Bantry House

THE EARLS OF BANTRY WERE THE GREATEST LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CORK, WITH 69,500 ACRES

The family of WHITE derives its descent from Sir Thomas White, of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, the founder of St John's College, Oxford, and brother of the  Right Reverend John White, Lord Bishop of Winchester, 1557.

Following the restoration of CHARLES II, Sir Thomas White, of Rickmansworth, settled in Ireland, where he purchased land debentures granted by CROMWELL to his army officers during the civil wars, and had a son,

RICHARD WHITE, of Bantry (who was maternally descended from the Hamiltons of Armagh), who married, in 1734, Martha, daughter of the Very Reverend Roland Davis, Dean of Cork, and had issue,

SIMON, his heir;
Hamilton;
Margaret.

Mr White was succeeded by his son,

SIMON WHITE, who married, in 1760, Frances Jane, daughter of Richard Hedges, of Mount Hedges, County Cork, and predeceased his father, leaving issue,

RICHARD;
Simon;
Hamilton;
Edward;
Helen; Martha; Frances.

Mr White died in 1816, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

RICHARD WHITE (1767-1851); who was presented with a gold medal by the city of Cork for his spirited exertions on the arrival of the French forces in Bantry Bay, in 1797.

Coat-of-arms of 1st Viscount Bantry

Mr white was consequently raised to the peerage, in 1797, in the dignity of Baron Bantry; and advanced to a viscountcy, in 1800, as Viscount Bantry.

His lordship was further advanced, in 1816,  to the dignities of Viscount Berehaven and EARL OF BANTRY.

He married, in 1799, the Lady Margaret Anne Hare, eldest daughter of WILLIAM, 1ST EARL OF LISTOWEL, and had issue,

RICHARD, 2nd Earl;
WILLIAM HENRY HARE, 3rd Earl;
Simon;
Maria.

His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,

RICHARD, 2nd Earl (1800-68), High Sheriff of County Cork, 1835, who wedded, in 1836, the Lady Mary O'Brien, third daughter and co-heir of William, 2nd Marquess of Thomond; though dsp 1868, when the family honours devolved upon his brother,

WILLIAM HENRY HARE (1801-84), 3rd Earl, who wedded, in 1845, Jane, eldest daughter of Charles John Herbert, of Muckross Abbey, County Kerry, and had issue,

WILLIAM HENRY HARE, his successor;
Elizabeth Mary Gore; Olivia Charlotte; Emily Anne; Ina Maude; Jane Frances Anna.

His lordship assumed, in 1840, the additional name of HEDGES.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

WILLIAM HENRY HARE, 4th Earl (1854-91), who espoused, in 1886, Rosamund Catherine, daughter of the Hon Edmund George Petre, by whom he had no issue.

His lordship died in 1891, when the titles expired.

*****

THE WHITES had settled on Whiddy Island across the Bay in the late 17th century, after having originally been merchants in Limerick.

The family prospered and considerable purchases of land were made in the area surrounding the house.

After the failure of the 1641 Irish Rising the Cromwellian soldiers were rewarded with grants of land in the Bantry area, the Earl of Anglesey receiving 96,000 acres.

Many of the settlers became disenchanted with the lonely farming life and the lands granted to Lord Anglsey and his officers were bought by a member of the White family.

The Whites engaged in farming, clearance of the forests, iron ore smelting etc and prospered.

The town of Bantry, at the head of the bay, is associated with the Irish rebellion of 1798 as being the place where an earlier attempt to land launch a rebellion was made by a French fleet, including Wolfe Tone in December 1796.

The French fleet consisting of 43 ships carrying 15,000 troops had divided mid-Atlantic into smaller groups to avoid interception by the Royal Navy with orders to reform at Bantry Bay.

The bulk of the fleet arrived successfully, but several ships, including the flagship Fraternité carrying General Hoche were delayed.

While awaiting their arrival, bad weather intervened and the lack of leadership, together with uneasiness at the prospect of being trapped, forced the decision to return to France.

Tone wrote of the expedition in his diary, saying that "We were close enough to toss a biscuit ashore".

Richard White, having heard about the invasion had trained a militia to oppose the landing as he and his tenants were loyal to the Crown.

Munitions were stored in Bantry House for safe keeping.

Look-outs were posted on Both Mizen Head and Sheep's Head to send warning of an invasion.

In the end the French armada never had a chance of landing.

The weather was too severe, and even ship to ship communication was too difficult.

Ten ships were lost.

One of these vessels, the Surveillante, remained on the bottom of Bantry bay for almost 200 years.

For his efforts in preparing the local defences against the French, Richard White, a local landowner, was created Baron Bantry in 1797.

A viscountcy followed in 1800 and, in 1816, he was created Viscount Berehaven and EARL OF BANTRY.

He was the grandson of Richard White, who had made an immense fortune through his work as a lawyer.

Lord Bantry was succeeded by his son, the 2nd Earl, who sat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords from 1854-68.

His younger brother, the 3rd Earl, assumed in 1840 by Royal license the additional surname of Hedges, which was that of his paternal grandmother.

The titles became extinct on the death of his son, the 4th Earl, in 1891.

Egerton Shellswell-White, great-grandson of the 3rd Earl, took over the running of Bantry from his mother in about 1978.

