Rosmead, County Westmeath entrance front, photograph: Lord Rossmore, 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.
p. 246. ““A large three storey Georigan bloc, once the seat of the Wood family, now a ruin. Columns form it were used in the rebuilding of Balrath Bury. Seven bay front, with three bay breakfront centre. At the entrance to the demesne is an elegant triumphal arch with Corinthian pilasters and large urns on the flanking walls; this was brought here from Glananea.”
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 144. Large three storey late 18C house. Seat of W.H. Wood in 1814. Now a ruin.
Casey, Christine and Alistair Rowan. The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster. Penguin Books, London, 1993.
Detached seven-bay three-storey country house, built c.1780 and extended to the rear c. 1860, having advanced three-bay breakfront to the centre of the southeast elevation. Possibly incorporating the fabric of an earlier house(s) to site, built c. 1700. Possibly converted to ‘ecclesiastical’ use c. 1933. Now in a ruinous and overgrown condition. Roof now collapsed, probably originally shallow hipped, having raised parapet with limestone eaves cornice and blocking course. Coursed rubble limestone walls with ashlar limestone trim, including string course above ground floor level. Square-headed window openings, diminishing in size towards eaves, no longer retaining any fittings. Cut stone sills and cut stone lintels over the openings. Square-headed door opening to the centre of the three-bay breakfront, fittings now removed. Southwest elevation formerly served a tetrastyle entrance porch, possibly erected c. 1860, now removed. Extensive complex of ruinous outbuildings to the northwest and a triumphant arch gateway to the southwest (15400904). Set well back from road to the northwest of Delvin and to the southwest of Clonmellon.
Appraisal
The impressive ruins of a very large, well-proportioned and imposing Georgian country house, now forming a picturesque shell, of some romantic quality, in the landscape to the northeast of Delvin. This former great house originally had two principal entrance fronts, the southeastern elevation with the breakfront and the southwest elevation, which originally was served by a tetrastyle entrance porch. This porch was removed in 1942 and used in the rebuilding Balrath Bury House, near Kells, Co. Meath. The roof was probably removed at the same time and the house sadly left to decay. Rosmead House was originally built by the Wood Family, who had their home here since c.1700 and possibly as far back as mid seventeenth century (A John Wood of Rosemead, County Westmeath died 1710 aged 82). The form of the present structure suggests that it was rebuilt c. 1780 although it may containfabric from an earlier house or houses to site. Rosemead was the residence of a Hans Wood in 1787 and in 1837 it was the home of H. W. (Henry Widman) Wood, Esq., and was described as being ‘surrounded by fine plantations’ at this time (Lewis 1837). Admiral Hercules Robinson Senior married Frances Elizabeth Wood, daughter and heir of H.W. Wood and they lived at Rosmead until 1849. Their son, Hercules Junior left Ireland and in 1854 became President Administrator of the Government of Montserrat later followed by many more important appointments including Governor of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), New South Wales and New Zealand. In 1864(?) he was made a baronet and chose the title ‘Baron of Rosmead’. Lord Vaux took over Rosmead Estate in 1856, and later carried out ‘alterations and additions to the house (IAA), which were completed by Francis Nulty, builder, of Kells, in 1858 (IAA). Improvements may also have been carried out to the ‘offices’ at Rosmead in 1852 to designs by Matthew Price (drawing in IAA). Rosemead was in the ownership of Lord Greville (of nearby Clonyn Castle) in 1881 (Slater’s Directory) and was later the home of Charlotte Mildred Marquise de la Bedoyere (daughter of Lord Greville) who died in 1906. The house may have been altered for ‘religious use’ to designs by the prolific and esteemed architect Ralph Henry Byrne (1877 – 1946) in 1933 (IAA). However, the house was derelict and the porch removed in 1942 (see above) so it is probable that no works were carried out by Byrne in the 1930s. An extensive collection of attendant outbuildings to the rear enhance the group and setting values of the site, and help provide an historical insight into the extensive resources required to maintain a country estate of this importance during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Rosmead House, CAVESTOWN AND ROSMEAD, County Westmeath
Triumphant arched gateway serving Rosmead House (15400921), erected c.1795. Comprises round-headed carriage arch flanked by giant order Corinthian pilasters supporting entablature and cornice over and terminated by square-piers, originally topped by urn finials (now removed). Arch supports pair of wrought-iron gates. Constructed of ashlar limestone with extensive ashlar trim. Keystone, masks and Corinthian capitals executed in Coade stone. Gate flanked to either side by low rendered walls terminated by gate piers on square plan. Located to the south of Rosemead House and to the north of Delvin.
Appraisal
An important, elegantly-composed triumphant arch gateway serving Rosmead House (15400921). These spectacular entrance gates are very well-built using high quality ashlar limestone and are extensively embellished using ashlar and Coade Stone detailing. Coade stone was a type of ‘artificial stone’ first created by Mrs. Eleanor Coade (1733-1821), andsold commercially from 1769 to 1833. It was commonly used for decorative elements of Georgian buildings in England, particularly in the southeast, but is rare material in Ireland. These gates were originally designed by the renowned architect Samuel Woolley to serve a neighbouring estate, Glananea House (15305003), near Drumcree. These gates were later dismantled and moved to Rosemead in the early nineteenth-century after the owner of Glananea House, a Ralph Smyth, got tired of been called ‘Smyth with the gates’. However, his plan backfired slightly and flowing the moving of these elaborate gates he was later known locally as ‘Smyth without the gates’, much to his chagrin. Apparently, the statues and urns that originally formed part of this gateway are now in a private collection in Northern Ireland. These gate now form a highly appealing and visual pleasing artefact in the landscape to the north of Delvin and acts as an historical reminder of Rosmead House, now derelict to the north.
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. 74. “(Knox/IFR) Two storey late C18 or early C19 front, with four bays between two curved bows. Three storey five bay range at right angles, possibly earlier, ending in battlemented tower. Front flanked by high battlemented screen wall, with an imposing belfry and cupola rising above it. In C18 the home of “Diamond” Knox, in C19, the home of L.E Knox, MP, who founded the Irish Times 1859. Sold 1936, demolished 1937.”
Not in National Inventory
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
Castlereagh located near Killala, Co. Mayo was the ancestral home of the Knox family.
Picture Copyright ( above) ICHC
One of the surviving features of Castlereagh is its gate lodge which was located next to the main gate, the entrance to the demesne. This entrance was found just below Palmerstown Bridge, but today nothing of the main gate remains. It was intended at one stage to align the bridge with this gateway however this pipe dream was never implemented. The main gate was removed during the 1930’s but the associated gate lodge remains and was lived in until the 1950’s. Castlereagh was the first Knox residence established in the area but the original structure was damaged in 1798 and as a result a new house was built. It possibly incorporated sections of the older building as it took the name of ‘castle’ from a tower that formed the left wing of the building. It would appear that a castle did indeed exist on the site as Castlereagh is the anglicised version of the Irish for grey castle, caislean riabhach. In the eighteenth century when it was the home of John ‘Diamond Knox’, the house was described as a large mansion but it was remarked that it was ‘unbeautiful’.
