Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameWilliam Baillie 
[399]
[399]Deathca 1648
GeneralGranted 1000 acres in Co Cavan and founded Baillieborough.
Notes for William Baillie
From “No Mean Village” By Liam O’ Ceallaigh on www.baillieborough.com:
The story of Bailieborough goes back to the early years of the 17th century. In 1610 William Bailie, a native of Ayrshire, was given a grant of 1000 acres in the proportion of Toneregie, now Tandragee, in the Barony of Clankee in Co. Cavan. Under the terms of the grant he was required to enclose a demesne of 350 acres. On this he was to build a bawn and within the bawn to erect a strong house or castle. He was also required to settle upon his estate a number of families of English or Scottish extraction. He was further required to establish fairs and markets, and also to establish courts for the administration of the law etc.
In the Pynnar (Survey of 1619) we are told that William Bailie had taken possession of his lands in
Cavan and that his castle was in the course of erection. It was also reported that a number of Scottish families had been settled on the estate. At a commission held in Castle Aubigny (Shercock) in 1629 to enquire into the progress being made by Bailie and the other grantees in the area in carrying out of the conditions set out in the terms of their several grants it was found that William Bailie had his castle completed and was living therein together with his wife and family, and that 28 British families had been settled on his estate.
William Bailie had two sons, William and Robert. William was educated in Trinity College, Dublin,
and was later ordained a minister. He served as rector in a number of parishes in Co. Cavan. In 1644 he received the degree of D.D. and two years later he was made bishop of Clonfert. His brother, Robert, entered the army. In 1640 he was reported as having command of a troop of Scottish soldiers in Cavan.
During the rising of 1641 Bailie’s Castle was attacked and captured by a body of Irish soldiers under Colonel Hugh O’Reilly. They held the castle and its inmates for a month and then departed carrying off a large number of cattle and horses.
William Bailie, senior, died about 1648 and his son, William inherited the castle and estate. The bishop
had one daughter, Anne, who married James Hamilton, third son of John Hamilton of Coroneary
Castle, and on the bishop’s death in 1666, Bailieborough Castle and estate passed into the hands of the Hamiltons. James Hamilton’s son Henry, succeeded his father. He was M.P. for Cavan, and during the Jacobite war he took the side of King William and was killed at the siege of Limerick. His successor
was his son, another James Hamilton, of whom more later.
During the years that the Bailies lived in Bailieborough Castle, a small hamlet or village grew up in
Lower Drumbannon, near where the Castle River emerges from the Castle Lake. The houses were
likely built of timber or mudwall and roofed with thatch. Later in the century, the Hamiltons
demolished the village and had it rebuilt in Upper Drumbannon, overlooking the Town Lake. It is
likely that this was the village that Sir Charles Coote wrote of in his survey in 1801.
In 1720, James Hamilton was granted a charter for the holding of fairs and markets on stated dates “in Newtown, alias Bailieborough” but he seems to have had a change of mind, for in 1724, he sold his castle and estate at Bailieborough and went to live on his estate at Hamilton’s Bawn in Co. Armagh.
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The story of Bailieborough goes back to the early years of the 17th century. In 1610 William Bailie, a native of Ayrshire, was given a grant of 1000 acres in the proportion of Toneregie, now Tandragee, in the Barony of Clankee in Co. Cavan. Under the terms of the grant he was required to enclose a demesne of 350 acres. On this he was to build a bawn and within the bawn to erect a strong house or castle. He was also required to settle upon his estate a number of families of English or Scottish extraction. He was further required to establish fairs and markets, and also to establish courts for the administration of the law etc.
In the Pynnar (Survey of 1619) we are told that William Bailie had taken possession of his lands in
Cavan and that his castle was in the course of erection. It was also reported that a number of Scottish families had been settled on the estate. At a commission held in Castle Aubigny (Shercock) in 1629 to enquire into the progress being made by Bailie and the other grantees in the area in carrying out of the conditions set out in the terms of their several grants it was found that William Bailie had his castle completed and was living therein together with his wife and family, and that 28 British families had been settled on his estate.
William Bailie had two sons, William and Robert. William was educated in Trinity College, Dublin,
and was later ordained a minister. He served as rector in a number of parishes in Co. Cavan. In 1644 he received the degree of D.D. and two years later he was made bishop of Clonfert. His brother, Robert, entered the army. In 1640 he was reported as having command of a troop of Scottish soldiers in Cavan.
During the rising of 1641 Bailie’s Castle was attacked and captured by a body of Irish soldiers under Colonel Hugh O’Reilly. They held the castle and its inmates for a month and then departed carrying off a large number of cattle and horses.
William Bailie, senior, died about 1648 and his son, William inherited the castle and estate. The bishop
had one daughter, Anne, who married James Hamilton, third son of John Hamilton of Coroneary
Castle, and on the bishop’s death in 1666, Bailieborough Castle and estate passed into the hands of the Hamiltons. James Hamilton’s son Henry, succeeded his father. He was M.P. for Cavan, and during the Jacobite war he took the side of King William and was killed at the siege of Limerick. His successor
was his son, another James Hamilton, of whom more later.
During the years that the Bailies lived in Bailieborough Castle, a small hamlet or village grew up in
Lower Drumbannon, near where the Castle River emerges from the Castle Lake. The houses were
likely built of timber or mudwall and roofed with thatch. Later in the century, the Hamiltons
demolished the village and had it rebuilt in Upper Drumbannon, overlooking the Town Lake. It is
likely that this was the village that Sir Charles Coote wrote of in his survey in 1801.
In 1720, James Hamilton was granted a charter for the holding of fairs and markets on stated dates “in Newtown, alias Bailieborough” but he seems to have had a change of mind, for in 1724, he sold his castle and estate at Bailieborough and went to live on his estate at Hamilton’s Bawn in Co. Armagh.
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