This article first appeared in the Duleek Annals 2019-20
The recent comprehensive article, on the visit of George du Noyer in 1866 to Bellewstown, by Fiona Ahern has prompted a further examination of some of the Bellew ‘marriage’ stones. The fine investigative work by the late Enda O'Boyle and the relocation of one of the stones mentioned by Ahern merits revisiting the topic. In short ‘marriage stones’ commemorate a particular couple’s marriage by displaying the impaled arms of the husband on the left hand side and those of the wife on the right. The commemorative stones or plaques pertain to John Bellew (1522-1600) and of his three wives. John’s long life span and his three marriages allowed him to forge links with many well-known local families. The fact that his third wife had been married five times previously was not untypical at the time. He married in 1543 Margaret Plunkett, fourth daughter of Oliver, first Lord Louth. Margaret died about 1550. John then married Ismay Nugent who had been twice married before this. His third wife was Jenet Sarsfield, and John in turn was her sixth husband!
John Bellew of Bellewstown was appointed
a Commissioner for the Preservation of the Peace,
and good Government of the County and the
Town of Drogheda, and the County of
Louth during the absence of the Lord Deputy Sussex, in his expedition against
Shane O’ Neill, in the north parts of the Kingdom. John was seized of the Manors
of Bellewstown, and Duleek, with many other
lands and hereditaments in the County of Meath,
which, by Recovery, and other valuable Assurances in the law, were conveyed to
the Use of himself, and his wife Dame Jenet Sarsfield, for Life; and after, to
the Use of him and his Heirs (Lodge 1754, iv, 166-7).
The Plaques Commemorating John Bellew’s Marriages:
Enda O’Boyle
(1984, 114-16) has connected John Bellew’s three marriages with as many
marriage stones. He did this by using the inscriptions beneath the coats of
arms on each stone. John’s three wives were Margaret Plunkett, Ismay Nugent and
Jenet Sarsfield, the latter resided at Dardistown Castle. Two of the plaques
are now on the west- and east-facing sides of Bellewstown House (about one mile
from Duleek). The third plaque is beneath the Barnewall cross at Sarsfieldstown
(about one mile south of Julianstown on the N1).
The stone on Bellewstown House facing west has, within a wreath, the Bellew arms impaling those of Plunkett. Above the arms are the initials SIB and DMP for Sir John Bellew and Dame Margaret Plunkett. The stone on the east-facing side of Bellewstown House has, within a wreath, the Bellew arms impaling those of Nugent. Above the arms are the initials IB and IN for John Bellew and Ismay Nugent. The stone at Sarsfieldstown has only the bottom third of the coat of arms. Clearly the ‘fretty’ indicates that we have the Bellew arms impaling some other arms. As we shall see it is reasonable to assume that the other arms are probably those of Sarsfield. The three stones each have an inscription below the coats of arms. The Bellew & Plunkett plaque and the Sarsfieldstown plaque are shown below. The three inscriptions are as follows:
The Bellew & Sarsfield Arms at Sarsfieldstown
It would be reasonable to assume that the arms impaling the Bellew arms at Sarsfieldstown belong to Jenet Sarsfield. The remaining part of the right hand side of the Sarsfieldstown plaque resembles the bottom of the fleur-de-lis, the sole charge in the Sarsfield arms. Other local evidence would also suggest that this is the case. Jenet Sarsfield is buried nearby at Moorechurch. Ahern draws attention to the Sarsfield coat of arms at Dardistown that depicts the sole charge of a fleur-de-lis. It is reasonably obviously that the right hand side of the Sarsfieldstown plaque shows the base of the fleur-de-lis. The plaque on the east-facing side of Bellewstown Lodge is now badly weathered and difficult to photograph
Du Noyer
A detailed account of the visit by the artist, antiquarian and geologist George Victor du Noyer to Bellewstown in 1866 is provided by Fiona Ahern (2018, 147-62). Du Noyer presented his eleven volumes of watercolours to the Royal Irish Academy. Of interest in our context are his drawings No. 80 and No. 81. Both of these stones from Du Noyer’s catalogue, are illustrated in figure 4 of Ahern’s (2018, 158) article and these are reproduced again in du Noyer’s watercolours. Du Noyer’s drawing, No. 81 depicts the plaque bearing the Bellew & Plunkett arms along with the date of 1598. His notes point to the location in the wall of Mr Maxwell’s house. In the water colours he describes it as a ‘tablet over the door of Mr Maxwell’s Cottege near his farmyard, Bellewstown’. This is still in the same location as photographed above. Drawing No. 80 depicts the Bellew and Nugent arms and were described by du Noyer, as on the back of a garden seat at Mr Maxwell's House. They carry the inscription.
