Seaport Lodge

THE LESLIES OWNED 7,428 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ANTRIM

SEAPORT LODGE, an elegant two-storey villa in Portballintrae, County Antrim, was constructed in the mid-18th century as a holiday home for the Leslies of LESLIE HILL.

In 1832, Portballintrae consisted of only a few houses, chiefly occupied by maritime pilots, but ‘near this to the west side of the bay is Seaport House, the summer residence of James Leslie Esquire.’

Seaport Lodge was built about 1790, though its situation was ‘exposed and unprotected, [the location] was admirably calculated for that of a bathing lodge’.

By 1859, the Lodge had passed in the family from James Leslie (1768-1847) to his younger son Henry Leslie (1803-64), who was recorded as both occupant and owner of the property.

Henry Leslie continued to reside at Seaport Lodge until his death in 1864, at which time it passed to his widow, Harriet Ann Leslie.

In 1882, Lieutenant-Colonel Edmund Douglas Leslie came into possession of Seaport.

Colonel Leslie resided there until his death, unmarried, in 1904 when his nephew, James Graham Leslie, took possession.

Despite the change in ownership during this period, Seaport Lodge was only used occasionally as a summer holiday home.

James Graham Leslie was still recorded as the householder of Seaport Lodge until 1929.

Seaport Lodge ca 2015 (Image: Timothy Ferres)

SEAPORT LODGE is a fine example of a mid-to-late-Georgian seaside dwelling built for purposes of leisure over the past concerns of defence and security.

Both Brett and Girvan give the construction date of Seaport Lodge as ca 1770, despite the Ordnance Survey documents claiming a later date of about 1790.

Sir Charles Brett states that the dwelling was constructed by James Leslie, soon after the completion of his other main residence, Leslie Hill, in 1772.

James Leslie’s ability to erect two major houses within such a short period led Brett to suggest that Leslie ‘much overstrained the family finances’ to realise his ambition of possessing a grand country house with a leisurely seaside retreat.

Local tradition states that Seaport Lodge was constructed gradually over a period of many years, originally designed solely for summer use.

The house did not possess fireplaces or servants quarters.

However, at an unknown date chimneys and fireplaces were installed as the dwelling came to be occupied outside of the summer months.

Seaport Lodge’s main domestic block was the first section of the building to be constructed.

Brett states that the two-storey western service wing was added later, most likely in 1827 as that date is inscribed on many of the later wing’s wall-plates.

An early painting of Seaport Lodge depicts rounded Gothic glazing to the ground floor; however the original glazing bars were replaced at the turn of the century when Colonel Leslie came into possession.

The dwelling also possessed a number of outbuildings, the most significant of which, its coaching stables, still survive and have been converted into a public house and restaurant.

Seaport Lodge (Image: Robert French/ NLI/ Ebay)

Seaport Lodge remained in the possession of the Leslie family until the mid-20th century.

The house has a round-headed entrance door in bow and the ground-floor windows are round-headed.

There are single-storey bows in the end elevations, with similar windows; and a conspicuous balustraded roof parapet.

The interior oval hall has a Classical plasterwork ceiling.

Seaport is presently white, though it is thought that it was originally grey in colour.

During the 1970s and 80s it was owned by Alexander Wyndham Hume Stewart-Moore, a senior director of Gallaher tobacco at that time.

The surrounding field has a curious structure built into the hill, now roofless.

Could it have been an ice-house?

A pair of charming Gothic gate lodges faced each other at the main entrance to Seaport Lodge.

They stood at the present entrance into the bar and restaurant, at the main road.

At the time of writing (2020) Seaport Lodge is undergoing extensive renovation and building work.

First published in May, 2012.

The Hardinge Baronets

This family is descended from

NICHOLAS HARDINGE, who was seated at Kings Newton, Derbyshire, in the reign of HENRY VII; who wedded Isabel, daughter of Edward Webb, and had issue,

SIR ROBERT HARDINGE (1621-79), Knight, of Kings Newton, who married Anne, daughter of Sir Richard Sprignell Bt, of Highgate, Middlesex, leaving with other issue,

Robert, dsp 1728;

GIDEON, of whom hereafter.

