Parkanaur Manor, Castlecaulfeild, 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. 230. “(Burges/IFR) A large and romance Tudor-Revival house, dating from various periods in first half of C19. A small, three gabled two storey house, known as the “farm at Edenfield” was built here 1802-04 by J. H. Burges, who leased the estate from his cousin, Lady Poulett, daughter of Ynry Burges who bought it 1771. Then a “cottage wing” extesnsion of rubble with a hipped roof, identified as the present south wing, was added 1820-21. Finally in 1839, J.H. Burges’s son, J.Y. Burges, having inherited money from Lady Poulett, who died in the previous year, enabling him to buy the freehold of the estate, embarked on the building of a higher and much larger wing, to the design of Thomas Duff, of Newry, which was completed 1848. Its cost was specified as not to exceed £5,000. The three gabled house of 1802-04, which now has an arched porch, can be seen to the left of the 1839-48 wing with its pinnacle and gabled projection and two further gables. The latter wing, and that of 1820-21, have mullioned windows with leaded lights; whereas the windows of the 1802-04 house have mullions and Georgian astragals. Impressive courtyard at back of house, with coachhouse and tower intended for hanging meat. Rich Elizabethan or Jacobean interiors: long gallery with imported English carved wooden mantel dated 1641 and arched screen at one end; antoher C17 carved wooden chimneypiece with overmantel in inner hall; lofty Jacobean ceilings in sitting room, octagonal room and drawing room. The latter, which has a strapwork mantel, was not completed until 1854. Sold by Major Y.A. Burges ca 1958, now the Thomas Doran Training Centre for handicapped children.”
http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2014/05/parkanaur-house.html
THE BURGESES OWNED 2,485 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY TYRONE
The surname of this family, as appears from ancient documents, was formerly De Burges, afterwards Burches, and subsequently, in 1747, the present one was adopted.
Richard De Burges was High Sheriff of Herefordshire, 1351-2.
SAMUEL BURCHES, born in Dublin, ca 1645, married, in 1684, Margaret Williams, of Llanelian, North Wales, and had issue,
David (Rev), Rector of St Mark’s, Dublin;
Wilham;
JOSEPH, of whom we treat;
Katherine; Deborah.
Both brothers eventually moved northwards to the city of Armagh during the primacy of Archbishop Lindsay, with whom they were connected.
The youngest son,
JOSEPH BURCHES (1689-1747), baptized at St Michan’s Church, Dublin, wedded, in 1716, Elizabeth, daughter of Ynyr Lloyd, of East Ham, Essex (Deputy Secretary of the East India Company), and had issue,
Joseph (Rev), 1717-46;
JOHN, of whom hereafter;
YNYR, of East Ham;
Molly; Margaret; Alice.
Mr Burches’ second son,
JOHN BURGES (1722-90), espoused, in 1763, Martha, daughter of Robert Ford, and had issue,
JOHN HENRY, his heir;
Mary, m 1784, G Perry, of Mullaghmore, Co Tyrone;
Martha, m 1787, J Johnston, of Knappagh, Co Armagh;
Alice, died in infancy.
His only son and heir,
JOHN HENRY BURGES JP (c1768-1822), of Woodpark, Tynan, and Parkanaur, both in County Armagh, married, in 1795, Marianne, eldest daughter and eventually co-heir of Sir Richard Johnston Bt, of Gilford, and had issue,
JOHN YNYR, his heir;
Richard, deceased;
Margaret Anne;
Matilda, d 1805.
The only surviving son,
JOHN YNYR BURGES JP DL (1798-1889) of Parkanaur, County Tyrone, Thorpe Hall, Essex, and East Ham, Essex, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1829, wedded, in 1833, the Lady Caroline Clements, youngest daughter of Nathaniel, 2nd Earl of Leitrim KP, and had issue,
YNYR HENRY, his heir;
Charles Skeffington, 1835-45;
Clements Keppel, d 1840;
John Richard Alexander Wamphray, 1843-50;
Mary Anne Margaret; Alice Caroline.
The eldest son,
YNYR HENRY BURGES JP DL (1834-1908), of Parkanaur, High Sheriff of County Tyrone, 1869, espoused, in 1859, Edith, third daughter of the Hon Richard Bootle-Wilbraham, and sister of the 1st Earl of Latham, and had issue,
YNYR RICHARD PATRICK (1866-1905), father of YNYR ALFRED;
John Ynyr Wilbraham (1871-95);
Edith Alice; Ethel Margaret; Lilian Adela; Myrtle Constance; Beatrice Annette; Irene Caroline.
