The line of descent for the Preston family, the Barons of Drumahaire. The Barony of Drumahaire, Co Leitrim, Connacht is one of 331 Baronies in Ireland. Drumagheire as it was called in the old days is 117,087 acres that runs along the north bank of Lough Allen and spans the middle of Co Leitrim bordered on the west by Co Sligo and on the east by Co's Fermanagh and Cavan

Drumagheire is in the Poor Law Union of Manorhamilton with a very small section in the Poor Law Union of Carrick-on-the-Shannon. It is in the Probate District of Ballina and the Civil Dioceses of both Kilmore and Ardagh.

It covers the civil parishes of Cloonclare, Cloonlogher, Drumlease, Drumreilly, Inishmagrath, Killanummery and Killarga. Drumahaire includes the Catholic parishes of Cloonclare, Drumlease, Killargue, Drumreilly, Inishmagrath, Killenummery and Killerry. The McTiernan townland of Sheskin is in the civil parish of Killarga and the Catholic parish of Killargue. Drumahaire means "ridge of two air demons". The area is referred to as the area of "The Wild Rose". The other inference is that it is the area of the "Howling Dog". It is not clear what either of these sayings mean, what they symbolize or where they came from. The 6th Viscount Gormanston, [the oldest Viscountcy in Ireland, established in 1478] acquired the Barony of Drumahaire from Charles I in 1636.

ob = year of death, dsp = died without issue, dvp = died in life of father, unm = unmarried

Phillip de Preston, living in Preston, Lancashire in 1270 = ?. Died in the reign of Henry III.

Roger Preston, was made Justice of Common Pleas in the 1st year of Edward III's reign and Justice of the King's Bench in 1326, living in 1331 = Maud, dau of Robert of Preston, Lancashire. Died in the reign of Edward III.

Sir Robert Preston, 1st Lord Gormanston (Co's Dublin & Meath), ob 1396 = Margaret, dau of Walter de Birmingham, Lord of Carbery. Sir Robert was kinghted in the field in 1361 by Lionel, Duke of Clarence. Sir Robert Preston bought the manor of Gormanston in Co Dublin and Co Meath from Almeric de St. Armand. He was also the Chief Justice, Keeper of the Great Seal and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Died in the reign of Richard II.

Sir Christopher Preston, Kt., 2nd Baron Gormanston, KTD 1397 = Elizabeth, dau of William de Loundres, Baron of Naas, Co Kildare. Sir Christopher was imprisoned in the castle of Trim for corresponding with the prior of Kilmainham. Sir Christopher obtained the Barony of Naas, Co Kildare from his wife's family.

Christopher Preston, Kt., 3rd Feudal Baron Gormanston and Naas = Jane, dau of Sir Jenico D'Artois Kt. of Gascony

Sir Robert Preston, Kt., created 1st Viscount Gormanston in 1478 by the Tudor king, Edward IV, making it the oldest Viscountcy in Ireland, ob 1503 = Janet, dau of Sir Richard Molyneux of Sefton, Co Lancashire. Sir Robert Preston sat in the Parliament of 1490 and 1493. Died in the reign of Henry VII.

Sir William Preston, 2nd Viscount Gormanston, ob 1532 = Anne, dau of John Burnell of Ballgriffin, Co Dublin. Sir William was appointed Lord Justice of Ireland in 1525. In 1504 Sir William attended the Earl of Kildare, lord deputy, to the famous battle of Knocktough, in the province of Connacht, where he led the wings of the bowman. Died in the reign of Henry VIII.

John Preston = ?

Jenico Preston, 3th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1569 = Catherine, dau of Gerald Fitzgerald, 9th Earl of Kildare. Sat in Parliament in 1559. Died in the reign of Elizabeth I.

Robert Preston = ?

Christopher Preston, 4th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1599 = Catherine, dau of Sir Thomas FitzWilliam of Meryon, Co. Dublin. Sat in Parliament in 1580. Died in the reign of Elizabeth I.

Jenico Preston, 5th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1630 = Margaret, dau of Nicholas St. Lawrence, the 8th Lord Howth. Sat in Parliament in 1613. Died in the reign of Charles I.

Nicholas Preston, 6th Viscount Gormanston, created the 1st Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, ob 1643 = Mary, dau of Nicholas, 1st Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland. The 6th Viscount Gormanston became the 1st Baron of Drumahaire after Drumahaire with other Irish lands passed into the hands of the Crown in 1536 after an Act of Resumption, essentially an Act stripping absentee Irish landowners of their lands and titles. The Barony of Drumagheire with other Irish lands were granted by Charles I in 1636 to Nicholas Preston, 6th Viscount Gormanston. Died in the reign of Charles I.

Jenico Preston, 7th Viscount Gormanston, 2nd Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, dsp 1691 = Frances, dau of Francis Leke, 1st Earl of Scarsdale. Sir Jenico, who having adhered to his legitimate sovereign James II, was indicted for high treason, and outlawed upon that indictment in 1691. He died one month before the ban was published. Nintynine years later the family was restored to the title in blood. Died in the reign of William III & Mary II. Succeeded by his nephew.

Nicholas Preston* ob >1650 = Elizabeth Preston

Jenico Preston*, 8th Viscount Gormanston, de jure, 3rd Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, dsp 1679 = Margaret. Succeeded by his brother.

