Dartan Hall, Co Armagh 

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2018/02/cross-of-dartan.html

THE CROSSES OWNED 1,090 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ARMAGH 

This Lancashire family settled in Ulster at the time of the Plantation, 1611, in the parish of Tynan, County Armagh. 
 
From a tombstone in Tynan churchyard it appears that JAMES CROSS was buried there in 16_8 (the third figure is indecipherable and the church books for a lengthened period are not forthcoming). 
 
Two of his sons, JOHN and WILLIAM, were amongst the defenders of Londonderry, who signed the address to WILLIAM & MARY on the relief of that city in 1689, when they returned to County Armagh, where the descendants of John fixed their abode. 
 
William Cross died unmarried. 
 
JOHN CROSS died in 1742, having had issue by his wife, Jane, five sons and three daughters. 
 
The eldest son, 
 
RICHARD CROSS, of Dartan, succeeded his father, and died in 1776, having had issue by his wife, Margaret, two sons and four daughters. 
 
The second son and successor, 
 
WILLIAM CROSS, of Dartan, married, in 1743, Mrs Mary Stratford, of Dartan (née Irwin), and had issue, 
 

Richard, dsp; 
William Irwin (1785-1809); 
JOHN, of whom presently; 
MAXWELL, succeeded his brother; 
Mary. 

William Cross, Deputy Governor of County Armagh, 1793, died in 1812, and was succeeded by his third son, 
 
JOHN CROSS (1787-1850), of Dartan, an army officer who saw much service in the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Light Infantry during the Peninsular War. 
 
He accompanied the expedition to Sweden in 1807, and proceeded thence to Portugal, 1808. 
 
He took part in the battle of Corunna, the actions preceding it, and all the subsequent campaigns wit the 52nd regiment; Battle of Waterloo, and occupation of Paris; thrice wounded; received the War Medal with ten clasps, also the Waterloo Medal; subsequently commanded the 68th Light Infantry, from which regiment he retired in 1843. 
 
Colonel Cross, Lieutenant-Governor commanding the forces in Jamaica, was a Member of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order. 
 
He died in 1850, and was succeeded by his brother, 
 
MAXWELL CROSS JP DL (1790-1863), of Dartan, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1847, who wedded Sarah, daughter of William Hardy JP, and was succeeded by his only son, 
 
WILLIAM CROSS JP DL (1815-82), of Dartan, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1860, Captain and Adjutant, 68th Light Infantry, Colonel-Commandant, Armagh Light Infantry Militia, who espoused, in 1844, Frances Jane, only daughter of Major-General Pennell Cole, Royal Engineers, and had issue, 
 

Maxwell (1845-69); 
WILLIAM PENNELL, his heir; 
SARAH JANE BEAUCHAMP, succeeded her brother. 

The second son, 
 
WILLIAM PENNELL CROSS JP LL.B (1849-1906), of Dartan, married, in 1883, Beatrice Lucinda, daughter of the Rev Dominick Augustus Browne, and dsp 1906, when he was succeeded by his only sister, 
 
MRS SARAH JANE BEAUCHAMP COOKE-CROSS (-1911), who wedded, in 1887, ARTHUR CHARLES INNES, of Dromantine, who assumed  the additional surname and arms of CROSS, and had issue, 
 

ARTHUR CHARLES WOLSELEY, of Dromantine (1888-1940); 
Sydney Maxwell (1894-1914); 
Marian Dorothea (d 1965). 

MRS INNES-CROSS married secondly, in 1907, HERBERT MARTIN COOKE(eldest son the Mason Cooke, of Ely), who assumed, in 1908, the additional name and arms of CROSS. 
 

 
 
DARTAN HALL, near Killylea, County Armagh, is situated 6 miles east of the city of Armagh. 

The present house was built between 1850-60 by the Cross family. 

The house comprises two storeys over a basement. 

It remained inhabited by the Cross family until 1906, when it was leased to a son of the Very Rev Robert Shaw-Hamilton, Dean of Armagh. 

The property subsequently passed to the Knox family, when it lay vacant for many years. 

John Erskine acquired the property in 1987, since when it has been extensively restored. 

Dartan has recently been sold. 

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

DARTON, County Armagh (AP ARMAGH, BANBRIDGE and CRAIGAVON 03) A/061 
REGISTERED GRADE B 
South-west of Killylea and bordering Fellows Hall, this is an 1850s house on an earlier demesne 
parkland (120 acres/48ha), with terracing. Demesne has 17th century origins, the earlier house 
being a low thatched gentleman’s residence, replaced in 1856 by square cubic block in a sober 
Italianate style by architect John Boyd for Maxwell Cross. It faces due north, and on the east and 
south side a raised terrace was created, originally for parterres. This house was gutted by fire in 
1924, by which time it was the home of the Shaw-Hamilton family; restored by the present owner 
in 1987. The yard on the west, partly incorporated earlier yard buildings; it has been extended 
south in recent years. The walled garden (1.25 acres/0.5ha), 170 feet (50m) north of the house 
belongs to the early 19th century; it is presently under grass with a number of isolated trees 
planted therein. The small woodland south-west of the house is of late 18th or early 19th century 
date. There are fine parkland trees flanking the main approach to the house from the north; these 
are a mixture of early and mid-19th century plantings. The fine perimeter planting on the west 
and north side of the park is mid-19th century in date and is a good surviving example of parkland 
planting from this era. The gate lodge at the head of the north entrance drive, which replaced a 
pre-1835 lodge, has a date stone of 1870 and has recently been restored as a residence; it has an 
L-plan and is built of rock-faced Armagh limestone masonry with semi-circular-arched windows 
and a centrally positioned chimneystack. Possible Tree-ring, Arm: 11:018. Private