John Barry (1725-1784), who added the name Smith to his surname after his marriage to a wealthy heiress, was the son of James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore, of Castlelyons, County Cork, and Barry’s third wife, Anne Chichester, daughter of Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall (it was spelled with two ‘l’s in the title, unlike the county). He married Dorothy Smith, daughter of Hugh Smith of Weald Hall, Essex, and John added Smith to his surname.
John Smith-Barry (1783-1837), son of James Hugh Smith-Barry (1746-1801) settled in Fota, County Cork, after his marriage to Eliza Courtenay of Ballyedmond, Midleton, County Cork.
James Hugh Smith-Barry (1816-1856) inherited Fota and also Marbury Hall in Cheshire. He served as Deputy Lieutenant, Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff of County Cork. He married Elizabeth Jacson of Cheshire. After her husband died, she married George Fleming Warren, 2nd Baron de Tabley of Tabley House, County Chester.
James Hugh Smith-Barry by William Orpen 1904, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy auction 2022.
Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry (1843-1925), the oldest son of James and Elizabeth, inherited Fota and also Marbury Hall. He too served as Deputy Lieutenant, Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff of County Cork as well as Member of Parliament (M.P.) (Conservative) for County Cork between 1867 and 1874. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) (Conservative) for South Huntingdonshire in England between 1886 and 1900. In 1902 he was created 1st (and last) Baron Barrymore of County Cork.
Alexander Stewart (1699/1700-1781) and his wife, Mary Cowan, bought a large area of land in County Down in 1744, part of which became Mount Stewart demesne.
Burke’s Landed Gentry of Ireland tells us that Francis Swifte, son of Henry of Sheffield, County York, was knighted in 1616 and died in 1642. Henry of Sheffield’s other son was Thomas, who was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, who married Margaret, daughter and heir of the Right Rev. Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath & Wells. Many generations of Swift after him had the forename “Godwin.” Thomas and Margaret had a son William, born in 1566, who was Rector of Herbaldown and who married Mary Philpott.
17th Century English School “Portrait of a Gentleman in Armour, Sir Francis Swifte,” courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.Probably Francis Swifte, son of Henry of Sheffield, County York, was knighted in 1616 and died in 1642.Reverend Thomas Swifte, 17th Century Irish School. He was born in Canterbury in 1561, and married Margaret, daughter and heir of the Right Rev. Thomas Godwin, Bishop of Bath & Wells. He was the son of Henry Swifte; courtesy of Fonsie Mealy’s Fortgranite auction.Many generations of Swift after him had the forename “Godwin.”Late 16th / early 17th Century English School, “Right Reverend Thomas Godwin, courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.
Thomas and Mary’s son Reverend Thomas (1595-1658) of Goodrich, Herefordshire, England, and Bristow, was ancestor of the Irish Swift family of Swiftsheath and Lionsden. He was devoted to King Charles I and the son of Charles I who was to become King Charles II.
Thomas married Elizabeth Dryden (c. 1605-1658). They had many children, many of whom lived in Ireland. His son Jonathan (d. 1667) was a solicitor in Dublin, who married Abigail Erick of County Leicester, and they had a son, born after his death in Hoey’s Court, Dublin, right next to Dublin Castle, in 1667, also named Jonathan, the famed writer, Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. He wrote many anecdotes about his grandfather in his manuscript The Family of Swift which is preserved in the library at Trinity College, Dublin (I must go to see it!). He died in 1745.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) by Charles Jervas circa 1718, National Portrait Gallery in London, 278.Portrait of Dean Swift attributed to Rupert Barber (1719-1772), courtesy of Adam’s auction 12 May 2013.This must be Jonathan Swift who died in 1745, Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.Portrait of Stella courtesy of Adam’s auction 12 May 2013, attributed to Rupert Barber (1719-1772).“Portrait of Esther Johnson (Stella),” Late 18th / Early 19th Century after James Latham (1696 – 1747) courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite sale.