One of the surviving features of Castlereagh is one of its gate lodges.
Picture Copyright ( above) ICHC
The Knox family originally hailed from Scotland and came to Ireland when a William Knox settled in Donegal in the seventeenth century. This Donegal settler’s son named William Knox came to Killala in the Cromwellian period and had a son Arthur who married Hannah Palmer, a member of the family who gave their name to the nearby Palmerstown. Arthur Knox died in 1744 and is buried in St. Patricks Cathedral in Killala. His son John ‘Diamond’ Knox was born in 1728 and married Anne King in May 1750. John’s wife was extremely well connected as her father was Sir Henry King, and her mother was Isabella Wingfield of Rockingham, the sister of Viscount Powerscourt. John ‘Diamond’ Knox was branded with his unusual middle name due to the large dowry he gave his daughter upon her marriage which included a large suite of diamonds. He was a magistrate for Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon and was elected to Parliament in the 1760’s. He died in February in 1774 supposedly as a result of a riding accident and was buried in the family vault in Boyle Abbey.
Portrait of Anne King who married John ‘Diamond’ Knox. This portrait once hung in Rockingham House in Roscommon.
Picture Copyright ( above) Adams
John ‘Diamond’ Knox’s son and heir was named Arthur, who was born in September 1759 , settled at Woodstock in Wicklow an estate that he purchased from Lord St. George and served as High Sheriff of that country in 1791. He married in 1781 Lady Mary Brabazon eldest daughter of Anthony 8th Earl of Meath. He died in Bristol in October 1798 and is buried in New Castle in Wicklow in a vault which he had constructed for the use of family.
The Knox Sporting Screen painted by Roper for John ‘Diamond’ Knox
Picture Copyright ( above) ICHC
One of John ‘Diamond’ Knox’s possessions still survives today, a painted screen known as The Knox Sporting Screen and was sold in 1985 for £247,500 in Sotheby’s. The work of art ,which is signed R.Roper and dates from 1759, comprises of twelve paintings of hunting subjects on the front of the screen while the reverse has eighteen portraits of celebrated race horses of the time with their grooms. This screen which is considered a masterpiece appeared at auction again in 2011 in Christie’s and sold for £241,250.
A map showing the layout of the mansion at Castlereagh and its associated out buildings.
Picture Copyright ( above) OSI
In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the vast wealth and land holding of the Knox family can not be underestimated. The family had estates all over Mayo and as different branches of the family grew so did the families collection of houses. Names of family homes in Mayo, some of which still exist, include Rappa Castle, Mount Falcon, Belleek Castle, Castle Lacken, Netley Park, Greenpark, Errew Grange and Cillaithe House. The towns of Ballina and Ballyhaunis with which the Knox family were most associated with had their main streets named after the family. In 1798, Castlereagh was the seat of Arthur Knox when it was pillaged by an organised band of marauders during the rebellion which is said to have led to the rebuilding of the house. This was possible as by 1800 as the rent roll of Castlereagh brought in the substantial sum of £18,000 a year which would be an annual income of over €2 million in today’s terms. By this stage the estate had passed to John Knox who was born 13th May 1783 who eventually married Maria Anne Knox on the 12th March 1808. They led an extravagant lifestyle and maintained houses in Dublin and the UK together with Woodstock in Co. Wicklow. The debts associated with their spending is something that neither the family nor the estate at Castlereagh could ever shake off in future generations. By the time of the death of John in 1861, the family were nearly bankrupt. Maria and John had four sons Arthur Edward, Ernest, Robert Augustus and Edward William John. The eldest son, Arthur Edward married Lady Jane Parsons in Petersham, Surrey in December 1835. She was the elder daughter of Lawrence, 2nd Earl of Ross and sister of William Parsons, the 3rd Earl of Rosse of Birr Castle. Arthur was the eldest son of John Knox and after his death, his estates in Mayo were sold in the Encumbered Estates Court in 1853. It appears that the estate was possibly entailed to the eldest son as Arthur’s son, Lawrence (who was a minor at the time) was also mentioned as being an owner in press advertisements when the estate was sold. The first sale of land owned by Arthur Knox extended to over 16,000 acres with the second sale amounting to over 25,000 acres. Arthur Knox appears to be living in Sussex at this time and his younger brother Ernest purchased the Castlereagh Demesne together with lands at Cortoon, Killybroone and Leadymore, Mullinacrush, Killeencreevagh which extended to 1,600 acres. Ernest married Charlotte Catherine Knox Gore in 1861, the daughter of James Knox Gore of Broadlands Park in Mayo.
The staircase in Cillaithe House, Killala which was said to be modelled on one of the many staircases that existed at Castlereagh.
Picture Copyright ( above) ICHC
Ernest made a number of changes to the house, none of which improved its appearance internally or externally. He divided up the entrance hall to create unneeded additional rooms and as per the attitude of the previous generations never completed the endeavor. He decided to close up the original main entrance to Castlereagh and re-orientate the house. The new entrance that was created was through a small glass door which seemed very odd in a building of such a vast size. Lots of projects were begun in the house but were never completed which were often lamented by later generations. Pictures were removed from the walls to be re-hung but were still on the floor over fifty years later. Apparently in later years as areas of the house deteriorated the inhabitants moved to other parts of the house that were unaffected. This resulted in there being four incarnations of the kitchen as it followed the family around their decaying home. The house was adapted over the generations in an ad hoc manner, there were five staircases one of which was said to be the inspiration for the staircase that exists today in Cillaithe House in nearby Killala also owned by a Knox relative. In 1812, the north west side of the house was rebuilt, to form a new wing. This new section of the house was two high stories instead of the three stories of which the older part of the house was comprised of. As a result of the differing floor levels, parts of this new addition were left uncompleted and interconnecting passages between the old and new wing were never resolved. The house was surrounded by a complex of outbuilding which included the stable block that incorporated a clock tower and was possibly architecturally superior to the house. To the rear of the house were vast walled garden enclosing acres of land. Also situated within the demesne and closer to the river was the Knox family’s private burial ground.
This is Castlereagh after the improvements of Ernest Knox, he moved the original entrance door that was situated in the tower on the left and created a new entrance which consisted of two glass doors which can be seen in this image.
