Mr. Stewart's Ballroom Near Lisburn:

FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON BALLYDRAIN

EILEEN BLACK

Mr Stewarts Ballroom near Lisburn painted by John Nixon in 1785. The building, situated in the vicinity of Ballyrain/Drumbridge, was used for entertaining and political purposes.

The Local History Department of the Ulster Museum owns a small watercolour by artist John Nixon¹, painted in 1785 and entitled Mr. Stewart's Ballroom near Lisburn (fig. 1). The picture, which shows a small plain two-storeyed house by the side of a lake, was something of an enigma, when acquired. Who was the said Mr. Stewart who lived near Lisburn and where exactly was his ballroom? As suggested in my article in the Lisburn Historical Society Journal, vol. 5, December 1984², the little house shown in Nixon's watercolour was perhaps situated in Ballydrain estate near Drumbridge, seat of farmer and linen merchant Robert Stewart (1749-97). Nixon, in fact, seems to have been acquainted with Stewart, for he also painted, likewise in 1785, a small watercolour entitled A Cabin in Rt. Stewarts Boat, Belfast. This too is owned by the Museum's Local History Department.

There were well-founded reasons for thinking that Stewart's ballroom was at Ballydrain. The estate, some three miles from Lisburn, tin the Drumbeg-Lambeg Road, has a lake within its grounds. The line of hills visible from the demesne (now Malone Golf Club) is not dissimilar to that in the background of Nixon's painting. At the time at which the watercolour was executed, Ballydrain house was a modest sized building but the Stewart family itself rather large, Robert the owner being one of seven children and having seven children of his own. Given the smallness of the house and the size of the family, the erection of an additional building for family entertainment seemed a strong possibility. It was not uncommon for wealthy families in the 18th century to build lodges in their grounds, for balls and parties. Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough (1718-93), for example, is known to have restored Hillsborough Fort-some distance from Hillsborough Castle-for this particular purpose. It appeared highly likely, therefore, that Mr. Stewart's ballroom near Lisburn was exactly that-a place of entertainment for the Stewarts of Ballydrain.

Happily, recent findings in local newspapers prove that Mr. Stewart's ballroom was indeed at Ballydrain. Reports in the Belfast News Letter, April-September 1785³ contain references to a ballroom in the vicinity of Ballydrain and Drumbridge and state that it was to be the venue for Union Assemblies. What exactly these were, is problematical. Assemblies in the 18th century were normally genteel gatherings featuring supper, dancing and card games. These 1785 Assemblies at Ballydrain/Drumbridge obviously had a particular motive, as implied in the term `Union'. But what? One thing is certain these functions were not in any way connected with the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland, embodied in the Act of Union of 1801 - the date is much too early. A possible explanation ⁴ is that they were centred around the commercial propositions of 1785.

The commercial propositions were an attempt by Pitt the Younger to create a customs union between Great Britain and Ireland⁵. Pitt's intention was to establish a commercial treaty between the two countries which would bind them inextricably together and make `England and Ireland one country in effect ... one in the communication of advantages, and, of course, in the participation of burdens'. ⁶ The propositions, in fact, were subsequently abandoned by the government in the same year (1785), partly because of commercial jealousy by British merchants (who were worried by the thought of cheap Irish goods flooding their markets) and partly because Irish patriots feared they would lose, by such a union, part of the legislative independence they had won in 1782.

The possibility that the Union Assemblies were related to these commercial propositions remains conjecture, nevertheless. In all probability, the Assemblies at Stewart's ballroom at Ballydrain in 1785 will continue to puzzle the local historian for years to come. For the moment, we must be content with what Nixon's watercolour reveals: that there was a ballroom, used apparently for both entertaining and political purposes, in this particular part of the Lagan Valley, in the late 18th century.

REFERENCES

Eileen Black is an Assistant Keeper in the Ulster Museum's Art Department, with curatorial responsibility for the pre-20th century oil painting collection. Her particular interest is 18th and 19th century local art.