It now comprises one hundred acres, mainly woodland.

BANTRY HOUSE (originally called 'Blackrock'), County Cork, was constructed ca 1740 on the south side of Bantry Bay.

In 1750, Councillor Richard White bought Blackrock from Samuel Hutchinson and changed its name to Seafield.

The main block of the mansion consists of a square, three-storey, five-bay house built about 1740 for the Hutchinson family.

A wing was added on one side later in the 18th century after the House was acquired by Richard White, being the same height as the original block, though only of two storeys with a curved bow at the front and rear; and a six-bay elevation at the side.

In 1845, Richard White,Viscount Berehaven and later the 2nd Earl, enlarged and remodelled Bantry House. He travelled extensively throughout Europe, building an enviable art collection.

The 2nd Earl added the long, fourteen-bay front at the opposite side of the original block to the late 18th century wing, comprising a six-bay centre of two storeys over a basement; and three-storey, four-bay bow-ended wings lined with huge Corinthian pilasters of red brick.

The House is entered through a glazed Corinthian colonnade, similar to the one on the garden front.

The Library, sixty feet long, has four scagliola columns which support the compartmented ceiling.

The Blue Dining-room (below) has life-sized portraits of GEORGE III and Queen Charlotte in sumptuous frames, presented to the 1st Earl by royal command.

The two drawing-rooms feature exquisite French tapestries from the Gobelin, Aubusson and Beauvais workshops brought to Ireland after the French Revolution by the 2nd Earl.

The Aubusson tapestries were manufactured for Marie Antoinette following her marriage to the Dauphin, later LOUIS XVI.

The gardens to Bantry House were developed by the 2nd Earl and his wife Mary.

Inspiration was taken from their travels across Europe.

The gardens contain seven terraces; the house is located on the third.

One hundred steps are located behind the house and are built to appear to rise out of a fountain and are surrounded by azaleas and rhododendron.

The gardens are constantly tended and maintained.

By 1997 the grounds of Bantry House were suffering from neglect in certain places.

A European grant was obtained to start the restoration process. Funding ceased in 2000.

Restoration work continues.

First published in April, 2011.  Bantry arms courtesy of European Heraldry.

The McFarland Baronets

JOHN McFARLAND JP (1848-1926), Mayor of Londonderry, 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1912, High Sheriff of Londonderry City, 1904, and a member of the Port and Harbour Commissioners; High Sheriff of County Londonderry, 1905, was created a baronet in 1914, designated of Aberfoyle, County Londonderry.

He married, in 1893, Annie, second daughter of John Talbot JP, of Terryglass, County Tipperary, and had issue,

SIR BASIL ALEXANDER TALBOT McFARLAND, 2nd Baronet, CBE, ERD (1898-1986), of Aberfoyle, a Senator of Northern Ireland, Lord-Lieutenant of County Londonderry, 1939-75, High Sheriff of Londonderry City, 1930-38 and 1952, High Sheriff of County Londonderry.

Sir Basil wedded, in 1924, Annie Kathleen, second daughter of Andrew Henderson JP, of Parkville, Whiteabbey, Belfast, and had issue,

JOHN TALBOT, his successor;

Annie Maureen, born 1926.

The only son,

SIR JOHN TALBOT McFARLAND, 3rd Baronet (1927-2020), TD, DL, High Sheriff of County Londonderry, 1958, High Sheriff of Londonderry City, 1965-66, formerly of Aberfoyle, married, in 1957, Mary, daughter of Dr William Scott-Watson, and had issue,

ANTHONY BASIL SCOTT, born 1959;
Stephen Andrew John, b 1968;
Shauna Jane; Fiona Kathleen.

Sir John was a former member, Management Ctee NW Group; Former director, Londonderry Gaslight, 1958–89; Donegal Holdings, 1970–86; G Kinnaird & Son, 1981–97; Windy Hills Ltd, 1994–95; Erinwind Ltd, 1994–; Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway, (1978–81); R C Malseed & County Hospitals, 1958.

He was was educated at Marlborough and Trinity College Oxford; Territorial Army (Captain, Royal Artillery and RASC), 1955; High Sheriff of County Londonderry, 1958; and City of Londonderry, 1965-66; Commissioner of Londonderry Port and Harbour Board, 1969; in 1977, Chairman: Lanes (Business Equipment); McFarland Farms, 1980–; J T McFarland Holdings, 1984-2001.

Sir John's eldest son,

SIR ANTHONY BASIL SCOTT McFARLAND, 4th Baronet (1959-), married, in 1988, Anne Margaret, daughter of Thomas Kennedy Laidlaw, and has issue,

Max Anthony, b 1993;
Rory John, b 1996;
Amelia Elizabeth, b 1990, of Dunmore.

Photo Credit: Martin Melaugh; © Cain

ABERFOYLE HOUSE, Northland Road, Derry, is a three-bay, two-storey, stucco-fronted mansion built ca 1845 for David Watt, a local distiller.

The stucco-fronted house is Italianate in style.

Aberfoyle was originally known as Richmond House.

It is situated on a steeply sloping site, now enclosed within the grounds of University of Ulster.

The mansion is used as offices and seminar rooms.

