Tracton House, 39-40 St. Stephen’s Green (1744) courtesy architectureofdublin instagram.
The house was built for and likely designed by the Surveyor General, Arthur Jones-Nevill in 1746 and is probably best known for its fine rococo stuccowork in the rear Neptune room (first photo) which today is still intact within the state apartments of Dublin Castle along with some other elements of the room, both original and some reproduced.
It was purchased by James Dennis, 1st Baron Tracton in 1765 and from then on was known as Tracton House after the more respected judge and politician. It was later separated into two houses with shopfronts to the side facing onto Merrion Row.
It was demolished in 1912 to be replaced with the current Bank of Ireland building construced by G. & T. Crampton and designed by Charles Herbert Ashworth in a more derivative style.
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. 81. “(King, Bt, of Charlestown/PB) A two storey late-Georgian house. Entrance front of three bays…”
Charlestown House, County Roscommon, photograph courtesy of The Landed Estates of County Roscommon facebook page, from Kilronan Album at NLI, colourised.
In 1786 Wilson refers to Charlestown as the “the fine seat of Mr. King, most delightfully situated on the Shannon”. The first Ordnance Survey map marks both Charlestown House and Charlestown Old House closeby at M984 976. Valued at £46 at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. In 1894 Charlestown was the residence of Sir Gilbert King. The house is no longer extant but extensive estate architecture survives.
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. 12. “A 2 storey house of 1829 built onto a three storey C18 house. Three bay front with central breakfront and semi-circular Ionic porch; roof parapet and corner pilasters. Bought 1870 by the Dunphy family; sold 1949, demolished ca. 1960.”
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Bence-Jones, Mark. 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. 13. “(Beamish/IFR) A plain three storey late Georgian house built for Councillor Franklin by Abraham Hargrave, overlooking the water between Great Island and the mainland… now a ruin. Old keep by entrance gate.”
No longer exists.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Bence-Jones, Mark. 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. 11. “(Colthurst, Bt/Pb) A Georgian house with a long elevation. The original seat of the Colthurst family, who gave up living in the house in mid-C19, when they built the new Blarney Castle; it is now demolished.”
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Ardfert Abbey, County Kerry – Destroyed by IRA by fire in 1922.
Ardfert Abbey, County Kerry entrance front, photograph: c. 1870, collection: Col. Talbot Crosbie, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
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. 8. “Crosbie/IFR) A house originally built towards the end of C17 by Sir Thomas Crosbie, MP; “modernized” 1720 by Maurice Crosbie, 1st Lord Brandon, and again altered ca 1830, though keeping its original character. Two-storey main block with seven-bay front, the two outer bays on either side breaking forwards and framed by quoins; a pedimented centre, in which a single triple window was substituted at some period – presumably during the alterations of ca 1830 – for the three first floor bays. Plain rectangular doorcase; and a high eaved roof on a modillion cornice.
“The front was elongated by lower two-storey wings which protruded forwards at right angles to it, thus forming an open forecourt, then turned outwrds and extended for a considerable way on either side. Irregular wing at back of house.
“Inside the house, the panelled hall was decorated with figures painted in monochrome on panels. There was an early 18th century staircase and gallery; Corinthian newels, and more panelling on the landing with Corinthian pilasters; modillion cornice. A large drawing-room boasted compartmented plasterwork on the ceiling. Here there was a full-length Reynolds portrait of Lady Glandore. Caryatid chimneypiece in one room.
“The gardens had an early formal layout: sunken parterre; yew alleys; trees cut into an arcade; avenues of beech, lime and elm. A ruined Franciscan friary was in the grounds.
“The mansion was burnt to the ground by the IRA ca 1922, and all that remains are some relics of the formal garden.
“Ardfert eventually passed to Rev John Talbot (see Mount Talbot), son of 2nd Earl of Glandore’s sister, who assumed the additional surname of Crosbie. It was sold in the present century by J.B. Talbot-Crosbie. Nothing now remains of the house, but there are still some relics of the formal garden.”
