Lislap House, Gortin, Co. Tyrone
- Irish-Welsh Ancestry
- Jun 29
- 7 min read
We were asked to research the Black family by their descendants, who now reside in California. As we traced each generation, we established a link to Lislap House in Gortin, County Tyrone, which was located within what is now Gortin Glen Forest Park. The Black family's association with Lislap House began in 1851, during the final years of the Great Hunger (An Gorta Mór).
Although County Tyrone did not suffer the worst effects of the Great Hunger compared to other counties, it still experienced the loss of one-fifth of its population between 1841 and 1851 due to starvation, disease, and emigration. Neighbouring County Fermanagh lost over a quarter of its population. As the population suffered, tenant farmers were systematically removed from their homes as indebted landlords cleared smaller holdings from their lands. These evictions forced approximately 100,000 families across Ireland into destitution and starvation. Landlords were driven to clear their land primarily due to rising Poor Law rates; the more tenants on their land, the higher the taxes they had to pay.
In 1849, the Encumbered Estates Court was established, allowing heavily indebted estates to be forcibly sold, overriding family claims. Purchasers were granted a clear title—full ownership of the land, free from hidden legal obligations—enabling them to sell, lease, or transfer the land without restriction. Many landlords had borrowed heavily and were deeply in debt by the late 1840’s. Their estates became “encumbered,” burdened by mortgages, annuities, and unpaid rent.
One of the men who capitalised on this opportunity was Thomas Black, a solicitor based on Eccles Street, Dublin. He transitioned from a legal professional to a wealthy landlord during the Great Hunger. Solicitors were among the few professions to thrive during this period, as demand increased for wills, estate management, land sales, evictions, and court proceedings. Their access to court records and estate filings gave them a distinct advantage in identifying valuable or strategic parcels of land. Thomas Black was ideally positioned to purchase vast tracts at prices well below pre-famine values. By profiting from Ireland’s social collapse, men like him were often accused of “feasting on famine.”
In 1851, Thomas Black purchased two lots in County Tyrone: 886 acres described as the lands of Lislap and 1,120 acres known as the lands of Cullion. Earlier that year, he had acquired 485 acres in the townland of Donemana and the entirety of Eskeradooey. In 1850, he also purchased 867 acres in County Mayo. In total, between 1850 and 1851, he acquired 3,082 acres in Tyrone and 867 acres in Mayo.
Thomas Black established a summer residence at Lislap House and divided his time between there and his Dublin home on Eccles Street. Shortly after acquiring these lands, he transferred ownership to his son, William Fleming Black, who was also a solicitor. In 1855, William Fleming Black was appointed to the Commission of the Peace for County Tyrone. He became politically active, closely associated with the Orangemen of Omagh, presiding over several of their meetings. A prominent Unionist and Freemason, William served as High Sheriff of County Tyrone in 1857, a prestigious and influential role marking him as a key figure in local governance.
On 15 August 1854 in Dublin, Thomas Black’s eldest daughter, Jane Black, married an American, Alexander Buchannan Barret. In addition to their landholdings, the Black family had ties to wealthy merchants. Alexander Buchannan Barret was a prosperous tobacco merchant and plantation owner in Henderson, Kentucky. At the time of their marriage, he was regarded as one of the world’s largest tobacco merchants and also one of the largest landowners in America. Jane relocated to Kentucky, where Alexander appeared in the U.S. Slave Schedules for 1850 and 1860 as a slave owner. These records list his slaves by age, gender, and racial classification, but not by name. In 1860, he was recorded as owning 140 slaves—66 of them aged 16 or younger. Earlier newspaper accounts describe escape attempts by his slaves across the Ohio River into Indiana, where slavery was prohibited. Sadly, these desperate men were captured and returned to him.
Alexander Buchannan Barret died in 1861, leaving the bulk of his estate to his children from a previous marriage. Jane received £20,000 and a generous annual allowance “to live the life of a lady.” She died three years later at age 38 in Rome, leaving £25,000 to her father, Thomas Black.
Jane’s brother, George Terry Black, also a solicitor in Dublin, later moved to Kentucky. In 1875, he wrote to a local newspaper seeking advice on growing sugar beet in the post-slavery era. Three months later, he died in Curdsville, Kentucky.
