Everard, Thomas (1755-1830)

Bloomsbury House (formerly Mount Tisdall), Kells, County Meath

by jenjunebug

Bloomsbury House, Kells, County 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.

p. 45. “(Barnewall, Trimlestown, B/PB) A two storey five bay early C19 house with a Doric porch.” 

Record of Protected Structures: 

Bloomsberry House, townland: Bloomsberry. 

Detached five-bay two-storey over basement C18 house enlarged mid 19thC. incl gates, footbridge and walled garden. 

http://www.navanhistory.ie/index.php?page=bloomsbury-house

Bloomsbury House is located on the banks of the river Blackwater, south of Kells. Erected as an estate house for the Tisdalls of Martry, the house was originally called Mount Tisdall and the area known as Jackstown. A simple two-storey Georgian house, it was extended and re-modelled in 1858for Richard Barnewall by Kells builder Francis Nulty. In 1911 it had twenty five rooms, nine windows to the front and forty one outbuildings. There is a fishing temple at the meeting of the Blackwater and Moynalty rivers – a boathouse below and a temple above. Casey and Rowan describe it as a pretty building made useless by the lowering of the level of the Blackwater. A large courtyard and walled garden stands to the north. 

In the winter of 1739 the rivers froze for a period of seven weeks. Charles Tisdall roasted a bullock on the ice to feed his tenants. Henry Brooke held the estate in 1802. 

In 1829 the house was leased by Joseph Barnewall, heir to the title of Lord Trimbleston. Joseph was married to Mary Everard of Randlestown and died in 1852. Their son, Richard Barnewall of Bloomsbury, married Helena Maria Hunt. Richard died in 1866. His son, Thomas, who was born in 1825 succeeded at Bloomsbury. In 1876 Thomas Barnewall of Bloomsbury held 2,782 acres in County Meath. In 1901 Miss Katherine Barnewall was living at Bloomsberry. Katherine died in 1907.She was succeeded by her cousin. In 1911 Charles Trimleston and his wife resided at Bloomsberry. Their son, Reginald, was killed in 1918 during the First World War. The Barnewall family held the house until 1916. In 1916 the estate was sold. 

The house has a dining room, drawing room, saloon, library, morning room, seven principal bedrooms, comfortable servant‟s apartments, kitchen, dairy, pantries, store rooms, scullery, bathrooms, w.c.s, etc. The surrounding lands amounted to 312 acres. John Whaley, Downings, Prosperous, Sallins purchased the house and lands for £5000. The Whaleys were said to be descendants of the notorious Dublin rake, Buck Whaley, who walked to Jerusalem to win a bet. John Whaley died at Bloomsbury in 1944. Jack. Whaley of Bloomsbury was the secretary of the Co. Meath Cricket Club and also involved in the Kells Bridge Club. The modern gardens were created by Jack Whaley who wrote a number of books on gardening in Ireland. 

Source: meath-roots.com 

https://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/search/label/Ireland?updated-max=2020-04-02T14:59:00%2B01:00&max-results=20&start=5&by-date=false

Bloomsbury House, Kells, Co. Meath 

A close up of a tree Description automatically generated, Picture 
Bloomsbury House: the 17th century entrance front, as altered in 1858. Image: © The Irish Aesthete. 

The core of the house seems to be a two-storey block of five bays, built in the 17th century for the Tisdall family and originally named Mount Tisdall. Although it had a five bay front, the house seems to have been only two bays deep, so there can have been room for little more than one room either side of the hall on each floor. Surviving accounts demonstrate that there was a refurbishment in the 1740s, when the ‘big parlour’ was given new panelling and new furnishings, but at the same time Charles Tisdall began building a new house three miles away to the designs of Richard Castle, which he called Charlesfort, and once this had been completed, the family moved there and Mount Tisdall was let out. Amongst the tenants who occupied the place for nearly a century was Joseph Barnewall (b. 1781), the second son of Richard Barnewell of Fyanstown, who came to Mount Tisdall in 1829 and changed its name to Bloomsbury.  