Aberfoyle was extensively remodelled ca 1876, giving it an Italianate appearance, for BARTHOLOMEW McCORKELL.

The exterior displays an orderly symmetry and simple detailing, enhanced by the elaborate cast-iron verandah and dwarf walls to the front.

Conversely the interior exhibits a wealth of decorative plaster and joinery detailing more commonly reserved for civic buildings of the time; particularly the unusual fretwork balustrade to the staircase.

Gate lodges mark the two original entrances, one south-east at Strand Road that has been substantially modernised and extended; and another at Northland Road.

A gate screen stands to the north-east, at Strand Road, with impressive square ashlar sandstone pillars having pyramidal caps flanked by rubble stone walling on S-plan with sandstone coping.

Aberfoyle House forms part of a many 19th-century structures dispersed throughout the university campus.

Sir Basil McFarland, 2nd Baronet, continued to live at Aberfoyle until his death in 1986.

It was sold to the city council in 1990, and was listed in the same year.

The building was acquired by the University of Ulster in 1998 and converted into modern classroom and seminar facilities for Magee’s Faculty of Social Sciences.

The former gate lodge on the Strand Road had fallen into a state of disrepair by 2000, when it was restored.

The renovation of the lodge in 2000-01, resulted in the loss of most of its original features; contemporary two and single-storey extensions were added to the west and east sides of the building.

Since September, 2001, the former gate lodge has been used as a holistic health centre.

Aberfoyle House and its former gate lodge were included in the Magee Conservation Area in 2006.

A good portion of the grounds for the house of 1873 remain planted up.

The site slopes towards the River Foyle.

The west end is mostly walled in with brick and is cultivated by the Centre for Environmental and Horticultural Studies.

There is a rose garden south of the house and shrubbery on either side of the twisting avenue to the eastern gate.

There is a rose garden south of the house and shrubbery on either side of the twisting avenue to the eastern gate.

The McFarland Papers are deposited at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

First published in July, 2010.  McFarland arms courtesy of the NLI.

Tomkins of Londonderry

The family of Tomkins of PREHEN (of which that before us is a scion) claims descent from the ancient house of TOMKINS, of Weobley, Herefordshire, distinguished for its devotion to the royal cause during the civil wars.

ALEXANDER TOMKINS, of Prehen, in the liberties of Derry, and LEARMOUNT PARK, capital burgess of Derry, 1662, Mayor, 1683, had a grant made to him by The Honourable the Irish Society, dated 1664, of the lands of Brickkilns, etc, in the liberties of that city; and had likewise a grant made to him, by letters patent, from CHARLES II, of the lands of Gosheden, dated 1668.

Mr Simpson's Annals of Londonderry, giving an account of the siege in 1688-9, says,

That of the citizens who contributed much towards the defence of the town, we must mention Alderman Tomkins. The family to which he belonged were all most respectable residents in the city so far back as the year 1642.

He married, in 1659, Margaret, daughter of Alderman Thomas Moncreiffe, and had issue,

JOHN, of whom hereafter;

GEORGE, of whom we treat;

Mary; Sarah.

The elder son,

JOHN TOMKINS, married and had an only child,

ALEXANDER TOMKINS, of Prehen, Mayor of Derry, 1713, 1718, and 1721, who wedded and had issue, three daughters, his co-heirs,

Honoria, m George Knox, of Rathmullen, Co Donegal;

Fanny, m 1st BARON DE BLAQUIERE;

HANNAH, of whom we treat.

The youngest daughter,

HANNAH TOMKINS, espoused, in 1750, Sir William Montgomery, 1st Baronet (1717-88), of Magbie Hill, Peeblesshire, and had issue, three daughters, co-heirs,

Elizabeth, m Luke Gardiner, 1st VISCOUNT MOUNTJOY;

Anne, m 1st Marquess Townshend;

BARBARA, of whom presently.

The youngest daughter,

BARBARA MONTGOMERY (-1794), of Learmount, married the Rt Hon John Beresford, of Abbeville, County Dublin, and WALWORTH, County Londonderry, brother to the 1st Marquess of Waterford.

Sir William Montgomery died in 1788 and bequeathed Learmount to his three daughters as co-heirs.

Thereafter, John and Barbara Beresford purchased the other sisters' interests in the property; and when Barbara died in 1794, Learmount became the property of her children, the Beresfords.

***

ALDERMAN ALEXANDER TOMKINS devised to his second son,

GEORGE TOMKINS (ante 1680-1739), MP for Londonderry City between 1715 and 1739, the estate of Mobuoy, County Londonderry. 

Mr Tomkins was Sheriff in 1701, Mayor, 1706, 1718, and 1722, and general agent to The Honourable The Irish Society.

He also represented the city of Londonderry from 1715 to his decease in 1739.

He wedded, in 1702, Anne, daughter of Alderman Norman, MP for Londonderry, and had (with two daughters) two sons: Alexander; and

SAMUEL TOMKINS, of Mobuoy, Deputy Surveyor-General of HM Customs in Ireland, who married Miss Chantrey, daughter of Captain Chantrey, and dying about 1766, had an only child,

GEORGE TOMKINS, of Mobuoy, Captain, 70th Foot, who wedded Elizabeth, daughter of Patrick Furnell, of Ballyclough, in the liberties of the city of Limerick, and had issue.