Picture Copyright ( above) ICHC
With a large rambling country house of its size, there was tales of ghosts especially a deceased butler who would make his way through the passages of the house at night dropping crockery. Naturally enough there was also a haunted room that no one was meant to disturb. The room contained an apparition that would rearrange the belongings of any guest foolish enough to stay there. It wasn’t unusual for rooms to be locked and forgotten about in Castlereagh, one such room was locked after one of the estate’s agents drowned who occupied it. The room remained locked for over sixty years and was only opened to retrieve the contents after the floor began to collapse in that section of the house. In fact it appeared to be a tradition, that as the family members died and the size of the family began to decrease, the bedroom of the deceased was locked and remained as it was at the time of the person’s death. It was said that whenever a member of the Knox family who lived in the house was about to die, a ghostly horse and carriage would descend from the heavens and arrive at the door of Castlereagh to carry the recently deceased to heaven…… or hell, it was never determined where its destination was.
Lawrence Knox , the founder of The Irish Times, whose father and wife desended from the house at Castlereagh near Killala in Co. Mayo and not Roscommon as a number of publications ascribe his origins to.
It was Ernest’s nephew Lawrence Knox who established the Irish Times in 1859 although it is said that he made no money from it. He was the son of Arthur Edward Knox who sold Castlereagh. Lawrence was born in 1836 in Ballina, Co. Mayo according to The Freeman’s Journal of 1873. Also when Lawrence Knox was baptised in Sussex in January 1837, his birthplace is not recorded. In time he joined the army where he served in the Crimea during the Russian War. He was eventually elected to Parliament as a representative for Sligo. Lawrence married Clara Charlotte Knox, who was his first cousin, the daughter of Ernest Knox of Castlereagh. Lawrence and Clara Charlotte Knox are recorded as being married in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Killala in 1858. It is very odd to read that when Laurence Knox died in 1873, Ernest Knox of Castlereagh was described not only as his uncle but also as his father-in-law. After Lawrence’s death, The Irish Times was sold for £35,000, his desk which had ‘The Irish Times’ inscribed on it passed to another member of the family. Ernest Knox of Castlereagh Mayo died 8th September 1883, leaving his widow Charlotte Katherine Knox in control of Castlereagh. By the time of the census in 1901, Ernest’s eldest son, John Valentine Knox aged 62 is living in the house with his widowed mother Charlotte Katherine aged 91 together with his two spinster sisters Maria Louisa aged 64 and Helen aged 57. They have two live in servants, Mary Tighe aged 23, a house maid and Agnes Mc Gurrin aged 17 who is said to be the cook. Castlereagh is described in the census documents as having 19 out buildings with the house itself having 36 windows in its entrance front and extending to 15 rooms. Charlotte Katherine Knox, Ernest senior’s widow is recorded as dying in 1901 followed by her daughter Maria Louisa who died in 1905 and Lawrence’s widow, Clara Charlotte Knox, who died in 1908.
A newspaper advertisement indicating that contents of Castlereagh are to be sold
Picture Copyright ( above) ICHC
By 1911, John Valentine Knox is resident in the house with his sister Helen but they are now joined by their brother Ernest and another sister Gertrude. Ernest Knox who was born in 1846, retired from his position in the banking profession in 1910 and returned to his Mayo home. They have four live in servants in the house. It is said that John and Ernest’s sister Gertrude always wore a hat all the time and was never seen without it for the sole reason that she had no hair. John Valentine died in 1919 followed by Gertrude in 1923. The last residents of the house was Ernest Knox and his sister Helen. The attitude of the previous generations to lock up rooms and forget about parts of the house was still prevalent in Ernest. Once when showing a guest around the house they enquired what a large heavy timber cupboard situated on the landing contained. Now one must remember that Ernest had lived in the house since childhood for over eighty years so his response might surprise some. He replied that he had never had the sufficient curiosity to open it. One relative whose boxes of possessions returned to the castle after their death in 1876 remained unopened by the time it came to clear the castle in 1933. Another box which was transferred from Woodstock in Wicklow was found to have remained unopened in Castlereagh for over one hundred and twenty years. Obviously curiosity was not a vice that the Knox family suffered from.
The stables at Castlereagh Killala where the clock, that once over looked the stables at Castlereagh, ended up after the auction of Castlereaghs contents and its subsequent demolition in 1937.
Picture Copyright ( above) ICHC
In April 1930, Ernest Knox aged 84 was laid to rest in the private cemetery within the demesne, today this area is marked by a group of trees, and though it exists on private lands it is said that the grave markers remain. Only Ernest’s elderly sister Helen aged 90 and a few relatives attended his funeral. Ernest spent his time at Castlereagh in his notable library or trout fishing on the nearby river. His herd of deer, which galloped around the demesne, was said to be second only to the one that the Guinness family kept at Ashford Castle. At the time of Ernest’s death it was said that Castlereagh was one of the oldest mansions in the county and was still in a reasonable state of repair despite large sections being neglected. Prior to the first Land Acts, the estate rental was £20,000 a year but it was one of the first estates to be sold under the Encumbered Estates Court. In June 1936, a notice appeared in The Irish Independent inviting tenders for the demolition of Castlereagh and its associated out buildings. Previously, in February 1936 the contents of Castlereagh, Killala were advertised for auction by the order of Cyril St. George Knox. The auction of the contents would take place over three days and would extend to rare antique furnishings, oil paintings, china, glass, a valuable library of books and even a herd of deer. The auction was attended by a large number of antique dealers who came from many parts of Ireland and the UK. Two antique dealers in particular from Birmingham attended and bought heavily. The auction was also attended by a representative from the National Museum of Ireland, as the Knox family were known to collect ancient Irish antiquities, however it is not recorded if they purchased anything. A Chippendale table was purchased for £21 by a man from Manchester and the 2,000 volume library held no first editions but twenty-eight late seventeenth century books which were sold for £9. An exciting incident occurred during the disposal of the contents of the library, one of the workmen pulled out one of the wall panels by accident which uncovered a hidden room. This room had been used as an armoury which contained a number of guns and musketry. Everything had to go, including twenty of the deer roaming the grounds which were sold for £24 to the Ward Union Hunt. Nearly every item in the catalogue was cleared. The clock over the stable yard was purchased and made its way to the stable yard in nearby Cillaithe House in Killala and still exists today. The clock when purchased was in pieces in a box, like a lot of the Knox’s projects at Castlereagh, it had been taken down years before to be repaired but never reinstated.
In December of the same year, tenders were invited for the purchase of the timber on the lands of the estate which comprised of 2,500 trees made up of Ash, Oak, Elm, Beech, Sycamore and Larch. The house was bought by Arthur West of Ballina who intended to demolish it for materials. In 1937 the demolition of Castlereagh began but resulted in a tragedy. Michael Burke, aged 18, was killed during the demolition of the house when a wall collapsed on him. Even during the demolition of the house Castlereagh had one more secret to reveal, as another staircase was uncovered having being built up decades before. The destruction of the great house was now complete, it was wiped from the landscape as if it never existed and today the field where it once stood gives no hint to what was once there.
The remains of a decorative arch of the walled gardens at Castlereagh which survives today.
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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Stephen and I visited King House during Heritage Week 2022. It is open to the public and is no longer a private home.
