by Noel French BALLINDERRY HOUSEBallinderry House is located between Longwood and Enfield. In the 1830s Ballinderry House was described as a handsome dwelling, the residence of Mr. F.C. Murphy who in 1836 was making extensive improvements in the way of drainage etc. The house was described as standing on a good site and was sheltered by some trees around it. Murphy held the townland of Ballinderry, 491 acres, from Lord Langford. In the 1850s William Walsh held the house and over 200 acres from Richard T. Rowley. In 1901 and 1911 William Walsh and his family resided at Ballinderry House, probably a son of the William who held the lands in the 1850s. JOHNSTOWN HOUSEJohnstown house is located just outside Enfield in the south of the county. In fact the village of Enfield is in the townland of Johnstown. Jim Prendergast, who was born in Johnstown House in 1940, has written a history of the house. The house was erected in the middle of the eighteenth century and altered in the middle of the nineteenth century. A square blockish house the house has a pedimented doorcase and four chimneystacks. One room contained a good plasterwork ceiling. There is an extensive range of stone built stabling and farm buildings.
Francis Forde, originally from Co. Down, attended Trinity College, Dublin and
then joined the army. His regiment, the 39th, were the first of the King’s
regiments to be sent to India. When his regiment was recalled to England Forde
was invited to take charge of the East India Company's army in Bengal. Robert
Clive had met Forde in the Carnatic in 1756 and his high opinion of Forde’s
military abilities was shared by others. Forde fought the French successfully
to oust them from the Northern Circars and Forde's expedition had contributed
to the failure of the French siege of Madras. Forde's successes against the
French were repeated against the Dutch. In 1760 Forde returned to England,
where he was reunited with his wife and his children. Colonel Francis Forde
purchased the lands at Johnstown in 1761 and erected the house. In 1769 he was
appointed one of three supervisor to the administration of India. The ship carrying
the three men disappeared in December 1769.
In 1770 a Dublin merchant, James Halpin, purchased the house and the lands of
Innfield. James Halpin died in 1822 leaving the estate to his sister,
Constance, who was married to Andrew Roarke. Andrew’s son, James Halpin Rourke
inherited the estate in 1826. Following the famine and its economic
consequences Rourke was forced to lease the house and lands to Rev. James Rynd.
Rev. Rynd converted one of the rooms into an oratory.
Col. John Ennis M.P. purchased the house and some of the estate in 1864 for his
daughter, Margaret, and her husband, Edmund Waterton. John Ennis was a Dublin
merchant and a Governor of the Bank of Ireland. POSSECKSTOWNPosseckstown house is just outside Enfield on the road to Trim. In the civil parish of Rathcore it was the property of Mr. Kettlewell in 1835 and leased to Mr. Rynd and Mrs Domegan, Enfield. The red brick house was probably built about 1870. William Potterton purchased the property in 1923 and when his son died the property passed to his sister, Alice Weld, and then to her daughter, Mona Foster. RYNDVILLE HOUSERyndville House stood in the parish of Rathcore, near Enfield in southwest Meath. The house was demolished in the 1970s.
The Rynd family originated in the Enniskillen area of Co. Fermanagh. James Rynd
Grange Beg, Westmeath and Miss Hester Fleetwood of Parktown, Meath, were
married on 3 December 1793. They settled at Ryndville. Hester, daughter of
Robert Fleetwood, was his third wife. James died in 1814. His widow died in
1850, surviving her husband by thirty six years. Their son, Robert Fleetwood
Rynd was born 1798. The family were buried in Rathcore.
Robert Fleetwood Rynd married Maria Longworth Dames of Greenhills, Co. Offaly
(then King’s County) in 1831. The thatched church of the Roman Catholic
community at Jordanstown was situated on the Ryndville Estate. In 1832 Robert
Fleetwood Rynd gave the sum of twenty pounds towards the erection of a new
chapel at Jordanstown.