He died in 1800, and was succeeded by his son,

GEORGE TOMKINS, a barrister, who died unmarried, and was succeeded by his brother,

SAMUEL TOMKINS, resident at Richmond Villa, near Limerick, of the militia in which city he was major.

He espoused firstly, Charlotte, only child of John Margerum, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, by which lady he had two daughters; and secondly, Jane Bunbury, third daughter of the Rev Benedict Arthur, of Seafield, County Dublin, and by her had further issue,

GEORGE, his heir;

Jane Bunbury; Samina; Mary Anne; Letitia; Belinda.

Major Tomkins died in 1824, and was succeeded by his only son, 

GEORGE TOMKINS JP, of Richmond Park, County Limerick, who married in 1842, Catherine Jane, eldest daughter of Major Richard Young, of Coolkeiragh House, Londonderry.

First published in July, 2021.

Kiltanon House

THE MOLONYS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CLARE, WITH 10,095 ACRES

The Milesian family of MOLONY is one of great antiquity in the sister island. The Molonys were formerly princes of Clare, where they possessed a large tract of country called the O'Molony's Lands, as may be seen from some of the old maps of that county.

In Catholic times, three members of the family attained the mitre, as appears from the following epitaph on the tomb of John O'Molony, Bishop of Limerick in 1687, who after the siege of that city, followed JAMES II to Paris, where he assisted in the foundation of a College for the education of Irish priests, in the chapel belonging to which he was buried in 1702.

The Bishop's nephew,

JAMES MOLONY, of Kiltanon, the first of the family who laid aside the prefix "O," served first in JAMES II's army, but subsequently sided with WILLIAM III.

He married twice, by his first wife, Jane, daughter of Colonel Richard Ringrose, whom he wedded about 1690, he had a son, JAMES, his heir; and by the second, he left two sons and a daughter, 

Richard;

Stephen;

Catherine.

James Malony died in 1738, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

JAMES MOLONY, of Kiltanon, second son of JAMES MOLONY, of Kiltanon and Ballynahinch, by his second wife, Mary, daughter of James Lambert, married, ca 1715, Elizabeth, widow of Major Morgan Ryan, and second daughter and co-heir of Thomas Croasdaile, of Clostoken, County Galway, by Mercy his wife, daughter of Colonel Richard Ringrose, of Moynoe House, County Clare, and had issue,

JAMES, his heir;
Croasdaile;
Lambert;
Jane.

Mr Molony was succeeded by his eldest son,

JAMES MOLONY (1717-), of Kiltanon, who married, in 1751, Mary, daughter of Stewart Weldon, of Raheenderry, Queen's County, and had issue,

JAMES, his heir;
Arthur;
Walter Weldon;
Lambert;
Weldon John (Rev);
Charles;
Edmund;
Elizabeth.

Mr Molony was succeeded by his eldest son,

JAMES MOLONY (1742-1823), of Kiltanon, High Sheriff of County Clare, 1802, who married, in 1780, Selina, daughter of the Rev John Mills, of Barford, Warwickshire, and had issue,

JAMES, his heir;
Charles Arthur, b 1790;
Edmund, b 1794;
Selina; Mary; Harriet; Anne; Lucy.

Mr Molony was succeeded by his eldest son,

JAMES MOLONY JP DL (1785-1874), of Kiltanon, High Sheriff of County Clare, 1828, who wedded firstly, in 1820, Harriet, daughter of William Harding, of Baraset, Warwickshire, and had issue,

James, 1822-34;

WILLIAM MILLS, his heir;

Harriet, died in infancy.

He espoused secondly, in 1828, Lucy, second daughter of Sir Trevor Wheler Bt, of Leamington Hastings, Warwickshire, and had further issue,

Francis Wheler (Rev);
Edmund Weldon;
Trevor Charles;
Frederick Beresford;
Charles Mills, CB;
Marcus;
Mary; Lucy Anne; Harriet Selina.

Mr Molony died at Leamington Hastings, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,

WILLIAM MILLS MOLONY JP DL (1825-91), of Kiltanon, Major, 22nd Regiment, High Sheriff of County Clare, 1865, who married, in 1865, Marianne Marsh, elder daughter and co-heir of Robert Fannin, of Leeson Street, Dublin, by his wife Henrietta, daughter of Croasdaile Molony, of Granahan, and had issue,

James Edmund Harding (1873-79);
WILLIAM BERESFORD, his heir;
Henrietta Mary; Iva Kathleen; Selina Charlotte; Maud Alice.

Major Molony was succeeded by his only surviving son,

WILLIAM BERESFORD MOLONY (1875-1960), of Kiltanon, High Sheriff of County Clare, 1908, Colonel, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, who wedded, in 1905, Lena Maria Annie, only daughter of George Wright, of Heysham Lodge, Lancashire, and of Coverham Abbey, Yorkshire, without issue.

KILTANON HOUSE, near Tulla, County Clare, was an attractive, pale brick three-storey Georgian mansion with stone facing which overlooked rolling parklands of mature trees of both native and imported variety.  

The house was burnt in 1920. 

Unique family mementos, including a marble table and an inlaid set of playing cards, perished.  