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF EDWARD,1ST VISCOUNT CONWAY AND KILLULTAGH (1564-1631)

WILLIAM KERR

Edward, 1st Viscount Conway and Killultagh, whose Will is transcribed below, owed the second part of his title to a tragic accident which befell his brother, Sir Fulke Conway, in 1624. Sir Fulke, a veteran of the war against Spain had served in Ireland as a captain of foot during the last few years of the campaign against Hugh O'Neill and was knighted in the field by the Earl of Essex in 1600. After the capitulation of O'Neill, he embarked upon a political career and subsequently became Mayor and Lt. Governor of Carrickfergus, M.P. for Belfast in the Irish Parliament, and an Irish Privy Councillor. In addition he acquired a large estate in counties Down and Antrim (including Killultagh), partly by grant and partly by purchase and other means. In 1624, at the height of his career, he died as the result of a fire in one of his residences (probably that in Portmore). Because he was childless, his estate then passed to his elder brother, Sir Edward Conway, who had likewise been knighted in the field by Essex, after the Sack of Cadiz in 1596.

Sir Edward had already inherited the manors of Arrow and Ragley and other lands in Warwickshire from his father, Sir John Conway, in 1603, but being still in military service as Lt. Governor of the Brill, in the Netherlands, he could not immediately take up the role expected of a gentleman of property. In 1616, the Brill was returned to the Dutch and Sir Edward was at last free to follow a political career. He had already become an M.P. in 1610 and on his return to England, was appointed special envoy to Brussels and Prague, a Privy Councillor and, in 1623, one of the principal Secretaries of State. The following year, his estate was doubled in size, by the accession of the Irish property from Sir Fulke. In 1625, he was created Baron Conway of Ragley, in March 1627 Viscount Killultagh and in June of the same year, Viscount Conway of Conway Castle. Finally, in 1628, he became Lord President of the Council, an office he was to hold until his death on 3 January 1631, at the age of sixty-seven.

The first Conway to settle in Warwickshire was Edward Conway, a younger son of John Conw(a)y of Bodrhyddan, in north Wales. Edward went to England c.1500 to seek his fortune, which he found in the person of Anne Burdett, heiress to the manor of Arrow, in Warwickshire. He married Anne, probably helped in his suit by the good offices of his half-brother, Sir Hugh Conway (Anne's stepfather), thus exchanging his position in life from that of a poor younger son in Wales to that of a well-to-do English gentleman. His son, Sir John Conway and his grandson, also Sir John, were both knighted for service in the army, the second Sir John ending his military career as Governor of Ostend, 1586-90. The latter doubled the family estate by purchasing the adjoining manor of Ragley in 1591.

Edward 1st Viscount Conway, was the great grandson of the above-mentioned Edward Conway, who would doubtless have been well pleased with the fact that the family he had established in Warwickshire had prospered so well and had attained such a distinguished position in the military and political life of the country of his adoption.

This Will of the 1st Viscount was transcribed from a copy preserved in the Public Record Office, London, (PROB 11/160), proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 12 November 1631. I had originally hoped to use the Will proved in the Prerogative Court in Dublin in 1632 but which- as far as I know - has survived only in a French translation, prepared c.1780 for Colonel James Conway, in furtherance of his request to the King of France to have the privileges and titles of French nobility granted to him and his family. This French translation is preserved in the Archives de France and was made available to me on microfilm. Norman Hoey very kindly translated the French Will into English but when we compared this with the Will from the P.R.O., it became clear that the person who had made the French translation had made many errors, probably through ignorance of English legal and other terms. I have therefore decided to make PROB 11/160 my text - it is clearly the same in substance as the Dublin Will. 1 have not altered grammar, punctuation, spelling or capitalization to make the Will more readable, but have indicated in the notes, any instance where the copyist has used unfamiliar words, or may have miscopied from his original. I have also inserted in the notes, some entries from the margin of the Will.

'IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN :² I Edward Viscount Conwey³ and Killultagh Lord President of his Ma.^ties4 most honourable Privie Counsell being at this present in good and pfect⁵ health memorie and judgment thanks be to God for the same Doe make ordaine and declare this my last will and testament in manner and forme following ffirst and principally I Commend my soule into the handes of God my Creator and to Jesus Christ my Redeemer in and by whose only meritt and mediation I trust to be saved and to the Holy Ghoste my Comforter Three psons and one God my bodye I doe appoint to be buried with ordinary decency as it shall seeme best to my lovinge friends and Executors hereafter named but without ostentation or magnificence And touching the disposing of my lands and goods ffirst whereas by Indenture⁶ bearing date the ffowerteenth day of June in the third year of his Ma.^ties Raigne⁷ I did demise and graunt to my sonne in lawe⁸ Sir Robert Harley knight of the Bath, my loving cosen⁹ Sir Richard Verney knight my sonne in lawe, Sir Giles Bray knight my sonne in law Sir William Pelham knight, my loving Cosen Edward Read Esquire, and my servaunt William Weld, All my lands tenements and Hereditaments within the Countie of Warrwicke in the Realme of England for the terme of yeares in the said Indenture mencioned And alsoe all my lands tenements and hereditaments within the Province of Ulster in the Realme of Ireland for the terme of yeares in the said Indenture alsoe mentioned And by the same Indenture did also further give and graunt unto them all the leases for yeares iron worker penċons, Jewells plate houshold stuffe goods and chattles whatsoever that I have or ought to have within the Realmes of England or Ireland in my owne right or in the right of the Lady Katherine'¹⁰ my wief'¹¹ or wch came or ought to come unto me by the adminisfraton¹² of the goods and chattles of my late deceased brother Sir ffowlke Conwey deceased or came to my said wief by the Administration of the goods and chattles of her late deceased mother or by any other way or meanes whatsoever Upon expresse trust and Confidence that they imploy the rents of the said lands and the said leases, and the said penċons Jewells plate goods and Chattles for the paiement of my debts and legacies and performance of such porċons¹³ and Annuities and bequests as shalbe conteyned in this my last will and testament or in any schedule thereunto annexed And after the performance thereof to the use of my heir¹⁴ as by the said Indenture more at large appeareth My will and desire is that they dispose of the said goods and Chattles and the profitts of the said lands tenements and hereditaments for the discharge of my funerall payment of my debts legacies the marriage of my daughter Mary ¹⁵ and for the payment of annuities to her and to my younger sonnes and such other annuities and bequests as are hereafter more particularly declared and specified wherein I doe first desire that the charge of my funerall and all my debts whatsoever be paid And especially that the movie due from me to Sir Robert Lee knight for wch I have given him assurance of land be paid art such dales ¹⁶ or tymes and in such manner as in and by that assurance the same is mentioned to be paid My will and desire further is That my wief during her lief shall have the use of Two Basons¹⁷ and Ewers of silver the one halfe of the silver dishes wch I now have and one dozen and half of silver plates, three suites of Tapestry & hangings three Turkey Carpetts (excepting the two great long Turkey or Persia Carpetts),¹⁸ that is one for a dyning table drawn out, and the other two for Cubberd and syde board, and two others for Cubbende and foote Carpette My desire is also that during her life she have the use of tenn (feather bedds with their furniture of blanketts boulsters and lynnen¹⁹ answerable²⁰ att the discretion of my said Executors, whom I will and earnestly intreat to use my said wief with all equity curtesy assistance and good respect And yet to take good security that she dispose not of the plate or household stuff before mencioned to any other than her owne use during her lief as aforesaid And to leave them after her decease unto my said Executors again according to this will or such further disposition or direction as I shall hereby or otherwise make and declare concerning the same Item I doe hereby declare and appoint that my said wife shall have the use and possession of the Pearles and Diamond Rings wch she comonly weareth and my Jewell of diamonds made in forme of a Piramide²¹ during her lief Provided that she give unto my Executors good security to leave the same in specie or One thousand pounds sterling to be paid in lieue of them to my Executors or to the Survivor or Survivors of them immediately after her death And my will further is that my said wief shall have and carry away ²² all her wearing apparell and Vnnen wch she uses about her person, The Damaske bedd of yellowe and watchett²³ with the testern²⁴ curtaines and Cointerpoint²⁵ and the newe cloath bedd²⁶ with the tawnay and gould lace and fringe and the Curtaines for testerne and Counterpoint and the two feild bedsteads²⁷ with greene curtaines and Counterpoint And the blewe bedd and bedstead wherein herselfe useth to lye and whereas uppon the assurance I have made of my lands in Warwickshire I have reserved power to lett Leases for lives ²⁸ of all the Tenements in Ragley, Kingley and Arrowe and the pishe²⁹ of Softorda³⁰ My desire further is that my said wief or such as shee shall nominate have the house in Ockenheath wherein Osbaston lately dwelt for two lives to bee nominated by her my said wife And also the house at Arrowe wch I give to my sister Hunkes duringe her life And after her decease to my said wife duringe her life Or for the life of any one servant of hers or mine that shee will nominate And I doe further give unto my said wife forty acres of wood such acres as are so called and sold to the country people in the yearly sailes out of the wood sailes in Arrowe and Ragley and those forty acres to be assigned standing in the wood for her provision of her house and to be taken and carried by her for soe many yeares and soe often as she shall live and keep house at Luddington³¹ Item I