Now marooned on a bend in the riverside Ring Road of Drogheda, County Louth, this was formerly the entrance to the Ballsgrove estate. Dating from 1804 and taking the form of a triumphal arch, the limestone carriage arch is flanked by narrow pedestrian gates separated from above oval niches above by a Greek key impost course. In the tympanum of the pediment is the Ball family coat of arms. George Ball was responsible for erecting this entrance but it was his grandfather, also called George Ball, who built Ballsgrove, sometimes also called The Grove (altho’ a plaque in the wall here calls it The Ball). The latter was also responsible for laying out fine terraced gardens, which were sometimes open to the public. In 1752 Mrs Delany visited the site and reported in a letter, ‘You wind up a very steep hill (which otherwise would be insurmountable) planted with trees – some in walks, others in groves, so that part of it looks like a thick wood – on the top is a long level walk with old trees on each side of it, and at the end a pretty, clean house and spruce garden full of flowers, which belongs to Mr Ball, who is so obliging to the town as to permit that fine walk to be a public one, and it is the Mall of Drogheda. The view from it is surprisingly beautiful. At the foot of this fine hill winds the River Boyne.’ All a far cry from present circumstances here.
On Exmoor the word ‘Ball’ designates a rounded hill. I can’t find the origin of this usage though.
I know of Humber’s Ball and Ferny Ball and I expect there are others.
Has the house survived? or any of the gardens?
Wait for Saturday…
Just FYI on nice conversions/reuse. Just found an Old Courthouse converted to apartments, Watters Estate Agents
€120,000
1 Old Court House, Market Square, Collon, Co. Louth
I´m a descendent of Bathollomew Ball and Margaret Bermingham (alias Margaret Ball) through the line of Walter Ball of Ballygall. By means of the work of the late Reverend William Ball Wright, “Ball Family Records”, I traced back my ancesters in Ireland up to the XIV Century. The grandfather of my great-great-grandfather Ramon Ricardo Ball (Ramos), was John Ball (Thomas) of 65 Dorset, Dublin. Charles Ball (Standish), the youngest surviving son of John Ball (Thomas) and Christian Standish, was born circa 1870 and was a wine merchant registered in Tenerife, The Canary Islands, in 1807; he settled in Tenerife in 1811, and married María Ramos de La Cruz in Puerto de La Orotava. My great-great-grandfather Ramon Ricardo Ball (Ramos) was born in puerto de la Orotava in 1816, and migrated to Venezuela in 1843, he was Charge D´Affaires and later Vice Consul of the Spanish Crown in Maracaibo from 1847 untill his death in 1878. I was born in Maracaibo in 1954. I currently live in Bucaramanga, Colombia. I would much appreciate if you might share with me any information regarding surviving members of the Ball Family of Ballygall. Many Thanks
Thank you for getting in touch. I’m an architectural historian, not a genealogist, I’m afraid, but can put you in touch with one in Ireland if you so wish…