Reverend Thomas Swift (1595-1658) had another son, Godwin Swift (d. 1695), who was Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde, and married four times. Geoffrey Marescaux tells us that Godwin Swift paid the famous Jonathan Swift’s school fees. His heir was child of his second wife, Katherine Webster, Godwin Swift (1672-1739), later of Dunbrow, County Dublin and Swiftsheath, County Kilkenny. For information on Swiftsheath, see https://kilkennyarchaeologicalsociety.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/OKR1978-356-Geoffrey-Marescaux-Swiftes-Heath.pdf
Godwin Swift (1672-1739) married his cousin, Elizabeth, who was daughter of another son of Reverend Thomas Swift Vicar at Goodrich and Elizabeth née Dryden, William, who had land in Carlow, Kilkenny, Leitrim and Roscommon.
Godwin Swift (1672-1739) and Elizabeth had a son Godwin who inherited Swiftsheath and also owned Tidenton, County Kilkenny. He married a cousin, Elizabeth Swift, who was daughter of Deane Swift (c. 1674-1714) of Castle Rickard, County Westmeath. Deane Swift (c. 1674-1714) was another son of Godwin Swift Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde, by his 3rd wife, Hannah Deane.
Their son Godwin Swift (c. 1734-1815) lived in Swiftsheath and Lionsden, County Meath. He also married a cousin, Maria Swift, daughter of Deane Swift (c. 1707-1783) and Mary née Harrison, daughter of Theophilus Harrison. To add confusion to the family tree, Theophilus Harrison, Reverend of Clonmacnois, married twice, and one of his wives, Eleanor Meade, daughter of William Meade Lt Col of Ballintober, County Cork, had been previously married to Godwin Swift Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde as his fourth wife! Mary Harrison’s mother was Theophilus Harrison’s second wife, Martha Swift – yes, another Swift! She was the daughter of Adam Swift of Greencastle, County Down, who was another son of Thomas Swift Vicar at Goodrich and Elizabeth née Dryden.
Reverend Deane Swifte, 17th Century Irish School, cousin and biographer of Dean Jonathan Swift. This is be Deane Swift (1703-1783), son of Deane Swift of Castle Rickard, County Westmeath. His great grandfather was a Regicide, ie. signed the death warrant of King Charles I, but fortunately died before Charles II was restored to the throne, according to Jonathan Swift!Admiral Richard Deane (Regicide) 17th Century English School courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.The Fonsie Mealy site adds: “Note: Major Joseph Deane (Inistiogue, 1661-66), of Crumlin, County Dublin, and Ballicocksoust, County Kilkenny (formerly the estate of Richard Strange), was the youngest son of Edward Deane, of Pinnock, Gloucestershire, by his 2nd wife, Anne Wase, and was born at Pinnock, 2nd February, 1624. His elder brother, Colonel Richard Deane, a leading member of the Republican party, was one of the Judges who sat on the trial of Charles I, and signed the death warrant of the King. Colonel Richard Deane was entrusted with the settlement of Scotland, which he speedily effected by his temperance and sagacity. He was next appointed one of the “Generals at Sea”, having for his colleague the famous Robert Blake, but was killed in action against the Dutch on 2nd June, 1653. He was honoured with a public funeral and buried in Henry VII’s Chapel at Westminster, but in 1661 his body (being that of a Regicide) was exhumed and cast out of the Abbey. Joseph Deane was educated at Winchester School, and entered the Parliamentary Army as Cornet in Rainsborough’s Horse. He volunteered for service in Ireland under Oliver Cromwell, in whose army he held the rank of Major. Under the Act of Settlement he had two grants of land (16th January, 1666, and 22nd June, 1669), comprising 9,324 statute acres, situated in the counties of Meath, Down, and Kilkenny, 3,859 acres being in Kilkenny. He purchased from Richard Talbot (afterwards Earl and Duke of Tyrconnell) the Manor of Terenure, in county Dublin, for 4,000. He was named on some important committees of the House of Commons, but was fined 10 for absence on 31st January 1665. In 1664 he paid 4s. hearth money for “Ballicagbsust”. In 1677 he served as High Sheriff of county Dublin. He died 21st December, 1699, having been twice married. By his 1st wife Anne —-, he had one son and two daughters – Joseph, of Crumlin, whose son, Joseph, became Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and died without male issue. (1) Anne, married in May, 1673 (as his 3rd wife), Godwin Swift, Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde. (2) Elizabeth, married 1st in May, 1672, Captain Henry Grey; 2nd in July, 1677, Donogh O’Brien, of Lemenagh, County Clare. Major Deane married, 2ndly, in 1659, Elizabeth, daughter of Maurice Cuffe, and sister of Captain Joseph Cuffe, of Castle Inch, elected M.P. for Knocktopher in 1665, and by her, who died 3rd April, 1698, had a son and a daughter – Edward whom hereafter M.P. for Inistiogue; and Dorothy, married Maurice Berkeley, of Glasnevin county Dublin.THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE COUNTY, CITY AND BOROUGHS OF KILKENNYBY G.D. BURTCHAELL, M.A., LL.B [Written for the KILKENNY MODERATOR]Mrs Godwin Swifte of Swifte’s Heath, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy’s Fortgranite sale.
