Mooreside, Clonalvey, Co Meath

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.  

“(Ball/IFR) A pleasant three bay C18 house, with steps up to the hall door, enlarged by taking in what had formerly been a separate building at the back in which there is now a library at a lower level, linked to the main house by a long corridor running back from the staircase.” 

http://meathhistoryhub.ie/houses-k-p/ 

Moorside House, near Clonalvy, on the borders of north County Dublin, was home to the Ball family. The name of the town land is Mooresides. Bence–Jones described Moorside as a ‘pleasant eighteenth century house”. The house was enlarged by taking in what had formerly been a separate building at the back. The Balls held lands at Reynoldstown, Naul, Co. Dublin and at Mooreside, Clonalvey, Co. Meath. Members of the family lived at both places.  

Laurence Ball was born in 1776. He acquired full title to Moorside, Clonalvey, in a deed of release in 1811. Mooreside went to his fourth son, Richard. Richard Ball, the son of Laurence Ball and Catherine Jordan, was born in 1812. He married Mary Agnes Shannon in 1853. He succeeded his father in the lands at Mooreside while his brother Patrick succeeded to lands at Lunderstown, Duleek. The second son, Richard Oliver Ball, born in 1859, married Mary Tench in 1896.In 1876 Richard Ball of Moorside, Naul, held 187 acres in Co. Dublin. He was a senior partner in the solicitor firm of Tench and Reynolds. Richard Ball bred Reynoldstown, the winner of the English Grand Nation in 1935 and 1936. Reynoldstown was bred by Richard Ball, who had bred his dam and grandam. Ball’s son, also Richard, broke Reynoldstown at age three, and at age four he was sent hunting and was schooled over “made” fences. Richard Ball died in 1941. 

His son, Richard Ball, was born in 1898. He married Mavis Norah Worrall in 1948. He was Director of the National Stud between 1956 and 1959 and President of the Irish Bloodstock Breeders’ Association from 1959 to 1962. His son, Charles Richard, was educated at Stonyhurst College and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.