Arthur Macnamara was squire of Billington

Billington, Bedfordshire

Billington is a civil parish in Bedfordshire about three miles south of Leighton Buzzard. There are two settlements: Little Billington and one that is now called Great Billington . Its name is recorded in 1196 as Billendon and may come from Anglo-Saxon language Billan dūn = "hill of a man named...

 near Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard

-Lower schools:*Beaudesert Lower School - Apennine Way*Clipstone Brook Lower School - Brooklands Drive*Greenleas Lower School - Derwent Road*Dovery Down Lower School - Heath Road*Heathwood Lower School - Heath Road*Leedon Lower School - Highfield Road...

 in Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

, where he turned a ruinous village into a model Victorian Estate. Today Billington is a small village with no facilities straddling a busy main road. As the heavy traffic rumbles through the village today, motorists notice the 'AM' cipher

Cipher

In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...

 but are often unaware that the initials stand for Arthur Macnamara.

Macnamara was born in his parents' London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 home in Grosvenor Street in 1831. The family were very affluent: in addition to the London house, they had a castle at Llangoed

Llangoed

Llangoed is a small village and community just north of Beaumaris, on the Isle of Anglesey or Ynys Môn, at . The Royal Mail postcode begins LL58...

 in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 and a country house, Caddington

Caddington

Caddington is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is between the Dunstable/Luton urban area , and Hertfordshire ....

 Hall, in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, and another estate at Eaton Bray in Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire

Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

. Macnamara's grandfather had won Llangoed Castle in a card game. However his father died when he was young, and Llangoed Castle was sold in 1847. Members of the family lie in the isolated graveyard

Graveyard

A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...

 in the castle grounds. Macnamara seems to have been brought up from this point onwards by his rather domineering mother. Caddington Hall was now the family's principal seat, but the family fortune was dwindling rapidly.

On 28 September 1854 Macnamara made a brilliant marriage (probably to save the ancestral finances) to Lady Sophia Hare, daughter of the local MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for St Albans

St Albans

St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

, the 2nd Earl of Listowel

Earl of Listowel

Earl of Listowel is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1822 for William Hare, 1st Viscount Ennismore and Listowel, who had earlier represented Cork City and Athy in the Irish House of Commons. He had already been created Baron Ennismore, in the County of Kerry, in 1800, and...

. The couple were married on the bride's family estate at Ballyhooly

Ballyhooly

Ballyhooly is a small village in North Cork situated along the N72 between Mallow and Fermoy.-External links:*...

, Cork

County Cork

County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

; afterwards the couple set up home at Caddington Hall.

It is about this time that the first signs of eccentric behaviour began to manifest themselves in the young Squire Macnamara. In spite of owning a large mansion in the area he developed a passion for building, embarking on the project of re-creating the lost castle of Eaton Bray on some land bequeathed him by his mother. After building grandiose lodges, and clearing and preparing the moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

ed site, he seem to have abandoned the idea, probably through lack of funds. All was not well in his marriage either. Sophia's father

Father

A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...

 as a Lord-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

 was able to secure his daughter a position as a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen's daughter Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll

The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...

, thus Lady Sophia was able to spend long periods at court

Court

A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...

 away from her husband. In this era divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

 was not an option.

Arthur MacNamara's family history, and the history of some others of the British MacNamara line was written in 1908 by Robert Twigge,an eminent historian of the times, who was married to one of the Irish MacNamaras, of the Ennistymon House branch, from Co. Clare. This book has been republished in a limited edition by Martin Breen. See http://www.martinbreen.com/ for details.

In the early 1880s Macnamara now embarked on his most ambitious project yet, no doubt inspired by the building of Mentmore

Mentmore

Mentmore is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about three miles east of Wingrave, three miles south east of Wing.The village toponym is derived from the Old English for "Menta's moor"...

 by Baron Mayer de Rothschild

Mayer Amschel de Rothschild

Mayer Amschel de Rothschild of the English branch of the Rothschild family was the fourth and youngest son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild . He was named Mayer Amschel Rothschild, for his grandfather, the patriarch of the Rothschild family.-Life:Known to his family as "Muffy", he was born in New Court,...

 five miles away. He began to acquire land and build cottage

Cottage

__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...

s at Billington

Billington, Bedfordshire

Billington is a civil parish in Bedfordshire about three miles south of Leighton Buzzard. There are two settlements: Little Billington and one that is now called Great Billington . Its name is recorded in 1196 as Billendon and may come from Anglo-Saxon language Billan dūn = "hill of a man named...

