William Bailie, a
Scottish "undertaker" or
planter, was granted the lands of Tonergie (Tandragee) in
East Breffnie by
King James VI and I in 1610 on condition he enclosed a
demesne, built a
fortified house and settled on the estate a number of Scottish or English families. This he did by 1629. During the
Irish Rebellion of 1641, the house was attacked and occupied for a month by a troop of Irish soldiers under Colonel Hugh O'Reilly. William Bailie died c.1648 and the estate passed to his son, also
William Bailie, the
Church of Ireland Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh. On Bishop Bailie's death in 1664, the estate was inherited by his only daughter Jane, who had married James Hamilton. James was succeeded by his son Henry, MP for
County Cavan, who was killed at the
Siege of Limerick in 1690, during the Jacobite war. His successor was his son, another James Hamilton, who sold the property in 1724 to
Major Charles Stewart - nephew and co-heir of
General Sir William Steuart - and left the area. Charles Stewart died in 1740 and left the estate to his son, William Stewart, who was
High Sheriff of Cavan for 1749 and MP for County Cavan (1766–1768). He was followed by his son Charles, who was also MP for Cavan (1783–1793). He was killed in an accident in 1795, when the estate passed to a nephew, Thomas Charles Stewart Corry, who sold it to
Colonel William Young, from
Loughgall in the north of
County Armagh, in 1814. Colonel Young laid out the town of Bailieborough in its present location and was made the 1st
Young Baronet of Bailieborough Castle in 1821. Sir William died in 1848 and was succeeded by his son,
Sir John Young, who was at one time
Chief Secretary for Ireland and, at a later date,
Governor General of Canada. He was made 1st Baron Lisgar in 1870 and, in his retirement, renovated the house prior to his death in 1876. After Lady Lisgar's death in 1895, the estate went into Chancery and some of the land was sold to the tenants under the
Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885. The house itself was sold to
Sir Stanley Cochrane, who later sold it to one of his nephews, W. L. B. Cochrane, a Bailieborough solicitor. The bulk of the land was sold in 1910 to the Forestry Division of the Department of Lands. In 1915, the house and the remaining 100 acres of land were sold to a religious order, the
Marist Brothers of Athlone. Several of the brothers are buried in a walled enclosure in the vicinity. In 1918, the house burnt down and although the brothers continued in a rebuilt section until 1936, they then decided to sell the house to the Department of Lands and leave. The house was demolished soon after. ==Walking trail==