Godwin Swift (c. 1734-1815) of Swiftsheath and Lionsden and his cousin, Maria Swift had another son called Godwin Swift (c. 1779-1814), of Lionsden. This Godwin Swift married yet another cousin, Jane Sophia Swift (1785-1851), in 1803. She was the daughter of Richard Swift (1750-1796) who was the son of John L’Estrange Swift (1709-1793) of Lynn, County Westmeath, who was the son of Meade Swift (1682-1739) of Lynn, County Westmeath, who was the son of Godwin Swift Attorney-General to the Duke of Ormonde and Eleanor née Meade!
Jane Sophia Swift (1785-1851) married secondly, in 1818, Louis Auguste Alexander, Comte Lepelletier de Molende.
Countess Molende née Swift and her granddaughter Luigina de Sadre, Gifted by the artist to W.R. Swifte as a token, as his predecessor Jonathan Swifte served as Rector at Agher Church from 1699 – 1745, courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.
Godwin Swift (c. 1779-1814), of Lionsden and Jane Sophia Swift (1785-1851) had a son Godwin Meade Pratt Swift (1805-1864) of Swiftsheath and Lionsden.
Identified as “Godwin Pratt Meade Swifte Lord Carlingford (m. MJ Clarke), Leahy, Dixon & Mulvanney, 19th Century Irish School, standing in a landscape by a grey horse with Foulksrath Castle, Co. Kilkenny in the distance”, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite. Godwin Meade Pratt Swift (1805-1864) of Swiftsheath and Lionsdenmarried Mary Jane Clarke of Bansha Castle, County Tipperary.He took the title Viscount Carlingford.Jane Christina Swifte (1810-1854), the wife of “Chevalier Sergio Demacdo, Minister Plenipotentiary of HM Emperor of Brazil,” Early 19th Century Irish School, courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite. She was the daughter of Godwin Swift of Lionsden and Jane Sophia.
Godwin called himself Viscount Carlingford, reviving a title created in 1627 for another branch of the Swift family. Godwin also added the “e” back to the end of the name Swift. He married first, Maria Theresa Plankenstern, Baroness de Wetzlar of Austria at Paris in 1830 after the birth of their son Ferdinando. [see https://www.youwho.ie/swifte.html ].
Godwin secondly married Jane Anne Hopkins on 18 Mar 1845 at Liverpool after an non legal ceremony some years earlier. Godwin returned with his family from the continent in 1845 to take up residence at Swiftesheath. Jane died at Lionsden, Castle Rickard in 1848 and was buried in the family vault. Godwin thirdly married Mary Jane Clarke on 4 Feb 1863 at Kilkenny and declared himself a widower. Mary was the daughter of Robert Hare Clarke. Godwin died 4 Jul 1864.
He created a flying machine which he hoisted to the top of Foulkesrathe Castle, which stood on the property of Swiftesheath, but it failed to fly and a butler who was piloting the plane broke a leg in his fall.