Sir Robert, a Master in Chancery, raised a royalist troop of horse during the reign of CHARLES I, and entertained CHARLES II at Kings Newton Hall.

Sir Robert, who was knighted, 1674, was succeeded by his younger son,

THE REV GIDEON HARDINGE (c1668-1712), Vicar of Kingston, Surrey, who left issue,

NICHOLAS, of whom we treat;
Caleb, MD, Physician to the Queen;
Mary, m Sir John Stracey, Knight.

The Rev Gideon Hardinge's elder son,

Nicholas Hardinge MP

NICHOLAS HARDINGE (1699-1758), of Canbury, Surrey, MP for Eye, 1748-54, a barrister, Chief Clerk of the House of Commons, 1731, Attorney-General to the Duke of Cumberland, Joint Secretary to The Treasury, 1752, married, in 1738, Jane, daughter of Sir John Pratt, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, and had issue,

George, dsp 1816;
Henry (Rev), father of the 2nd Baronet and Capt George N Hardinge RN;
RICHARD, of whom hereafter;
Juliana; Jane; Caroline.

George Hardinge MP (1743-1816)

The youngest son,

RICHARD HARDINGE (1756-1826), of BELLEISLE, County Fermanagh, was created a baronet in 1801, designated of BELLE ISLE, County Fermanagh, with remainder to the heirs male of his father.

Sir Richard wedded firstly, in 1793, Mary, natural daughter of RALPH, 1ST EARL OF ROSS, by whom he had no issue; and secondly, in 1826, Caroline Munster, daughter of Lieutenant-General George Wulff.

Sir Ralph Gore was born at BELLEISLE in 1725 and was created Earl of Ross in 1772. He died in 1801, leaving Belle Isle to his only surviving child, Mary, who married Sir Richard Hardinge, 1st Baronet, who sold Belle Isle, in 1830, to the Rev John Porter for £68,000 (£5.8 million in today's money).

Sir Richard died without issue, in 1826, when the baronetcy devolved, according to the limitation, upon his nephew,

THE REV SIR CHARLES HARDINGE, 2nd Baronet (1780-1864), Rector of Crowhurst, Surrey, who married, in 1816, Emily Bradford, second daughter of Kenneth Callander, of Craigforth, Stirlingshire, and had issue,

HENRY CHARLES, 3rd Baronet;
EDMUND STRACEY, 4th Baronet;
Robert James;
Caroline Bradford; six other daughters.

It is thought that Sir Charles sold BELLEISLE, his estate in County Fermanagh, and purchased Boundes Park in Kent.

Their other residence was Ketton Hall, Darlington, County Durham.

Sir Charles was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR HENRY CHARLES HARDINGE, 3rd Baronet (1830-73), who died unmarried, when the title devolved upon his brother,

SIR EDMUND STRACEY HARDINGE, 4th Baronet (1833-1924).

Former residences: 25 Duke Street, off Manchester Square, London; Sundridge, Sevenoaks, Kent.

• Sir Henry Charles Hardinge, 3rd Baronet (1830-73);
• Sir Edmund Stracey Hardinge, 4th Baronet (1833–1924);
• Sir Charles Edmund Hardinge, 5th Baronet (1878–1968);
• Sir Robert Hardinge, 6th Baronet (1887–1973);
• Sir Robert Arnold Hardinge, 7th Baronet (1914-86);
• Sir Charles Henry Nicholas Hardinge, 8th Baronet (1956–2004) – succeeded as 6th Viscount Hardinge in 1984).

THE VISCOUNTCY OF HARDINGE was created in 1846 for the soldier and politician Sir Henry Hardinge.

His son, the 2nd Viscount, represented Downpatrick in Parliament.

