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Estate: Browne (Castlemagarret)

Associated Families

Browne (Oranmore and Browne)
Alliance Insurance Society

Description

The Brownes of Carrowbrowne, parish of Oranmore, county Galway, had estates in the counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon (parish of Oran, barony of Ballymoe). By Royal grants dated 2 June 1670 and 23 July 1678 Dominick Browne received over 8,000 acres in the town of Galway and in the baronies of Clare, Moycullen, Athenry, Dunmore and Ross (the Ashford estate), county Galway and in the baronies of Clanmorris and Costello, county Mayo. Mid 19th century copy rentals of their county Galway estates are included in MS 40,966 of the Westport Papers. The Galway County Library holds a [pre 1849] summary of the Browne estates for sale in counties Galway and Roscommon. In July 1853 the fee simple of over a thousand acres in the barony of Clare, county Galway, was advertised for sale in the Encumbered Estates' Court. The Brownes county Mayo estate, mainly in the barony of Clanmorris was established in the mid 17th century and the Brownes were resident in county Mayo by the end of that century. At the time of Griffith's Valuation this estate was comprised of more than 40 townlands in the parishes of Crossboyne and Kilcolman in the barony of Clanmorris. Heavily encumbered by the mid 19th century, Lord Oranmore and Browne's estates were put up for sale in the Encumbered Estates' Court between 1852 and 1854. Family members were able to buy back some of the property and the Brownes still held 4,243 acres in county Mayo in 1876 and a smaller property in county Westmeath. The Westport Estate Papers MS 40,966 documents much of the estate management of the Oranmore and Browne estates in counties Galway and Mayo in the 1840s and 1850s. Lord Oranmore and Browne sold 2228 acres in county Mayo to the Congested Districts' Board on 5 Feb 1914 and repurchased 655 acres. The fire of 1811 destroyed many of the family papers.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	OS Grid Reference / Map
Castlemagarret The house built in 1694 was destroyed by fire in 1811 and a replacement built in the Tudor Gothic style. Robert Graham in his journal of September 1836 refers to the fire and that "the present house is constructed out of the old offices, but is amazingly comfortable as far as it goes". The house functioned as a nursing home after it was sold by the Brownes in 1964.	Castlemagarretpark New	Crossboyne	Claremorris	Ballindine 75	Clanmorris	Mayo	M354 718 Discovery map #39. OS Sheet #111.
Millbrook There is a lithograph of this house attached to the sales rental of Lord Oranmore and Browne's estate in 1854. The sale rental states that the late tenant [Lawrence Glynn] recently expended a large sum in building a residence on this lot.	Millbrook	Crossboyne	Claremorris	Crossboyne 77	Clanmorris	Mayo	M338 733 Discovery map #39. OS Sheet #101.
Ashford Castle Originally this was the site of a De Burgo castle on the shore of Lough Corrib. A shooting lodge in the style of a French chateux was built by the Browne family of Castlemagarret and occupied in the late 18th century by a branch of that family. Thomas Elwood was agent for the Brownes in the early 19th century and is recorded as the occupier in 1814. Sold after the Famine to Benjamin Guinness. His son Arthur Lord Ardilaun expanded the building in the style of a Gothic castle. Sold by the Guinness family in 1939 the castle now functions as a world famous hotel.	Ashford	Cong	Oughterard	Cloonbur 157	Ross	Galway	M148 546 Discovery map #38. OS Sheet #27.
Castlegar Occupied by Ignatius Kelly in 1814, by William T. Kelly at the time of Griffith's Valuation and by Edward Dale in 1906. In the 20th century it became a boys' secondary school. There is a lithograph of the house in the sale rental for Castlemagarret in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.	Castlegar	Kilcolman	Claremorris	Claremorris 88	Clanmorris	Mayo	M353 766 Discovery map #39. OS Sheet #101.
Cuillaun Part of the Oranmore and Browne estate in the mid 19th century, occupied by Frenches, Brownes and by Edward Rush at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when the house was valued at £7. Now the home of the Donnellys.	Cuillaun	Kilvine	Claremorris	Ballindine 75	Clanmorris	Mayo	M401 711 Discovery map #39. OS Sheet #112.

Archival sources

Galway County Library: Summary of the Browne estates for sale in Cos Galway & Roscommon, circa 1840s.
Irish Architectural Archive: Photos & Cuttings. 011/044 (Castlemagarrett) & 049/077 (Castlegar)
Mayo County Library: Encumbered Estates' Court rental, 7 Nov 1854.
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Oranmore, 7 Nov 1854, Vol 31, MRGS 39/014, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Oranmore & Browne, 25 May 1852, Vol 15, MRGS 39/007, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives of Ireland: M. 5375
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Athenry estate, 6 July 1852, Vol 17, MRGS 39/007 (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives of Ireland: Map of property of Knocknacarragh, Galway, the property of Lord Oranmore and Browne, nd. M 5721
National Library of Ireland: Westport Estate Papers, Collection List 78
National Library of Ireland: Copy of patent creating Dominick Browne Lord Oranmore and Browne, 4 May 1836. GO MS 151, 304-307
National Library of Ireland: Pedigree of Browne of Carrowbrowne, Co Galway and of Castlemagarret, Co Mayo, c 1575-1821. GO MS 173, 232-233
National Library of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (Burke), Oranmore, 12 July 1853, Vol 17
Private Possession: Indexes to Minute Books of Alliance Assurance Company, London
Public Record Office, Northern Ireland: Agreement to bar entail Patrick Kirwan, R. A. H. Kirwan and Dominick Browne of Castlemagarret, Co Mayo, 14 Nov 1834. D/ 470 (23)
Public Record Office, Northern Ireland: Encumbered Estates' Court Rentals (Barrymore)

Contemporary printed sources

Modern printed sources

Cathair na Mart: LANE, Pádraig G. The consideration of Mayo property in the 1830s and 1840s. XIX (1999), 101-104
Crossboyne Parish Magazine: COAKLEY, John. Castlemacgarrett and the Brownes. (2005), 113-118
Irish Historical Studies: BUTLER, John. Lord Oranmore's journal, 1913-1927. XXIX (1995), 553-593.
Jnl. of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society: BLAKE, Martin J. Notes on the Place Names mentioned in Browne’s map of Mayo 1584. VIII (1913-1914), 39-55
Jnl. of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society: ORANMORE AND BROWNE, Lord. The Brownes of Castle MacGarrett. V (1907-1908), 48-59, 165-177, 227-238
Jnl. of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society: Nĺ CHINNÉIDE, Síle. A Frenchman’s Tour of Connacht in 1791. XXXV (1976), 52-66
Studia Hibernica: LANE, Pádraig G. The management of estates by Financial Corporations in Ireland after the Famine. XIV (1974), 67-89
BENCE-JONES, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 72
MELVIN, Patrick. The Galway Tribes as Landowners and Gentry. In MORAN, Gerard (ed). Galway: History & Society. Dublin: Geography Publications, 1996 : 319-374
MOSLEY, Charles (ed). Burke's Peerage and Baronetage. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999: II, 2168-2169
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND. Reports on Private Collections: Oranmore and Browne. No. 257

Landed Estates Database, 1.2.4 28 Sep 2009