Castle Dillon, Armagh, County Armagh
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. 66. “(Molyneux, of Castle Dillon/ PB1940) A large and austere mansion of 1845 by William Murray; built for Sir George Molyneux, 6th Bt, to replace a rather low and plain mid-C18 winged house, which had itself replaced the second of two earlier houses again. Two storey nine bay centre block with single-storey three bay wings; the entrance front, and the garden front facing the lake, being similar and without any ornament at all, except for a simple pillared porch on the entrance front. A straightforward and conservative plan; a large hall with a screen of columns dividing it from a wide central corridor running the full length of the house, and having a curved stair at one end; a saloon flaked by dining room and drawing room in the garden front. A library and morning room on either side of the hall; additional living-rooms in one wing, offices in the other, which in fact consist of two shallow ranges with a yard between them. Fine pedimented C18 stables by Thomas Cooley. Fine entrance gates of 1760, described as “the most costly park gates perhaps at that time in the three kingdoms,” erected by Sir Capel Molyneux, 3rd Bt, MP, who also built an obelisk near the park to commemorate the winning of independence by the Irish Parliament 1782. Castle Dillon was sold ca 1926. It is now a hospital.”
http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2017/06/castle-dillon.html
HE MOLYNEUX BARONETS OWNED 6,009 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ARMAGH
This is a junior branch of the family of MOLYNEUX, Earls of Sefton, springing immediately, it is supposed, from Sir Thomas Molyneux, second son of Sir William Molyneux, of Sefton, a celebrated warrior under the Black Prince; who added to his arms, in a distinction, the fleur-de-lis in the dexter chief still borne by the family.
Sir Thomas commanded the forces of Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, but was defeated and slain by the combined and insurgent lords at Radcot Bridge, near Faringdon, formerly in Berkshire, in 1388.
The genealogy, however, and the records of this branch of the Molyneux family, which resided at Calais, France, being destroyed during the sacking of that town by the Duke of Guise in 1588, a chasm, of necessity, occurs in the pedigree.
SIR THOMAS MOLYNEUX (1531-97), who was born at Calais, falling into the hands of the enemy on the capture of that place, above alluded to, was ransomed for 500 crowns.
He came to England in 1568, and was sent to Ireland in 1576 by ELIZABETH I, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he obtained, with extensive grants of land from Her Majesty, a lease for twenty-one years of the exports and imports of the city of Dublin (wines excepted) for the annual rent of £183.
This gentleman married Catherine, daughter of Ludowick Stabeort, Governor of Bruges, and and issue,
Samuel, MP for Mallow; died unmarried;
DANIEL, successor to his brother;
Katherine, m Sir R Newcomen Bt and had 21 children;
Margaret.
Sir Thomas was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
DANIEL MOLYNEUX (1568-1632), of Newlands, County Dublin, MP for Strabane, 1613-15, who was appointed, in 1586, Ulster king-of-arms, and his celebrated collection of Irish family history, now amongst the manuscripts of Trinity College Dublin, prove him to have been an accurate and very learned antiquary.
He wedded Jane, daughter of Sir William Ussher, Clerk of the Privy Council, and had five sons and three daughters.
Mr Molyneux was succeeded by his third, but eldest surviving son,
SAMUEL MOLYNEUX (1616-93), of Castle Dillon, County Armagh, Chief Engineer of Ireland, who espoused Anne, daughter and heir of William Dowdall, of Mounttown, County Meath.
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| Castle Dillon, County Armagh |
My Molyneux was succeeded by his eldest son,
WILLIAM MOLYNEUX (1656-98), MP for Trinity College, Dublin, 1692-8, author of the celebrated “Case of Ireland”, who married Lucy, daughter of Sir William Domvile Bt, Attorney-General of Ireland, and was succeeded at his decease by his eldest son,
THE RT HON SAMUEL MOLYNEUX (1689-1728), MP for Trinity College, Dublin, 1727-8, Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary to GEORGE II when Prince of Wales, who wedded, in 1717, the Lady Elizabeth Diana Capel, eldest daughter of Algernon, 2nd Earl of Essex; but dying without issue, the estates reverted to his uncle,
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| Sir Thomas Molyneux © National Museums Northern Ireland |
THOMAS MOLYNEUX (1661-1733), Lieutenant-General, Physician-General to the Army in Ireland, who was created a baronet in 1730, designated of Castle Dillon, County Armagh.