This classic heirloom was said to have been given to Bishop John O'Molony by LOUIS XIV in atonement for having once lost his temper when playing and tearing up his card.

The top floor was an attic storey.

The fenestration was said to be unusual.

A two-storey wing was set back.

The Molonys managed to hold onto Kiltannon House in the 1690s by a fortunate clause in the Treaty of Limerick which exempted serving officers within the city walls.

In 1878, it was estimated that the lands comprising the Kiltannon Estate numbered 10,000 acres with a rateable valuation of £2,500.

It was then owned by Major William Mills Molony.  

His son, Colonel William Molony, was the last of seven generations to own this estate.

Kiltanon was the home of the Molony family for at least two centuries.

The house, built in 1833, had a drive which linked it to the other nearby Molony residences at Bunavory and Cragg.

The house is now ruinous.

In the second half of the 19th century another house, known as the Home Farm House, was built at Kiltanon for Marcus Molony, eighth son of James Molony, and his agent.

This house remains today.

Kiltanon home farm is on the grounds of the Kiltanon Sport Estate and is 1,000 yards south-west of Kiltanon House and estate.

The folklore history of the Kiltanon Estate is that the lands were given to a Cromwellian soldier as payment for his services in the Cromwellian Army.

After arriving in Galway Harbour, he began his journey on foot, and crossing the mountain from Gort, heading south for Tulla with the newly signed property deed on his person, he stopped a member of the Molony clan at Laughan Bridge to ask directions to his estate:

‘Is the lands of Kiltanon as bad as all of the land around here?" the soldier asked. ‘It’s worse’ said Molony, pointing to the snow covered rocks and heather that formed part of the mountain and was many miles from the fertile Kiltanon lands. "Then I have no business being here’ replied the soldier, ‘do you want to buy it from me?’.

Accepting what money Molony had in his pocket as payment, he handed over the deed to Kiltanon Estate and returned to Galway.

Thus, as local folklore has it, the property came into the Maloney family.

A book by Hugh Weir states that the soldier was James Molony, of Ballinahinch and Kiltanon, who served in O’Brien’s regiment of foot in support of JAMES II.

His property was saved at the Treaty of Limerick by a clause which exempted those from within the city walls.

Kiltanon Home Farm was built for Marcus Molony JP, son of James Molony JP DL, of Kiltanon, who married Christina Emma of neighbouring Tyredah Castle and acted as land agent for the family estate which comprised of 10,095 acres.

Colonel William (Willie) Molony (1875-1960), of Kiltanon, was the last of seven direct descendents to own Kiltanon. 

The Home Farm now forms the nucleus of self-catering accommodation.

First published in August, 2012.  Molony arms courtesy of the NLI.

Clifton House, Belfast

CLIFTON HOUSE stands at the very top of Donegall Street, at the corner of Clifton Street and North Queen Street.

This venerable Georgian edifice, like Donegall Street, did not exist in 1754; the charity, however, was established in 1752 as Belfast Charitable Society.

Its erection was intended to coincide with the rebuilding of the old Corporation Church on High Street:

The church of Belfast is old and ruinous, and not large enough to accomodate the parishioners; and to rebuild and enlarge the same would be an expense grievous and unsupportable by the ordinary method of public cesses.

Thus a poorhouse was conceived, intended "for the support of vast numbers of real objects of charity in this parish, for the employment of idle beggars who crowd to it from all parts of the north, and for the reception of infirm and diseased poor."

An adjacent infirmary or hospital was deemed essential to complete the project.

The Corporation Church in High Street was not restored; instead a new church in Donegall Street, the parish church of St Anne, on the site of the Brown Linen Hall, was erected in 1776.

The Poorhouse ca 1785 (John Nixon/NMNI)

A poorhouse and new church were to be built by means of a lottery, the target being no less than an unrealistically high £50,000 (about £8.7 million today).

In the event the poorhouse cost £7,000 to build (almost £1 million today).

This first lottery proved to be totally inadequate in raising the requisite amount, so in 1767 another lottery was attempted.

Mary Lowry recounts that the methods used for raising money were many and various, including a fee of £1 1s per annum for a shower bath.

A ball was held once a month, and concerts once a fortnight: generating £250 a year (about £80,000 today).

John Black, a Belfast merchant, suggested in 1765 that the new church and poorhouse be erected by the landlord himself.

Belfast Charitable Society established the Spring Water Commissioners, which ran Belfast's water supply from the 1790s until the 1840s. They were responsible for bringing water to Belfast and collecting water rates to pay for the water infrastructure.Very few people paid up and the Government had to intervene by 1840, as the Society was facing bankruptcy.                                                                                                  

The 1st Marquess of Donegall "was pleased to perfect a grant in perpetuity of convenient plot of ground in a healthy and beautiful situation opposite the head of Donegall Street to a number of gentlemen in trust for the purpose of building a Poor House and Infirmary."

Progress was slow, and three years elapsed before the foundation stone was laid.

On 1st August, 1771, a large body of the principal inhabitants of the town assembled at the Market House from whence they proceeded to the ground allotted for the Poor House and Infirmary; whence Stewart Banks, Sovereign of Belfast, laid the first stone of that edifice on which is the following inscription:-

This foundation stone of a

Poor House and Infirmary

for the

Town and Parish of Belfast

was laid

On the first day of August, AD MDCCLXXI,

And in the XI year of the reign of

His Majesty GEORGE III.