Robert Fleetwood Rynd died in 1875 while his widow Maria died in 1893. In 1876
the representatives of R. F. Rynd, of Ryndville held 1,426 acres in County
Meath. Their only son, James Fleetwood Rynd, was a colonel in the Leitrim
Rifles, received a B.A. from Trinity and was called to the Irish Bar. He died
in 1908 aged 75 years. His sister, Maria Jane, married Frederick Cockayne Elton
who reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the British army. He was also one
of the earliest recipients of the Victoria Cross. Elton received the award for
the bravery he displayed while fighting the Russians in the Crimea in 1855.
Robert and Maria’s daughter Elizabeth married Arthur Hume while another
daughter, Emma Arabella, married Major Francis Topping in Toronto, Canada.
As James Fleetwood died without an heir the estate went to his sisters. Maria
Jane lived at Ryndville after her brother died. Maria Jane died in 1924 aged
90. Elizabeth Hume, lived at 63 Dawson Street, Dublin and she died in 1936,
aged 101. CHERRYVALLEY HOUSECherryvalley House is located just outside Rathmolyon on the Ballivor Road. In the 1850s Robert Fowler held the townland of Cherryvalley. A two storey farm house was erected at Cherryvalley in 1877. In 1901 Daniel Douglas, widower, and his son William were living at Cherryvalley. The house had twelve rooms, five windows to the front and thirteen outbuildings. In 1911 William Douglas owned the house but it was lived in by Richard Douglas and his wife. Today the housing estate of Cherryvalley is located to the east of the house. RAHINSTOWN HOUSERahinstown is located in south Meath close to Rathmolyon. The original Rahinstown House dated from the eighteenth century. A drawing of the houses in the 1830s shows a six bay house of three storeys over a basement. The front door was not centred but to the left, suggesting that the original house may have been added to. About 1870 the old house burned down and was replaced by a large Italianate house and farm buildings. Sandham Symes was the architect for the construction of the new buildings for Robert Fowler in 1871. The house has a three bay front in cement with sandstone dressings and bow windows with curved glass.
Rahinstown is the story of two families the Bomfords and the Fowlers. The
Bomfords developed the estate in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century
when it was taken over by the Fowler family who already had interests in the
area.
Laurence Bomford of Clonmahon died in 1720 aged 103. Sir Arthur Langford of
Summerhill let the lands of Baronstown and Rahinstown, 903 acres, to Thomas
Bomford. Laurence’s eldest son, Thomas, settled at Rahinstown and was Secretary
to the Court of Claims in the reign of Charles II. Thomas died in 1740 and left
the estate to his brother, Stephen of Gallow. Stephen was succeeded by his son,
also Stephen, in 1756. Stephen married Elizabeth Sibthorpe of Dunany, Co. Louth
in 1745.
Stephen Bomford died in 1808. His second son, Robert, served as a captain in
the Bengal Infantry in the East India Company before returning to Ireland to
marry Maria Massy-Dawson in 1792. When his elder brother Thomas died Robert
became heir to Rahinstown and succeeded to the estate of 2358 statute acres in
1808. Robert died nine years later in 1817 and was buried at Rathcore. When
Robert died Maria his wife was aged 48 and all her seven children were under
21, the youngest being only 7. Maria Massy Bomford has a memorial in Saint
Ann’s, Dawson Street, Dublin. She died in 1848 aged 79 years. The family
regularly lived at No 7 Upper Merrion Street. The estate was taken over by
their eldest son, Robert George Bomford when he came of age. Born in 1802 he
served as High Sheriff of Meath in 1832. Robert George married Elizabeth
Kennedy of Annadale, Co. Down in 1826. In 1836 Rahinstown Demesne the demesne
was well planted with fir and other trees and the house was described as a very
good one but the pleasure grounds appeared very much neglected. It was the
residence of Mr. R.G. Bomford. He died without an heir in 1846 and his widow
married Marcus Gervais Beresford, Archbishop of Armagh. After the death of
Robert’s mother in 1848 the estate was sold and the proceeds divided among his
sisters. Peter Bamford has a very extensive website devoted to the Bomford
family.
