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.
p. 45. “(Alexander/IFR; and Caledon, E/PB; Maturin-Baird/LG1952; Cooke/IFR) The original Boom Hall belonged to Robert Alexander, elder brother of the wealthy “Nabob” James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon. The house was so named because of being near where the boom of Derry was placed during the Siege. James Alexander built a new house here ca 1772 to the design of Michael Priestly, soon after returning from India, and before buying the estate of Caledon, Co Tyrone, which was to become his principal seat and from which he was to take his title.
The house was built with cut stone; two storeys over a basement.
It has a seven-bay entrance front, with a three-bay breakfront centre.
A projecting porch was added later.
The garden front has a three-sided bow and side elevation of five bays.
The window surrounds have blocking, even in basement; and blocked quoins. Moderately high roof, on cornice. Large cubical central hall. Sold 1840 to Daniel Baird, through whose daughter it passed to the Maturin-Bairds. Afterwards the seat of the Cooke family.”
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.
p. 37. “(Gage/IFR and LG1972; Heygate, Bt/PB) A predominantly late-Georgian house which evolved in several different phases around what is probably a late C17 core. Marcus McCausland, son of the heiress of Bellarena, who assumed the name of Gage, added to the house 1797; his son, Conolly Gage, made the present library and contrived to fit in a third storey at the back of the house 1822.
In the 1830s, Sir Charles Lanyon was employed to redecorate Bellarena, remodel the hall and add the present porch; it seems that Conolly Gage’s wife, Henrietta, did not wish to be outdone by her sister, Marianne, who was the wife of her husband’s cousin, Marcus McCausland, owner of the nearby Dernagh which was rebuilt in grand style to the design of Lanyon at this time.
A final addition seems to have been made by Conolly and Henrietta Gage’s daughter, Marianne, who married Sir Frederick Heygate, 2ndBaronet, in 1851.
For all its complicated evolution, the house has an air of compactness.
Two-storey, five-bay entrance front faced, like the other elevations, in dark-coloured basalt;
Unusually wide Venetian window in the centre of the upper storey, which rises into a baseless, floating pediment.
Below this window is Lanyon’s semi-circular porch, fronted by a pair of engaged Ionic columns either side of the doorway.
On one side of the entrance front there is a wing, set back.
The rear of the main block consists of four bays, all having Wyatt windows in both storeys. This is prolonged by the rear face of the wing, of the same height as the main block but with ordinary rectangular sashes. Along the top of the rear elevation is a row of squat Wyatt windows lighting Conolly Gage’s third storey; they are, in fact, half-dormers, breaking upwards through the cornice and into the roof.
The hall, as remodelled by Lanyon, who obtained the space necessary for the desired grant effect by adding the porch, contains a double staircase with cast-iron balusters, which rise between two Corinthian columns, painted to resemble marble.
The drawing-room ceiling has elaborate plasterwork, remarkably similar to that of Drenagh House.
The most noteworthy room in the house is probably the library of 1822, a tall, spacious room with a coved ceiling, surrounded on three sides by a gallery with a balustrade of exquisite ironwork.
This balustrading might possibly have originated from Ballyscullion, along with the library chimney-piece and that in the smoking-room.
To the rear of the house there is a commodious, cobbled office courtyard, with a central pond and fountain; while the impressive stable block boasts a spire and pediment.
Beyond the courtyard is a complete range of early 19thcentury farm buildings.
Bellarena was the home of Sir John Heygate, 4th Bt, novelist and journalist, who married, as his first wife, Hon. Evelyn, daughter of 1st and last Lord Burghclere, who was also 1st wife of Evelyn Waugh.”
Aaran Callan has kindly sent me some images of BELLARENA, the ancestral home of the GAGES and the HEYGATE BARONETS, and now the home of the Desmond family.
Click to Enlarge.
The type-written page recounts a brief history of the house, the hall, and the drawing-room.
The image is of Sir Frederick William Heygate, 2nd Baronet (1822-94).
“Built around 1619 by Sir Baptist Jones, Bellaghy Bawn is a fortified house and bawn (the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house). What exists today is a mix of various building styles from different periods with the main house lived in until 1987.” Open on Sundays.
Bellaghy Castle, Bellaghy, County Derry
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.
p. 37. (Thompson, sub Clark/IFR) A C17 “Plantation castle” in a good state of repair. The home of Dr G. M. Thompson.”
THE EARLS OF STRAFFORD WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LONDONDERRY, WITH 7,647 ACRES
This is a branch of the family of BYNG, Viscounts Torrington.
