Estate: Dawson/Massy-Dawson (Ballynacourte)

Associated Families

• Massy (Baron of Duntrileague)
• Dawson/Massy-Dawson (Ballynacourte)

Description

In 1666 John Dawson was granted an estate of over 2,900 acres in county Tipperary including the castle of Ballinecourte. In 1703 James Dawson of Ballynecourty, county Tipperary, purchased land in the baronies of Coonagh and Clanwilliam, county Limerick and Clanwilliam, county Tipperary, part of the confiscated estate of King James II. The 1st Baron Massy married as his first wife, Mary Dawson, daughter and heiress of James Dawson of Ballynacourty. Their second son, James (born 1736), assumed the additional surname of Dawson and his family succeeded to Ballynacourty. The estate of Reverend John Massy Dawson, grandson of James, is recorded as the immediate lessor of at least 20 townlands in the parish of Clonbeg, barony of Clanwilliam, at the time of Griffith's Valuation, though he himself died in 1850. His estate also held land in the parishes of Clonbullogue and Killardry, barony of Clanwilliam and Ballybacon, barony of Iffa and Offa West. In the 1870s his brother, George Staunton King Massy Dawson of Ballinacourty, owned 19,093 acres in county Tipperary.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Ballynacourty (H3008) Originally the home of the Dawson family, it passed by marriage to the Massy family and was the seat of the Massy Dawsons in the 18th and 19th centuries. Occupied by J. H. Massy Dawson in 1837 and owned by the estate of Reverend John M. Dawson in the early 1850s. It was held in fee and was valued at £75. In 1839 the Ordnance Survey Name Books describe it as "beautifully situated and in good repair, the residence of Rev. J.M. Dawson". In 1894 Slater refers to it as the seat of George Staunton King Massy-Dawson. This house was a ruin by the mid 20th century.	Ballynacourty	Clonbeg	Tipperary	Clonbeg 147	Clanwilliam	Tipperary	Lat/Lon: 52.41602 -8.21019 OSI Ref: R857 294 Discovery map #74. OS Sheet #73.
Woodville (H4101) Lewis records Matthew Gibbons [Givens?] as the occupier of this house. Mathew Givens was resident at the time of Griffith's Valuation and held the house valued at £15 from the estate of Reverend John M. Dawson. In 1839 the Ordnance Survey Name Books describe it as "in excellent repair and beautifully ornamented". It is still extant and occupied.	Mackanagh Lower	Clonbeg	Tipperary	Clonbeg 147	Clanwilliam	Tipperary	Lat/Lon: 52.41337 -8.18225 OSI Ref: R876 291 Discovery map #74. OS Sheet #74.
Glenbrook Cottage (H4963) Thomas Holmes was leasing this property from the Massy-Dawson estate at the time of Griffith's Valuation when it was valued at almost £4. It is not named on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map but appears as Glenbrook Cottage on the 25-inch edition of the 1890s. It is still extant and occupied. Local sources suggest that the original house dates to the seventeenth century and that the Holmes family called it Clydeingrove.	Tooreen	Clonbeg	Tipperary	Clonbeg 147	Clanwilliam	Tipperary	Lat/Lon: 52.40976 -8.18812 OSI Ref: R872287 Discovery map #74. OS Sheet #73.
Cappagh (Clanwilliam) (H4970) In 1786 Wilson refers to Cappagh as the seat of Mr. Massey. At the time of Griffith's Valuation, this townland was the property of estate of Reverend John Massey Dawson. [Grid Reference is approximate].	Cappauniac	Clonbulloge	Tipperary	Killadriffe 148	Clanwilliam	Tipperary	Lat/Lon: 52.41620 -8.02205 OSI Ref: R985294 Discovery map #. OS Sheet #75.

Archival sources

• National Archives of Ireland: Large collection of solicitors' records including documents re the Massy & Dawson families, 19th century. E.J.French solicitor's collection, Small Accessions Index 8
• National Archives of Ireland: Typescript copy will of George King Staunton Massy Dawson, Ballinacourte, Co. Tipperary, 14 Jan. 1893, with codicils. 999/186/1
• National Archives of Ireland: Baker, Ringwood & Gordon, solicitors' collection, includes Massy Dawson Papers - wills, deeds from 1670, abstracts of title to various estates in Cos Limerick & Tipperary, legal papers, rentals, acccounts, stock book for Ballynacourte, wage accounts, family papers - all connected to administration of estate of George King Staunton Massy Dawson, a lunatic. Small Accs. Index 105, T.11,887-11,888, T.12,199-12,207, D.23,223-23,243, M.4461-4478
• National Archives of Ireland: Baker, Ringwood & Gordon, solicitors' collection, includes fee farm grant of 270 acres in East Keile, barony of Clanwilliam, Michael Head of Derry to John Dawson of Ballynecourty, 3 Mar 1738. Small Accs. Index 105, D.21,038
• Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office: Miscellaneous Massy-Dawson family correspondence,1810-1893. WRO 1915/41-42

Contemporary printed sources

Many of these resources are now available online. For a list with Web links please see the Online Printed Sources Links

• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Clanwilliam Barony, 12 (Ballynacourty), 21 (Mackanagh Lower), 26 (Tooreen)
• BATEMAN, John. The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Harrison, 1883. : p.123
• HUSSEY DE BURGH, U. H. The Landowners of Ireland. An alphabetical list of the owners of estates of 500 acres or £500 valuation and upwards in Ireland. Dublin: Hodges, Foster and Figgis, 1878. [available online at www.askaboutireland.ie] : 311
• LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: I, 350 (Ballinacourty & Woodville)
• ORDNANCE SURVEY NAME BOOKS, County Tipperary: Vol.I, Parish of Ballybacon, 194, 204. Vol.II, Parish of Clonbeg, p.201-202, 221-230.
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion..., HC 1906, c, 177: 290 (Ballynacourty & Mackanagh Lower)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. 15th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Records Ireland, 1825. Vol XVI, Appendix I, Grants under Acts of Settlement: 55
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. 15th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Records Ireland, 1825. Vol XVI, Appendix III. Abstracts of the conveyances from the trustees of the Forfeited Estates and Interests in Ireland in 1688'.: 350, 351, 354, 357
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 161
• SLATER, Isaac. Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats. (Manchester: 1894) : xxii, 171 (Ballynacourty)
• WILSON, William. The Post-Chaise Companion or Travellers Directory Through Ireland. The author: Dublin, 1786 : 364 (Cappagh)

Modern printed sources

• Tipperary Historical Journal: MARNANE, Denis G. A Tipperary Landlord's Diary of the 1860s. (1991), 121-128
• BENCE-JONES, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 25 (Ballynacourty)
• BURKE, Sir Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. London: Harrison & Sons, 1904: 137
• MOSLEY, Charles (ed). Burke's Peerage and Baronetage. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999: II, 1878-1882