The Fowlers came to Ireland from England. Robert Fowler was born in 1724 at
Skendleby, Lincolnshire. Educated at Cambridge he was appointed chaplain to
George II in 1756. Fowler was appointed bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora in
1771 and in 1779 was translated to the archbishopric of Dublin. He resided at
Tallaght while archbishop. He was the first chancellor of the Order of St
Patrick in 1783.
In 1766 Fowler married Mildred Dealtry of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. They had
a son, Robert, who succeeded him, a daughter Mary (Countess of Kilkenny) and a
daughter, Frances, who married Richard Bourke, Bishop of Waterford 1813 to
1833.
In 1789 Fowler voted with fourteen other peers against the Irish House of Lords
calling for the Prince of Wales to be made regent during the illness of George
III.
Fowler died suddenly on 10 October 1801 at Bassingbourn Hall, Cambridgeshire,
where he had resided for two years for his health. He was buried in Takeley
churchyard but there is no memorial to him.
Their eldest son Robert Fowler was born in 1797 and married twice. He settled
at Rahinstown. He married Jane Anne Crichton in 1820 and secondly Lady Harriet
Eleanor Wandesforde-Butler, daughter of John Butler, second Marquess of
Ormonde. He died in 1863. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Robert, who was Deputy
Lieutenant, Justice of the Peace and High Sheriff of Meath in 1871. He married
Laetitia Mable Coddington of Oldbridge in 1856. He died in 1897.
In the 1901 census Robert H. Fowler, retired Army Captain and Justice of the
Peace, his wife, their two sons, two visitors and thirteen servants were in
residence at Rahinstown. Robert Henry served as High Sheriff of Co. Meath in
1899. In 1908 a number of cattle drives took place on the estate of Captain
Fowler of Rahinstown.
The estate then passed to Bryan John Fowler, son of George Hurst Fowler, third
son of Robert and Laetitia Mable Fowler.
Bryan John Fowler of Rahinstown served during World War I being awarded the
Military Cross and also won a Distinguished Service Order for his efforts in
World War II. Brigadier Fowler was at Fairyhouse Races on Easter Monday 1916
and was summoned away to maintain control in Drogheda. He later became
instructor at the Army Equitation School in Weedon. He competed for Britain in
polo in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, winning a silver medal. On returning from
England, the family lived for a while at Culmullen House before moving to the
family estate at Rahinstown.
His son, John Fowler, was a well known horse trainer. He represented Ireland in
the Mexico Olympics of 1968. In December 2008 John Fowler was killed in a
tree-felling accident on his farm. HOTWELL HOUSEHotwell House, Ballinakill, Enfield was built in 1838 by Henry Purdon, a farmer and Justice of the Peace. Henry came from Ardrums and the family were also connected to the Winters of Agher. The family may have originated at Lisnabin, Killucan, Co. Westmeath Lisnabin House was until quite recently the residence of the Purdon family (descendants of William the Conqueror’s barber!), who came from Cumbria to Ireland in 1533. Edward Purdon, Esq, born in 1709 settled at Lisnabin. Lisbin House was erected in 1819 after their former dwelling was burned down as a result of an overturned candle. The 400-acre estate has been home to a pedigree herd of Hereford cattle since 1824. Branches of the family were also at Kilcooley and Tullyard, Trim and Drumlargan, Summerhill. According to one biography of Katherien
Purdon the Purdon family came from Cork. Henry Purdon acquired Ardrums
in 1800 but built a new house at Hotwell. Henry Purdon Esqr of Hotwell
died in 1845 aged 66 years and was buried at Agher. His wife,
Catherine, had died in 1821 aged 35 years. The couple had at least two
sons, Henry Edward and Bartholomew. Bartholomew of Ardrums, 1818 -
1904, in 1848 married Maria a daughter of Doctor David Trotter of
Summerhill at Laracor. Their descendants were at Ardrums until well
into the twentieth century.
