Gerard Ronan

The Seduction of Benedict Arthur Gerard Ronan

Benedict Arthur was just seventeen when he wed Catherine Hacket. She was at least thirty-eight. The year was 1712 and the allegations of seduction and abduction that followed their secret marriage would lead to a famously bitter legal battle that would take almost two decades to resolve. Unable to divorce, it would not be until Catherine's death, in 1749, that Benedict could finally legitimise his mistress and children and move them into the magnificent Palladian villa that he had built on the shores of the Broadmeadow Estuary, close to the village of Donabate. This is the story of the origins of Seafield House, and how the Arthurs of Great Cabragh became the Arthurs of Seafield.