They Came with Cromwell The story of the Nunn Family of County Wexford, Ireland.

By Eddie Jordan

The Nunn family of Wexford are Cromwellian in origin and are descended from one Captain Richard Nunn, a Cavalry Officer. Captain Nunn was the first of seven consecutive generations of the family to be appointed High Sheriff of the County of Wexford, a position of great authority and responsibility.
The family successfully settled in Wexford following the Cromwellian Conquest in the 1650s, and established seats at St. Margaret’s, Hillcastle, Silverspring in Ballycogley, Rosehill in Enniscorthy, Alma House in Ferrycarrig and Castlebridge House, to name but a few. They were listed among the largest landowners in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy in the county.
The Nunns were early innovators and entrepreneurs as can be seen from their many successful business ventures. In addition, like so many Anglo-Irish families, the Nunns were also a constant supply of mid to high ranking officers in the British Army and almost every generation made the ultimate sacrifice for King/Queen and country. Nunns fought in almost every conflict in which the British Army was engaged since the seventeenth century.
In addition to soldiering, the Nunns of Wexford can be found among the lists of renowned physicians, clergymen, industrialists, solicitors and barristers, maltsters and millers since the early eighteenth century in Ireland.
The Nunns of Wexford are now gone from the shores of Wexford, but they have left their mark on the local landscape and history, social, industrial and military. This is their story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eddie Jordan
• Release date: Jul 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311462725

Eddie Jordan

Eddie Jordan, born 1957, is a native Dubliner where he lives and works with his wife Mary and three sons Andrew, Conor and Emmet. Eddie studied local history through a joint course with NUI Maynooth and Dublin City Council Library and Archive, as a mature student. Eddie recently retired from Dublin City Council (2012) where he worked for over 35 years. He is now devoting his time to his passions in life, like motorcycling, local history research and writing, fly-fishing and reading. His other published work is the history of an Anglo-Norman Towerhouse just west of Dublin Airport called Dunsoghly Castle. The book is titled “If a Towerhouse Could talk; the History of Dunsoghly Castle and the Plunkett Family” and was published by Original Writing in 2010.

Book preview

In acknowledging assistance on a work of this nature there are inevitably numerous individuals who not only provided information and records, but also support and encouragement. I have endeavoured to list below as many as I could recall and would now apologise to any persons I have inadvertently omitted. There are naturally those on this list who stand out above others for the quality and indeed the quantity of the assistance and support provided and I want to particularly acknowledge the contribution made by local Wexford historian James Maloney whose local knowledge and contacts in the St. Margaret’s and indeed County Wexford area were of immense benefit to me, an outsider from Dublin. James opened doors where I did not even see doors.

