Carnagh House, Co Wexford
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. 56. “(Lambert/LGI1912) A Georgian house with fanlighted doorway; pillars between hall and staircase; Adamesque plasterwork.”
Detached five-bay two-storey double-pile over basement country house, built 1835, on a rectangular plan originally five-bay two-storey single-pile; five-bay full-height rear (south) elevation. Leased, 1901; 1911. Sold, 1962. Resold, 1995. For sale, 2003. Hipped (north) and pitched (south) double-pile slate roof with clay ridge tiles, paired rendered central chimney stacks having cut-granite corbelled stepped stringcourses below capping, and cast-iron rainwater goods on slightly overhanging rendered slate flagged eaves retaining cast-iron octagonal or ogee hoppers downpipes. Rendered, ruled and lined walls on cut-granite chamfered cushion course on rendered plinth with rusticated rendered piers to corners. Round-headed central door opening approached by flight of five cut-granite steps, cut-granite doorcase with three quarter-engaged Doric columns on plinths supporting “Cyma Recta”- or “Cyma Reversa”-detailed cornice, and cut-granite surround with pilasters on plinths supporting archivolt centred on fluted keystone framing timber panelled double doors having fanlight. Square-headed flanking window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing timber casement windows having overlights. Square-headed central window opening originally in tripartite arrangement (first floor) with cut-granite sill, and concealed dressings framing timber casement window. Square-headed window openings (ground floor) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing timber casement windows having overlights. Square-headed window openings (first floor) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing timber casement windows. Segmental-headed central door opening (south) with concrete threshold, and cut-granite Gibbsian surround centred on keystone framing glazed timber panelled door having overlight. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing replacement timber casement windows. Set in landscaped grounds with part creeper- or ivy-covered repointed cut-granite piers to perimeter having cut-granite pyramidal capping supporting arrow head-detailed wrought iron double gates.
A country house erected by Henry Lambert MP (1786-1861) representing an important component of the domestic built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one refronting an eighteenth-century house erected by Henry Lambert (d. 1774) on the occasion of his marriage to Margaret FitzSimon (d. 1791) ‘of the house of Glancullen in the County of Dublin’ (cf. 15703505), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking gently rolling grounds; the compact rectilinear plan form centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase not only demonstrating good quality workmanship in a silver-grey granite, but also showing a pretty fanlight; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with those openings showing somewhat featureless glazing patterns; and the slightly oversailing roofline (Walsh 1996, 27): meanwhile, the eighteenth-century house shows a symmetrical frontage centred on a restrained Gibbsian doorcase; and openings diminishing in scale on each floor (DIA 15/3). Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; Classical-style chimneypieces; and Adamesque plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition (DIA 15/3 Y1-3; Bence-Jones 1978, 56). Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (—-); a lengthy walled garden (—-); and a distant gate lodge (—-), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained estate having historic connections with the Lambert family including Henry Patrick Lambert JP DL (1836-96), one-time High Sheriff of County Wexford (fl. 1864); and George Henry Lambert JP (1866-1931), later of Tan-y-Graig, Anglesey (The Tablet 5th December 1931, 19).
Featured in The Wexford Gentry by Art Kavanagh and Rory Murphy. Published by Irish Family Names, Bunclody, Co Wexford, Ireland, 1994.
p. 138. While they were a very active family at the time of the Norman invasion, the Lamberts were not particularly high profile after the Cromwellian epoch. Nonetheless they did manage to survive the trauma of Cromwell and were intermarried with some of the noblest of the families in the country including the Talbots of Castle Talbot descendants of tehEarls of Shrewsbury.
p. 139. The Lamberts, variously spelt Lampart, Lamport, Langport and Lambart, descended from Milo de Lamport, who came to Ireland with Strongbow. He received grants of land in the Barony of Forth and built a castle at St. Margaret’s. Milo’s son Rudolph received a grant of Lady’s Island where he built a strong castle. When he went on the second Crusade in 1184 he made over the Island to the Chruch. He was killed the following year at the Battle of Hattin. The Augustinians established a foundation on the island and sometime in the Middle Ages the lay abbot of the foundation was a man called Odruhan (In the 16C Sir Morish Odruhen was Prebendary of Crosspatrick and in the early 17C, Daniel O’Druhan was the acting Catholic Bishop of Ferns who used the pseudonym James Walsh. The Druhans have occupied the island from those times down to the present day.)