The Right Honourable Arthur Earl of Donegall

and the

Principal Inhabitants of Belfast

founded this charity,

and his lordship granted to it

in perpetuity

Eight acres of land

On part of which this building is erected.

Clifton House, the oldest public building in Belfast, is thought to have been designed by Robert Joy.

It remains, to this day, a charitable home for old people.

(Timothy Ferres, 2023)

The building, in red brick, comprises a main two-storey block over a basement, topped by an octagonal stone tower with a ball finial and weather-vane.

Prospect of Clifton House from North Queen Street (RJ Welch/NMNI

The central block is adjoined by single-storey wings, the gables protruding forwards.

The wings were extended in 1821 and 1825.

These side wings were further extended in 1868, paid for by John Charters; the Benn Wing in 1872; and the dining-hall in 1887.

Clifton House today (Timothy Ferres, 2023)

The poorhouse was originally intended to accommodate 36 persons, and 24 in the infirmary.

Beggars' children had to be accommodated, and they were taught the necessary skills for apprenticeship to various trades.

With this in mind, cotton looms were installed in the north wing of the poorhouse, where older children could learn the craft.

Ninety children were employed by 1780.

It is thought that the stone tower was once used to contain "lunatics" when they became unruly.

Historic map of ca 1830 (Image: OSNI)

The eight acres of land granted by Lord Donegall in 1768 increased to about nineteen acres, including the graveyards above the poorhouse.

Selective bibliography: A History of the Town of Belfast, by George Benn; Central Belfast: A Historical Gazetteer, by Marcus Patton OBE; Buildings of Belfast, by Sir Charles Brett KBE; Early Belfast, by Raymond Gillespie.

Caledon Estate

THE EARLS OF CALEDON WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY TYRONE, WITH 29,236 ACRES

CALEDON HOUSE, County Tyrone, otherwise known as Caledon Castle, is a Classical mansion of 1779 built for James Alexander, 1ST EARL OF CALEDON.

The designer was Thomas Cooley.

The house was originally of two storeys, with a seven-bay entrance front and pedimented breakfront centre.

Garden front

The garden front has one bay on either side of a broad, central, curved bow.

The side elevations comprise five bays.

Side elevation and library wing

In 1812, the 2nd Earl extended and enhanced the mansion to the designs of John Nash.

Two single-storey domed wings (otherwise pavilions) were added to each side of the entrance front, projecting forwards.

These wings contain a colonnade of coupled Ionic columns and formed a veranda.

One wing, with its coffered dome and smaller columns, contains the library.

The oval drawing-room is said to be one of the finest of its kind, with its sumptuous Regency interior; gilded friezes of Classical figures; and mouldings in cut paper work.

The drapery pelmets are intricately shaped.

The 2nd Earl undertook further additions to the house in 1835.

Original entrance front

A third storey was built on to the main block and the pediment, resplendent with the Caledon arms, was also raised.

The entrance was relocated to one side of the house, with a single-storey extension with another domed octagonal hall.

Caledon crest at entrance porte-cochère 

A noble porte-cochère stands over the porch, with smaller Ionic columns with a splendid stone and metal cast of the Caledon crest (a raised arm in armour holding a sword).

The original hall of the mansion house became the saloon.

THE walled demesne at Caledon is one of Northern Ireland's finest landscape parks.

During the Victorian era, the Earls of Caledon were the third largest landowners in County Tyrone, after the Dukes of Abercorn and the Earls Castle Stewart.

The estate's significance and condition has been enhanced throughout successive generations of the same family to the present day.

Caledon Estate is largely contained by the river Blackwater within its eastern and southern boundaries; and the village of Caledon to the north-east.

Most of the estate lies in County Tyrone, though it straddles counties Armagh and Monaghan.

The original Caledon Castle was the seat of the 5th Earl of Cork and Orrery, a friend of Dean Swift.

It was said, in 1738, to be "old, low, and, though full of rooms, not very large."

Lord Orrery was the biographer of Jonathan Swift and friend of Dr Johnson, as well as an improving landlord who did much to beautify the gardens around his newly-acquired residence, through planting and the addition of ornamental buildings and statues.

In 1747, he constructed a folly-like bone house in the garden (faced with ox bones), which he intended should "strike the Caledonians with wonder and amazement".

It is the only element of his garden ornamentation to survive to the present day.

On the death of his kinsman, Richard, 4th Earl of Cork, in 1753, Lord Orrery became Earl of Cork and Orrery.

His wife Margaret died in 1758 and, with the death of Lord Cork himself in 1762, the Caledon estate passed to their son, Edmund, 7th Earl (1742-98).

It is during the period of the 7th Earl of Cork and Orrery's tenure that the earliest documentation concerning the modern village of Caledon dates.

Lord Cork sold his estate to James Alexander in 1776 for £96,400 (about £14 million in 2014).

This new landlord was the second son of Alderman Nathaniel Alexander of Derry.

He made his fortune in the service of the East India Company during the 1750s and 60s, returning to Ulster in 1772 worth probably over £250,000 (£34 million in 2014).

