Thursday 17 September 2015
Drogheda Town Walls
Sunday 9 August 2015
Stratford House, Dublin (Portland Road)
Built by Edward Augustus Stratford
(1736-1801), 2nd Earl of Aldborough as Dublin’s last great house of the
eighteenth century. The foundation was laid down in 1792 and after its
completion there is no record in my possession that any of the family made it their
permanent residence, and, although it bears the date 1796, evidence shows that
it was still not fully completed by 1798. It included a Play House, a cold bath
and a music room and on the Earl of Aldborough’s death, the property became
owned by his wife.
Older Photograph of Stratford House
Stratford House (August 2015)
It is built of brick, and cut granite
forms the facade, and when built, had balustrading all the way around the
parapets, with urns and eagles, sphinxes and lions, and a Coat of Arms,
displayed bearing Stratford, Herbert, Henniker, North, Neale, and Major.
It was uninhabited from 1802 to 1813,
when Prof Von Feinagle leased it and opened it as a school. he built an
addition to the house including large classrooms and a Chapel. He died in 1820
and by 1830 it had been closed altogether as a school. At the outbreak of the
Crimean War when it was used as Barracks on acquisition of the Government, and
then used as the Stores Department of the Post Office. It is now empty.
John Stratford
1st Baron
Baltinglass later 1st
Viscount Aldborough later 1st
Earl of Aldborough
3rd son of
Edward Stratford, of Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, and of Belan, Co Kildare,
born 1698
married
Martha O'Neale (b. c. 1706; d. 11 Mar
1796), daughter and heiress of Ven Benjamin O'Neale, Archdeacon of Leighlin
First Son
1. Hon Edward Augustus Stratford, later 2nd Earl of Aldborough
born c. 1741
married (1)
29 Jul 1765 Barbara Herbert (b. Jul 1742;
dsp. 11 Apr 1785), 2nd daughter and heiress of Hon Nicholas Herbert, of Great
Glemham, Co Suffolk (by his wife Anne North, dau. and coheiress of Dudley
North, of Great Glemham, Co Suffolk)
married (2)
24 May 1787 Hon Anne Elizabeth Henniker only daughter of John Henniker, ist Baron Henniker by his wife Anne Major, 1st daughter and
coheiress. of Sir John Major, 1st Bt., of Worlingworth Hall, Co Suffolk
died s.p. 2 Jan 1801 (bur. at St
Thomas's, Dublin)
The multiquartered arms on Stratford House, Portland Road, Dublin (August 2015)
Herbert, Stratford, Henniker
North, Neale and Major (see description of the arms below)
Arms, Crest and Motto of Stratford
Arms of Neale (O'Neill)
Arms of Herbert
Per Pale azure and gules three lions rampant argent
Arms of North
Azure a lion passant between three fleurs-de-lis
Saturday 6 June 2015
Baronscourt Hamilton Heraldry
Lord Belmont's Blog on his visit to Baronscourt provides two interesting coats of arms.
http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.ie/
The impaled arms over the front door of the house are for Hamilton and Russell for James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn and his wife Lady Louisa Russell.
The other arms dated 1890 are the arms of Hamilton with an escutcheon of pretence containing three fleur de lis. These latter arms represent France. The Marquess of Abercorn (who became duke in 1868) assumed an inescutcheon bearing France and crowned with a French ducal crown on his arms.
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/scotfr.htm
http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.ie/
The impaled arms over the front door of the house are for Hamilton and Russell for James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn and his wife Lady Louisa Russell.
The Hamilton Arms at Lisadell Church, Co Armagh
The arms of Russell
The other arms dated 1890 are the arms of Hamilton with an escutcheon of pretence containing three fleur de lis. These latter arms represent France. The Marquess of Abercorn (who became duke in 1868) assumed an inescutcheon bearing France and crowned with a French ducal crown on his arms.