Colonel Burges, officer commanding 6th Brigade, Northern Ireland Division, Royal Artillery, married secondly, in 1896, Mary, daughter of George Pearce, of Bishops Lydeard, Somerset.
He was succeeded by his grandson,
YNYR ALFRED BURGES JP DL (1900-83), of Parkanaur, High Sheriff of County Armagh, 1951, who wedded, in 1930, Christine, daughter Colonel George Iver Patrick O’Shee (by his wife, the Lady Edith King-Tenison), and had issue,
MICHAEL YNYR, b 1931;
Susan Elizabeth, b 1934;
Patricia Anne, b 1936.
Major Burges, who lived, in 1976, at Catsfield Manor, Battle, Sussex, was succeeded by his son,
MICHAEL YNYR BURGES, Lieutenant, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers; in the Belfast Linen trade, 1950-74, at Belfast; who lived, in 1976, at Skinners, Edenbridge, Kent.
*****
The BURGES estate, East Ham, Essex, was established by Ynyr Burges, Paymaster, East India Company, between 1762 and his death in 1792, at a total cost of £20,700.
He was succeeded by his daughter Margaret, wife of Sir John Smith-Burges Bt, a director of the East India Company.
In 1799, the estate comprised 422 acres.
Sir John died in 1803.
In 1816, his widow married John, Earl Poulett.
Lady Poulett, who was childless, was succeeded by John Ynyr Burges, grandson of her father’s elder brother.
In 1838, the estate produced an income of £1,549, but by 1840 this had been increased to £2,471. An estate map drawn in 1881, which includes details of recent and later changes, shows that most of the property lay near the present town centre.
John Ynyr Burges, who died in 1889, was succeeded by his son, Colonel Ynyr Henry Burges, who was largely responsible for developing the estate for building.
He had started to do so, on his father’s behalf, about 1887, and continued until his own death in 1908.
Colonel Burges was succeeded by his grandson, Major Ynyr Alfred Burges, who completed the development of the estate during the 1920s.
Ynyr Burges (d 1792) lived at East Ham for most of his life.
As a boy he was adopted by his uncle, Ynyr Lloyd, deputy secretary of the East India Company.
PARKANAUR MANOR, near Castlecaulfield, County Tyrone, is a large, rambling, romantic, Tudor-Revival house which has evolved over many years.
Originally the land was held by the O’Donnellys until granted by JAMES I to Sir Toby Caulfeild in the early 1600s.
The growing importance of the house from retreat to home to seat is reflected in the graduated scale of the different parts.
When Ynyr Henry Burges settled on the estate in the 1820s, the cottage was enlarged.
His son, John Ynyr, added further to the building from 1839-54, encasing the original building and adding a west wing.
This new house was then named Parkanaur and was built from block rubble on a larger scale.
Parkanaur has a grand, terraced front with octagonal shafts (or pinnacles) and gables at each projection of the façade; a big bay window and an upper oriel; and is comparable to Narrow Water Castle in County Down, again by the Newry Architect, Thomas Duff.
The original two-storey dwelling is still visible with the new building adjoined to it.
The large plate windows of the 1820 and 1839 additions have mullioned windows with leaded lights and transformed frames.
They are shielded by block drip-stones.
The present, higher west wing, lying along the terrace, was laid in 1843.
It doubles back to form an upper yard which has a coach house and a tower intended for hanging meat.
A free-standing office block was added in 1870.
A plaque above the doorway leading to the court is inscribed “This house and offices were built by John Ynyr and Lady Caroline Burges without placing any debt upon the property (A.D. 1870)”.
The cost of the works was specified not to exceed £5,000.
The house remained within the ownership of the Burgeses until 1955, when Major Ynyr Burges and his family moved to Catsfield Manor in East Sussex.
The house lay vacant until 1958 when it was bought by the millionaire Thomas Doran for £13,000 as a gift for his friend, the Rev Gerry Eakins.
Mr Doran had originally come from near Castlecaulfield but had emigrated to the USA as a teenager, where he made his fortune as the founder of The Cheerful Greetings Card Company.