 and estate cottages and farm houses all adorned with the Macnamara cypher 'AM' sprang up around the village. The cypher began to become more and more adorned in many guises. Humble cottages would sometimes have two manifestations of it, coronet

Coronet

A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. Unlike a crown, a coronet never has arches.The word stems from the Old French coronete, a diminutive of coronne , itself from the Latin corona .Traditionally, such headgear is – as indicated by the German equivalent...

s (that strictly speaking Macnamara was not entitled to use) began to appear, clenched fists waving dagger

Dagger

A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...

s would embellish them, and always the 'AM' close alongside.

As Billington became the estate

Estate (house)

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority...

 village, the manor house

Manor house

A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...

 itself began to be built; a large multi-gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

d Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 mansion, of no architectural merit, began to arise whose style could be loosely called Elizabethan. On two floors the house sprawled, juxtaposing wings linked by conservatories. Each wing, gable or bay bore the now legendary cypher of 'AM'. However the greatest surprise to the approaching visitor were the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 motto

Motto

A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...

s engraved over each gable of the entrance front. The motto over the front door translated as 'I hate common people'.

The new manor house had stable yards and lodges and new farmhouses each bearing the 'AM' cypher. So numerous were these plaques that it now began to seem like graffiti

Graffiti

Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....

. At Little Billington a mile away a lodge was built for a new principal approach to the house. The money exhausted, the drive was never built, but the lodge complete with multiple cyphers remains.

It was the planning of this drive that caused one of Arthur Macnamara's most often related acts of callousness: a row of cottage

Cottage

__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...

s existed within sight of the new drive. The occupants were turned out, and homeless, they requested permission to use the timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

s of the old houses to build new homes. Macnamara denied them this, and for two weeks a bonfire

Bonfire

A bonfire is a controlled outdoor fire used for informal disposal of burnable waste material or as part of a celebration. Celebratory bonfires are typically designed to burn quickly and may be very large...

 burned doors, window frames, and all which could have been salvaged. The elderly occupants were put into the workhouse

Workhouse

In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...

.

He became chairman of the magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

s at Leighton Buzzard where his sentencing knew no bounds in its severity. If the squire encountered any of his tenants

Tenant farmer

A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...

 on the road with sheep or cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

, his coachman

Coachman

A coachman is a man whose business it is to drive a coach, a horse-drawn vehicle designed for the conveyance of more than one passenger — and of mail — and covered for protection from the elements...

 had orders not to stop or slow down; if people did not hurry out of his path they were mown down. As chairman of the magistrates and the largest land owner in the district he was beyond the law. The slightest affront imagined by the squire could lead to the eviction of the perpetrator from their home.

However, Squire Macnamara had one huge fear: he was frightened of thunder

Thunder

Thunder is the sound made by lightning. Depending on the nature of the lightning and distance of the listener, thunder can range from a sharp, loud crack to a long, low rumble . The sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within...

. An underground suite of rooms were furnished at Billington Manor, where he would retreat for long periods at the slightest threat of thunder.

On 11 February 1906 Arthur Macnamara died, alone in the great house except for his house-keeper. The cause of his death, perhaps giving a clue to his behaviour, was cirrhosis of the liver

Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...

.

Following his death, he was found to be bankrupt. Lady Sophia sold the estate and in her old age lived at Heath and Reach

Heath and Reach

Heath and Reach is a village, civil parish, and political ward near the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire. It is about two miles north of Leighton Buzzard and three miles south of Woburn and adjoins the county boundary with Buckinghamshire....

, Leighton Buzzard, where members of the royal family

Royal family

A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...

 would come to visit her, free of her tyrannical husband.

Arthur Macnamara was buried in Billington churchyard, his monumental tombstone surrounded by iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 railings. There is a legend

Legend

A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...

 that when the blacksmith came to erect them, it was tradition for the spikes on top of the railings to curve outwards (to keep the devil

Devil

The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...

 out). On Arthur Macnamara's grave the spikes were turned in - to prevent him escaping his grave. These railings were removed during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

when iron work was melted down to help the war effort.

Lady Sophia Macnamara died in 1912, and she chose to be buried in Ireland. Her husband is interred alone.