Robert Montgomery

The barony and associated families

The Montgomerys The Lordship of Giffen, included the Baronies of Giffen, Trearne, Hessilhead, Broadstone, Roughwood and Ramshead.

The Barony of Braidstone (sic) was possessed by John de Lyddale (Liddel), Dominus de Bradestane in 1452. Robert Montgomerie of Braidstone was second son of the 3rd Lord Montgomerie. Sir Hugh Montgomerie (1560–1636) was born here in 1560, son of Adam, 5th Laird of Braidstane. He married the daughter of John Montgomery of Hessilhead, and before 1568 he purchased lands from Hugh, third Earl of Eglinton. He left a daughter, Janet, who married Troilus, the second son of Adam Montgomery of Giffen. Andrew Nevin, inherited the Monkredding estate in 1581 and married Janet, daughter of Adam Montgomery, IV laird of Broadstone Castle. Matthew Montgomerie was a resident at Broadstone, but was recorded as living at Bogstone in 1622.

Hugh, first Viscount of the Great-Ardes, granted a mortgage on the lands of Broadstone to his brother-in-law, Sir John Shaw of Greenock in 1650.

The Ulster connection

In 1603 Hugh Montgomery had accompanied King James I and VI on the journey to London to take possession of the English throne and his surviving brother George was the Dean of Norwich, becoming one of the court chaplains to King James; (George later became Bishop of Derry). These close contacts enabled him to eventually obtain a one third portion of the lands of Con O'Neill, Lord of the Claneboys, in Ulster. He entertained Con O'Neill at Broadstone and helped him to obtain a pardon for an accusation of 'waging war' against Queen Elizabeth I. Mr James Hamilton, son of the minister of Dunlop, later James Hamilton, 1st Viscount Claneboye, also obtained a one third portion of these O'Neill lands.

Hugh Montgomery brought a colony of Irish Protestants over from his Irish estates in 1600 and later a colony of Protestants from the area were taken over to the Ardes and Clandebora areas of Ireland following the putting down of an Irish revolt. Hugh was knighted in by King James in 1605, giving him precedency over his rival James Hamilton, and he was created Viscount Montgomery of the Great Ardes on May 3, 1622; he died on May 25, 1636, aged 76. The Earl of Mount Alexander was his grandson, his title deriving from his descent from the family of Alexander, Earls of Stirling.

Hugh Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery (1560–1636), is known as one of the "founding fathers" of the Ulster-Scots along with James Hamilton, 1st Viscount Claneboye. Paterson, the historian, records that the 'Laird of Braidstane's Scotch Colony', established in around 1606, was responsible for the introduction of linen weaving and manufacture to the area around Lurgan in Ireland; he also built mills, the harbour of Donaghadee, and repaired Port Montgomery (now Port Patrick). Some of the family of Hugh Hammil of the nearby lands of Roughwood accompanied Hugh Montgomerie to Ireland and became established there as merchants in the Dublin area.

Added from Wikipedia by Janet Milburn on 7/27/18

The ruins of Braidstone or Broadstone Castle remained until about 1850. but when Broadstonehall Farm buildings were being rebuilt, the castle was pulled down and its stones used in the building works; the Broadstone Crags, the site of the castle, remain however despite local quarrying. An avenue of trees and the vestiges of a garden had survived until the time of the building of the farm.