The reason for purchasing the house was to facilitate his friend Gerry Eakins in developing a new centre for the education of handicapped young adults.
The house reopened in 1960 as The Thomas Doran Training Centre (Parkanaur College) and much of the house continues today in this role.
Parkanaur boasts rich, Elizabethan-style interiors.
It has a great hall lit by its three perpendicular windows, with a Tudor-style, arched screen and minstrel’s gallery at its south end.
Older work includes the 17th Century Jacobean carved, wooden mantel with male and female figures, and an imported dining-room chimney-piece dated 1641 with Ionic columns, decorated with bunches of grapes and interspersed with spiralling vines and cherub heads below the shelf.
In the Duff Wing, Mrs Burges’s sitting room, the drawing room (which has a strap work mantel) and a further octagonal room have lofty Jacobean ceilings.
There is a pretty, mid-17th century Baroque organ-case in the gallery.
Parkanaur is set in beautiful grounds. It boasts a rare herd of white fallow deer.
Much of the original estate remains in the ownership of the NI Forest Service.
As previously stated, the present Tudor-Revival house was begun in 1839 by John Ynyr Burges after he succeeded to the property in 1838, though this building may incorporate elements of the 18th century house on the site.
A wing was added by Duff in 1858 and the whole complex of house and yards completed by 1870 as detailed above, including stable-yard, terrace, retaining wall, gates and urn.
The mansion is enhanced by lawns and parkland, with a small, modern ornamental garden.
Formal gardens on the west side of the house are not planted, but yews and a terrace survive.
The demesne dates from the late 18th century and is on undulating ground; is well planted, with a mixture of mature trees in woodland and parkland, including some unusual trees, exotics and forest planting.
The NI Forestry Service is developing the site as an oak forest and for native conifers.
It is referred to now as ‘a lowland broad-leaved estate’.
This continues a tradition noted by Deane, who describes the demesne thus:
… immaculately tended grounds, wooded by the planting of 40,000 trees by John Henry (Burges) are two avenues leading from two gate lodges added in the mid 1840s.
There is a walled garden, no longer planted up, which has a castellated potting shed in the eastern corner and a large, fine lean-to glasshouse used for peaches, with an extending centre piece.
This was erected in 1873 by J Boyd & sons for £250.
There are remnants of an ornamental area east of the house, between the house and the walled garden, which is oval in shape; retained paths, yews and an urn.
A pond and riverside walks in woodland have been maintained by the Forest Service.
The gate lodge, gates and screen, also by Duff ca 1845, are fine and are listed.
The local and main road have been realigned.
In 1976 the NI Department of Agriculture bought 161 hectares and subsequently more land was acquired, including the stable yard, to allow the provision of facilities for the Forest Park.
Five white fallow deer arrived from Mallow Castle, County Cork, in 1978 and they are the basis of the present herd.
The grounds were opened to the public as Parkanaur Forest Park in 1983.
Parkanaur is open to visitors for functions.
First published in October, 2010.
www.nihgt.org/resources/pdf/Register_of_Parks_Gardens_Demesnes-NOV20.pdf
PARKANAUR, County Tyrone (AP MID ULSTER 10) T/030
REGISTERED GRADE A
Victorian landscape park with Regency origins (420 acres/170ha) enclosing an Elizabethian-style
house of 1839-43 (Listed HB 13/13/002), 3.4 miles (5.4km) west of Dungannon and 1.1 miles
(1.8km) south-west of Castlecaulfield. The demesne lies on undulating ground which is well
planted with a mixture of mature trees in both woodland and parkland, including some unusual
trees, exotics and forest planting. From the 1990 DAERA (Forest Service) have been developing
the site as an oak woodland and for native conifers; it is sometimes referred to now as ‘a lowland
broad-leaved estate’. Historically the land here belonged to the O’Donnelly’s, one of the
‘household families’ of the O’Neill’s of Tyrone. In 1610 this land became part of the grant – ‘the
Manor of Aghloske’ (alas Castlecaulfield) – given by King James I to Sir Toby Caulfield (1565-1627),
1st Baron Caulfield. It remained with the Caulfields until 1771 when the townland of
Edenacrannon and adjacent townlands of Stakernagh, Terrenew, Tullyallen and Killymoyle were
sold for £13,500 by James Caulfield, (1728-99), 1st Earl of Charlemont, to Ynyr Burges, alas John
Burches (1723-92), the Dublin-born Secretary of the East India Company, who lived at East Ham in
Essex. In 1774 an estate map by Oliver Beckett was produced of what was to became the
demesne, then divided to three tenant holdings. In the event Burges never built a house here and
Instead, it passed on his death in 1792 to a nephew, John Henry Burges (1766-1822), of