THE HON ROBERT BYNG (1703-40), third son of George, 1st Viscount Torrington, MP for Plymouth, Commissioner of the Navy, Governor of Barbados, married Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan Forward, and had issue,
GEORGE, his successor; Robert, smothered in the Black Hole of Calcutta, 1756; John, died 1764.
The eldest son and heir,
GEORGE BYNG (1735-89), of Wrotham Park, MP for Middlesex, wedded, in 1761, Anne, daughter of the Rt Hon William Conolly, of Castletown, County Kildare (by the Lady Anne, his wife, eldest daughter of Thomas Wentworth, EARL OF STRAFFORD (2nd creation), and co-heir of her brother William, 2nd Earl), and had issue,
George, of Wrotham Park, MP for Middlesex; Robert; JOHN, of whom we treat; Anne Elizabeth; Caroline; Frances.
Sir John was one of the most distinguished commanders in the Peninsular war.
He entered the Army in 1793, and took a leading and brilliant part in the battles of the Peninsula, and at Waterloo.
Sir John twice received the thanks of Parliament for his services in the Peninsula and at the battle of Waterloo; and from the Crown an honourable augmentation of his arms.
In 1828, he was promoted Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, and appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland the same year.
After leaving Ireland in 1831, Sir John was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) and turned his attention to politics, being elected MP for Poole, Dorset, a seat he held until he was elevated to the peerage, in 1835, in the dignity of Baron Strafford, of Harmondsworth, Middlesex.
In 1841, he was promoted to General.
His lordship was further advanced, in 1843, to the dignities of Viscount Enfield and EARL OF STRAFFORD (3rd creation).
He inherited Wrotham Park from his eldest brother in 1847.
In 1855, Lord Strafford was advanced to the highest military rank of Field Marshal.
His Bellaghy estate included Dreenan along with most of Lavey, Bellaghy, Greenlough and parts of Maghera, including Fallagloon.
The Vintners’ Company was associated with the other City Companies in JAMES I’s scheme for the plantation of Ulster.
It owned estates known as Vintners’ Manor, or Bellaghy, until 1737, when it sold them, subject to an annual rent charge of £200 and “a brace of good bucks.”
The Vintners held in excess of 32,000 acres in County Londonderry.
This area of land stretched from Lough Beg in the south, to outside Maghera in the north, the rivers Bann and Moyola being part of its eastern and western boundaries.
The Manor of Vintners, commonly called the Bellaghy Estate, comprised fifty townlands, the most distant of which was seven miles from the village of Bellaghy, where the manor court was held.
The Conolly Papers state that
The third major component of the Conolly estate, the Vintners proportion, resembled the Limavady estate in that it was freehold and was acquired outright (subject only to a chief rent of £200 a year).
It was centred on the village of Bellaghy, and was bounded on the north by the Mercers proportion; on the south by Lough Beg; on the west by the barony of Keenaght; and on the east by County Antrim.
The lessees prior to Speaker Conolly were the 2nd and 3rd Viscounts Massereene, to whom the Vintners had granted a 61-year lease in 1673, subsequently extended by about ten years. Conolly seems to have bought the Massereene lease, possibly in 1718.
It was devised to four parties, represented by Lords Strafford, Clancarty, Lothian, and Colonel Connolly [sic], as tenants in common.
In 1929, under the Northern Ireland Land Act, the Bellaghy Estate, which at that time belonged to Lord Deramore, the Hon Millicent Valla Alexander (wife of the H C Alexander DSO) and Alice, Dowager Countess of Strafford (widow of the 3rd Earl), was sold to its tenants.
First published in October, 2012. Strafford arms courtesy of European Heraldry.
Ballyscullion, Bellaghy, County Derry – demolished; Ballyscullion Park
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.
p. 28. “(Hervey, Bristol, M/PB; Bruce, Bt, of Downhill/PB; Mulholland, Bt/PB) One of three eccentric palaces of Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, the other two being Downhill Castle, also in County Derry, and Ickworth in Suffolk. Built near the shore of Lough Beg, the small lough at the north-west corner of Lough Neagh; begun 1787, the architect being Michael Shanahan, a Corkman who was the Earl-Bishop’s architect, adviser and confidant. Like Ickworth, it was in the form of a central domed rotunda joined by curved sweeps to rectangular pavilions or wings; the Earl-Bishop having got the idea from the circular house on Belle Isle in Lake Windermere. On the entrance side of the rotunda was a pedimented portico of four giant Corinthian columns. In the centre of the house as a double corkscrew staircase, like that at the Chateau of Chambord; a grand stair going round a smaller one for the servants, so constructed that peole on one could not see those on the other. There was a large library of segmental shape, like some of the rooms at Ickworth. The Earl-Bishop lost interest in the house, which came to be known as Bishop’s Folly, and was still uncompleted at the time of his death 1803; though it was inhabited and partly furnished. Together with Downhilll, it was left to the Earl-Bishop’s kinsman, Rev Henry Hervey Aston Bruce, who was immediately afterwards created a Bt. Not wishing to have to maintain two great palaces in the same county, and preferring Downhill, the 1st Bt demolished Ballyscullion a few years after inheriting it. Part of the façade, including the portico, was re-erected as the front of St. George’s Church, Belfast; while some pink marble columns from the interior, as well as some chimneypieces, are now at Portglenone House, Co Antrim. Other chimneypieces are at Bellarena, Co Derry. Some of the stone was later used in the building of a new and more modest house at Ballyscullion, to the design of Charles Lanyon, for Adm Sir Henry Bruce, 2nd son of Sir Henry Mulholland, 1st Bt, Speaker of the Northern Ireland parliament.”
