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The Gillhall Estate.Co Down.The Gill Hall ghost.   |
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Gill Hall estate was located in County Down near the town of Dromore,
Below is an extract from the diary of John Ynyr Burges of Parkanaur, Castlecaulfield, Co. Tyrone, and relates to a visit to Gill Hall in 1863. 'In a bedchamber of this apartment, the ghost of Lord Tyrone appeared to Lady Beresford, and a small cabinet is shown with a mark upon it. But it is not the real one, which it is said was removed by Lord Clanwilliam's grandmother years ago' In 1765 1st Baronet of Ballintober, Co Cork married a rich Co. Down heiress, Theodosia, daughter of Robert Hawkins Magill. Robert had died in 1747 when Theodosia was three years old, at that time the estate had a yearly income of £2,500. The Magill's also owned the Burrenwood estate Castlewellan - Rathfriland area which brought in a further £1,500 a year. Theodosia Magill Despite their substantial combined income by 1783 the Clanwilliam's were substantially in debt, to the extent that they had their personal property seized and sold at public auction. Clanwilliam is said to have a string of 'stable boys and mistresses' A letter dated 20 December 1779 from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann suggests that "Lord Clanwilliam had been responsible for the murder of 'a younger, handsomer, swain' favoured by one of Clanwilliam's mistresses" The last sale of Clanwilliam property in Tipperary, took place in 1805 it consisted of 5,000 Irish acres, which produced a yearly rental of £3,375. The 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam wrote in his diary 'My grandfather Clanwilliam dissipated, to the last guinea, the Meade estates in Cork and Tipperary, of which the present value may be set down at something like £40,000 a year' The 3rd Earl assisted Lord Castlereagh at the Congress of Vienna, 1814-1815. Subsequently he became Castlereagh's private secretary. He was appointed acting Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, taking the position over permanently in January of 1822. Richard 2nd Earl of Clanwilliam, 1804-1805,
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the estate
takes its name from a Captain Magill an officer in Cromwell's Army, prior
to the 1641 rebellion he is said to have obtained half the townland of
Ballynagarrick from Art Og Magennis for the sum of £150, by the
end of the Cromwellian war Magill had acquired a considerable amount of
land. The Magill's main residence was Gill Hall outside the town of 
(1744-1817)
married Sir John Meade a land owner of Gaelic extraction from Co Cork.
Meade had a yearly income of £10,000 from various estates, the majority
of which lay in the Golden Vale of Tipperary, situated in the barony of
Clanwilliam. In 1766 Mead was created Viscount Clanwilliam and Baron Gilford.