Ardfert Abbey, County Kerry, drawing room, Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.Theodosia Bligh (1722-1777), Countess of Glandore, attributed to James Latham, courtesy of Adam’s 5 Oct 2010.
Featured in Mark Bence-Jones, Mark Bence Jones, Life in an Irish Country House. Constable, London. 1996.
“Built for Sir Thomas Crosbie, MP, built himself a house a few miles inland from the North Kerry coast at Ardfert, of which his grandfather John Crosbie had been Bishop. The Crosbies were descended from the O’More’s of Laois, their surname was originally “MacCrossan,” meaning “son of the rhymer” – were granted lands in North Kerry by Queen Elizabeth i. Sir Thomas Crosbie’s house, which was improved by his grandson Sir Maurice Crosbie in 1720, was very much of its time….A ruined Franciscan friary in the grounds caused the house to be known eventually as Ardfert Abbey.
THE EARLS OF GLANDORE OWNED 9,913 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY KERRY
This family came into Ireland during the reign of ELIZABETH I when one of the house of CROSBIE, of Great Crosby, in Lancashire, left two sons, Patrick and John.
PATRICK CROSBIE, the elder son, obtained a considerable landed property, and was succeeded by his son,
PIERS CROSBIE (1590-1646), who incurred the resentment of the great Earl of Strafford, for opposing in parliament his violent measures, which obliged him to quit the kingdom, when a second prosecution was carried on against him by the Star Chamber, in England, which ended in his confinement in the Fleet, from whence he escaped beyond seas, and continued abroad until Lord Strafford’s trial, when he became, in his turn, evidence against him.
He is said to have been created a baronet by JAMES I, and was a gentleman of the Privy Chamber to CHARLES I, and a Lord of the Privy Council.
Sir Piers died without issue, and bequeathed his estates to his cousins, Walter and David Crosbie.
THE RT REV JOHN CROSBIE, his uncle, Lord Bishop of Ardfert, appointed to that see in 1601, married Winifred, daughter of O’Lalor, of the Queen’s County, and had, with four daughters, six sons,
WALTER (Sir), 1st Baronet; DAVID, ancestor of the EARLS OF GLANDORE; John (Sir), of Tullyglass, Co Down; Patrick; William; Richard.
The Queen’s letter to Lord Deputy Mountjoy, dated from the manor of Oatland, 1601, directing his appointment to the see of Ardfert, describes the Bishop as
“a graduate in schools, of the English race, skilled in the English tongue, and well disposed in religion.”
He was prebendary of Dysart in the diocese of Limerick.
His lordship’s second son,
DAVID CROSBIE, Colonel in the army, Governor of Kerry, 1641, stood a siege in Ballingarry Castle for more than twelve months.
He was afterwards governor of Kinsale for CHARLES I.
In 1646, Colonel Crosbie inherited a portion of the estate of his cousin, Sir Piers Crosbie, son of Patrick Crosbie, who had been granted a large portion of The O’More’s estate in Leix.
He married a daughter of the Rt Rev John Steere, Lord Bishop of Ardfert, and had, with four daughters, two sons,
THOMAS (Sir), his heir; Patrick, of Tubrid, Co Kerry.
Colonel Crosbie died in 1658, and was succeeded by his elder son,
SIR THOMAS CROSBIE, Knight, of Ardfert, High Sheriff of Kerry, 1668, knighted by James, Duke of Ormonde, in consideration of the loyalty of his family during the Usurper’s rebellion.
Sir Thomas, MP for County Kerry in the parliament held at Dublin by JAMES II, 1688, refused to take the oath of allegiance to WILLIAM III.
He married firstly, Bridget, daughter of Thomas Tynte, of County Cork, and had issue,
DAVID, father of 1st and 2nd Barons Brandon; William; Patrick; Walter; Sarah; Bridget.