Back in Ireland, Thomas Black had died in 1873, leaving his estate to his youngest daughter, Catherine Black. William Fleming Black remained at Lislap House and became increasingly politically active during the 1870’s, a period marked by growing unrest over tenant rights. His land in County Mayo—largely Catholic, impoverished, and politically radical—was at the heart of this agitation. Land agitation in Mayo led to the founding of the Land League in 1879. Their demands were “the land of Ireland for the people of Ireland” and seeking to abolish landlordism. As a Protestant landlord, William symbolised British authority and landowner power—targets of both the Land League and the emerging Home Rule movement. As a Justice of the Peace and a prominent member of the Orange Order, he stood in opposition to these nationalist causes.
On the evening of 1 November 1883 in Derry, a serious riot broke out when Orangemen protested against nationalist land policies. A Nationalist march had been organised to welcome the Lord Mayor of Dublin, a leading Home Rule figure. As the march approached Corporation Hall, it was fired upon, killing two Catholics. Riots continued in the city for several days. An inquiry followed, but Catholic leaders refused to participate due to what they perceived as bias in the authorities’ response. As one of four justices of the peace present, William Fleming Black was asked to account for his conduct. Although no action was taken, a formal expression of disapproval was issued.
William Fleming Black died at Lislap House on 12 March 1894, aged 76. Having never married, he left his estate to his sister Catherine Black. Catherine, then in her sixties and also unmarried, died in 1901. She left the Black estate—including Lislap House—to three men, two of whom were the sons of her cousins. She chose not to leave the estate to the descendants of her brother, George Terry Black. The inheritance was valued at £35,000, equivalent to over £3.5 million today. One of the beneficiaries was Thomas Falls.
Thomas Falls, like Thomas Black and his sons, was a solicitor based in Dublin. He used Lislap House as a summer residence and hunting lodge, making improvements to the house and gardens, including the creation of a waterfall that still exists today. From Lislap House, he served as Justice of the Peace for County Tyrone and was President of the Lislap Rifle Club.
The Land Purchase (Ireland) Act of 1903 enabled tenant farmers to buy their land from landlords with government assistance. While the act was not compulsory, it offered attractive terms. In 1870, only 3% of Irish farmers owned their land; by 1929, this had risen to 97%. In 1903, Thomas Falls began selling parts of the original Black estate to tenants.
This land reform was soon followed by dramatic political change. Thomas Falls and his brother, Charles Fausset Falls, were prominent during this period. Both Thomas and Charles Falls signatures can be found on the Ulster Covenant, a document created in 1912 in protest against the Third Home Rule Bill which was introduced by the British Government. This document was then used to recruit men who had signed the document into a unionist militia, the Ulster Volunteers. In response Irish Nationalists formed the Irish Volunteers. Charles Fausset Falls, a Unionist living in Darling Street, Fermanagh, became one of the leaders of the Ulster Volunteers. He had been a member of the Ulster Unionist Council and helped shape Unionist policy during this period. With the outbreak of World War One he served in the British Army as Major in the 11th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, which was composed of Ulster Volunteers from Fermanagh and Donegal.
The Easter Rising in Dublin 1916 and the War of Independence followed. I have yet to establish any direct involvement from Thomas Falls or his brother Charles, but they were supporters of Crown forces throughout this period.
Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921, which created the Irish Free State, border violence intensified. In the spring of 1922, Michael Collins orchestrated a secret IRA offensive in Fermanagh and Tyrone to retaliate against the killings of Catholics by loyalist paramilitaries. The offensive aimed to destabilise the new Northern Ireland government and bring Catholic-majority border counties into the Free State. Unionist leaders were targeted. Charles Fausset Falls narrowly escaped capture when his home was ransacked. Lislap House was attacked and burned to the ground, though Thomas Falls was not home at the time.
After the destruction of Lislap House, Thomas Falls sold the estate to John Collins in 1928 and moved to England, where he died later that year. Charles Fausset Falls was knighted in December 1922 following the attempt on his life. He unsuccessfully stood for the Ulster Unionist Party in the 1923 general election but won a seat in 1924 after the Nationalist Party declined to contest. Charles Faucett Falls died at the age of 76 in Blackheath, London in 1936.
During our research into Lislap House, we were contacted by the owner of a property located at the lower edge of Gortin Glen Forest Park. They kindly provided photographs of the surrounding area. They live beside where Lislap House once stood, which is now overgrown ruins. The land that formed the Estate once owned by the Black family is now owned and managed by the Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture.
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