St John's Castle

St Johns Castle, County Tyrone
Photo © Kenneth Allen, 22 June 2005

This building is all but a shell, though the façade is intact. Owned by Sir John Marcus Stewart, BART, D.L. c.1870, Ballygawley Park was originally the Harvey home in Tullygliss. John Stewart (1757-1825) was Attorney General for Ireland in 1799 and, for his services at the time of the Union, he was Knighted in 1803. His mother was Sarah Hamilton, and it was Hamilton-Gorge's property, that Sir John Stewart took over in 1811, when he bought Ballygawley. He took up residence and renamed the house Greenhill. The demesne in the North West he called Ballygawley Park. It was between 1825 and 1833 that the present imposing mansion was built to designs of John Hargrave of Cork for Sir Hugh Stewart, 2nd Baronet. The house was burnt by accident in the 1920's and remains a most impressive ruin for the passers by. The Stewarts lived in the house for just ninety years.