Sir Thomas wedded secondly, Ellen, daughter of Garrett FitzGerald, of Ballynard, County Limerick, by whom he had no issue; and thirdly, in 1680, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of William Hamilton, of Liscloony, King’s County, by whom he had a daughter, Ann, living in 1694, and (with a daughter) four sons,
THOMAS; John; Pierce; Charles; Ann.
Sir Thomas’s eldest son,
DAVID CROSBIE, of Ardfert, wedded Jane, younger daughter and co-heir to William Hamilton.
He died in 1717, and was succeeded by his heir,
SIR MAURICE CROSBIE (1690-1762), Knight, of Ardfert, who married the Lady Elizabeth Anne FitzMaurice, eldest daughter of Thomas, Earl of Kerry.
Sir Maurice, MP for County Kerry, 1713-58, was elevated to the peerage, on his retirement, by the title Baron Brandon, of Brandon, County Kerry.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
WILLIAM, 2nd Baron (1716-81), MP for Ardfert, 1735-62, who was created a viscount, in 1771, as Viscount Crosbie, of Ardfert, County Kerry.
His lordship was advanced to the dignity of an earldom, in 1776, as EARL OF GLANDORE.
His lordship married firstly, in 1745, Lady Theodosia Bligh, daughter of John, Earl of Darnley; and secondly, in 1777, Jane, daughter of Edward Vesey.
He was succeeded by his only surviving son,
JOHN, 2nd Earl (1753-1815), PC, MP for Athboy, 1775.
He chose to sit for the latter, and held the seat until 1781, when he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the Irish House of Lords. He was sworn of the Irish Privy Council in 1785.
In 1789, he was appointed Joint Master of the Rolls in Ireland alongside the Earl of Carysfort; was married in London, in 1771, by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Hon Diana, daughter of George, 1st Viscount Sackville. The marriage was childless.
The earldom and viscountcy expired on his death; the barony, however, reverted to his lordship’s cousin,
THE REV DR WILLIAM CROSBIE (1771-1832), 4th Baron, son of the Very Rev the Hon Maurice Crosbie, Dean of Limerick, younger son of the 1st Baron.
His lordship wedded, in 1815, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of David La Touche, of Upton, by whom he had a daughter,
THE HON ELIZABETH CECILIA CROSBIE, who married, in 1837, Henry Galgacus Redhead Yorke MP.
The 4th Baron served as rector of Castle Island in County Kerry.
On his death, in 1832, the title expired.
ARDFERT ABBEY, Ardfert, County Kerry, was a mansion originally built at the end of the 17th century by Sir Thomas Crosbie.
It was renovated in 1720 by Sir Maurice Crosbie (afterwards 1st Lord Brandon), and further altered about 1830.
The house comprised a two-storey block with seven-bay front, the two outer bays on either side breaking forwards and framed by quoins.
There was a pedimented centre; plain recangular doorcase; and a high, eaved roof on a modillion cornice.
The front was elongated by lower two-storey wings which protruded forwards at right angles to it, thus forming an open forecourt.
Inside the house, the panelled hall was decorated with figures painted in monochrome on panels.
There was an early 18th century staircase and gallery; Corintian newels, and more panelling on the landing.
A large drawing-room boasted compartmented plasterwork on the ceiling.
Here there was a full-length Reynolds portrait of Lady Glandore.
The gardens had an early formal layout: sunken parterre; yew alleys; trees cut into an arcade; avenues of beech, lime and elm.
A ruined Franciscan friary was in the grounds.
The mansion was burnt to the ground by the IRA ca 1922, and all that remains are some relics of the formal garden.
Ardfert Abbey (or House)eventually passed to the 2nd Earl of Glandore’s sister, the Lady Anne Crosbie, who married William John Talbot in 1775.
Her eldest son,
The Rev John Talbot-Crosbie MA, of Ardfert House, married Jane, daughter of Colonel Thomas Lloyd, in 1811; was MP for Ardfert, prior to taking Holy Orders.