His great-great-grandson, the 6th Viscount, succeeded a distant relative as 8th Baronet, of Belle Isle in the County of Fermanagh, in 1986.

This aforementioned baronetcy had been created in 1801 for Richard Hardinge.

He was the third son of Nicolas Hardinge, younger brother of Rev Henry Hardinge and uncle of the latter's third son Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge.

The baronetcy was created with special remainder to the male heirs of Richard Hardinge's father.

Whilst the present and 7th Lord Hardinge is generally believed to be the 8th Hardinge Baronet, the succession has yet to be proved.

The mitre on the Hardinge crest indicates the family's ecclesiastical past. The other crests, two pennants, allude to the naval exploits of George Nicholas Hardinge: As a naval commander, he captained HMS Scorpion in 1803, capturing the brig Atalanta (or Atalante).  

First published in December, 2010.

Springfield Castle

THE BARONS MUSKERRY WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY WEXFORD, WITH 9,412 ACRES

This family possessed large estates in Somerset as far back as the reign of HENRY II.

The third son of MOSES DEANE, of Deane's Fort, Somerset,

MATTHEW DEANE (c1626-1711), settled in Ireland during the reign of JAMES I, and took up his abode at Dromore, County Cork, where he purchased considerable estates.

Mr Deane, who bequeathed large sums towards the erection of almshouses and other charitable purposes, was created a baronet in 1710, designated of Muskerry.

He married firstly, Mary, daughter of Thomas Wallis, of Somerset; secondly, Martha, daughter of the Most Rev Richard Boyle, Lord Archbishop of Tuam; and thirdly, Dorothy, Countess of Barrymore; by the first of whom he left, at his decease, in 1711, a son and heir,

SIR ROBERT DEANE, 2nd Baronet, who wedded Anne, daughter and co-heir of William Boltridge, one of CROMWELL'S officers; and dying in 1712, was succeeded by his son,

SIR MATTHEW DEANE, 3rd Baronet, MP for Charleville, 1713-14, County Cork, 1728-47, who espoused Jane, only daughter of the Rev William Sharpe, son of the Archbishop of St Andrew's, the ill-fated primate of Scotland, and had issue,

MATTHEW, his successor;
Thomas, dsp;
ROBERT, 4th Baronet;
Meliana; Dorothy; Jane.

Sir Matthew died in 1747, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR MATTHEW DEANE, 4th Baronet (c1706-51), MP for Cork City, 1739-51, who wedded Salisbury, daughter and sole heir of Robert Davis, of Manley Hall, Cheshire, by whom he had three daughters, viz.

Salisbury; Mary; Charlotte.

Sir Matthew dying thus without male issue, the title devolved upon his brother,

THE RT HON SIR ROBERT DEANE, 5th Baronet (c1707-70), Barrister, Privy Counsellor, MP for Tallow, 1757-68, Carysfort, 1769-70, who married, in 1738, Charlotte, second daughter of Thomas Tilson (uncle to Lord Castlecoote), and had issue,

ROBERT, his successor;
Jocelyn;
Charlotte; Grace; Eliza Salisbury; Jane; Alicia; Frances.

Sir Robert was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR ROBERT TILSON DEANE, 6th Baronet (1745-1818), MP for Carysfort, 1771-6, County Cork, 1776-81, who was raised to the peerage, in 1781, in the dignity of BARON MUSKERRY.

He wedded, in 1775, Anne, daughter of John Fitzmaurice, and sole heir of her grandfather, John Fitzmaurice, of Springfield Castle, County Limerick (nephew of Thomas, 1st Earl of Kerry), and had issue,

JOHN THOMAS FITZMAURICE, his successor;
William;
MATTHEW, 3rd Baron.