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.
p. 19. (McCorkell/LGI1958; and sub Browne/IFR) A late C19 house, built by D.B. McCorkell, incorporating an earlier house said to date back to the Siege of Derry.”
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.
p. 12. “(Beresford-Ash/IFR) A two storey bow-fronted gable-ended C18 house, reputed to incorporate a house built by John Ash 1686. Unusual fenestration: two windows on either side of the central curved bow in the upper storey, but only one on each side below. All the windows in the front and the entrance doorway have rusticated surrounds. Both sides of the house are gabled and irregular.”
Ashbrook House, County Derry, photograph courtesy of Ashbook House facebook page
THE BERESFORD-ASHES WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY LONDONDERRY, WITH 10,420 ACRES
The ancient and eminent family of ESSE, ASHE, or D’ESSECOURT, which came over with WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, appears by certified extracts, under the seal of Ulster King of Arms, to have held large estates in the county of Devon, so early as the 11th century; and the line is deducible through more than eighteen generations.
THOMAS ASHE (1529-82), second son of Nicholas Ashe, of Clyst Fornyson in Devon, was the first of the family to settle in Ireland. Having married and had issue, he was succeeded by his eldest son,
GENERAL SIR THOMAS ASHE (1567-1626), of St John’s Abbey, near Trim, County Meath, and Dromshill, County Cavan.
This gentleman received the honour of knighthood at Dublin Castle, in 1603, from Sir George Carey, the Lord Deputy, in recognition of his services to the crown in helping to put down the rebellion in that kingdom.
Sir Thomas was subsequently granted land in County Cavan.
He was rewarded even more handsomely a few years later for his support in the fight against the rebellious Irish earls, and was granted land in County Londonderry.
Over a period of several generations, this branch dropped the E from Ashe, and most references to them are with the surname “Ash”.
Sir Thomas died without issue.
His country estate, later known as Ashbrook, was bequeathed to his kinsman,
JOSIAS ASH, whose son,
JOHN ASH, High Sheriff of Londonderry, 1676, married thrice and had some twenty-four children, a number of whom died young.
One of his sons was Thomas Ash, diarist and defender of Derry.
John Ash reputedly built Ashbrook.
From him the family estate descended to his son,
GEORGE ASH (1679-1729), High Sheriff of Londonderry, 1706, who married, in 1710, his cousin Mary, daughter of John Rankin, in 1710, and had issue (with a daughter, Jane), a son,
GEORGE ASH (1712-1796), of Ashbrook, who, dying without issue, bequeathed Ashbrook to his nephew by marriage,
WILLIAM HAMILTON, son of William Hamilton, by Jane his wife, daughter of George Ash.
Mr Hamilton was succeeded by his son,
WILLIAM HAMILTON, of Ashbrook, High Sheriff of Londonderry, 1798, who assumed the additional surname of ASH, on succeeding to the estates of his uncle.
Mr Hamilton-Ash wedded, in 1795, Miss Elizabeth Harriet Henderson, and had issue,
WILLIAM HAMILTON, his heir; George (Rev), Rector of Ballyscullion; Anne; Jane.
Mr Hamilton-Ash died in 1821, and was succeeded by his son,
WILLIAM HAMILTON-ASH JP DL (1803-67), of Ashbrook, who married, in 1827, the Lady Elizabeth Emma Douglas, daughter of the Hon John Douglas and Lady Frances Lascelles, and sister of the Earl of Morton, and had issue,
CAROLINE HAMILTON-ASH (1830-1901), who espoused, in 1853, John Barré Beresford, son of Henry Barré Beresford, of LEARMOUNT CASTLE, County Londonderry, and had issue,
WILLIAM RANDAL HAMILTON, his heir; Marcus John Barré De La Poer; Barbara Caroline; Louisa Gertrude Douglas; Emma Clare; Mary Elizabeth.
