Castlecaulfeild or Castle Caulfeild, County Tyrone – ruin
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. 64. “(Caulfeild, Charlemont, V/PB) A “u” shaped Plantation castle originally of three storeys, with mullioned windows and massive chimney stacks; built 1612 by Sir Toby Caulfeild, burnt during the Rising of 1641, subsequently rebuilt but abandoned by 1700 and now a ruin. Also in the village of Castlecaulfeild is Castlecaulfeild House, formerly the dower house of the Caulfeild (Charlemont) family; two storey, seven bay, low-built and plain; of late C18 or early C19 appearance, though it may be basically C17.”
https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/castle-caulfield-p676721
https://theirishaesthete.com/2021/11/29/castle-caulfeild/
The Fairest Building I Have Seen
Nov29 by theirishaesthete
‘Castle-Caulfield owes its erection to Sir Toby Caulfield, afterwards Lord Charlemont – a distinguished English soldier who had fought in Spain and the Low Countries in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and commanded a company of one hundred and fifty men in Ireland in the war with O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, at the close of her reign. For these services he was rewarded by the Queen with a grant of part of Tyrone’s estate, and other lands in the province of Ulster; and on King James’s accession to the British crown, was honoured with knighthood and made governor of the fort of Charlemont, and of the counties of Tyrone and Armagh. At the plantation of Ulster he received further grants of lands, and among them a thousand acres called Ballydonnelly, or O’Donnelly’s town, in the barony of Dungannon, on which, in 1614, he commenced the erection of the mansion subsequently called Castle-Caulfield. This mansion is described by Pynnar in his Survey of Ulster in 1618-19, in the following words…’ [see post]
http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2014/05/1st-viscount-charlemont.html
HE VISCOUNTS CHARLEMONT WERE THE GREATEST LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY ARMAGH, WITH 20,695 ACRES
The settlement of this noble family in Ireland took place in the reign of ELIZABETH I, when THE RT HON SIR TOBY CAULFEILD (1565-1627), a distinguished and gallant soldier, was employed in that part of Her Majesty’s dominions against the formidable Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.
This gentleman was the son of Alexander Caulfeild, Recorder of Oxford, who was descended from ancestors of great antiquity and worth settled in that county, and at Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire.
In 1615, Sir Toby was appointed one of the council for the province of Munster. The next year, 1616, he joined in commission with the Lord Deputy of Ireland (Oliver St John, 1st Viscount Grandison), and others, for parcelling out the escheated lands in Ulster to such British undertakers as were named in the several tables of assignation.
In these employments, the King (JAMES I) found him so faithful, diligent, and prudent, that His Majesty deemed him highly deserving the peerage, and accordingly created him, in 1620, Lord Caulfeild, Baron Charlemont, with limitation of the honour to his nephew, Sir William Caulfeild, Knight.
His lordship died unmarried, in 1627, and was succeeded by the said
SIR WILLIAM CAULFEILD, 2nd Baron (1587-1640), who took his seat in parliament, 1634, after the Lord Chancellor of Ireland had moved to know the pleasure of the House, whether he should be admitted to this place, having brought neither writ of summons nor patent; whereupon it was resolved that his lordship should be admitted, inasmuch as they were all satisfied that he was a Lord of Parliament.
His lordship, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1620, wedded Mary, daughter of Sir John King, Knight (ancestor of the Earls of Kingston), and had issue,
TOBY, his successor;
ROBERT, successor to his brother;
WILLIAM, created Viscount Charlemont;
George;
Thomas;
John;
Anne; Mary; Margaret.
His lordship, Master-General of the Ordnance, 1627-34, was succeeded by his eldest son,
TOBY, 3rd Baron (1621-42), who also succeeded his late father as Governor of Charlemont Fort, 1640, and there resided with his company of the 97th Regiment of Foot, in garrison.
This fort was a place of considerable strength and importance during the rebellion of 1641; but his lordship suffered himself to be surprised, in that year; and being made prisoner, with his whole family, was subsequently murdered, by the orders, it is said, of Sir Phelim O’Neill.
This unfortunate nobleman, dying unmarried, was succeeded by his brother,
ROBERT, 4th Baron (1622-42), who died a few months afterwards from an overdose of a prescription of opium, and was succeeded by his next brother,
WILLIAM, 5th Baron (1624-71), who apprehended Sir Phelim O’Neill and had him executed for the murder of his brother, the 3rd Baron.
His lordship having filled, after the Restoration, several high and confidential situations, was advanced to a viscountcy, 1655, as Viscount Charlemont, of County Armagh.
He wedded Sarah, second daughter of Charles, 2nd Viscount Drogheda, and had issue,
WILLIAM, his successor;
Toby;
John;
Mary; Alice; Elizabeth.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
WILLIAM, 2nd Viscount (c1655-1726); who opposed with zeal the cause of WILLIAM III against JAMES II.
