Williamston, Kells, Co Meath
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.
“(Garnett/LGI1912) An impressive three storey nine bay late C18 house, with an elevation almost identical to that of the nearby Rockfield, except that, here, there is no breakfront; it can safely be assumed that the two houses are by the same architect. Ground floor treated as a basement, with channelling; Doric porch; pediment over central first floor window.”
Record of Protected Structures:
Williamstown House, townland: Williamstown; town” Kells.
Detached nine-bay three-storey house over basement, built
c.1770, now derelict.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 115. “A very fine three storey cut stone house originally of five bays but extended to nine in the early 19C in the same style. The original house was built c. 1760-70. In 1814 the seat of John Otway. For many years unoccupied.”
Detached nine-bay three-storey house over basement, built c.1770, now derelict. Hipped slate roof with ashlar chimneystacks and parapet. Channelled limestone to entrance level, with string courses between floor and with ashlar limestone to basement and upper floors. Carved limestone dressings to window openings with timber sash windows. Carved limestone doorcase, flanked by Doric columns with entablature and pediment above. Pedimented window over porch.
Appraisal
This country house is of apparent architectural form and detailing. The form of the building is articulated by the masonry dressings, such as the channelled limestone to the entrance level and the string courses. The imposing carved pedimented Doric porch adds artistic interest to the façade. Though now in poor condition, this building retains many interesting features and materials, such as the timber sash windows and slate roof.
https://www.antaisce.org/buildingsatrisk/williamstown-house-williamstown
http://www.abandonedireland.com/Williamstown.html
Documenting our Heritage
Williamstown House, Meath
Many thanks to Peadar O’Colmain for this excellent research and write up:
Williamstown House in County Meath was built around 1770 as a home for the Cuffe family.
The Cuffe Family originated in Somerset, England. Originally they had a manor house at Rowlands, between Taunton and Yeovil which still stands today with a Great Hall, about 25-foot high, with mullioned windows and plasterwork dating from the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First.
The family have a long history in Ireland from the time when Captain John Cuffe adventured to Ireland in 1561 during the Elizabethan age.
The “Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle, July to December 1811” describes for us; “At Williamstown Co. Meath, the right honourable and Reverend Hamilton Cuffe and uncle of the present earl of Desart and Rector of Drumcondra and Athboy.” He appears in “Kells United Parishes” in 1803. Reverend Hamilton Cuffe, his two children, John and Lucy and his wife, we are told convincingly is called “Mrs Cuffe”. He would later have three more daughters, Nicola, Dorothea and Isabella. The son, John Otway Cuffe of Williamsown House Co Meath died on March 15th 1833.
The house was built in a Palladian style and set on 280 acres. It was originally a three story house over basement with just five bays. It had a hipped-slate roof, carved limestone doorcase with Doric columns and an entablature with a pediment above and a pedimented window over the porch.
The house was modified around 1830 with two more bays being added to either side giving the house the nine-bay frontal appearance that we see today. The stonework is ashlar limestone and the four newer bays match the original structure perfectly. Williamstown House was once in a Parkland setting but this is now all farmland.
It was the first house in Kells to have electricity.
The house was later owned by the Garnett family who also altered the building. John Garnett was at one time the Bishop of Clogher. Originally an English family they were extremely wealthy, owning property in Dublin. They had residences in Athcarne Castle, Kells, Summerseat and Williamstown House.
A Rev George Garnett died in 1856 and left the place to his eldest son, William Stawell Garnett (born 1838). Rev George Garnett is also listed as having owned 304 acres at Knockglass, Crossmolina, Co. Mayo. During and after the Great Famine many of the Garnett family left Ireland and moved to The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Fiji. Some of them also moved back to England.
The next owners of Williamstown were the Dyas family, owners of the Athboy Lodge Stables. The “Genealogy library reference book” for the 1870s lists a Mr. Nathaniel H. Dyas, of Athboy Lodge, Athboy, as owning 1,231 acres.
Mr Henry Mortimer Dyas was the owner of the horse “Manifesto”, the first horse to win the Aintree Grand National twice (1897 and 1899). The “Manifesto” restaurant at Aintree Racecourse is still called after him. Henry Mortimer Dyas was the subject of a 1913 Court Case in which the jury found against him to the tune of £ 482.00 for assaulting a barmaid Mrs Sarah Ann Williams with whom he had been living. The Judge, Mr Justice Wright desccribed him as a “peculiar man, lax in morality”. The “Commission of the Peace in Ireland ” in 1887 describes him as a “land agent and grazier”. He died on August 25th. 1915. Aged 57 years and is commemorated with an inscription in St Columba’s Church, Kells. Erected by his wife Hilda.
