An information board in the museum tells us that Geoffrey and Maurice Esmonde were the estate’s first owners, who arrived as part of the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169. Geoffrey Esmonde built the original Johnstown Castle, which was a plain and modest tower house. His son Maurice built a second tower house at Rathlannon Castle, the remains of which are on the grounds to this day.
Information board at Johnstown Castle.
Our guide Mary told us that the Esmondes tower house used to stand in front of the current Johnstown Castle, but it was taken down. See below an old photograph – the old tower is the part covered in ivy in the photo.
The Esmondes lived here for 500 years until they lost their lands during the invasion of Oliver Cromwell, as they were Catholics. Our guide Mary told us that Cromwell slaughtered over 3000 people in Wexford.
There is a chapter on the Esmonds of Ballynastragh in The Wexford Gentry by Art Kavanagh and Rory Murphy. They tell us that it is believed that Geoffrey de Estmont was one of the thirty knights who accompanied Robert FitzStephen to Ireland in 1169 when the latter lead the advance force that landed at Bannow in county Wexford. Geoffrey built a motte and baily at Lymbrick in the Barony of Forth in Wexford, and his son Maurice built a castle on the same site. After Maurice’s death in 1225 the castle was abandoned and his son John built a castle on a new site which was called Johnstown Castle. John died in 1261. [2]
James Esmonde, an early Esmonde living at Johnstown Castle, married Isabel Rosseter, daughter of Thomas Rosseter who owned Rathmacknee Castle in County Wexford – this is a tower house that still stands and is a National Monument. It remained occupied until 1760s and in the nineteenth century it was restored by Hamilton Knox Grogan-Morgan who also owned Johnstown Castle.
James’s grandson, Walter or William, married Margaret Furlong, daughter of Michael of Horetown, County Wexford. They had several children. Their younger son Patrick held the office of Sheriff of Carlow in 1627. He married Katherine Gough and their son Laurence (about 1570-1645) was created 1st Lord Esmonde, Baron of Lymbrick, Co. Wexford, for his services to the crown.
It was an elder son of Walter or William Esmonde and Margaret Furlong, Robert, who inherited the Johnstown estate, which then passed to Robert’s son William. William was MP for Wexford in 1634. However, in the following decades the Esmondes lost the estate.
Lieutenant Colonel John Overstreet was granted Johnstown Castle estate in 1652 in lieu of payment for fighting in Cromwell’s army. When Overstreet died, his wife married another Cromwellian, Edward Withers, who took over the ownership of the castle as Overstreet had no offspring. Withers and his new wife also had no children. Withers and his wife sold the castle to John Reynolds, who had married a niece of John Overstreet, Elizabeth Lacy.
John Reynolds and his wife had three daughters, who were co-heirs to the Johnstown estate. Their daughter Mary married John Grogan (1653-1720), and this is how the property passed into Grogan ownership in 1692. [3]
John Grogan was the son of Cornelius Grogan, a yeoman who brought some property in the town of Wexford. [see 3]
The Grogan family and their descendants lived at Johnstown Castle until 1945 when it was handed over to the state. Our guide told us that it was given in lieu of death duties. Nearly all of the furniture was sold, but fortunately some has been recovered.
John Grogan (1653-1720) and Mary Reynolds had a son Cornelius (1687-1724). Cornelius’s son John (1717-1783) married an heiress, Catherine Knox of Rathmacknee, County Wexford. Catherine’s father was Andrew Knox, and her mother was Mary Grogan, daughter of John Grogan (1653-1720) who had acquired Johnstown Castle by his wife, Mary Reynolds. Mary Grogan was John’s daughter by his second wife, Anne Livingston.
After Mary’s husband Andrew Knox died, she married a second and third time. Her second husband was William Hore (1680-1745) of Wexford, whose first wife had been Dorothy Ponsonby, daughter of William, 1st Viscount Duncannon. After William Hore died, Mary née Grogan married Charles Tottenham (1685-1758, Tottenham “in his boots” as he was called for once wearing his boots into parliament, since he was running late).
Charles Tottenham “in his Boots”, 1731 by James Latham, National Gallery of Ireland 411. He married Mary née Grogan after her previous husband died.In 1731 a proposal that an Irish tax surplus be given to the British treasury caused consternation, and Tottenham, though ill, rode up to Dublin from County Wexford as he was MP for New Ross and he was anxious to vote on the proposal. A serjeant-at-arms tried to stop Tottenham from entering the Parliament house in his muddy boots but Tottenham strode inside, ever after being given the nickname “Tottenham in his boots.”
Another daughter of John and Anne née Livingston was Sarah (1699-1777). She married William Morgan, Mayor of Waterford. They had a son, Samuel, who left a fortune to a later occupant of Johnstown Castle, as we shall see later.
John Grogan (1717-1783) and Catherine Knox had a son Cornelius (1738-1798) who succeeded to the family estates and served as high sheriff of County Wexford and from 1783-1790, MP for Enniscorthy in the Irish parliament.