His lordship was succeeded by his elder son,

JOHN THOMAS FITZMAURICE (1777-1824), 2nd Baron, CB, Major-General in the army, who married, in 1815, the second daughter of M Haynes, of Bishop's Castle; but died in 1824, without male issue, when the honours devolved upon his only brother,

MATTHEW FITZMAURICE (1795-1868), 3rd Baron, who wedded, in 1825, Louisa Dorcas, second daughter of Henry Deane Grady, of Lodge, County Limerick, and Stillorgan Castle, County Dublin, and had issue,

ROBERT TILSON FITZMAURICE, his successor;
Henry Standish Fitzmaurice;
Matthew James Fitzmaurice.

• Hamilton Matthew Tilson Fitzmaurice Deane-Morgan, 4th Baron (1854–1929);

• Robert Matthew Fitzmaurice Deane-Morgan, 5th Baron (1874–1952);

• Matthew Chichester Cecil Fitzmaurice Deane-Morgan, 6th Baron (1875–1954);

• Matthew Fitzmaurice Tilson Deane, 7th Baron (1874–1966);

• Hastings Fitzmaurice Tilson Deane, 8th Baron (1907–88);

• Robert Fitzmaurice Deane, 9th Baron Muskerry (b 1948).

The heir apparent is the present holder's only son, the Hon Jonathan Fitzmaurice Deane.

ARDCANDRISK HOUSE, near Wexford, County Wexford (above), is a two-storey Regency villa of about 1833, comprising three polygons of differing sizes.

It has eaved roofs and Wyatt windows at one end.

It was built by the Grogan-Morgans, though was acquired by the Deanes, Lords Muskerry, though marriage.

SPRINGFIELD CASTLE, Drumcolliher, County Limerick, is the ancestral seat of the Barons Muskerry.

The Castle features a Neo-Gothic style main residential building, cornered by two towers, one of which is the large Norman keep built in the 15th Century; and the smaller tower, built later in the 18th Century, enclosing a large central courtyard.

A younger son of the 20th Lord of Kerry, William Fitzmaurice, bought Springfield.

His son John built a very large, three-storey, early Georgian mansion attached to the existing buildings

The Fitzmaurices occupied Springfield Castle until Sir Robert Tilson Deane, 1st Baron Muskerry, married Ann Fitzmaurice, the sole heiress, in 1780.

The Lords Muskerry owned 3,161 acres in County Limerick during the Victorian era.

The castle was burnt in 1921 and rebuilt by the 5th Baron.

Robert, 9th Baron, lives and works in South Africa presently.

His sister Betty and her husband Jonathan run Springfield Castle.

First published in June, 2013. 

Favour Royal

THE MOUTRAYS OWNED 6,554 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE 

ROBERT MOUTRAY, of Roscobie, Fife, 9th Laird of Seafield (descended from Robert Multrare, who had a Royal Charter, 1443, confirming to him the lands of Seafield and Markinch), married Anne, only daughter of Sir James Erskine, of Favour Royal, County Tyrone (to whom that estate was granted by JAMES I), grandson of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, and had a son,

JOHN MOUTRAY, of Aghamoyles, alias Favour Royal, County Tyrone, who wedded his cousin Anne, daughter of the Rev Archibald Erskine (son of Sir James Erskine), through whom the Moutray family acquired Favour Royal, and had a son,

JAMES MOUTRAY (c1661-1719), of Favour Royal, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1682, MP for Augher, 1692-3, 1703-13, who espoused Deborah, daughter of Henry Mervyn MP, of Trillick, son of Sir Audley Mervyn MP, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, and had issue,

JAMES, his heir;
Anketell;
Anne, m George Gledstanes, of Daisy Hill;
Sarah, m Charles Stewart, of Baillieborough.

Mr Moutray was succeeded by his eldest son,

JAMES MOUTRAY, of Favour Royal, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1695, who married, in 1698, Rebecca, eldest daughter of Colonel James Corry, of Castle Coole, County Fermanagh (ancestor of the Earls of Belmore), and was father of

JOHN MOUTRAY (1701-79), of Favour Royal, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1721, who married, in 1720, Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Montgomery, of Ballyleck, County Monaghan, and had issue,

JAMES, his heir;
ANKETELL, succeeded his brother;
Leslie, of Killibrick;
John;
Mary; Rebecca; Catherine; Sarah; Elizabeth.