Mrs Beresford was succeeded by her eldest son,
WILLIAM RANDAL HAMILTON BERESFORD-ASH DL (1859-1938), of Ashbrook, High Sheriff of County Londonderry, 1912, Colonel, Royal Welch Fusiliers, who married, in 1886, the Lady Florence Marion Browne, daughter of Henry, 5th Marquess of Sligo.
In 1901, Mr Hamilton-Ash added the additional surname and arms of ASH.
Colonel Beresford-Ash was succeeded by his only child,
DOUGLAS BERESFORD-ASH DL (1887-1976), of Ashbrook, Major, Royal Fusiliers, High Sheriff of County Londonderry, 1950, who wedded, in 1930, the Lady Betty Helena Joanna Rous, daughter of 3rd Earl of Stradbroke, and had issue, an only child,
JOHN RANDAL BERESFORD-ASH (1938-2010), of Ashbrook, High Sheriff of County Londonderry, 1975, who married, in 1968, Agnès Marie Colette, daughter of Comte Jules Marie Guy de Lamberterie de la Chapelle Montmoreau, and had issue,
ASHBROOK, County Londonderry, has been home to the Beresford-Ash family since 1595.
This two-storey, bow-fronted, gable-ended, 18th century house reputedly incorporates the original house.
There is unusual fenestration: Two windows on either side of the central, curved bow in the upper storey; while there is only one on either side below.
The windows on the entrance front all have rusticated surrounds; and both sides of the house are gabled and irregular.
The Honourable The Irish Society records the Ash family as one of only four ‘native land owners’ prior to the plantation.
Today Ashbrook is set in 30 acres of mature parkland on the outskirts of the city of Londonderry.
The oldest part of the house was built ca 1590.
During the celebrated siege of Londonderry in 1689, Ashbrook was partially burnt by JAMES II’s troops as the Ash family were besieged in the city.
In 1760, the front six rooms were added to Ashbrook.
Unfortunately the architect’s records were lost in the burning of the records office in Dublin in 1917. However, the original plans still exist of all the drainage system for the estate (fields and house) from the plumbers who installed the first flushing lavatories and baths in 1911.
In the early 1940s, Ashbrook played host to the US Marines.
The then owners, Major and Lady Helena Beresford-Ash, were asked by King George VI to host General George Marshall, Averell Harriman and Harry Hopkins, who were inspecting their troops in Londonderry.
In the grounds there are fine, mature trees with glen-side walks leading to the River Faughan, to which there is public access.
This area was recently improved following a report by Dr Tim Edwards of Ulster University, which emphasised the importance of this area as a public amenity.
Tree planting is recorded in A Register of Trees in County Londonderry 1768-1911, for the years 1773 to 1776.
The house is set in lawns, with shrubs and trees a short distance away.
The walled garden has not been cultivated in the last twenty years.
Half of it was an orchard, separated from the rest by a beech hedge, which still exists.
Peter Taylor has written an interesting article about the history of the Beresford-Ash family; how Ashbrook was a gift to General Thomas Ash from ELIZABETH I; and their experiences during the troubles in Northern Ireland.
First published in February, 2010. Beresford-Ash arms courtesy of the NLI.
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.
p. 10. (Ogilby/LG1937supp) A plain two storey 5 bay house of ca 1780, built by John Ogilby; given a porch, a three sided bow, window surround with console brackets and a modillion cornice ca 1854 by R.L. Ogilby. Victorian Classical plasterwork in hall and main reception rooms.”
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.
p. 276. “(Roche, Fermoy, B/PB; Clarke/IFR) see Lord Belmont
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. 53. A two storey late Georgian house to which single storey bow fronted wings were added in the 19C. Single storey Doric entrance portico. Former seat of the Roche family, Lords Fermoy. The house was recently demolished.
The Buildings of Ireland. Cork City and County. Frank Keohane. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. 2020.
p. 26. For the most part, the Gothic revival in the C18 was reserved for garden buildings and follies, of which the lodge at Woodhill (Montenotte, Cork city) is an much altered example. Late C18 battlemented towers are found at Trabolgan (Whitegate), Rostellan (near Cloyne) and Cloyne….lodge at Maryborough.
THE BARONS FERMOY WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CORK, WITH 15,543 ACRES
The family of DE LA RUPE, or ROCHE, according to the Irish Peerage, and Rudiments of Honour, by Francis Nichols, published in 1727, were materially descended from CHARLEMAGNE; and in the remarkable pedigree of the ancestors of this family, it is shown that they derive their descent from the most illustrious sources, their progenitors being allied, by intermarriages, with the great Counts of Flanders, the Counts of Bavaria, ALFRED, and other Saxon Kings of England; the House of Capet in France, WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, and other Anglo-Norman kings.
