Tuesday 24 July 2012

8th Earl Castle Stewart

The Castle Stewart coat-of-arms provides an indication of the Stuart family's ancient and historic lineage: Split into four, the first quarter depicts the royal arms of Scotland; the second quarter, Stuart; the third, Lennox; and the fourth, Macduff.

During the 15th century, Andrew Stuart, the founder of the Castle Stewart/Stuart family, whose progenitor was none other than ROBERT II, King of Scotland; hence the Earls Castle Stewart can boast an illustrious pedigree.

The Rt Hon Arthur Patrick Avondale [Stuart] is the 8th Earl Castle Stewart and 15th Baronet.

Lord Castle Stewart is a retired farmer. He served as a lieutenant in the Scots Guards in 1949; Fellow of the Institute of Management, 1978.

His mother Eleanor, Countess Castle Stewart, was daughter of Solomon R Guggenheim of New York, USA.

Lord Castle Stewart for the second time in 2004, at City Hall in Belfast, Gillian Savill, now the Countess Castle Stewart. He lists his hobbies as being woodland management, travel, walking and singing.

The 8th Earl has one son, Andrew Richard Charles Stuart, styled Viscount Stuart; and one daughter, Lady Bridget Wadey.


Lord and Lady Castle Stewart have homes in London and at Stuart Hall estate, near Stewartstown in County Tyrone, the ancestral seat. The mansion was destroyed by the IRA in 1972 and a bungalow was built in its place in 1987.

I have compiled a collection of photographs of the old mansion here.

The illustration of Stuart Hall courtesy of BQ Postcards. First published in December, 2009.

7 comments :

Anonymous said...

I honestly thought the castle was still there. Looking at your photograph, I was thinking it looked quite charming (and manageably sized!) It's sad that it was so recently done to death. I wonder what the new house is like?

Anonymous said...

There are also some pictures of their other seat, Drum Manor:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31076048@N03/3284527757/

and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixel_pixie/sets/72157622501924120/detail/

Timothy Belmont said...

A shame it was blown up; a house built in 1760.

I'll be posting about the C-S Estate shortly with more info.

Tim

Timothy Belmont said...

Looking at the post-card you'd swear Stuart Hall had been 2-storey; though I've seen it from the rear- side and it's really 3-storey.

Tim

Anonymous said...

Presumably the parapet is disguising the third storey from the front...

Anonymous said...

Drum Manor was the Seat of the Richardson Brady Family. Augusta Richardson Brady married the 5th Earl Castle Stewart

David said...

My paternal grandparents worked at Stuart Hall, my grandmother being the housekeeper and my grandfather being the land steward. My father was born at Stuart Halland myself and my younger brother spent many happy summer holidays there from the late 1950s until the mid to late 1960s.

If there is anyway I could contact the present Earl to get permission to walk around my boyhood playground again I would be most grateful for those contact details. My family will be well known to the Stuarts and I can confirm my provenance if they require.