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Estate: St. George (Tyrone House)

Associated Families

Description

The St.George estate was centred on the house at Tyrone, parish of Drumacoo, barony of Dunkellin, built about 1779. This had originally been a French estate but the family assumed the title of St.George in 1774 due to inheritence from the St.George family of Hatley Manor, county Leitrim. In the 1830s A.F. St. George owned Tyrone House and Kilcolgan Castle, his agent was J. O'Hara. Wm. Griffith of Dublin also acted as an agent for the St. George estate. Arthur French St. George is described as a resident proprietor in 1824. In the early 19th century the St. Georges also owned large amounts of land in the baronies of Moycullen, Ballynahinch and Clare, which they advertised for sale in the early 1850s. Land in the barony of Clare had been acquired through Arthur French's marriage with a Kirwan in the late 17th century. A portion of the St. George estate, situated in the barony of Longford, was offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates court in November 1853. In 1870s the family owned 15,777 acres in county Galway. By the early 1900s, however, some of the estate had been sold and the house at Tyrone had been left empty for long periods. In 1914 over 3000 acres of an estate descibed as St. George and Concannon was vested in the Congested Districts Board. Many members of the family are buried in a church-style mausoleoum in the cemetery at Drumacoo.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Seapark House (H605) This property is described as a caretaker's house on Christopher St. George's estate at the time of Griffith's Valuation when it was valued at £8. O'Connell states that it was locally known as "Foy's House" and was used as a fever hospital during the famine. It is now in ruins.	Ballycleary	Kinvarradoorus	Gort	Killeenavarra	Kiltartan	Galway	Lat/Lon: 53.14508 -8.92071 OSI Ref: M384109 Discovery map #52. OS Sheet #113.
Tyrone (H620) Tyrone was built in the early 19th century. It is described in the OS Name Books as "a beautiful residence" in the 1830s. At the time of Griffith's Valuation, it was in the possession of Christopher St.George and was valued at £50. In 1894 Slater notes it as the seat of Robert J.K. St.George. The family ceased to live there in the early twentieth century. Its ruins can be seen overlooking the estuary of the Kilcolgan river.	Tyrone	Drumacoo	Gort	Drumacoo 104	Dunkellin	Galway	Lat/Lon: 53.20625 -8.91304 OSI Ref: M390177 Discovery map #52. OS Sheet #103.
Kilcolgan Castle (H638) Christopher St. George, residing at Kilcolgan Castle, is described as a resident proprietor in county Galway in 1824. In the 1830s Kilcolgan Castle is described as the property of A.F. St. George. This house, part of the St.George estate, was leased by Matthew St.George from Christopher St.George, 1855. At that time Matthew St. George was acting as agent for the Rathbourne estate. Earlier, the Ordnance Survey Field Name books record that he was acting as agent for the estate of Patrick French in the nearby parish of Ballynacourty. In 1894 Slater refers to "Kilcolgan House" as the residence of James St. George.	Kilcolgan	Kilcolgan	Gort	Drumacoo 104	Dunkellin	Galway	Lat/Lon: 53.20921 -8.87868 OSI Ref: M413180 Discovery map #52. OS Sheet #103.
Newtown Kilcolgan (H639) Arthur St.George was leasing a house, valued at £8, at Newtown Kilcolgan, from Christopher St.George in 1855. Evidence of estate buildings still survive in this area though the house appears to be gone.	Newtown Kilcolgan	Kilcolgan	Gort	Drumacoo 104	Dunkellin	Galway	Lat/Lon: 53.20386 -8.87258 OSI Ref: M417174 Discovery map #52. OS Sheet #103.
Ballyclery (H650) The house at Ballyclery is described as a caretaker's house for the St.George estate. It was valued at £8 in 1855. An occupied house still exists at this site but may have been modernised.	Ballyclery	Killeenavarra	Gort	Killeenavarra 105	Dunkellin	Galway	Lat/Lon: 53.15505 -8.91046 OSI Ref: M391120 Discovery map #52. OS Sheet #113.
Stradbally (H654) Griffith's Valuation shows that Christopher St.George had what are described as "offices" valued at £16 in the townland of Stradbally West, parish of Stradbally, barony of Dunkellin. This was the stable complex for Tyrone House and adjacent to the walled garden which was part of the estate.	Stradbally West	Stradbally	Gort	Drumacoo 104	Dunkellin	Galway	Lat/Lon: 53.20714 -8.91456 OSI Ref: M389178 Discovery map #52. OS Sheet #103.
Quainsborough/Quansbury Lodge/Stowlin (H910) Originally a Daly house. In 1783 Taylor and Skinner and Wilson, in 1786, record Queensborough as a seat of the Earl of Louth. Slater refers to Quansborough Lodges as the seat of William B. Burke in 1846. Mentioned in the sale notice for portion of the St. George estate in November 1853. John P Watson was the occupier of a house valued at £13 in the townland of Stowlin, parish of Kilquain, barony of Longford, in 1856. In 1906 this house was owned by Kate Watson and was valued at £33. Buildings are still extant at site though may have been modernised. The Clonbrock Estate Papers, Collection List 54 in the National Library contain early 19th century rentals of the Quansbury estate. In many documents the name of this house is spelt Quansbury but on the Ordnance Survey maps it is spelt Quainsborough.	Stowlin	Kilquain	Portumna	Kilquain 175	Longford	Galway	Lat/Lon: 53.18349 -8.21692 OSI Ref: M855148 Discovery map #53. OS Sheet #107, 108.

