidating Cleland's holdings, that his son Samuel Jackson Cleland was killed by the collapse of a wall in 1842.

In 1858, the Cleland family commissioned the local architect Thomas Turner to convert the existing plain dwelling into a flamboyant baronial castle.

To what extent the original house survives is not clear. Conventional wisdom, supported by some map evidence, is that the symmetrical five-bay block facing south is the "baronialised" shell of the Georgian dwelling.

To this, Turner added the entrance tower to the east.

The whole image and particularly the outline of the building was given a baronial character with turrets, battlements, bartizans with conical caps, iron cresting and weather vanes. 

The Cleland monogram was used on the shields held by the snarling stone gryphons which still guard the main entrance to the Castle.

The 1850s also saw extensive development of the demesne which was extended to the main Upper Newtownards Road, with the old lodge for Rose Park becoming the lodge for the remodelled baronial Stormont.

The Clelands finally left in 1893, preferring to live elsewhere, and the demesne was let out. 

At some stage Stormont Castle was rented by Charles E Allen JP, a director of the shipbuilding firm of Workman and Clark Limited. 

On his departure from Belfast, the Castle became vacant and, in April, 1921, both it and the surrounding land were offered at auction, but withdrawn when no bid higher than £15,000 was obtained.

Later in 1921, however, it was acquired, with 235 acres of land, as a site for the Parliament Buildings of the new Northern Ireland state. 

On September 20th, that Parliament resolved that 

Stormont Castle demesne shall be the place where the new Parliament House and Ministerial Buildings shall be erected, and as the place to be determined as the seat of the Government of Northern Ireland as and when suitable provision has been made therefore. 

While there was initial uncertainty about the use to be made of Stormont Castle itself, it was later decided that it should become the official residence of the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. 

Sir James Craig (later 1st Viscount Craigavon) lived there until 1940, when he moved out to make more room for officials engaged in War work.

Lord Craigavon was succeeded in office by Mr J Andrews and thereafter by Sir Basil Brooke Bt (later 1st Viscount Brookeborough).

While both had offices in the Castle, no Prime Minister resided there with any regularity between 1940 to 1969.

On the arrival in office of Captain Terence O'Neill in 1963, substantial reinstatement and improvement works were carried out.

These included the removal of an ugly glass entrance canopy and the restoration of the old ballroom as an improved Cabinet Room.

In those days the Prime Minister occupied what became the Secretary of State's office, with the Secretary of the Cabinet using the other major front room on the ground floor.

Captain O'Neill (afterwards Lord O'Neill of the Maine), Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, resided, when in Belfast, at nearby Stormont House, originally built as a residence for the Speakers of the NI House of Commons.

His successor, Major James Chichester-Clark (later Lord Moyola), had premises on the first floor converted into a self-contained flat and regularly stayed there.

Since 1974, when Northern Ireland reverted to direct rule from Westminster, the Castle became the administrative headquarters for successive Secretaries of State.

Today, Stormont Castle serves as the Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers.

Although Stormont Castle is a house of the 1850s, the grounds date from the time of a former house of 1830.

There are a few mature trees from that era.

There is a fine restored glasshouse with 'bothies' on the back (ca 1857).

Formal bedding in the vicinity of the glasshouse and immediately to the west of the Castle was recorded, in its original form, in R Welch’s photographs of 1894 but have now gone. 

The demesne was purchased over the period 1921-78 for the Parliament Buildings and now amounts to about 400 acres.

First published in January, 2011.

William Barnard DD

THE RIGHT REV DR WILLIAM BARNARD (1697-1768), younger son of John Barnard, of the Middle Temple, London, and Clapham, Surrey, married Anne Stone, sister of the Archbishop of Armagh, and had issue,

THOMAS, his heir;
Henry (Rev Dr).

Dr Barnard, Vicar of St Bride's, Fleet Street, London, 1729, Prebendary of Westminster, 1732, was appointed Dean of Rochester, 1743, and was consecrated Lord Bishop of Raphoe, 1744, and from thence translated to the bishopric of Derry, 1747.

His lordship was succeeded by his elder son,

THE RIGHT REV DR THOMAS BARNARD (1726-1806), who wedded, in 1758, Anne, daughter of William Browne, and had issue, an only child,

ANDREW BARNARD, his heir.

Dr Barnard, Vicar of Maghera, 1751-60, Archdeacon of Derry, 1761-9, Dean of Derry, 1769-80, was consecrated Lord Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora, 1780, and thence translated to the bishopric of Limerick, 1794, until his death in 1806.

His only son,

ANDREW BARNARD (c1765-1807), Secretary to the Colony of Cape of Good Hope, espoused, in 1793, the Lady Anne Lindsay, daughter of James, 5th Earl of Balcarres, though the marriage was without issue.

*****

Bishop (William) Barnard was buried in the Islip chapel in Westminster Abbey.

A modern stone for him reads:WILLIAM BISHOP OF DERRY 1768.

His white marble memorial tablet is now in the Abbey triforium.

This was originally in a niche above the entry to the chapel of Our Lady of Pew, next door to the Islip chapel, but was removed in the 1930s.

The Latin inscription can be translated:

Here awaits a blessed resurrection the Right Reverend Father in Christ William Barnard, DD, first a pupil of this Collegiate Church, then Prebendary, afterward Dean of Rochester, thence elevated to Bishoprics in Ireland, of Raphoe in 1744, of Derry in 1747, by King George II. 

How great a benevolence he exercised in relieving the poor, in repairing churches, in setting up endowments, that diocese (over which he presided for more than twenty years) will long be aware and acknowledge. 

Returning to England for reasons of ill health, he died in London 10th Jan. 1768 aged 72.

Bishop Barnard was born in Clapham, south London, a son of John Barnard, a lawyer, and his wife Isabella.

After attending Westminster School he went to Trinity College Cambridge.

He then became Rector of Esher in Surrey and chaplain to the Duke of Newcastle.

Later he was chaplain to the King and vicar of St Bride's, Fleet Street.

On October 4th 1732 he was made a prebendary of Westminster and his other preferments followed.

He married Anne Stone, daughter of an eminent London banker and sister of the Archbishop of Armagh.

Bishop Barnard's great-grandson was General Sir Henry William Barnard KCB, son of the Rev William Barnard, Rector of Water Stratford, Buckinghamshire.

The Bishop was possibly related to Sir John Barnard (c1685-1764), of Mincing Lane, London, and Clapham, Surrey, Lord Mayor of London, 1737-8.

Dr Barnard’s successor in the bishopric was FREDERICK AUGUSTUS HERVEY.

First published in March, 2020.