A carpenter and bone china collector who cherished historic tractor

Whether accompanied or exploring alone, these local expeditions have without exception been hugely enjoyable and enlightening, and sometimes offered more than a few surprises.

Several of last year’s outings have been ‘gathering dust’ in my files, such as Tullylagan Manor, with its idyllic, landscaped gardens beside Tullylagan River, near Cookstown.

I went there on a sunny Saturday last July and found an oasis of peace and tranquillity, bathed in history.

The exquisitely beautiful, late-Georgian, classical villa was built by the locally well-known Greer family during the early 19th century.

It’s now a luxury hotel, and some of the estate’s former farm-buildings have been converted into a restaurant - Harry’s Bar and Bistro - a reference to one of the grand house’s regular guests, Harry Ferguson of tractor fame, who secretly ‘field-tested’ one of his equally acclaimed ploughs on the estate.

The Greer’s manor, built around 1830, replaced a much older house erected by the Sandersons who named the estate Tullylagan, where the family came from in Scotland.

Frederick Greer inherited Tullylagan from his father in 1870 and leased the estate to his cousin, Thomas MacGregor Greer around 1898.

Thomas was responsible for much of the development of the estate thereafter.

MacGregor Greer, an eclectic, talented man with assorted interests that are still evident in and around Tullylagan, reckoned that the two-story house was inadequately proportioned for a country residence.

Rather than risking its architecture by extending the house, he excavated the basement!

In those days that was a mammoth yet intricate task.

Workmen with spades and wheelbarrows carefully removed the sub-soil, buttressing the foundations to add a third, underground level to the manor.

Though originally from Seapark, near Belfast, Thomas devoted much time, energy and expertise to the grounds of his beloved Tullylagan estate, planting a host of rare and exotic trees and shrubs, all of which he knew by their common and Latin names.

Many remain today, along with some beautiful garden details, statues and other ornamentations.

There’s an old, rustic, stone bridge and a beautifully fenestrated red-brick summer-house, along with a bird-watching hut beneath a glorious canopy of trees - all beside the darkly-overshadowed river banks.

I even experienced several magic, momentary, blue-flash glimpses of a kingfisher.

Thomas built and ran a carpentry shop in the farmyard, powered by a dynamo and turbine, where numerous fine chairs, tables and other carved items were produced.

He collected exquisite bone china, which was washed in a specially-installed, soft-wood kitchen sink, so that the china wouldn’t be damaged during washing!

He presented some of his oak, hand-carved furniture, including a lectern and communion table to Desertcreat Parish Church, where he was warden, treasurer and secretary, and where he often read the Sunday morning Bible readings.

Thomas MacGregor Greer’s eclecticism knew no ends!

Apart from his idyllically beautiful gardens and pathways, punctuated liberally with intriguing carved stones and statues, he adored unusual, high-powered cars.

He owned a French Dion Bouton, built by the world’s then-largest automobile manufacturer, renowned for their quality, reliability, durability…and price!

It’s said that his Dion Bouton was the first car to grace Cookstown’s famously-wide main street.

Then he purchased another vehicle (believed to have been a Vauxhall!) which apparently didn’t perform according to his very specific requirements.

His own attempts to boost its top speed failed, but he’d heard about a young mechanic who was hailed to excel with engines.

A young Harry Ferguson was summoned to Tullylagan!

Greer was impressed with Ferguson’s mechanical expertise and asked Harry to service his ‘fleet’.

Often working late into the night, Harry stayed in the farm buildings, thus today’s aptly-named Bar and Bistro, though when Thomas recognised the young man’s sheer brilliance Ferguson became a regular guest of the manor.

Thomas also shared Harry’s enthusiasm for agricultural machinery and became one of his main financial backers. After he invented and built his Ferguson prototype tractor with its ‘three-point linked’ hydraulic plough (known as the Black Tractor) Harry needed a secret location for a field test - somewhere where no one could observe and then copy his invention.

He found the perfect location at Tullylagan, on one of Thomas’s fields, tucked well away from the road, with no houses in the vicinity except the manor!

The plough subsequently became the best-known secret in the district!

A neighbour of Greer’s drove the tractor while Harry and his co-engineer concentrated on the mechanics.

Thomas wanted to secure his place in history as the owner of the first tractor and plough built for the hydraulic system and on 12 January 1937 he bought them both from Harry, for use on the Tullylagan estate.

He greatly cherished his prototype machinery and it’s said that Thomas wanted the tractor to be used as a hearse at his funeral. He hoped it would pull a trailer holding his coffin when he died, but when he passed away in 1941 an Aston Martin led the funeral cortege on its way to Desertcreat Church.

There is still some old agricultural machinery in the farm buildings, but the manor and Thomas’s riverside gardens are a wonderful memorial to “a great man who is still missed”, as stated on Tullylagan’s promotional literature.

More information is at tullylaganhotel.com