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| The Molyneux Family (1758), Photo Credit: The Ulster Museum |
I have written about the THE MOLYNEUX BARONETS.
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| Castle Dillon (Image: © Sarah Hutchinson Burke – please do not use without permission) |
CASTLE DILLON, near the city of Armagh, County Armagh, is a large dignified mansion, built in 1845 for Sir George Molyneux, 6th Baronet.
This mansion replaced an austere mid-18th century winged house.
The designer was William Murray.
It has a two-storey, nine-bay centre block; with single-storey, three-bay wings.
Both the entrance front and the garden front, which faces the lake, are similar and plain, apart from a pillared porch on the entrance front.
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| Castle Dillon (Image: © Sarah Hutchinson Burke – please do not use without permission) |
The interior is no less austere: a large hall with a screen of columns dividing it from a central corridor which ran the whole length of the House, with a curved stair at one end.
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| Castle Dillon Image: (© Sarah Hutchinson Burke – please do not use without permission) |
At the garden front, a saloon flanked by the dining-room and drawing-room.
There was a library and a morning-room on either side of the hall.
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| © Sarah Hutchinson Burke – do not use without permission |
There are splendid 18th century pedimented stables by Thomas Cooley.
The entrance gates, dating from 1760, once described as “the most costly park gates perhaps at that time in the three kingdoms”, were erected by Sir Capel Molyneux, 3rd Baronet.
Sir Capel also erected an obelisk near the Park in order to commemorate the winning of independence by the Irish Parliament in 1782.
The sizeable walled demesne lies in pleasantly undulating countryside, with a lake at its centre. An anonymous guide wrote in 1839 that,
‘… the demesne is laid out in a style of elegance, rarely imitated in this country, and which would do honour to the best taste. Here every natural advantage of hill, wood and water, appears admirably improved by the correctest aid of art …’
It is laid out as a mid-18th century landscape park, though there is little remaining planting, with some woodland at the lake and very few parkland trees.
The Molyneux baronets, at one stage, owned 6,009 acres in County Armagh, 2,226 in County Kildare, 1,378 in County Limerick, 6,726 in the Queen’s County, and 221 acres in County Dublin.
The site has been forested and intensively farmed in recent years.
The first house was built ca 1611 and, when that was burnt in 1663, another followed.
The stable block of 1782 by Thomas Cooley is derelict.
The walled garden has gone but two gate lodges survive, one possibly by Sir William Chambers and an eye-catching obelisk erected in 1782, still impresses outside the demesne walls.
The baronetcy became extinct when the 10th Baronet, Sir Ernest, died in 1940.
The contents of Castle Dillon House were sold in October, 1923, and the Scottish firm, McAnish & Company, bought the whole estate in 1927 for the timber.
Armagh County Council purchased the house and the remaining 613 acres from McAnish for £9,800 in 1929 – £527,000 in today’s money.
In 1948, the Northern Ireland Hospital Authority managed the mansion house, and it served for various purposes, including a nursing home, since then.
Photographs are by kind permission of Sarah Hutchinson Blake.
First published in November, 2009.