In 1816, his name was legally changed to John Talbot-Crosbie.
He died in 1818.
His eldest son,
William Talbot Talbot-Crosbie JP DL (1817-99), of Ardfert House, High Sheriff of County Kerry, 1848.
He married firstly, Susan Anne, daughter of Hon Lindsey Merrick Peter Burrell, in 1839. He married secondly, Emma, daughter of Hon Lindsey Merrick Peter Burrell, in 1853. He married thirdly, Mary Jane, daughter of Maj.-Gen. Sir Henry Torrens, in 1868 at Edinburgh. In 1880, his name was legally changed to William Talbot Talbot-Crosbie.
His youngest son,
Lindsey Bertie Talbot-Crosbie JP DL (1844-1913), married Anne Crosbie, daughter of Colonel Edward Thomas Coke and Diana Talbot-Crosbie, in 1871; Lieutenant, RN; High Sheriff of County Kerry, 1903. His 2nd son,
John Burrell Talbot-Crosbie (1873-1969), of Ardfert House, married Mary, daughter of Gilbert Leitch, in 1910.
The marriage was childless.
Mr Talbot-Crosbie sold Ardfert House (the garden gates being re-erected outside the parish church in Tralee as a memorial to the Crosbie family).
It stood close to Ardfert Village, next to Ardfert Friary with extensive surrounding grounds.
The house was evacuated by the Crosbies and most of its furniture and belongings removed prior to it being burned by the IRA in August, 1922.
Article from a publication written thereafter: The Lord Danesfort:
“May I give two illustrations of damage to property since the truce, and of the manner in which it has been treated? I take the case of Mr. Talbot-Crosby, and I mention his name because his case was fully reported in the Cork newspapers of May last.
What happened was this. His house, Ardfert Abbey, was burnt to the ground at the end of 1922, or the beginning of 1923. In May, 1924, his case came before the County Court Judge. It was, I venture to think, a most astounding case.
It was admitted that if, at or shortly before the time when the house was burnt, Mr. Talbot Crosby had been in residence, he would have been entitled, I think, to a sum of something like £21,000 compensation.
But the counsel or solicitor who appeared for the Free State at that hearing raised this extraordinary defence. He pointed to a section in the Act of 1923 to the effect that if the house was not at the time of the damage maintained as a residence by the applicant, the applicant should only get what they called market value.
Then he went on to argue that Mr. Talbot Crosby had been driven out of his house by threats of violence some few months before; therefore, his compensation, which would otherwise be £21,000, should be reduced to £2,250.
Did ever such a travesty of justice come before the Court of any civilised country in the world?
It comes to this, that if there is a ruffianly body in Ireland desirous of getting rid of a man, turning him out of his house and country and destroying his property, all it has to do is to terrorise him, shoot at him, turn him out of Ireland, and having allowed a few weeks, or whatever time this Court thinks necessary, to elapse after he has left Ireland, then to burn his house down and otherwise destroy his property.
Then, when he comes to ask for compensation, he only gets one-tenth of what he would otherwise receive. I hope the noble Lord will see the gravity of a ease of that sort. I have already given him particulars of it, and I trust he has applied to the Free State and is able to give me the explanation that they offer.”
Former Dublin residence ~ Fitzwilliam Square.
First published in August, 2013. Glandore arms courtesy of European Heraldry.
