*Finnebrogue: A Storied Estate in County Down
Finnebrogue is reputed—though somewhat improbably—to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in Northern Ireland. Nestled between the Quoile River and Strangford Lough, the estate also encompasses the evocative ruins of the 12th-century Cistercian Abbey of Inch.
The land was acquired around 1628 by Henry Maxwell, second son of the Rev. Robert Maxwell, Dean of Armagh. The Maxwells, a Lowland Scots family who had settled in the Pale during Elizabeth I’s reign, secured a lease in perpetuity from Thomas Cromwell, 4th Baron Cromwell—later created Earl of Ardglass in 1645—and great-grandson of Henry VIII’s infamous minister.
It remains unclear whether a house stood on the site at that time, but the current structure can be confidently dated to around 1660. A dendrochronological survey conducted in 2012, during a restoration, revealed that the oak floor joists were felled in 1662, suggesting construction likely began around 1660–1661.
By 1713, Henry Maxwell’s grandson—the Right Honourable Henry Maxwell, a longstanding member of the Irish House of Commons—had significantly expanded the estate and was earning £600 per year in rental income. Several generations later, in the 1790s, Dorothea Maxwell, the family heiress, married John Waring and oversaw major renovations. Around 1795, the central range of the house was modified: the attic floor and dormer windows were removed, internal walls restructured, and a grand *piano nobile was created. These changes rendered the second stories of the east and west wings accessible only by separate staircases.
The 19th century brought advantageous marriages, notably that of John Waring Maxwell to Madelina Kerr in 1817—whose wedding gift remains in the house today. Other unions linked the family with the Percevals of County Waterford and the Moores. By the 1850s, the estate supported 75 full-time staff and 200 labourers. At its height, Finnebrogue comprised 8,649 acres, with the family owning additional properties in southern Ireland, London, and Amherst Island in Canada.
Throughout this period, the family produced Members of Parliament at Westminster, esteemed gardeners, Justices of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenants for County Down, and military officers. Though the Irish Land Acts eventually reduced the estate to 1,000 acres, the Perceval-Maxwells—as the family came to be known—remained prominent and were renowned breeders of Shorthorn and Hereford cattle.
The house left family ownership in 1996. However, a meticulous restoration project from 2011 to 2015 preserved all the key features of the 1795 renovations while modernizing infrastructure such as heating, electricity, and kitchens to contemporary standards.
The estate's legacy is further enriched by the Perceval-Maxwell Papers, a remarkable archive spanning 1606 to 1969. Comprising over 200 volumes and 15,500 documents, the collection offers detailed insight into estate life, from garden designs to wine bills. Two particularly compelling series of letters, addressed to Robert Maxwell from his younger brother Edward and brother-in-law Hugh Montgomery, describe military life between 1739 and 1763. These include vivid eyewitness accounts of the Battles of Dettingen (1743) and Minden (1759). Edward’s correspondence—beginning with his days as a law student in London and continuing through his service in the War of the Austrian Succession—reveals a flair for storytelling and a persistent theme of financial hardship, both as student and soldier.