The Entrance Hall of Ashbrook House

During our stay in the beautiful Faughan Valley County Derry we had the opportunity to take a tour of Ashbrook House. Situated in 30 acres of mature parkland, Ashbrook House has been the home of the Ash family since before the Plantations of Ulster. We were given a great tour by Melanie, whose family first built the house in the late-sixteenth century.


The Estate was said to be a gift from Queen Elizabeth I to General Thomas Ash for his services during the Nine Years War in Ireland. The war raged from 1594 – 1603, when the great Earls of Ulster Hugh O’Neill and Hugh O’Donnell rose in rebellion against the English control of Ireland. This war was to be the biggest conflict fought by England during Elizabeth’s reign with more than 18,000 troops engaged at the height of the conflict. Despite initial successes for the Irish forces at the Battle of the Yellow Ford, the war eventually came to an end following the Battle of Kinsale which was a decisive victory for the English forces, and led to the Flight of the Earls. Hugh O’Neill, Rory O’Donnell and about 90 other followers fled Ireland. This is seen as a pivotal moment in Irish history. The Earls believed that they were going to return at the head of a large continental army to secure Irish independence, however this was not to be the case. Hugh O’Neill died within a few short years of his exile, and Spain and England secured a peace treaty. Gradually the Gaelic order of life in Ireland began to disintegrate and the plantations of Ireland, particularly the Ulster plantations, continued unhindered.

The front of the house

The Ash family have been entwined in the history of the region. During the Siege of Derry in 1689 Ashbrook was partially burned by King James soldiers as the Ash family were loyal to King William and were besieged in the city. It was Captain Thomas Ash who wrote the most widely accepted diary of the events of the siege, and it was his sister Jane who married Captain Browning who commanded the fleet that famously relieved the starving city and broke the siege.

The house is a two-storey, bow fronted house and the oldest part of the house is thought to date to the late sixteenth century, you can notice the older parts of the structure by the low ceilings and much thicker walls. Entering through the grand entrance hallway you’ll quickly notice that the house is steeped in the families history and everywhere you look there are portraits, artefacts and mementos that tell a thousand stories and tales of the Beresford-Ash family. Melanie told us some of these tales and it was a fun and fascinating journey through her families history, it is no exaggeration to say that you could easily spend days just looking at all the different pieces of furniture, items or paintings that fill the house, it is an absolute feast for the eyes! We had the opportunity to see numerous rooms, each with its own character and stories – it was a truly fascinating way to spend a morning. If you are visiting Derry then do make an appointment to visit Ashbrook, this beautiful historical house makes a lovely counterbalance to the thriving and bustling city, I highly recommend a visit!

You can find out more about Ashbrook and book a tour by visiting their website http://www.ashbrookestate.com/ and they have great Facebook and Twitter accounts too that are well worth a follow to see great pictures and info about this beautiful house.

While you are visiting Ashbrook do drop in to the lovely Beech Hill Country House for a walk around their beautiful grounds to discover where the US Marines were based during WWII and you can enjoy some gorgeous food! For more information about the lovely Faughan Valley and to find accommodation please visit http://www.discoverfaughanvalley.com/

I hope you enjoy our blog, if anyone has any suggestions for places to visit I’d love to hear them. Please leave a comment below or find us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

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Ashbrook House from the air

Bronze Age Ireland saw the construction of new types of stone monuments in the landscape, the large court-tombs and passage tombs of the Neolithic gave way to the smaller wedge tombs, cist-burials, stone circles, rows, alignments and solitary standing stones. Here in the peaceful Faughan Valley just outside of Derry you can see a whole prehistoric Bronze Age landscape with numerous monuments scattered throughout the region.

The first of these that we visited were these prominent standing stones at Clagan. There are three standing stones visible here though only one still stands vertical, originally they probably formed a small stone row. They seem to be put to good use by the bullocks who were enjoying a good scratch on them when we arrived. There are beautiful views down the Faughan Valley from the hill on where the stones stand, and this site is well worth a look if you’re in the area. To find the standing stones, take the B74 Glenshane Road from Claudy, then take the second left onto the Clagan Road and you’ll see the stones in a field around 400m south-east of Clagan Bridge. Park safely on the road but as there are livestock in the fields surrounding the stones, please be sure to close all gates behind you.