Woodpark, Co. Armagh, who subsequently in the 1790s planted 21,115 trees and 91,000 quicks
here at a cost of £197-8-10d followed in 1802-04 by building a modest two-storey house
‘Edenfield’ which forms the core of the present mansion. This house was set 115m north from
what was then the Castlecaulfield-Ballygalley public road. It is depicted on a map of 1807 by John
Graham as a two-storey plain house with Wyatt-windows. Edenfield (the name derives from he
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020
townland name) served as an occasional residence until 1820 when John Henry moved there
permanently from England, though in their absence tree planting had continued with Stakernagh
top belt planted in 1811; oak and beech about the waterfall and river walks in 1818, and in 1820,
when they take up residence plant variegated sycamore and weeping ashes in front of the house
and commenced the ‘Rose Garden’. This lay to the east of the house where the oval path of the
present pleasure gardens seem to define what was the old boundary (wall or hedge) of this
garden, later pinetum. In 1821 the house is enlarged by building what at the time was called ‘The
Cottage’ part – namely the library, ante-room and small drawing room, so house became on plan a
long rectangular block with south-east-south axis. Following his death in 1822, his son and heir
John Ynyr Burges (1798-1889) inherited the Irish estates. In 1824 he engaged John Kinley Tenor to
produce a survey of the demesne and every year added to the plantings in the demesne. In 1833
he married Lady Caroline Clements (1802-69), daughter of 2nd Earl of Leitrim; this no doubt
encouraged him to modify and extend his Irish seat, while the choice of style may also have been
influenced by the Tudor-revival of Lough Rynn, the Earl of Leitrim’s house, begun in 1833.
However, the finances for upgrading the house did not become available until 1838 until he
inherited the English family seats of East Ham and Thorpe Hall, Ilford, Essex, following the death
of his relative, Margaret, Dowager Countess Poulett. Until this he undertook piecemeal
improvements to the demesne; in 1833 built the school house and planted rhododendrons for the
first time along the river. The following year 1839 Burges commissioned Newry architect Thomas
Duff (1792-1848) to extend and remodel the house in a Tudor-Elizabethian style, which by now he
had renamed ‘Parkanaur’. Work proceeded in three main stages until 1848, externally, while work
on interior was not finished until the early 1850s. The end product was a large and complex
house, basically C-shaped in plan, with walls of cut-stone and squared rubble, a relatively steeply-
pitched slated roof with a wealth of gables, and an abundance of Tudoresque detailing including
mullioned and transomed windows, label moulding, octagonal shafts between bays, parapets,
finials and kneelers to the gables, and tall cut-stone chimneystacks. The earlier two-storey house
is in the centre, this being relatively low embellished in 1839-40 with a large cut-stone porch and
tall chimneys. Also remodelled in 1839-40 was the taller 2½-storey L-shaped section on the west
end with its. projecting full-height gabled bay. Duff started work on the east end from 1841, this
being a long single-storey screen wall with buttresses and Tudor-arched windows, which hide a
long row gable-fronted coach houses and terminates to the east end in a barbican. The three-
storey double-pile west wing and the two-storey T-shaped service wing to the north are all part of
Duff’s 1843 commission and are of more uniform appearance, the former having detailing similar
the western end of the front elevation. The service wing is much plainer, but has a later
octagonal gothic style turret to the eastern gable. Also built by Duff is the service yard with
continuous ranges to the north, east and west, octagonal cupola and a high south wall with
octagonal tower (apparently for hanging meat) to its western end. While work on the house was
being undertaken the ‘new line’ of Ballygawley Road was being built – this road had been diverted
away to the south to its present position from 1839 a plan that was first put in place as early as
1807. To achieve this land had to be acquired from Lord Charlemont and indeed it was not until
1849 that the townland of Cullenfad was finally bought from Charlemont. The old road
subsequently became an internal demesne driveway which to the west of the walled garden and
south of the park lawn is lined with fine beech trees (‘The beech avenue’). New entrances had to
be made into the park, notable the main entrance which lies in the south-east section of the park,
off the Parkanaur-road and opposite the Torrent River. Both gate lodge and gates (Listed HB
13/13/003) are also probably by Thomas Duff in 1849-50, which Dean has shown is derived from a
design by P.F. Robinson. The lodge, known today as the ‘Gothic Lodge’ is a 1½-storey