The Roches came to Ireland in the reign of HENRY II, along with other Anglo-Norman chiefs in Strongbow’s time; and in the reigns of RICHARD I and KING JOHN, they got large grants of lands in County Cork, in the territory of Fermoy, which, from them, was called Roche’s Country, and they erected a castle, and founded a Cistercian monastery at Fermoy, and they had seats at Castletown Roche and other places.
RALPH DE LA ROCHE, son of Alexander de Rupe, alias DE LA ROCHE, was the patriarch of the family in Ireland.
He married Elizabeth de Clare, by the Princess Joan of Acre, his wife, daughter of EDWARD I and his Queen, ELEANOR, of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester.
This Ralph had issue, DAVID, father of John de Rupe or la Roche, Baron of Fermoy, who had MAURICE FITZJOHN, Lord De La Roche, of Fermoy, from whom descended,
DAVID ROCHE, Lord Roche, surnamed The Great, who sat in Parliament as VISCOUNT ROCHE, of Fermoy, in the reigns of EDWARD IV and HENRY VII.
He married Jane, daughter of Walter Burke, called MacWilliam, and had issue,
His lordship died ca 1492, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
MAURICE ROCHE, 2nd Viscount, who married twice; and by Joanna, his first wife, daughter of James, Earl of Desmond, had a son and successor,
DAVID ROCHE, 3rd Viscount, father, by Catherine his wife, daughter of MacCarthy Mor, of a son and successor,
MAURICE ROCHE, 4th Viscount, who wedded Grania MacCarthy, and had issue,
DAVID, his successor; William; John; Helena; Marcella; Catherine.
The eldest son,
DAVID ROCHE, 5th Viscount, who succeeded his father in 1566, espoused Helena, daughter of James, 10th Baron Dunboyne, and had issue,
Maurice, his successor; William; EDMOND, of whom hereafter; Gerald; James.
The third son,
EDMOND ROCHE, died in 1540, leaving (with a daughter, Joan, married, in 1508, to David de Courcy, Baron Kingsale) a son,
MAURICE ROCHE, Mayor of Cork, 1571, received an autograph letter from ELIZABETH I, with a patent and collar of sterling silver, in acknowledgment of his services in suppressing the rebellion of the Earl of Desmond.
He died in 1593, leaving three sons, JOHN, Edward, and Patrick, and was succeeded by the eldest,
JOHN ROCHE, who dsp, and the estates devolve upon his brother,
EDWARD ROCHE, who died in 1626, leaving three sons,
FRANCIS; Edward; Maurice.
The eldest son,
FRANCIS ROCHE (c1610-69), High Sheriff of County Cork, 1641, who entertained Sir Warham St Leger, Lord President of Munster, at his seat, Trabolgan, and assisted him for the King.
Mr Roche married Jane Coppinger, by whom he left at his decease (with a younger son, Edmond, an elder son and heir,
EDWARD ROCHE (1645-96), of Trabolgan, who wedded, in 1672, Catherine, daughter of James Lavallin, of Walterstown, County Cork, and had issue (with four daughters),
FRANCIS, his heir; Edmond; Maurice and James, who both died in France.
The eldest son and heir,
FRANCIS ROCHE (c1673-1755), of Kildinan and Trabolgan, died unmarried, when the former estate descended to his elder nephew, Edmond, before mentioned, and the latter of Trabolgan, to his other nephew,
EDWARD ROCHE, of Trabolgan, who wedded, in 1781, Susanna, elder daughter of Sir George Wombwell Bt, of Wombwell, Yorkshire, by whom he had one son, Edmond Edward, who predeceased him in 1803, a prisoner of war at Lyons.
Mr Roche died in 1828, and bequeathed his estates to his nephew (only son of his elder brother, Edmond),
EDWARD ROCHE (1771-1855), of Trabolgan and Kildinan, County Cork, who married in 1805, Margaret Honoria, only child and heiress of William Curtain, and had issue,
EDMOND BURKE, his heir; Frances Maria.
Mr Roche’s only son and heir,
EDMOND BURKE ROCHE (1815-74), Lord-Lieutenant of County Cork, 1856-74, wedded, in 1848, Elizabeth Caroline, daughter of James Brownell Boothby, and had issue,
EDMUND FITZEDMUND BURKE, his successor; JAMES BOOTHBY BURKE, 3rd Baron; Alexis Charles Burke; Ulick de Rupe Burke; Edmund Burke; Eleanor Charlotte; Ethel Kathleen; Eliza Caroline.
Mr Roche, MP for County Cork, 1837-55, Marylebone, 1855-69, was elevated to the peerage, in 1865, in the dignity of BARON FERMOY, of County Cork.