A vintage photo of a house Description automatically generated, Picture 
Bloomsbury House: garden front, designed in 1858 by William Caldbeck. Image: © Leo Mulligan Photography 

Joseph Barnewall bought the freehold in 1835, and in 1858 his son, Richard Barnewall (d. 1866), employed William Caldbeck to extend and remodel the house, more than doubling its size, so that it now has has a dining room, drawing room, saloon, library, morning room and seven principal bedrooms, apart from the service accommodation. Parallel to the original house and behind it, Caldbeck added a large but conservatively designed classical range with a seven-bay garden front of two storeys above a semi-basement. The central three bays break forward and have round-headed French windows on the ground floor. The centre and angles of the facade are defined by giant pilasters, and similar pilasters were added to the other corners of the building to create a unified effect. On the entrance front, an Ionic portico and pediment were added. To the side of the house is a long service yard where most of the forty-one outbuildings recorded in the 1920s are situated. They include a handsome Gothic greenhouse along one wall.  
 
As recently as 2001 the gardens of Bloomsbury, lovingly created and cared for by the owner and garden-writer, Jack Whaley, were described as ‘amongst the finest in the country’, but sadly the house and grounds now display little evidence of their former glories. In 2001, Bloomsbury was sold to a new owner who stripped the exterior and interior down to the bare walls and allowed the rest of the estate to fall into complete decay. Whatever he intended to do with the house was then abandoned and the property was left derelict. It was sold again in 2015, but I understand that there has been no progress with restoration, and it must be feared that this is yet another good Irish house that will be a ruin in a few years’ time. 
 
Descent: sold 1835 to Joseph Barnewall (1781-1852), who had leased it since 1829; to son, Richard Barnewall (1821-66); to brother, Thomas Barnewall (1825-98); to sister, Katherine Barnewall (c.1824-1907); to kinsman, Charles Aloysius Barnewall (1861-1937), 18th Baron Trimlestown, who sold for £5,000 in c.1920 to John Whaley (d. 1944); to son, Jack Whaley (d. c.2000); sold 2001; sold 2015. 

Barnewall family of Bloomsbury 

 
 
Barnewall, Joseph (1781-1852). Second son of Richard Barnewall (c.1744-1826) [for whom see above, under Barnewall family, Barons Trimelstown] and his wife Katherine, daughter of George Byrne of Seatown, Dundalk (Co. Louth), born 1781. He married, 23 August 1814 or 1817, Margaret (d. 1841), eldest daughter of Thomas Everard of Randalstown (Co. Meath) and had issue: 
(1) Richard Barnewall (1821-66) (q.v.); 
(2) Barbara Barnewall (c.1822-97); died unmarried, 1 December 1897; 
(3) Charlotte Barnewall (c.1823-97); died unmarried, 24 September 1897; 
(4) Katherine Barnewall (c.1824-1907) (q.v.). 
(5) Thomas Barnewall (1825-98) (q.v.). 
He leased Mount Tisdall (Meath) from 1829, bought the freehold in 1835 and renamed it Bloomsbury House. 
He died at Bloomsbury, 27 June 1852. His wife died in November 1841. 
 
Barnewall, Richard (1821-66). Elder son of Joseph Barnewall (1781-1852) and his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of Thomas Everard of Randalstown (Co. Meath), born February 1821. Educated at Prior Park College, Bath. JP and DL for Co. Meath. He married, 9 September 1845 at Glananea (Co. Westmeath), Helena Maria, youngest daughter of Charles Whyte Roche of Ballygran (Co. Limerick), but had no issue. 
He inherited Bloomsbury House from his father in 1852 and enlarged it in 1858. 
He died 3 February 1866; administration of his goods was granted to his brother, 24 May 1866 (effects under £14,000). His widow married 2nd, 2 March 1878 at St. Roch, Paris (France), the Vicomte de Chasteigner of Chateau de Faltaise, Gironde (France); her date of death is unknown. 
 