Cornelius had a bridge built, Wexford bridge, and charged a toll from those crossing. During the rebellion of 1798 Cornelius joined the insurgents, the United Irishmen and he was beheaded for his treason in 1798 and his head was hung on Wexford bridge, along with two other landlords turned rebels, John Henry Colclough and Bagenal Beauchamp Harvey.
The Johnstown estate was restored to his younger brother, John Knox Grogan (1760-1814), on payment of a heavy fine.
Information board at Johnstown Castle.
The information board tells us that the younger brother John Knox Grogan (1760-1814) set about rebuilding and enlarging the castle, and laying out the ornamental gardens. According to the National Inventory, he hired James Pain (1779-1877) of Limerick and work was carried out from 1810-1814.
Second, John Knox Grogan (1760-1814) married Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of James Stephen Fitzgerald of Ballythomas, County Laois.
Following John Knox Grogan’s death, his son Hamilton Knox Grogan (1808-54) continued the building works. He hired Daniel Robertson, who created the castle as we see it today.
In 1827 Hamilton Knox Grogan inherited more land from a cousin of his father, Samuel Morgan (1737-1827) of Ardcandrisk, County Wexford (see above; the house has been demolished). He added Morgan to his surname then, to become Hamilton Knox Grogan-Morgan, becoming the largest landowner without a title in Ireland.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us about Johnstown Castle (1988):
p. 161. “(Esmonde, bt/PB; Grogan-Morgan; LG1863; Forbes, Granard, E/PB; FitzGerald, sub Leinster, D/PB) An old tower house of the Esmondes, engulfed in an impressively turreted, battlemented and machicolated castle of gleaming silver-grey ashlar built ca 1840 for Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan [1808-54], MP, to the design of Daniel Robertson [d. 1849], of Kilkenny. The entrance front is dominated by a single frowning tower with a porte-cochere projecting at the end of an entrance corridor and a Gothic conservatory at one end.”
“Detached three-bay three-storey over basement country house, built 1836-72, on an asymmetrical plan centred on single-bay full-height breakfront with single-bay (four-bay deep) single-storey projecting porch-cum-“porte cochère” to ground floor; five-bay three-storey Garden Front (south) with single-bay four-stage turrets on circular plans centred on single-bay full-height bow on an engaged half-octagonal plan…A country house … enveloping a seventeenth-century house remodelled (1810-4) by James Pain (1779-1877) of Limerick (DIA), confirmed by such attributes as the asymmetrical plan form centred on ‘a splendid porch…formed by beautiful Gothic arches with neat light groinings’ (Lacy 1852, 259); the construction in a blue-green rubble stone offset by glimmering Mount Leinster granite dressings not only demonstrating good quality workmanship, but also producing a sober two-tone palette; the diminishing in scale of the multipartite openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with the principal “apartments” defined by a polygonal bow; and the battlemented turrets producing an eye-catching silhouette: meanwhile, aspects of the composition clearly illustrate the continued development or “improvement” of the country house ‘under the munificent and highly-gifted Lady Esmonde who never tires of affording employment to the skilful artisans whom she herself has trained’.”
Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan married Sophia Maria Rowe (1805-1867), daughter of Ebenezer Radford Rowe of Ballyharty, County Wexford.
Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan’s daughter Jane inherited the estate. Sophia and Hamilton were not happily married, our guide told us. They had no sons, just two daughters. After Hamilton died his wife remarried in 1856, this time to Thomas Esmonde (1786-1868) 9th Baronet of Ballynastragh, County Wexford.
Sophia Maria Knox Grogan Morgan née Rowe (1805-1867) and her second husband, Thomas Esmonde (1786-1868) 9th Baronet.
Sophia was allowed to remain living in the house, and her husband moved in with her.
There is a story that in order to inherit the estate, the daughters were made to run a race to see who would win, and thus inherit! Jane won the race.
The other daughter of Hamilton Knox Grogan Morgan, Elizabeth Geraldine, married Robert Tilson FitzMaurice Deane (1826-1857), son of Matthew Fitzmaurice Deane, 3rd Baron Muskerry of County Cork. In 1854 his name was legally changed to Robert Tilson FitzMaurice Deane-Morgan by Royal Licence.
Jane married George Arthur Forbes (1833-1889), 7th Earl of Granard, County Longford. Jane did not get along well with her mother. Her mother was a Protestant, and Jane and her husband converted to Catholicism. They built a church in Newtown Forbes in Longford. Jane’s mother tried to disinherit her but her new will was signed with an “x” and the judge said it didn’t stand up in court.
Jane Colclough Grogan-Morgan (1834-1872), and next to her picture is George Arthur Forbes (1833-1889) 7th Earl of Granard.
Jane was charitable and on her death there was a headline announcing “death of princess,” our guide told us. The Earl of Granard married a second time after Jane died, and had several more children. He lived in Castle Forbes in County Longford. He married Frances Mary Petre, daughter of William Bernard Petre, 12th Baron Petre of Writtle, Co. Essex in England.