The eldest son,

JAMES MOUTRAY (1722-77), of Favour Royal and Killibrick, MP for Augher, 1761-76, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1762, married Hester, daughter of Thomas Knox, MP for Dungannon, and sister to Thomas, 1st Viscount Northland, but had no issue.

His younger brother,

THE REV ANKETELL MOUTRAY (1730-1801), of Favour Royal, married, in 1768, Catherine, eldest daughter of Thomas Singleton, of Fort Singleton, County Monaghan, by his first wife, daughter of Oliver Anketell, of Anketell's Grove.

He died ca 1801, having had one son, JOHN CORRY, and six daughters, all of whom died unmarried, except the third, Isabella, who espoused Whitney Upton Gledstanes, of Fardross.

The only son and heir,

JOHN CORRY MOUTRAY JP DL (1771-1859), of Favour Royal, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1794, married, in 1793, Mary Anne Catherine, second daughter of Major Ambrose Upton, of Hermitage, County Dublin, by his wife Margaret, sister and co-heir of Thomas Gledstanes, of Fardross, and had issue,

ANKETELL, his heir;
JOHN JAMES, of Favour Royal;
WHITNEY, of Fort Singleton;
Thomas (Rev), 1806-43;
William (Rev), 1811-82;
Henry, of Killymoon Castle;
Catherine; Margaret; Sophia; Cecilia; Marion; Mary.

Mr Moutray was succeeded by his eldest son,

ANKETELL MOUTRAY (1797-1869), of Favour Royal, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1855, who dsp and was succeeded by his brother,

THE REV JOHN JAMES MOUTRAY (1802-86), of Favour Royal, Rector of Errigal-Keerogue, who married, in 1836, Maria Dorothea, second daughter of the Rev William Perceval, of Kilmore Hill, County Waterford, and had issue,

JOHN MAXWELL, his heir;
Robert Perceval, Captain RN (1840-96);
William Henry, b 1842;
ANKETELL, of Favour Royal;
Charles Frederick, b 1846;
Anna Maria Sophia; Mary Elizabeth; Caroline Helena.

This clergyman's eldest son,

THE REV JOHN MAXWELL MOUTRAY, Rector of Ballinasaggart, did not, however, succeed to the family estates, which, under the will of his uncle, Anketell Moutray, of Favour Royal, passed to his younger brother,

ANKETELL MOUTRAY JP DL (1844-1927), of Favour Royal, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1877, County Monaghan, 1903, who married, in 1877, Gertrude Madelina, third surviving daughter of Matthew John Anketell, of Anketell Grove, County Monaghan (by his wife Catherine Anne Frances, daughter of D Ker, of Montalto, County Down), and had issue,

John Corry (1878-79);
ANKETELL GERALD, JP, of Favour Royal, High Sheriff of Co Tyrone, 1934 (1882-1952?);
Anne Gwendoline Stella Eliza (1875-1902).

FAVOUR ROYAL, near Augher, County Tyrone, was built in 1825. 

This is quite an austere, Tudor-Gothic mansion consisting of two storeys with an attic of low-pitched gables in front and three storeys at the rear.

The front of the house has big rectangular windows with elaborate Gothic tracery and hood mouldings over them.

*****

JAMES I granted Sir Thomas Ridgeway 740 acres of land in 1613.

Sir James Erskine later purchased the Augher estates from Sir Thomas.

CHARLES II confirmed the Manor of Portclare (under the name of Favor Royal) to the Erskine family in 1665.

Eventually his estate was divided between his two granddaughters: one half became Spur Royal (Augher Castle); and the other, Favor Royal.

One of Erskine's granddaughters married John Moutray, and they built the first house, creating the demesne in 1670.

This house continued as the family home until it was destroyed by accidental fire in 1823.