His lordship was succeed by his eldest son,
EDMUND FITZEDMUND BURKE, 2nd Baron (1850-1920), JP DL, who espoused, in 1877, Cecila, daughter of Standish, 3rd Viscount Guillamore, and had issue, an only child, ADA SYBIL.
His lordship died without male issue, when the title devolved upon his brother,
JAMES BOOTHBY BURKE, 3rd Baron (1851-1920), MP for East Kerry, 1896-1900, who married, in 1880, Frances Ellen, daughter of Frank M Work, and had issue,
EDMUND MAURICE BURKE, his successor; Francis George; Eileen Burke; Cynthia Burke.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
EDMUND MAURICE, 4th Baron (1885-1955), who married, in 1931, Ruth Sylvia, daughter of Colonel William Smith Gill, and had issue,
EDMUND JAMES BURKE, his successor; Mary Cynthia Burke; FRANCES RUTH BURKE, COUNTESS SPENCER; mother of DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES;
His lordship was succeeded by his son and heir,
EDMUND JAMES BURKE, 5th Baron (1939-84), who wedded, in 1964, Lavinia Frances Elizabeth, daughter of Major John Pitman, and had issue,
PATRICK MAURICE BURKE, his successor; Edmund Hugh Burke; Frances Caroline Burke; Elizabeth.
His lordship was succeeded by his eldest son,
PATRICK MAURICE BURKE, 6th Baron (1967-), who married, in 1998, Tessa Fiona, daughter of Major David Pelham Kayle, and has issue,
Arabella Elizabeth Burke, b 1999; Eliza Lavinia, b 2000.
TRABOLGAN, near Whitegate, County Cork, was a Georgian house comprising two storeys at the front, and three at the rear.
Single storey wings were added during the 19th century, creating a long facade.
The main block comprised two storeys and eight bays, with wings of five bays on either side.
It had a roof parapet and a single-storey Doric portico.
The wings had round-headed windows.
The mansion was approached by an avenue exceeding one mile in length.
Half-way along this avenue there is a triumphal arch; and a tower on the headland between the house and Roche’s Point at the entrance to Cork harbour.
The family sold Trabolgan ca 1880 to William Clarke, whose family sold it in 1947.
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.
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.
p. 207. “(Fitzgibbon/IFR; King, Kingston, E/PB; Webber/IFR) Orignally the stronghold of that branch of the Geraldines which held the title of White Knight; passed to the Kings after the death of Maurice Oge FitzGibbon, 12th white Knight, whose niece married Sir John King, 1st Lord Kingston. By 1750, 4th Lord Kingston had a house here with a two storey hall, its upper storey surrounded by a “handsome corridor,”…
John King 1st Baron Kingston married Catherine Fenton, whose mother was Margaret Fitzgibbon.
Robert King (1657–1693), 2nd Baron Kingston by John Michael Wright courtesy of Ulster Museum.He was the son of 1st Baron and Catherine née Fenton.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, a brother of the 2nd Baron.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 Vinchication 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’ by Shelley. Provenance: Rockingham House.Edward King 5th Baron Kingston 1764 standing in peers robes, courtesy of Adams auction 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter. He was later created 1st Earl of Kingston.He was the son of Henry King, 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey.Edward King (1726-1797), 5th Baronet of Boyle Abbey and eventually, 1st Earl of Kingston.Edward King, later 1st Earl Kingston courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).Mitchelstown, County Cork, photograph courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. Mitchelstown Castle hall, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Portrait almost certainly of Anne King, daughter of Sir Henry King and sister of 1st Earl of Kingston, married John ‘Diamond’ Knox of Castlerea, Co. Mayo courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).Isabella King, daughter of Sir Henry King and sister of 1st Earl of Kingston, wife of Thomas, 1st Earl of Howth courtesy Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).Eleanor King, daughter of Sir Henry King 3rd Baronet of Boyle Abbey and sister of Edward 1st Earl of Kingston, with her son James Stewart (of Killymoon) holding a dog courtesy of Adam’s 6 Oct 2009 by Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803).
A new house was built by 2nd Earl of Kingston 1776, it was in this house that his daughter, Margaret, was taught revolutionary ideas by her governess, Mary Wollstonecraft; she afterwards married Lord Mount Cashell, who lived nearby at Moore Park, but left him and settled in Italy, where she befriended Shelly, who wrote of her as “The Lady” in The Sensitive Plant. Margaret’s sister, Mary, eloped 1797 with a cousin, who was a married man; her father afterwards shot him dead at an hotel near Mitchelstown and was consequently tried by his peers for murder, but acquitted.
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.