Jane and George Arthur had two daughters, Sophia Maria Elizabeth and Adelaide Jane Frances. Sophia married Henry Christopher Grattan-Bellew, 3rd Baronet Bellew, of Mount Bellew, Co. Galway. Adelaide married Maurice Fitzgerald (1852-1901), son of the 4th Duke of Leinster, of Carton House in County Kildare. They inherited the estate at Johnstown Castle.
Maurice Fitzgerald (1852-1901)and his wife, Adelaide.Henry Grattan Bellew, 3rd Baronet, b.1860, married Sophia Forbes, daughter of the Earl of Granard, by Dermod O’Brien, courtesy of Adam’s auction 10 Oct 2017. He represented one of the few Catholic aristocratic families who survived Cromwellian deportation to Connaught. Mount Bellow was an architecturally significant house with a fine library of books; the former destroyed, the latter dispersed.Information board at Johnstown Castle.
Adelaide (1860-1942) converted to Protestantism to marry the Maurice Fitzgerald (1852-1901). Like her mother, she undertook much charity work. She brought the first motorised ambulance to County Wexford.
Adelaide and Maurice had four children: Geraldine (1881-1954), Gerald Hugh (1886-1914), Kathleen (1892-1930) and Marjorie (1896-1899).
Geraldine married Gerald More O’Ferrall (d. 1951) of Lissard House, County Longford (now demolished). Adelaide and Maurice’s son Gerald died in WWI in France. He had married Dorothy Violet Charrington from England. After his death, she remarried, to Thomas William Jefferies of Wexford.
A daughter of Maurice Fitzgerald and Adelaide Jane, Geraldine, married Gerald More O’Ferrall.
Kathleen married Major Michael Lakin (1881-1960) of Horetown House, County Wexford, and it was their son Maurice Victor Lakin (d. 1919) who inherited the estate. His brother Gerald fought in World War II and died in Africa in 1943. Kathleen died tragically in a horse riding accident when she was just 37 years old.
Wedding photograph of Michael Lakin (1881-1960) of Horetown House who married Kathleen Fitzgerald (1892-1930) in 1914. He is next to Inez Charlotte Grace Casberd-Boteler, I presume as she is listed as Lady Henry Fitzgerald, and Henry was another son of Charles William Fitzgerald, 4th Duke of Leinster. She is next to the wife of Maurice Fitzgerald, Adelaide Jane Frances née Forbes, who is next to Captain Gerald Fitzgerald (1851-1893), 5th Duke of Leinster. Is the centre is Captain Michael Lakin’s father, also Michael, 1st Baronet Lakin, of The Cliff, Co. Warwick. He is next to Bell Irvine, best man, who is next to Miss C. Paget (bridesmaid), and Miss. D Charrington. The page is Andrew Horsburgh Porter, and Kathleen the bride is seated.Horetown House, County Wexford, photograph courtesy of Horetown website.
Maurice Victor Lakin, pictured below, was the last man to privately own the castle and estate before handing it over to the state.
Johnstown Castle, County Wexford.
Maurice Victor Lakin gifted it to the state in 1945.
The Grogan-Morgan family tree.Explanation of the handover to the state and Department of Agriculture.
After walking through the entrance corridor a room is reached called the “Apostles’ Hall” due to the wooden carvings. The National Inventory continues:
“A prolonged period of unoccupancy notwithstanding, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where encaustic tile work; the so-called “Apostles Hall” with ‘oak panelling and carving of the most costly description’ (Lacy 1852, 268); contemporary joinery ‘by poor Mooney who may be said to have lived and died in the employment of the munificent proprietor [and who was] succeeded by another native genius [named] Sinnott’ (ibid., 269); restrained chimneypieces in contrasting neo-Classical or Egyptian Revival styles; and geometric ceilings recalling the Robertson-designed Wells House (1836-45), all highlight the considerable artistic significance of the composition.“
From the Apostles Hall you enter a top-lit three storey galleried space. Our guide told us that this used to be a music room. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes it: “top-lit triple-height “Grand Hall” on a square plan retaining tessellated “Asphaltum” tiled floor, clustered colonette-detailed carved timber surrounds to door openings framing Gothic-style timber panelled doors, arcaded galleries (upper floors) with carved timber hand rails, and fan vaulted plasterwork ceiling centred on replacement glass block-filled mass concrete dome.” [4]
As well as hosting musical events in this space, tenants would be given Christmas dinner here. Mary told us that the owners were good to their tenants.
The next room is the: “bow-ended dining room (south) retaining clustered colonette-detailed carved timber surround to door opening framing timber panelled door with clustered colonette-detailed carved timber surrounds to opposing window openings framing Gothic-style timber panelled shutters on Gothic-style timber panelled risers.”
