Ballyconra House, Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny 

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. 20. “[Butler, Mountgarrett; Cahill] An early C18 gable-ended house with a high, parapeted roof; the seat of the Butlers, Viscount Mountgarret, after they abandoned their earlier seat of Ballyragget Castle. 2 storey, with an attic lit by windows in the gable ends; 7 bay front, doorway with pilasters and entablature, above which is a stone panel with a coat of arms, brought from another old Butler castle in the neighbourhood. Low ceilinged rooms. Large hall, with a ceiling of somewhat bucolic rococo plasterwork; doorcases of good C18 joinery. Wooden staircase going up round inner hall, with additional flight to attic. Drawing room to left of hall had plasterwork ceiling which fell earlier this century and was replaced with a plain ceiling; more plasterwork in a small study to the right of hall. Dining room behind study, divided in the middle by a thick arch pierced through the main wall of the house, the other half of the room being an addition. This room is said to be haunted by the ghost of Edmund, 12th Viscount Mountgarret and 1st and last Earl of Kilkenny, who died 1846 and was the last Mountgarret to live here; a benign spectre in a high collar and stove pipe hat who has been seen going up the stairs. After the death of the Earl of Kilkenny, the house was occupied by Michael Cahill, agent to the subsequent Viscount Mountgarret, by whose descendents it was afterwards acquired.” 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/12400402/ballyconra-house-ballyconra-co-kilkenny

Detached seven-bay two-storey over basement house with dormer attic, dated 1724, on an L-shaped plan possibly originally mill owner’s house with two-bay two-storey side elevations, and single-bay two-storey double-pile return to north-west. Mostly refenestrated, c.1900, with canted bay window added to return. Part refenestrated, c.1925. Part refenestrated. Now in use as offices. Pitched slate roof behind parapet (pitched double-pile (M-profile) slate roof to return) with clay ridge tiles, yellow brick Running bond chimney stacks having profiled cornices, rooflights, and cast-iron rainwater goods on rendered stepped eaves. Unpainted roughcast walls (unpainted rendered walls to basement) with cut-limestone stringcourse supporting parapet having cut-limestone coping. Square-headed window openings (including to canted bay window on painted rendered tapered jetty) with cut-limestone sills, remains of carved cut-limestone hood mouldings over to front (south-east) elevation, and replacement one-over-one timber sash windows, c.1900, retaining some six-over-six timber sash windows to rear (north-west) elevation (one in tripartite arrangement having two-over-two sidelights) having some replacement four-over-four timber sash windows, c.1925, with some replacement timber casement windows throughout. Round-headed door opening with two cut-limestone steps over basement, cut-limestone doorcase having engaged pilasters on panelled pedestals supporting cornice, glazed timber panelled double doors, decorative overlight, and heraldic panel over (dated 1724) having cut-limestone surround. Square-headed door opening to return with four cut-limestone steps, cut-limestone surround having keystone, replacement timber panelled door having overlight, and heraldic panel over (dated 1880). Interior with entrance hall having carved timber architraves to door openings (one carved timber shouldered architrave with dentilated moulded cornice) with timber panelled reveals leading to timber panelled doors, moulded plasterwork cornice leading to decorative plasterwork ceiling having foliate motif, stairhall with carved timber staircase, and timber panelled shutters to window openings. Set back from road in own grounds on a slightly elevated site. 

Appraisal 

A well-appointed substantial house representing an important element of the early eighteenth-century architectural heritage of County Kilkenny possibly originally having associations with the nearby Ballyconra Mills indicated on archival editions of the Ordnance Survey but of primary significance for the connections with the Butler Family, Viscounts Mountgarret late of Ballyragget Castle (1495) together with the Cahill family. Elegantly composed with Classically-proportioned openings centred on a doorcase displaying high quality stone masonry the house has historically been well maintained to present an early aspect: of particular importance are the internal details exhibiting expert craftsmanship including plasterwork accents of artistic design significance together with ornamental timber joinery. Positioned on a slightly elevated site the house makes an important impression in a landscape dominated by late twentieth-century industrial ranges. 

