Loughry Manor, Co Tyrone

see https://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2015/04/loughry-manor.html

THE LINDESAYS OWNED 2,821 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE  

 
The first of the family of LINDESAY who settled in Ulster, upon the confiscation of the O’Neills in that province, were two brothers, BERNARD LINDESAY, of Lough Hill, Haddington, Gentleman of the Bedchamber to JAMES VI, King of Scotland, and ROBERT LINDESAY, Chief Harbinger to that monarch, sons of THOMAS LINDESAY, of Kingswark, in Leith, which Thomas held several offices of high honour and trust, as well as emolument, under MARY, Queen of Scotland, and her son, JAMES VI, such as Searcher-General of Leith, in 1562, which he resigned in favour of his son, Bernard, in 1594. 

The King provided, not only for him, but his family, by pensions, to his daughters, Agnes and Elizabeth, out of the rents and tithes of the abbey of North Berwick; also to his sons, Bernard, Thomas, and Robert, from other lands belonging to the friars of Linlithgow. 

Sir David Lyndsay was Lyon King of Arms, 1542-54. 

Thomas Lindesay, the Snawdoun Herald, and Searcher-General of Leith, was living in 1594. 
 
His son,  
 
ROBERT LINDESAY, of Leith, Chief Harbinger and Comptroller of the Artillery to JAMES I in Scotland, obtained from that monarch a grant of the manor and lands of Tullyhogue, Loughry, etc, County Tyrone, by patent dated 1611. 

 
He married Janet Acheson, and by her (who survived him, and was living in 1619) he had a son and successor, 
 
ROBERT LINDESAY (c1604-74), of Loughry and Tullyhogue, who obtained a second patent of the said manor and lands of Loughry and Tullyhogue, described therein as Manor Lindesay, in the 14th year of the reign of CHARLES I, and who built the mansion house of Loughry in 1632, which was burnt by the rebels in 1641, and rebuilt by him in 1671. 
 
Mr Lindesay, an officer in the royal army at the battle of Worcester, married Margaret, daughter of James Richardson, of Castle Hill, County Tyrone, and had issue (with three daughters), 

ROBERT, of whom presently; 
Alexander, of Cahoo; 
William.  

The elder son,  
 
ROBERT LINDESAY, of Loughry and Tullyhogue, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1677, a refugee and defender in Londonderry during the celebrated siege, wedded Anne, daughter of John Morris, of Bellville, County Tyrone. 
 
He died in 1691, leaving issue, 

ROBERT, his heir; 
JOHN, of whose line we treat. 

The elder son, 

ROBERT LINDESAY (1679-1742), of Loughry and Tullyhogue, MP for County Tyrone, 1729-33, Judge of the Common Pleas, 1733, married, in 1707, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Singleton, of Drogheda (and sister of Henry Singleton, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, and afterwards Master of the Rolls, in that kingdom), and had issue one son and one daughter: Robert, died an infant; Anne, died unmarried. 
 
Judge Lindesay, a close friend of the VERY REV DR JONATHAN SWIFT, the celebrated Dean of St Patrick’s, was succeeded by his brother, 
 
JOHN LINDESAY (1686-1761), of Loughry and Tullyhogue, who married, in 1744, Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev Bellingham Mauleverer, Rector of Maghera, County Londonderry, and granddaughter of the Most Rev William Nicolson, Lord Archbishop of Cashel. 
 
He died in 1761, leaving a son and successor, 
 
ROBERT LINDESAY (1747-1832), of Loughry and Tullyhogue, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1788, MP for Dundalk, 1781-3, a Deputy Governor of Tyrone, Assistant Barrister, County Tyrone, who married, in 1775, his second cousin, Jane, eldest daughter and co-heir of Thomas Mauleverer, of Arncliffe Hall, Yorkshire, and had issue, 

John, father of JOHN LINDESAY; 
Robert, died in infancy; 
FREDERICK, of whom hereafter. 

Mr Lindesay was succeeded by his eldest son,   
 
JOHN LINDESAY (1780-1826), Lieutenant-Colonel, Royal Tyrone Militia, Mayor of Cashel, who wedded Mary Anne, daughter of Richard Pennefather, of New Park, County Tipperary, MP for Cashel, and had an only son, 
 
JOHN LINDESAY DL (1808-48), Lieutenant, 7th Royal Fusiliers, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1840, who succeeded to the family estate on the death of his grandfather, 1832. 
 
