Premier Peers of Ireland

[BREMENMURRAY]

During a recent visit to Kinsale in Ireland talking to some residents  I was told of a recent newspaper article regarding Lord Kingsale the Premier Baron of Ireland,He now lives in Auckland New Zealand and has only ever visited Ireland as a holiday maker!

.Kinsale is home to Desmond Castle once occupied by the Fitzgerald Earls of Desmond.I caused great hilarity when I told them  the present Earl of Denbigh and Desmond lives near Birmingham and is Grand Carver of England(Does he carve the Kings turkey at Christmas?)

I also told them head of the present day Fitzgeralds ,the Duke of Leinster is Premier Duke ,Marquess and Earl of Ireland and his family once lived in Leinster House in Dublin but now live in Oxfordshire.

For good measure I concluded by mentioning that the present Premier Viscount of Ireland Gormanston lives in Kensington and is son in law of Edward Fox.Unfortunately but probably not surprisingly they all seemed to know more about Edward Fox than any of their non resident Premier Peers

[marquess]

The Irish aristocracy had a very hard time during The Troubles, thus its not surprising that the majority of them no longer live in their ancestral seats.

[Dapifer de Truchsess]

As an Irishman myself, I assure you there is little understanding nor want of understanding about where or what remains of the Irish peerage in Ireland. Since 1922, and the realisation of the Irish Free State, and thereafter, there has been considerable destruction of the country houses of the gentry, titled and untitled; most are in the same as the Lord Kingsale who returns for holidays, and most are considered still with suspicion and distrust to a certain extent. 

One example is the Earls of Lucan: https://www.independent.ie/life/irish-tenants-still-pay-up-for-vanished-peer-lord-lucan/30779235.html

Here you will see demonstrated still a knowledge of Lord Lucan, his family; and one of the rare cases that groundrents are still owed to the family. 

The same can be said of the Earls of Roden in Dundalk; Earls of Clancarty in Ballinasloe; etc. etc. 

Of those the titled that still reside in the Republic of Ireland/Northern Ireland, there are few, though their recent descendants may still retain the old seat. Some are:

• The Duke of Abercorn still reigns supreme at Baronscourt, County Tyrone. 
• The Marquesses of Sligo still lived in Westport House until 2014, when the title left for Australia. 
• The previous Marquess Conyngham was and is still referred to as Lord Henry Mountcharles, his courtesy title...kind of. They still reside at Slane Castle, and Beauparc House. 
• The Marquess of Donegall, resides at Dunbrody Park, County Wexford (having sold Dunbrody House). 
• The Marquess of Waterford, resides at Curraghmore, County Waterford. 
• Earl of Antrim at Glenarm Castle
• Earl of Mayo, lives not in Palmerstown House, but in a house in Galway. 
• Earl of Roden, as above, lives not in Dundalk but in Galway. 
• Earl of Rosse still lives in the family seat of Birr Castle, Co. Offaly. 
• Earl of Meath is at Kilruddery House, Co. Wicklow.
• Baron Dunsany, still lives at Dunsany Castle, Co. Meath. 
• Baron Rathdonnell still lives at Lisnavagh House, Co. Wicklow. 

Gentry families and baronets still reside in Ireland to a certain extent, but I focused solely on those on the top of my head that reside still in Ireland. 

I assure you most of the peers on the island had already left long before the Troubles broke out, and for some it was simply the end of the line. Many peers started leaving Ireland with the 1801 Act of Union, wherein they lost their seats in the independent parliament in Dublin. With this, they spent more time in Great Britain on other estates or to be closer to the parliament in London. After that the Wyndham Land Acts and the Irish Land Commission, which forced the sale of absentee landed estates, and after the War of Independence, and then the Civil War in the 1920s; it was often easier to sell up and leave to live in the UK, to where you were not considered outside of Irish society. Often, and still to this day, it doesn't matter that you have been in Ireland 400 years, your ancestors came over, and often excluded Irish Catholics from society, and so now that the shoe is on the other foot, they do the same. Anglo-Irish are made to feel more Anglo, than Irish, always. 

The Troubles (1960s-1990s) rarely focused on the aristocracy, but some were indeed attacked, kidnapped (7th Earl of Donoughmore), or killed (Stronge Baronets); just like people on both sides of the conflict. 

[BREMENMURRAY]

The daughters of the twelfth Marquess of Sligo sold Westport House in 2017.

Tullynally Castle the largest private residence in Ireland is the home of the Earl of Longford.

The very magnificent Lismore Castle in Waterford is a residence of the Duke of Devonshire.

The most internationally famous Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone has Blarney House in the grounds residence of Sir Charles St John Clothurst. His brother James was associated with Dianna Princess of Wales.

Ironically one other Irish peer the Marquess of Downshire owns Clifton Castle in Yorkshire!

[malcolm davies]

Some country houses were destroyed in the troubles, notably Bessborough and Antrim Castle.

[BREMENMURRAY]

Should also record the Earl of Granard is still resident at Castle Forbes County Longford not to be confused with Castle Forbes residence of Lord Forbes

[marquess]

I thought that Castle Forbes was owned by the daughter of the earl previous to the current earl. 

[Sam Marroy]

Part of the last episode of the BBC documentary mini-series The Aristocracy features the plight of Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth, bt. to try and keep Lissadell House in County Sligo a going concern - he ended up selling it to private owners in 2003 after trying to get the Irish Government to assume ownership, and the impression that I got is that even for houses with a lot of history behind them (William Butler Yeats spent a great deal of time at Lissadell House) without a well financed National Trust type of organization dedicated to preserving them, there isn't much money or interest in old country houses anymore, with a few exceptions