His lordship espoused Anne, daughter of the Most Rev James Margetson, Lord Archbishop of Armagh, by whom he had, with five daughters, five sons to survive infancy, namely,
JAMES, his successor;
Thomas, Governor of Annapolis;
Charles (Rev), Rector of Donaghenry;
John, MP;
Henry Charles.
He died after enjoying the peerage more than half a century, in 1726, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
JAMES, 3rd Viscount (1682-1734), MP for Charlemont, 1703-4 and 1713-26, who married Elizabeth, only daughter of the Rt Hon Francis Bernard, of Castle Mahon, County Cork, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, and had issue,
Francis;
JAMES, of whom hereafter;
Alice.
The elder son, Francis, wedded Mary, only daughter of John, Lord Eyre; though was lost, with his lady, infant child, and servant, in a hurricane, during his passage to Ireland from London, in 1775, to fulfil his parliamentary duties as MP for Charlemont.
The Hon Francis Caulfeild left issue, Colonel James Eyre Caulfeild, born in 1765, and Eleanor, who married William, 3rd Earl of Wicklow.
The 3rd Viscount was succeeded by his only surviving son,
JAMES, 4th Viscount (1728-99), KP, who was advanced to an earldom, in 1763, in the dignity of EARL OF CHARLEMONT.
His lordship wedded, in 1768, Mary, daughter of Thomas Hickman, of Brickhill, County Clare (descended from the noble family of Windsor, Viscounts Windsor, which title became extinct in 1728), and had issue,
FRANCIS WILLIAM, his successor;
James Thomas;
Henry, MP, of Hockley Lodge, Co Armagh;
Elizabeth.
He was a distinguished patriot, and had the honour of commanding-in-chief the celebrated Volunteer Army of Ireland in 1779.
The 1st Earl was a Founder Knight of the Order of St Patrick.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
FRANCIS WILLIAM, 2nd Earl (1775-1863), KP, who espoused, in 1802, Anne, daughter of William Bermingham, and had issue,
James William, styled Viscount Caulfeild (1803-23);
William Francis (1805-7);
Maria Melosina; Emily Charlotte.
His lordship died without surviving male issue, when the family honours reverted to his cousin,
JAMES MOLYNEUX, 3rd Earl (1820-92), KP (son of the Hon Henry Caulfeild, second son of 1st Earl), Lord-Lieutenant of County Tyrone, MP for Armagh, 1847-67.
His lordship married twice, though both marriages were without issue, when the earldom and barony expired, and the remaining peerages devolved upon his kinsman,
JAMES ALFRED, 7th Viscount (1830-1913), CB JP DL, of Loy House, Cookstown, and Drumcairne, County Tyrone,
Captain, Coldstream Guards; fought in the Crimean War; Vice Lord-Lieutenant of County Tyrone, 1868; High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1868; Comptroller of the Household of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1868-95; Honorary Colonel, 3rd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers; Usher of the Black Rod of the Order of St Patrick, 1879-1913.
JAMES EDWARD, 8th Viscount (1880-1949), PC DL, was elected to the Northern Ireland Parliament as a Senator, where he sat from 1925-37, and was sometime Minister for Education.
James Alfred Caulfeild, 7th Viscount (1830–1913);
James Edward Caulfeild, 8th Viscount; (1880–1949);
Charles Edward St George Caulfeild, 9th Viscount (1887–1962);
Robert Toby St George Caulfeild, 10th Viscount (1881–1967);
Charles St George Caulfeild, 11th Viscount (1884–1971);
Richard St George Caulfeild, 12th Viscount (1887–1979);
Charles Wilberforce Caulfeild, 13th Viscount (1899–1985);
John Day Caulfeild, 14th Viscount Charlemont (1934–2001);
John Dodd Caulfeild, 15th Viscount (b 1966).
The heir apparent is the present holder’s son, the Hon Shane Andrew Caulfeild (b 1996).
*****
The Charlemonts were a Patrick family, three members of whom were Knights of St Patrick.
Lord Charlemont was the greatest landowner in County Armagh, owning 20,695 acres a century ago.
He also owned almost 6,000 acres in County Tyrone.
During more recent times, the 8th Viscount, PC (NI), DL (1880-1949) was elected to the House of Lords as a Representative Peer; and to the Northern Ireland Parliament as a senator.
He sat in the NI Senate from 1925-37 and was Minister for Education for all but the first of his years.
Lord Charlemont’s main country seat, near the village of Moy, County Tyrone, was Roxborough Castle.
The exquisite gates are all that remain.
The Castle was burnt by Irish republicans in 1922.
Charlemont Fort, on the County Armagh side of the river, was burnt in 1920.
Subsequently Lord Charlemont lived at another residence, Drumcairne, near Stewartstown in County Tyrone.
It is thought that he eventually moved to the sea-side resort of Newcastle in County Down.
He inherited the titles from his uncle in 1913.
Having no children, the titles passed, on his death, to a cousin.
The 14th Viscount lived in Ontario, Canada and the viscountcy is still extant with the present 15th Viscount Charlemont.
First published in December, 2009.
Irish Historic Houses 
