Castlebar House, Castlebar, Co Mayo – lost 

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. 61. “(Bingham, Lucan, E/PB) The original seat at Castlebar of the Bingham family, afterwards Earls of Lucan, was a castle which had been “burnt many years” when Rev Daniel Beaufort came here 1787. All that remained of it then was two great round towers, one of which had rooms added to it on either side of a long corridor by the Lord Lucan at the time, who was 1^st Earl; Dr. Beaufort described them as “tolerably good and convenient, furnished with some pictures of which a few have merit;” though he regarded the furnishing as “far from elegant” and was clearly not impressed with the “large heavy chimneypiece of black marble” in one of the rooms. This adequate and somewhat makeshift dwelling was destroyed in the Rebellion of 1798 and replaced with a house that had even less pretensions to being a nobleman’s seat; a plain two storey five bay late-Georgian house with the entrance at one end. It had, ohowever, a large drawing room and was redeemed by its romantic situation high above the river and by its “verdant, handsome, old-fashioned park studded with large trees” which afforded “a pleasant promenade to the inhabitants of the town.”  A traveller of 1852 who came here to visit 3^rd Earl of Lucan, of Balaclava fame, was impressed by his up to date methods of farming; he even had a steam-engine in his yard. The 5^th Earl, grandfather of the vanished 7^th Earl, sold Castlebar House post WWI. It became a convent, but was subsequently burnt.” 

Mentioned in

Letters from Georgian Ireland: The Correspondence of Mary Delany 1731-68.

Ed. Angelique Day, foreward by Sybil Connolly. The Friar’s Bush Press, Belfast, UK, 1991.

p. 124. “From Tuam we went to Mr Bingham’s, the name of the place Castlebar, where we staid Thursday and Friday. The house is a good old house, and Mr Bingham [ancestor to the earls of Lucan] is improving about it, so that in time it will be a very pretty place, there are very pretty shady lanes about it, at the end of them a wood; at some distance from the house there is a lough, which in our language is a lake….Mr Bingham and his lady are very agreeable people; he has been a great beau, and has [p. 125] seen a good deal of the world, is now turned perfect country gentleman, and affects bluntness and humour, which he manages so as to be very entertaining; Mrs Bingham is very civil, and a smart woman….”

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. 110. “A small early 19C house built to replace that destroyed in the 1798 rebellion. John B. Papworth of London prepared designs for this house in 1825 and it is not known if he was the architect of the modest house that was built. Seat of the Earls of Lucan. Destroyed by fire.”

http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2013/12/1st-earl-of-lucan.html

THE EARLS OF LUCAN WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY MAYO, WITH 60,570 ACRES

The family of BINGHAM is of Saxon origin, and of very great antiquity.

It was originally seated at Sutton Bingham, Somerset; from whence it removed, during the reign of WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, to Melcombe Bingham, Dorset. 

SIR JOHN DE BINGHAM received the honour of knighthood in the reign of HENRY I, and from him descended, lineally,

ROBERT BINGHAM, said to have been lord of the manor of West Stafford, in 1246, and in an inquisition of the abbey of Abbotsbury, is stated to have given five shillings annual rent in Upwey to that monastery.

His son,

ROBERT DE BINGHAM, who held at his death, during the reign of EDWARD I, a tenement in West Stafford, of the king in chief, by service of half a knight’s fee, as of the manor of Way Bayouse, and also the manor of Melcombe Bingham.

This gentleman’s direct lineal descendant,

ROBERT BINGHAM, wedded Alice, daughter of Thomas Coker, of Mappowder, in Dorset, and had (with two daughters), eight sons, viz.

ROBERT, ancestor of Bingham of Melcombe Bingham;
Christopher;
RICHARD, of whom hereafter;
GEORGE (Sir), Knight;
Roger, dsp;
John (Sir), Knight, an officer in Ireland;
Thomas;
Charles.

The third son,

SIR RICHARD BINGHAM (1528-99), Knight, of Melcombe, Dorset, became the most eminent person of his family, and one of the most celebrated captains of the age in which he lived.

At the time of the armada, Sir Richard was one of ELIZABETH I’smilitary council.

He was instrumental in reducing insurrections in Ireland, in 1586, 1590, and 1593, and was eventually constituted marshal of that kingdom, and general of Leinster.

