﻿ Dunmore House, Carrigans
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St Johnston & Carrigans

Dunmore House

Dunmore House is built outside Carrigans near the site of an ancient stone fort.  The remains of the fort can be found in the woods around the house. 

The site of the house was chosen for the view over the lake and it is certain that the inhabitants of the first mansion there would have been able to watch the construction of Derry hundreds of years ago.  The original house was built probably around 1620.  It was burned down by the army of King James.   The remains of the house were demolished in 1709. A new house was constructed.  It is believed that the cellars of the existing house are all that is left of that mansion.    It was renovated and additions were made to it in 1742 by Captain John McClintock.   And the house has been basically unchanged since then.

A major factor in the selection of the site for the House was probably that it was located along the Derry to Dublin road.  It is believed that in 1688, the army of King James used this road and attacked Protestant households on the way and burned many people out.  The village of Carrigans was gutted.

Dunmore passed into the McClintocks, a family of Scottish origin, when William McClintock married Elizabeth Harvey in 1689 daughter of the then owner William Harvey.  William McClintock took part in the Siege of Derry.   It was his son Captain John who extended and renovated the house in 1742.

A descendant, Colonel Robert Lyle McClintock was born on 26th March 1874.  In 1893, he became Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 25 July 1893.  He became Lieutenant in 1902.  He served during the South African at the turn of the century.  He received medals for his service in the army.  In 1904 he became captain.  He married Jennie Casson Walker on November 11 1908.  They resided at Dunmore House.  Jennie developed psychological problems and shot their son and then herself in 1938.  The Colonel died a few years later in 1943.

A tree in the grounds of the house near the road fell during Hurricane Debbie in the 1960's.  Strangely the branches grew up making it appear that there was a tree trunk there lying on the ground with other trees growing up of out of it.  This can still be seen today.

Today the house belongs to Sir John McFarland and Lady Marietta McFarland and has done since 1954.

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