THE WALLERS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LIMERICK, WITH 6,996 ACRES
The ancient family of
WALLER derives from
ALURED DE WALLER, of Newark, Nottinghamshire, who died in 1183, and from whom lineally descended
DAVID DE WALLER, Master of the Rolls to
EDWARD III for thirty years.
This gentleman died childless; but from his only brother,
HENRY WALLER, sprang
JOHN WALLER, of Groombridge, Kent, father of
RICHARD WALLER, a gallant participator in the glories of Agincourt, who, in honour of having prisoner the Duke of Orleans in that memorable conflict, obtained, from
HENRY V, the addition to his crest, of a shield of the arms of the Duke, pendent from the sinister side of a walnut tree, which his descendants have ever since borne.
The French prince, having been brought to England, was confined at Mr Waller's seat at Groombridge.
The grandson and direct successor of this gentleman,
JOHN WALLER, of Groombridge, married and was father of
WILLIAM WALLER, of Groombridge, High Sheriff of Kent, 1530, who married, in 1537, Anne Fallemar, of Eastney, near Southampton, and left two sons,
WILLIAM (Sir), his heir;
JOHN, ancestor of WALLER of Allenstown.
Mr Waller died in 1555, and was succeeded by his elder son,
WILLIAM WALLER, of Groomsbridge, who wedded Alice, daughter and co-heir of Sir Walter Hendley, and was father of
SIR WALTER WALLER, Knight, of Groombridge, who espoused Anne, daughter of Philip Choute, and had two sons,
GEORGE, his heir;
Thomas (Sir).
The elder son,
GEORGE WALLER (
c1565-1622), of Groomsbridge, wedded firstly, Eliza, daughter of Michael Sondes; and secondly, Mary, widow of Sir William Ashenden, and daughter of Richard Hardress, and had a son,
SIR HARDRESS WALLER (1604-66), one of the judges who sat at the trial of
CHARLES I, for which he was afterwards tried and banished.
Sir Hardress retired to Ireland, settled at Castletown, County Limerick, and became a member of the Irish Parliament.
He married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Sir John Dowdall, Knight, of Kilfinny, County Limerick, and by her (with whom he acquired the Manor of Castletown), and issue,
John, Governor of Fort Limerick;
JAMES, his successor;
Elizabeth; Bridget; Mary; Anne.
Sir Hardress's second son,
JAMES WALLER (1632-1702), of Castletown, Lieutenant-Governor of Kinsale, MP for Kinsale, 1695, married Dorothy, daughter of Colonel Rondall Clayton, of Moyaloe, County Cork, and had (with four daughters) a son and successor,
JOHN WALLER, of Castletown, MP for Doneraile, 1727-8, Lieutenant-Colonel, described by Swift as "
Jack, the grandson of Sir Hardress".
He wedded Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Dickson, of Ballybracken, County Cork, by Elizabeth his wife, heiress of Edward Bolton, of Clonrush, Queen's County, grandson of Sir Edward Bolton, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and had, with other issue, a son and successor,
JOHN THOMAS WALLER, of Castletown, grandson of the Rev Thomas Waller, who sold Castletown in 1936.
As he had no children, the male representation of the family passed to the descendants of John Waller, a younger son of Bolton Waller.
Castletown Manor, near Pallaskenry, County Limerick, was a large Georgian block, built for John Waller.
It was demolished in the 1940s.
DROMORE CASTLE, near Templenoe, County Kerry, looks out over the Kenmare
River.
It was built in the 1830s for the Mahony family to a neo-gothic
design by Sir Thomas Deane.
It was designed and built for Denis Mahony.
Work began in 1831, although
the account books show that only a negligible amount had been carried
out before 1834.
Building work was completed in 1839.
The house is in the castellated Gothic-Revival style, with an external finish of Roman cement with limestone dressings.
With the notable exception of the grand south-facing window with its
pointed arch, the windows consist of pointed tracery contained within
rectangular frames, a style characteristic of Deane's domestic work.
The entrance hall, which is in the form of a long gallery, takes up half
of the area of the ground floor.
The west wing of the Castle takes the
form of a round tower, with a spiral staircase contained within an
attached turret.
Dromore Castle was the ancestral seat of the Mahonys.
When Harold Mahony was killed in a bicycle accident in 1905, he left no
heirs, so the castle passed to his sister, Norah Hood.
She in turn left the castle to her cousin, Hardress Waller, and the
castle remained in the hands of the Waller family until 1993 when it was
offered for sale.
Dromore Castle is now owned by an investment company which is endeavouring to restore the building.
First published in September, 2012.
