THE HISTORY
OF GILL HALL
Established 1670
Captain John Magill commenced building the main house at Gill Hall in the 1670s. From the middle 1700s, the estate was inherited by Sir John Meade the 1st Earl of Clanwilliam through his marriage to Theodosia Hawkins-Magill.
ABANDONED IN 1910
With the purchase of Montalto, near Ballynahinch, by the 5th Earl of Clanwilliam, in 1910 Gill Hall was abandoned by the family. During the Second World War, Gill Hall was used by the Royal Air Force but by the 1960s it had become dilapidated.
JUNE 1969
In the early hours of Sunday 1st June 1969, a fire broke out in the building and raged for six hours. The house was gutted leaving it a shell and was subsequently demolished – ‘unceremoniously blown up by the army after years of decay’. There is a widely publicised belief that the mansion at Gill Hall was the most haunted house in Ireland.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
2023
During 2023, construction will begin on turning the listed ruins of the original stable building into the cookery school and restaurant and to establish the walled garden to grow our own vegetables and herbs.