Mr Lindesay married Harriott Hester, daughter of the Rt Hon Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn MP, of Llangedwin, brother to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn Bt, MP, of Wynnstay, Denbighshire, though died without an heir, and was succeeded by his uncle,  
 
FREDERICK LINDESAY JP DL (1792-), of Loughry, Barrister, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1859, who married firstly, in 1823, Agnes Cornish Bayntun, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir Edwin Bayntun Sandys Bt, of Miserden Park, Gloucestershire, and Hadlington Hall, Oxfordshire (who died in 1842), and had issue, 

Robert Sandys, Capt. Royal Tyrone Fusilier Militia; d 1870; 
Frederick John Sandys (1830-77), of Loughry, military officer; 
Thomas Edward, 22nd Native Infantry, killed in 1857; 
JOSHUA EDWARD CHARLES COOPER, of whom we treat; 
Jane; Philippa Allen; Agnes Sarah. 

The fourth son,  
 
JOSHUA EDWARD CHARLES COOPER LINDESAY JP DL (1843-93), of Loughry, Lieutenant-Colonel, 3rd Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, late 50th Regiment, died unmarried, and was succeeded by his cousin, 
 
HENRY RICHARD PONSONBY LINDESAY (1843-1903), of Loughry, and Donore, Ivybridge, Devon, Lieutenant-Colonel, Reserve of Officers, 60th Rifles and 20th Regiment, who wedded, in 1898, Frances Mary, daughter of the Rev J Irwin, Rector of Hurworth-on-Tees. 
 
He dsp 1903. 

Loughry (Image: Ebay)

LOUGHRY DEMESNE, near Cookstown, County Tyrone, dates from the early 17th century. 

The origins of the demesne can be traced to 1611, when land in the area was granted by JAMES I to his Chief Harbinger, Robert Lindesay, who is thought to have built himself a timber residence on the southern side of the river Killymoon, close to the village of Tullahogue, ”surrounded by a ditch with a high bank of Clay and a quick-thorn hedge”. 

Robert died ca 1629 and his lands passed to his son Robert, who built a new residence on the present site in 1632. 

This house was destroyed in the 1641 rebellion and the site was abandoned until 1671, when a new dwelling was commenced. 

 
This second house was finished in 1674, shortly after Robert’s death, and survived until about 1750, when it, too, was destroyed by fire, although it is thought to have been accidental. 
 
Although there appears to be no extant documentary evidence to prove it, the relatively steeply-pitched roof and simple symmetrical lines of the present building suggest that it is that built ca 1754 to replace the 17th century residence. 

Loughry (Image: Ebay)

 
On this, the main two-storey, five openings-wide, gabled block to the south is shown, along with a rear return and the long wing to the north, an arrangement which is by and large repeated on the revised map of 1857, but with somewhat more extensive rear returns. 
 
It is said that Frederick Lindesay added a “saw mill, steward’s house offices and lodge” to the demesne in 1863, and that in the house itself was “improved” by his son, Frederick Lindesay, upon his coming into the estate in 1871-72. 
 
Part of the latter improvements probably involved the addition of the section to the north end of the north wing, which is believed to have originally contained “a banqueting hall and musicians’ gallery”, as well as the porch, and the decorative mouldings around the window openings. 
 
Frederick Lindesay led an extravagant lifestyle, and by the time of his death in 1877, he had amassed debts said to have been in excess of £42,000. 
 
His younger brother and successor, Joshua Lindesay, attempted to rectify this by leading a frugal existence. 
 
Consequently he appears to have vacated Loughry during the 1880s, living within the much more modest Rock Lodge, to the south of the estate. 
 
Joshua died in 1893, leaving the family’s financial problems unresolved, and shortly afterwards the house and estate were sold to Cookstown businessman, John Wilson Fleming. 
 
According to a family historian, Ernest Godfrey, either before or just after the sale, a fire “destroyed the top storey of the mansion”. 
 
The extent of the damage caused by the fire, and the amount of rebuilding – if any- is uncertain. 
 
In 1908, Mr Fleming sold the house and its demesne to the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction in Ireland, which, in 1908, opened the Ulster Dairy School on the site. 

Shortly afterwards, the school built a new front wing and, within the original building, converted the library to an office; the dining-room to a sewing-room; the small drawing room to a superintendent’s room; the large drawing room to a school room; the blue bedroom to a staff sitting room; another bedroom to a small dormitory; the yellow room to a superintendent’s room; Bachelor’s Walk to a teachers’ wing; and the banqueting hall and musicians’ gallery to another dormitory. 

In 1922, following the establishment of Northern Ireland, the school was handed over to the Northern Ireland Ministry of Agriculture. 
 