In 1823, 3rd Earl, known as “Big George”, demolished his father’s house and commissioned James and George Richard Pain to build him a castle which he stipulated should be bigger than any other house in Ireland; it had, moreover, to be ready to receive George IV on his next Irish visit; one of the towers was to be called the Royal Tower and contain a bedroom for ths King. The castle was finished in two years, at a cost of £100,000; it did not quite manage to be larger than any other house inIreland, but it was one of the largest and most successful of the earlier Gothic Revival castles. …
George King (1779-1839), later 3rd Earl of Kingston, painting by Romney.Mitchelstown Castle in Co Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
In the end, George IV never came, but Big George entertained as though he had a royal house-party the whole time. Even complete strangers were received with hospitality at the castle; there were sometimes as many as 100 people staying. All were dazzled by the splendour, by the display of plate and the army of servants…. Then, in 1830, his tenants’ failure to vote for the candidate of his choice in a by-election drove Big George out of his mind and he was taken to London, where he died 1839. His son, 4th Earl, continued to keep open house at Mitchelston until 1844, when he suffered a financial crash. The earl and his house party closed the doors of the castle against the bailiffs and stood siege for a fortnight, then the creditors took possession and much of the estate was sold up. Like his father,the 4th Earl went mad. The castle and the reduced estate was eventually inherited by the 5th Earl’s widow, who married, as her second husband, W.D. Webber. Henceforth, economy reigned at the castle…. The castle was burnt 1922, and the ruin was afterwards demolished; the ashlar having been bought by the monks of Mount Melleray for their new church.”
Drawing Room in Mitchelstown Castle, County Cork, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.Courtesy Mark Bence-Jones.Anna née Brinkley, wife of the 5th Earl of Kingston, who lived in Mitchelstown.
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.
THE EARLS OF KINGSTON WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CORK, WITH 24,421 ACRES
The family of KING was originally of Feathercock Hall, near Northallerton, Yorkshire.
The first of its members we find upon record in Ireland is
SIR JOHN KING, Knight (c1560-1637), who obtained, from ELIZABETH I, in requital of his military services, a lease of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon; and, from JAMES I, numerous valuable territorial grants, and several of the highest and most lucrative political employments.
He married Catherine, daughter of Robert Drury, and grand-niece of the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir William Drury, and had, with other issue,
ROBERT, his heir; John; Edward; Dorothy; Mary.
Sir John was succeeded by his eldest son,
SIR ROBERT KING, Knight, of Boyle Abbey, Muster Master-general of Ireland, who wedded firstly, Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Folliott, 1st Baron Folliott, of Ballyshannon, and had, with other children,
Sir Robert died in 1657, and was succeeded by his youngest son,
THE RT HON ROBERT KING (c1625-1707), of Rockingham, County Roscommon, MP for Ballyshannon, 1661-6, County Roscommon, 1692-9, and for Boyle, 1703-7.
Mr King was created a baronet, 1682, designated of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon.
He wedded Frances, daughter and co-heiress of Colonel Henry Gore, and died in 1707, leaving issue, his eldest surviving son,
SIR JOHN KING, 2nd Baronet (1673-1720), MP for Boyle, 1695, 1703, and 1713, and for County Roscommon, 1715-20, who espoused Elizabeth, daughter of John Sankey, of Tennalick, County Longford, and dsp 1720, when the title devolved upon his brother,
SIR HENRY KING, 3rd Baronet (1680-1739), PC, MP for Boyle, 1707-27, and for County Roscommon, 1727-40, who married, in 1722, Isabella, who was 13th in descent from EDWARD III, and sister of 1st Viscount Powerscourt, by whom he had issue,
ROBERT, created Baron Kingsborough;
EDWARD, 1st Earl of Kingston;
Isabella; Anne.
The eldest son,
SIR ROBERT KING, 4th Baronet (1724-55), was raised to the Peerage, in 1748, in the dignity of BARON KINGSBOROUGH, but died unmarried in 1755, when that dignity expired, while the baronetcy devolved upon his brother,
SIR EDWARD KING, 5th Baronet (1726-97), created Baron Kingston, 1764, Viscount Kingsborough, 1766, and EARL OF KINGSTON, 1768.
He wedded, in 1752, Jane, daughter of Thomas Caulfeild, of Donamon, County Roscommon, and had, with other issue,
Robert Henry Ethelbert King-Tenison, 10th Earl (1897–1948);
Barclay Robert Edwin King-Tenison, 11th Earl (1943–2002);
Robert Charles Henry King-Tenison, 12th Earl (b 1969).
The heir apparent is the present holder’s son Charles Avery Edward King-Tenison, styled Viscount Kingsborough (b 2000).