asymmetrical Tudor-style house in ashlar with tall chimney, a gabled porch and a square bay, with
a half-dormer over the latter. The adjacent gate screen has sturdy octagonal stone piers with
concave caps with original-looking decorative iron carriage and pedestrian gates, and railings. The
new walled garden (Listed HB 13/13/004) was built alongside the south side of the old public
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020
road, in 1852. As we might expect for a Victorian walled garden, it has a rigid rectangular plan (1.8
acres/0.73ha) with a slip garden to the north-west (1.05 acres/0.43ha), the latter is not enclosed
by walls, probably originally with clipped hedges. It had ceased to grow produce by the 1950s but
there were then still some cold frames in the upper portion; the river ran through the lower
section supplying the garden with a convenient water supply. There is a centrally placed gate in
the north-west wall of the walled garden giving access to the slip garden, while there is a
pedestrian entrance in the north-east wall with a handsome iron gate made in 1870 by John
Patterson, blacksmith in Castlecaulfield. The walls around the garden, 15ft (4.5m) high, are of
stone with brick-lining on all four wall inside; as normal in walled gardens, the brick coursing
follows the slope of the ground inside the garden (north-west to south-east). In the south-east
corner is a three-stage square brick tower whose gabled roof has corbie-steps with ashlar coping.
The top floor has narrow windows with ashlar surrounds and access to upper floors internally was
by ladder. The building served as a potting shed with the upper floors used to shore bulbs, roots
and seed, where they were safe from mice. The main feature of the garden, demolished in recent
years (though also listed) was a fine glasshouse, comprising two lean-to ranges or ‘wings’ and a
projecting central canted conservatory against the north-east facing wall. This was built in 1873 by
the Scottish firm of James (or John) Boyd & Sons (Paisley) for £250. It contained peaches,
nectarines and vines with the central section presumably devoted to more ornamental plants.
Entry into the garden for the gentry was via steps directly down the hillside (now overgrown) and
through a door into the conservatory and so into the garden. Over this door on the north side is
still a large consul supporting a ashlar block, which may have once supported has a coat of arms.
Until the 1950s a tall clipped hedge each side of the path leading into this door hid from the sight
of visitors the cold frames lined up on the west side and the lean-to potting sheds on their left
(east side) – all have now gone and this part of the garden very overgrown. While the wooden
glasshouse frame has been removed, its base brick wall remains, compete with enclosed 6-inch
heating pipes. The walled garden was in full cultivation until the 1960s with a flower border down
the centre on axis with the conservatory and backed by tall clipped hedges (yew or box). After
the Dept. of Agriculture took over most of the demesne in 1978 the Forest Service also assumed
ownership of the walled garden, but the school retained use of it and vegetables continued to be
cultivated here until 1983, while the glasshouse continued to be used to supply house plants for
the school into the 1990s; it was dismantled about 2006. In 2010 the Castlecaulfield Horticultural
Society with voluntary support rejuvenated the gardens over a period of ten years, restored the
paths, put down lawns and have grown vegetables and flowers. Part of the west ed is now under
allotments, while the Parkanaur residential school have a polytunnel at the east end which they
use for plant sales. Usually the head gardener’s house lie adjacent to the walled garden, but here
the house, known as Pleasantview or Cullion House, lies on the south side of the public road
overlooking the garden; it was built around 1870. East of the house, just above the walled
garden, is the pleasure ground, sometimes called the Upper Garden. This has been a garden from
at least the 1820s a rose garden with sundial, developed as an oval area crossed down the long
axis by a straight path with pairs of yews at intervals. Until the 1950s the area within the oval was
well kept lawns with elaborate bedding out schemes and isolated ornamental shrubs. Outside
the ovals were (and still are) exotic trees and shrubs. The house itself formally had formal bedding
out schemes on the raised terrace flanking the west side of the house. This now has lawn plats,
fountain and sundial at the north end and a swimming pool built here in the 1970s. The idea of
the terrace was to permit expansive views of the parkland, but sadly tree now block many of
these views. The parkland or west lawn and the area to its south and south-east have been
retained as parkland by the Forest Service, though sadly all the many other areas of open
parkscape that contributed to the beauty of Parkanaur have been infilled with commercial trees.