In 1949 it became Loughry Agricultural College. 

Loughry Manor-house (Image: CAFRE)

 
THE VERY REV DR JONATHAN SWIFT, Dean of St Patrick’s, a close friend of Judge Lindesay, is thought to have written part of Gulliver’s Travels whilst staying at Loughry. 

 
Dean Swift’s Summer House, as it became known, perches precariously above the river Killymoon. 

 
Both the summer house and Loughry Manor are listed. 
 
The house has “1632” inscribed on a wall. 
 
Modern planting and landscaping enhances the college buildings and the prospect to the planted top of Rockhead Hill has not been obscured. 
 
There are mature trees in the parkland, in clumps and individual trees. 
 
The river bank is heavily wooded throughout the demesne and old walk-ways survive. 
 
Offices and stables for the manor house have been adapted for college use. 
 
The walled garden contains a small collection of fruit trees, but is not otherwise cultivated. 
 
First published in April, 2013. 

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

LOUGHRY, County Tyrone (AP MID ULSTER 10) T/026 
REGISTERED GRADE A 
Mid-Georgian demesne park (220 acres/89ha) with house (Listed HB 09/05/020A) occupying 
undulating land rising from a river valley 1.4 miles (2.2km) south of Cookstown and 3.7 miles 
(5.9km) north-west of Stewartstown. The layout and its woodlands, which are very focussed 
around the Killymoon River, are largely a product of the 1770s, but this demesne can trace its 
origin to 1611 when the ‘Manor of Tullahoge’ was granted to Robert Lindesay, Chief Harbinger 
and Comptroller of the Royal Artillery. Robert died before 1619, and in that year Pynnar reported 
that his widow, Janet, and her family were living in a ‘timber house’ on the southern side of the 
Killymoon River (close to the present village of Tullahogue), surrounded by a ‘good strong bawne 
of earth, with a quick-set hedge upon it and ditch about it.’ (this area is now covered in 
woodland). Robert Lindesay’s son, Robert II ‘of Loughry and Tullahoge’ (c.1604-74), was re- 
granted his father’s lands by King Charles I in 1630 (as ‘Manor Lindesay’) and is said to have built a 
new residence on the present location in 1632. After this building was destroyed in the 1641 
Rebellion, a new house on the same site was evidently built by 1666 when the hearth returns 

Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 
indicate the presence of a dwelling at Loughry. Following Robert’s death in 1674 more building 
work was undertaken by his son Robert III (d.1691), a ‘refugee and defender in Derry during the 
siege’, for he and his wife Anne’s initials appear on a date stone of 1680, which can be found on 
the return to the north side of the present house. Some of the original walls of this house survive 
and from the front, which faces east-north-east it appears to have been not too dissimilar to 
nearby Springhill (1690s) having a symmetrical five-bay two-storey facade with windows grouped 
towards the centre, steeply pitched roof and gable ends, but unlike Springhill it is a double pile 
house. It was rebuilt after a fire in the 18th century and again partly rebuilt in the 1890s after 
another fire destroyed the upper floors. Today in rather incongruously stands amidst various late 
20th century administrative buildings. It’s landscape setting in the late 17th century would almost 
certainly have followed the standard pattern and had an enclosed front forecourt with a straight 
tree-lined avenue aligned on the forecourt gates and the front of the house, while the house side 
would have been flanked with enclosed yards containing gardens, orchards and utility buildings.. 
The first edition OS map seems to have relics of at least two surviving tree-lined vistas or avenues 
to the north from this period, which would have been part of a larger formal landscape. 
Unfortunately, the mid-18th century fire is known to have destroyed most of the family papers, so 
we have no early maps of the demesne. This house and demesne were inherited in 1691 by 
Robert Lindesay IV (1679-1742), who served as MP for Co. Tyrone from 1729-33 and was later 
Judge of the Common Pleas, while his wife (he married in 1707) Elizabeth’s brother was Henry 
Singleton, Chief Justice of Common Pleas afterwards Master of the Rolls. Robert was friend and 
legal advisor to Swift, who was a visitor to the demesne, notably in 1722 when he is supposed to 
have used a plain 18th-century single-room pavilion lying 35m south-east of the house on a steep 
bank overhanging the river. Known as ‘Swift’s House’ (Listed HB 09/05/020B), it is square in plan 
with whitewashed walls, slated pyramidal roof surmounted by a ball finial. The pavilion, marked 
as ‘summer house’ on the 1850s OS map, was most likely originally linked to the house with allée 
of trees. In 1742 the property was inherited by John Lindesay (1686-1761), who rebuilt the house 
after an accidental fire in 1750. He in turn was succeeded by his son Robert Lindsay V (1747- 
1832), who sat as MP for Dundalk in 1781-83. Assistant Barrister County Tyrone, married 1775 his 
second cousin Jane, dau and co-heir of Thomas Mauleverer of Arncliffe Hall in Yorkshire. It was 
this marriage no doubt that provided the funds to undertake major landscaping at Loughry 
creating the present landscape park, whose woodland, which remains overwhelmingly deciduous, 
retains its original outline today. The focus of the planting was the Killymoon river with 
continuous planting along its south banks through the townland of Loughry for 1.11 miles 
(1.78km). East of the house there is discontinuous planting along the river from which the 
parkland sweeps away from the river to the north-east, past the house and originally to the 
perimeter planting along the road. In the 20th century the agricultural/administrative buildings 
have divided this parkland into two sections, both sections of which fortunately still retain many 
of their isolated mature trees (through sadly little attempt has been made to renew this 
landscape with replacement planting by the present owners). Paths were laid out each side of the 
river, with a network of different paths in the woods on the south side, linked to a wooden/metal 
bridges, in addition to Loughry bridge (IHR: 04859). A ‘grotto’ is marked on the north bank of the 
river south-west of the walled garden; although not marked on the 1830s map this is likely to 
have been contemporary with the parkland and date to the 1760s or 1770s. Just north of Loughry 
bridge was a corn mill and kiln (IHR: 04858), which was carefully screened from view by woodland 
and remained in operation after the landscape park had been created. Also contemporary with 
the park was the kitchen garden just north-west of the house; this was a long rectangular area 
(1.96 acres/0.79ha), later in the 19th century reduced to 1.3 acres (0.53ha). The east area survives 
as a grass paddock; about 1990 at least there was a small collection of fruit trees in it. There was 
an orchard to the south and an ice house near the river, which was gone by 1934. The post-1750 
house is marked (as ‘Loughry – Lindsay Esq.’) on Taylor’s and Skinner’s road map of 1777, and the 
first ‘accurate’ representation of its plan is shown on the OS map of 1833-34. On this, the main 

Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 
block to the south is shown, along with the long return to the north and some projections to the 
south-west, an arrangement which is by and large repeated on the revised map of 1857. 
Following the death of Robert V, Loughry in 1832 the property came to his grandson, John 
Lindesay (1808-48),who in turn left the family estate to his uncle, Frederick Lindesay I (1792- 
1871), who married (1823) Agnes, eldest dau and co-heiress of Sir Edwin Bayntun Sandys Bt of 
Miserden Park, Gloucestershire and Hadlington Hall Oxfordshire. He undertook a number of 
additions, notably in 1863 building the long rectangular gable-ended two-storey saw mill and 
offices on lower ground to the west of the house and parallel to the river (HB 09/05/020D); it 
include a square powerhouse with pyramidal roof over the millrace. He also built the main west 
demesne gateway off the Killycolp-road with its rusticated square stone piers topped with a griffin 
and a swan respectively; the griffin and swan figures represent his marriage to Agnes Sandys, who 
was represented by the griffin, while the Lindesay crest has long been the swan (gate piers known 
to college students today as the ‘Duck and the Devil’). The lodge here was demolished around 
2000, while gateway was widened with 1960s metal gates, and stone outer walls of similar date. 
Unfortunately the fortune that came with the Sandys marriage was subsequently dissipated by 
Frederick’s second son, Frederick John Sandys (‘Fritz’) (1830-77), who extended the house and led 
an extravagant lifestyle resulting in debts of £42,000, from which the family never really 
recovered. Joshua Lindesay (b.1838-1893), attempted to rectify this by leading a frugal existence 
and appears to have vacated Loughry during the 1880s, living within the much more modest Rock 
Lodge, to the south of the demesne. The wider estate had to be sold off and after Joshua’s death 
in 1893, the house and its grounds were bought by a cousin of the Lindesay’s, the Cookstown 
businessman John Wilson Fleming. Just before or just after the sale, the upper floor of the house 
was damaged in a fire. Wilson restored the building in its present two-storey form in 1902 and 
added some additional offices to the rere. In 1906 he sold the house and demesne to the Irish 
Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, who adapted and extended the existing 
buildings, and in January 1908 opened the Ulster Dairy School on the site. In 1922. Following 
Partition, the School was handed over to the Northern Ireland Ministry of Agriculture and in 1949 
it became Loughry Agricultural College. Originally catering for solely female students, (with the 
aim of training farmer’s wives of the future and enabling students to work on farms or in the 
poultry and dairy industries), the college admitted male students for the first time in 1962. By the 
1970s the main emphasis of the college shifted from dairying to food courses. This expansion both 
in terms of student numbers and scope lead to the building of new structures on the site from the 
1960s onwards, most notably the large modern style complex to the south end of the original 
house. SMR: TYR 38:13 rath, 38:31 enclosure and 38:30 cist burial. College of Agriculture, Food 
and Rural Enterprise (Cafe). Private. 