Other notable contributors along the journey include Grainne Doran, Wexford County Archivist, who provided access to the wonderful collection of Nunn family documents recently acquired (2012) by the Archive. Other Archivists and Librarians who assisted include: Christine Leighton of Cheltenham College, Emily Bainton of St. Columbas College in Dublin, Luke Marriage of the India Office at The British Library, Simon Jackson, Royal Veterinary College, Camden Campus, London, Maija Anderson, Head Historical Collections and Archives, Oregon Health and Science University, Hannah Allan, Reference Assistant / Genealogist, Oregon Historical Society, Captain David Freeman, Secretary, Royal Thames Yacht Club, Jeff Behary, Turn of the Century, Electro Therapy Museum, Florida, U.S.A. , James Divine, Freemason Temple of the Valley of Savannah Scottish Rite, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction., Savannah Georgia, U.S.A., Stephanie Jenkins, Oxford family History Society, Robert Mills, Librarian, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Shenae M. Hennagir Barkas, Reference Assistant, Georgia Historical Society, Georgia, U.S.A., John Boomer and Colleagues at Cricket Ireland, Peter Bower, British Association of Paper Historians, Frances Bellis, Assistant Librarian, Lincoln’s Inn Library, London, Mrs. P. Hatfield, College Archivist, Eton College, Windsor, Berkshire, U.K., Lennox Honychurch local historian, Island of Dominica, Caribbean, and Garry D. Shutlak, Senior Reference Archivist, Public Services, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Many other individuals helped with various information, advice and access. These include, in no particular order, Mary Hamilton and Brian Murphy of Castlebridge, Co Wexford, Dr. Austin O’Sullivan (retired), Agricultural Museum, Johnstown Castle Wexford, Brian Cluer (Carnsore Chronicles), Kevin Cullen retired Caretaker St. Margaret’s burial ground, Mark Allen for his tour of St. Margaret’s House and his memories of growing up there, and specially for providing the only known image, the watercolour of St. Margaret’s House, Marianne Young, Church of Ireland Parish Records Digitising Project, Ken Hemmingway of Templeshambo, County Wexford, G. Rex Meyer, Historian, New South Wales, Australia, Frank Gallagher of Millmount, Rockbrook, County Dublin, Laurie Mc Ginness, Songwriter, Australia, (Ballad of Waterloo Creek), Dr. David R. Terrington, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (scans of original letters Lt. Colonel J.W. Nunn), Pat Bradish, Lonsdale, Crossabeg, County Wexford, Helen Skrine, Butlerstown Castle, County Wexford, the Breen family, New Ross, County Wexford, (access to Camlin Lodge), Rev. Neil Mc Cathie, Vicar, St. Peter’s, Parrs in Lancashire, Edward Armitstead, current owner of Pendomer House, near Yeovil in Somerset, U.K., Thomas McDonald, historian Clonroche, Enniscorthy, Peter Bacon, author, of Killinick, County Wexford, the Furlong family, current owners of the land at St. Margarets House and the Doran family, current owners of Hillcastle.

I also want to thank the following persons for their assistance, Clare Wickham of St. Iberius Church in Wexford Town, Katherine and Francis Traynor, St. Margaret’s Beach Caravan and Camping Site, Maree Markwick, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, (obtained a copy of Waterloo Creek for me), and Joan Toase, Kilbroney Church, Rostrevor, County Down.

I must also mention the living members of the Nunn family whom I have met and with whom I have corresponded. They include Richard, Jeremy and Clare Nunn, descendants of the Nunns of Alma House / Castlebridge, who were a source of Nunn family information. I must also acknowledge my gratitude to Tony Westby-Nunn and his daughter Terry Westby-Nunn of Muizenburg, Capetown, in South Africa, the direct descendants of the original Nunns of St. Margaret’s, who were a wonderful source of additional material and photographs, including a copy of Donald Smith’s book And all the Trumpets and Terry’s wonderful DVD documentary about her grandfather, Letters from Teddy. My gratitude also goes to Richard Nunn of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, where he resides with his family, who are descended from the Nunns of Hillcastle.

I wish also to acknowledge the many sources of the numerous images, photographic and others, contained in this work. With each such image I have included the source and the copyright where possible. If I have inadvertently failed in this I apologise and will endeavour to put right any omission or error brought to my attention.

Last but by no means least, I must also acknowledge the support, advice, assistance and company of my wife Mary who not only proof read and patiently corrected the various drafts, but also accompanied me on the many field trips in Counties Wexford, Dublin and Down.

****

Introduction

For many years my family and I have holidayed at St. Margaret’s Beach, Caravan and Camping Park situated in the Parish of Lady’s Island between Carne and St. Helen’s Bay, in the Barony of Forth, and County of Wexford. The area is noted for its unspoilt and deserted miles of sandy beaches and walks and is a treasure trove for anyone interested in local history. St. Margaret’s beach is included in the Wexford Coastal Path which meanders along the coast and country lanes for over 130 miles, and is a must for walkers, nature lovers and anyone with an interest in the great outdoors.