For the full details of the Title of Duke of Châtellerault and the Hamilton-Abercorn Controversy
see:http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/scotfr.htm
Monday 25 May 2015
Dromantine Heraldry
Dromantine House is now a retreat and conference centre and belongs to the SMA
see:
The history of Dromantine estate dates back to
the middle ages. The ancient Irish clan of Magennis dominated most of South
County Down from the 14th - 17th century and owned vast tracts of land in that
area, including what is now Dromantine Estate. Following the political upheavals
of the early 17th c. one of the Magennis clansmen, Murtagh, became the owner of
an estate of 4200 acres within the precinct of Clanagan
Magennis Coat of arms
In 1741 the Manor of Clanagan passed from
Magennis ownership to that of a Scottish Family called Innes. In 1806 Arthur
Innes built the original part of the existing house in Neo-classical style.
When he died in 1820 he left a magnificent house within a beautifully
landscaped demesne complete with a newly formed lake. His grandson, Arthur
Charles Innes, became the owner of the property and in the 1860s extended the
original house (now called Dromantine House) making it even more stately and
imposing. In the early 20th c. the fortunes of the Innes family waned and they decided to dispose of Dromantine. In 1922 it was bought by Samuel McKeever
Innes Coat of Arms on Stained-Glass at Dromantine
At the same time the Society of African Missions
(SMA) which was based in Cork was looking for a suitable property in which to
prepare their students for missionary work in Africa. Under the guidance of Fr.
Maurice Slattery the SMA bought Dromantine House and the 320 acre estate in
1926. It was their seminary until 1972 and during these years about 600 young
men were ordained priests and went from Dromantine as missionaries to Africa.
1611 Arthur Magennis
receives Dromantine in ‘re-grant’.
1737 Dromantine put
up for sale.
1741 John Innes of Scotland
buys Dromantine.
1808 Building of the
present house.
1810 Construction of
the lake.
1859 Extensive
construction work on House.
1865 Work on House
completed.
1922 Dromantine House
bought by Samuel McKeever.
McKeever Coat of arms
1926 The Society of
African missions buys Dromantine.
1927 First eleven of
587 priests ordained.
1931 St Patrick’s
Wing built.
1935 St Brendan’s
Wing built.
1936 Work begins on
Chapel.
1959 St Colman’s and
Assembly Hall opened.
1974 Dromantine
closes as a Seminary.
1975 Dromantine opens
as a Retreat Centre.
1998 Major renovation
work begins.
2001 Renovation work
completed.
Dromantine House
Innes Crest and Motto on a Fireplace at Dromantine
The Millennium Stained-Glass Window by Ann Smyth is shown on:
The Millennium Stained-Glass Window at Dromantine
The details in the smaller shields are either religious or heraldic or local. The second row shows the McKeever arms, a thistle and the Magennis arms. The background in the Magennis arms is red as opposed to the green above.
The third row shows the SMA motif along with a chalice and a cross.
The vine leaves represent the local Clarke family who moved to Bordeaux.
The Irish presence in the area is well documented,
not least by Renagh Holohan in her book The Irish Chateaux: In Search of the
Descendants of the Wild Geese. The Irish have been an influence in Bordeaux
since defeat at the Boyne and Limerick drove the Irish Jacobites abroad. Their
names live on in streets and chateaux, even when the latter have changed
ownership.
The name Clarke is still attached to an
18th-century chateau bought and restored by Baron Edmond de Rothschild. Chateau
Clarke was founded by an ancestor of Patrick Clarke de Dromantin, a resident of
Bordeaux, who, since his retirement from the aeronautical industry, has been
researching and writing the history of the Clarke family in France and their
place in the wider historical context of the Irish in Europe.
His house in a quiet residential area of Bordeaux
is filled with ancestral portraits, genealogical charts and photographs of the
present generation of Clarkes. "I am a Jacobite," Patrick told me.
"The Dromantin is from Dromantine, near Newry." The name was familiar
to me as the former headquarters of the Society of African Missions. Patrick
had visited it as part of his research for Les OiesSauvages:
Mémoiresdu'unefamilleirlandaiseréfugiéeen France (1691-1914) and Les
réfugiésjacobitesdans la France du XVIIIe siècle (both published by Bordeaux
University Press). Patrick, who subtitled his second book L'exode de touteune
noblesse pour cause de religion, found it a delicious irony that Dromantine had
ended up in the possession of the Society of African Missions, whose founder
was, of course, a Frenchman.
