Ampertaine House

This family, said to be scions of the Clarkes of Salford Hall, Salford Priors, Warwickshire,  settled in County Londonderry, 1690.

JOHN CLARK (1665-1707), of Maghera, County Londonderry, married, about 1695, Jane White, of Belfast, and had issue,

JACKSON, of whom presently;
John (1697-1721).

Mr Clark was succeeded by his elder son,

JACKSON CLARK (1695-1754), of Maghera, who wedded, in 1720, and had issue,

John, adopted by his uncle John;
ALEXANDER, of whom presently;
Arthur, settled in America;
William, also in America;
Sarah, m Dr J Ferguson, of Belfast;
a daughter; Jane; Margaret.

The eldest surviving son,

ALEXANDER CLARK (1733-1806), espoused, in 1757, Elizabeth, daughter of William Stevenson, of Knockan, and had issue,

Alexander, his heir;
JACKSON, of whom presently;
William;
Margaret.

The second son,

JACKSON CLARK (1760-88), married, in 1785, Jane, daughter of General Patterson, of Maghera, and was father of

ALEXANDER CLARK (1785-1871), of Ampertaine House, Upperlands, County Londonderry, who wedded, in 1814, Sarah, third daughter of Sir Simon Newport, of Waterford, and had issue,

Jackson (Dr), died unmarried;
WILLIAM, of whom hereafter;
Simon;
John Alexander;
Henry Bolton;
Charles Francis;
Jane.

Mr Clark was succeeded by his eldest son,

WILLIAM CLARK (1816-1904), of Ampertaine House, who married, in 1853, Marianne Elizabeth Paul, daughter of Captain Simon Newport JP DL, and had issue,

William Newport (1854-1915), emigrated to New Zealand;
ALEXANDER WALLIS, of whom we treat;
George Wallis Newport (Rev);
John Henry;
Simon Newport;
Henry Jackson;
Annie Penelope; Sarah Louise Jane; Jane Frances.

Mr Clark was succeeded by his second son,

ALEXANDER WALLIS CLARK JP DL (1857-1937), of Ampertaine House, High Sheriff of County Londonderry, 1922, Chairman, William Clark & Sons, 1913-37, who wedded, in 1893, Frances Lucinda Caroline, eldest daughter of William Maxwell Carpendale, of Falkland, Dungannon, County Tyrone, and had issue,

ALEXANDER WILLIAM MAXWELL, his heir;
George Wallis Newport;
Ivan Henry;
Perceval Maxwell Carpendale;
Katherine Marianne Violet.

Mr Clark was succeeded by his eldest son,

ALEXANDER WILLIAM MAXWELL CLARK JP (1898-1973), of Ampertaine House; High Sheriff of County Londonderry, 1936, Director, William Clark & Sons, who married, in 1924, Dorothy Noelle, younger daughter of J R Lopdell JP, and had issue,

AUBREY ALEXANDER MAXWELL, his heir;
Robert Gordon, b 1927;
Denis Knox, b 1932.

Mr Clark was succeeded by his eldest son,

AUBREY ALEXANDER MAXWELL CLARK (1925-2002), of Ampertaine House and Bayhead, Portballintrae, who wedded, in 1948, Jillian Eleanor Mary, daughter of Colonel William Anderson Swales, and had issue,

ALEXANDER WILLIAM JOHN, b 1954;
Jane Dorothy Elizabeth; April Jillian; Sarah Primrose.

AMPERTAINE HOUSE, Upperlands, is the most notable of a number of country houses in the vicinity built by various members of the Clark family.

The townland of Upperlands comprised 568 acres.

This family's linen mills gave rise to the nearby "linen village" of Upperlands, based in the courtyard of one of these houses.

Ampertaine, a plain, late-Georgian house, was built some time after 1821 by Alexander clark.

It comprises two storeys over a high basement; a five-bay front; shallow projecting porch, with a fanlighted doorway set in an arched recess.

The roof is eaved, on a a bracket cornice.

The front was prolonged by a two storey, three-bay wing, set back, added in 1915.

At the other end there was a Victorian conservatory on a high plinth.

Ampertaine has a modest parkland with mature shelter belts enclosing the house.

A "small thatched cottage" known as Upperlands formerly occupied the site of the present house, known variously as Ampertaine, Amptertain or Amportaine.

The house lawns merge into gardens, which had become neglected and overgrown until the 1990s, when clearance began to expose a late Victorian ornamental garden with ponds, rockeries and iron bowers to the east and south-east of the house.

The walled kitchen garden, east of the house, can be viewed through decorative iron railings on top of the west wall.

It is laid out in conventional manner with cross and perimeter paths and contains a summer house, sunken garden, rose garden, the site of a lean-to glasshouse range with stove and old apple trees.

On the north-east front of the house lie the foundations of a high plinth that once supported a circular Victorian conservatory.

The park has a gate lodge of ca 1870, which replaced two earlier lodges; it lies across the road from the main entrance.

First published in September, 2013.