King House was built in 1720 for Henry King, 3rd Baronet. There was a house previously on the site built for his grandfather, Robert. It was used as a military barracks in later years. Now it is a museum that tells the story of the King family, the history of the military unit which occupied the building, and it also houses a collection of contemporary art, the Boyle Civic Art Collection and the McAleese Collection. You can take a “virtual tour” on their website.
John King arrived in Ireland from Staffordshire, England, in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Anthony Lawrence King-Harmon tells us in his book, The Kings of King House. His family originally came from Feathercock Hall in Yorkshire.
The land had been previously controlled by the MacDermott clan. A room in King House tells us a few stories about the MacDermott clan. They had a rare victory over Queen Elizabeth I’s forces in the pass in the Curlew Mountains, near Boyle.
John King fought along with Sir Richard Bingham in Connaught during the Nine Years War. [1] In 1603 John King (1560-1636) was given, along with John Bingley, the lease of Boyle Abbey and its surrounding lands, in recognition for services rendered to the Crown. The Abbey had been used as a military barracks since the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII.
John married Catherine Drury, grand-niece of Sir William Drury, Lord Deputy of Ireland. They were the parents of Edward King, who was memorialised in John Milton’s poem, Lycidas, after he drowned in the Irish Sea. The King’s townhouse is now the home of the Society of Irish Pipers, Na Píobairí Uilleann, 15 Henrietta Street. A ceiling in the house features a bust of Milton, commemorating his poem to Edward King.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.
The King House website tells us that John King’s main residence was in Dublin, in Baggotrath near what is now Baggot Street, but he built a “great castle” in 1607 in Boyle. By 1618 he had obtained an outright grant to the Abbey and and its 4127 acres. King-Harmon tells us that an “apocryphal” story claims that the title “Lay Abbot” gave the right to have more than one wife! He adds that this was not a privilege of which John King availed.
He was made “Muster General” of Ireland responsible for calling up personnel to assist with maintaining law and order in Ireland. At the time that he built his castle in Boyle, the population of Boyle was around 300, of whom thirty were English workmen or traders. Sir John was buried in Boyle Abbey.
As Muster Master, John King was in charge of weapons such as those above: a pike, musket, lance and sword.
Unfortunately we did not have time to visit Boyle Abbey this time, though we stopped to take a few photographs from the road – we will have to visit Boyle again.
Sir John’s daughters married well – Mary married William Caulfeild, 2nd Baron Caulfeild of Charlemont, County Armagh, who became the Master-General of the Ordnance for Ireland. Her sister Dorothy married Arthur Moore, son of Garret, 1st Viscount Moore of Drogheda.
John’s eldest son, Robert (d. 1657) was a supporter of Oliver Cromwell, and offered his services to the Parliamentarians. He fought in battles and has been credited with victory in the battle of Ballintubber. He was MP in the Cromwellian parliament in England, representing Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim. He lived mostly in his home in Baggotrath in Dublin but built a house on the site of the present King House in Boyle. He died the year before Cromwell died, and the Kings immediately switched sides to support King Charles II.
King House, August 2022.
Robert King married twice (although not at the same time, so didn’t avail of the Lay Abbot’s rights!): first to Frances Folliott, daughter of Henry Folliott, 1st Lord Folliott, Baron of Ballyshannon (her sister married Richard Wingfield and was mother of 1st Viscount Powerscourt). Secondly, he married the widow of Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon, Sophia Zouche. Edward Cecil was the grandson of Queen Elizabeth I’s right hand man, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley.
Robert’s eldest son, John (1638-1676) first fought with the Cromwellians but then became a supporter of King Charles II. He married Catherine Fenton of Mitchelstown, County Cork. Her brothers predeceased her and she was heir to vast estates. John was created 1st Baron Kingston, of Kingston, County Dublin, in 1660, when he was also appointed as Privy Counsellor in Dublin.
Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.An older castle was demolished and it was rebuilt, as we see in this photograph, in the 1770s by Caroline Fitzgerald and her husband Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston.Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.
The land of Mitchelstown in County Cork passed into the hands of Maurice Fitzgibbon, the first White Knight, in the early part of the 14th century. The title of White Knight was an Anglo-Norman hereditary title in Ireland, one of three, the others being the Black Knight, or Knight of Glin, and Green Knight, or Knight of Kerry.
In 1608 Edmond Fitzgibbon the 9th White Knight died, as did his son Maurice, and it is said that they were poisoned. The inheritance of Mitchelstown passed to Edmond’s youngest granddaughter Margaret, who married Sir William Fenton. The castle then passed to Catherine Fenton, who brought the estate into the King family.
It was the descendants of John’s second son, Robert (abt. 1640-1707), who lived in County Roscommon, since descendants of the eldest son John 1st Baron Kingston lived in Mitchelstown Castle. John gave his younger brother Robert considerable lands in what was to become Rockingham, outside Boyle. John predeceased his brother Robert, dying in 1676, leaving two sons, who became 2nd and 3rd Barons Kingston.
In King House.Rockingham, County Roscommon entrance gate, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Robert King (1657–1693), 2nd Baron Kingston by John Michael Wright courtesy of Ulster Museum.
Robert (abt. 1640-1707) of County Roscommon held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Ballyshannon between 1661 and 1666. He built a sumptuous house at Rockingham in 1673, after he married Frances Gore, daughter of Lt.-Col. Henry Gore, around 1670. She had been previously married to Robert Choppyn of Newcastle, County Longford.
Robert King, (d. 1707) 1st Baronet of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon from the circle of John Closterman, courtesy of “mutualart.com”
Robert was created 1st Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon [Ireland] on 27 September 1682. He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for County Roscommon between 1692 and 1699. He was also appointed Privy Counsellor in Ireland, and he held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Boyle between 1703 and 1707.
Robert’s brothers’ sons, the 2nd and 3rd Barons Kingston, still owned the property in Boyle. Robert King, 2nd Baron Kingston, and his uncle Robert 1st Baronet King of Boyle Abbey both supported William III, whereas most English families in Counties Sligo and Roscommon supported King James II. Both Robert Kings became heavily involved in military operations. Robert 1st Baronet King played a major role in the Battle of Aughrim. Anthony Lawrence King-Harman tells us that it was during this battle that Robert saved the life of the head of the MacDermot family, the original owner of Rockingham.
To add to complications of the time, Robert 1st Baronet of Boyle Abbey’s son John (1673-1720) supported King James II. He sat in King James’s parliament in Dublin. Fortunately he later escaped retribution from William III when William was made King, and his father must have forgiven him also as he was his father’s heir. John became 2nd Baronet King of Boyle Abbey.
