The origins of Dowdstown
goes back probably to the ownership of the High Kings
of Tara. When the High Kings left Tara in the year 550,
Dowdstown became the property of local chieftans and
later a church was built on it. 
When the Normans conquered the country this church
was handed over to St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, by Eugene,
Bishop of Meath. The land came into the possessions
of the Dowdalls of Athlumney Castle and their steward
occupied the farm. In 1640 it consisted of 184 acres,
the church and the farmhouse. After the Battle of the
Boyne the 251 acre Dowdstown estate was granted to
Robert
Rochford. The estate was bought by Thomas Taylor, a
retired British general at the end of the 18th century.
A contemporary source says " The Hon. General Taylor
has a seat in the cottage style in a demesne of about
590 statute acres, of which about 240 are plantations".
The plantations were a pet project of the General's.
He had fought at Waterloo so he decided to lay out trees
to represent the placings of the regiments. Tall trees
signified the officers. He also built Dowdstown House
and gave employment in the district when there was little
paid employment available. The house was designed by
an architect called Lynn from Belfast in a neo-jacobite
design. The strapping around the wooden pillars and
panels are of this style
A profile of
the Taylor Family
The above-mentioned
Taylor family came to Ireland in 1653 to work with the
Irish Commission on the Down Survey of Ireland. It surveyed
and valued the land which had been confiscated by the
Cromwellian campaign in Ireland. Thomas capitalised
on the opportunity to acquire large amounts of land
in Ireland. In 1660, he sold his property in Sussex
and bought approximately 21,000 acres in Ireland. This
included 7,443 acres in County Meath, near Kells, where
he bought the townlands of Kenlis, Brownstown, Armagh,
and Bregagh. Thomas Taylor's estate was inherited by
his only surviving son, also called Thomas, who consolidated
his fathers wealth and elevated the family status in
post-Cromwellian Irish society, serving as a member
of Parliment for Kells during the period 1692 to 1736.
Thomas Taylor married Anne Cotton of Combermere, Cheshire,
in 1682 and they had eleven children. Robert was their
second son and it was he who built Prospect Houes, which
became known as Ardgillian Castle in later years. It
is situated near Skerries and is now owned by Dublin
County Council since it's sale in 1982. Robert died
unmarried in May 1744, and Prospect House and its estate
became the property of his eldest brother, Thomas the
second Baronet of Headford. Headford and Prospect House
came together under one branch of the family. He married
Sarah Graham of Platten, County Meath in 1974. Only
three of the six children survived childhood, Sarah,
Henrietta and Thomas. Sir Thomas died in 1757 and was
succeeded by his son, Thomas, who later became the first
earl of Bective. Headford house Kells was his primary
residence.
Prospect House in Skerries, Dublin was described by
the English antiquary, Austin Cooper in 1783 as "a
country seat of Lord Bective's" (An 18th Century
Antiquary by Austin Cooper, p82)
Thomas, The first Earl of Bective married Jane Rowley,
Viscountess Langford. They had five children. Thomas
the eldest inheritted Headford house, and Robert (1760-1839)
was to inherit Dowdstown House
Robert entered the
british army and it is this Robert to whom we have already
made reference, who fought at the battle of Waterloo
with Wellington. He did not marry and his home as we
have already stated was Dowdstown House, where he had
the grounds planted of the position of the troops before
the battle of Waterloo. He died on 23rd April 1839.
His brother, Henry Edward, was born at Headford on 13th
November, 1768. He lived at Arlington Castle and married
Marianne St. Ledger. Richard Chamber Hayes was on of
their seven children. He was born on 19th March 1819.
He was educated at Harrow, England and was later to
inherit Dowdstown House. He was called "great uncle
Dick". His brother Thomas Edward, was educated
at Eton and entered political life, following in the
footsteps of his grandfather, the First Earl of Bective,
and his great grandfather, Sir /thomas Taylor, both
of whom had been MP's for Meath. In 1874 he defeated
Charles Stuart Parnell in the election for one of the
two County Dublin seats.
On Marrianne Taylor's death in 1859, Ardgillan demesne
was inherited by her grandson Richard, and Thomas Edward
inherited Dowdstown House.
Richard served in Indis during the Indian Mutiny Canpaign
and regularlt wrote to Thomas Edward. THe following
is a letter he wrote in December 1858, to Thomas Edward,
from Camp Bulrampore on the Raptee, his love of hunting
is captured in this excerpt;
"There is
good tiger shooting not far off. If my brigade is left
on this side of the Gigra, Ihope to have some sport
bye and bye. There is a friendly Rajah here, a mighty
hunter, and with good elephants."
(The Letters of Richard Chambre Hayes Taylor to his
family, 1857-1859, The Taylor Family Papers)
Richard began his
militarl career in 1835. He would have only been 16
years of age then. He was a member of the 79th Regement
of Foot, the Cameron Highlanders. He was assigned to
a post at the Rock of Gibraltor in 1846. He was later
to serve at the Battle of Alma, in the Crimean War.
He was a major in the army at this time and served under
a general who was a good friend of the family, Sir Colin
Campbell. He remained in the Crimea until the armistice
of July 1855, after the storming of Malakoff. Richard
returned to England to remain at headquarters as Lieutenant-Colonel.
He looked after supplies and the training of recruits
for the British Army. In September 1857, Richard went
on a second experience of active military service to
India. He set sail from Southhampton on board the steamer
"Ripon". He journeyed for six weeks and arrived
in Calcutta on November 1st 1857. He awaited the arrival
of his regiment and during that period he stayed with
his 'aunt' Eliza Fagan. She was his mother's half-sister
and was married to the Chief Magistrate of Calcutta.