MITCHELSTOWN CASTLE was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Kingston.
It was one of the largest Gothic-Revival houses in Ireland, a noble and sumptuous structure of hewn stone, in the castellated style, erected after a design by Mr Pain, of Cork, at an expense of more than £100,000.
Mitchelstown is about thirty miles north of the city of Cork.
The buildings occupied three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth being occupied by a terrace, under which are various offices.
The principal entrance, on the eastern range, was flanked by two lofty square towers rising to the height of 106 feet, one of which was called the White Knight’s tower, from its being built on the site of the tower of that name which formed part of the old mansion.
At the northern extremity of the same range were two octagonal towers of lofty elevation.
The entrance hall opened into a stately hall or gallery, eighty feet in length, with an elaborately groined roof, richly ornamented with fine tracery, and furnished with elegant stoves of bronze, and with figures of warriors armed cap-a-pie; at the further extremity was the grand staircase.
Parallel with the gallery, and forming the south front and principal range, were the dining and drawing-rooms, both noble apartments superbly fitted up and opening into the library, which was between them.
Entrance Hall
The whole pile had a character of stately baronial magnificence, and from its great extent and elevation formed a conspicuous feature in the surrounding scenery.
Near the Castle was a large fish-pond, and from a small tower on its margin, water was conveyed to the baths and to the upper apartments of the castle, and across the demesne to the gardens, by machinery of superior construction.
The gardens were spacious and tastefully laid out, the conservatory 100 feet in length and ornamented with a range of beautiful Ionic pilasters.
The parkland, which comprised 1,300 acres, was embellished with luxuriant plantations, and included a farming establishment on an extensive scale, with buildings and offices of a superior description, on the erection of which more than £40,000 was expended.
It was estimated that the castle, with the conservatories, farm, and the general improvement of the demesne, cost its noble proprietor little less, if not more, than £200,000 (£8.3 million today).
“Big George”, the 3rd Earl, was renowned for his extravagant hospitality.
The 4th Earl continued to entertain his visitors regally at Mitchelstown.
One of the under-cooks was a young man called Claridge.
Lord Kingston suffered a financial downfall: His lordship – and house guests – locked the doors against the bailiffs and were besieged therein for a fortnight, until finally the Castle was possessed, creditors satisfied and much of the estate was sold.
What remained of the estate was inherited by the 5th Earl’s widow. Thereafter, Economy reigned.
The house was looted and burned in 1922 by the IRA, which had occupied it for the previous six weeks.
The order to burn the building, to prevent the newly established Irish Free State army from having use of it, was made by a local Republican commandant, Patrick Luddy, with the approval of General Liam Lynch.
It is clear that one of the motivations for the burning was to try to cover up the looting of the castle’s contents, including large amounts of furniture, a grand piano, paintings by Conrad, Beechy and Gainsborough.
Many of these objects have come up for sale in recent years and some, such as the piano, are still kept locally.
The Castle was severely damaged by the fire.
However, it is clear from documents in the National Archives of Ireland that, for example, in places where the fire had not reached, ‘mantelpieces had been forcibly wrenched from the walls and carted.’
As this episode took place at the height of the Irish Civil War, there was no appetite afterwards to prosecute anyone for their role in the looting and burning.
The ashlar limestone of the castle was later removed to build the new Cistercian abbey at Mount Melleray, County Water.
The site of the building is now occupied by a milk powder processing plant and the surrounding 1,214 acre demesne (private park) of the castle has been destroyed.
Lord Kingston’s town residence between 1826-32 was 3 Whitehall Place, London, now part of the Department of Energy & Climate Change.
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.
p. 190. “(Perceval, Egmont, E/PB; O’Brien, Bt/PB) “An exceptionally large C15 tower house of the MacCarthys, damaged in the Cromwellian period when it was bombared and captured by Sir Hardress Waller, restored ca 1750 by 2nd Earl of Egmont, who made several good rooms in it; one of them a library, another an armoury, containing enough weapons to equip 100 horse. 2nd Earl was presumably also responsible for the layout of the demesne, in which the castle, wiht its surrounding moat and star-shaped Vaubanesque outworks, was ringed with woods planted in the form of an octagon, from which straight avenues were aligned on it like the spokes of a whieel. The castle was remodelled 1876, when an outer bawn wall was biult and also a castellated gatehouse; which though detached from the castle and some way from it, contained additional bedroom accommodation. Lohort was subsequently occupied by Sir Timothy O’Brien, 3rd Bt, the cricketer…The house was gutted by fire 1920.“
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.
Not in National Inventory
In Blake, Tarquin. Abandoned Mansions of Ireland II Collins Press, Cork, 2012.
Irish Historic Houses 
