Illuminated address presented to Richard Charles Moore-Smyth (1859-1888) from his tenants on the Ballynatray Estate, to mark his coming of age.
By
John & Florence Gilbert, Cork
Watercolour, ink & pencil
The address depicts the house on the top left corner
and at the bottom the family coat of arms.
Sir Walter Raleigh was granted lands by an order
of 28 February 1587, which included the “Castle & Lands of
Ballinatray”. Raleigh returned to
England in December 1589, when he sub-let his lands at Ballinatray to Robert
Maule. Raleigh subsequently sold the
estate to Sir Richard Boyle in 1603. In
1611 Captain Richard Smith came into possession of Ballynatray.
In 1795 Grice Blakeney Smyth married Mary Broderick Mitchell, daughter and co- heir of Henry Mitchell of Mitchell's Fort, Co. Cork. The Hon. Charles William Moore Smyth was living in Ballynatray in 1870s. he was son of the Earl of Mountcashel and was Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. He married Charlotte Mary Smyth, an only child and heiress of Richard Smyth. Their son was a recipient of this address.
On
the death of Mr. Horace Holroyd Smyth in 1969 the house passed to his cousins,
the Ponsonbys of Kilcooley Abbey Co. Tipperary. It was sold in 1995 to the
Boissevain family who carried out an extensive reconstruction. In 2004 they
sold it to Henry Gwyn-Jones.
Illuminated address presented to Richard Charles Moore-Smyth (1859-1888) from his tenants on the Ballynatray Estate, to mark his coming of age.
