Killymeal House, Co Tyrone

see https://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2017/06/killymeal-house.html 

THE NEWTONS OWNED 544 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE 

This family claims to be a branch of the old Cheshire House of NEWTON, derived immediately from 

RYCHARDE NEWTON, Town Clerk of Carrickfergus, 1595, had allotments of parts of property in the same year, a portion of which remained in the possession of the family. 
His son, 
 
RICHARD NEWTON, High Sheriff of Carrickfergus, 1598, 1600, and 1601, married a daughter of John, and sister of Andrew Willoughby, and was father of 
 
MARMADUKE NEWTON, High Sheriff of Carrickfergus, 1624 and 1632, father of 
 
RICHARD NEWTON, of Galgorm, County Antrim, wedded Margaret, sister of John and Willoughby Chaplin. 
 
He died in 1700, having had four sons, the eldest, Marmaduke, High Sheriff of Carrickfergus, 1687, and Mayor, 1692-3, dvpsp. 
 
The second son, 
 
ANDREW NEWTON, of Galgorm, High Sheriff of Carrickfergus, 1718, espoused his cousin Margaret, daughter of John Chaplin, by Mary his wife, daughter of Alderman Andrew Willoughby, and was father of 
 
HENRY NEWTON, of Galgorm, who married Sarah, sister of the Rev Joseph Fraser, of Carrickfergus, and (besides a son, Willoughby Chaplin, who dsp) was father of 
 
ANDREW NEWTON JP (1749-1826), firstly of Galgorm, and afterwards of Coagh, County Tyrone, who wedded Margaret, daughter of Robert Hamilton, of Monclone, County Armagh, and had issue, 

Henry; 
ROBERT, of whom we treat; 
Andrew, of Coagh; 
Willoughby Chaplin; 
Beatrice; Frances; Catherine; Eliza. 

Mr Newton was succeeded by his second son, 
 
ROBERT NEWTON (1782-1831), who wedded Alicia, daughter of the Rev J Paul, Rector of Ballinderry, County Tyrone, and had issue, 

ROBERT, his heir; 
Jane; Margaret. 

The only son, 
 
ROBERT NEWTON JP (1831-1900), of Coagh, County Tyrone, married, in 1864, Elizabeth, daughter of Dr W P Geoghegan, and had issue, 

ROBERT, his heir; 
John Orr, of Fairlough Lodge; 
Alicia; Annie Louisa; Francis Elizabeth; Norah Mary. 

Mr Newton settled at Dungannon and purchased Killymeal House from his cousin, Andrew Willoughby Newton. 
 
His eldest son, 
 
ROBERT NEWTON JP DL (1876-), of Killymeal House, County Tyrone, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1948, wedded, in 1902, Edith Florence, daughter of Charles Roark, and had issue, 

ROBERT CHARLES, b 1905; 
John Lowry Courtenay, b 1909; 
Edith Margaret, b 1903; 
Norah Alicia, b 1904; 
Elizabeth Mary, b 1907. 

 
KILLYMEAL HOUSE, near Dungannon, County Tyrone, is a late 18th century, two-storey, five-bay country house. 
 
It has a high basement and flanking bow-fronted, single-storey wings. 
 
The door is approached by a flight of stone steps, and framed by a sandstone aedicule of Tuscan-style columns and broken pediment. 
 
William Murray, headmaster of the Royal School, Dungannon, was granted a lease of the house in 1791. 

 
Killymeal House served as the GHQ of 8th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment, from the early 1970s. 
 
It was the residence of the commanding officer and his family; and the stables served as the operations room. 
 
It is thought that the Ministry of Defence sold Killymeal ca 2005. 
 
Killymeal House was maliciously burnt in August, 2015. 
 
First published in June, 2015.