Barnewall, Thomas (1825-98). Younger  son of Joseph Barnewall (1781-1852) and his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of Thomas Everard of Randalstown (Co. Meath), born 25 March 1825. He was unmarried and without issue. 
He lived at Ardbraccan Lodge (Meath) until he inherited Bloomsbury House from his elder brother in 1866. 
He died 17 January 1898; his will was proved 19 March 1898 (effects £16,511). 
 
Barnewall, Katherine (c.1824-1907). Daughter of Joseph Barnewall (1781-1852) and his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of Thomas Everard of Randalstown (Co. Meath), born about 1824. 
She inherited Bloomsbury House from her brother in 1898. At her death she bequeathed it to her second cousin once removed, the 18th Baron Trimlestown (q.v.). 
She died 6 June 1907; her will was proved 27 November 1907 (estate £12.558 in Ireland and £4,644 in England). 

Principal sources 

Burke’s Dormant and Extinct Peerages, 1883, pp. 23-24; Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage, 2003, pp. 265-67, 3938-40; J. Lodge & M. Archdall, The Peerage of Ireland, vol. 5, 1789, pp. 29-53; H.H. Langrishe, ‘Le Comte de Barnaval: a sidelight on Barnewall family history’, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1944, pp. 73-86; Knight of Glin, D.J. Griffin & N.K. Robinson, Vanishing country houses of Ireland, 2nd edn, 1989, pp. 62, 67, 115; C. Casey & A. Rowan, The buildings of Ireland: North Leinster, 1993, pp. 523-25; J. Howley, The follies and garden buildings of Ireland, 1993, pp. 29-30; J. McVeagh (ed), Richard Pococke’s Irish Tours, 1995, pp. 139-40; C. Culleton, ‘From barrow boy to Viscount: the story of Matthew Barnewall’, History Ireland, Winter 1999, pp. 5-6; A. Kavanagh, The landed gentry and aristocracy: Meath, vol. 1, 2005, pp. 12-30; Sir John Baker, The Men of Court, 1440-1550, 2012, pp. 269-71; Patricia McCarthy, Life in the country house in Georgian Ireland, 2016, pp. 16, 159; K.V. Mulligan, Vain transitory splendours: the Irish country house and the art of John Nankivell, 2018, pp. 144-45, 173;  https://theirishaesthete.com/tag/trimlestown-castle/;  
https://theirishaesthete.com/2015/03/02/the-bloomsbury-set/ 
 

Location of archives 

 
No significant accumulation is known to survive. 
 

Coat of arms 

 
All three branches of the family use the same coat of arms: Ermine, a bordure engrailed gules. 

https://meathhistoryhub.ie/houses-a-d/

Bloomsbury or Bloomsberry is located on the banks of the river Blackwater, south of Kells. Erected as an estate house for the Tisdalls of Martry, the house was originally called Mount Tisdall and the area known as Jackstown. A simple two-storey Georgian house, it was  extended and re-modelled in 1858 for Richard Barnewall by Kells builder Francis Nulty. In 1911 it had twenty five rooms, nine windows to the front and forty one outbuildings. There is a fishing temple at the meeting of the Blackwater and Moynalty rivers – a boathouse below and a temple above. Casey and Rowan  describe it as a pretty building made useless by the lowering of the level of the Blackwater. A large courtyard and walled garden stands to the north. 

Picture 1056549698, Picture

Bloomsbury House 

In the winter of 1739 the rivers froze for a period of seven weeks. Charles Tisdall roasted a bullock on the ice to feed his tenants. Henry Brooke held the estate in 1802. 

In 1829 the house was leased by Joseph Barnewall, heir to the title of Lord Trimbleston. Joseph was married to Mary Everard of Randlestown and died in 1852. Their son, Richard Barnewall of Bloomsbury, married Helena Maria Hunt. Richard died in 1866. His son, Thomas, who was born in 1825 succeeded at Bloomsbury. In 1876 Thomas Barnewall of Bloomsbury held 2,782 acres in County Meath. In 1901 Miss Katherine Barnewall was living at Bloomsberry. Katherine died in 1907. She was succeeded by her cousin. In 1911 Charles Trimleston and his wife resided at Bloomsberry. Their son, Reginald, was killed in 1918 during the First World War. The Barnewall family held the house until 1916. In 1916 the estate was sold. The house has a dining room, drawing room, saloon, library, morning room, seven principal bedrooms, comfortable servant’s apartments, kitchen, dairy, pantries, store rooms, scullery, bathrooms, w.c.s, etc. The surrounding lands amounted to 312 acres. 