The National Inventory tells us that Armorial panels over the glazed-in carriageway and on the dining room chimneypiece show a coat of arms combining three bears heads couped and muzzled [Forbes] centred on a griffin sergeant [Morgan] representing the marriage of George Arthur Hastings Forbes (1833-89), seventh Earl of Granard, and Jane Colclough Morgan (1840-72) with Order of Saint Patrick motto “QUIS SEPARABIT MDCCLXXXIII [Who Will Separate Us 1783]” recognising the earl’s investment as a Knight of the Order of Saint Patrick (K.P.) in 1857.
After giving the property to the state, the Lackin family moved to France. They retained the hunting, fishing and burial rights to the property. Recently Victor Lackin’s grandson visited, and he fished in the lake, and had his photograph taken by his ancestor’s portrait. He is very like Hamilton Knox Grogan-Morgan!
The castle hosted students from the Botanic Gardens from 1949-56. Our guide told us about Tom Walsh, I jotted down a note that he was the first agricultural student in Ireland, who sent students to America. They returned and took soil samples, and now we have the best quality beef and dairy industry in the world, due to the work done with soil. It was another Tom Walsh who started the Wexford Opera Festival.
Information board at Johnstown Castle.Information board at Johnstown Castle.
After learning about the agricultural work carried out in Johnstown Castle we went to the basement to see the kitchen and servants areas.
We left the castle through the servants and goods entrance, a tunnel from the basement that is 85 metres long! It is the longest such tunnel in Ireland.
The National Inventory continues: “Furthermore, a “Terrace Garden”; a stable complex; folly-like towers and turrets overlooking an artificial lake ; a walled garden; and nearby gate lodges, all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a largely intact estate.“
Ballyseede castle (pronounced Ballyseedy) is now a hotel, and Stephen and I treated ourselves to a stay in March 2023. The house was built in around 1760 for the Blennerhassett family, and parts were added and gothicized over time. Gothic revival additions may have been designed by William and Richard Morrison. Later renovations were carried out by James Franklin Fuller.
The castle is now one of four owned by the Corscadden family. We have visited the other properties: Cabra Castle in County Cavan and Markree in County Sligo, both of which are also section 482 properties (see my entries). We also visited the fourth, Castle Bellingham in County Louth, kindly welcomed by Patrick, who showed us around and I told him of my website. I am in the process of writing about that in my “Places to visit and stay in County Louth” page, still a work in progress.
“Take a step back in time with a hotel steeped in history that offers luxurious surroundings within 30 acres of private gardens and woodland.
“The Doric columns that lead to an elegant oak staircase in the lobby are indicative of the grand decoration throughout the hotel. Impressive drawing rooms with ornate cornices, adorned with marble fireplaces provide an ideal setting for afternoon tea or morning coffee.
“Elegant accommodation, fine dining with traditional Irish cuisine, rooms that tell a story and the picturesque natural setting, will all comprise to make your stay at Ballyseede Castle an unforgettable one.”
The Landed Estates database tells us that the Blennerhassett family was originally from Cumbria in the north of England. Robert Blennerhassett was the first to settle in Kerry. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Jenkin Conway of Castle Conway, Killorglin, County Kerry, formerly known as Killorglin Castle (now a ruin). He was originally from Pembrokeshire in Wales.
Between 1611 and 1618 Robert acquired lands in Ireland. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Tralee in 1613 and between 1635 and 1639. He lived in an old castle named Ballycarty Castle and also owned the old Ballyseedy Castle. The current Ballyseede Castle is different from the original Ballyseedy Castle, a castle that had belonged to the Fitzgeralds, located at the west end of Ballyseedy Wood.
The Landed Estates database tells us that a John Blennerhassett was granted an estate of 2,787 acres in the barony of Trughanacmy, County Kerry (where Ballyseede Castle and Ballyseedy woods are located) and 2,039 acres in the barony of Fermoy, County Cork under the Acts of Settlement in 1666. [1] This John is probably son of Robert.
Lady Blennerhassett (I’m not sure which one), Ballyseedy Castle, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Irish school 18th century, Adams auction 19 Oct 2021
John Blennerhassett, son of Robert and Elizabeth, was, following his father’s footsteps, MP for Tralee [2]. He too lived in Ballycarty Castle, now a ruin. He married Martha Lynn, daughter of George from Southwick Hall, Northamptonshire, England. They had several children and he died in 1676.
His younger brothers Edward and Arthur married and lived nearby.
John and Martha’s son John was also MP for Tralee and high sheriff, but died only a year after his father, in 1677. He had married Elizabeth Denny in 1654, whose family lived in Tralee Castle (it no longer exists). She was the daughter of Edward Denny (1605-1646) who was also an MP and High Sheriff for County Kerry. [see 2] The Denny and Blennerhassett families intermarried over generations.
Edward Denny (1547-1600), who was granted land in Tralee County Kerry after the Desmond Rebellions photograph courtesy of the Roaringwaterjournal website.