give unto my said wife as an encrease or augmentaron of her Joynture³² made at our marriage all that Land in Luddington and Dodwell which I have purchased severally of or from the Earle of Middlesex Sir Edward Petoe knight and townsmen of Stretford upon Avon to have and to hould the same during her life upon or under the condition hereafter mentioned Also I doe further will devise appoint and declare that my said wife for further encrease of her Joynture and in liews³³ of her Dower shall have two hundred pounds yearly out of my lands in Ireland to be paid by two equall payments at the ffeasts of the Nativity of out Lord God and St. John Baptist every yeare during her lief The first payment to beginne at such of the said ffeasts as shall happen next after my decease which I give and devise unto her upon the Condition Alsoe hereafter mentioned that is to say Provided alwaies and all the severall legacies guiftes and bequests whatsoever before given made or bequesthed to my said wife are upon this Condition that shee shall within fower months after my decease release to my heires and Assignes all Dower tytle of Dower right clayme demaund of in or to all or any lands tenements, or hereditaments whatsoever within the said realme of Ireland whereof I was seised³⁴ at any tyme sithence³⁵ the intermarriage betweene her and me And it is my expresse will and meaning that my said wife shall have to take noe manner of benefitt of or by this my last will and testament or of any legacie guift or bequest whatsoever therein conteyned Unless that shee content herselfe therewith and with the said Joynture or assurance that I have made unto her of my lands in the Realme of England And that shee release unto my heires and assigns all her Dower right title interest suite accon³⁶ clayme and demaund whatsoever of in and to the said Lands tenements and hereditaments within the said Realme of Ireland by or within the tyme to that purpose before lymitted³⁷ that is to say within lower months next after my decease Item I doe give and bequeath to my youngest daughter Mary Conwey the some of two thowsand ffive hundred pounds sterling to be paid unto her at and presently after her day of marriage to be had and made with a husband who shall assure upon her and the heires of her body to be by him begotten ffive hundred pounds a yeare lands Bona fide to discend or to be assured to the heires of her body to be begotten by that her husband and shall make unto her good and sufficient assurance in the law of three hundred pounds yearly at the least to be her jointure And for her better maintenance and resent support Although my earnest desire be that shee should live with my wife her mother in lawe³⁸ if they can so agree Yet least that might not be and to the end she may satisfie for her board I will and do bequeath to her for her maintenance see long as shee shall live unmarried one hundred pounds a yeare to be paid halfe yearly or quarterly and the first payment to beginne at the tyme of my decease And to continewe to the day of her marriage But if it shall happen that shee shall marry with an husband that shall not make her such nor so good a Joynture as is before expressed nor estate such or see much of such yearly value and to such uses as is before menconed My will is that after such a marriage so made shee have in lieue of the two thousand and ffive hundred pounds but an Annuity of ffourty pounds yearly duringe her life And whereas I have given to my younger sons Sir Thomas Conwey knight and Raphe Conwey Annuities of ffourty pounds apeece wch I doe confirme unto them by this my last will and testament out of my Lands in England I doe also now give and bequeath unto them out of my lands in Ireland One hundred pounds a yeare apeece more of currant English money to make up their Annuities an hundred and hourly pounds apeecce to be payd unto them half yearly at Michaelmas and our Lady day in even porcons And I doe further will appoint and devise my said executors and friends put in trust as aforesaid out of the two thousand pounds a yeare pencon wch are given me by Lres Patents ³⁹ from his Ma.^tie when there shalbe monie come to their hands That then all my debts and legacies being first paid they doe disburse fifteen hundred pounds sterling out of the said pencon as it shalbe received to be bestowed for the building of a brickhouse at Luddington wherein I doe desire that my wife should have the oversight and direction in a speciall great measure and I desire and will also that after the satisfaccon and payment of my debts and legacies and after the gathering of the monies for the building of Luddington that a staircase and a great Chamber a withdrawing Chamber and a Chappell be built at Ragley according to a plott in paper prepared by me the Caste of wch I doe computate and appoint to be two Thousand & ffive hundred pounds or thereabouts And because I doe observe that wearinge cloathes and horses are comonly held of noe rckoning and fall to be the despised legacies and rewards of servants I will that all my wearing apparrell and horses wch I shall dispose of and appoint by this my last will or by any Codicell or Schedule thereunto annexed for to be sould and monie made of them out of wch and by such other meanes as monie may be raised shalbe given to my servants that doe now attend me such sommes of money as I shall appoint and severally expresse in a schedule hereunto annexed And lastly I doe constitute and appoint the said Sir Robert Harley, Sir Richard Verney, Sir Giles Bray, Sir Willm Pelham, Edward Reed, and Willm Weld the Executors of this my last will and testament Written in ffive leaves of paper In witness whereof I have to everie⁴⁰ of the said ffive leaves self my hand and scale Yeoven⁴¹ the Three and twentieth of Julie Anne Dom⁴² 1629 and in the ffifth yeare of the Raigne of our Soveraigne Lord Charles by the grace of God of England Scotland ffrance and Ireland king defender of the faith etc. CONWEY. ⁴³ Memorand44 the three and twentieth daie of Julie above written the Lord Viscount Conwey and Killultagh did sett his hand and scale to everie of these five leaves before written and did declare the same to conteyn his last will and testament in the presence of THO: MALLETT, GEO ROWDON, ANTHONY WILSON, FFRA: EGIOCKE

