Spur Royal (or Augher Castle), Co Tyrone 

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. 264. “(Richardson-Bunbury, Bt/PB; Carmichael-Ferrall//LGI1912) A square three storey “Plantation castle” with an unusual triangular tower in the centre of each of its sides; built ca 1615 by Sir Thomas Ridgeway, afterwards Earl of Londonderry; burnt 1689, and restored ca 1832 by Sir James Richardson-Bunbury, 2^nd Bt, who added two castellated wings to the design of William Warren; producing what is one of the most original of all late-Georgian Irish Castles. Now the home of Mr John Leckey.”

see https://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2015/04/augher-castle.html

THE CARMICHAEL-FERRALLS OWNED 236 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE 

 
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR HUGH LYLE CARMICHAEL (1764-1813), son of Hugh Carmichael by his wife Elizabeth (daughter of HUGH LYLE, of Coleraine), Governor of Demerara, married Catherine, last surviving child and heiress of Dr John Ferrall, of Jervis Street, Dublin, and had issue, 

 
JOHN O’FERRALL CARMICHAEL, Lieutenant-Colonel, 18th Regiment and 6th Dragoon Guards, of Duncroft House, Staines, Middlesex (d 1836), who wedded Elizabeth, daughter of the Rt Rev John Porter, Lord Bishop of Clogher, and had issue, 

JOHN JERVIS O’FERRALL, his heir; 
Mary, m Ven C Burney, Archdeacon of Kingston-on-Thames. 

His only son, 
 
JOHN JERVIS O’FERRALL CARMICHAEL-FERRALL JP (1820-1904), Captain, Royal Navy, of Augher Castle, County Tyrone, served under Admiral Sir Charles Napier off the coast of Syria, and had the British and Turkish medals. 
 
He married, in 1850, Margaret, daughter of Sir John Nugent Humble, 1st Baronet, of Cloncoskoran, County Waterford, and had issue, an only child, 

JOHN, of Augher Castle. 

Captain Carmichael-Ferrall assumed the additional surname and arms of FERRALL in 1852. 
 
He was succeeded by his son, 
 
JOHN CARMICHAEL-FERRALL JP DL (1855-c1925), of Augher Castle, Barrister, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1907, who wedded, in 1899, Elizabeth Emily (1856-1946), third daughter of the Rev David Henry Elrington, Vicar of Swords, County Dublin, by Matilda Rowena, his wife, daughter of the Rev Pierce William Drew, of the Strand House, Youghal. 

SPUR ROYAL, also known as Augher Castle, stands outside Augher, County Tyrone. 
 
It was originally a square, three-storey Plantation castle, with a peculiar triangular tower in the middle of each of its sides. 
 
It was built ca 1615 by Sir Thomas Ridgeway, Earl of Londonderry, on the site of an older fortress.

The Castle was burnt in 1689 by the Jacobites, though was restored in 1832 by Sir James Richardson-Bunbury, 2nd Baronet, who added two castellated wings. 

The original castle (above) consisted of a pentagonal tower surrounded by a wall twelve feet high and flanked by four circular towers. 
 
The wall has been removed, though one of the round towers has been restored. 
 
The entrance gateway has also been removed and rebuilt on an elevated situation commanding some fine views, in which the remains of the old castle form an interesting object. 
 
The mansion is situated in a well-wooded demesne of 220 acres, and on the edge of a picturesque lake. 
 
Founded in the early 17th century, part of the bawn of the original house is incorporated into the present house of 1827 by Warren. 
 
It has passed through many hands in recent times and little parkland remains. 
 
A large portion of the present holding is taken up by the lake, making a spectacular setting for the house, which is surrounded by lawns and shelter trees. 
 
Few mature trees remain of a once, ‘tastefully wooded’ site. 
 
The walled garden is concreted. 
 
There is a gate lodge of ca 1840. 

At the time of the Plantation of Ulster, by virtue of a decree by JAMES I in 1611, Sir Thomas Ridgway, treasurer at war for Ireland, received, in 1613, a grant of 315 acres of land in the barony of Clogher, under an agreement that he should, within four years, settle on a parcel of land called Augher twenty Englishmen or Scots, chiefly artificers and tradesmen, to be incorporated as burgesses and made a body politic within the said four years; and should set apart convenient places for the site of the town, churchyard, market-place, and public school; he was likewise to assign to the burgesses houses and lands and 30 acres of commons. 

Sir Thomas Ridgeway also received, in 1611, the grant of a market and two fairs to be held here. 
 
In 1613, the town and precincts, with the exception of a fort and bawn called Spur Royal which had been erected, were created a borough.  
 