My interest in St. Margaret’s and the Nunn family who resided there commenced when I first explored the vast array of surviving outbuildings and houses at St. Margaret’s situated between the caravan park and the beach. I realised at the time that this was no ordinary residence, such was the quality of the surviving stone pillars, arches, outhouses, stables and walled gardens. It was obvious to me that these were the remnants of something far greater from a different era. This was without doubt an edifice deserving of the colloquial Irish name The Big House and must have been the dominant feature of this area for generations past. Like all Big Houses, it would have employed an army of servants and must have been a crucial element of the local economy. Between these ruins and the caravan park I discovered the private Nunn family cemetery, on the site of an ancient monastic settlement complete with its church in ruins, now surrounded by a much later wall but elevated above all the surrounding land, seemingly looking down on all comers. I knew then that the Nunn family were above the ordinary and were deserving of some further research, and this work is the result.

The story of the Nunn family of Saint Margaret’s and Wexford commences with the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland in 1649. Ireland at that time was devastated after eight long years of conflict following the Civil War in England between the Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell, also known as the Roundheads, and the Royalists or Cavaliers fighting for King Charles I. This war resulted in the execution of King Charles I and the introduction of a Commonwealth in England which replaced the Monarchy. Oliver Cromwell the soldier and politician was at the head of this Commonwealth.

Ireland was divided on the whole issue and in 1641, for the first time the native Irish Catholics and the old English settlers, also Catholic, had united in defence of their common interest, their Catholic religion. Unlike their peers in England, the old English settlers in Ireland, most of whom had enjoyed privileged positions following their conquest and displacement of the native Irish over the preceding centuries, remained loyal to Catholicism and the Crown, and now they experienced the hostility of a monarchy which was vehemently anti Catholic.

King Charles I had agreed to some relaxations in exchange for military support for his cause and the Irish responded but Charles reneged on his agreement and subsequently lost his head as well as his crown. Back in Ireland the Old English and native Irish had formed a formal alliance called the Confederation of Kilkenny and Cromwell now saw this as the biggest threat to his authority and his religion. Cromwell was noted for his puritanical views and his fanatical hatred of all things Catholic. He now set about the final destruction of his enemies and will be remembered for his brutal and merciless slaughter of the defenders of Drogheda and indeed Wexford itself, where men, women and children were summarily put to the sword.

Cromwell’s Army was one of the first professionally trained and equipped armies in Europe and to finance this professionalism, he encouraged merchants and adventurers to invest in his campaign with the promise of landed estates in Ireland upon success. The soldiers in the army were also promised payment in the form of Irish land and following the total defeat of the Irish forces, Cromwell’s treatment of the vanquished has been likened to what the Nazis did in Poland and Eastern Europe in World War II. Those who had opposed him were given short notice at peril of death to uproot and move with their families to Connaught where many of the former landed gentry of Ireland perished in abject poverty. To Hell or to Connaught was the idiom of the day, and unfortunately for many, they went to both. The confiscation of land resulted in the biggest shift of land ownership in Irish history and the vast bulk of Irish land was now in the hands of a Protestant minority, a situation which pertained right up to the end of the 19th century and the break-up of the large estates following their decline after the famine years and the Land Wars.

Captain Richard Nunn was a beneficiary in all this chaos and was granted over 2000 acres of land in Wexford, including St. Margaret’s, and further estates in Cavan as payment for both military service and financial investment. Captain Richard Nunn was a Cromwellian Officer in Ireton’s Dragoons and his father John Nunn was a London merchant who had invested in Cromwell’s campaign. Ireton himself was the son in law of Oliver Cromwell, and he was his deputy in Ireland when Cromwell returned to England in 26th May 1650. Ireton’s Dragoons were in fact Cromwell’s old unit, as he was himself a cavalry officer. For every beneficiary there was a loser and the Hays and Cheevers families were uprooted from their Wexford lands to accommodate Captain Nunn. The Hays and Cheevers were both Old English Catholic families, descended from the Normans, who had supported King Charles I and the Confederation of Kilkenny and this was the price they paid.