Sir Richard died at Dublin soon after attaining these honours, leaving an only daughter, when the representation of the family in Ireland devolved upon  his nephew,

HENRY BINGHAM (1573-c1658), of Castlebar, County Mayo (son of George Bingham, Governor of Sligo, who was killed by Ensign Ulick Burgh, ca 1596, which Ulick delivered up to the castle of O’Donnell and his adherents).

He was created a baronet in 1634, designated of Castlebar, County Mayo.

Sir Henry wedded Miss Byrne, of Cabinteely, near Dublin, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR GEORGE BINGHAM, 2nd Baronet (1625-82), father of

SIR HENRY BINGHAM, 3rd Baronet (1654-1714), at whose decease, without issue, the titles devolved upon his half-brother,

SIR GEORGE, 4th Baronet, who was succeeded at his decease by his eldest son,

SIR JOHN BINGHAM, 5th Baronet (1696-1749), Governor and MP for County Mayo, who espoused Anne, daughter of Agmondisham Vesey, grandniece of the celebrated general (in the army of JAMES II) Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, who fell at the battle of Landen, in Flanders; and great-granddaughter of CHARLES II, through His Majesty’s illegitimate daughter, sister of the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth.

Sir John was an officer of rank on the side of JAMES II at the decisive conflict of Aughrim, and contributed to the success of WILLIAM III by deserting his colours in the very brunt of the battle.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

SIR JOHN BINGHAM, 6th Baronet (1730-50), MP for County Mayo; but dying unmarried, the title devolved upon his brother,

SIR CHARLES BINGHAM, 7th Baronet (1735-99), MP for County Mayo, who was elevated to the peerage, in 1776, in the dignity of Baron Lucan, of Castlebar.

His lordship was advanced to the dignity of an earldom, in 1795, as EARL OF LUCAN.

He wedded, in 1760, Margaret, daughter and sole heir of John Smith, of Cannons Leigh, Devon, and Audries, Somerset, and had issue,

RICHARD, his successor;
Lavinia; Margaret; Anne.

His lordship was succeeded by his son,

RICHARD, 2nd Earl (1764-1839), who espoused, in 1794, the Lady Elizabeth Belasyse, third daughter and co-heir of Henry, 2nd Earl Fauconberg.

• Richard Bingham, 2nd Earl (1764–1839);
• George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl (1800–88);
• Charles George Bingham, 4th Earl (1830–1914);
• George Charles Bingham, 5th Earl (1860–1949);
• George Charles Patrick Bingham, 6th Earl (1898–1964);
• Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl (b 1934, missing since 1974, presumed dead; death cert. issued 2016);
• George Charles Bingham, 8th Earl (b 1967).

The heir presumptive is the present Earl’s son, Charles Lars John, styled Lord Bingham, born in 2020.

7th Earl of Lucan

The 7th Earl has been missing since 1974, and is presumed dead. A death certificate was issued in 2016.

*****

Despite being owners of one of the largest estates in County Mayo, the Lucans were mainly absentee landlords, pursuing political and military careers elsewhere while their Mayo estates were administered by agents.

By the 19th century their estate was concentrated in the parishes of Aglish, Turlough and Ballyhean in the barony of Carra; Ballinrobe in the barony of Kilmaine; Killedan in the barony of Gallen; Kilmaclasser in the barony of Burrishoole; Oughaval and Kilgeever in the barony of Murrisk.

From, 1898, parts of the Lucan estate began to be sold to the Irish Congested Districts’ Board.

In 1905, over 40,000 acres were purchased by the Board for a cost of over £100,000. In 1911, another 10,000 acres were bought.

The Lucan Estates company was set up in 1925.

The Earls of Lucan also owned an estate of over 1,000 acres at Laleham in Middlesex, now a golf club.

Its history is here.

Castlebar House, the County Mayo seat of the Lucans, was first burnt in 1798.

It was said to be

“romantically situated on the brow of a steep eminence overhanging the river, and attached to it is an extensive and well-wooded demesne, affording a pleasant promenade to the inhabitants of the town.”

When resident in Castlebar during the 19th century, the Lucans lived in the lodge known as The Lawn (below), described in the Ordnance Survey Field Name Books as the residence of St Clair O’Malley, who was agent to the Earls of Lucan in the 1830s.

Castlebar House is referred to as the seat of the Earls of Lucan in 1894.

It was sold by the family ca 1920.

It became a convent but was subsequently burnt again.

The Earls of Lucan were seated at Laleham Abbey (or House), Surrey, from 1805-1928. 

Lucan arms courtesy of European Heraldry. First published in January, 2012.