Spur Royal photo credit:  Kenneth Allen.  First published in October, 2010. 

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

AUGHER CASTLE (SPUR ROYAL), County Tyrone (AP MID ULSTER 10) T/002 
REGISTERED GRADE B 
Late Georgian landscape park (162.8 acres/65.8ha) for castle of 1610-14 with 1831-2 extension 
(Listed HB 13/03/001) in the townland of Castlehill on the west side of Augher village, 1.46 miles 
(2.35km) north-east of Clogher. The park occupies hilly drumlin country with the River Blackwater 
forming its north-west boundary and its centre dominated by a large natural lake (20.1 
acres/8.12ha), which makes for a spectacular setting for both the house and park. While the 
demesne was founded in the early 17th century, prior to this the lake was depicted on a map 
c.1601 by Bartlett, showing a fortified crannog belonging to the O’Neills with an enclosure on the 
western side of the lake. In December 1610 the site was included in the grant of territory ‘called 
Portclare and Ballykillgirie’ made by King James I to Sir Thomas Ridgeway, the then ‘Vice-Treasurer 
and Treasurer at Wars in Ireland’. Almost immediately, Ridgeway, who came over in person, 
brought with him twelve English carpenters and ten masons to build a ‘wardable castle’ within a 
large square ‘bawn of lyme and stone’ with four round flankers, which (according to Pynnar) also 
contained a house. The castle was unusually sophisticated among Ulster’s plantation buildings, 
being star-shaped in plan, the square three-storey tower having triangular bays that project from 
the centre of each side. The shape on plan resembles the emblem on the reverse side of the ‘spur 
royal’, a Jacobean gold coin. One of the four circular flankers survives (TYR 059: 039). Financial 
difficulties compelled Ridgeway to mortgage the castle to Lord Balfour in 1621, who sold his 
interest to the Bishop of Clogher. The following year (1622) Ridgeway, sold the entire estate to Sir 
James Erskine. A mistake was later found in the original 1610 grant and in July 1640 King Charles I 
made a re-grant of the lands to Erskine, ‘to be called the Manor of Favour Royall’. Sir James died 
in 1636 and in 1641 his third son and heir, Rev. Archibald Erskine successfully repelled an attack 
on the castle by Sir Phelim O’Neill and Rory Maguire. Archibald died in 1645 and the whole estate 
was divided between his two daughters, with Mary (b.1618), who married William Richardson I 
(1615-73) receiving the western Augher portion of the property, which became known as ‘Spur 
Royal, with the rest – ‘Favour Royal’ given to Ann and her husband, John Moutray. Spur Royal 
later passed to William and Mary Richardson’s son, Archibald Richardson (c.1640-1700), MP for 
Augher (1692-93) and it was during his time that the castle was burnt by Lt. Col. Thomas Lloyd in 
1689 and shortly afterwards dismantled on the instructions of the Irish Parliament. How much 
was dismantled however, is not very clear. William Richardson (b.1679), who succeeded in 1700, 
may have initially lived in Dublin as when Mrs Delany (Mary Granville Delany) drew an ink sketch 
of the castle in 1754 the castle appeared quite intact with its parapets and windows though the 
bawn walls and two towers were in a ruined state. Where the Richardson’s lived in the 18th- 
century is not clear and confusing as they invariably give their address as Augher or Castlehill, 
Augher. William Richardson, who married (1709) Lettice, Dau of William Wray, may have lived at 
Springtown, east of Clogher where they had a very modest house or lived in the town of Augher 
itself. He was succeeded by his son, James Mervyn Richardson (d.1753) and then by his brother, 
St. George Richardson (c.1718-1777), who appears to have built a plain two-storey house of 
c.1730-40 within the main street neighbouring village of Augher. He was MP for Augher (1755-60) 
and having married Elizabeth, dau of, and heir of, Benjamin Bunbury of Co. Tipperary, he was not 
short of money. However, it was his son, Sir William Richardson (1749-1830) who made the first 
moves towards rebuilding the castle. This followed his marriage in 1787 to Mary, daughter and 
co-heir of William Newburgh of Ballyhaise, Co. Cavan; he was created a baronet the same year. In 
1791 when Grose depicted Augher castle the two round towers on the lake side had been rebuilt 
and given conical roofs, though the bawn wall remained; by 1796 however, when depicted in a 
sketch by Capt. Smith, the bawn wall had been removed, while the towers remained. At the same 
time, in the 1790s, the parkland was being laid out and was evidently finished when visited by 
John McEvoy for his Statistical Survey of 1802. McEvoy admired Richardson’s ‘good taste’ in his 
plantings, which were in ‘a flourishing state’. The plantings, all originally deciduous, was clearly 
professionally undertaken. On the east side they comprised shelter belts alongside the road (the 

Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 
Knockmany-road) leading north out of Augher; by the time the 1830s OS map was produced, this 
road had been diverted to the east, so additional plantings were subsequently put down 
alongside this new road in the 1840s. More woodland strips were planted on Cottage Hill, north- 
west of the castle, and around the walled garden, also evidently built in the 1790s. The main focus 
of parkland planting however, was on the west side of the lake, between the lake, the River 
Blackwater and the old Augher-Clogher-road; the latter line was realigned and diverted to the 
south by the Grand Jury in 1824. The main gates into the demesne were placed at the Farranetra, 
then on the old road; these gates were flanked by circular sentry-box lodges, later superseded by 
a gate lodge in the 1840s. A similiar pair of circular lodges were also placed at the park entrance 
off the old Knockmary-road; these were superseded by a lodgeless gate sweep c.1855; of the 
latter Dean remarked that they were ‘in the form of castle chess pieces’, being ‘six octagonal 
stone crenellated pillars flanking ogee sweeps, wicket and carriage gates in very decorative Great 
Exhibition ironwork’. This main drive from the east, the line of which is still present, meanders 
through parkland to the north-east, over a bridge, and originally passed near the walled garden 
and up to the castle. The parkland each side of this avenue was designed to be seen both from 
the avenue itself and from the house, and comprised isolated trees, clumps and carefully 
positioned woodland belts and screens. Also built with the parkland was the walled garden and 
an adjacent farm building. The walled garden (1.63 acres/0.66ha) survives, albeit now cover in 
concrete; it has a trapezoidal shape with brick lined walls; adjoining the north wall on the outside 
is a bothy which is shown on the OS six-inch map of 1834. The walled garden is adjoined at the 
south by a stable yard and farm which since the 1980s have been in separate ownership; the 
latter is a square yard enclosed by long ranges of outbuildings on all sides, with those to the 
eastern and southern sides probably of late 18th-century construction. Having invested in 
rebuilding the old castle and laid down a landscape park, Richardson appears to have had second 
thoughts about living at Augher. In June 1812, when he was himself in America serving in the 
America Wars (he also served in the first America War), he put his ‘elegant household furniture’ 
and entire contents of the castle for sale by auction, including ‘pleasure boats and sails’. 
Subsequently, in October 1817 there was an auction of all his Leicester and South Down Ewes, 
which it appears he bred. Sir William Richardson died in Bath, October 1830 and was succeeded 
by his son, Sir James Mervyn Richardson-Bunbury (1781-1851), who it seems, immediately set 
about planning to enlarge the castle. He engaged a local Sligo architect, William Warren, and work 
was undertaken in 1831-32. The new building was attached to the old house in the form of a 
symmetrical seven-bay two-storey cut-stone block with arcaded central section flanked by subtly 
angled wings all topped with castellations and miniature bartizans. In the process, the north 
bawn circular tower was removed, presumably because it obstructed views. The adoption of the 
castle style was no doubt encouraged by the widespread menace at that time in the Augher 
district of Ribbonsmen attacking houses and people. Sir James may have had financial difficulties 
almost as soon as he finished, because in August 1834 an advertisement appeared to the sale or 
letting of the castle and demesne, with its ‘250 acres, beautifully laid out with woodland’ an the 
‘castle only three years built and fit to accommodate a large family’ with ‘extensive offices and a 
large walled-in garden’. However, it was not sold as Sir James was still resident in 1839. He was 
succeeded by his eldest son, Rev. Sir John Richardson-Bunbury (1813-1909), who leased the castle 
and demesne in the 1850s to John Jervis O’Ferrall Carmichael-Ferrall (1820-1904), who was a 
captain in the Royal Navy; his son John Carmichael-Ferrall (1855-1924) inherited the lease and 
after he died in Bath in May 1924, it appears to castle and demesne reverted back to the Rev. Sir 
John Richardson-Bunbury’s grandson, Mervyn William Richardson-Bunbury (1874-1953), who sold 
the castle in 1940 to Colonel Fred Tracey. Col. Tracey remained there until 1972, after which it 
was purchased by a Mr. Lecky of Belfast. The next owner (in 1976) was William Nethercott of 
Newtownbutler, with Joe and Maureen Beattie acquiring it in the 1980s. It was sold to a Mrs. 
Finlay in 1990, and was on the market again in Spring 2011. There is a c.1970s dwelling house on 
the hill to the north-west of the castle [possibly built by the aforementioned Col. Tracey], which 

Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 
appears to be under separate ownership. SMR: TYR 59:39 castle and bawn, 40 rath and 41 
crannog? House private.