Along with Captain Nunn, other Cromwellian officers were granted lands in the area including Captains Barrington, Ivory, Claypool and Packenham. The above listed Captain Barrington was known as Captain Thomas Kill All Barrington, such was the ferocity and animosity he, like so many of the Cromwellian soldiery exhibited to the local Catholic populations of the areas they conquered. Just like the Anglo Norman Catholic families that they dispossessed, these new settlers also needed to consolidate their hold on what was a hostile environment, even for the victors, and many of these families intermarried with the families of their former comrades in arms, and with the local population. For example, Richard Nunn of Hillcastle’s eldest daughter Susanna married Thomas Barrington, eldest son of Thomas Kill All Barrington, who had been granted lands at Ballymacane, near Bridgetown. Thomas and Susanna were reputed to have become Quakers and were noted as the most industrious of that branch of the Barrington family.

The name St. Margaret’s is not indigenous Irish. It is said that it came from the English who settled here in the Barony of Forth and the County of Wexford. It was also claimed in a newspaper article in 1911 by an anonymous writer that the name derived from a Scottish saintly Queen, who was canonised in the year 1251. Queen, or St. Margaret, was apparently much devoted to the early Irish Christian missionaries who brought Christianity to Scotland. This part of the South East coast is no stranger to invasion, as the Vikings had invaded regularly during the 9th and 10th centuries and indeed Wexford itself is a Viking Town, the name deriving from Waesfiorde, believed to mean the Bay of the mudflats.

After the Vikings, some two centuries later came the Normans in 1170. They had been invited to Ireland by Dermot McMurrough, the King of Leinster, to assist him in retaining his throne against constant threat. The Normans landed not too far from St. Margaret’s Beach on Bannow / Beganbun and their influence on the immediate area can still be seen in the many surviving castles and abbeys in the Wexford coastal district e.g. Lady’s Island, Clough East, Rathmacknee, Sigginstown, Ballyteigue, Tintern Abbey and Dunbrody, to name but a few.

Following the Norman invasion, the lands at St. Margaret’s were given to the Norman knight Sir Milo de Lamport, who immediately built a castle at St. Margaret’s to protect his family, followers and property. This castle would have been a crude affair like an earthen mound with wooden palisade surround for defence, as it was not until the 15th century that the Normans commenced building stone castles and towerhouses. There is no trace of De Lamport’s Castle at St. Margaret’s today.

Local place names also reveal the influence of these early Norman invaders and settlers as with them they brought a unique language known today as Yola. Within the Norman invasion force were Cornishmen, Flemish, Anglo-Saxon and English and their language which survived locally up to the middle of the 19th century has been described as a mix of Germanic, Cornish, early English and some Irish.

This was the environment into which Captain Richard Nunn first settled at St. Margaret’s circa 1650, and built his first residence facing the beach. In addition to the Nunns, it is recorded that much of the population of this part of Wexford is directly descended from these Cromwellian settlers. The Nunn family were to remain in residence at St. Margaret’s for over 200 years and their kinsmen in other areas of Wexford survived well into the 20th century.

In addition to St. Margaret’s, the many generations of the Nunn family were also associated with other fine houses and seats in the County Wexford, such as Hillcastle in Tagoat, Silverspring House in Ballycogley, Castlebridge House, Alma House in Park, Rockfield House which was one of their townhouses in Wexford Town, Landscape House in Drinagh, and Rosehill in Enniscorthy, to name but a few. All of these Nunns shared a common ancestry traced to Captain Richard Nunn, the Cromwellian Cavalry Officer.

****

The Nunns of St. Margaret’s House

Watercolour of St. Margaret’s House, believed to be painted after an original by Joshua Nunn 1870. The artist is unknown. Painting provided by and reproduced here with the kind permission of Mark Allen, who resided for many years in the replacement later house at St. Margaret’s . The two flanking stone archways already mentioned, one of which has survived, can be clearly seen.

To this day, as already stated, the remains of what was the grandeur of St. Margaret’s House can still be seen on the site looking out over the field that is still known locally as the Front Lawn towards St. Margaret’s Bay. The buildings consist of various outhouses, stables and a dwellinghouse, long since abandoned and shuttered, but in reasonably good structural condition. This house is of a much more recent era and was built sometime in the early part of the 20th century. This dwelling was last occupied in 1985 by the Allen family, who still reside in the immediate locality.