With this money, he proceeded to accumulate estates in Counties Donegal, Londonderry, and Antrim, as well as Caledon, to which he added neighbouring townlands (some bought outright, some leased) in both Tyrone and Armagh.

In 1779, he built a new classical mansion, to designs by Thomas Cooley, either on the site of, or a short distance from, the old Hamilton residence.

The 1st Earl died in 1802 and was succeeded by his son, Du Pré, 2nd Earl, who served as the first governor of the Cape of Good Hope between 1806 and 1811, where the river Caledon and the District of Caledon are named after him.

The celebrated landscape designer, John Sutherland, re-designed Caledon estate in 1807.

In 1827, further improvements were made by the landscape designer W S Gilpin.

There are splendid parkland and woodland trees (some renowned for their monetary value), and the estate has a benign climate for tree growth.

The estate boasts a 19th century pinetum, fastigiate yew avenues, a lake, deer park (red deer) with a lake.

The disused Union Canal and river Blackwater enhance the water features.

In the late 19th century the park was inhabited by black bears, caught by the 4th Earl (1846-98), who had ranched in the American west (father of Field Marshal the 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis).

The walled gardens are in sections, the one closest to the offices with glasshouses, fruit and vegetables.

Stables

The estate contains a large number of buildings, including gardeners' cottages, lodges, stables, and offices.

A number of the former estate workers' cottages have been modernized and are available for rental.

Head gardener's cottage

The Doric Lodge, dating from about 1780, is possibly by Thomas Cooley.

The grand and elaborate Twin Lodges of 1812 at the main entrance, by John Nash, are guarded by Coade stone sphinxes, Caledon arms and gilded earls' coronets.

The Glaslough gate lodge, the School gate lodge, and the Tynan gate lodge (all ca 1833) are likely the work of Thomas J Duff.

Other buildings include the head gardener’s cottage, a sunken tunnel to the offices, the keeper’s house, the dower house and several bridges.

There is an old cross and well along the main drive to the House.

First published in June, 2015. 

Bailieborough Castle

Coat-of-arms of 1st Baron Lisgar

THE YOUNG BARONETS, OF BAILIEBOROUGH, WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CAVAN, WITH 8,924 ACRES

THE REV JOHN YOUNG, Rector of Urney, County Tyrone, married Elspa Douglas, and left with numerous other issue, an eldest son,

JAMES YOUNG, who, being a man of good fortune, much attached to the protestant cause, he was not only an active partisan at the siege of Derry, but was enabled frequently to send aid to the besieged during their arduous struggle.

He was, in consequence, one of the citizens of Londonderry attainted by JAMES II.

He settled in County Donegal, and left issue, several daughters and nine sons, of whom the eldest son,

JOHN YOUNG, of Coolkeiragh, Eglinton, wedded Catherine Knox, granddaughter of the Rt Rev Andrew Knox, the second Lord Bishop of Raphoe after the Reformation, and had issue, with a daughter,

William, of Coolkeiragh, ancestor of YOUNG OF COOLKEIRAGH;

THOMAS, of whom hereafter.

Mr young died in 1730; his younger son,

THOMAS YOUNG, of LOUGH ESKE, County Donegal, succeeded by the will of his uncle Thomas Knox to that estate, and wedded, 1740-41, Rebecca, daughter of Oliver Singleton, of Fort Singleton, County Monaghan, and had issue, with four daughters,

THOMAS, m, 1768, Elizabeth, daughter of Rev A Forde, of the family of Seaforde;

JOHN, of whom presently;

William.

The second son,

THE REV JOHN YOUNG, of Eden, County Armagh, married, in 1766, Anne, daughter of John McClintock, of Trinta, County Donegal, and had issue,

Thomas, drowned at sea;
WILLIAM, of whom hereafter;
John (Rev), Rector of Killeeshil;
Alexander, an officer in the Royal Navy;
Susanna Maria; Rebecca; Anketell; Catherine.

The Rev John Young was succeeded by his second son,

WILLIAM YOUNG, of Bailieborough Castle, who wedded, in 1806, Lucy, youngest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Frederick, eldest son of Sir Charles Frederick KB, younger brother of Sir John Frederick, 4th Baronet, of Burwood Park, Surrey, and had issue,

JOHN;
Thomas;
Charles;
William;
Helenus Edward;
Anna; Lucy; Augusta Maria.

Mr Young, a director in the East India Company, was created a baronet in 1821, designated of Bailieborough, County Cavan.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

THE RT HON SIR JOHN YOUNG, 2nd Baronet (1807-76), GCB, GCMG, Governor-General of Canada, Governor of New South Wales, Chief Secretary for Ireland, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1870, in the dignity of BARON LISGAR, of Lisgar and Bailieborough, County Cavan.

He espoused, in 1835, Adelaide Annabella, daughter of Edward Tuite Dalton, of Fermor, County Meath, daughter of the 2nd Marchioness of Headfort, by her first husband, Edward Tuite Dalton.

His lordship died in 1876, when the peerage became extinct, and he was succeeded in the baronetcy by his nephew, William Muston Need Young (1847-1934), an official in the Indian telegraph department.