Anthony Preston*, 9th Viscount Gormanston, de jure, 4th Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, ob 1716 = Mary, his first cousin, dau of Sir Jerico Preston, 7th Viscount Gormanston. Died in the reign of George I.

Jenico Preston, 10th Viscount Gormanston, de jour 5th Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, ob 1757 = Thomasine, dau of John Barnewall, 11th Lord Trimlestown. Contempory of Hugh McTiernan I of Sheskin, Drumahaire, Co Leitrim. Died in the reign of George II.

Anthony Preston, 11th Viscount Gormanston, de jour 6th Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, ob 1786 = Henrietta, dau of Lieut. General John Robinson of Denton Hall, Suffolk. Contempory of Hugh McTiernan I of Sheskin, Drumahaire, Co Leitrim. Died in the reign of George III.

Jenico Preston, 12th Viscount Gormanston, 7th Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, ob 1860 = Margaret, dau of Thomas Arthur, 2nd Viscount Southwell. The indictment for treason was removed and the family titles restored in blood. Died in the reign of George IV.

Edward Anthony John Preston, 13th Viscount Gormanston, 8th Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, b. 1796, ob 1878 = Lucretia, dau of William Charles Jerningham. Died in the reign of Queen Victoria.

Jenico William Joseph Preston, GCMG, KCMG, 14th Viscount Gormanston, Baron Birminham of Kells in Ossary, Baron Laundres of the Naas, Co Kildare, Baron Gormanston in Ireland, Lieut. in 60th rifles serving in Indian Mutiny of 1857, 9th Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, ob 1907 = Georgina Jane, dau of Peter Connellan of Coolmore, Co Kilkenny. Died in the reign of Edward VII.

The Honorable Lucretia Pauline Mary Preston, [2nd daughter], b. 1839, ob 1916 = John Arthur Farrell from Merrion Square, married in the Chapel of Gormanston Castle, Co Meath on July 19, 1860. Died in the reign of George V. Great Grandmother of Valentine Farrell.

Jenico Edward Joseph Preston, 15th Viscount Gormanston, 10th Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, ob 1925 = Eileen, dau of Lt. Gen Sir William Butler. Died in the reign of George V.

Jenico William Richard Preston, 16th Viscount Gormanston, 11th Feudal Baron of Drumahaire, ob 1940 = Pamela, dau of Capt. Edward Dudley, Hanley. Died in the reign of George VI.

Jenico Nicholas Dudley Preston, 17th Viscount Gormanston, in Co's Dublin and Meath, and Premier Viscount of Ireland, Baron Birmingham of Kells & Qssory, Baron Loundres of the Naas, Co Kildare, in the Peerage of Ireland; Baron Gormanston of Whitewood, Co Meath in the Peerage of the United Kingdom of Dalmeny House, 12th Feudal Baron of Drumagheire, b. 1939 = Eva Antonie, dau of Felix Landzianowski of Poland, ob 1984. Living in the reign of Elizabeth II.

The Honorable Jenico Francis Tara Preston, b. 1974 = ?. Living in the reign of Elizabeth II.

ob = year of death, dsp = died without issue, dvp = died in life of father, unm = unmarried

The Foxes: The following is taken from the book p. 90, "Tribute to an Armorist", Essays for John Brooke-Little, 2000, edited by John Campbell-Kease.

"The crest and supporter of the Viscounts Gormanston are a fox proper. Now it is an extraordinary thing but it is reputed that whenever a Lord Gormanston was about to die foxes in considerable numbers congregated at Gormanston Castle in Meath. As foxes are solitary by nature for them to congregate in any number is most unusual. Howver, there are a number of accounts of this seeming to happen on the occasion of a Lord Gormanston's death. For example, when the 12th viscount was dying in the winter of 1860, Lord Fingall, related that a villager said to him, "My Lord, you will not find today, all the foxes have gone to Gormanston to see the old lord die", which he did that very day. When the 13th viscount died in 1876 a pack of foxes is said to have trooped across the fields in a line parallel to the cortege bearing his body to the churchyard. An old friend of mine, the late Fr. John Ramsey, was a grandson of the 14th Viscount and a collector of these tales of the Gormanston foxes. Apparently, prior to his grandfather's burial in 1927 foxes surrounded the chapel where his body was lying and dispite all efforts by Lord Gormanston's brother, Colonel Richard Preston DSO, to remove them they would not budge until daylight.

A distinguished Irish lady, who was living near Gormanston at the time, told me that one of the villagers came into her parent's house one morning in June 1940 and said "something has happened to Lord Gormanston, the foxes were barking all night long". The news that the 16th Viscount had been killed in action in France came through shortly after. Now that Gormanston Castle has been sold these occurrences may cease."

Felix Landzianowski of Poland is the brother of Anton Landzianowski the grandfather of Ilonka Landzianowski at ilonkamaria76@gmail.com

Rev. Valentine Farrell is the great, great grandson of Edward Anthony John Preston, 13th Viscount Gormanston, 8th Feudal Baron of Drumahaire and has written a book, "Not so much to one side" which is a local history of Moynalty, his birthplace.

The history of the Barons of Drumahaire

The Peerage explained.

A great Preston home page with an enormus amount of family data on all the Prestons, US, England and Ireland by Fred Preston.

michael@mctiernan.com

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