Identified as Pratt Swifte, Early 19th Century Irish School, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite sale.Mrs. Swifte, grandmother of Thomas Dennis courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite Auction.19th Century Irish School, Portrait of Mrs. Godwin Swifte courtesy Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite auction.There were so many Godwin Swifts it is hard to identify the sitter.Godwin Butler Meade Swifte (1864-1923) son of “Viscount Carlingford,” wearing uniform of the High Sheriff of Kilkenny, seated holding a sword, D.L. was the High Sheriff of Kilkenny and later Carlow, and resided at Swifte’s Heath, Co. Kilkenny, courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite.Ernest Godwin Swifte K.C., with a companion painting of Lady Francis Swifte courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite sale.He was the son of William Richard Swift (1807-1890), son of Godwin Swift of Lionsden and Jane Sophia.“Lady Francis Swifte,” with a companion painting of Ernest Godwin Swifte K.C., courtesy of Fonsie Mealy Fortgranite sale.Perhaps it is Ernest Godwin’s sister Julia Frances Swift, who did not marry.
In 1847, the Johnson family of Warrenstown changed their surname from MacShane to Anglicized Johnson. Christopher Johnson married Anne, daughter of Michael Warren of Warrenstown, County Meath. Their son John married Catherine Nangle. [1]
Robert King (d. 1657) lived in Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon. He married first, Frances, daughter of Henry Folliott, 1st Lord Folliott, Baron of Ballyshannon. Frances gave birth to a son, John King (1638-1676) who became 1st Baron Kingston; a second son, Robert (d. 1707) became 1st Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon.
Robert King, (d. 1707) 1st Baronet of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon from the circle of John Closterman, courtesy of “mutualart.com”
John King (1638-1676) 1st Baron Kingston married Catherine Fenton who gave birth to their heir, the 2nd Baron Kingston (1657–1693), who died unmarried, so the title passed to John (d. 1727/8) 3rd Baron Kingston.
John (d. 1727/8) 3rd Baron Kingston married Margaret O’Cahan.
Margaret O’Cahan (c. 1662-1721), standing in a black habit, and holding a string of rosary beads, Attributed to Garret Morphy (c.1655-1715), courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 she married James King 3rd Baron Kingston.
The 3rd Baron’s daughter Catherine married George Butler, grandson of Edmund Roe Butler, 4th Viscount Mountgarret. His son James King (1693-1761) became 4th Baron Kingston. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Meade, 1st Bt of Ballintubber, County Cork. She was the widow of Ralph Freke, 1st Bt.
Their daughter Margaret (d. 1763) married Richard Fitzgerald, son of Robert Fitzgerald, 19th Earl of Kildare. A son predeceased him, so on the 4th Baron’s death, the Barony of Kingston became extinct.
Jeremiah Barrett (d.1770) A conversation portrait of the Children, William, Elizabeth and Margaret King, of James 4th (last) Baron Kingston of Mitchelstown with a pet doe and dog courtesy of Adam’s 6 Oct 2009. The surviving daughter Margaret, daughter of Elizabeth Meade (Clanwilliam), inherited the vast Mitchellstown Estate of the White Knights. She married Richard Fitzgerald of Mount Ophally, and their only daughter Caroline married, as arranged, the 2nd Earl of Kingston thus uniting the two branches of the King family. Life at Mitchellstown was recorded by two famous employees of the Kings, Arthur Young the agriculturalist and Mary Wollstonecraft who probably sketched out the basis of Vindication of the Rights of Women whilst governess to the King children. It was not without excitement, in 1799 Lord Kingston shot dead Colonel Fitzgerald, his wife’s illegitimate half-brother in the hotel in Mitchellstown for abducting his 17 year old daughter Mary Elizabeth and his eldest daughter Margaret having married the 2nd Earl of Mount Cashell left him to befriend Shelley in Italy and is The Lady in ‘The Sensitive Plant’. Provenance: Rockingham House.
Robert King (d. 1707) 1st Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon married Frances Gore, granddaughter of Paul Gore, 1st Baronet Gore, of Magherabegg, Co. Donegal. Their daughter Mary married Chidley, son of Richard Coote, 1st Lord Coote, Baron of Coloony. A son John became 2nd Baronet but died childless and the title passed to his brother Henry (d. 1739/40) who became 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon.
Henry King (1681-1739) 3rd Baronet King of Boyle Abbey, by Robert Hunter.
Henry King (d. 1739/40) 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon married Isabella, daughter of Edward Wingfield of Powerscourt, County Wicklow.
Isabella Wingfield (d. 1761) by John Verelst, 1722, daughter of Edward Wingfield (d. 1728) of Powerscourt, sister of 1st Viscount Powerscourt, wife of Henry King 3rd Baronet.