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2014/03/ballyconra-house.html

THE VISCOUNTS MOUNTGARRET WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY KILKENNY, WITH 14,073 ACRES 

This is a branch of the noble house of BUTLER, Earls and Marquesses of Ormonde, springing from 

THE HON RICHARD BUTLER (1500-71), second son of Piers, 8th Earl of Ormonde, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1550, in the dignity of VISCOUNT MOUNTGARRET, County Wexford. 

His lordship married firstly, Eleanor, daughter of Theobald Butler, of Nechum, County Kilkenny, and had one son, Edmund; and secondly, Catherine, daughter and heir of Peter Barnewall, of Stackallan, County Meath, and had issue, Barnewall, who died unmarried, Pierce, and other issue. 

 
He espoused thirdly, in 1541, Anne, daughter of John, Lord Killeen, from whom he was divorced in the first year of his marriage. 

[The Landed Gentry and Aristocracy of Kilkenny by Art Kavanagh, p. 61: 

“In 1541 Richard Butler was given leases of lands in Wexford and Kilkenny, noteably in Inistioge, Thomastown and Shankill. Two years later, in 1543 he got a grant of all the Augustinian lands in and near New Ross. He was created Viscount Mountgarret and Baron of Kells in 1550 in direct response to his plea to be given a title that would outshine that of the McMurrough.  

…The forays of his father Piers into the territories of the Fitzpatricks of Upper [p. 62] Ossory trained him in the exercise and knowledge of those military operations, which he afterwards turned to good account in defending the King’s lands against the “Irish enemy,” especially in Wexford, against the Kavanaghs. It was in recompense for such services to his Sovereign that King Edward VI gave directions to have him created a Viscount. He had already been installed in Mountgarret Manor and caslte, on the outskirts of New Ross, and it was from this that the name Mountgarret derived. The Manor was formerly Church lands and the Castle was the home of the famous Bishop Barret in the late 14^th and early 15^th centuries, after he had removed from Ferns, the traditional residence. 

In addition to the Augustinian lands of New Ross, Mountgarret bought the lands of Kayer (Davidstown to Glynn) from Foulks Denn in 1556. They Kayer lands were later demised to Piers Butler his son. The Butler family of Kayer was subsequently dispossessed by the Cromwellians. 

p. 63. During the reigns of Edward and Queen Mary, prioer to being created Viscount Mountgarret, Richard was made keeper of the Castle of Ferns. He was also in two commissions for the preservation of the peace, in the Counties of Tipperary , Kilkenny and Wexford. He was present in the Parliament of 1560 which met in Dublin and which ended in passing the Statute of Uniformity, which made Queen Elizabeth head of the church, in Ireland, and re-established the reformed worship, as it had existed under Edward VI. Richard was buried in St. Canice’s cathedral, Kilkenny, in 1571. 

By his first wife, Eleanor, daughter of Theobald Butler of Neigham, he had a daughter Margaret, and a son, Edmund, who became 2^nd Viscount.] 

 
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son, 

 
EDMUND, 2nd Viscount (c1562-1602), who married Grizzel, daughter of Barnaby, 1st Baron Upper Ossory,  

[Kavanagh, p. 63. He followed in his father’s footsteps of persecuting and hunting down the “mere Irishry.” He was ever ready to spill blood, in quarrels and in defence. He renewed the old animosities with the Fitzpatricks, the Princes of Upper Ossory. Edmond later married Grainne, the daughter of Lord Ossory, Sir Barnaby Fitzpatrick. Marriage alliances in those days were often used in an attempt to patch up old enmities. 

The second Viscount was a significant political player in his time, siding ith the Earl of Ormond and Lord Justice Pelham against the Earl fo Desmond. He played a prominent role in the Plantation of Munster. He accompanied the Lord Deputy in his Munster Expedition in 1579 against the Spaniards and James Fitzmaurice, who was leader of the Desmond insurgents. He sat in Perrott’s Parliament in Dublin (1585-6) which attainted the late Earl of Desmond. …p. 64. Piers and James, two brothers of Edmund the future Mountgarret also sided with the Desmond faction, then led by James Fitzmaurice the son of Sir Morish Fitzgibbon, the White Knight. 