http://www.nihgt.org/resources/pdf/Register_of_Parks_Gardens_Demesnes-NOV20.pdf
CASTLE DILLON, County Armagh (AP ARMAGH, BANBRIDGE and CRAIGAVON 03) A/010
REGISTERED GRADE B
The sizeable walled demesne (635 acres/257ha) lies in pleasantly undulating countryside, with a
large natural lake (53 acres/21.4ha) at its centre. An anonymous guide wrote in 1839 that, ‘… the
demesne is laid out in a style of elegance, rarely imitated in this country, and which would do
honour to the best taste. Here every natural advantage of hill, wood and water, appears
admirably improved by the correctest aid of art …’. The origin of the demesne lies in the early
17th century when in 1618 John Dillon ‘begun to build some three years since’ a house at
Mullaghbane (Castle Dillon) ‘of brick and lymme and a very fair building’, but no bawn on the
north-east side of Lough Turcarra. Remodelled, apparently as a ‘long low building’ by the Chief
Engineer of Ireland, Captain Samuel Molyneux (‘Honest Sam’, died 1692) after he bought the
property in 1663-64. It was given some form of associated planned landscape in the early 18th
century by his grandson, Samuel Molyneux M.P. (1688-1728), Lord of Admiralty and noted
commentator on architecture and gardening. He is known to have added plantations to the
demesne and built ‘two little turrets or summer houses…advantageously situated for a view of
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020
the lough and plantation about it’; some of the network of geometrically laid-out paths are shown
on 1723 demesne map. However, the Molyneuxs spent most of their time away from their estate
until 1759 when Castle Dillon was inherited by Sir Capel Molyneux, third baronet (1717-1797), son
of the well known amateur botanist, St Thomas Molyneux, 1st Baronet (1661-1733). He rebuilt
the family house in a rustic Palladian style with gabled wings (as depicted in a painting of 1784),
which was unflatteringly described by the Post Chaise Companion in 1786 as ‘the most agreeable
[seat] in the Kingdom’ were it not for the house itelf; immediately to its east, the stable block,
designed by the architect Thomas Cooley before 1782 was architecturally more successful and still
survives though ruined (HB 15/03/010). Sir Capel’s biggest impact on Castle Dillon however was
the landscape park, which he started in the 1760s and was considered successful, perhaps
because the place had ‘every natural advantage of hill, wood and water’. He walled the demesne
parkland (635 acres/257ha), cleared field boundaries to created large open lawns or meadows,
each dotted with trees and clumps; he enlarged the large woodland block south-east of the lake
(originally 110 acres/45ha), and created two small woodland blocks (each c.5acres/2ha) bordering
the lake to the west of the house. Except for parts of the northern boundary, he surprisingly did
not put down perimeter planting tree belts; these were not planted until after 1841. As a political
statement in the Whig tradition, commemorating the patriotic ideas of the era, Sir Capel erected
two obelisks; of these only one survives, that on Cannon Hill, (now in State Care) built in 1782
outside the park, 0.7 miles (1.1km) north-east of the house. As part of the network of carriage
drives in the new park, there were originally four gate lodges and of these the earliest and
principal was that from the Ballybrannon Road on the north-west side of the demesne. Built
probably in the 1760s in ‘monumental Palladian style’ this comprises a pair of square ‘box-type’
limestone rock-faced rusticated lodges with distinctive harmonising gate piers; traditionally this is
supposed to have been the work of Sir William Chambers, though this is unlikely, these lodges are
considered among the earliest examples in Ulster (HB 15/03/001); the ‘Hockley Lodge’ was added
around 1780 to designs of Cooley (demolished in 1999). The walled garden, which no longer exists
save for some fragments on the south-east side, occupied a very large trapezoidal area of 6 acres
(2.4ha) in the north-east corner of the demesne. A stream (which will exists) ran through the
garden; in later years the area east of this stream was devoted to apple trees. In the 1840s after
the property had been inherited by Sir George King Aldercron Molyneux, 6th Bt (1813-1848), the
park was improved with additional perimeter, clump and isolated tree planting, during which time
(1844-45) the house itself was rebuilt in austere Classical-style (Listed HB 15/03/001) to designs
of the architect William Murray of Dublin. The house ceased to be occupied in 1897 and having
laid vacant was sold in 1928, after which it was converted onto a sanatorium and later a nursing
home, becoming vacant again in the 1990s. The park was subdivided into a number of different
owners and suffered accordingly. The woodland south-east of the lake has been both reduced in
area and replaced with commercial forestry; parkland trees and perimeter planting felled, and
modern houses built in various locations throughout the park. SMR ARM 12:30 enclosure, 12:32
enclosure or ? tree ring, 12:62 enclosure or ? tree ring, 12:67 enclosure and 12:85 17th century
bawn and rath. Private.
Irish Historic Houses 