Lady Lisgar subsequently married her late husband’s former private secretary, Sir Francis Charles Fortescue Turville KCMG, of Bosworth Hall, Leicestershire.

BAILIEBOROUGH CASTLE, Bailieborough, County Cavan, was located in a fine demesne, and occupied the site of an ancient fortress, once described as a vaulted castle with a bawn and two flanking towers.

The mansion was an irregular two-storey Victorian house with a gabled, buttressed Gothic porch.

About 1895, most of the estate was sold off under the Ashboune Act; while the house was sold to Sir Stanley Herbert Cochrane Bt. 

In 1918 the house was gutted by fire.

It was partially rebuilt by the Marist Brothers in 1920, though sold for demolition in 1923.

The brothers lived in a rebuilt section until 1936, when they decided to sell the house to the Irish department of Lands.

The house was demolished soon afterwards.

First published in November, 2012.

The Earls Cairns: I

THE EARLDOM OF CAIRNS WAS CREATED IN 1878 FOR THE RT HON HUGH McCALMONT, BARON CAIRNS, PC, QC, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR, 1868

The disastrous ending to the insurrection of the elder Pretender in 1715 was the ultimate cause of momentous changes in the circumstances of a vast number of Scottish families.

In many cases, where the family sentiment was clearly in sympathy with one side or the other, the head of the family, imbued with the caution characteristic of the race, refrained from taking active part with either side.

Where the owner of an estate kept rigidly aloof from joining either side, his property was fairly safe whichever side won.

This commendable spirit of caution, however, was no hindrance to the cadets of families joining whichever side they desired without incriminating their chiefs.

Whatever happened the individual cadet only could be held responsible.

When the insurrection was over and the day of reckoning came, many a younger son of the old Scottish families deemed it wiser to be out of Scotland.

In Ulster, where the people had little sympathy with the rising, the consequences of rebellion were not pursued to such an extent as was the case in Scotland.

Hence the Province became a harbour of refuge for a number of Scottish refugees.

Several families, now well known in Northern Ireland, descend from Scottish settlers who arrived in the years immediately following the uprising.

Among the Records at Hillsborough Castle, County Down, are the registers of leases and the rent rolls of the Kilwarlin estate.

Among the leases granted at this period is one for three lives to William Cairns, dated May, 1716.

It seems plausible he was one of the many who fled to Ulster from Scotland ca 1716 in order to escape the consequences of the rebellion.

We have been unable to ascertain with certainty to which of the Galloway Cairns' he belonged, but there are indications suggesting that he was a younger son of William Cairns, of Kipp, who died in 1711.

He certainly was a contemporary of the two sons of this William whose names are recorded.

The Christian names Hugh and William, so frequently encountered in the succeeding generations of the Kipp family prior to 1715, reappear with equal frequency among the descendants of this William Cairns.

In fact, the name Hugh in the Cairns family seems to have been almost entirely confined to the Kipp branch.

*****

WILLIAM CAIRNS, a cadet of Cairnes, of Orchardton, obtained from the Marquess of Downshire a lease of the lands of Magheraconluce, County Down, in 1716.

His son,

WILLIAM CAIRNS, of Magheraconluce, left issue by his first wife, who died in 1754, with six daughters, who dsp, three sons,

John, of Parkmount, 1732-94;
Hugh, of Parkmount and Belfast, banker, 1735-1808;
William, of Magheraconluce, b 1737.

He wedded secondly, Agnes, daughter of William Gregg, of Parkmount, and died in 1775, having by her had issue,

NATHAN, ancestor of the Earls Cairns.

The second son,

Hugh Cairns, left several legacies in his will to his "kinsmen at Annahilt," and £600 to each of his six sisters.

He left Parkmount, which he acquired shortly after the death of William Gregg in 1782, to his half-brother Nathan, whose mother had been a daughter of Mr Gregg.

Mr Cairns stated in his will that "most of my property consists of money lent out at interest on security," from which it appears that he was one of Belfast's early private bankers, some of whom eventually amalgamated, thus founding what are now known as the Belfast, the Northern, and the Ulster Banks. 

William Cairns' third son, William, continued to appear as holder of the Magheraconluce property subsequent to his father's removal to Belfast after his second marriage.

It appears that he remained as tenant, and that Hugh Cairns' "kinsmen at Annahilt", to whom he left money, namely, William and Robert Cairns, were the sons of this William, and therefore nephews of Hugh.

Both appear as fathers of children baptised, in the Annahilt Register, one of the children being called Nathan, evidently after his grand-uncle.

The youngest son,

NATHAN CAIRNS, of Dublin, and Parkmount, merchant, born in 1759, of whom hereafter.

Parkmount House

Parkmount seems to have passed to Mr Gregg from the representatives of Thomas Lutford, who had a lease for three lives, renewable for ever, from the Marquesses of Donegall, in 1769. 

At some period after his marriage to Agnes Gregg, William Cairns seems to have moved with his family to Parkmount, or to a house in Carnmoney. 

After the termination of the Parkmount lease, Hugh Cairns obtained the renewal forever thereof. 

His father died in 1775, the widow Agnes Gregg surviving him, and dying in 1785.

Both are interred at Carnmoney church-yard. 

First published in February, 2011.   Cairns arms courtesy of European Heraldry.