The rebel Butlers all took an active part in the battle of Kilkenny in 1568. The Butler participation in the rebellions of the period stemmed from two grievances – the loss of land suffered by the Butlers of Cloghgrennan, County Carlow, and the pressure being put on them to renounce Catholicism. 

The battle of Kilkenny was a serious affair involving the Butlers allied to the Gaelic clans of the region, the Kavanaghs, O’Byrnes and O’Nolans. The rebel Butlers and their allies took over the city and defended it against the Crown forces led by Peter Carew and probably the Mountgarret forces. Carew defeated them with great slaughter, killign over 400. 

Following this defeat the Butlers were arrested but were released on the orders of Black Tom, 10^th Earl…They wre in rebellion again the next year, 1569 and together with their old allies sacked the town of Enniscorthy. After this the rebellion seems to have fizzled out and the Butlers were again arrested but once more due to the influence of their brother (who claimed they were mad) they were released. Edmund 2^nd Viscount Mountgarret died in 1602.] 

and was father of 

 
RICHARD, 3rd Viscount (1578-1651), who wedded firstly, Margaret, eldest daughter of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, by whom alone he had issue, and was succeeded by his eldest son, 

[Kavanagh, p. 65: Richard 3^rd Viscount along with his father sided with the O’Neills of Tyrone in the Nine Years War…In a bewildering change of allegiance the Butlers, father and son, sided with the Earl of Essex, who arrived in 1599 to put down the rebellion. This was probably done because of the urgings of the Earl of Ormond. When the Nine Years War was finally brought to a conclusion by the defeat at Kinsale the Mountgarret Butlers had their lands intact. 

Richard sat in the Parliament of 1615 in his capacity of Viscount. He continued as a solid citizen and loyal to the Crown and was again in Parliament in 1634 when Wentworth was Lord Deputy. However in 1641-2 he resurrected his ancient armour, mounted his old war steed, and joined the Confederacy in support of the Catholic cause. At the time he was the owner of a huge amount of land in Kilkenny, Wexford and Carlow, said to have been in excess of 20,000 acres. 

This move by Mountgarret was a staggering blow to the government side and his second cousin James 12^th Earl of Ormond. The old man now in his early 60s [p. 66] commanded such huge respect that all of the Catholic gentlemen of the county with their cohorts flocked to his standard. He swept into Kilkenny city and seized it for the Confederacy. One of his first acts was to extend his protection to all the Protestant citizens and their property. Of course the wife of the 12^th Earl was Protestant and she made every effort to help her co-religionists by giving them sanctuary in the castle. … 

p. 67. It is not clear what subsequent role Lord Mountgarret played in the Confederacy or in the campaign against Cromwell, but he died a natural death in 1652. [fn: After the Cromwellian campaign he fled to Galway where he took refuge and died there. His castle at Ballyragget was taken over by Major Abel Warren. Warren’s father, Rev. Edward Warren, the rector of the parish was ousted from his living by MOuntgarret’s soldiers in 1641. Reve Edward had three sons, two of whom were officers in Cromwell’s army.] Edward one of Mountgarret’s younger sons who had been living in Urlingford Castle was arrested in 1652 and taken to Dublin. He was tried or the murder of people in the Freshford area ten years earlier. He was believed to be innocent but on the testimony of Major Warren he was found guilty and executed.] 

[p/ 68. Edmund 4^th Viscount was a key player in the Confederate Army and saw action in Kilrush and Ballinvegga and in C. Wexford, where he was for a time Governor of Enniscorthy and then of the entire county of Wexford. He was also Governor of Kilkenny in 1646. He was taken prisoner when Wexford was captured by the Cromwellian army. …In the subsequent land grab his lands were declared forfeit, but the arrangement was declared null and void in 1660 when Charles II was restored.  the Duke of Ormond was Charles II’s most trusted advisor and probably the most powerful man in Ireland. One of his first acts was to restore their lands, almost in total to his relatives. In this way Edmund Butler 4^th Viscount Mountgarret was reinstated in most of his Kilkenny lands. In addition he received further lands in 1667 in an Act of Settlement grant. Those lands were in the barony of Knocktopher.  

