Capt.Sir John Power , eldest son. Of Kilfane. Of Tullamaine, co. Tipperary, A List of Irish Stockholders, 1779. Power, Adam aged 13 Power John aged 11 Power Richard aged 8 Power Ambrose aged 2 p. of Tullamaine, c Tiperary 1st four s. of John P. of same, Esq., by wife Jane 1801 To Kilfane, Mr Power has added a new front and other improvements, which render it not only an excellent house, but a good specimen of architecture. [Tighe] 30.4.1808 John Power, Kilfane. [LJnl] Mr. Power brought with him to Kilfane his pack of foxhounds and later established the Kilkenny Hunt Club with his brother Richard. At the time, the countryside was to a great extent unenclosed with few fences to be seen and it is said that while John Power resided at Derrynahinch he could follow his hounds along the Walsh Mountains to the bridge of Waterford without jumping a fence. Having settled at Kilfane, he proceeded to build kennels, the ruins of which can still be seen behind the house in Sunnyvale and where years later an unfortunate man was eaten to death by hungry foxhounds. A circular courtyard ran round the front of the kennels which were well planned and well situated as regards aspect. The local menfolk, principally the tradesmen, found welcome employment on the estate. There was also extensive tree planting and the construction of gorses, earths and fox coverts, as in the early period Mr. Power had to rely on woodlands and rough natural coverts. He availed himself of patches of natural gorse in wild places and enclosed and enlarged them but many he planted such as Castlewarren, Bishopslough, Cloghala, Dunbell and Knockroe. Others such as Ballyfoyle, Ballysallagh and Clara he merely fenced. He took Grennan Wood on lease as a nursery for foxes, and for timber thinnings and oak bark. At the close of the 18th century and for some years after, his was the only established pack of county foxhounds in Ireland so he was practically free to hunt where he pleased, going as far as Tullow in County Carlow, Coolattin in County Wicklow, parts of Wexford and as far at Durrow Wood in County Laois. He often kept his pack in Kilkenny for a week at a time hunting the countryside around the City and the dinners at night at Rice's Hotel (later to become The Club House) were famous for good wine and good fellowship. In Kilfane Demesne at the time there was a well stocked deer park, various cattle fattening houses, a water driven flour mill and a salt house at 'Ballarow', but the mill had been previously sold by the Bushes to Sydenham Davis of Dangan. A short distance from the front of the house there was a beautiful fruit garden and adjoining it an orchard covering approximately 14 acres with an Ice House situated among the apple trees. An "appleman" was employed full time and occupied a small house called 'The Appleman's House' which was situated just below the Ice House. The Thomastown Farming Society was founded in 1800 with Sir John Power of Kilfane as President. It was one of the first such societies to be founded and was regarded at the time as a model. Prizes were given for the best managed farm, the tidiest cottage, the best crops of turnips and potatoes, the best rickmaker, and the best ploughman with horses and oxen. Prizes were also given for livestock, for the spinning of the best quality flax, and a reward of one guinea was given to every owner of a cart with an iron axle and two pence for every live rat. With improving times, many of the old hovels throughout the demesne were knocked on the instruction of the landlord. Thirteen of them were burned on one evening in Summerhill. It was said that Lady Power didn't like the look of them and ordered them destroyed, presumably because of their squalid condition. These little hovels or cabins as they were called once stood on the 'Knockarua' side about half way up the Summerhill Road at the bottom of the 'Blue Door Hill.' After the burning, a local woman named Marg Grady, who lived near Cuddihy's well on the road between Kilfane and Stroan fountain, went down to Kilfane House, got in through a window, went to the dining room where the supper was in progress and cursed all the Powers for so many generations. It was said that nothing was said to her and she was led out by the butler. Evictions were rare, but a number did occur in the locality principally up Summerhill, at the bridge of Kilfane, where one of the Powers was said to have been knocked from his horse, and at Closgregg where fifteen families were evicted on a May morning. Larger houses had been constructed in the demesne for the tenants', generally with two rooms up and two down, the kitchen being the largest with the table positioned in the middle of the flag floor, a settlebed in the corner for the odd guest or "fear siulach", and an enormous chimney supported by two large wooden beams. The fire was on the open hearth. Every locality had its "ramblin" house where the men would sit down in the glare of the fire on a winter's night and relate old stories of ghosts and grizzly deeds which would chill the blood of the attentive listners, made all the more eerie by the dark shadows which lurked beyond the candlelight or the paraffin lamp on the wall. An old story around Stoneen tells of two gamekeepers employed in Kilfane Demesne called Bowmann and Beecham. They had separate paths of wood under Kilfane Cottage to patrol at night. The story goes that both fought for the hand of a local girl in the wood one night resulting in Beecham shooting Bowmann dead. Nothing is known of what befell Beecham following the incident but it is firmly believed that Bowmann's ghost walks the wood on a certain night of the year and a track in the wood is still known as "Bowmann's Walk." see http://homepage.tinet.ie/~duchas/steeples/SteepleVol1/oldtimeskilfane. htm Sir Richard and Sir John Power of Kilfane In 1802 established the Kilkenny Private Theatre. This was hugely successful in once more elevating Kilkenny to an important cultural centre as many honourable visitors came to the city to experience the artistic and literary. We are delighted to see Kilkenny once again thriving on the artistic and cultural with its festivals, two professional theatre companies, seven amateur companies and, indeed the new theatre. LANDOWNERS IN WICKLOW 1876 Part 6 42. Sir John Power, address Kilfane, owned 367 acres. GLANMIRE cor Lota Park Rogers - Power - Roche - Molony - Ware - Murphy - Beamish 1801 Built by John Power; then owned by John Roche; John Molony; William Ware. Bought ca. 1837 by J.J. Murphy. Library added by John Roche. M. Bence-Jones, A Guide to Irish Country Houses, London, 1988. Numerous lettings. Rogers family ca. 1694. Owned 1855 by Lieut Col North L. Beamish, FRS. of Kilfane, co. Tipperary.
|