The first Clarkes to arrive in France were three
sons of James Clarke and Anne O'Sheill sent by their parents to live with their
maternal uncle, Luc O'Sheill, a gun merchant who had settled in Nantes. Thoby
(aged 21) stayed in Nantes; James (aged 14) went to Martinique. The youngest,
12-year-old John - Patrick's direct ancestor - went to Bordeaux. His son, Tobie
Clarke, bought a wine estate in Listrac in the Medoc in 1771, but died the same
year. Jean's grandson, Luc Tobie Clarke, a Bordeaux magistrate, built a house
on the estate in 1810 and called it Chateau Clarke. The wine retains the name,
although the estate was sold and Luc Tobie's house was demolished in 1955.
"De Dromantin" was added to the family
name by Patrick's grandfather - "for reasons of vanity," Patrick says.
"It sounds more noble." As to the origins of the name Clarke and its
connection to Dromantine, Patrick's correspondence with archivists in Dublin
and Belfast turned up a will, dated May 13th, 1672, of Thomas Clarke of
Drementian (sic) in which he bequeaths to his wife the townlands named as
Lisadeane and Dromhirre in Co Armagh, and a third of his land in Drementian. In
later documents it is spelled Dromantine.
Thomas was the father of James Clarke, who became a
freeman of the city of Dublin and a municipal councillor under James II. It
seems James Clarke also lost everything after the Battle of the Boyne. The
letter presented to the French authorities in Bordeaux, requesting French
nationality for Jean (John) Clarke as "refugiéen France à cause de la Religion",
says his father was a cavalry captain who, having been imprisoned, and having
lost all his property and good standing, died of grief - "et
samèreaussi." I thought it a sad little footnote. A line from a poem
drifted into my head - "you feathered with the wild geese our
despair. . ." but I couldn't remember the rest
of the poem or who wrote it. I think it was about Patrick Sarsfield. Maybe some
reader will recognise it. James Clarke's sons prospered in France. Patrick, his
great, great, great grandson is proud of him.
Friday 22 May 2015
Gore Booth Heraldry Lissadell - Drumcliff
This year sees the 150th Birthday of William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) being celebrated on June 13th 2015.
A week later the Society on its all-day excursion will visit some of the sites associated with the poet in Co Sligo and Parkes Castle will also be visited.
Lissadell House is a neo-classical Greek revivalist style country house,
The house was built between 1830 to 1835, and inhabited from 1833 onwards, for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet (1784-1835) by London architect Francis Goodwin. In 1876, Sir Robert left the house and surrounding estate to his son, Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th Baronet.
The house was the childhood home of Irish revolutionary, Constance Gore-Booth, her sister the poet and suffragist, Eva Gore-Booth and their siblings, Mabel Gore-Booth, Mordaunt Gore-Booth and Josslyn Gore-Booth. It was also the sometime holiday retreat of the poet, William Butler Yeats. He made the house famous with the opening lines of his poem:
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
But a raving autumn shears
Blossom from the summer's wreath;
The older is condemned to death,
Pardoned, drags out lonely years
Conspiring among the ignorant.
I know not what the younger dreams--
Some vague Utopia--and she seems,
When withered old and skeleton-gaunt,
An image of such politics.
Many a time I think to seek
One or the other out and speak
Of that old Georgian mansion, mix
pictures of the mind, recall
That table and the talk of youth,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
Dear shadows, now you know it all,
All the folly of a fight
With a common wrong or right.
The innocent and the beautiful.
Have no enemy but time;
Arise and bid me strike a match
And strike another till time catch;
Should the conflagration climb,
Run till all the sages know.
We the great gazebo built,
They convicted us of guilt;
Bid me strike a match and blow.
A week later the Society on its all-day excursion will visit some of the sites associated with the poet in Co Sligo and Parkes Castle will also be visited.
The well-known gravestone of Yeats at Drumcliffe
The recent visit of Prince Charles also focused attention on Co Sligo and the places associated with Yeats.
The Interior of St Columba's Church Drumcliffe
WB Yeats wrote his own
epitaph in his poem “Under Ben Bulben” which describes the location and the
church, the last three lines are inscribed on his tombstone:
Under bare Ben Bulben’s head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats
is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands
near,
By the road an ancient cross.
No marble, no conventional
phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!”