In her Voices from the Great Houses: Cork and Kerry (2013) Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe tells us about the grandfather of Edward Denny (1605-1646), Edward Denny (1547-1599/1600), who moved to Kerry:
“Following the Desmond rebellions of 1569-73 and 1579-83, Sir Edward Denny of Waltham Abbey, Herefordshire, who was born in 1547, was granted 6,000 acres of land around Tralee, County Kerry. The ruined thirteenth century Tralee Castle, formerly a Desmond property, was included in the grant. Sir Edward Denny was a relative of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was also granted 42,000 acres in Cork and Waterford at this time.” [3]
John Blennserhassett and Martha had other children beside John who died in 1677. Their son Robert also held the office of MP for Tralee and High Sheriff of County Kerry in 1682. He married Avice Conway (d. 1663), a daughter of Edward Conway of Castle Conway, County Kerry. Their son John (d. circa 1738) inherited Castle Conway from his mother.
John (d. 1677) and Elizabeth née Denny’s son John (d. 1709) was MP for Tralee, Dingle and County Kerry at various times. He married Margaret Crosbie (1670-1759) of Tubrid, County Kerry (Tubrid House no longer exists, and should not be confused with Tubbrid Castle in County Kilkenny). Her father Patrick held the office of High Sheriff of County Kerry in 1660.
Margaret née Crosbie and John Blennerhassett had several children. After John’s death in 1709 Margaret married David John Barry in the same year, son of Richard Barry (1630-1694) 2nd Earl of Barrymore but they had no children together.
Margaret and John’s heir was Colonel John (1691-1775), who was called “Great Colonel John” thanks to his hospitality. He followed in his forebears’ footsteps, becoming an MP. In 1727 he signed a family compact with Maurice Crosbie of Ardfert and Arthur Denny of Tralee, partitioning the county representation among the three families [see 2].
Colonel John married Jane Denny, daughter of Colonel Edward Denny (1652-1709) of Tralee Castle.
A website about the Blennerhassett family tells us that in 1721 the first “Ballyseedy House” was built among ruins of the Geraldine Ballyseedy Castle at the west end of Ballyseedy Wood. Colonel John lived here with his family. [4]
It was Margaret and John Blennerhassett’s younger son William (1705-1785) who built the house which has become the hotel Ballyseede Castle. It was built around 1780 (the National Inventory says c. 1760) and named “Elm Grove.” [4] William died during its construction and the work was completed around 1788 by his son William Blennerhassett Jr. (c. 1735-1797).
We will return to William and his family later. First, let’s look at the older son Colonel John and his offspring.
Colonel John’s son John Blennerhassett (1715-1763) would have succeeded his father and lived in the original Ballyseedy House, if he had not predeceased him in 1763. This John was admitted to the Middle Temple in London to train for the legal profession, and he also held the office of High Sheriff of County Kerry, in 1740, and M.P. for County Kerry between 1751 and 1760. He married Anne Crosbie, daughter of William Crosbie of Tubrid, County Kerry, who was MP for Ardfert between 1713 and 1743. Her mother was Isabella Smyth from Ballynatray, County Waterford, another Section 482 property – gardens only – that I’ll be writing about soon. Anne Crosbie had been previously married to John Leslie of Tarbert, County Kerry (another section 482 property which I hope to visit soon), but he died in 1736.
Anne died and John Blennerhassett remarried in 1753, this time wedding Frances Herbert, daughter of Edward Herbert (1693-1770) of Muckross, County Kerry. For more on Muckross House, see my entry on places to visit and stay in County Kerry.
Muckross House Killarney Co. Kerry, photograph by Chris Hill 2014 for Tourism Ireland, Ireland’s Content Pool.
Neither of John’s sons married and one died young. His house, Ballyseedy House, fell into disuse.
John’s daughter Frances married Reverend Jemmett Browne (d. 1797) of Riverstown, County Cork, another Section 482 property (see my entry).
Colonel John and Jane née Denny had a younger son, Arthur (1719-1799), who served as MP for Tralee between 1743 and 1760. He married Jane Giradot and had two daughters but no sons. His daughter Jane married George Allanson-Winn, 1st Lord Headley, Baron Allanson and Winn of Aghadoe, County Kerry. She was heiress of her father’s unentailed Ballyseedy estates – this would have been land that did not include what is now Ballyseede Castle. She died in 1825.
Colonel John and Jane née Denny also had several daughters. Agnes, born in 1722, married neighbour Thomas Denny (d. 1761) of Tralee Castle, son of Colonel Edward Denny (1728). Another daughter, Arabella (1725-1795), married Richard Ponsonby of Crotto, County Kerry (now demolished), MP for Kinsale, County Kerry, and then secondly Colonel Arthur Blennerhassett (1731-1810), a grandson of John who died in 1709 and Margaret née Crosbie. A third daughter of Jane and John Blennerhassett, Mary, married Lancelot Crosbie, who lived at Tubrid, County Kerry. Lancelot was MP for County Kerry between 1759 and 1760 and for Ardfert in County Kerry between 1762 and 1768 [see 2].
