Dundas of Roscorr

Photos and story are excerpts from the "Descendants of William and John Dundass", by Sanders, Styles and Gower

The Dundas House

"Happily there still remains to us another house of the minor gentry of the 17th century which proclaims its own antiquity - which possesses its own charm and afforded an abiding sense of pleasure to me. Where the river Erne leaves the Lower Lough on its progress to the sea, it narrows so that it passes between the townlands of Rosscor and Magherameena; and when the traveller leaves the present highway to Rosscor house, on what you are told is the avenue leading to it, your trained eye detects the width of the 'avenue' and that it at one time crossed the present road ran through the fields, and westward to the previous road that ran from Churchill to Belleek.

"But when he traverses the wide 'avenue' towards the ancient ferry across the river, he recognises that the ancient road had a specific purpose, leading to the water; and he sees the entrance gate opening up the short pathway leading upward to Rosscor House, embosomed among ancient trees, and speaking today of its long memory, the marvellous tales its old walls have heard, and of the successive generations of that one family which has inherited it. Look at the picture of it, and you will note that the long low thatched house of the minor gentry of the time, lovely in its interior as well as its exterior, and possessing evidences of the gentry who occupied it. In the North of Ireland, things are often dated back to the Battle of the Boyne. The Dundas house, like the two houses already mentioned, was built before the date of the Boyne and is perhaps the best preserved and the most picturesque of all our old houses.

"Cornet Patrick Dundas served King Charles I in the royal army, in the cavalry. He was awarded £418 arrears of pay on the 22nd March, 1667 (see Roll II., 8, Act of Settlement); and Lieutenant Hugh Dundas, likewise, served his Majesty and was awarded £171. At least one of the Christian names have been preserved in the family through the generations, and P.D. remains cut in the kitchen door at Rosscor. The name 'Patrick' was preserved in different branches of the family, and the name is sometimes spelt with one s or two.

"Another name, Whitelaw, is still preserved in the family. I find this name as one of a resident in Enniskillen during the Revolution; and Mr Patrick Dundas of Roscor who had been High Sheriff of the County of Fermanagh, married secondly the daughter of this Mr Whitelaw. The Dundas Rosscor estate comprised of several townlands, such as Carranbeg, Carranmore, Corkeel & c, one half of the lands of Calkean, and held lease of Drumbadreavy, Callaghean, Corramore, and an eel weir at Drumackneller; while in Co. Leitrim a Dundas also held land; and was able to provide well for his children. Other sons and members of the Dundas family held lands in Magheraboy and Magherastephana, so that the clan was numerous. The owner of Rosscor at the present time is Mr Robert Whitelaw Dundas, and old boy of Enniskillen School at Portora. Father and son, the Dundas family has held the place for generations.

"In the chapter in an 18th Century Parson, it will be seen that Mr Patrick Dundas of Rosscor, was a visitor at Castle Hume, but before that time, Captain Dundas, whose oil painting and sword hang on the wall of the reception room, took an active part as a country gentleman in local affairs.

"The house is well preserved, and I deem myself fortunate to have obtained a photograph of it, as so many houses of the pre-revolution period have passed away. To the right from the hall door is a wall enclosed garden, and in the garden a fish pond, after the manner of the time. Below the western end of the house is a cellar, where wine was copiously supplied in the two and three bottle days; and the thick walls and large rooms tell of the class who inhabited Rosscor House.

"The interior is quite in keeping with the whole, and fortunately we had light enough to get a picture of it. A spacious kitchen, with half doors, one of which are cut the initials of various individuals of past generations, has still the large chimney brace; the oven to the right side of the fireplace where bread was baked; the jack which twirled the spit with toothsome meat; and other evidences of the Jacobean period. There is not such another interior in Fermanagh, and I venture to say, very few places elsewhere. The writer was charmed with the surroundings, and hopes that slates will never go on the roof, and that the house will be preserved as long as possible as it is. In the picture, it will be seen that a long ladder was in position for the thatcher to be at work.[1]

"The Rev. John Dundass, curate of Aughalurcher, who purchased house property in Enniskillen during the middle of the 18th century, was a member of the Rosscor family."[2]

[1] Trimble, WC, Trimble's History of Enniskillen, Vol. III, page 695

[2] Trimble, WC, Trimble's History of Enniskillen, Vol. III, pages 758-761