So…after a bit of research, it looks like we have identified  at least some of the people in this picture. We had the photograph looked at by Jayne Shrimpton, a dress historian and picture specialist, who confirmed that the picture was probably taken between 1897 and 1901.
The gentleman at the front left is likely to be Alexander Speers, as we know that he was definitely in the property in 1863. The lady to the front right is presumably his wife although we don’t know her name.
We think the lady at the back is Sarah Rowan – Irish Land Act records of 1903 show that a Sarah Rowan became the owner of the property then, and this ties in with the story that the Anderson family purchased the house in 1942 from an elderly Mrs Rowan, by that time a widow, which would put the lady in the picture above in her 80’s.
The direct link from Alexander Speers is uncertain, but we know he had a daughter, Eliza Macauley Speers, who married a John Rowan in 1850. We suspect that Sarah is their daughter.
Interestingly, Grace Anderson who has been helping us with our research, and who grew up in this house, is related to Eliza Macaulay Speers, and so the property has quite likely remained in the wider family circle for 150 years.
There are many branches of both Speers/Spears and Rowan families, and both still live within half a mile of the house, so they haven’t travelled too far.
We are hoping that some older members of the family will be able to help us take the records back beyond 1863, as memories exist of a lady who came from Scotland in the 1700’s and lived here.