This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(March 2021) |
Killua Castle | |
---|---|
General information | |
Coordinates | 53°39′34″N6°59′46″W / 53.65954°N 6.99621°W |
Completed | 1780s |
Renovated | 2006 |
Owner | Montpascal Foundation, the family foundation of the Krause family |
Design and construction | |
Developer | Sir Benjamin Chapman, 1st Baronet |
Killua Castle, [1] and the nearby Raleigh Obelisk, are situated near Clonmellon, County Westmeath, Ireland. The present house was built in about 1780 by Sir Benjamin Chapman and consisted of a hall, dining room, oval drawing room, breakfast parlour and front and back stairs. There was also a stable yard, barn and haggard (an enclosure where crops are stored). From here, the Chapmans administered the surrounding farm lands of some 9,000 acres (36 km2) in the 18th century. In a ruinous condition, it was renovated in 2006. [2]
Killua Castle and its surrounding lands were granted around 1667 to Benjamin Chapman, a captain in Cromwell's army, having been confiscated from the Knights Hospitallers of St John. On his death the estate passed to his elder son, William, and on William's death in 1734 to his son Benjamin. Benjamin died in 1779 and was succeeded by his son Benjamin, who was created a baronet.
The present structure was built in 1780 by Sir Benjamin Chapman, 1st Baronet after demolishing the original castle. The castle was passed from him in 1810 by special remainder to his brother Thomas who in the early 1820s commissioned the addition of a large round tower and several other towers, including a library tower, staircase tower and back door tower. He also completed the castellation and erected the Raleigh obelisk nearby. He was succeeded in 1837 by his son Sir Montagu Chapman, 3rd Baronet, who was lost at sea off the coast of Australia in 1852. Montagu's brother Benjamin, the 4th baronet, inherited, from whom it passed to his son Montagu Richard, 5th baronet. Montagu Richard died childless in 1907 and his widow, a cousin, divided the estate between the four legitimate daughters of her brother Sir Thomas Chapman, 7th Baronet the father of T. E. Lawrence of Arabia. The house and the remaining 1,200 acres (4.9 km2) of land were sold in 1949. [3]
The obelisk, erected in 1810 by Sir Thomas Chapman some 200m to 300m from the house, marks the position where Sir Walter Raleigh planted some of the first potatoes that he imported to Ireland. [4] Antoine Parmentier who promoted the cultivation of potatoes for human consumption and the Spanish conquistadores who first imported them from South America along the south and west Irish coast are also associated with Irish potato promotion.[ citation needed ] However, it is uncertain who is initially responsible of the first potato plantation in Ireland, even though Raleigh is frequently credited with this milestone in Irish history.[ citation needed ]
The inscription on the obelisk currently reads "Sir Walter G. Raleigh," but there is no other evidence that Raleigh had a middle name, and the "G" appears to be vandalism added after the original inscription.
The obelisk has since been restored through a grant from the Irish Georgian Society.
An earlier obelisk also appears to have been constructed on the estate dedicated to Lord Nelson around 1806-07. [5]
Sir Walter Raleigh was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion in Ireland, helped defend England against the Spanish Armada and held political positions under Elizabeth I.
Ben Chapman may refer to:
Parlington Hall was the seat of the Gascoigne family, Aberford near Leeds in West Yorkshire, England.
William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, KG, also known as Sir William Lowther, 2nd Baronet, of Little Preston, from 1788 to 1802, and William Lowther, 2nd Viscount Lowther, from 1802 to 1807, was a British Tory politician and nobleman known for building Lowther Castle.
Knockdrin is a townland and electoral division that is 5.6 kilometers northeast of Mullingar, in County Westmeath, Ireland. It is the home of the Westmeath Hunt, and its most notable building is Knockdrin Castle. The R394 regional road, the main Mullingar to Castlepollard route, runs through the area.
Clonyn Castle also known as Delvin Castle, is a Victorian country house situated in Delvin, County Westmeath, Ireland some 18 km from Mullingar along the N52. It is a square, symmetrical, two-storey castle-like building of cut limestone with four tall, round corner towers at each corner. The interior has a large two-storey hall with a gallery and arcading. It was one of the last Victorian baronial castles to be built in Ireland.
Ballinlough Castle is a 17th-century country house situated near the rural town of Clonmellon in County Westmeath, Ireland on a hill overlooking two of the Westmeath lakes. It is the home of Nicholas and Alice Nugent.
There have been three baronetcies created for persons with the surname Chapman, one in the Baronetage of Great Britain, one in the Baronetage of Ireland and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Two of the creations are extinct while one is extant.
Captain Benjamin Chapman was the patriarch of the Chapman baronets of Killua Castle.
Sir Thomas Robert Tighe Chapman, 7th Baronet was an Anglo-Irish landowner, the last of the Chapman baronets of Killua Castle in County Westmeath, Ireland. For many years he lived under the name of Thomas Robert Lawrence, taking the name of his partner, Sarah Lawrence, the mother of his five sons, one of whom was T. E. Lawrence, also known as 'Lawrence of Arabia'.
General Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert, 1st Baronet, was an English army officer in the British East India Company.
The High Sheriff of Westmeath was the British Crown's judicial representative in County Westmeath, Ireland from its creation under The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 until 1922, when the office was abolished in the new Free State and replaced by the office of Westmeath County Sheriff. The sheriff had judicial, electoral, ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs. In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence. However the sheriff retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in the county. The usual procedure for appointing the sheriff from 1660 onwards was that three persons were nominated at the beginning of each year from the county and the Lord Lieutenant then appointed his choice as High Sheriff for the remainder of the year. Often the other nominees were appointed as under-sheriffs. Sometimes a sheriff did not fulfil his entire term through death or other event and another sheriff was then appointed for the remainder of the year. The dates given hereunder are the dates of appointment. The following is an incomplete list: all addresses are in County Westmeath unless stated otherwise.
Henry Piers, Esq (1568–1623), also spelt Henry Pierce or Perse, was an Anglo-Irish landowner and Member of Parliament who owned the estate of Tristernagh Abbey in the early 17th century.
Sir Montagu Lowther Chapman was an Anglo-Irish landowner and Member of Parliament (MP).
Sir Richard Levinge, 2nd Baronet was an Irish landowner and politician.
General Edward Wells Bell was a senior British Army officer and Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica.
Sir Benjamin James Chapman, 4th Baronet was an Anglo-Irish Whig politician and barrister.
Sir Benjamin Chapman, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish landowner.
Sir Thomas Chapman, 2nd Baronet was an Anglo-Irish landowner.
The O'Reilly, later Nugent baronetcy, of Ballinlough in the County of Westmeath, was created in the Baronetage of Ireland on 23 July 1795 for Hugh O'Reilly. In 1812, on the death of his maternal uncle John Nugent, he assumed by Royal licence the surname of Nugent. The third Baronet was Chamberlain to the Emperor of Austria and was also created a Count of the Austrian Empire. The family seat is Ballinlough Castle, Clonmellon, County Westmeath.