Let us return now to Elm Grove, now called Ballyseede castle. It is an eleven-bay three-storey over part-raised basement house, comprising a three-bay entrance bay to the centre with door opening approached by flight of steps, and a pair of three-bay full-height flanking bow bay windows and single-bay end bays. It has five-bay side elevations with three-bay full-height bow bay window to south elevation and eight-bay west elevation with two-bay breakfront. [5]
William Blennerhassett Senior (1705-1785), son of John Blennerhassett (d. 1709) of Ballyseedy and Margaret Crosbie married Mary, daughter of John Morley, Mayor of Cork. Their son William (c.1735-1797) inherited Elm Grove.
Their daughter Agnes, born in 1740, married William Godfrey (c. 1738-1817) 1st Baronet of Bushfield, County Kerry, later called Kilcolman Abbey (renovated by William Vitruvius Morrison in 1818, demolished in 1977).
William (c.1735-1797) held the office of High Sheriff of County Kerry in 1761 and was the Collector of Customs at Tralee, which could have been a lucrative post.
William married Catherine daughter of the interestingly named Noble Johnson of County Cork. William and Catherine’s son Arthur (1779-1815) lived in Elm Grove with his wife Dorcas (1775/7-1822) daughter of George Twiss from Cordell House, County Kerry. Arthur died in 1815, but it seems that before he died he began plans to renovate the house. As was the case with his father and grandfather, Arthur’s son, another Arthur (1800-1843), continued the renovations.
William and Catherine’s daughter Catherine (b. 1777) married Colonel John Gustavus Crosbie (d. 1797), a son of Lancelot Crosbie and Mary née Blennerhassett. He was M.P. for County Kerry between 1795 and 1797. In 1794 he killed Barry Denny, 2nd Bt. in an election duel at Oak Park (now Collis-Sandes House) and was subsequently poisoned, it is said, by the Denny family, which resulted in him falling from his horse as he was riding home from Churchill to his home in Tubrid. Catherine then married George Rowan of Rathanny, County Kerry (a beautiful Georgian house, still occupied). Rowan ordered the militia to fire into the crowd at an election rally killing five people. He was tried for murder but not convicted. [6]
Another daughter, Mary, married another cousin, Captain Nevinson Blennerhassett de Courcy (1789-1845). He was the son of Anne Blennerhassett of the Castle Conway branch of the family.
A younger son of William and Catherine née Johnson, John (circa 1769-1794), served as MP for Kerry between 1790 and 1794. He died unmarried.
Mark Bence-Jones tells us that the Gothic Revival renovation dates from 1816 and may be designed by Richard Morrison (1767– 1849). [7] The work was completed in 1821, and the house renamed “Ballyseedy House” because the original old “Ballyseedy” of Colonel John Blennerhassett at the west end of Ballyseedy Wood had by then fallen into disrepair and disuse.
The house was extended, adding a seven-bay two-storey wing to the north. This wing has a pair of single-bay three-storey turrets to the east elevation. These turrets have battlemented roof parapets and pinnacles. The ten-bay rear elevation to the west has hood mouldings to the openings and a single-bay three-storey corner turret on a circular plan to north-west. [see 5]
The Blennerhassett site tells us: “It was William Blennerhassett Jr’s son Arthur (1779-1815) and his wife Dorcas Twiss (1775/7-1822) who commenced addition of the long north wing, something of a “folly” with the stable yard surrounded by a great wall of false windows, with two carriage entrances and a round tower of medieval appearance at the north-west corner.The work of architect Sir William Morrison [From 1809 onward Richard Morrison collaborated increasingly with his second son, William Vitruvius Morrison (1794–1838)], this remodelling was completed in 1821, exactly 100 years after the older “Ballyseedy House” house had been built, by his son Arthur Blennerhassett (b. 1799 d.1843) then only 22 years of age.” [8]
Mark Bence-Jones describes: “At one side of the front is a long and low castellated service wing, with round and square turrets, the other side of which has a sham wall, consisting of a long range of false windows.”
I couldn’t work out where this sham wall of false windows was – perhaps later renovations changed this folly.
At the time of renovations, the son of Arthur and Dorcas, Arthur (1800-1843), was High Sheriff for County Kerry.
The Blennerhassett website tells us:
“In the north wing is a “Banqueting Hall” which features a foundation stone dated 1721, set into the wall over primitive 17th century black oak fireplace surround.“
The Blennerhassett website tells us thatanother 17th century wooden fireplace surround of finer workmanship was installed in what was the library of the main house (now the hotel bar). The two fireplaces are believed to have been moved with other free-standing oak furniture from “Old” Ballyseedy” as it fell into ruin.
Arthur Jr. (1800-1843) married Frances Deane O’Grady (1800-1834), daughter of Henry Deane O’Grady (1765-1847). This would have been a prestigious marriage. Her sisters married, respectively, Edward Chichester, 4th Marquess of Donegal (Amelia); David Roche (1791-1865), 1st Baronet of Carass, Co. Limerick (Cecilia); John Skeffington (1812-1863), 10th Viscount Massereene (Olivia); and Matthew Fitzmaurice Deane (1795-1868), 3rd Baron Muskerry (Louisa). Thus Arthur would have been very well connected. He served as M.P. for County Kerry between 1837 and 1841.