Henry King (d. 1739/40) 3rd Baronet and Isabella’s daughter Elinor married William Stewart of Killymoon. Another daughter, Isabella (1729-1794) married Thomas St. Lawrence 1st Earl of Howth, and Anne (d. 1803) married John ‘Diamond’ Knox of Castlerea, Co. Mayo, and Frances (1726-1812) married Hans Widman Wood of Rossmead, County Westmeath. It’s funny looking at their portraits by Robert Hunter – he seems to have used the same picture for each sister except for Frances, with tiny adjustments to the dress and pose!
Henry King (d. 1739/40) 3rd Baronet and Isabella’s son Robert (1724-1755) succeeded as 4th Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon and was created 1st (and last) Baron Kingsborough. Another son, Edward (1726-1797) succeeded as 5th Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon was created 1st Earl of Kingston, and they had another son, Henry.
Edward (1726-1797) 5th Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon, 1st Earl of Kingston married Jane Caulfeild (d. 1784), daughter of Thomas Caulfeild of Castle Donamon, County Roscommon. Their daughter Jane (d. 1838) married Laurence Harman, 1st Earl of Rosse. A daughter Frances married Thomas Tenison (d. 1812). Another daughter, Eleanor, died unmarried, as did her sister Isabella. The heir was Robert (1754-1799) who became 2nd Earl of Kingston.
Robert King (1754-1799) 2nd Earl of Kingston married Caroline Fitzgerald (d. 1823), daughter of Richard Fitzgerald and Margaret King. The latter was daughter of James King, 4th Baron Kingston. Richard Fitzgerald was son of Robert 19th Earl of Kildare.
Caroline née Fitzgerald and Robert King 2nd Earl of Kingston had a daughter Margaret (1773-1835) who married first, Stephen Moore 2nd Earl of Mountcashell and second, George William Tighe. Caroline and Robert 2nd Earl’s son George (1771-1839) succeeded as 3rd Earl of Kingston.
Caroline and Robert 2nd Earl’s son Henry (d. 1839) married first Mary Hewitt and then Catherine Philips. Another son, James William King (d. 1848) married Caroline Cleaver. Another son, Robert Edward (1773-1854) was created 1st Viscount Lorton of Boyle, County Roscommon. Another son, Richard Fitzgerald King (1779-1856) married Williamina Ross.
George King (1771-1839) 3rd Earl of Kingston had several illegitimate children with Caroline Amelia Morison, daughter of William Morison, Chief Justice of the Bahamas. The 3rd Earl married Helena Moore (1773-1847), daughter of Stephen Moore, 1st Earl Mountcashell. His son (1795-1837) Edward King, known as Viscount Kingsborough, was imprisoned for his father’s debts and died of typhus in prison. His son Robert Henry King (1796-1867) succeeded 4th Earl of Kingston. He was declared of unsound mind, and had no children. His brother James King (1800-1869) succeeded as 5th Earl of Kingston.
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We visited Cappoquin House during Heritage Week in 2020. Cappoquin House was built in 1779 for Sir John Keane (1757-1829), and is still owned by the Keane family. The original house, sometimes known as “Belmont,” the name of the townland, was built on a site of an Elizabethan house built by the Munster planter, Sir Christopher Hatton. [1] It is most often attributed to a local architect, John Roberts (1712-96). [2] John Roberts was also architect of Moore Hall in County Mayo (1792 – now a ruin) and Tyrone House in County Galway (1779 – also a ruin).
From the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, Moore Hall, County Mayo.From the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, Tyrone House, County Galway.
Glascott Symes points out in his book Sir JohnKeane and Cappoquin House in time of war and revolution that it is not known who the original architect was, and it may have been Davis Ducart, who also built Kilshannig. [3]
The house was burnt and destroyed in 1923, because a descendent, John Keane (1873-1956), accepted a nomination to the Senate of the new government of Ireland. Ireland gained its independence from Britain by signing a Treaty, in which independence was given to Ireland at the expense of the six counties of Northern Ireland, which remained a part of Britain. Disagreement about the Treaty and the loss of the six counties led to the Irish Civil War. During this war, Senators’ houses were targeted by anti-Treaty forces since Senators served in the new (“pro-Treaty”) government; thirty-seven houses of Senators were burnt.