On leaving Williamstown they willed the house to a Miss Julietta Marie Emily “Judy” McCormick of ‘Shandon’, Monkstown, Co. Dublin. This may have been her single and her married name.
She Married Samuel Smith McCormick J.P. They had eight children including a son, John Hugh Gardner McCormick (born 4 April 1886) who was killed in the the First World War on Oct. 19th. 1914.
There was a Brass Lectern in St Columba’s Church of Ireland in Kells with an inscription saying;
“Sine Timore” “To the Glory of God and in loving memory of John Hugh Gardiner Mc.Cormick of Williamstown, Co. Meath. Captain, Royal Warwick Regt. He was mortally wounded in action. Oct. 19th. 1914, and died the same night at a Convent Hospital in German hands at Menin. Aged 28 years.” “Fear God and keep his Commandments”. The lectern is now Dalkey Church in Dublin.
“Sine Temore” is a latin phrase meaning “without fear”
John Hugh was single and left his estate to his father. He is commemorated on Panel 8 of the British War Memorial at Menin Gate, Ypres (now Ieper), Belgium, and the Great War Memorial, Monkstown Church of Ireland, Co. Dublin.
His mother Julietta McCormick herself died on July 30th 1951 and is buried in grave 1290 in Mount Jerome cemetery in Dublin.
Miss McCormack had a maid and friend called Rosie Guerin who then remained living in the lodge of Williamstown House until she passed away in 1997. Her daughter, Anne was born and reared in Williamstown House.
From the sixties or seventies onwards Williamstown House has been abandoned and today is a ruin.
Thanks to Peadar O’Colmain for this great write up.
Photo: Local History Kells blogspot
Williamstown House is located near Kells. Williamstown is a large late Georgian mansion three storeys over basement. The two last bays were added to the each side in 1858 by George Garnett. Bence-Jones described Williamstown as an ‘impressive three storey late eighteenth century house’. Its elevation is almost the same as nearby Rockfield which suggests that the two houses had the same architect. Near the house is a three stage tower erected about 1800. There is a courtyard of outbuildings and estate worker’s cottages dating from about 1780. A pigeon house stood south of the house. The remains of Dulane church and graveyard are to the west of the house. Local man, Liam McNiffe, has written the story of the house in ‘A history of Williamstown, Kells.’
William Williams received lands from Thomas Taylor in 1670 and it was from this family that the townland received its name. In 1766 the lands moved from the Williams family when Esther Williams married Rev. Hamilton Cuffe of Dublin. This couple probably erected Williamstown House in the 1770s. By 1811 the Rev. Cuffe had died and it would appear that the family had left Williamstown by this date. The estate, which was heavily mortgaged, was sold in 1827 to pay off debts.
The mansion house, garden, orchard and demesne lands were sold to Sarah Garnett for £9200. Sarah was a spinster from Kells. The Garnett family were established at Summerseat. Sarah left her lands at Wiliamstown to her first cousin, Rev. George Charles Garnett. In 1837 Williamstown was the residence of Rev. George Garnett. Rev. George Garnett married Margaret Wade of Bachelor’s Lodge. Their eldest son, Hamlet, lived at Teltown while their second son, George, inherited Williamstown George Garnett and his wife had two sons. William Stawell who succeeded to the estate in 1856 and Charles who became a clergyman. In 1862 William erected Williamstown lodge, later re-named Zephyr Lodge probably as a dower house for his widowed mother, Catherine. William was High Sheriff of Meath in 1864. He married Sally Garnett of Teltown.
William added two extra extensions on each side of the house and a pedimented porch in 1858. In the 1876 William Stawell Garnett held 3014 acres in county Meath. The Garnett family left Williamstown by 1881 and the house and lodge were left vacant for a long period. William Stawell died suddenly while on a visit to Kells in October 1898. Williamstown was occupied for a while by the Dyas family. Dr. Thomas Sparrow was living in the house in 1901.
In 1912 John McCormick of Monkstown, Dublin purchased Williamstown House and 127 acres. He was a member of the family which owned Tedcastles and McCormick, major Dublin firms. In August 1914 John joined up and three weeks later was reported missing. John Mc.Cormick was mortally wounded in action on 19 October 1914, and died the same night at a Convent Hospital in German hands at Menin, aged 28 years. Following interviewing a number of soldiers the family eventually accepted that he was dead. Six months later his brother Jim was also killed in the war. Their sister Rose made her home at Williamstown House and lived there until her death in 1972. The travelling actor, A’new McMaster and his family stayed at Williamstown House while on their tours around Ireland. The house was so big that Rose could only live in part of the ground floor and another family lived in the basement. Rose was a member of the Methodist Church. Williamstown House was left vacant following the death of Rose McCormick. It was unoccupied for a considerable period and became derelict.
Irish Historic Houses 