Captain John Corry Moutray, the occupant at the time, commissioned the architect John Hargrave to design the new house, built in 1824-5, with an 1825 date-stone on its left elevation.

The earlier 1670 date-stone, also built into the left elevation, is presumably from the first house that was burnt down.

The fireproof vaulted brick floor construction to upper floor landings and the stone staircases are possibly precautionary, to ensure that the new house was not also destroyed by fire.

The painted transom in the book-room of a cavalry officer with white charger may be a depiction of Captain John Corry Moutray.

Captain Moutray also built the parish church of St Mary’s Portclare in 1830 as a private chapel.

It cost £1,000 and its designer may be John Hargrave who had died in a yachting accident only the previous year.

An 1834 map shows the demesne and most of its features as they are today; however, the drive to the north of the main house, its bridge over the river Blackwater, and the later (1856) elements of the outer farmyard are not shown.

The map shows the north drive and the Blackwater Bridge.

A 1903 map shows a boathouse (now gone) on the north side of the lake.

Favour Royal was occupied in 1858 by Whitney Moutray; in 1870 by the Rev John James Moutray; and during the first half of the 20th century by Major Anketell Gerald Moutray.

Anketell Moutray (1844-1927) had the misfortune of being attacked and kidnapped at Favour Royal during the troubles of 1922.

His son, Anketell Gerald Moutray, died ca 1952, but his widow continued to reside in the house until her death at the beginning of 1975.

The house, outbuildings, walled garden and park all survived remarkably intact; the park renowned for its deciduous woodland and parkland trees.

In 1976 the house and grounds were sold, with the Department of Agriculture (Forestry Service) acquiring most of the land, and Mr Herbert Craig acquiring the house and a smaller area of ground.

The house was put up for sale again in 1994, but has remained vacant and was damaged in a malicious fire in April, 2011.

Much of the demesne was heavily planted by DAERA (Forest Service) with forest trees.

It has been said that the Moutrays were the largest landowners in the valley and held the rental of 36 townlands, with a staff of no fewer than 80 at one time.

Sundials (marked on a 1977 map), one to the front and one to the right of the house, and a large collection of medieval carved stones in the rockery (opposite the front porch) were for sale with the house contents in September, 1976, and were presumably sold and removed at that time.

Following the sale of the contents, the house remained occupied until the early 1990s.

Although not consulted in detail, the Moutray family papers in PRONI are a wide and interesting range of documents from land leases to personal diaries.

*****

Stephen Paskin has taken 182 photographs of Favour Royal, including notable pictures of its interior features.

The demesne dates from the 17th century. 

It lies in a valley, with the River Blackwater flowing on the north-eastern side. 

Though no longer a fully functioning demesne, disused stabling and farm buildings remain.

There was a deer park and woodland with, ‘… a few fine old trees’ (Young, 1909). 

At the present time there is a small area of lawn at the house and one or two mature notable trees.

The walled garden has a date stone on the entrance gate of 1720.

It is not maintained but was once a fine garden. 

Most of the area is heavily planted with forest trees.

The gate lodge of ca 1825, gardener’s cottage and bridges are listed.

There is a man-made ornamental lake with an island.

Planning permission had been obtained to turn Favour Royal into a hotel and golf resort.

Arsonists badly damaged the house in April, 2011.

The estate was for sale in May, 2014.

*****

SIR THOMAS RIDGEWAY, Earl of Londonderry, was one of hundreds of English and Scottish noblemen who were granted land during the plantation of Ulster.

In Ridgeway's case, he was treasurer of wars in Ireland.

In 1610, JAMES I granted him 4,300 acres in the Clogher valley area of County Tyrone. 

In 1613, he built a castle in Augher and then sold his entire estate to Sir James Erskine in 1622. 

In 1630, a defect was discovered in the original grant of lands to Ridgeway and CHARLES I made a re-grant of the lands to Erskine.

This royal favour was acknowledged by naming the estate Favour Royal. 

