Headfort estate was apparently bought in 1660 by Thomas Taylour of Sussex as a result of his prosperity after assisting Sir William Petty in the 'Down Survey'.

One of the more colourful members of the Headfort family, Rose Boote, who followed a successful career on the stage by marrying into the Headfort family. She is here pictured at the gates of the kitchen garden. This photograph was kindly loaned by Michael Bolton and forms part of the display in the house, as mentioned earlier.

The Down Survey was in fact an accurate topographical map of the country (in which details of the country were laid down). It was the the principal tool used by Cromwell to distribute over 11,000,000 acres (Petty's figure) of confiscated land to English soldiers following the virtual depopulation of Ireland by Cromwell. Probably at least some of the Headfort lands, which formerly stretched from Kells to Virginia, were granted to Thomas Taylour as payment for his help in the Survey.

As the years went by, various titles were bestowed on the Taylour family. Thomas's son, also called Thomas, was created an Irish baronet in 1704. By 1760, his great grandson, another Thomas, was rewarded for his service as M.P. for Kells with an English baronetcy. The same man became successively Viscount Headfort and Earl of Bective. His son, the second Earl, was created Marquess of Headfort at the time of the Act of Union.

The present Marquess of Headfort, who lives in the Philppines, sold the estate in the 1980s. His son, Christopher, the Earl of Bective, has a flourishing estate agency in London.