When Visitors step inside 3 Victoria Street they are immediately struck with the magnificent furnishings and beautiful interiors. Thanks to the generosity of the Miller family the great grand children of R.G McCrum who have given many of the precious family costumes, furnishings and the wealth of family papers. Look out for R.G McCrum's Army and Navy stores grocery book, cheque books and a wealth of sundary and business papers which chart the family wealth. The family lost the fortune in 1929 Wall Street crash with everything dispersed at auction the following year. All William McCrum had was fifty books to leave to his secretary, dying in poverty two years later. The return of more and more of the lost contents means there is always something new to see each time you visit. We are a working historic house rather than a static museum so you will enjoy out warm welcoming atmosphere
Milford House is famous for being ahead of its time in technology and first in Ireland to have hydroelectricity. See the magnificent original 1898 chandeliers in the Drawing Room the earliest surviving electric lighting in Ireland. It had the first telephone system in Co. Armagh. The McCrum family had no one else to phone so they had an internal system and a line connecting to Milford factory to keep an eye on the business! Spot the telephones in each room and see the labels. One reads Garage- William McCrum had two chauffeur driven sports cars. He even had his own petrol pumps in the grounds. See the gadgets designed to make servants life easier.
Part of the house tells the changing fortunes of Milford House when it became Manor House School. The thousand of photographs from our archives and possessions of the girls who went to the school are a testament to the lively experiences at the school they adored. Discover the Brewitt twins substitute for chocolate after the war and Anne Chavasse who was very naughty - she used to swing down the drain pipes at night, hitch hike it to dances in Monaghan. The Headmistress made Anne Head Girl in the hope that she would behave- she didn't! Uncover the school which included mass kidnapping and murder of a judge's daughter.
Take a trip back in time with a house tour and discover a house with a breathtaking and unique legacy.