Estate: Ball (Fort Fergus)

Associated Families

• Ball (Fort Fergus)
• Ross-Lewin (Ross Hill)
• Clive (Co Clare) (Baron Clive of Plassey, Co Clare; Earl of Powis)

Description

William Hawkins Ball was the eldest son of Benjamin Ball of Dublin and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of the Reverend James Hawkins, Bishop of Raphoe. He was born in 1797 and in 1845 married Juliana Salana, fifth daughter of Standish O’Grady, 1st Viscount Guillamore. He died at Ranelagh, Dublin in 1864. Most of the Ball estate was in the parish of Kilchreest, barony of Clonderalaw, county Clare but they also held a townland in the parish of Kilmihil. In the 1870s the representatives of Major W. H. Ball owned over 3,000 acres in county Clare and 78 acres in county Kilkenny. William and Julia Ball do not appear to have had any children and Weir writes that the heir presumptive was William’s nephew, Richard Hawkins Beauchamp. When Richard Hawkins Beauchamp, a resident of Dublin, died in 1904 he left £423,926 in his will. Walfords records a William Hawkins Ball of Fort Fergus and Ballinacally in 1910. By 1909 he had agreed the sale of his county Clare estate of 2,705 acres with the Congested Districts' Board. He wished to repurchase 305 acres. This William was born in 1874, the son of Captain William St. James Ball.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Fort Fergus (H1603) A home of the Ross Lewin family in the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1786 Wilson refers to it as the seat of J. RossLewin. Occupied by Mr Evans in 1814 and by Daniel O'Grady in 1837 and held by Major William Ball in fee in the 1850s, when the buildings were valued at over £32. Bence Jones writes that Major Ball purchased Fortfergus in 1855 in the Encumbered Estates' Court. Weir writes that the house was burnt down in the 1920s. The remaining staff quarters have been turned into a residence and the farm buildings are still in use.	Fortfergus	Kilchreest	Killadysert	Ballynacally 65	Clonderalaw	Clare	Lat/Lon: 52.72800 -9.03922 OSI Ref: R298 646 Discovery map #57. OS Sheet #50.
Cornfield (H2128) Occupied by Westropp Ross in 1814 this house was in the possession of Major William Ball by the time of Griffith's Valuation, when the buildings were valued at £48. Later occupied by members of the Dawson family. The house no longer exists but a gate lodge is still extant.	Cornfield	Kilchreest	Killala	Ballynacally 65	Clonderalaw	Clare	Lat/Lon: 52.72785 -9.05698 OSI Ref: R286 646 Discovery map #57. OS Sheet #50.

Archival sources

• James Hardiman Library, National University of Ireland, Galway: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (Dunboyne), Stacpoole, Ball & Cullinan, 5 Apr 1855, Vol 8, 39-48
• National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Stacpoole, Ball & Cullinan, 5 Apr 1855, Vol 34 (19), MRGS 39/016, (microfilm copy in NUIG)

Contemporary printed sources

Many of these resources are now available online. For a list with Web links please see the Online Printed Sources Links

• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Killadysert Union, 5
• BATEMAN, John. The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Harrison, 1883. : 24
• HUSSEY DE BURGH, U. H. The Landowners of Ireland. An alphabetical list of the owners of estates of 500 acres or £500 valuation and upwards in Ireland. Dublin: Hodges, Foster and Figgis, 1878. [available online at www.askaboutireland.ie] : 18
• LEET, Ambrose. A directory to the market towns, villages, gentlemen's seats, and other noted places in Ireland. Dublin: Printed by B. Smith, 1814 : 132 (Corn-field), 187 (Fort-Fergus)
• LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: II, 60 (Fort Fergus)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion..., HC 1906, c, 177: 219 (Cornfield & Fortfergus)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. 24th Annual Report of the Congested Districts' Board for Ireland, [Cd 8356], HC 1916, vi, 564-586. Appendix VIII: 41
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 107
• SLATER, Isaac. Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats. (Manchester: 1894) : xxvii & 219 (Fortfergus)
• WALFORD, Edward. 'The County families of the United Kingdom. London: Chatto & Windus, 1885): p.46

Modern printed sources

• North Munster Antiquarian Journal: LOGAN, John. Robert Clive's Irish Peerage and Estate, 1761-1842. XLIII (2003), 1-19
• BENCE-JONES, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 126 (Fortfergus)
• HOWARD, Joseph Jackson and CRISP, Frederick Arthur (eds). Visitation of Ireland. Baltimore: reprint by Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., 1973: V, 60-68 (Guillamore)
• WALFORD. County Families of the United Kingdom. London: Spottiswoode & Co. Ltd., 1910: 52
• WEIR, Hugh W. L. Historical, Genealogical and Architectural notes on some Houses of Clare. Whitegate, county Clare: Ballinakella Press, 1999. : 87, 127-128