Stedalt (or Stadalt), Stamullin, 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.

“(Macartney-Filgate, sub Filgate/IFR) A two storey Victorian house with camberheaded windows, a single-storey three sided bow decorated with Romaneque pilasters at either end of its front, and a high roof on a bracket cornice. The seat of the Tunstall-Moores; Lucy, sister and heiress of G.B.Tunstall-Moore, married c.H.R. Macartney-filgate, 1910.” 

not in national inventory 

record Of Protected Structures: 

Stadalt House, townland: Stadalt, town: Stamullen 

Now a nursing home Seven-bay, two-storey house built c. 1879, and extended 1889, with camber headed windows, a single storey 3 sided bow decorated with Romanesque pilasters at either end of its front and a high roof on a bracket cornice. 

Houses r-z

Stadalt is located southwest of Stamullin village. It borders County Dublin. Stedalt is a large two storey Italianate house from the Victorian period. A large lake was created at the front of the house which has now been drained. A large flour mill was located near Stamullin and was fed from the artificial lake. There was also a kiln. 

The Plunketts held Stadalt during the medieval period before the property came into the hands of the Darcy family. In 1773 Christopher Darcy of Stadalt died. Stadalt became the property of the Walsh family. Rev. Jeremiah Walsh of Stadalt was a descendant of the Walsh family of Laragh. When he died in 1774 he was succeeded by his eldest son, Andrew. 

In 1804 William Walsh of Stadalt married Margaret Upton. Stadalt was the seat of W. Walsh in 1835. Stadalt House was pleasantly situated in a demesne of 230 acres. In 1862 William Walsh was residing at Stadalt. The family allowed all their tenants to bring their blighted potatoes to their farmyard to be turned into flour during the famine. In 1861 John Walsh of Stadalt patented a furze crusher which could be used to make the plant suitable for feeding to animals. The machine was exhibited at the Dublin International Exhibition of 1865. The old house at Stadalt was demolished around 1860 when the new house was erected. In 1863 William Walsh captured a burglar in the drawing room of his home. Brendan Matthews recorded that a member of the Walsh family was run over by the train at Gormanstown in 1881. In 1876 William Walsh held 445 acres in County Meath. Henry Walsh died in 1885. 

The property then went through the Tunstall-Moore family and Macartney-Filgate families. By 1876 Robert Tunstall-Moore was living at Stadalt. His wife was Mathilde Sophie Blount of Nantes, France. In 1901 Robert Tunstall-Moore, his wife, Mathilda Sophie, his son, George Blount and daughters, Lucy Mathilda, Edith Mary and Eveline Frances were living at Stadalt. 

Henry R. Tunstall-Moore of Stadalt House died in 1911. Aged 42 Henry was the owner of a number of racehorses and was a steward of Bellewstown Races for years. He had a cricket green at Stadalt. A cricket team for Stadalt competed in competition from the 1890s onwards. Mathilde Sophie Tunstall-Moore died in 1925. 

Lucy Matilda, sister and heiress of George B. Tunstall-Moore married Clement H.R. Macartney-Filgate in 1910. The Macartney-Filgate family were established in north County Dublin and in County Louth.  Clement Macartney-Filgate was a commissioner in Scotland Yard before World War I. He died in 1930. His son, Brian, married in 1937. 

In 1933 Stadalt was put up for sale. The house had four reception rooms, a billiard room, gunroom and office, butler’s pantry, kitchen, scullery, twelve family bedrooms and dressing rooms, two bathrooms and W.C.s, two maidservant’s rooms, work room and pantry. Outside there was seven loose boxes, five stalls, mens’ rooms, gardens, two tennis lawns, gate lodge and two cottages.  In 1936 Mrs. Macartney-Filgate sold the house and 270 acres which was purchased by the Sisters of the Holy Child of Jesus, their first foundation in Ireland. In 1951 the Sisters of Clare took up residence at Stadalt and founded a home for the children of unmarried mothers. In 1987 the Sisters sold the house and it became a nursing home for the elderly.