The Schedule annexed to my last will and testament wherein are conteyned and specified all such other legacies Annuities and bequests as I doe give appoint and expresse to be payd unto my servants and others hereafter pticulerly named.

(Item I give to my servaunt ffancis Manucky one hundred pounds Item to my old servant William Chasterman the some of ffifty pounds Item to my servant Walter Biland the some of ffiftie pounds⁴⁵ Item to my servant⁴⁰ George Rowdon the some of ffourtye pounds Item to my servant ffrancis Egiocke the some of ffourtie pounds Item to my servant Ralphe Allen the some of ffourtye pounds Item to my servant Samuel] Houghton the some of flambe pounds Item to my servant Henry Shillington the some of twenty pounds (Item to my servant John Gilpin in token he shall have delivered a nice account of the Plate and Linnen wch he hath in his keeping twenty pounds) To the rest of my servants I give one Quarters wages and one quarters dyett⁴⁷ to be taken where my Executors shall appoint Item I give to my servant Rys the some of ffourtye pounds In witness whereof I have hereunto sell my hand and seale Yeoven the second day of October Anon Dom 1629 And in the ffifih yeare of the Raigne of our said Soveraigne Lord King Charles of England Scotland ftrance and Ireland defender of the faith, etc.⁴⁸ Memorand that these Sixe leaves of paper each of them being signed and sealed by the Lord Viscount Conwey and Killultagh were by his Lordshipp declared to be his Lordshipps last will and testament in the presence of us whose times are hereunder written RAL; CONWEY. FFRAN:HANUCHY, W. BYLAND, FFRA: EGIOCKE, SA. HOUGHTON. Whereas I see the Ministers wyves⁴⁹ unprovided for in England And whereas God hath blessed me with a Ministery in Arrow in Warwickshire supplied by a Reverend man Mr Case whose wife has desired me that in case it shall please God to call her husband out of this mortall life before her she may have a house built for her upon the ground her husband now renteth The wch I am willing to graunt unto her and doe intend God willing to make her a lease and assurance for the same with these conditions that if she survives her husband Mr Case she shall have a convenient dwelling house built for her wholy at the cost and discharge of me my heires Executors or Assignes upon the ground her husband now renteth, being called Taylors Close, and shall enjoy the same house and close rent free during her owne naturall life. But because I know not whether that ground be lyable to the clause of reservation mentioned in the deed that was made for my daughter in lawes Joynture I doe therefore desire my sonne Edward and his heires Executors and Assignes that they will see the lease and assurance that I shall graunt in that behalf, to her duly performed, And if I live not to make that Lease and Assurance, or that the same shall not be made good unto her according to my true intent hereby declared I doe then and in such case acknowledge myselfe to owe and bee indebted to the said Mistress Case the sum of ffiftie pounds to be payd unto her presently after the decease of her said husband which some of ffiftie pounds shee is to take in liew of that house and ground without further pretence, ffor the payment whereof unto her accordingly I doe hereby bind myselfe my heires Executors Administrators and Assignes. All my Executors know this to be my hand as needs no other and yet because it is a spirituall cawse 1 have signed it: ED CONWEY⁵⁰