Fortunately the Keanes received compensation and engaged Richard Francis Caulfield Orpen (1863-1938) of South Frederick Street, Dublin [4], brother of painter William Orpen, to rebuild. Any material possible to salvage from the fire was used, and the fine interiors were recreated. [5] It was at this time that the former back of the house became the front, overlooking a courtyard which is entered through an archway.
The house has a balustraded parapet topped with urns. The garden front, which was originally the front of the house, faces toward the Blackwater River, and has a central breakfront of three bays with round-headed windows and door. The door has cut-limestone surround with flush panelled pilasters and a fanlight. The round-headed flanking windows have fluted keystones and six-over-six timber sashed windows with fanlights.
The porch on one side of the house was built in 1913 by Page L. Dickinson for John Keane, and remains the same after the fire. [6] The work done by Dickinson inside the house in 1913, including decorative plasterwork, was destroyed.
When Sir John had the house rebuilt after the fire, he asked Page Dickinson again to be his architect but by this time Dickinson had moved to England, so Keane engaged Dickinson’s former partner, Richard Caulfield Orpen.
The white buildings around the courtyard were not destroyed in the fire and pre-date the rebuilt house. Some probably date from Hatton’s time.
The Keanes are an old Irish family, originally named O’Cahan. The Ulster family lost their lands due to the Ulster Plantation in 1610. In 1690, following the victory of William III at the Battle of the Boyne, George O’Cahan and converted to Protestantism and anglicized his name to Keane. He practiced as a lawyer. [7] In 1738 his son, John, acquired land in the area of Cappoquin in three 999 years leases from Richard Boyle, the 4th Earl of Cork. The leases included an old Fitzgerald castle. It was this John’s grandson, also named John Keane (1757-1829), who bought out the lease and built Cappoquin House. [8]
John became MP for Bangor in the Irish parliament from 1791 to 1801 and for Youghal in the British parliament from 1801 to 1818. He was created a baronet, denominated of Belmont and Cappoquin, County Waterford, in 1801 after the Act of Union. The current owner is the 7th Baronet.
John the 1st Baronet’s oldest son, Richard, became the 2nd Baronet (1780-1855). John’s second son, John, served in the British army, and received the title of 1st Baron Keane of Ghuznee in Afghanistan and Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, in 1839. The current owner is a descendant of the elder son, Richard the 2nd Baronet, who also served in the military. He was Lieutenant Colonel of the Waterford Militia.
After his first wife died, Sarah Keily, daughter of Richard Keily of Springmount, County Waterford and Sarah Ussher of Cappagh House, another section 482 property in County Waterford, John Keane the 1st Baronet remarried, this time to Dorothy née Scott, widow of Philip Champion de Crespigny who was MP for Aldborough in Suffolk, England.
Dorothy Scott (1765-1837) second wife of John Keane, 1st Baronet, by George Romney courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art.
In 1855 the Keane estate was offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates Court, as the estate was insolvent after tenants could not pay their rents during the Famine. It seems however that the 3rd Baronet, John Henry Keane (1816-1881), managed to clear the debt and reclaim the estate.
Sir Charles showed us maps of the property, as drawn up under the Encumbered Estates Act.
The 4th Baronet, Richard Henry Keane (1845-1892), served as High Sheriff of County Waterford and Deputy Lieutenant of County Waterford. He married Adelaide Sidney Vance, whose father John was a Conservative MP for the city of Dublin, and they had several children.
John Keane (1873-1956) the 5th Baronet also served in the British Army, and fought in the Boer War between 1899-1902. He was Private Secretary to the Governor of Ceylon between 1902 and 1905. In 1904 he was admitted to the Middle Temple to become a Barrister, but he never practiced as a Barrister. Following in his father’s footsteps he too held the office of High Sheriff of County Waterford. He followed politics closely and supported Home Rule for Ireland. He was a kind, thoughtful man and housed refugees during the wars. He fought in World War One, becoming a Lieutenant Colonel. It was this John who became a Senator.