Sir Edmund was married twice and by his first wife, Dorothy Touchet, he had two sons and two daughters. 

p. 69. The 5^th Viscount was lucky in that his relation, the 2^nd Duke of Ormonde, was a committed Williamite, who entertained that monarch in his castle of Kilkenny after the defeat of King James at the Battle of the Boyne. In the Jacobite confiscations that followed, the Mountgarret Butlers emerged unscathed. They still remained Catholic and produced children too numerous to mention… 

p. 70. The 6^th Viscount was educated at the Jesuit colleges of Flamstead, St. Omer and La Fleche. He was a Lt Col of Horse in the Army of King James II at the Siege of Derry but was captured and outlawed. The outlawry was reversed in 1721 but while he took the oath of allegiance he would not take the oath of supremacy and withdrew from the House of Parliament. 

…The 11^th Viscount took the expedient step of becoming a Protestant. He was MP for County of Kilkenny from 1776-1779.  

p. 71. 12^th Viscount had no children and was succeeded by his nephew, Henry Edmund as 13^th Viscount. The Earldom became extict on the death of the 12^th Viscount who according to Lord Dunboyne was insane for most of his adult life. 

 
EDMUND, 4th Viscount (1595-1679),  

• Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount (d 1602); 

• Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount (1578–1651); 

• Edmund Butler, 4th Viscount (1595–1679); 

• Richard Butler, 5th Viscount (d 1706); 

• Edmund Butler, 6th Viscount (1663–1735); 

• Richard Butler, 7th Viscount (1685–1736); 

• James Butler, 8th Viscount (1686–1749); 

• Edmund Butler, 9th Viscount (1687–1751); 

• Edmund Butler, 10th Viscount (d 1779); 

• Edmund Butler, 11th Viscount (1745–93); 

• Edmund Butler, 12th Viscount (1771–1846) (created Earl of Kilkenny in 1793). 

Earls of Kilkenny (1793) 

• Edmund Butler, 1st Earl of Kilkenny, 12th Viscount Mountgarret (1771–1846) 

Viscounts Mountgarret (continued) 

• Henry Edmund Butler, 13th Viscount (1816–1900) 

• Henry Edmund Butler, 14th Viscount (1844–1912) 

• Edmund Somerset Butler, 15th Viscount (1875–1918) 

• Piers Henry Augustine Butler, 16th Viscount (1903–66) 

• Richard Henry Piers Butler, 17th Viscount (1936–2004) 

• Piers James Richard Butler, 18th Viscount (b 1961) 

The current heir presumptive is the present holder’s brother, Edmund Henry Richard Butler (b 1962).  

Piers James Richard [Butler], 18th and present Viscount,  is de jure 27th Earl of Ormonde and 21st Earl of Upper Ossory following the death of the 7th Marquess of Ormonde in 1997.  

BALLYCONRA HOUSE is a seven-bay, two-storey over basement house with dormer attic, dated 1724, on an L-shaped plan, possibly originally a mill owner’s house with two-bay two-storey side elevations, and single-bay two-storey double-pile return to north-west. Now in use as offices. 

This is a well-appointed substantial house representing an important element of the early 18th century architectural heritage of County Kilkenny. 

It may originally have had associations with the nearby Ballyconra Mills, though its primary significance was for the connections with the Butler Family, Viscounts Mountgarret, late of Ballyragget Castle (1495) together with the Cahill family. 

 
Ballyconra is located on a slightly elevated site. 

 
This house makes an important impression in a landscape dominated by late 20th-century industrial ranges.   

The house is said to be haunted by the ghost of Edmund, 12th Viscount Mountgarret and first and last Earl of Kilkenny, who died in 1846 and was the last Mountgarret to live there.  

Following Lord Kilkenny’s death, the house was occupied by Michael Cahill, agent to the 13th Viscount, by whose descendants it was afterwards acquired. 

The Mountgarrets’ other seat was Nidd Hall, near Ripley, Yorkshire; sold in 1968.