The brother of Robert 2nd Baron Kingston, John (abt. 1664-1727/28), or Jack as he was known, eloped with a servant girl from King House named Peggy O’Cahan (or Kane). They moved to France and married, and he joined court of “The Pretender,” son of James II, also known as James III. Jack converted to Catholicism. His brother did not have children so Jack would have been his brother’s heir. However, due to his Catholicism, his family took legal action to disinherit him. Robert 2nd Baron Kingston instead changed his will so that his uncle Robert, 1st Baronet King of Boyle Abbey, would inherit the Mitchelstown estates and the estate in Boyle. Jack, however, disputed this. King-Harmon tells us in The Kings of King House that Jack, with the support of James II and Catholic circles in London, launched a legal action to show that the actions of his family were in contravention of the marriage settlements of his father, and before that of William Fenton, his mother’s father. He was successful and he obtained possession of Mitchelstown in 1699, but not the estate lands. Jack, who had become 3rd Baron Kingston after his brother’s death, also achieved a Royal pardon from William III for his previous support of King James II and his son.
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.
Jack’s actions threatened the Baronets of Boyle Abbey and their ownership of Rockingham. However, they managed to hold on to their estate and the threat receded somewhat with the accession of William and Mary to the throne. Jack, with an eye to their future, raised his children as Protestants in Mitchelstown.
Robert 1st Baronet of Boyle Abbey’s daughter Mary married Chidley Coote of Cootehall, County Roscommon, son of Richard Coote 1st Lord Coote, Baron of Colloony, County Sligo. His son John, who became 2nd Baronet of Boyle Abbey upon his father’s death, married Elizabeth Sankey, but he had no children. Elizabeth went on to marry secondly, John Moore, 1st Baron Moore of Tullamore and thirdly, Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough. Her mother, Eleanor Morgan, was from Cottlestown, County Sligo, a property added in 2022 to the Section 482 list, which we have yet to visit.
The 2nd Baronet moved from Rockingham back to the house in Boyle, which by this time may have been known as King House. He died in March 1720 and his brother Henry (1681-1739) became 3rd Baronet King of Boyle Abbey.
It was Henry 3rd Baronet who built the King House that we see today. Rockingham burnt down, probably sometime shortly after the death of the 1st Baronet. King House in Boyle was destroyed by fire in 1720, so Henry immediately started to rebuild. King-Harman tells us he hired either Edward Lovett Pearce, or William Halfpenny, an assistant to Edward Lovett Pearce, as architect. The newer house may incorporate walls of the earlier house. A pleasure garden was created across the river, and it is now a public park. It contains a plinth that used to hold a statue of King William III but that statue disappeared!
Henry (1681-1739) 3rd Baronet King of Boyle Abbey, by Robert Hunter.When the portrait was advertised for sale by Adam’s auctioneers, 6 Oct 2009, it was identified as being by Charles Jervas (1675-1739).The museum in King House is less certain as to who designed it, suggesting it could have been Edward Lovett Pearce, Richard Cassel (or Castle), or William Halfpenny.In King House.
Mark Bence-Jones points out in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988) that King House is not situated in a demesne but in the centre of a town. It is surrounded by thick walls. He describes it as a large “u” shaped mansion of two storeys over basement with a partly gabled attic. [2]
The photograph from the National Inventory shows the eleven bay garden front which faces the river, with its three bay pedimented breakfront and large central Venetian window in the upper storey.
The side facades have three Venetian windows, one on top of another, the top being within a gable.
Bence-Jones points out that: “As at Ballyhaise, County Cavan and King’s Fort, County Meath, there is vaulting in other storeys than just the basement; in fact, all four storeys are vaulted over. This was, according to Rev Daniel Beaufort, a fire precaution, Sir Henry King having naturally been fire-conscious after the fire in the earlier house.“
Two wings project from the main centre block of the house, and are each two bays wide. The centre block is three bays wide with a centre triangular gable. Bence-Jones describes the deep cornice over the wings, and the round-headed ground floor windows with keystones and blocking.
On the front facade Bence-Jones describes a “plain massive doorway.” I find the entire centre front surprisingly plain with few windows, except the large arched ones either side of the doorway and the fanlight over the door, and two dormer windows in the roofline. Inside the museum, in a description of the building it is suggested that the front facade was not completed.
The National Inventory adds that there is “a seven-bay three-storey extension to south-west with pitched slated roof with piecrust cornice and red brick chimneystacks. Single-storey roughcast-rendered outbuildings to front. Site bounded by rubble stone wall with carved stone gate piers and cast-iron gates.“
Inside the front door is a long and narrow hall or gallery with lovely flagstone floor, which is original to the house. You can see also the vaulted ceiling, and wood panelling on the walls.
Sir Henry King, 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey, served as MP for either Boyle or County Roscommon for thirty three years. He married Isabella Wingfield, daughter of Edward Wingfield of Powerscourt, County Wicklow (her brother was the 1st Viscount of Powerscourt). Henry died in 1739 and was succeeded by his son Robert (1724-1755), 4th Baronet of Boyle Abbey.
Robert 4th Baronet became MP for Boyle also and was created Baron Kingsborough in 1748. It was he who bought the house in Henrietta Street in Dublin. He became Grand Master of the Freemasons in Ireland. He died unmarried. On his death, the Barony of Kingsborough became extinct.
On his death the entailed parts of the estate went to his younger brother Edward (1726-1797), who became 5th Baronet of Boyle Abbey. Edward was also a Grand Master for the Freemasons and MP for County Roscommon, and Privy Counsellor in Ireland. He inherited King House and large parts of the Sligo and Roscommon estates. However, a later will of his brother was found after his brother’s death, and all the unentailed land was left to their younger brother Henry. Henry did not marry but the dispute over inheritance led to lawsuits and caused family rifts, King-Harmon’s book The Kings of King House tells us.
Edward King (1726-1797), 5th Baronet of Boyle Abbey and eventually, 1st Earl of Kingston.
Edward the 5th Baronet married Jane Caulfeild, daughter of Thomas Caulfeild of Donamon Castle, County Roscommon (still standing, it now belongs to the Divine Word Missionaries). Edward was ambitious and when his cousin James King 4th Baron Kingston died in 1761 with no sons, he applied for a peerage and was granted it, becoming the 1st Baron Kingston of the second creation. He built a second mansion in Rockingham, which he called Kingston Hall.
Edward King, later 1st Earl Kingston courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).
He arranged with 4th Baron Kingston that his son would marry the heir to Mitchelstown, Caroline Fitzgerald. The 4th Baron Kingston’s son William predeceased him in 1755, dying childless. The 4th Baron’s daughter Margaret married Richard Fitzgerald, son of the 19th Earl of Kildare. Their only child was a daughter, Caroline (1754-1823).
Robert Fitzgerald (1675-1744) 19th Earl of Kildare, after Frederick Graves, courtesy of Adam’s auction 15th Oct 2019.
By marrying into the family of the Barons of Kingston, Mitchelstown came into the family of the Baronets of Boyle Abbey. Caroline and Edward’s son Robert were to marry when just 15 and 16 years old.
King House, 2022.In King House.