It must have been during this Arthur’s time in the 1830s that Ballyseede was leased to Edward Denny (1796-1889), 4th Baronet.
Edward Denny (1796-1889) 4th Bt , Poet and hymn writer, by Camille Silvy, 1862, National Portrait Gallery of London, Ax57667.
In Voices from the Great Houses: Cork and Kerry (2013) Jane O’Hea O’Keeffe tells us:
p. 160. “Several generations of the Denny family occupied the ancient castle in Tralee. They ran the estate through both peaceful and turbulent times until 1826, when Sir Edward Denny, 3rd Baronet [1773-1831, of Castle Moyle, Co. Kerry], decided to demolish the castle. Tom Denny ruefully remarks, “The demolition of Tralee Castle by Sir Edward Denny was a crime, and much resented in Tralee at that time. People felt angry that part of the town’s history was being destroyed. Sir Edward was really quite a muddled character. As a younger man, when he inherited the estate, he promptly set about enlarging the castle, something which is powerful father-in-law Judge Day found very irritating, and which created enormous problems for Sir Edward’s finances. He subsequently went to live in Worcester. He remained fascinated by genealogy and artefacts from the family’s past and continued to acquire Tudor portraits long after he had pulled down the Tudor remains of the Denny house.
“In the 1830s the Worcestershire Dennys came back to Tralee, and Sir Edward Denny, 4th Baronet, rented Ballyseedy Castle outside the town for a number of years. His younger brother William [1811-1871] became his agent, and he lived at Princes Quay in Tralee in a house when the Dominican church now stands. Sir Edward Denny planned to rebuild the [Tralee] castle, and he replanted the park and also built lodges on the estate. His plans came to an end in 1840 when he joined the conservative Plymouth Brethren movement and he lived thereafter in poverty in London, leaving the management of the estate to his family.
“The indebted Denny estate in Tralee was run by members of the family, or their agents, until 1892, when it was taken over by an insurance company; this severed a family link to the area which had remained strong for over 300 years.
“The Denny estates at one time, stretched to around 29,000 acres, extending from Fenit to Tralee and around the other side of the bay to Derrymore,” explains Tom Denny. “Sir Arthur Denny, 5th Baronet (1838-1921), was a notorious gambler who managed to lose the entire estate by around 1892.”
Arthur Blennerhassett died in 1843 when his son, Charles John Allanson Winn Blennerhassett (1830-1859) was only thirteen years old. By this time, Ballyseedy was probably back in the hands of the Blennerhassetts. Charles’s mother has died when he was only four. I am not sure who raised him. A few of his uncles still lived in County Kerry: His uncle Thomas (1806-1878) remained unmarried and lived in Kerry, and uncle Lt.-Col. Francis Barry Blennerhassett (1815-1877) lived in Blennerville, County Kerry, also unmarried.
Charles John Allanson Winn married Marianne Hickson of Dingle, County Kerry, in 1855. He held the office of High Sheriff in 1858 and was a Justice of the Peace. He died at the young age of 29 and his wife remarried, this time to Captain William Walker. Before Charles died, his wife had two children: Barbara, who died at the age of ten, and Arthur (1856-1939). Young Arthur was only three years old when his father died. He was sent away to school in Harrow in England.
Charles John Allanson Winn Blennerhassett (1830-1859) had several siblings. His sister Adelaide married Standish O’Grady (1832-1860) 3rd Viscount Guillamore, County Limerick. His sister Dorcas married Robert Conway Hurly of Glenduffe, County Kerry. His sister Amelia married Chichester Thomas Skeffington, son of Thomas Henry Skeffington, 2nd Viscount Ferrard, County Louth. Frances Annabella married John Richard Wolseley, 6th Bt of Mount Wolseley, County Carlow. His only brother, Henry Deane, died unmarried in 1850.
Young Arthur Blennerhassett (1856-1939) was the owner of 12,621 acres in 1876 [see 2]. He held the office of High Sheriff in 1878. In 1882 he married Clara Nesta Richarda FitzGerald, daughter of Desmond John Edmund FitzGerald, 26th Knight of Glin.
The house was further remodelled during the 1880s for the Blennerhassett family by James Franklin Fuller (1835–1924), after which it was then known as “Ballyseedy Castle.” Fuller added a battlemented parapet, hood mouldings and other mildly baronial touches. The three-bay single-storey flat-roofed limestone ashlar projecting porch was added to the entrance bay. The Blennerhassett website tells us that the back of the castle became the front at this time.
Older pictures of Ballyseedy. It looks like this could be the original front of the castle.It is identified on the Blennerhassett family website as Ballyseedy c.1837-1841 and their version is titled “The Seat of Arthur Blennerhassett Esq MP, Co Kerry.”