Here he was introduced to the colonial society of the
city. He wrote to his mother about certain aspects of
this culture he found difficult:
"..the tone
of society here is somewhat colonial; petty jealousies,
and absurd forms of etiquette, interfering rather with
my ideas of good company."
( Letter to his mother, 23rd November 1857)
Richard was in charge
of the third division, and was in the vanguard of General
Outram's force, as they tried to recapture the city
of Lucknow. His division was the first to cross the
River Goomtee as it advanced on the city. There was
a large number of casualties on both sides. It involved
heavy fighting for over two weeks where there was a
lot of close-quarter fighting within the streets of
the city. After the fall of Lucknow, Richard continued
to campaign in the north east of India supressing the
remaining pockets of resistance. It was at this time
also that his mother was dying. He tried to return home
but she died on March 22nd, 1859, while he was on route
from India to Southamption.. His diary records for May
7th 1859:
"Saw newspaper
of 4th April, read the death of my dearest mother. God's
will be done. Not unexpected, but still very painful.
Miserable all day."
(The 1859 Diary of Richard Chambre Hayes Taylor, The
Taylor Family papers.)
Richard married
Lady Jane Hay, the daughter of George the 8th Marquis
of Tweeddale, on 9th June 1863. They lived at Dowdstown
House, Navan the home of Richard's uncle, General Robert
Taylor, which Richard had owned since 1859. They had
six children . Constance Mary was born on 6th April,
1864; Gertrude Helene was born on 8th, July 1865; Milicent
Lilla Harriet was born on 8th November 1866; Evelyn
Beatrice Charolotte was born on 8th December 1867; Florence
Virginia Mathilde was born 5th July 1869 and their only
son, Richard Edward Montagu was born on 20th July 1871.
Their son Richard became a lieutenant in the East Surrey
Regiment and he served in South Africa where he "was
awarded a medal with three clasps, and the first world
war where he recieved two medals and a 1915 Star."
(Ardgillian Castle and the Taylor Family p44.)
The following axtract
from the same book tells us that:
"Even with mounting demands of family life,
Richard still pursued his army career and on 1st April
1867 he was made Inspecting Field Officed of a Recruiting
District. Eight years later at the age of 57, Richard
was promoted to Deputy Adjutant General on the 29th
November 1876 and one year later he was made a full
Lieutenant General. In 1882 he was conferred with the
title of Knight Commander of the Bath (K.C.B.)."
(Ardgillan Castle and the Taylor Family p44)
In the same year
he also took up the post of Governer of Sandhurst Royal
Military College. He remained at Sandhurst until he
retired in 1886. He was 67 years of age then.
It is assumed that not much of the time was spent at
Dowdstown.
General Sir Richard Chambre Hayes Taylor died on the
6th December 1904. He was 85 years old when he died.
He died in Chertsey, Surrey and is buried in the Tatlor
family vault in St. George Church, Balbriggan. Dowdstown
House remained in the possession of Richard's family
until 1927, when it was sold to the Columban Fathers.
His funeral cortege was made up of 300 men of the Cameron
Highlanders, under the command of Major George's M.Stuart
Riach. His regiment later erected a commemorative plaque
to his memory in St. George's Church Balbriggan. His
brother Thomas Edward M.P died in 1883. His son Edward
Richard inherited Ardgillan Demesne. This period in
Irish history underwent a gradual chande, whereby the
traditional power of the local landlord was weakened.
The Taylor family like all other families had come to
terms with the new circumstances that prevailed in Ireland.
Land acts enabled tenants to purchase back their land.
With the formathon of the Free State impetus towards
ownership increased and land owned by Edward Richard
Taylor in Dowdstown, Navan was purchased under the Land
Holding Acts in 1916.
An excerpt from
the Dragon magazine tells us that Dowdstown " was
rented out to sportsmen and officers whose regements
were in Dublin, with the result that it became and still
is a meeting place for the hunt." (p29)
It is commonly believed that the Dowdstown property
was rented from about 1870 by the families, Stuart,
Watts, and Singleton. The land was rented to local farmers.
As the British troops departed and with the rising costs
in living, tenants were harder to find and "for
the twelve years before 1926 Dowdstown was vacant"
(Dragon p29). By the mid twenties the property was in
disrepair. May Lynch told the writer that when she came
to Dowdstown with the Columban Fathers in 1929 , it
was well known that the cattle on the farm came into
the house as the door was open! There doesn't seem to
be any substance in the locally held belief that around1870
an Ainsworth family got posession. One legend says that
it was won from Headford in a game of cards! Another
legend has it that Ainsworth built a new victorian section,
and that this section is only half built, and that he
ran out of money in the process. Part of the story is
that he lost an expensive lawsuit. Another story is
that he intended his mansion to be a wedding present
for his bride, but because the marriage turned out to
be an unhappy one he did not complete his plans.
On November 13th,
1926 at the Bishop's house in Mullingar, the foundation
of a Columban House at Dowdstown became a reality
"The society of the Manooth Mission to China is
hereby authorised to open a house of their society at
Dowdstown House in the parish of Johnstown, in the diocese
of Meath...
Laurence Gaughran, Bishop of Meath
Witness: John Finegan..
Michael O'Dwyer
Witness: Rev. James Wilson.."
(Meath Diocesan Annals)
It was purchased
for 15,000 pounds. It became the new headquarters for
the Columban Fathers who brought the name Dalgan Park
with them from their previous home of that name, outside
of Ballinrobe. The new college was opened in 1941 but
Dowdstown house was still international headquarters
of the Columban Fathers until 1967 when they moved to
Dublin.
Bishop John McCormack
re-dedicated the House for use by the Meath diocese
as a retreat and pastoral centre in 1981. It was named
after one of the founder members of the Columban Society,
Fr. John Blowick.