Meanwhile Edward, after intense lobbying, had become Viscount Kingsborough in 1767 and Earl of Kingston in 1768.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
Edward, now Earl of Kingston, and his family moved into Kingston Hall in 1771, and King House was kept as a second residence, but following a fire in 1778, Edward decided to dispose of it. It was bought by the British army in 1795, and became the depot of the Connaught Rangers until taken over by the Irish army in 1922. It was abandoned and in ruins by 1987 when bought by Roscommon County Council, and it was restored and opened to the public in 1995.
King House, 2022.Information in King House about Boyle in the 1700s.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
Edward Earl of Kingston’s daughter Jane married Laurence Harman Parsons (1749-1807), son of Laurence Parsons, 3rd Baronet, who was later created 1st Earl of Rosse, and Anne Harman. Lawrence Harman Parsons changed his surname to Harman.
In King House.
The 1st Earl of Kingston’s daughter Frances married Thomas Tenison, and their son Lt.-Col Edward King-Tenison lived in Kilronan Castle in County Roscommon and his wife, Lady Louisa Mary Anne Anson, was the origin of the use of the word “loo” for toilet! (according to The Peerage website). I’m not sure why! (Kilronan Castle is now also a hotel, https://www.kilronancastle.ie/ )
Edward’s heir, Robert (1754-1799) became the 2nd Earl of Kingston and married his cousin Caroline Fitzgerald of Mitchelstown when he was just 15.
Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.Caroline, née Fitzgerald, Countess of Kingston, wife of Robert King 2nd Earl of Kingston, by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.
They had nine children but later separated. When young, they lived in London, and toured the world, until they took up residence at Mitchelstown Castle. Mary Wollstonecraft, who later died after giving birth to Mary Shelley née Godwin who wrote Frankenstein, was tutor to the 2nd Earl of Kingston’s children. Mary Wollstonecraft later became a writer, intellecutal and radical, spending time in Paris during the French Revolution, and wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women, as well as several novels. She remained friendly with King’s daughters, who imbibed Mary’s feminism. Caroline, unhappy in her life with Robert, moved to England, and Robert took a lover, Elinor Hallenan, who bore him two more children.
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 Ophanlis, 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 Wollstonecruft 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.
On 18 May 1798 Robert 2nd Earl of Kingston was tried by his peers in the Irish House of Lords for the murder of Colonel Henry Gerald Fitzgerald, who had seduced the Earl’s daughter. He was acquitted as no witnesses came forward – a benefit of being in the House of Lords was that one was not tried in a general court, but tried in a court consisting of the other members of the House of Lords.
Colonel Henry Gerald Fitzgerald was the illegitimate son of Caroline’s half-brother. Her father had remarried after her mother died. Caroline raised Henry Gerald along with her own family. Caroline brought her daughter Mary with her when she separated her husband and moved to England. It was Mary who was seduced by her cousin, despite him having a wife. As Mary Wollstonecraft later had lovers, perhaps young Mary King was influenced by her governess’s romantic nature. Colonel Fitzgerald regularly visited Caroline and Mary in their new home in London. One day, Mary disappeared, and was found installed in a lodging house, regularly visited by her lover, Colonel Fitzgerald. King-Harman tells the story in The Kings of King House. Her father shot and killed Colonel Fitzgerald.
Another daughter, Margaret, married Stephen Moore, 2nd Earl Mountcashell. Also influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft’s radicalism, she supported the United Irishmen and Anthony Lawrence King-Harman writes that she may have been with Edward Fitzgerald when he was mortally wounded in Dublin. She left her husband for George Tighe (1776-1837) of Rossana, County Wicklow, an Irishman living in Rome, and became close friends with Wollstonecraft’s daughter Mary Shelley. She wrote children’s books and treatises on pre- and post-natal care.
Robert’s son George (1770-1839) became the 3rd Earl of Kingston upon his father’s death in 1797. Robert left the Boyle properties to his second son, Robert Edward (1773-1854), who later became Viscount Lorton, the name chosen from a local place-name.
Brothers George, 3rd Earl of Kingston, Robert, 1st Viscount Lorton, and Admiral James William King, by Hugh Douglas Hamilton.This large portrait in the dining room is General Robert King (1773-1854), 1st Viscount Lorton, who was the son of Robert King, 2nd Earl of Kingston.
Robert Edward King (1773-1854) inherited Kingston Hall at Rockingham. He joined the military and distinguished himself in the Caribbean. When he inherited in 1797, he returned to Ireland and joined the Roscommon Militia and worked his way up to become a General. With Rockingham, however, came debt. In 1799 he married his first cousin, Frances Parsons Harman, daughter of his aunt Jane who had married Lawrence Parsons Harman (1749-1807), who owned the Newcastle Estate in County Longford. Robert worked hard to reduce the debt, and was a tough landlord, evicting many tenants.
In the centre, Frances née Parsons Harman (1775-1841) who married Robert Edward King (1773-1854). She is flanked by their daughter Jane King, who married Anthony Lefroy, and Frances King, who married Right Reverend Charles Leslie of Corravahan.
Robert Edward was created Baron Erris of Boyle, County Roscommon in 1800 and in 1806, Viscount Lorton of Boyle, County Roscommon. His support of the Act of Union in 1800 would have helped in his rise within the Peerage.
Viscount Lorton decided to build a new house on the Rockingham estate, which is a few kilometers from Boyle. Robert O’Byrne tells us that the previous house, Kingston Hall, remained in use and became known as the Steward’s House. [4] The new house was designed by John Nash and was ready by 1810. Lorton also modernised the estate. Landscaper Humphrey Repton helped with the design of the outbuildings, gate houses and demesne. The house no longer exists, and the demesne is now part of Lough Key Park. An impressive gate lodge remains, and a chapel built by Lord Lorton in 1833 on the site of a 17th century church also built by the Kings. An icehouse, gazebo called the Temple and a tunnel which ran from the mansion to the lake and was used by tradesmen is open for visitors.
Rockingham House.Rockingham.Rockingham.Rockingham.Rockingham.Rockingham.Rockingham.Model of Rockingham House created by Leaving Certificate studentsof Ballinamore Vocational School Fergal Conefrey, Conor Lee and Declan Sammonwith construction teacher Mr. Tommy Flynn.The interior of Rockingham.The interior of Rockingham.Looking out from Rockingham.
It was a time of trouble with tenants, as outlined in The Kings of King House. Robert evicted Catholic tenants due to uprisings. In famine years, however, he lowered rents and provided work.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
Viscount Lorton’s daughters married well. Jane married Anthony Lefroy of Carriglass Manor, County Longford. Jane Austen had been in love with his father, Thomas Lefroy, and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice may have been based upon him. Caroline married Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet, of Lissadell, County Sligo (another section 482 property). Frances married Right Reverend Charles Leslie, who we came across when we visited Corravahan, another Section 482 property, in County Cavan.
