The Annesley Estate's.

The founder of the Annesleys in Ireland was Francis Annesley, 1st Viscount Valentia, he became the owner of a parcel of land near Mountnorris County Armagh, shortly after it had been granted to Patrick O'Hanlon by James I in 1609. After this period the family spread into many counties of Ireland including, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Down, Kerry, Meath, Tyrone, Queens, Waterford and Wexford.

In county Down the headquarters of their estate which encompassed somewhere around fifty townland's was at Castlewellan, there in 1846 they built a large house from local granite in the Scottish Baronial style, they also had a summer residence on the lower slopes of Slieve Donard above the town of Newcastle. This house was demolished in the early 1960's the foundations and cellars of it are still to be seen, as is the ice house some way up the mountain from the house. The much reduced Castlewellan estate extends to 460 hectares is now owned by the forestry service and is open to the public as an amenity area and camp site, there is also a large lake where excellent fishing is to be had.

An interesting story concerns the 1st Earl Annesley who in November 1795 visited his brother Richard Annesley, later to become 2nd Earl. On his way up the drive the 1st earl fell into conversation with a wife of his brothers gardener Sophia Conner, at the time the 1st Earl then a childless widower of fifty-five. That evening when the 1st Earl returned to Dublin he was accompanied by Sophia. The couple were bigamously married two years later in 1797

The 1st earl died in 1802, by this date the couple had a son, Sophia tried unsuccessfully to establish the right of her son to accede to the earldom and estates which carried with them an annual income of £5,500 a year. The litigation lasted until 1819 when she settled for an annuity of £400 a year. She died, at the Rue de Rivoli in Paris in 1850.