The Stewarts
In the time of the O’Neills, the village that became
Newtownstewart had been known at various times as Lislass, Lislap, Baile Nua
& Baile an t-seancaislean.
Early years of the Plantation 1610 James Clapham
(Clephan) was granted (bought?) the ‘Newtowne’ lot in August 1610. This
comprised 3000 acres. In 1618 he sold out to Sir Robert Newcomen.
20th July 1629 Newcomen’s son-in-law William
Stewart became the local land-owner. The Stewarts (of course) gave the town its
name.
In 1682 William’s son became a peer of Ireland with the
title 1st Viscount Mountjoy. His son married the daughter of
Viscount Blessington in 1696.
This was the start of the Mountjoy-Blessington dynasty…
Newtownstewart
sold
The second Lord Mountjoy and Earl of Blessington died in
1829, in severe debt. Parliament appointed a ‘Court of Commissioners’ to sell
off any such estates and in 1848 Newtownstewart came on the market.
The sale, by public auction began in Dublin on 23rd
November 1846.
It involved almost
the whole of Newtownstewart town and nearly every townland in the parish and, of
course, attracted widest interest. Lot 1 e.g. comprised the townlands of
Deerpark, Grange, Rakelly, Crosh holme and the town and townparks of
Newtownstewart: in all 1,969 acres producing a rental of £1,307. Sold
ultimately to Mr. Daniel Baird, merchant and magistrate of Derry, but a native
of Tyrone, for £26,050. There was included another piece of land, making in all
upwards of 2,000 acres and producing a present rent exceeding £1,400 a year but
the Government valuation is worth £2,800 a year…sold together with the Town all
the rights and privileges of Lord of the Manor (Ardstraw – Historical Survey
of a Parish, John H. Gebbie 1968)
Daniel Baird
(Image from ‘The Maiden City and the Western Ocean’ by Sholto
Cooke, 1961)
Baird was born in 1795 & brought up in Castlefin,
County Donegal, where the family had a general store. He was married twice; his
first wife was Mary Wauchob. They married in 1824 and had four children.
Mary died in 1837; Daniel married Barbara Delap in 1839.
Daniel and Barbara had one daughter
Daniel’s career as a merchant and ship-owner began in the early
1820s and his success and wealth increased steadily throughout the next two
decades.
Daniel became Mayor of Derry in 1847, the year he bought
Newtownstewart. Up to that time he lived in a villa – Cassina - in the south of
the city; in 1849 he bought a mansion in Derry known as Boom Hall.
Not only was Daniel Mayor of the city but he was, at
various times, Chief Magistrate of Derry, Chairman of the Port and Harbour
Commissioners and High Sheriff of Tyrone in 1854
Daniel Baird died on March 2nd, 1862 at his home,
Boom Hall.
His properties in the Newtownstewart area were passed
down the family line until his descendant
Lt-Col. Charles Edgar Maturin-Baird (1899-1994) was
required by the Irish Land laws to sell most of his property to the sitting
tenants in 1932.
For more information on Daniel Baird see
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