St. Margaret’s House was built in the early part of the 19th century according to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, between 1800 and 1840. The Inventory record states that the House was extant in 1840, improved pre 1852, ruins in 1903. The surrounding farmyard and outbuildings are described as Farmyard complex with granite ashlar pillars to perimeter having carved cut-granite capping supporting replacement flat iron farm gates. A substantial, albeit neglected farmyard complex surviving as important evidence of the once extensive Saint Margaret’s House estate following the decline of the country house. In 1863 historian Thomas Lacy described St Margaret’s House as another fine marine residence, such was its location practically on the beach at St. Margaret’s Bay, but a lot can happen in a short period and only five years later, in 1868, the estate and house was abandoned and uninhabited as recorded by William Hickey : the aristocratic and ancestral mansion of Mr. Nunn of St. Margaret’s on the sea-side is decaying rapidly and now uninhabited. The demesne lands are let to Mr. Furney who lives in the more modern house of Hillcastle, which belongs to the same proprietor. Lacy also referred to Hillcastle, which he describes thus: nice residence has been for some time in the occupation of Lemuel Furney Esq. who holds it and the extensive lands appertaining thereto as tenant under Edward Westby Nunn.

A later dwellinghouse, now abandoned, replaced the much larger St. Margaret’s House which, according to local historian James Maloney, was demolished in the early 20th century, circa 1924, a time when so many of the great houses were demolished for financial reasons. After 1922 and the setting up of the Irish Free State, these houses were now a financial liability to any farmer who happened to have one on his land, and the best solution at the time to avoid paying domestic rates on the vacant house was to make it uninhabitable by removing the roof, a fate which befell hundreds of these big houses, and with them was destroyed many architectural features including fittings, staircases and plasterwork. Many houses also fell victim to deliberate burnings during the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War between the years 1918 and 1922.

As can be seen, the house looked seawards over a broad expanse of lawn, intersected by a low stone wall. It is not clear which Joshua Nunn actually painted the original from which this image was painted, as in 1870 there were at least three Joshua Nunns living, all with a direct link to the Wexford family. The house is described as three storeys including a cellar, with eight granite steps leading to the front door. A second stone wall was built where the lawn met the sand dunes of St. Margaret’s Beach, and a portion of this second wall can still be seen to this day. The house was without doubt, an impressive structure, the lights from which must have been visible for miles, and a great comfort for ships passing or sheltering from storms in St. Margaret’s Bay.

As one walks down the beach in front of the site of St. Margaret’s House, it becomes evident that coastal erosion along this stretch of beach is a real problem, where collapsed fencing and the remains of stone walls can be seen where the sea meets the land. This has been a feature of St. Margaret’s for quite some time and in 1869 there was a proposal to build a sea wall at St. Margaret’s, drawn up by civil engineer Nicholas McDonnell at the behest of Simon Little Esq, Solicitor and Land Agent for Edward Westby Nunn, who was the absentee landlord to the Nunn Estate at the time. The sea wall was never built.

From the beach, if one looks to the right of the lawn, you will see a small lonely stone structure built on the boundary beside a stream or watercourse leading down to the beach. This appears to be an outside water closet and was well away and possibly out of sight from the house itself. The holes in the back wall reveal where the timbers, now long gone, once supported the seating area above the sump which no doubt emptied directly into the watercourse.

From the same position, looking beyond the water closet one can clearly see the massive redbrick walls enclosing the two expansive walled gardens, enclosing at least two acres of land. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes them as : Walled gardens with redbrick irregular bond boundary wall to perimeter having overgrown coping. Now disused, set in grounds shared with St. Margaret’s House.