Viscount Lorton’s heir was Robert (1804-1869). He had an unhappy marriage, and his wife, Anne Gore-Booth, daughter of Robert Newcomen Gore-Booth, 3rd Baronet of Lissadell, had an affair which produced a son. Robert and his father sought to make sure that this son would not inherit the King estates.
The Kings of Rockingham were a “cadet branch” of the family of the Kings of Mitchelstown, County Cork. Viscount Lorton’s older brother inherited the Mitchelstown estate and the title of 3rd Earl of Kingston. Let’s make a diversion and look at what was happening at the Mitchelstown estate.
After her husband Robert 2nd Earl of Kingston’s death, Mitchelstown remained in the hands of Caroline (née Fitzgerald), and she returned to run the estate for a further twenty-five years. She kept her son George at arm’s length, King-Harman tells us.
George King (1779-1839), later 3rd Earl of Kingston, painting by Romney.
George did not inherit Mitchelstown until he was 53 years old. He was godson of King George III and was a friend of the Prince Regent who later became King George IV. He had several illegitimate children with a lover when he was in his twenties, with whom he lived in the Bahamas. He went on to marry Helena Moore, daughter of Stephen, 1st Earl of Mountcashell, County Tipperary. Before his father died, he was titled Viscount Kingsborough between 1797 and 1799, and he held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for County Roscommon between 1797 and 1799. He became Colonel of the local Militia, the Mitchelstown Light Dragoons, part of the North Cork Militia.
When his father died, he succeeded as the 3rd Baron Kingston of Rockingham, Co. Roscommon, the 3rd Viscount Kingston of Kingsborough, Co. Sligo, 3rd Earl of Kingston, and 7th Baronet King, of Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon.
George 3rd Earl of Kingston’s eldest son, Edward, predeceased him. Edward, who was Viscount Kingsborough, became interested in Mexico while in Oxford and devoted his life and finances to the production of a monumental work, The Antiquities of Mexico. He fell into debt, partly because his father did not allow him enough to run Mitchelstown, and was imprisoned in Ireland, where he developed typhus and died in 1837. In his lifetime he presented a number of antiquities to Trinity College Dublin.
It was therefore George’s second son, Robert Henry (1796-1857) who became 4th Earl of Kingston in 1839. By 1844 the Mitchelstown estate had been taken over by the Encumbered Estaes Court. Outstanding debts went back to James 4th Baron, King-Harman tells us. Despite this, Robert Henry’s life continued at Mitchelstown in rather high style, also despite the famine. Sadly, parts of the estate were sold off bit by bit and eventually Robert Henry had a mental breakdown and ended up in an asylum in England. [for more about the 4th Earl of Kingston see the Irish Aesthete’s blog. [5]
His younger brother James became the 5th Earl of Kingston, but died two years later without issue, and with him the Barony of Kingston of Mitchelstown became extinct. He married Anna Brinkley from Parstonstown (Birr), who was thirty years his junior, and King-Harman tells us that she “was destined to play a major role in the affairs of Castle [of Mitchelstown] right through to the present century.” They had no children, so the estate would have gone to the Viscounts Lorton of Boyle.
James King (1800-1869), 5th Earl of Kingston, who married Anna Brinkley.Anna née Brinkley, wife of the 5th Earl of Kingston, who lived in Mitchelstown.
Robert, who was to become 2nd Viscount Lorton, and his wife Anne née Gore-Booth, had a son, Robert (1831-1871), and a daughter, Frances. Anne then had a son, Henry Ernest, with her lover, Vicomte Ernest Satgé St Jean. 1st Viscount Lorton tried to take action to ensure that Henry Ernest would not inherit.
In order to avoid Henry Ernest from inheriting Mitchelstown, they had to break the entail on Mitchelstown and James the 5th Earl of Kingston promised money from the Mitchelstown estate to the 3rd Viscount Lorton, for signing away the entail. Instead, Mitchelstown was left to his wife. The money promised to 3rd Viscount Lorton formed a debt, falling to Anna Brinkley, which gave her much difficulty later.
Before continuing, I must mention the youngest son of 1st Viscount Lorton, Laurence Harman King (1816-1875). He married Mary Cecilia Johnstone of Alva, Scotland. His father drew up a settlement which in the event that the 2nd Viscount’s legitimate son did not have an heir, Rockingham would go to his younger son, Laurence Harman, who in 1838 had legally changed his name to Laurence Harman King-Harman.
Laurence Harman King-Harman also inherited the estate of Newcastle in County Longford. He was chosen for the inheritance in preference to his dissipated brother. Lawrence’s mother, recall, was Frances Parsons, daughter of Laurence Harman Parsons and and Jane King (daughter of 1st Earl of Kingston). Laurence Harman Parsons’s father was Laurence Parsons, 3rd Baronet of Birr Castle, County Offaly, and his mother was Anne Harman, whose family owned Newcastle, County Longford.
The property of Newcastle had belonged to the Chappoyne family. A daughter of that family married Anthony Sheppard, and the property passed into the ownership of the Sheppard family. It then passed via a daughter, Frances Sheppard, who married Wentworth Harman (c. 1635-1714). On Frances’s death in 1766 the property passed to her son Reverend Cutts Harman (1706-1784), Dean of Waterford. He had no children, so he left the property to his nephew, Laurence Parsons, who had married Jane King. In return, Laurence Parsons added the name Harman to his surname in 1792 to become Laurence Harman Parsons-Harman.
Laurence Harman Parsons was created 1st Baron Oxmantown, Co. Wexford in 1792, and 1st Earl of Rosse in 1806.
Laurence and Jane had a daughter, Frances, and no son. Frances married Robert Edward King, 1st Viscount Lorton in 1799. Laurence left all of his property to his wife Jane, which included Newcastle and two houses in St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin. Upon the birth of Frances and Robert Edward’s second son, whom they named Laurence Harman King, Lady Rosse decided to leave Newcastle to him. In 1838 when Lady Rosse died, just a year after Laurence Harman King’s marriage, he inherited Newcastle. At that time he also added Harman to his surname to become Laurence Harman King-Harman. [6]
Let us go back, however, to his brother Robert, who was upon his father’s death to become 2nd Viscount Lorton. The reason that 1st Viscount Lorton was worried about the second, illegitimate grandson inheriting, is that the first grandson, Robert Edward, had suffered a serious illness and had only one child, a daughter.
The 1st Viscount Lorton died in 1854 and was buried in the family vault in Boyle Abbey.
Obituary for 1st Viscount Lorton.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
The 1st Viscount Lorton’s son Robert had been a long time waiting to come into his inheritance and had meanwhile spent his time dissipating the family’s money and by the time of his marriage, according to The Kings of King House, had a reputation for drinking too much alcohol. In the same year that she was proven to have an affair, Robert became semi-paralysed, perhaps after severe attack of delirium tremens from his drinking.