The Glandore Gate, which once marked the main entrance to the Ardfert Abbey estate in County Kerry. Of limestone ashlar and flanked by battlemented walls, with a two-bay single-storey flat-roofed Gothic…
Ireland’s Decade of Centenaries, marking the country’s ten years of transformation 1913-23 is now drawing to a close, but there are still opportunities for analysis and reflection about what happened during that period. On Saturday, October 7th the Irish Aesthete will be participating in County Tipperary’s annual Dromineer Nenagh Literary Festival (celebrating its own 20th anniversary), in conversation with poet Vona Groarke about some of the great houses which were burnt in the early 1920s, many of them never rebuilt and lost forever. One such was Ardfert, County Kerry, set on fire in August 1922. The photographs above show the building before and after the conflagration, while those below are images of the interior, including the panelled hall with its classical grisaille figures, and the splendid main staircase, all lost in that fire, after which the house was pulled down so that nothing survives as a memory of its existence….
Ardamine, Gorey, Co Wexford – Destroyed by IRA in 1921
Ardamine, Gorey, County Wexford, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.
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. 7. “Richards/LGI1912) An early to mid-C19 house of two storeys over basement, consisting of two contiguous blocks one slightly higher than the other. Eaved roofs on bracket cornices; wide projecting porch, partly open, with Doric columns, party enclosed, with pilasters. Single storey curved bow. Giant corner pilasters on both blocks. Balustraded area.”
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. 12. “A Victorian Baronial house.. built by Sir Richard Orpen on the site of an earlier house which in turn had replaced an old MacCarthy stronghold. Burnt 1921.”
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Ardtully House was constructed in 1847 by Sir Richard Orpen, a Dublin based solicitor whose family had connections to the area. Built on the site of the old Ardtully castle which was finally destroyed by Cromwell during the civil wars, only ruins remain as it was itself burned down in 1921.
In Ireland few painters are better known or more admired than Sir William Orpen (1878-1931), examples of whose work today fetch some of the highest prices for a picture at auction. Yet Orpen’s background is relatively little studied, and his links with County Kerry are accordingly overlooked. Like many families, the Orpens were inclined to give themselves a more distinguished pedigree that was actually the case. So in Burke’s Landed Gentry of 1847 it is claimed that ‘The family of Orpen is of remote antiquity, and is stated to trace its descent from Erpen, second son of Varnacker (maire of the palace to Clothaire I), who was the son of Meroveus, and grandson of Theodorick, son of Clovis, King of France.’ This places their origins back in the sixth century, so that by the time William, Duke of Normandy won the Battle of Hastings in 1066, he was of course accompanied by a knight called Robert d’Erpen who thereafter settled at Erpingham in Norfolk. According to this version of events, the family turns up in Ireland in the second half of the 17th century already long established as members of the landed gentry on the other side of the Irish Sea. Such would have been the story of his forebears likely known by William Orpen. However the year before his death a cousin, the historian Goddard Henry Orpen produced an alternative, and somewhat less distinguished narrative. From this it would appear that the first Orpen to come to Ireland, a descendant of humble English yeomen, did so some time in the 1650s/60s when he acquired land around the area of Killorglin, County Kerry and that by the mid-1670s his son, Richard Orpen was employed as a land agent by the region’s greatest landowner, Sir William Petty. All of which is not quite so splendid as the lineage proposed by Burke but, as Goddard Henry Orpen wrote, ‘it is the truth I seek and not a (faked) illustrious ancestry and, after all, is it not better to rise than to fall?’
So, the earliest Orpens to settle in Kerry did so in the second half of the 17th century and prospered thanks to their association with the Pettys, later Petty-Fitzmaurices and ultimately Marquesses of Lansdowne. As a result they were able to acquire their own substantial landholdings, including the area around Ardtully in South Kerry. Until the 17th century this property was under the control of the MacFineens, a branch of the powerful MacCarthy clan but according to the Books of Survey and Distribution (compiled c.1650-80) during the course of the Confederate Wars, Colonel Donough MacFineen forfeited Ardtully, on which then stood ‘two good slate houses, a corn-mill, a castle, malthouse, barn, and tuck mill, likewise there are iron-mines and a silver mine in the quarter of Ardtully.’ The lands here were granted by the crown to one John Dillon but subsequently acquired on a long lease by the descendants of the original Richard Orpen: following a marriage between the latter’s grandson and Anna Townsend of Bridgemount, County Cork in 1766 the family’s name became Orpen Townsend. Ultimately in the first half of the 19th century the Ardtully estate was first leased and then purchased through the Encumbered Estates Court by a cousin of Richard Orpen Townsend: this was the successful solicitor Richard John Theodore Orpen. Founder of a legal practice still in existence today (as Orpen Franks) he would act as President of the Law Society from 1860 until his death sixteen years later. Knighted in 1866, he was the grandfather of the artist William Orpen and builder of a house still just extant at Ardtully.
