Echlin of Sandbrook
Extracted
from the CARLOW GENTRY
By kind permission of the
author JIMMY O'TOOLE
Had Thomas Echlin (1844 - 1906) got a name-plate on the door
of his office in the Royal Irish Constabulary depot in the
Phoenix Park before he retired in 1889. it would have read
"Sir Thomas Echlin, Bart - Sergeant R.I.C." An unlikely
career one would have thought for the heir to one of the
oldest Baronetcies in Ireland. His reduced circumstances
were the result of a dispute four decades earlier over the
ownership of the family estates. Complicated by a plethora
of mortgages and loans, it took court proceedings lasting
twenty years to unravel the financial maze, and in the end,
left the once-wealthy Echlin family in penury.
The court case opened in 1827, and when concluded in 1850,
most of the residue, after loan repayments were made, was
paid out in legal fees The origins of the dispute went back
to the death of the third Baronet, Sir Henry Echlin. who
died without an heir in 1799; he was succeeded by his first
cousin. Sir James Echlin. against whom the proceedings were
instituted by other members of the family. He died while the
court case was still at hearing in 1833. when the title
passed to his son. Sir Frederick Henry Echlin who died
unmarried in 1871. His brother. Sir Ferdinand Fenton Echlin.
the 6th Baronet, died six years later.
His son. Sergeant Thomas Echlin. born 1844. inherited the
title and little else in 1877. Gone were the estates they
once had in Carlow. Wicklow, Galway and Kildare. Sir Bernard
Burke, writing in Vicissitudes of Families,
remarked
that "Fenton continues to reside at Kilmeague. County
Kildare, deriving his support from his sons, very deserving
young men. one a policeman (Thomas), another a private
soldier in the Life Guards, and the third a footman".
What Thomas did inherit with the title were the family
heirlooms, including the sword used by Lieutenant General
Robert Echlin at the Battle of the Boyne On the walls of his
office hung family portraits, and armorial bearings of the
Echlin's. Another treasure was an oak box containing
parchments, family records, and deeds to the former family
estates. For Sir Thomas, the title became a source of
irritation and annoyance, particularly among his senior
R.I.C officers. Protocol demanded that he be saluted by all
and sundry in the ranks, and he was entitled to be addressed
"Sir" Such was the climate of the times that such matters
could not be easily ignored, and on a number of occasions, a
civil service posting abroad was considered for him.
It is not entirely clear if any of the family's Carlow estates were
part of the property in dispute during the court case Anne
Echlin, a spinster living at Stephen's Green. Dublin, owned
Sandbrook when she died in 1804. and in her will proved in
April the following year, she confirmed a letting agreement
for the house and 165 acres of land with Clement Wolseley.
The lease was for 61 years, and the rental per acre was
4()s. She left the property, consisting in total of 500
acres, to Robert Marshall of Dublin, and he sold to Brownes
of Browne's Hill for
£488 in 1808. A "for sale" advertisement which appeared in
the Correspondent
on Saturday, June 18th. 1808 stated
- "Let to very solvent tenants at rents no higher than what
was paid for the ground 40 years ago".
The first Echlin home in Carlow was at Millpark, Kilbride,
built in the 17th century for one of the four daughters of
the Rev. Henry Echlin, Bishop of Down and Connor, from 1613,
who came to Ireland from Scotland during the reign of King
James I. It was his great-grandson, Henry Echlin, second
Baron of the Court of Exchequer, who was created a Baronet
in October 1712. His eldest son, who was an M.P., first for
Downpatrick, and later for Newry, married Penelope Eustace,
daughter of Sir Maurice Eustace of Harristown, County
Kildare.
Millpark House was either leased
or bought by the Tomlinsons around 1670, and remained in the
ownership of this family until the death, in 1958, of
Harriet Tomlinson. The estate, which comprised 452 acres in
1839, was sold to the Land Commission by William Tomlinson,
and after the division of the land, the house was purchased
by Sheila Eustace Harvey, a member of the Eustace family of
Newstown. It is now the home of her son. Robin Harvey, and
his wife Carole Joan.
The present drawing-room at Millpark. originally the
kitchen, still retains some of its original features,
including the wooden rafters, now well darkened by turf
smoke The arch of the old fireplace is of local cut granite,
and inside is a rounded fire-bricked oven for bread making.
The large chimney had a crane fitted halfway up. enabling
sides of bacon to be pulled into the flue and cured to
perfection. Hooks are still in place on the rafters of the
room where meat and other food items were hung. The drawing
room ceiling is very unusual for a farmhouse. In 1720,
Italian students who had been befriended by the Tomlinsons,
returned the hospitality by completing elaborate Rococo
plasterwork in the form of a hub and circle of wheat cars
and stalks. The cornice was completed in the "small egg and
dart" style.
Mark Bence-Jones in his book
"Burke's Guide to Irish
Country Houses" dates the original house at Sandbrook to
the 18th century, with-the two wings being added later. The
lease to Clement Wolseley is interesting because it supports
local tradition that the first home of the family at Mount
Arran. on the opposite side of the road to where Mount
Wolseley was built, was burned during the 1798 Rebellion.
William Browne-Clayton moved to live in Sandbrook after his
marriage to Caroline Watson-Barton in 1867. and remained
there until he inherited Browne's Hill on the death of his
father, Robert Browne-Clayton, in 1888 There is a
commemorative plaque in Aghade Church to William's second
eldest son. also William, who was killed in action in India
in September 1897.
Sandbrook was another example of the many Irish country houses that
attracted senior British army officers when they retired
after the First and Second World Wars. General George Lewis
bought the house in 1918. and after his wife's death in
1938. the property was purchased by Brigadier Arthur George
Rolleston. who had retired from the army. Born in 1883. he
served in both World
Wars, was made O.B.E. in 1918. and saw action in Italy and
France. In 1959. Sandbrook was purchased by John and Mary
Allnatt. whose herd of Blonde d'Aquitaine cattle was among
the top prize winners at agricultural shows throughout
Britain and Ireland, including the Royal Dublin Society
Spring Show, the Royal Welsh Show, and the Royal Ulster
Show. In the 1960s, Mrs. Allnatt purchased Rathmore Park for
her son from her first marriage. Brendan Foody, but after he
had decided not to return to live in Ireland. Rathmore was
sold. He inherited Sandbrook following his mother's death in
September 1987. The farm manager there is Joe Whelan.
Before his death. John Allnatt. a wealthy financier, paid a quarter
of a million pounds for Rubens' painting of the Madonna and
Child to prevent the masterpiece leaving Britain, and he
presented it to King's College. Oxford.
Source: THE ADVERTISER
1995