‘This Barne was made | Sirr Iohne Bellewe | ...ght and Dame Isma | .. ent his wife in’. Clearly this inscription does not match or fit with O’Boyle’s trio of marriage stones. This marriage stone is no longer at Bellewstown.
O’Boyle successfully accounts for the Bellew-Nugent stone on Bellewstown Lodge that has the inscription ‘of Sir | ves Mar(g) | t Sars(f) | made thi (s)’. It was on the bridge at Bellewstown when it was sketched by Austin Cooper in 1783. This drawing has been reproduced in Cooper’s Ireland (Harbison 2000, 116-17). This Bellew & Nugent stone now at Bellewstown Lodge was not mentioned by du Noyer. So it must be presumed that it was not there when he visited Bellewstown House in 1866. O’Boyle further points out that work was carried out on the bridge over the River Nanny in 1884, so ‘it was natural to expect that the plaque was removed from the bridge crossing the Nanny, which ran through the Bellewstown estate, and where better to erect it than on one of the buildings nearby?’.
=The Bellew & Nugent coat of Arms at Duleek
The
Bellew & Nugent Arms on Du Noyers’ drawing No. 80
So where did the plaque, on the back of the garden seat, drawn by du Noyer go? When I wrote an article (2004, 445), it was then described as a missing stone. Following the death of James Bellew (1920-2010) 7th Lord Bellew of Barmeath in England, the stone resurfaced. So how did it end up in England? James’s uncle, Sir George Rothe Bellew (1899-1993) held various heraldic positions and in 1950 he became Garter Principal King of Arms. He was tasked with overseeing the State Funeral of King George VI in 1952. He also played a key role in organising the Queen’s Coronation. Bellew’s successor as Garter, Sir Anthony Wagner, referred to him in his 1988 memoirs; he wrote that Bellew seemed ‘in early years a temperamental, combative Irishman not easy to live with, though always possessed of great feeling for ceremonial and heraldic design and a skillful pen and pencil. In later years I have found him ever more charming’. In his retirement he lived at Farnham in Surrey, so it would appear that George, his brother or an earlier family member may have picked up the arms that once adorned the garden seat at Bellewstown. George’s half-brother, Bryan Bellew (1890-1981), 6th Lord Bellew, used to periodically visit Bellewstown. So it would hardly take the sophisticated detective skills of Enda O'Boyle to piece this together! This marriage stone is now back at Barmeath.
Duleek Window
There is a similar Bellew & Nugent stone under the east window of the south aisle in the church at Duleek.. The inscription reads ‘This Window was made by Sirr Iohne Bellewe Knight and Dame Ismay Nvgent his wife in the yeare of ovre Lord 1587. They must be one of the most commemorated couples, for there is a similar plaque on the bridge at Ballinacor (near Delvin, Co Westmeath) and one also on their tomb at St Nicholas’s Churchyard at Dundalk. The inscription on the Dundalk tomb reads:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the late Enda O’Boyle (R.I.P.), The McKean family, Bellewstown, Lord & Lady Bellew, Barmeath, Peter Harbison, the staff at R.I.A. and Andrew Wright.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fiona Ahern, 2018, ‘An Account of George Victor du Noyer's Visit to Bellewstown in 1866’, Ríocht na Mídhe, xxix, 147-62.
Seamus Bellew, 2004, ‘Coats of Arms and the Bellew Family’, C.L.A.H.J. xxv, 4, 426-50.
George Du
Noyer, 1867, Sketches
at the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, vol. viii, nos 80, and 81.
Peter Harbison, 2000, Cooper’s Ireland: Drawings and Notes from an Eighteenth Century Gentleman, Dublin.
J. Lodge, 1754, The
Peerage of Ireland, 4 vols, London.
Enda O’Boyle, 1984, ‘The Bellew Plaques’, Ríocht na Mídhe, vii, 3, 114-6.
H. G. (Harry) Tempest, 1952, ‘The Bellew-Nugent Tomb in Dundalk’, C.L.A.H.J. vii, 4, 279-80.
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