The west lawn has lost a number of fine parkland cedars here over the past few decades, but still
retains good cedars, oaks, Scots Pine and beech. To the south inside the ha-ha is a good Fagus
sylvatica var. tortuosa (Dwarf beech). The house terrace gives access down onto the river where
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020
planting has been north and east of the house since the 1820s. In 1842 walks were laid down each
side of the river with associated planting, which is recorded as including ‘Pinus, Ilex, Portugal
laurel, Holly, Double Hawthorn and Rhododendron’. Planting extended west of the house in the
1850s and near a stone arch over the walk, 250m west of the house and beyond the ha-ha there is
some notable planting with impressive Sequoiadenendron giganteum, Thuja plicata, Liriodendron
tulipifera and others. A notable feature north-west of the house is a large pond or lake with
island, sometimes called the duck pond, created just north of the river and still maintained by the
Forest Service wit its water lilies; the lake it seems provided water to the big house via a pump.
Every year John Ynyr Burges added to the plantations; once the Cullenfad townland to the south
was acquired in 1849, he was able to plant this up with a mixture of open parkland meadows
(alongside the road) with trees on the heights above. Much of the planting was completed by
1867 and in 1872 he decided to build an ornamental wooden summer house in the popular ‘Swiss
Cottage’ style atop the hill at the very south end of Cullenfad. While Regency cottage ornés where
sometimes wrongly called ‘Swiss’ cottages there was a Victorian fashion for more genuine alpine
style buildings following the example of Prince Albert’s Swiss Cottage in Osborne in 1854-55. The
summer house or chalet at Parkanaur had trees around it and was approached by a carriage drive
from the house. It survived until the 1940s and has since been demolished, though its floor can be
discerned in the woodland. In 1889 John Ynyr Burges died and Ynyr Henry Burges (1843-1908)
inherited Parkanaur and from him it passed to his daughter, Edith Alice Burges (1860-1942), who
married Arthur Howard Frere (1860-1931). The property remained in Burges ownership to 1955,
before being sold in 1958 to Thomas Doran, a locally-born man who had migrated to the USA as a
teenager where he founded a greetings card business and made a fortune. Mr. Doran purchased
the house in order to facilitate his friend, Rev Gerry Eakins, in developing a new centre for the
education of handicapped young adults. The house reopened in 1960 as ‘The Thomas Doran
Training Centre’ (Parkanaur College), and much of the building continues in this role today. In
1976 the Dept. of Agriculture (Forest Service) bought 161 hectares and subsequently more land
was acquired, including the stableyard, to allow the provision of facilities for the Forest park. Five
white fallow deer arrived from Mallow Castle, Co. Cork in 1978 and they are the basis of the
present herd. The grounds were opened to the public as Parkanaur Forest Park in 1983
(administered by DAERA (Forest Service). SMR: TYR 54:39 crannog?. House private.