Archival sources

Galway County Library: Encumbered Estates Court Rental, St George, 27 Feb 1855, baronies of Ballynahinch, Moycullen & Clare. Photocopy
Galway County Library: Survey by John Berne of the estate of Christopher St. George in counties Galway & Roscommon.
Irish Architectural Archive: Kilcolgan Castle. Photographs & Press Cuttings. 045/078.
Irish Architectural Archive: Tyrone House. Photographs & Press Cuttings. 001/025
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), St. George [Ballynahinch estate], 25 Oct 1853, Vol 24, MRGS 39/010, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), St. George [Moycullen estate I], 25 Oct 1853, Vol 24, MRGS 39/010, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), St. George [Moycullen estate II], 25 Oct 1853, Vol 24, MRGS 39/010, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), St. George, 27 Feb 1855, Vol 33, MRGS 39/015, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), St. George [Clare & Dunmore estate], 25 Oct 1853, Vol 24, MRGS 39/010, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Matthew St. George, [Castle & lands at KilcolganI], 6 Dec 1853, Vol 25, MRGS 39/011, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), St. George, 22 November 1853, Vol 25, MRGS 39/011, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
National Archives, UK: Deeds & legal papers relating to properties in Leitrim, Roscommon and Galway, 1695-1731.
National Library of Ireland: Pedigree of French of Tyrone, afterwards St. George. c.1575-1816. GO Ms.106, p117, 125-6.
National Library of Ireland: Licence to Arthur French St. George to bear the name St. George. 1811. GO Ms. 150, p.128-30 153-4.

Contemporary printed sources

Modern printed sources

Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society: KENNEDY, Dorothy A. The Big House in Irish literature. XXXII (1989), 6-30.
Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society: St. GEORGE MARK, Gordon. Tyrone House. XIX, 3-4 (1976), 23-69.
Jnl. of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society: The French Family Pedigree – a correction. XXIII (1948-1949), 161-163
The Irish Genealogist: KEEGAN, Mary. Index to persons in Household Account Book kept by Christopher St. George of Kilcolgan Castle, Oranmore, Co. Galway, 1 Jan. 1810-29 Dec. 1819. VII (1986-1989), 101-112
BENCE-JONES, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 165 (Kilcolgan) & 279 (Tyrone)
BURKE, Sir Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. London: Harrison & Sons, 1912: 619.
CRAIG, Maurice & Craig, Michael. Mausolea Hibernica. Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1999. : 102-103
GLIN, Knight of, GRIFFIN, D. J. & ROBINSON, N.K (eds). Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland. Dublin: Irish Architectural Archive/Irish Georgian Society, 1989. : 78.
LANE, Pádraig. The Encumbered Estates Court and Galway Land Ownership, 1849-58. In MORAN, Gerard (ed). History & Society. Dublin: Geography Publications, 1996 : 395-419
MARSDEN, Simon & McLAREN, Duncan. . In ruins: the once great houses of Ireland. Boston: Little Brown & Co, 1997. : 58-59.
MELVIN, Patrick. Estates and landed society in Galway. (Dublin: Éamonn de Búrca, 2012). : 40-41
MELVIN, Patrick. The Galway Tribes as Landowners and Gentry. In MORAN, Gerard (ed). Galway: History & Society. Dublin: Geography Publications, 1996 : 319-374
SPELLISSY, Séan. The History of Galway. Limerick: Celtic Bookshop, 1999. : 295

Email: info@landedestates.ie. Landed Estates Database, 1.2.7b2, 18 May 2011, Phase II beta