The Lamberts also acquired Ballyhire Castle, near St. Helen’s, from the Codds and the head of the family at that time (1237) was Hugo de Lamport. [p. 140]. One of his sons, also called Hugo, was Bishop of Ferns from 1258-1282.
p. 140. Numerous Lamberts appear on official documents during the 14 and 15th centuries…
Philip Lambert, the ninth generation of the family to occupy Ballyhire CAstle was married to Marian the daughter of John Synnott of Ballybrennan. His son Patrick was Sheriff of the county in 1543 and two years earlier he had been a juror on an inquisition relating to the Abbey of Selskar. This was held to establish the extent of the property held by the Abbey in County Wexford prior to the dissolution of the monastery and the disbandment of the monks.
Patrick married Margaret Stafford of Ballyconnor Castle and they had at least one son and heir, Philip Lamporte, who married Alice Codd of Clougheast Castle. He was Sheriff of the County in 1591. Philip died in 1592. (a Sir Oliver Lambert, Knight, was granted with lands in Cavan, a lease of the Abbey and lands of Selskar in 1608, but this man is not mentioned in the Burke pedigree or the article by Hubart Lambert).
p. 141. His eldest son and heir was Patrick who married Margaret Whitty of Ballyteigue Castle. They had one son and a daughter, Ellen, who married William Hore of Harperstown. Patrick died young and his son, James, was made a ward of Robert Esmonde of Johnstown Castle. There were specific conditions of wardship to be observed. One ws that James was to be supported at Trinity Collegee, until the age of 18 and was to be supplied with English dress and apparel. James married Esmonde’s daughter, Mary, and dying in 1624, was succeeded by his son Philip. They also had three other sons, Patrick, Robert and Gilbert, and four daughters.
p. 141. Philip of Ballyhire took the Confederate Catholic side during the great Rebellion of 1641, and took part in the siege of Duncannon fort, which was defended by his kinsmanLord Esmonde. Following the Cromwellian Confiscations, Philip lost his property including the 1200 acre estate.
Patrick, who was born in 1610, does not appear to have been involved in the Rebellion and was the last of the family to reside at Ballyhire. Patrick married Marion Stafford of Rahayle and had two sons, Patrick and James the ancestor of the Lamberts of Carnagh (near New Ross). Patrick obtained lands at Dunmain, New Ross, from Caesar Colclough of Tintern Abbey.
His son, Patrick appears to have been the Sheriff of Wexford in 1683 and was appointed a modern alderman in Wexford under the terms of the charter of King James II in 1687.
p. 142. Patrick, of Dunmain, who was made an alderman in 1687, joined the army of King James and was a Colonel in a cavalry regiment at the Battle of the Boyne. He also represented Taghmon as an MP. He married Mary, the daughter of William Talbot of Castle Talbot, and they had one son, Arran, named after his father’s intimate friend, the Earl of Arran, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
He is described by Hubert Lambert as the most notable member of the Lambert family. He obtained a grant of arms from Sir Richard Carney, the Ulster King at Arms in 1683. His estates totalled some 7000 acres.
He died in 1707 and his heir, Arron, also an Army officer, not noted for thrift, wasted much of the family fortunes. He married Catherine Jones, the daughter fo William Jones of the Mansion House, Waterford, and grand daughter of Col Francis Jones, Governor of the Isle of Anglesey. They had one son, Lewis, and one daughter, Catherine, who married Loftus Hatton of Clonard. After his death in 1747 his son Lewis moved out of County Wexford.
p. 142. Col Patrick’s brother, James, is said to be the ancestor of the Lamberts of Carnagh. James married Anastasia Sutton and they had at least one son, Patrick the heir to Carnagh. He married Catherine White, an Heiress of Co Kilkenny and they had two sons and a daughter. The eldest son ws James, who died childless at Bath in 1757, and was succeeded by his younger brother.
p. 143. The younger brother was Henry Lambert of Carnagh, who married Margaret FitzSimons, of the HOuse of Glencullen, Co Dublin, and they had three sons and two daughters.
p. 144. In common with the majority of the gentry the Lamberts of Carnagh lost their lands following the land acts of the late 19C.
Irish Historic Houses 