Robert and his wife Anne moved to Frankfurt in 1840 and his health improved somewhat. However it was here that his wife met Vicomte Ernest de Satgé St Jean. He too was married. He and Anne accumulated debts at the gaming tables which Robert had to pay, and when his wife left him, Ernest de Satgé St Jean moved into the home of the Kings in Frankfurt!
When 1st Viscount Lorton heard of the shenanigans, he sent an old friend to bring his son and his son’s wife back to Ireland. He did not succeed, and the story of Robert’s wife’s debts reminds me of “Buck” Whaley’s, with the Vicomte entering in convoluted schemes in order to try to gain money to pay off his debts, as described in The Kings of King House.
When the 1st then 2nd Viscounts Lorton died, the 2nd Viscount’s legitimate son Robert Edward (1731-1771) came into ownership of Rockingham, and became 3rd Viscount Lorton and 7th Earl of Kingston. He died two years later, after felling large quantities of timber at Rockingham to pay off his debts.
In King House.
In the meantime, the younger son, Henry Ernest Newcomen King (named Ernest after his birth father) had not been legally recognised as illegitimate. Therefore when his brother died, he became 8th Earl of Kingston, although he did not inherit as much land as he could have, since the entail on Mitchelstown had been broken, and his uncle Laurence Harman inherited Newcastle and Rockingham. He joined the Connaught Rangers, which were housed in the old King home, and he gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was a representative Irish peer in the House of Lords. He married Florence, daughter and co-heir of Colonel Edward King-Tenison of Kilronan Castle in County Roscommon. He changed his name to surname King-Tenison in 1883. He held the office of Lord-Lieutenant of County Roscommon between 1888 and 1896.
The Coronation Robe and Crown in the dining room of King House belong to his son the 9th Earl of Kingston’s wife, Ethel Lisette, made to be worn at the coronation of King Edward VIII in 1936, which did not happen since he abdicated the throne.
On the death of the 7th Earl of Kingston, the 1st Viscount Lorton’s youngest son, Harman King-Harman, inherited Rockingham and the Boyle estates as life tenant. He remained living in Newcastle, County Longford. He had six sons and his eldest Edward King-Harman (1838-1888) would inherit Rockingham and Newcastle.
To continue with the story of Mitchelstown, in 1873 Anna née Brinkley, wife of James 5th Earl of Kingston, remarried, to William Webber. King-Harman writes that Webber allowed his relationship to the tenants to deteriorate. Meanwhile, the old debts were paid off by selling off tenanted lands under the Wyndham Land Acts. Anna, the Countess of Kingston, expressed a wish that upon her husband’s death, Mitchelstown should revert to the King family, in the person of Lt Colonel Alec King-Harman of Newcastle, great grandson of the 1st Lord Lorton. However, the castle was burnt by the IRA during the Civil War in 1922, and Alec sold off the estate.
The 2nd Earl of Kingston laid out much of the town of Mitchelstown. King Square includes Georgian houses of Kingston College and its Protestant chapel and family vault built by James, 4th Baron Kingston, and the square also includes the building where James founded the first Grand Lodge of Freemasons in Ireland. The 3rd Earl erected a drinking fountain in the square. The inn at Kilworth where Colonel Fitzgerald was shot is now a private residence. [The Kings of King House]
Edward Robert King-Harman (1838-1888), son of Laurence Harman King-Harman, inherited Newcastle in County Longford and Rockingham in Roscommon. He joined the military and fought in the siege of Dehli during the Indian Mutiny, then returned to Ireland in 1859 and became Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion of the Connaught Rangers whose depot was now in King House. He developed an interest in politics and the cause of Home Rule and was returned to the House of Commons in Ireland as a Conservative Home Ruler for County Sligo. He moved from Newcastle into Rockingham. He managed to leave Rockingham to his daughter, Fay, although her brothers contested this. She managed to keep Rockingham, however, along with her husband, Dr. Thomas Stafford, who was a Catholic. Fay’s son took the name Edward Stafford King-Harman.
Meanwhile Edward’s younger brother Wentworth (1840-1919) inherited Newcastle from his brother. He joined the military in Britain. When he inherited, he immersed himself in running Newcastle. It was his son Alec who inherited Mitchelstown. Alec also joined the military. He left Newcastle to a cousin Douglas King-Harman, and by that time the estate was reduced to just 50 acres, and he sold it in 1951. Before leaving Newcastle, Douglas set aside most of the family records and took them to England with him and published a book in 1959, Kings Earls of Kingston.
Edward Stafford King-Harman died in WWI. His father was raised to the British peerage as 1st Baronet Stafford in 1914. Edward married Olive Pakenham Mahon from Strokestown in Roscommon – I will be writing about it soon as it is also a Section 482 property.
King House, 2022.In King House.
It was his second son, Cecil Stafford King-Harman, who inherited Rockingham and became 2nd Baronet Stafford. Having taken a degree in Agriculture in New Zealand, Cecil was able to bring the estate back into good working order. Unfortunately, Rockingham was destroyed by fire in 1957 and although most of the furniture and pictures were saved, Cecil decided to sell. The house was demolished, and half the estate became Lough Key Forest Park. On Cecil’s death the baronetcy became extinct.
When used as a Barracks, the military erected a mezzanine level in the Main Salon. After Independence, in the 1940s the Irish army used the room for dances every Wednesday.
King House is now home to the Connaught Rangers museum as well as the Boyle Civic Art Collection, and the house also plays host to musical, dramatic and cultural events.
The barracks in King House served as a recruitment centre. We can see some of the posters that encouraged Irish men to join the British Army during the wars.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
As home to the Connaught Rangers, Robert O’Byrne tells us that the house was able to accommodate 12 officers and 260 non-commissioned officers and private foot soldiers, as well as a 30-bed hospital and stabling for horses. [7]
In King House.
During the War of Independence, the Barracks was strongly garrisoned and the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Black and Tans were stationed outside the barracks near the main gate. Many arrests of Irishmen fighting for Independence were made, and prisoners were held in the barracks. Two prisoners managed to escape, James Molloy and Michael Dockery.
Sadly, reflecting the turbulent times in Ireland, Michael Dockery was later killed by anti-Treaty forces during the Irish Civil War that took place after Ireland gained Independence (the Civil War occurred because many did not agree with the Treaty signed to give Ireland independence since the British kept six counties in Ulster, leading to the division of the island of Ireland). When the new Republic of Ireland continued to use King House as a barracks it was called Dockery Barracks after Michael Dockery.
A couple of rooms in King House now contain the gifts which were given to President Mary McAleese, which is a lovely collection of the crafts of various nations.
King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.King House, 2022.In King House.
Based in the courtyard, Úna Bhán Tourism Co-operative runs a traditional craft shop showcasing locally produced crafts as well as operating an accommodation booking service and at weekends there is a farmers market in the courtyard.
[1] Connolly, Paul. The Landed Estates of County Roscommon. Published by Paul Connolly, 2018.
[2] Bence-Jones, Mark. 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 