Sir James Erskine's son, Archibald, was the only member of the family to carry on the family name having two daughters, Mary and Ann, between whom the estate was divided. 

Mary married William Richardson and took up living in Augher castle.

Later, as Sir William Richardson, he gained notoriety as the magistrate who kept a supply of Shillelaghs for the settlements of legal disputes. 

The other daughter, Ann, married John Moutray and moved into the house at Favour Royal in 1670.

*****

The Moutray family continued to live there until the death of Mrs Anketell Moutray on New Year's Day, 1975.

The house and what remained of the demesne was sold in 1976.

A major part of the estate was acquired by the Forest service.

The total area is ca 1,200 acres.

First published in October, 2010.

Kinlough House: II

THE BIG HOUSE AT KINLOUGH, COUNTY LEITRIM

From Chapter Eight of A Man May Fish by T C Kingsmill Moore, first edition published 1960, copyright Estate of T C Kingsmill Moore 1979. 

"… My son tells me that you are an ardent fisherman. We have a house on the shore of Lough Melvin which fishes well in April, and there will be some salmon in the Bundrowse. If you could spare a week or a fortnight of your Easter vacation to stay with us my wife and I would be very pleased.”

This letter, the first of many phrased with the same careful courtesy, introduced me to the big lakes of the west and to a feature of Irish country life then rapidly passing away.

At Bundoran a wizened coachman met me with an outside car which soon covered the hilly miles to where the Big House stood, surrounded on three sides by woodland and open on the fourth, where lawns and fields sloped to the water’s edge.

In spring, the daffodils spread themselves in golden drifts down to the lake, in autumn the scarlet lobelia blazed a flare of colour between house and shrubberies.

The house itself, built when the Georgian style was yielding to the Victorian, was large but architecturally undistinguished.

Originally the walls of all the main rooms had been covered with French cartoons in grisaille, illustrating scenes from classical mythology.

The many life-sized nudes were a little too explicit for Victorian taste, and pictures and furniture had been arranged to hide the more compromising details.

When a later generation, bracing itself to acknowledge the facts of anatomy, removed the obstructions, it was too late.

The discolouration was permanent.

Already the house was an anachronism, a manor house without an estate.

For nearly a century, when Irish country life had been built on a structure of landlord and tenant, it had been the centre of interest for a barony, its stables full of carriages and horses, its garden a model, its owners men of learning and public spirit.

Politics and literature have dealt harshly with the Irish landlord.

Sad and mad they may have been; too often they were absentees.

But many of them were men of culture, bravery, and a high sense of public duty.

Their libraries were good and sometimes remarkable.

They planted world-famous gardens.

They organised and endowed innumerable Irish charities, relieved distress, and helped and advised such tenants as were willing to accept their advice.

Much of their time was spent in hunting and field sports, but these provided employment of the type that the Irish countryman likes, and made the big house a centre of interest and society.

Above all, they supplied a personal relationship which made up for many abuses.

A good landlord was united to his tenantry by bonds part patriarchal, part feudal, and entirely human, which formed a not unsatisfactory pattern of life.

Now all of this has been changed, shattered irretrievably by a great reform which had enabled the tenants to become freeholders.

The landlords lived on, financially not much worse off, still doing their duty on bench and synod, and spending much of their leisure in sport; but the ties which bound them and their families to the countryside were snapped.

Old retainers still remained.

The coachman who had met me was serving his fourth generation, the parlour maid had been nurse to my host, the gardener had been trained by his grandfather.

But the dust was settling; the Big House was dying at its roots.

My host, who had for some years been living a life of use and wont in which sport had ceased to play a part, his guns licensed but unfired, his rods idle in their cases, now roused himself to put his son and myself on the road to true orthodoxy.

He was orthodox to a fault, his fishing methods not so much dated as out-dated, but I owe him a grounding in caution, in boat-craft, and in etiquette which was to help me in difficult times and places...

For four years my fishing centred around the Big House, ten days in spring and the same in August.

