O’Harabrook, Ballymoney, County Antrim 

Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London. 

p. 228. “(O’Hara/LGI1912; Cramsie/IFR) A two storey four bay mid C18 block, possibly built as a coaching inn, with two storey four bay wings added later, set a little back. Continuous parapet with ball finials running along roofline of both centre block and wings. Drawing room ceiling with unusual ovolo mouldings, clearly part of the original decoration.” 

https://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2012/05/oharabrook.html

THE CRAMSIES OWNED 4,036 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ANTRIM 

ROGER CRAMSIE settled at Ballymoney, County Antrim, about 1709. 

He left two sons, 

John; 
PATRICK, of whom presently. 

The younger son, 

PATRICK CRAMSIE, of Ballymoney, High Sheriff of County Antrim, 1833, married a daughter of John Moore, and had issue, 

JAMES, his heir; 
William; 
John, went to Jamaica; 
Rose. 

The eldest son, 

JAMES CRAMSIE (1752-1808), of Ballymoney, espoused the daughter of ______ Todd, and had issue, 

John, of Cross; 
JAMES, of whom presently; 
William. 

The second son, 

JAMES CRAMSIE (1786-1855), of Ballymoney, married, in 1814, Jane, daughter of Adam Thomson, and had issue, 

Adam, died in India, 1843; 
JAMES, of whom presently; 
John; 
William. 

The second son, 

JAMES CRAMSIE (1817-73), of Ballymoney, Solicitor, wedded, in 1847, Eliza, daughter of Lieutenant Alexander Murray RN, of Drumadoon, Cloughmills, County Antrim, and had issue, 

Alexander Murray (1850-81); 
Robert; 
Richard Lyle; 
JAMES SINCLAIR, of whom hereafter; 
Jane Thomson. 

The youngest son, 

JAMES SINCLAIR CRAMSIE JP (1858-1903), of O’Harabrook, County Antrim, Captain, Northumberland Fusiliers, High Sheriff of County Antrim, 1889, wedded, in 1882, Laura Mary, daughter of Captain Antoine Sloet Butler CB, 7th Dragoon Guards, granddaughter of Sir Thomas Butler Bt, and had issue, 

James Antoine (1884-91); 
ROBERT ALEXANDER, of whom hereafter; 
James Randal Beresford; 
Arthur Butler; 
Charles Murray; 
John Moore; 
Netta Elizabeth Laura. 

The eldest surviving son, 

CAPTAIN ROBERT ALEXANDER CRAMSIE JP (1888-), of O’Harabrook, married, in 1910, Florence Eugenia, youngest daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Jackson Hezlet, Royal Artillery, of Bovagh House, Aghadowey, County Londonderry, and had issue, 

ALEXANDER JAMES HENRY, his heir; 
Richard Desmond; 
Arthur Vacquerie. 

The eldest son, 

ALEXANDER JAMES HENRY CRAMSIE OBE JP DL (1911-87), of O’Harabrook, Lieutenant-Colonel, North Irish Horse, High Sheriff of County Antrim, 1950, married, in 1939, Gabrielle Patricia, daughter of Major Charles Beck Hornby, and had issue, 

ALEXANDER JAMES, his heir; 
Virginia Gay, b 1944; 
Lavinia Dorothy, b 1944; 
Florence Rose, b 1954. 

The only son, 

ALEXANDER JAMES (Sandy) CRAMSIE (1941-2008), Lieutenant-Colonel, QRI Hussars, wedded, in 1965, Bridget, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Derek Henry Duke, and had issue, 

Rupert James, b 1966; High Sheriff of County Antrim, 2020; 
Alexander Toby, b 1969. 

O’HARABROOK, near Ballymoney, County Antrim, is an 18th century, two-storey, four-bay block, possibly once a coaching-inn. 
 
Two, two-storey, four-bay wings were added later and are set back. 
 
There is a continuous parapet roof with ball finials. 
 
It is named after the O’Haras, who built the original house (the last of whom was the Rt Rev Dr Henry Stewart O’Hara. 

O’Hara Lineage (Click to Enlarge)

The ceiling of the drawing-room has unusual ovolomouldings, obviously part of the original decoration. 

 
In 1889, the estate was sold for £6,300 (£743,000 in today’s money) to Captain James Sinclair Cramsie. 
 

***** 

THE DEMESNE lies beside the river Ballymoney. 
 