We weren't the only ones interested in the standing stones at Clagan, these local archaeology enthusiasts beat us to it

At Ballygroll you can find a quite remarkable collection of prehistoric monuments, all clustered together on a sandy ridge at Slievegore Hill. Much of the site is covered by bog, but excavations in the late 1970s revealed part of a large prehistoric complex. The identified remains include a court tomb, two wedge tombs, a circular stone cairn, a barrow, two stone circles, cist burials and prehistoric field walls.

Part of the remains of the Neolithic Court-tomb

The earliest monument discovered at Ballygroll is a Neolithic court tomb (this type of monument generally dates from around 4000–2500 BC). The capstone of the tomb appears to have faint cup marks as decoration. The wedge tombs are from the end of the Neolithic period or Early Bronze Age (around 2500–2000 BC) and the stone circles probably date to the Early Bronze Age (2500–1500 BC). Archaeologists dated the barrow to the Late Bronze Age, all of this shows that this region on the hills around the fertile Faughan Valley was an important and thriving place in prehistoric Ireland for over three millennia. Ballygroll was likely to be just the tip of the iceberg, the whole flanks of the Loughermore Mountain was recorded to have large numbers of prehistoric monuments during the mapping in the 1830s, but apart from Ballygroll much has been lost due to agricultural land reclamation over the years.

The bog that surrounds the features and the plantlife that partially obscures them are in themselves interesting and worth a visit, with mosses, lichens, flowers and insects giving you an accessible and fun introduction to Irish bogs. Sometimes the plantlife can make finding the monuments something of a challenge, and it’s probably best visited on a dry day after a frost rather than in the height of summer when the grasses are at their highest.

We got to Ballygroll by driving on a minor road north from Ervey Crossroads to Highmoor. The site was signposted. There was no parking at Ballygroll but we parked on the laneway leading down to the site. You’ll find a large interpretation panel with a map of the features, it’s worth taking a quick snap of this on your camera to allow you to reference back and keep your bearings on this expansive site.

At sites such as Ballygroll you'll often find quartz which appears to have held significance in the Neolithic and Bronze Age

Even a quick glance at a copy of the Ordnance Survey Discoverer Map 7 will show the wealth of prehistoric sites in this small region. These are just some of the incredible sites you can see in this beautiful part of rural County Derry. While you are in the area be sure to pay a visit to Ashbrook House, a beautiful estate that has been home to the same family since the 1590s. For more information about the lovely Faughan Valley and to find accommodation please visit http://www.discoverfaughanvalley.com/

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The capstone of a Bronze Age cist burial at Ballygroll

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The wealthy and flamboyantly eccentric Earl Bishop of Derry, Fredrick Augustus Hervey (1730–1803), chose the beautifully dramatic headland of Downhill in County Derry to build his grand country house. He spent a fortune on the finest architects and designers, and had the grounds beautifully landscaped with follies and iconic features.

He filled the house with artwork by European masters like Rubens, Raphael, Murrillo and Tintoretto, and it became one of the key venues for high society in the 18th century. One of the estate’s most iconic features, the famous Mussenden Temple, perches on the edge of the cliff above the sea. It was named after Mrs Frideswide Mussenden, the Earl Bishop’s cousin and close friend, who died shortly before its completion.

The temple was designed by Michael Shanahan, a master mason from Co Cork. The Latin inscription around the dome is from Lucretius, it translates to:

Tis pleasant to watch from the land the great struggling of others when the winds whip up the waves on a mighty sea.

The temple was the Bishop’s library, and though he himself was a Protestant earl bishop, Hervey allowed the room below the library to be used for Catholic mass. Unfortunately a devastating fire swept through the mansion in 1851 and destroyed most of the contents. It was rebuilt and lived in until the 1940s, but it never regained the majestic opulence of Hervey’s tenure. Today it is a beautiful place to explore, where you will encounter famous features like the Mussenden Temple, the Lion’s Gate and the mansion itself.

You’ll find Downhill on the scenic A2 Coastal Road, just north-west of Coleraine at 55.162320, -6.813288. It is on the railway line between Derry and Coleraine, described by Michael Palin as “one of the most beautiful rail journeys in the world” – it certainly looks like a nice commute to me!

I really hope you enjoy our blog. If you'd like to discover more stories about Irish history, archaeology and culture and if you'd like to support us you can download audioguides from my website www.abartaheritage.ie, where we have 25 guides that tell the story of Irish heritage and the majority are absolutely free to download. 

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Do you have any suggestions for great sites to visit? I’d love to hear them, please do leave a comment below or you can contact me at info@abartaaudioguides.com