NOTES

1.	In the margin beside the first line of the Will a hand resembling the copyist's has written 'T: honorandi viri Domini Edwardi Vicecomitis Conwey et Killultagh' (ie., Will of the honourable man the Lord Edward Viscount Conway and Killultagh).
2.	I have used capitals here to indicate, though not to match, the beautifully elaborate calligraphy of these sixopening words of the Will.
3.	The spelling of the name eventually became almost universally Conway with `a', but throughout the Will the spelling Conwey is used and the Viscount himself has so spelt it in his signature. Yet in most formal documents, he has Convey. The earliest recorded spelling of the family name is Conewey, as applied to Sir Henry de Conewey (died 1407), who established the family at Bodrhyddan. Conewey is the medieval anglicisation of the Welsh Conwy, from which the family took its name. The parent family at Bodrhyddan soon adopted the Welsh form but when Edward of Arrow is documented, his name is spelt Conway, although even the first Viscount is referred to in some state papers as Connoway (e), Connewey ete. This trisyllabic form indicates that the name might in the 17th, century have been pronounced like the original Conewey. It is significant that when Colonel James Conway of the Irish Brigade in the service of France requested the French King to grant his family the priviledges of French nobility, M. Chėrin, Herald of France, stressed to the King that the family always insisted that the pronounciation of their name was Conoway. Possibly the various forms the name took led to the alleged quip of James I that he had a Lord Treasurer that could not cast accounts, and a Secretary that could not write his name. A possible explanation of the trisyllabic pronounciations is that in Welsh, `wy' is a dipthong.
4.	A long established form of what we should write as 'Majesty's', nowadays.
5.	The copyist follows the medieval practice of abbreviating `per, par, par' to 'p' with a line below the 'p', though not consistently. He also usually omits the i' in words ending with `ion', indicating the omission with a flourish over the word. Where we would write `tion', the copyist writes �c' instead of �t�. Similiarly, `pre' is sometimes written `p' with sign above.'Wch' is written for 'which'.
6.	It was common practice to safeguard property for transmission to the heir, by placing it in the hands of a trust as here by indenture, a deed cut into two irregular halves, again as a safeguard. The trustees would surrender the property to the heir after the death of the testator, when the risk of the King or some other person claiming right to the property had passed.
7.	ie., Reign.
8.	The words `in law' at this time sometimes meant what we mean by 'in law' and sometimes meant `step'. Harley and Pelham were sons-in-law in the modern sense, being married to Brilliana (so called because she was born in Brill) and Frances, the Viscount's two elder daughters. Sir Giles Bray, however, was not a son-in-law.
9.	ie., cousin.
10.	The Viscount's widow was his second wife, Katherine, daughter of Giles Hueriblock of Ghent and widow of John West, a London grocer. A letter from George Conyers to his father, quoted under 13 March 1614 in the Calendar of State Papers Domestic, contains the news that `Sir Edward Conway is to marry a grocer's widow in London with £5000 or £6000; she is lame and in years.' The Viscount's first wife was Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Tracy and widow of Edward Bray (hence Sir Giles Bray above). She died in 1612.
11.	The copyist writes 'wief and 'lief' for 'wife' and 'life' in the first part of the Will, but spells them in the modern way later on.
12.	Since Sir Folk died intestate, letters of administration were granted to Sir Edward on 3 July 1626 (Morrin's Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery).