In the cap is John Keane 5th Baronet, with his wife, daughter and his 2nd and 3rd sons George, right and Frederick, left, 3 September 1902 courtesy of National Library of Ireland.
The 5th Baronet married Eleanor Lucy Hicks-Beach, daughter of the 1st Earl of Saint Aldwyn, Gloucester, England.
Keane joined Horace Plunkett in the co-operative movement in Ireland, which promoted the organisation of farmers and producers to obtain self-reliance. The idea was that they would process their own products for the market, thus cutting out the middle man. The founders of the co-operative movement embraced new technologies for processing, such as the steam-powered cream separator. Unfortunately this led to a clash with farm labourers who unionised to prevent reduction in their wages when prices fell. Keane refused to negotiate with the Union. Rancour grew between landowners and labourers, which may have encouraged the later burning of Keane’s house. The idealism of the co-operative movement, with the goal of “better farming, better business, better living,” was easier said than done.
Horace Plunkett by photographer Bassano Ltd, 1923, courtesy of National Portrait Gallery of London, reference NPGx12783.
Keane kept diaries, which have been studied by Glascott J.R.M. Symes for an MA thesis in Maynooth University’s Historic House Studies. Symes outlines the details about the disagreements. [9] Horace Plunkett, one of the founders of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, also became a Senator in Ireland’s first government and his house in South Dublin, Kilteragh, was also destroyed during the Civil War that followed the founding of the state.
Keane knew that his house may become a target and he sent his wife and children to live in London, and packed up principal contents of the house. Seventy six houses were destroyed in the War of Independence in what was to become the Republic of Ireland, but almost two hundred in the Civil War. [10] Unfortunately the library and some of the art collection at Cappoquin were destroyed. [11]
We entered the house through a door in the older former servants’ area in order to see the maps. We then passed into the main house, with its impressive entrance hall, with stone floor and frieze of plasterwork.
From the stair hall we entered the library, which has a dentilled cornice and built-in bookcases and is painted a deep red colour. The most intricate works in rebuilding the interior of the house were the library bookcases and the staircase, which are a tribute to the skills of carpenter James Hackett and Edward Brady, a mason from Cappoquin. [see Symes].
Beyond the stair hall is the central drawing room, which was formerly the entrance hall. It has an Ionic columnar screen, and a decorative plasterwork cornice – a frieze of ox skulls and swags.
The ceiling plasterwork and columns in the drawing room are by G. Jackson and Sons (established 1780) of London, who also made the decoration in the stair hall. Sir Charles explained to us that it would have been made not freehand but from a mould.
The chimneypiece is similar to one in 52 St. Stephen’s Green, the home of the Office of Public Works. One can tell it is old, Sir Charles told us, by running one’s hand over the top – it is not smooth, as it would be if it were machine-made. According to Symes, three original marble mantelpieces survive from before the fire, and the one in the drawing room was brought from a Dublin house of Adelaide Sidney Vance’s family, probably 18 Rutland Square (now Parnell Square), in the late nineteenth century. The Vance chimneypiece is of Carrara marble with green marble insets and carved panels of the highest quality. Christine Casey has identified the designs as derived from the Borghese vase, a vase now in the Louvre museum, which was sculpted in Athens in the 1st century BC. [12]
The chimneypieces in the dining room and former drawing room are of carved statuary marble with columns and are inset with Brocatello marble (a fine-grained yellow marble) from Siena. [13] The dining room has another splendid ceiling. The chimmeypiece in the dining room has a central panel of a wreath and oak leaves with urns above the columns.
After our house tour, we had the gardens to explore. The gardens are open to the public on certain days of the year [14]. They were laid out in the middle of the nineteenth century but there are vestiges of earlier periods in walls, gateways and streams. Sir Charles’s mother expanded the gardens and brought her expertise to the planting.
To the west of the house is an orchard of pears and Bramley apples.
One wends one’s way up the hill across picturesque lawns, the Upper Pleasure Gardens. The paths take one past weeping ash and beeches, a Montezuma pine and rhododendrons.
Our energy was flagging by the end of our walk around the gardens so unfortunately I have no pictures of the sunken garden, which is on the south side of the house, overlooking the view towards Dromana House.
[5] p. 56. 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.
Irish Historic Houses 