https://lvbmag.wpcomstaging.com/2026/01/15/the-lindesays-loughry-manor-cookstown-tyrone/

Ladies First 

Hansard, the Government record of the Houses of Parliament, logged on 25 April 1907 a question raised by Thomas Kettle, MP for Tyrone East, “To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland when, and in what manner, the land and buildings known as Loughry Manor, situated near Cookstown, County Tyrone, were acquired by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction; and what use, if any, has been made of them since they were acquired?”

The response from Augustine Birrell was, “The Department of Agriculture received possession of Loughry Manor in the summer of last year, having acquired it by purchase in the superior courts. The property was acquired for the purpose of establishing a school of rural domestic economy for girls in the north of Ireland. The work of adapting the house to the required purpose is now about to be carried out. It was not possible to undertake this work at an earlier date, but it is hoped that the school will be ready to receive pupils next winter.”

An initial visit to Loughry in 1969 stimulated Nicholas Lindesay’s interest and he has researched his family history and connection to County Tyrone ever since. “The Lindesays originated from Leith, Scotland, and like the Stewarts of Killymoon Castle they were a Plantation family,” Nicholas explains. “My great grandfather times seven, Robert Lindesay, was the first to take advantage of the grant from James I in 1610, settling first on the hilltop at Tullahogue. The second Robert built Loughry, which means King’s Gift, in 1632. Ownership of Loughry passed out of the family on 1 February 1895. In some ways it was lucky that it became the Ulster Dairy School and later taken over by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs because the estate remained as one.”

The original Loughry Manor was destroyed in the 1641 Rebellion and a replacement house not commenced until three decades later. A second house was completed in 1674 just after Robert’s death and continued to be the Lindesay residence until it was accidentally burnt down circa 1750. The handsome five bay two storey steep double pitched stuccoed main block of the current Loughry Manor is the third Lindesay house on this site. The Tuscan porch, decorative mouldings, two pane sash windows, and wings would follow. The mid 19th century owner Fritz Lindesay lived a little too well and by his death in 1877 had amassed debts in excess of £42,000. His successor Joshua lived frugally and vacated Loughry for Rock Lodge, a smaller property to the south of the estate.

Joshua died in 1893, leaving the family’s financial issues unresolved, and the entailed estate was sold by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Richard Ponsonby Lindesay of Devon to local businessman John Wilson Fleming, the last private owner. A long two storey Arts and Crafts style wing terminating in a square three storey tower was added by the Ulster Dairy School in 1906. Then in 1949 it became Loughry Agricultural College for female students. It took another 13 years before male students were admitted. Standalone educational buildings were built from the 1960s onwards but the 80 hectare parkland setting can still be appreciated.

Nicholas Lindesay confirms that turn of the 18th century owner Robert Lindesay wrote, “There is an old summerhouse at Loughry, a square turret surrounded by ivy and built upon a cliff impending a beautiful meandering river full of rugged rocks even which its waters rush with impetuosity and grandeur, particularly after rain, and on the opposite side a wooded bank rises abruptly to a considerable height, presenting to the eye a variety of majestic timber and environmental trees of oak, beech, elm, fir and ash… this square turret consists of one single room and a wine cellar hewn out of the limestone rock below, with two massive oak doors eacj about a foot and a half wide on which are affixed tremendous hinges, locks and keys.”

Robert was the fourth of the 10 Lindesay owners of Loughry. He was MP for County Tyrone, a Judge of the Common Pleas and a friend of Jonathan Swift who was Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin and author of Gulliver’s Travels. Nicholas notes, “The Deanwas a frequent visitor to Loughry and it is said that he wrote many of his books and poems in the peace and tranquillity of the summerhouse accompanied by his friend Robert Lindesay who also possessed literary talent.” Loughry Manor and Dean Swift’ssummerhouse are still intact but currently unused. A faded sign on the ground floor of the return wing “Swifts Bar” (missing an apostrophe and clientele) hints at happier times.