Ballyrisode House, Goleen, near Schull, Co Cork, Ireland

Ballyrisode House is in the townland of Ballyrisode; Civil Parish of Kilmoe (Kilmore); Poor Law Union of Skull; DED Toormore; Barony of West Carbery. It was built c1890 and has been the home of many Hungerfords until 1989. The property originally comprised 638 acres, and was valued at £154 9s.

Hungerford Owners 1895 to 1989¹

Richard Hedges Becher Hungerford acquired the property on 22 January 1895, following the death of his father Richard Becher Hungerford in 1894 ². It was registered to his wife Elizabeth Anne Hungerford (nee Adams).

Richard Becher Hungerford, JP (c1800-1894) was a magistrate, and also had lived at The Island, Co Cork. He was married at Ballyrizard ³in 1837, to Francis Eyre Becher. Ballyrizard, Goleen, was registered to him in 1847 and 1870⁴. Between 1861 and 1867, he issued a series of Game Notices in the British newspapers. This correlates with information that the woods behind the property are still called Hungerford Woods, so Ballyrizard may have been a hunting lodge during this period.

Richard Hedges Becher Hungerford was born 4 March 1846 in Co Cork, Ireland. His parents were Richard Becher Hungerford, and Francis Eyre Becher. He married Elizabeth Ann Adams in September 1879, in Skull, Co Cork. He died on 16 December 1917, Skull, Co Cork, and Elizabeth died on 11 August 1933. Ballyrisode House was inherited by their two daughters, Olive Mary Francis Hungerford, and Eva Muriel Hungerford.

The 1911 Census of Ireland shows the occupants of Ballyrisode (Toormore, Cork) as:

• Elizabeth Hungerford (head of family) (b1856) Farmer; Richard Hungerford (her husband) (b1846) Gentleman Farmer; Olive Hungerford, daughter; Eva Muriel Hungerford, daughter; Mary Morris, widow (b1846) (sister of Elizabeth) Retired teacher.

• Olive Mary Francis Hungerford was born 25 December 1883, Schull, Co. Cork, and she died 4 April 1965, at Skibbereen, Co Cork.
• Eva Muriel Hungerford was born 24 February 1885, Skull, Co Cork, and died 3 November 1972 at 87 years. Neither sister married and lived all their lives in Ballyrisode House. They are both buried at The Altar, Church of Ireland, Skull, Co Cork, with their mother and father, and their second cousin Helena Frances Maud Hungerford.

After Eva Muriel Hungerford died the house was bequeathed to her second cousin Helena Frances Maud Hungerford, who was born on 5 May 1908, in London, Ontario, Canada. Her parents were Walter Francis Hugh Watson Hungerford (1869 to 1959) (first cousin to Richard Becher Hungerford) and Maude Margaret McLaren (d1951). Walter and Maude were married on 30 June 1900, London, Ontario, Canada. Walter was the son of Becher Hungerford and Anne Jane Crossley. Walter died on 9 August 1959, Dublin, Ireland, but is buried in Woodland Cemetery, London, Ontario, Canada.

Many of the Hungerford family had moved from Ireland to Canada (with many others) in the 1840s due to the severe famine conditions in Ireland. Other families migrated to the United States of America, New Zealand and Australia.

Helena Hungerford was born in May 1908, in Ontario Canada⁵, and at some date before Eva Muriel died, lived on and off at Ballyrisode House, travelling regularly to Canada and other parts of the world⁶.  She never married.

She was at Ballyrisode House in 1974, when visited by friends from Canada⁷. She died on 9 August 1989, and was buried with her cousins Olive and Eva Muriel, at The Altar, Church of Ireland, Co Cork⁸.

Looking a bit further into the pedigree charts for Richard Hedges Becher Hungerford, I found his grandmother, mother of Frances Eyre Becher, was a Susannah Hungerford, who died in 1846, at Ballygrizzard Cottage, Co Cork⁹. However I can find no primary sources for this information. More research is needed in the Becher family to see if the Ballyrizard¹⁰ property belonged to the Becher family in earlier times.

Also buried at The Altar, Church of Ireland, Skull, Co Cork, is Frances Eyre Becher Sweetnam (nee Hungerford) (died 10 November 1920), one of Richard Hedges Becher Hungerford’s sisters. She was married to Mathew James Sweetnam, who died 13 May 1916.

This Frances Eyre Becher Hungerford was born between 1841 and 1846, at Ballyrizard, Co Cork, to Richard Becher Hungerford, and Frances Eyre Becher¹¹.

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1. Prepared by Lesley Abrahams [H.4a.1b.1c.1d/ E.6.5a.1b.1c.1d]
2. The Hungerfords of The Island (1), HAFS Journal, Vol 4, No 1, May 1997, p30, pedigree chart; also County families of the United Kingdom.
3. Alternate spelling for “Ballyrisode”.
4. Property Owners County Cork 1870, sighted 15 December 2018.
5. Find my Past, Canada Census 1911.
6. The Hungerford Family Foundation, Inc.
7. Postcard from Liz & Ted (Elizabeth Podnos [IR303]), to “Bruce” (Leonard Sinclair Hungerford ([IR299] [B.10a/1b/1c]), with a photo of Ballyrisode House, and note about Helena, who was a “delightful person” The Hungerford Family Foundation, Inc.
8. Find a Grave.
9. Family tree for LE Thomson, by LJ Abrahams on Ancestry.com.au.
10. References found to Baile Riosoid, Ballyrisode, Ballyrizard.
11. Find a Grave sighted 20 February 2019.