Katherine Frances Purdon was born at Hotwell in 1852 and educated in
England and Alexandra College, Dublin. She lived at Hotwell until her
death in 1920. Her play, The Candle and The Crib, (written 1914) was
performed in the Abbey Theatre in 1918. She contributed to Irish and
English periodicals, her first appearing in Irish Homestead; published
The Folk of Furry Farm an affectionate account of local kindness and
eccentricity displaying great love of animals. Her many writings for
children included her first two books, The song of the lark and The
fortunes of Flot: a dog story, mainly fact. Her stories were illustrated
by Jack B. Yeats. George Russell thought she wrote perfect English. Her
first novel, The folk of Furry Farm, proved an immediate success,
welcomed as a rare venture into the genre by a writer associated with
the literary revival, and for giving a voice to the Irish midlands, a
region largely neglected by other writers. Set like many of her stories
in the fictional townland of Ardenoo, the book, with its affectionate
portrayal of a diverse cast of characters, bespeaks her close
observation of the idiom, manners, and folkways of the small-farmer
class along the Meath–Kildare borders. In her second novel, Dinny of the
doorstep (1918), she depicts the lives of poor children in the squalid
Dublin tenements, indicting without stridency the indifference of the
affluent to their circumstances. She was involved in the Gaelic Revival
movement alongside luminaries such as W.B. Yeats and her works were
illustrated by well known artists such as Jack B. Yeats and Arthur
Rakham. Purdon had a strong interest in the Irish Language movement and
was in contact with noted activists like Thomas MacDonagh, one of the
signatories of Ireland's Proclamation of Independence in 1916. However,
by her own admission she only had a few words of Irish. Purdon was one
of the founding members of the the Irish Countrywomen’s Association
under its original name of the United Irishwomen. In February 1882
George Homan Lennon of Newcastle married Eleanor Martha Purdon, daughter
of Henry Purdon, at Rathmolyon, and the house later became home to the
Lennon and Purdon family. George’s occupation was salesmaster and land
agent. George Haunly Purdon, son of Henry and his mother continued to
live in the house. Geroge and Eleanor had a son George born in December
1882. The house was sold after H.M. Lennon died about 1975.
Hotwell House gains its name from a warm spring on the property known as
St. Gorman's Well. The Hotwell at nearby Hotwell House was said by some
to have been dedicated to St. Brigid but is more generally called St.
Gorman’s Well. According to one source Hotwell at Ballinakill is
dedicated to St. Brigid and 15th August is its Patron Day. It was known
up to a generation ago by its Irish name of Tobar a' Gora. Its water is
reputed to be always warm even when the surrounding country is under
frost and snow. This well was once dedicated to St. Ultan. Ballina¬kill
was the last home of the Kindelans -the O Ciondealbháin - former Kings
of Laoire and patrons of St. Ultan's monastery at Ardbraccan. It is
natural that they should have dedi¬cated the well at Ballinakill to the
same patron. Since having been driven into exile in Spain in the
seventeenth century they have kept the name and devo¬tion to Ultan alive
from generation to generation. In recent years members of this great
old Gaelic family have visited both Tobar a' Gora and St. Ultan's Well
at Ardbraccan. The well is one of the hot wells which occur in south
Meath. The water is cool in the summer and can be as warm as 16 degrees
Celsius in the winter. The well provided a cure for deafness and ear
troubles. It flows from November until May each year with water bubbling
to the surface at a balmy 25 degrees Centigrade. There is a large stone
in the water with two indentations in it, which are said to be the knee
prints of St. Gorman, a hermit who had come here from St. Finian’s Well
at Clonmacnoise. The well has been an important place of pilgrimage
since pre-Christian times and the waters are believed to have healing
properties. Devotees bathed in the well, then pinned a piece of their
clothing to the old elm tree that grew beside it. When the cloth fell
from the tree, they would be cured of what ailed them. There were a
number of proposals that the warm water be used to generate heat for
the local communities and even further afield. The Wilkinsons moved to Hotwell House in 1980. TRAMMON
Trammon is located near Rathmolyon. Casey and Rowan describe Trammon as a small
early Victorian Hansel and Gretel house. Trammon was erected by James Williams
who died in 1853 and is buried in Rathmolyon. James was the only son of Thomas
Williams, St. Catherine’s Park, Leixslip. A single storey building with a
steeply pitched roof Trammon has decorative bargeboards and red and yellow brick
patterning. Marie Anne, wife to James, died in 1894.
|