Sir Richard John Theodore Orpen was clearly very proud of his family, if somewhat deluded about its pedigree, and assembled whatever information he could about his ancestors. He also built up a considerable land holding in County Kerry, amounting to over 12,000 acres by the time of his death. A fine residence in the centre of this property was required, and duly built at Ardtully in 1847. Its architect unknown, the house is customarily summarised as being in the Scottish Baronial style but this seems more a flag of convenience than an accurate description. In truth Ardtully looks to have been a typically Victorian grab-bag of architectural elements, its most prominent feature being a castellated round tower and turret on the south-east corner. Looking towards the river Roughty, the entrance front features a porch topped by the Orpen coat of arms (now damaged), another attempt by Sir Richard to demonstrate his lineage. Inside the house looks to have contained the usual collection of reception and bedrooms ranged over two storeys, the roofline marked by a succession of stepped gables and dormers. A substantial range of service outbuildings lay to the north. A handsome coloured illustration of Ardtully appeared in County Seats of The Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland (published 1870): conveniently the author of this six-volume work was Sir Richard’s nephew, the Rev. Francis Orpen Morris. The estate was eventually inherited by another Anglican clergyman, Sir Richard’s second son, the Rev. Raymond Orpen, Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert and Aghadoe. Uncle of the painter Sir William Orpen, he retired from office in 1921 and the same year Ardtully was burnt by the IRA. It has remained a ruin ever since, the link with one of this country’s greatest artists forgotten.
Ardtully House lies in a field west of the village of Kilgarvan, in County Kerry in Ireland.
According to tradition the first building at this site was a 13-th century monastery which was replaced, using its stones, by a castle of the McFineen McCarthys. This castle was destroyed in the mid-17th century during Cromwell’s conquest. Later the Orpen family buit a mansion house here, within the remains of the old castle.
In 1847, Sir Richard Orpen Townsend demolished the earlier house and the remains of the castle, replacing it with a fine 5-bay 2-storey Scottish-Baronial style house of which we see the remains today. It had 27 rooms, a circular 3-storey battlemented corner tower on the southeast corner and a 3-storey corbelled circular turret on the east corner.
In 1921, during the Irish War of Independence, Ardtully House was burned down by the IRA. It was never rebuilt.
Ardtully House can freely be visited. The ruin itself can not be entered due to the risk of falling stones. Just north of it are the remains of a walled garden. A very nice ruin.
Ards, County Donegal, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photographic Collection, National Library of Ireland.
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. 11. “(Wray/LG1863; Stewart/ LGI1912). The former seat of the Wray family. See Lord Belmont. When Alexander Stewart rebuilt the house in 1830 it was to the design of John Hargrave of Cork.
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
“Two storey house built c. 1830 to the design of John Hargrave of Cork for Alexander Stewart. Single storey pedmiented Doric porch above which was a Venetian window. Demolished c. 1965. Substantial U shaped stables remain.”
THE STEWARTS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY DONEGAL, WITH 39,306 ACRES
ALEXANDER STEWART (1746-1831), second son of Alexander Stewart MP, of Mount Stewart, County Down, and younger brother of Robert, 1st Marquess of Londonderry, purchased the estate of Ards from the Wray family, and settled there in 1782.