https://theirishaesthete.com/2021/08/23/parkanaur/
Without Any Debt
“Like so many others, the Burges (originally Burches) family appear to have arrived in this country in the mid-17th century, having for several previous generations been clergymen in England. And again, as was frequently the case, judicious connections through marriage aided their rise to wealth. Two brothers, David and Joseph, the elder of which was Rector of St Mark’s church in Dublin, moved to Armagh and in 1716 the younger married Elizabeth Lloyd whose father Ynyr was Deputy Secretary of the East India Company and owned land in East Ham, now a suburb of London. One of their sons, another Ynyr, also held an important post in the East India Company as Secretary & Paymaster of Seamen’s Wages, further improving their fortune. The family history in the 18th and early 19th century is complex as various lines failed to produce a male heir and therefore property was inherited by nephews or cousins who sometimes had to change their surnames as a condition of succeeding to estates. However, by the mid-19th century John Ynyr Burges, married to Lady Caroline Clements, a daughter of the second Earl of Leitrim, is listed in gentry directories as being of East Ham and Thorpe Hall, both in Essex, and of Parkanaur, County Tyrone. The land on which the last of these stands was originally held by the O’Donnelly family until they were displaced in the early 1600s and the property granted by James I to Sir Toby Caulfeild. His family remained in possession, until the Parkanaur estate was sold in 1771 by James Caulfeild, first Earl of Charlemont by Ynyr Burges. He appears to have rarely visited the place but some time after his death in 1793 a two-storey gabled cottage called Edenfield was built on the land for use as an occasional residence for the family.“
“The architect Thomas Duff has been discussed here before with regard to Narrow Water Castle, County Down (Narrow Water Castle « The Irish Aesthete). Born in Newry in 1792, we know little of his background and education but 21 years later he is mentioned as executant architect of St Mary’s church in his hometown. In 1822 he advertised in the Belfast press to advise ‘such gentlemen as intend building, that he purposes to furnish plans of every description, in the Grecian, Roman and Gothic styles of architecture, with estimates and such written instructions as are requisite for the execution of each design.’ He also reassured readers that he would superintend the work. Soon enough commissions followed, beginning with Belfast’s Fisherwick Presbyterian church, a large classical building dominated by its Ionic portico. Duff was soon in demand among other denominations, and in 1825 he designed the Roman Catholic cathedral in Newry, described in 1841 by Thackeray (otherwise highly dismissive of the ‘Papist’ faith) as a fine building which did the architect credit: the cathedral, incidentally, is in the Perpendicular Gothic manner, reflecting Duff’s versatility and his ability to adapt to the wishes of clients. This was demonstrated in 1830 when, together with his then-partner Thomas Jackson, he designed the first museum built in Ireland by voluntary subscription for the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society in the Greek Revival style, with a portico exactly copied from the octagon tower of Adronicus in Athens. A few years later, he was responsible for designing the Tudoresque Narrow Water Castle. And so it went on with a huge amount of work for religious, domestic and commercial properties right up to the time of his death in 1848 at the relatively young age of 56. However, during the previous decade he had been employed by John Ynyr Burges to transform Edenfield, the cottage at Parkanaur, into a substantial mansion.“
“Around 1820 Edenfield cottage was enlarged thanks to the addition of a new wing. However, it was only in the following decade that the house assumed its present appearance and proportions, following the employment of Thomas Duff: the original three-bay, two-storey building can still be detected behind the entrance porch. But the entire structure was refronted by Duff, also responsible for designing a very substantial west wing which holds many of the main reception rooms, as well as two neighbouring yards behind the main block. The architect was given a strict budget of £5,000 and a plaque located above the archway leading to the stableyard declared ‘This house and offices were built by John Ynyr and Lady Caroline Burges without placing any debt upon the property A.D. 1870.’ Renamed Parkanaur, the building’s make-over made it look to be an Elizabethan manor house, one that would not be out of place in the Cotswolds. There are further gabled bays, their corners delineated by slender polygonal towers, an abundance of stone finials, tall chimneys, hood mouldings over the windows, as well as the obligatory Oriel window. Inside the decorative flourishes continue, not least in the Great Hall which is lit by three large Perpendicular windows and has a minstrel’s gallery above an arched screen. Elsewhere, other than in the ceiling decoration, the Tudor borrowings are less explicit, and both the gallery and inner hall contain exceedingly fine Jacobean carved chimneypieces, presumably brought here from some house in England; that in the gallery is dated 1641. Parkanaur remained in the possession of the same family until 1955 when sold by Major Ynyr Alfred Burges, after which the house stood empty for three years until bought by Thomas Doran. Originally from this part of Ireland, as a young man he had emigrated to the United States and there worked as a truck driver until unable to do so owing to ill-health. He subsequently started a business, the Cheerful Greetings Card Company, which involved people throughout America selling its products door to door: this was so successful that it made Doran a multi-millionaire (he eventually sold the company in 1966 for in the region of UD$10 million). Doran was a friend of a Presbyterian minister, the Rev Gerry Eakins who wished to establish a residential centre for disabled young adults, and so he bought Parkanaur and presented it to be used for this purpose. Opened in 1960 as the Thomas Doran Training Centre and now called Parkanaur College, the buildings continue to be used for this purpose.”
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Tudor Revival Survival
Forest parks on Irish demesnes often have a vital missing component: the country house. All too many were mindlessly demolished in the mid 20th century. Pomeroy House and Seskinore House both in County Tyrone are sadly typical examples. In those two cases all that remain are the stables and a footprint of the house just about legible from an aerial view. Parkanaur is a remarkable exception: the entire house with its rambling wings and outbuildings is intact and in use. Just to add to the country estate feel, white fallow deer descended from a pair gifted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1597 to her niece at Mallow Castle in County Cork roam an enclosure overlooked by the house.
