Thursday 24 August 2023

Glenfarne Hall

THE TOTTENHAMS WERE  MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LEITRIM, WITH 14,561 ACRES

This is a branch of TOTTENHAM of Tottenham Green, County Wexford, springing more immediately from TOTTENHAM of BallycurrySIR JOHN TODENHAM, Knight, the younger son of Sir Robert, and next brother to Sir Thomas Todenham, married Alice, daughter of Sir John Clifton (who died in 1447) and settled in Ireland, where he established the family of TOTENHAM, or, as now spelt, TOTTENHAM.

NICHOLAS LOFTUS TOTTENHAM (1745-1823), of Glenfarne Hall, County Leitrim, and St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, second son of CHARLES TOTTENHAM MP, of New Ross, by the Hon Anne Loftus his wife, married, in 1778, Mary, daughter and co-heir of Sir James May Bt, of Mayfield, County Waterford, and had issue,
CHARLES HENRY, his heir;
Loftus Anthony;
Anne; Mary; Letitia.
Mr Tottenham was succeeded by his elder son,

CHARLES HENRY TOTTENHAM (1786-1836), of Glenfarne Hall, High Sheriff of County Leitrim, 1820, who wedded, in 1814, Dorothea, daughter and heir of George Crowe, of Nutfield, County Clare, and had issue,
NICHOLAS LOFTUS, his heir;
Charles Henry;
Algernon;
Anne; Sarah Maria.
Mr Tottenham was succeeded by his eldest son,

NICHOLAS LOFTUS TOTTENHAM JP DL (1815-51), of Glenfarne Hall, High Sheriff of County Leitrim, 1841, who espoused, in 1835, Anna Maria, daughter of Sir Francis Hopkins Bt, MP, of Athboy, and heir of her brother, Sir Francis Hopkins, 2nd Baronet, and had issue,
ARTHUR LOFTUS, his heir;
George Charles Loftus;
Francis Loftus;
Henry Loftus;
Eleanor; Anna; Mary.
Mr Tottenham was succeeded by his eldest son,

ARTHUR LOFTUS TOTTENHAM JP DL (1838-87), of Glenfarne Hall, and Tudenham Park, County Westmeath, Captain, the Rifle Brigade, MP for Leitrim, 1880-85, Winchester, 1885-87, High Sheriff of County Leitrim, 1886, who married, in 1859, Sarah Anne, daughter of George Addenbrooke Gore, of Barrowmount, County Kilkenny, and had issue,
CHARLES GORE, his heir;
Ralph George;
Henry Arthur Leicester;
Frederick William;
Herbert Ponsonby;
Arthur Gore;
Reginald Stuart;
Blanche Mary; Edith Emily; Violet.
Mr Tottenham was succeeded by his eldest son,

CHARLES GORE TOTTENHAM JP DL (1861-1929), of Tudenham Park, High Sheriff of County Leitrim, 1898, who wedded, in 1888, Georgina Alice, second daughter of the Baron Athlumney, and had issue,
HAROLD WILLIAM LOFTUS, born 1889;
Desmond Frank Charles Loftus;
Dorothy; Aileen; Angela.

GLENFARNE HALL, County Leitrim, was located very close to the border with Northern Ireland.

The house, which overlooked Lough MacNean, was built about 1820 for Charles Henry Tottenham.

*****

AT some point between 1879 and 1881, Arthur Tottenham sought financial assistance from Sir Edward Harland Bt, of Harland and Wolff shipbuilders in Belfast.

By 1881, Mr Tottenham had become insolvent and he found it impossible to repay the loan.

Sir Edward finally requisitioned the estate as repayment of the debt. 

The Tottenhams of Glenfarne Hall provides the following information:
By his influence he got the Sligo, Letrim and Northern Counties Railway laid from Enniskillen to Sligo in the late 1870s at a total cost of £347,000. 
In the process the money ran out and he went surety for a loan from Harland & Wolfe of Belfast to finish the railway and connect up with the main line at Collooney. 
He was the first chairman of the company and eventually sole contractor for the line’s construction. Later Sir Edward Harland took over Glenfarne Hall for this debt and Arthur Loftus was disinherited of his possessions in Leitrim. He was MP for Leitrim from 1880-85.

Sir Edward Harland died at Glenfarne Hall on the 24th December, 1895, and the property was subsequently bought by Colonel John George Adamson from Northumberland.

He left in 1919 during the Irish civil war though retained ownership of the house.

During the Irish troubles of 1918-21, the Hall was initially vandalised and then burnt down.

The estate was purchased by a firm of Belfast timber merchants who constructed a four-mile-long two foot gauge railway line to connect with the Sligo and Leitrim Northern Counties Railway.

This venture didn’t last long and the estate was purchased by the Irish Government, who distributed most of the land to its former tenants.

The remainder was planted.

The ruined Hall passed to the Colonel’s daughter Muriel in the 1930s.

In 1943 Irish Tourist Association survey recorded that only the gutted ruins of the house remained.

The bare walls of the Hall were finally tossed and used for forestry roads.

Today the estate is a public forestry park with amenity areas along the shores of Lough MacNean.

The only remaining building is the gatehouse which is a listed building.

First published in December, 2011.

4 comments :

mem said...

This is interesting . I have a distant relative whose name was Lt Col Loftus Tottenham Cassidy . There have been other people in the family with the name of Loftus . The Cassidy family came from Magherfelt and Newtownards . I wonder if they were connected to this family ?

Andrew said...

My mother Vera Eaton spoke about Professor Tottenham who was a surgeon in Londonderry. His wife Mrs Tottenham wore a pork pie hat, lisle stockings and smoked heavily. They were friends of Captain Fleming who was a good friend of my grandfather, Jack Eaton.

Anonymous said...

Minor correction: Irish War of Independence = 1919-1921. Irish Civil War = 1922-1923.

Unknown said...

Sir Edward Harland was my great great uncle. A remarkable man!