The Blennerhassett family website [8] tells us more about the history:
“During the 1880s Arthur’s grandson, Maj. Arthur Blennerhassett (b.1856 d.1939), commissioned a “mock castle” refacing of the house, as was popular during the late Victorian period, these changes causing what had previously been the front elevation and west facing main entrance to become the rear of the house. This work, executed by Kerry architect, historian and Blennerhassett descendant James Franklin Fuller, caused the house to lose its Georgian elegance and simplicity but resulted in the more impressive building we see today. Following these changes the house began to be referred to as “Ballyseedy Castle” and is named as such on the family headed writing paper of the time.” [8]
Unfortunately not having read this fully in advance of our visit, I didn’t take a proper picture of the back of the hotel, not knowing that it had originally been the front!
Out the back there is a lovely garden with statues, small hedges, trees and a gazebo perfect for wedding photographs. Unfortunately it rained during most of our visit, so we didn’t get to explore much outside.
Arthur served as Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. He fought in the first World War and gained the rank of Major in the 4th Battalion, Munster Fusiliers. In 1918, both he and Clara Nesta (known as Nesta) were appointed as Members of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) for their services: Nesta because during WWI she and her younger daughters Hilda and Vera served as Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses caring for the wounded, first behind the battlefields of France, and later on Lord Dunraven’s hospital ship “Grianaig” in the Mediterranean.
Arthur and Nesta had three daughters. Hilda and Vera lived at Ballyseedy. Hilda bequeathed the estate in 1965 to her kinsman Sir (Marmaduke) Adrian Francis William Blennerhassett, 7th Bt of Blennerville, County Kerry, who sold it 1967. [see 5] This branch of Blennerhassetts are descendants of Robert Blennerhassett of Ballycarty Castle and his wife Elizabeth Conway also, from their grandson Robert, younger brother of John from whom the Ballyseedy Blennerhassetts descended.
The Blennerhassett website has a copy of the auction of the contents of the house, held by Hamilton and Hamilton in 1967.
[2] Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke’s Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976.
List of M.P.s for County Kerry:
1692: Edward Denny (1652-1709 or 1712) of Tralee Castle; Thomas Fitzmaurice (1668-1741) 1st Earl of Kerry
1697: Edward Denny (1652-1709 or 1712) of Tralee Castle; William Sandes
1703: Edward Denny (d. 1727/8, son of Edward Denny (1652-1709 or 1712) of Tralee Castle); John Blennerhassett (d. 1709)
1709: Edward Denny (1676–1727/8); John Blennerhassett (1691-1775)
1715: John Blennerhassett (1691-1775); Maurice Crosbie (c. 1689 –1762) 1st Baron Brandon, of Ardfert, County Kerry
1727: Maurice Crosbie (c. 1689 –1762) 1st Baron Brandon; Arthur Denny (1704-1742), son of Edward Denny (1676–1727/8)
1743: Maurice Crosbie (c. 1689 –1762) 1st Baron Brandon; John Petty-Fitzmaurice (1706-1761) 1st Earl of Shelburne, son of Thomas Fitzmaurice (1668-1741) 1st Earl of Kerry
1751: Maurice Crosbie (c. 1689 –1762) 1st Baron Brandon; John Blennerhassett (1715-1763), son of John Blennerhassett (1691-1775)
1759: John Blennerhassett (1715-1753); Lancelot Crosbie (1723-1780)
1761: William Petty-Fitzmaurice (1737-1805) 1st Marquess of Lansdowne; Lancelot Crosbie (1723-1780)
1762: John Blennerhassett (1715-1763)
1763: John Blennerhassett (1691-1775); Thomas Fitzmaurice
1768: John Blennerhassett (1691-1775); Barry Denny (c. 1744-1794), 1st Baronet
1775: Barry Denny (c. 1744-1794), 1st Baronet; Arthur Blennerhassett (1719-1799) son of John Blennerhassett (1691-1775)
1776: Arthur Blennerhassett (1719-1799); Rowland Bateman (c. 1737-1803)
1783: Barry Denny (c. 1744-1794) 1st Bt; Richard Townsend Herbert (1755-1832)
1790: Barry Denny (c. 1744-1794) 1st Bt; John Blennerhassett (1769-1794)
1794: Barry Denny (d. 1794 in in dual with John Gustavus Crosbie) 2nd Bt; John Gustavus Crosbie (c. 1749-1797) son of Lancelot Crosbie (1723-1780)
1795: Maurice Fitzgerald (1774-1849) 18th Knight of Kerry; John Gustavus Crosbie (c. 1749-1797)
1798: Maurice Fitzgerald (1774-1849) 18th Knight of Kerry; James Crosbie (c. 1760-1836)
[3] p. 157. O’Hea O’Keeffe, Jane. Voices from the Great Houses: Cork and Kerry. Mercier Press, Cork, 2013.
Irish Historic Houses 