Catalogue of the sale of the Caledon estate

Title: Catalogue of the sale of the Caledon estate, Counties Tyrone and Armagh

Date: 1775

Description: This database comprises a transcription of a pamphlet containing the catalogue of the 268 properties within the estate. The catalogue was developed from a valuation of the estate performed in the previous year. It was made available to parties interested in purchasing parts of or all the estate at an auction held in Dublin on 1 September 1775.

Today this catalogue provides a valuable genealogical resource as it lists all the leaseholders, their townlands, and the many hundreds of persons listed as ‘lives’ (‘tenurees’) on the leases, and who were alive in 1774. Furthermore, the pamphlet lists the ages of the ‘tenurees’ which helps to assign family members to the correct generations as well as correlate to other lists of the residents of Caledon and Aghaloo parish in the late eighteenth century.

The catalogue is part of the collection of Caledon Papers (D2431) held at the PRONI. The accession index is D2433/A/1/91. Also, in the collection are the working papers of the estate valuator made in 1774 (PRONI D2433/A/5/1) and the final report of the evaluator, Thomas Verner, Esq., dated June 1774 (PRONI D2433/A/5/2). In 1776, James Alexander had a new lease book made for the Caledon Estate (PRONI D2433/A/5/3).

The Caledon estate occupied much of the south-eastern corner of County Tyrone and parts of County Armagh from the seventeenth century to the late 1800s. The estate included the home of the owners of the estate, the dwellings in the village of Caledon, and hundreds of farms occupied by tenant farmers in proximity to the village.

In the 1660s the estate was acquired by the Hamilton family. In 1722, Margaret Hamilton inherited the estate and upon her marriage, in 1738, to John Boyle, 5th Earl of Orrery, and following the English common law practice of coverture, the estate formally transferred to him, but Margaret remained involved in the oversight of the estate.

In 1762, the estate passed to their son, Edward Boyle, 7th Earl of Cork and Orrery. But not for long: ‘in the dissipation and extravagance of this unworthy representative of the great Boyle family, all the maternal inheritance in the north of Ireland was gradually absorbed …’. Edward put the estate up for sale via auction in 1775. The estate ‘comprising 9,000 acres [went] to James Alexander of Londonderry for £96,400’.

Particulars and Conditions of Sale
OF
A Freehold Mansion House and the Estate of CALEDON,
Lying in the several Counties of Tyrone and Armagh,
In the Kingdom of Ireland,
Let to several Tenants at several Yearly Rents, amounting in the Whole to
3116l. 8s. 3d. Irish Money per Ann. and subject only to a Quit-rent of
1201. 5s. 2d. payable to the Crown for ever:
Which will be SOLD on the First Day of Sept. 1775,
At the Globe Coffee-house in Essex Street, Dublin, between the Hours of
Twelve and Two of the Clock in the Afternoon,
In FIFTEEN Distinct LOTS,

Upon the following Conditions, viz.

Such Person or Persons who shall be inclined to purchase any of the said Lots are to send their Proposals in Writing (which will be kept secret) under Seal to William Pringle, Esq; in Caledon, or to Francis Hopkins, Esq; in Dublin, and Duplicates thereof to Messrs. Wyatt and Acton, in Swithin’s Lane, London, on or before the First Day of August next, and are desired to attend at the Place of Sale on the said First Day of September, in Person or by their Agents, when the highest Bidders respectively will be declared the best Purchasers, who are then to pay into the Hands of Sir Annesley Stewart and Co. Bankers in Dublin, Twenty-five Pounds per Cent. of the Purchase Money as a Deposit, and sign a Contract for completing the Purchase and paying the Remainder of the Purchase Money on or before the First Day of November next, upon having a good Title, otherwise the Deposit Money to be forfeited, and the Proprietor to be at Liberty to resell.

The Purchaser or Purchasers are to be let into Possession of the respective Lots upon completing their Purchase, and are to have the Rents from the said First Day of November, to which Time the Seller is to clear all Outgoings, but the Seller is to have all Arrears of Rent up to that Day inclusive.

The largest Purchaser in Value is to have the Custody of the Title Deeds, upon giving a Covenant for the Production thereof for the Maintenance of the other Purchaser’s Titles in the usual Way, and they to have Copies of the most material Deeds at his or their own Expence.

N.B. The Manor of Caledon, with its Rights and Privileges, is to go with Lot I. This Estate has been improved after the English Manner and is capable of greater Improvement. It lies in the Centre of the Linen Manufactory, in a fine Sporting Country, which is well stocked with Game, and there are many Bleaching Yards in several Parts of it.—The Estate is finely watered by a large River navigable for several Miles; has Plenty of Lakes which afford a great Quantity of Salmon, Trout, and other Fish, and there is a sufficient Quantity of Bogg for Firing to be had upon every Part of the Estate.

Charles Potter Holmes lives in Orange County, New York, USA. He is a retired physicist who worked for the US Air Force and NASA. He is an avid family history researcher, focusing on the histories of his ancestors who emigrated from County Tyrone in the late eighteenth century. He is a member of the Ulster Historical Foundation's Guild and has attended our family history conferences, most recently in 2022.