Atkinson described it as a ‘…splendid demesne…’ in 1833. 
 
There is a fine avenue approach, with mature trees and rhododendrons. 
 
Several fine trees adorn the parkland to the south of the house.  

Mixed woodland lies to the east of the house. 
 
The productive garden has no conventional walls but is protected on the north-east side by the tall trees of the avenue, to the south by the old orchard and to the west by a line of trees.  

This area is maintained, with herbaceous borders, vegetable plots, commercial soft fruit plantations and Victorian ornamental stone-edged beds. 
 
There is a pond, with associated planting being introduced, to the north of the house. 

Two interesting features lie in the demesne: the Old School House, which appears as a ruined wall and was possibly intended as a Gothic folly or was possibly a functional building; and Lamb’s Fold, an enclosed Quaker burial ground, of which the North Lodge of ca 1840 survives. 

The house is private but the gardens are open to the public on special days.  

www.nihgt.org/resources/pdf/Register_of_Parks_Gardens_Demesnes-NOV20.pdf

O’HARABROOK, County Antrim (AP CAUSEWAY COAST AND GLENS 05) An-056 
REGISTERED GRADE A 
Small late 18th century demesne parkland (102 acres/41.5ha) bordering the Ballymoney River, 1.5 
miles (2.5km) south-west of Ballymoney in the townlands of Enagh Lower and Ballynacree Beg. 
Described by Atkinson in 1833 as a ‘splendid demesne’, it survives remarkably intact from when 
first laid out for the O’Hara family in the 1770s. While the earliest occurrence of the placename 
‘O’Harabrook’ first appears in 1749, the long low two-storey house, which stands above the south 
bank of the river, appears to largely date from the 1770s or 80s; it has a late Victorian extension 
and an Edwardian conservatory (Listed HB 04/04/001). The demesne planting remains today as it 
was described by the OS Memoirs in 1835, being ‘varied and extensive’ with ‘many beautiful old 
trees’. Beech is the dominant tree in both woodland and park screens; some noble trees grace 
the parkland to the south of the house, while mixed woodland, which contains a number of rides 
and paths, surrounds the house and extends to the east. Other trees here include oak, lime, elm, 
ash and sweet chestnut; yews populates the area outside the enclosed Quaker graveyard (‘Lamb’s 
Fold’) near the river, north-east of the house. One of the park’s ash trees (Fraxinus exselsior) is a 
champion (30.5m high x 5.77m girth). The approach to the house from the south has varied 
mature avenue trees, mostly later 19th century in date, while the main south entrance avenue, 

Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 
now redundant, contains beech, yew, ash, elm, horse chestnut and lime together with 
rhododendron. The productive garden, which lies 170m south-east of the house, originally 
occupied a short rectangular area (3 acres/1.2ha) with north-west south-east axis, but in the 19th 
century was divided into two portions with a kitchen garden on the north side (1.4 acres/0.55ha) 
and an orchard on the south. The kitchen garden has no conventional walls but is protected on 
the north-east side by the tall trees of the south-eastern avenue; to the south by the orchard and 
to the west by a line of trees. Half of this area is maintained, with herbaceous borders, vegetable 
plots, commercial soft fruit plantations and Victorian ornamental stone-edged beds. The present 
owners, the Cramsie family, who acquired the property from the O’Hara’s in 1889, added a pond 
in 1989, with associated planting, to the area north of the house. Older ornamental planting 
around the house includes an impressive Wellingtonia; a monkey puzzle to the east, and a 
sycamore with a bell hanging from it. The present main entrance, which enters from the south, 
was laid down in the 1890s to replace the earlier sweeping avenue to its north, whose entrance 
had a gate lodge, long demolished. There were two other gate lodges; the south-east lodge which 
lay opposite the gate (now replaced) and the North Lodge of c.1840, the latter of which survives. 
Outside the park boundary, close to the south-east entrance a small portion of land was given to 
the Reformed Presbyterian Church for a manse. A features in the demesne worthy of notice is the 
‘Old School House’, which lies at the folk on the south-east avenue; it appears as a ruined wall and 
may have been intended as a gothic folly or possibly a functional building SMR: ANT 17:28 
enclosure/tree ring, 17:29 Graveyard, ‘Lamb’s Fold’ and 17:30 enclosure/tree ring. The house is 
private but the gardens occasionally open to the public on special days.