The old retainers were dropping away.

“I’ve seen what I’ve seen and I’ll not see much more,” said the coachman, now nearly ninety on the last occasion that he drove me to the station.

On my next visit he was gone.

Kate, the parlour maid, found her rheumatism too crippling, and the gardener retired on a pension to a cottage.

The squire had ceased to come to the lake with us, and he was intellectually less alert.

Over the port he had been eager to cross-question me on all the vexed problems of the day, with his unvaried courtesy treating my undergraduate opinions as if they were worth listening to.

Now he avoided discussion.

When things puzzled him he no longer sought an answer.

He lived more and more in the past.

A weary, slightly despairing look often came over his kindly face.

I was too young to recognise the significance of these changes, signs that the organism could no longer adapt itself to its environment, the first, faint, far-borne notes of the trumpet of Azrael.

Then at one stride came disaster.

Father and mother were dead; the son, always delicate, became incurably ill.

The Big House had fallen.

Another old Irish family had come to an end.

Of the Big House itself only a few ruins now remain.’ 

T.C. Kingsmill Moore was born in Dublin in March 1893 and he died there in February, 1979, at the age of 85. He went to school in Marlborough, England, and returned to Dublin to take a degree at Trinity College. 

During the First World War, from 1917-18, he was in the Royal Flying Corps in France and Flanders. He became a barrister on his return to Dublin and during the Civil War from 1922-23 was also the War Correspondent for the Irish Times. 

In 1947 he was appointed a judge of the High Court and in 1961 a judge of the Supreme Court, retiring in 1965. His visits to the Big House at Kinlough took place between 1914 and 1917 when he was an undergraduate in Trinity. 

First published in March, 2019. 

Bellarena Album

I am grateful to Aaron Callan who has sent me some images of BELLARENA, the ancestral home of the GAGES and the HEYGATE BARONETS, and now the home of the Desmond family.

Click to Enlarge.

The type-written page recounts a brief history of the house, the hall, and the drawing-room.

The image is of Sir Frederick William Heygate, 2nd Baronet (1822-94).

First published in May, 2020.

Rathgael Album: I

John Lowry, a reader from Belleville, Ontario, Canada, has kindly sent me some old family photographs of RATHGAEL HOUSE and estate, near Bangor, County Down.

I've found a newspaper cutting, dated the 5th January, 1907, that tells us,

...The Tynan and Armagh Harriers also possess a lady MH in Miss Ida McClintock, while Miss Kate Rose-Cleland and two sisters hunt the Rathgael Harriers.

The sketch below was drawn by John about forty years ago (c1980) with the advice of his father's first cousin, Eveline Ritchie.

Diagram of the Ground and First Floors.  Click to Enlarge

They were both great-grandchildren of Elizabeth Helen Louise Rose-Cleland (she married Benoni Lytton-White).

Both John's father (who died in 2016) and Eveline (who is still alive, in her mid-90s and living in Scotland) had first-hand memories of visiting Rathgael.

In the picture with the caravan, the little girl with the pen-marked X over her head is Maude Emilie Lytton-White, John's grandmother.

John selected photos that show aspects of the house, including the lake, the towers etc.

The Lake, frozen over, with Rathgael House 

The lake (the Fish Pond in old maps) is, as far as I'm aware, the only remaining feature of the estate.

Rathgael Lake (Timothy Ferres, 2022)

It now forms part of the new Helen's Wood housing development.

Click to Enlarge

The ROSE-CLELANDS were clearly passionate about hunting, and they ran the Rathgael Harriers.

Many local farmers and landowners are mentioned in the newspaper cuttings.

Elizabeth Helen Louise Rose-Cleland

John's grandmother is shown in the image above.

Kate Rose-Cleland.  Click to Enlarge

The photograph above shows 'Miss Kate Rose-Cleland, Owner and Master of the Rathgael Harriers, Bangor, County Down; the only pack in Ireland not depending on subscriptions.'

First published in May, 2020.