13.	Portions were capital sums left to younger children.
14.	The heir was the eldest son Edward, who had been knighted in 1618.
15.	His older daughters, Frances, Brilliana and Heiligenwath (she also derived her name from being born in the Netherlands, though the spelling varies) were already married.
16.	ie., days.
17.	ic., basins or bowls.
18.	A closing bracket was obviously omitted by the copyist and has been supplied, otherwise the tally of carpets would be wrong.
19.	ie., linen.
20.	`answerable' probably describes the bed furniture, meaning `belonging to'.
21.	ie., pyramid.
22.	Presumably from the family house at Bagley to the dower house at Luddington.
23.	Watchett here means 'light blue'.
24.	`Testern', later 'testerne', was an obsolete form of 'tester', a canopy or support of a canopy over a bed.
25.	Corruption of a French word meaning 'quilt' or 'counterpane'.
26.	I do not know which kind of bed this was. I might mention that at this stage, the French translator of the Will found himself quite bewildered, but apparently the French Herald did not notice the translator's confusion.
27.	Another type of bed unknown to me.
28.	Leases were often granted to last as long as the life of a named individual, or the combined length of the lives of several individuals named in the lease.
29.	is., parish.
30.	Probably Salford, just south of Bagley.
31.	Situated near Stratford-upon-Avon.
32.	The jointure was a settlement of money or land made upon a wife by her husband.
33.	ie., lieu.
34.	To be seised of land meant to possess it.
35.	Archaic word for `since'.
36.	ie., action.
37.	ie., limited.
38.	We should say `step-mother'.
39.	ie., Letters Patent.
40.	ie., each.
41.	Obsolete word for `Given'
42.	Abbreviation for Domain ie., of the Lord.
43.	The capitals indicate a signature, as do the capitals used for the witnesses' names below.
44.	ie., Memorandum.
45.	The lines in brackets here and just below were crossed out in the Will and in the margin was written 'all men know that I have satisfied Manuchy, Chisterman, Byland and Gilpin and therefore I have crost (ae., deleted) them in my lifetyme. Conwey.'
46.	An excellent example of a word which has depreciated in value over the years. The Viscount's `servant George Broader' was a gentleman of family, the future baronet Sir George Rawdon, ancestor of the Earls of Moira and Marquisses of Hastings. Rawdon acted as agent for the property in Ireland of the three Viscounts Conway: father, son and grandson.
47.	ie., board.
78.	In the margin is written `this I aver to be my (illegible). Conwey'.
79.	ie., wives.
50.	Having put his signature for the last time to this very elaborate document, the viscount must have felt that he was leaving his affairs completely settled. He was not to know that on his death, all his executors renounced the role that they had accepted by the Indenture of 14 June 1626. Edward his heir had to administer the Will (Ads of the Probate Court vol. 1). Nor could he have anticipated that his heir and widow would enter into a long legal battle about their respective responsibilities under the terms of the Will (P.R.O. C/2 CHAS. 1/68/9). The dispute went on after the death of the Viscount's widow in 1639, when the 2nd Viscount found that she had disposed of items granted to her for life only, to her executors. He then took them to court (P.R.O. C 2 CHAS I/C103/66). It is not surprising that the 2nd Viscount fell heavily into debt.

William Kerr is greatly interested in the local history of the Derriaghy area and has collaborated with Rev. W.N.C. Bart in the production of A Short History of Derriaghy, Christ Church, Derriaghy: Grave Inscriptions; The Oldest Register in the Parish of Derriaghy, and Ordnance Survey Memoirs for the Parish of Derriaghy.