In 1771, an Anglo Irish gentleman Ynyr Burges bought the Parkanaur Estate from the Caulfield family. John Henry Burges, a cousin of John Henry’s daughter Lady Poulet, leased the estate and built a triple gabled hunting lodge about 1804. The entrance door was to the left of the present one. A south wing was added in 1821 when the house became the family seat. John Henry’s son John Yner received an inheritance from Lady Poulet in 1838 enabling him to buy the freehold of the estate the following year.
John Yner commissioned the architect Thomas Duff to design a large extension which was completed at a cost of £3,000 in 1848. The original house has windows with mullions and Georgian astragals; the later addition has mullioned windows with leaded lights. The two principal fronts, at a perpendicular angle to one another, back onto courtyards surrounded by substantial outbuildings included a coach house and tower. The rear elevation of the largest courtyard building with its Georgian sash windows is three storeyed due to the sloping land.
The completed Parkanaur is a handsome Tudor Revival house. Thomas Duff was a serious architect. His oeuvre includes the Catholic Cathedrals of St Patrick’s Armagh, St Patrick’s Dundalk and St Patrick and St Colman’s Newry. Narrow Water Castle outside Newry, equally belonging to the revivification of the Tudor Style, is also by his hand. He partnered for a short time with the equally talented Belfast architect Thomas Jackson. The Newry based architect is credited with designing the first Presbyterian portico in Ulster at Fisherwick Place Church in Belfast.
As a Catholic, Thomas Duff was an unusual choice for Protestant commissions and clients. John Yner and his wife Lady Caroline also made improvements to the demesne, planting thousands of trees each year. The Burges enjoyed a sociable lifestyle revolving around entertaining and visiting other Anglo Irish families. Castle Leslie in County Monaghan, Glenarm Castle in County Antrim and Killymoon Castle in County Tyrone – neighbours in aristocratic terms – were all on their social circuit.
The 1830s were halcyon years for the Burges family. But the following decade, three of their four sons died leaving just two daughters. Lady Caroline sold the carriage horses to fund charitable efforts after the Great Famine struck in 1845. Her husband recorded, “My lady instituted a kitchen with every apparatus and convenience for feeding the labourers, all of whom were fed daily … they got the best beef, potatoes and pudding which sustained them while many were starving … with all this I could not keep my people and no less than 300 went off to America having disposed of their land to try their fortune in a strange country.”
The Burges were benevolent landlords. Lady Caroline’s brother, William Clements 3rd Earl of Leitrim, was not: he was murdered for his callousness in 1878. During World War II, Parkanaur was used as a base for the Western Command, housing 50 military personnel. In 1955, the Burges family sold the house and 25 hectares for £12,000 to Reverend Gerry and Mary Eakin. Their son Stanley had difficulty walking and would later use a wheelchair. The Eakins decided to set up an occupational training college in the house to support disabled students. Parkanaur now celebrates seven decades of educational use and residential care supporting a wide range of needs. It is currently occupied by the Thomas Doran Parkanaur Trust. The demesne continues to be a much loved forest park.
St Michael’s Church of Ireland Church Castlcaulfield is two kilometres from Parkanaur as the falcon files. At the summit of the sloping cemetery stands a Tuscan temple with a gloriously oversized pediment all faced in buff pink (long greyed) Dungannon sandstone. It is the Burges burial vault. There are two tombstones unmissably close to the church entrance porch. One marks the burial place of Frederica Florence Elizabeth (1873 to 1957) Burges of Quintin Castle, Portaferry, County Down (it’s now a nursing home). She was the widow of Ynyr Richard Patrick Burges who was buried in Lawrenny, Pembrokeshire, in 1905. Her tombstone is also over the grave of their daughter Margaret Elizabeth (1908 to 1958). Next to Frederica’s tombstone is the resting place of Major Ynyr Alfred Burges’ (1900 to 1983). The last of the Burges family to own Parkanaur, he was High Sheriff of Counties Armagh and Tyrone. His wife Christine (1908 to 1982) shares the same burial plot.
Irish Historic Houses 