Mr Stewart, High Sheriff of County Donegal, 1791, espoused, in 1791, the Lady Mary Moore, younger daughter of Charles, 1st Marquess of Drogheda, by the Lady Anne Seymour his wife, daughter of Francis, 1st Marquess of Hertford, and had issue (with other children, who died young),
ALEXANDER ROBERT, his heir; Charles Moore (Rev); John Vandeleur, of Rock Hill; Maria Frances; Gertrude Elizabeth.
Mr Stewart was succeeded by his eldest son,
ALEXANDER ROBERT STEWART JP DL (1795-1850), of Ards and Lawrencetown House, High Sheriff of County Donegal, 1830, who wedded, in 1825, the Lady Caroline Anne Pratt, third daughter of John, 1st Marquess Camden, and had issue,
ALEXANDER JOHN ROBERT STEWART JP DL (1827-1904), of Ards and Lawrencetown House, High Sheriff of County Donegal, 1853, County Down, 1861, who married, in 1851, the Lady Isabella Rebecca Graham-Toler, seventh daughter of Hector, 2nd Earl of Norbury, and had issue,
ALEXANDER GEORGE JOHN, his heir; Charles Hector; George Lawrence; Henry Moore; Cecil George Graham; Caroline Helen Mary; Beatrice Charlotte Elizabeth; Ida Augusta Isabella.
Mr Stewart’s eldest son,
ALEXANDER GEORGE JOHN STEWART (1852-97), a Barrister, wedded, in 1883, Julia Blanche, daughter of Charles Dingwall, of Knollys Croft, Surrey, and had issue, two daughters,
ENA DINGWALL TASCA; Muriel Neara.
The elder daughter,
ENA DINGWALL TASCA, LADY STEWART-BAM, of Ards, wedded, in 1910, Sir Pieter Canzius van Blommestein Stewart-Bam JP, of Sea Point, Capetown (son the Johannes Andrew Bam), who assumed with his wife the prefix surname and arms of STEWARTon his marriage.
ARDS HOUSE, Creeslough, County donegal, was formerly the seat of the Wray family.
In the 18th century, the last William Wray of Ards was “a celebrated figure, eccentric and autocratic, though kind and generous”.
This gentleman resided at Ards in feudal state, constructing roads through mountains at his own expense; lavish in his hospitality to guests.
As a consequence of this extravagance, the Ards estate itself was purchased by Alexander Stewart Junior in 1782 (for £13,250 – probably money left to him by his father).
However, the Stewart family had a long association with the Londonderry/east Donegal area, and originally hailed from Ballylawn, County Donegal.
In the 19th century, following the falling-in of the Mercers’ lease, probably in 1830, the Stewarts of Ards concentrated on Donegal, acquiring property at Doe Castle and Letterkenny, both in that county.
The Stewart, later Stewart-Bam, family, owned land mainly at Ards, Doe Castle, Dunfanaghy and Letterkenny, in County Donegal.
Ards House was rebuilt about 1830 by Mr Stewart, towards the end of his life.
The main front is of two storeys; good plasterwork in the hall; friezes in the drawing-room and dining-room.
The estate was sold in 1925.
It was acquired by the Franciscans in 1937, who demolished it about 1965.
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. 12. “(Clements/IFR) a two storey late-Georgian house… sold after the death of Lt-Col M.L.S. Clements 1952; subsequently demolished.” [Marcus Louis Stewart Clements (1879-1952)]
Colonel Henry John Clements (1781-1843) of Ashfield, Co. Cavan by Martin Cregan, courtesy of Christie’s Irish Sale 2001. He was the son of Henry Theophilus Clements (1750-1795), a brother of the 1st Earl of Leitrim, and Catherine Beresford (1761-1836). He married Louisa Stewart (1778-1850) of Killymoon, Country Tyrone, daughter of James Stewart (1741-1821).
Not in National inventory
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 39. A two storey late Georgian bow-fronted house. The seat of the Clements family. Sold in 1952. Demolished.
Irish Historic Houses 