Like all Big Houses, St. Margaret’s would have been self sufficient in the provision of fruit, vegetables and cut flowers for the house. The walls themselves are at least two feet thick, built of stone and faced with the red brick, and have withstood the tests of time and weather, although there are portions which are beginning to crumble and require immediate treatment if they are to continue to survive. Within these walled gardens, hundreds of apple trees flourished according to Mark Allen. When his family resided, there were still some apple trees and indeed Dr. Austin O’Sullivan informed me that there are apple trees growing wild along the laneway leading to the beach, obviously escapees from the walled garden. Without these walls, no trees could have survived. Indeed the location was noted by Fraser in 1854 in his Handbook for Travellers in Ireland that This place is situated near the shore, and like all demesnes on this part of the coast, is so much exposed to the influence of the sea storms, that it is with great difficulty trees can be got up even a few feet above the surface.

Located near the walled garden lies the ciderhouse or applehouse, a two storey structure visible from the laneway. This was latterly used as accommodation and was occupied in recent times by a local farmer / potato grower named Jim Somers, who was renowned for the quality of his annual new season crop of potatoes, as well as the New Potato party that followed the harvest. The building, built in the late 19th century, is now uninhabitable and almost completely overgrown.

Like all Big Houses, leisure and entertainment played a big part in the lives of the occupants, except of course the servants. Lying to the east of the ciderhouse, towards the beach, there is a small perfectly rectangular walled area parallel to the laneway. This is still referred to locally as the tennis courts and is large enough to accommodate two courts. As well as tennis, the gentry also engaged in hunting, shooting, archery, horse-riding and fishing in their daily pursuits. The Irish Times newspaper recorded the attendance of several members of the Nunn family at the annual end of season Archery Ball in 1868 where there was a numerous and fashionable assembly. Supper was served at three o’clock this morning. Dancing was kept up to a late hour to the music of an excellent band

Further on down the laneway towards the beach and on the opposite side of the road, are the remains of a large pond-like feature which is locally called St. Margaret’s Well. According to local lore, this well or pond, which was a water source, was used by the big house for the purpose of washing their carriages and equipment. A ramp, now completely overgrown, provided access for the carriages and staff.

In 1759, almost 100 years after the grant of the land, Joshua Nunn, Captain Richard’s Great Grandson commissioned a survey of his great estate at St. Margaret’s and other parishes in the Barony of Forth. The lands were mapped by Charles and Richard Frizzell and comprised 37 maps of the various parts of the estate, together with some remarks, which included the following description of St. Margaret’s itself, where Joshua resided:

Remarks on the Demesne of St. Margarett’s

"This is a most beautiful situation adjoining St. George’s Channel opposite the Coast of Wales. The land for the most part is a dry loam capable of the highest improvement by the sea manures in and adjoining the same and makes it fitt for feeding or the plow.

The great plenty of fish, oysters and seafood, rabbits and pidgeons in their several seasons makes this country far preferable to the inland parts of the Kingdom.

Besides which, asparagus grows naturally in the sand banks on the sea coast and beach kale, (so much prized by persons of distinction) also grows in plenty on this seashore common to all. The plenty of above, added to the produce of the land, with the hospitality of the Family for severall generations, of the love of his tenants, and respect of the neighbouring gentlemen and others makes this place abound in all manners of happiness"

The Frizzells painted an idyllic picture of St. Margaret’s House and Estate under the control of the Nunns for four generations at that time. Later historians and topographers added to this description to reveal a mostly satisfied, industrious and thriving community in the Barony of Forth under the Nunn family stewardship.

On a tour of Ireland in the 1770s, Arthur Young visited the Barony of Forth and left us with this amazing and somewhat politically incorrect (by today’s standards) description of the local population. They are evidently a distinct people, and I could not but remark their features and cast of countenance varied very much from the common native Irish. The girls and women are handsomer, having much better features and complexions. Indeed the women among the lower classes in general in Ireland, are as ugly as the women of fashion are handsome

These notable physical qualities of the female population of the Barony of Forth were again referred to by Young in another tourist handbook of the day when he says "At St. Margaret's they introduced themselves to Colonel Nun, who furnished our author with much local information, respecting this distinct race of people. In general they are quiet and industrious to an uncommon degree : in many years, a robbery is not heard of among them.