John Whaley, Downings, Prosperous, Sallins purchased the house and lands for £5000. The Whaleys were said to be descendants of the notorious Dublin rake, Buck Whaley, who walked to Jerusalem to win a bet.  John Whaley died at Bloomsbury in 1944. 

Jack. Whaley of Bloomsbury was the secretary of the Co. Meath Cricket Club and also involved in the Kells Bridge Club. The modern gardens were created by Jack Whaley who wrote a number of books on gardening in Ireland. 

Randlestown, Co Meath

by jenjunebug

Randlestown, Co Meath

Randlestown entrance front, County Meath, Gillman Collection, 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.

“(Everard, Bt/PB) An important early C18 house, begun ca 1710 by Lt-Col Mathias Everard, who, though he had fought for James II, recovered the estate under the Articles of Limerick; completed by his brother Christopher. Two storey, seven bay entrance front with three bay breakfront and bolection doorcase; garden front also of seven bays with three bay breakfront. A third storey was added ca 1780, treated as an attic above a cornice; and, at the same time, the former garden front because the entrance front, being given a pillared Doric doorcase. Most imaginative late-Georgian interior plasterwork: tropies, roped swags and other motifs in the domed staircase and agricultural implements on the library ceiling. recently demolished.”

Randlestown, County Meath library ceiling c. 1975 photograph: William Garner, 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.

Not in national inventory

The Landed Gentry and Aristocracy: County Meath. Volume 1. Art Kavanagh, 2005.

Everard of Randlestown.

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.

Houses r-z

Randalstown House was located to the north of Navan. The house was begun about 1710, extended twice in the eighteenth century and stood to the late twentieth century. A three storey over Basement house Randalstown had a pillared Doric doorcase. Bence-Jones wrote that Randalstown had the most imaginative late-Georgian interior plasterwork with trophies and roped swags  on the domed staircase. 

The Everards  of Randalstown can be traced back to the 15th century. Owen Randill of Rendillstown had a daughter, Olive, whom married Pierce Cardy and inherited Rendillstown. Their daughter, Joan Cardy, married John Everard in the early 1400s and so the Everards came to live at Randalstown. In 1519 Patrick Everard of Randalstown was Sheriff of Meath. 

Picture 7, PictureRandalstown 

Matthias Everard joined the forces of James II in fighting William of Orange. He served during the siege of Limerick in 1691 and under the Treaty of Limerick he submitted to the King  and paid £1000 to be restored to this lands. Matthias renovated the old castle at Randalstown and extended in 1708 and 1714, thus creating a country house. Matthias died in 1715 and was buried at Kilberry. His younger brother, Christopher, inherited the estate.  He completed the new road from Navan to Donaghpatrick which had been started by his brother.  In the 1720 Christopher erected a banqueting house flanked by a canal and a terrace. In 1744 Ranadalstown was described as being well wooded and with a great avenue of full grown ash trees. 

In 1748 John Everard of Randalstown conformed to the Established Protestant church. 

About 1780 Thomas Everard added a third storey of Randalstown. The interior was remodelled with the main front on the south side being turned round to the north side where a pillared doorcase was erected. In 1795 Thomas was High Sheriff of Meath and was a member of the Grand Jury from 1785 until his death in 1820. He was succeeded by his son, Matthias. 