St Columba's Church, Drumcliffe
Further Information of Yeats 150 is found at:
It is claimed that St. Colmcille (Columba) founded a monastery in Drumcliffe ca.575 A.D., although modern scholarship now claims that a monastery was founded much later here.
The village of Drumcliffe (also known as Drumcliff) is famous for its Irish high cross dating to the 9th-10th Century that stands in the grounds of the former abbey. In addition, across the road from the church and high cross is the stump of a round tower. The monastery was plundered by Maelseachlain O'Rourke in 1187.
Round Tower at Drumcliffe
High Cross at Drumcliffe (East Face).
On the east face are Adam and Eve, David cuts off the head of Goliath, above a lion. At bottom of the head is Daniel in the Lion's Den. The scene at the centre of the head may represent the Last Judgement. (Irish High Crosses with the figure sculptures explained by Peter Harbison, 1994, page 50). Some of this detail differs from that on the Duchas notice board at Drumcliffe.
High Cross at Drumcliffe, (West Face).
The three figures at the bottom could represent the Holy Family or Elizabeth, Zacharias and John the Baptist. Above the camel there is possibly the scene of the mocking of Christ. Below the head of the cross could be the holy family returning from Egypt and at the centre of the head is the Crucifixion (Harbison).
The house was built between 1830 to 1835, and inhabited from 1833 onwards, for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, 4th Baronet (1784-1835) by London architect Francis Goodwin. In 1876, Sir Robert left the house and surrounding estate to his son, Sir Henry Gore-Booth, 5th Baronet.
The house was the childhood home of Irish revolutionary, Constance Gore-Booth, her sister the poet and suffragist, Eva Gore-Booth and their siblings, Mabel Gore-Booth, Mordaunt Gore-Booth and Josslyn Gore-Booth. It was also the sometime holiday retreat of the poet, William Butler Yeats. He made the house famous with the opening lines of his poem:
Yeats made the house famous with the opening lines of his poem:
'In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz'
The light of evening, Lissadell,
Great windows open to the south,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
'In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz'
The light of evening, Lissadell,
Great windows open to the south,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
Edward Walsh and Constance Cassidy with Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall at Lissadell on 20 May 2015
'In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz'
The light of evening, Lissadell,
Great windows open to the south,Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
But a raving autumn shears
Blossom from the summer's wreath;
The older is condemned to death,
Pardoned, drags out lonely years
Conspiring among the ignorant.
I know not what the younger dreams--
Some vague Utopia--and she seems,
When withered old and skeleton-gaunt,
An image of such politics.
Many a time I think to seek
One or the other out and speak
Of that old Georgian mansion, mix
pictures of the mind, recall
That table and the talk of youth,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
Dear shadows, now you know it all,
All the folly of a fight
With a common wrong or right.
The innocent and the beautiful.
Have no enemy but time;
Arise and bid me strike a match
And strike another till time catch;
Should the conflagration climb,
Run till all the sages know.
We the great gazebo built,
They convicted us of guilt;
Bid me strike a match and blow.
The coat of arms of Gore-Booth
This armorial that came on sale in 2013 could well be associated with Countess Markiewicz or rather her ancestors. The first quarter contains the quartered arms of Gore and Booth.
Booth: argent three boars heads couped sable
Gore gules a fesse between three crosses crosslet fitche or
Sir Nathaniel Gore married Laetitia Booth and their son
Sir Booth Gore (1712-17730 (1st Baronet) married Emilia Newcomen, daughter of Brabazon Newcomen and Arabella Lambert.
The arms of Newcomen are:
Argent a lions head erased sable langued gules between three crescents gules.
The arms of Lambert are argent threes roses gules and perhaps the arms in the quarter of green (vert) background and three gold roses (or) reflect those of Lambert.
The arms containing the three birds could well be for Brabazon, eventhough the tinctures differ.
PARKE'S CASTLE
Rising three storeys tall, in an idyllic setting on the banks of Lough Gill, Parke's Castle is a plantation a era castle. In 1610 Roger Parke completed his fortified manor house on the site of an earlier fifteenth-century O'Rourke castle. He kept the walls of the original bawn - a spacious pentagonal defensive area - and demolished the O'Rourke tower house in the centre. The stones of O’Rourke’s tower were used to build the three-storey manor on the eastern side, eventually adorned with mullioned windows and diamond-shaped chimneys.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)