Matthias Everard of Randalstown,  born about 1787, commenced his military career at Gibraltar in 1804. In December 1805 Lieutenant Everard was captured on his way from Gibraltar to England by the French fleet. The English prisoners were held on board the La Volontaire which three months later sailed into the British controlled Cape and the prisoners were released. A few years later he participated in the attempt to capture the Spanish colony of Rio de la Plata. He led an attack on Montivideo. Out of the 32 men, 22 were killed or wounded. He was presented with a sword of honour to mark his gallantry by the Patriotic Fund at Lloyds and granted the freedom of Dublin. Promoted to Captain in 1807 Mathias served at Corunna in 1809. After the Napoleonic war Everard was transferred to India and commanded the 1st Batallion at the siege of Hattras in 1817. In 1821 he was appointed major and in 1825 lieutenant colonel. Everard commanded the 14th Regiment at the storming of Bhurtpore in India in 1825. In 1826 he was awarded the companion of the Order of the Bath. In 1841 he was appointed Colonel and in 1851 Major-General. Matthias inherited Randalstown in 1845 but never lived there. He died in 1857 at Southsea, Southampton, unmarried. 

In 1837 Randalstown was the property of Col. Everard but the residence of Henry Meredith. It was described as a fine three storey house with a basement situated in an elegant and extensive estate. In 1855 the property as still occupied by Henry Meredith. 

Matthias was succeeded by his brother, Richard Nugent Everard, who died in 1863.  

Sir Nugent Talbot Everard was born at Torquay, Devon in England in 1849 and he was the first of the Everards to make their home at Randalstown for more than 60 years.  In 1863 at the age of thirteen he inherited Randalstown. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.  He settled at Randalstown about 1870. At the time the estate amounted to 2311 acres. Everard was a supporter of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society which established the co-operative movement in Ireland. Everard was elected President of the co-op movement, the I.A.O. S., in 1905.  On the occasion of the coronation of King George V in 1911 Everard was created a baronet. He was a member of the Grand Jury of Meath and its successor Meath County Council. He held the position of High Sheriff and Lord Lieutenant for Meath, and was a co-opted member of the county council, serving continuously from 1899 to 1922.  He served with his wife, Lady Everard, on the Meath Agricultural Society and the County Committee of Agriculture. He served in the Royal Meath Milita and served as colonel in the Regiment in Belgium and at Ypres. 

Sir Nugent Everard and his son, Richard, were staying in the Sackville Street Club when the rebellion broke out and remained there while the fighting continued. They witnessed the fighting at the GPO and the surrender of the leaders. Sir Nugent kept a diary now in the possession of the family of the five days of the rebellion. 

In 1922 he was appointed to the Senate of the new Irish Free State by William T. Cosgrave.  

The demise of tillage farming in the 1880s and the consequent decrease in employment opportunities on the land for his workers made him turn his attention to tobacco. In 1898 Sir Nugent Talbot Everard obtained a special licence to grow tobacco. He was joined in the next few years in the experiment by Sir John Dillon of Lismullin, R.H. Metge of Athlumney and F. Brodigan of Piltown. His tobacco growing is mentioned in James Joyce’s Ulysses – “there was that Colonel Everard down there in Navan growing tobacco”. From 1898 to 1938 the Randlestown area of Navan was central to plans to introduce tobacco growing on a commercial basis in Ireland. The estate had its own tobacco plantation and also acted as a rehandling station – taking in tobacco from the local growers and processing it for sale to factories. At its peak, the industry provided almost 100 jobs and played a vital part in the local economy. 

Col. Everard died in 1929 in his eightieth year. He was interred at Donaghpatrick – his grave is near the entrance. There is an article about Sir Nugent Everard in the 2000 issue of Riocht an Midhe. After his death the local growers formed the County Meath Co-Operative Tobacco Growers Society. The Co-Operative continued into the 1930s, and closed in 1939, the last year in which tobacco was grown in the county. 

Sir Nugent’s only son, Major Richard Everard succeeded him at Randalstown but eleven days later died suddenly.  His eldest son became Sir Nugent Everard. He decided to join the British army in 1926 and saw active service during World War II. 

Richard Everard provides much information of the Everard family in the 1993 and 1994 issues of the Irish Genealogist journal. 

By 1940 Randalstown house was empty and in 1943 it was sold with 412 acres of land to Gerald Williamson. The Williamson family held the property for thirty years until it was purchased by Tara Mines. The house was used for a period as offices for the mines but finally the house was demolished in the 1970s to make way for a tailings dam.