| Estates: |
- Jameson (Cong)
- At the time of Griffith's Valuation the Reverend William Jameson, son in law of Sir Arthur Guinness, held 3 townlands in the parish of Cong, barony of Kilmaine, county Mayo, previously part of the O'Donel of Newport estate. In 1876 he owned 1831 acres in county Mayo and 316 acres in county Galway. At the same time another member of the Jameson family John Jameson of Dublin owned 7012 acres in county Mayo valued at £106.
- McNamara (Cong)
- George McNamara held at least 500 acres in the counties of Mayo and Galway from his brother in law Stephen Creagh Butler, including the Abbey lands of Cong in the parish of Cong, barony of Kilmaine, county Mayo and the lands of Cornamona and Clogher, county Galway. He was involved in litigation over the ownership of the Abbey lands in the 1730s. The Irish Tourist Association file records that Bishop Pococke described the Abbey House in 1770 as the most delightfully situated residence he had seen in the course of his travels. The Abbey lands were acquired by Sir Richard O'Donel of Newport in the 1780s and sold to Joseph Lambert of Brookhill, parish of Crossboyne, barony of Clanmorris, in 1852.
- Pitcairn
- At the time of Griffith's Valuation Reverend David Pitcairn, son in law of Arthur Guinness of Dublin and Ashford Castle, Cong, county Mayo, held the townland of Castletown, parish of Cong, barony of Kilmaine, previously part of the D'Arcy of Houndswood estate. In 1876 he owned 704 acres in county Mayo and 364 acres in the county Galway.
- Waller
- At the time of Griffith's Valuation Lady Waller, youngest daughter of Arthur Guinness, held 5 townlands in the parish of Cong, barony of Kilmaine, county Mayo. In 1876 her son Sir Edmund A Waller of London owned 1011 acres in county Mayo, 2962 acres in county Tipperary and small acreages in counties Cork, Kildare and Limerick. The Waller estate in county Mayo was sold to the Congested Districts' Board in January 1913.
- Elwood (Strandhill)
- An estate in the parish of Cong, barony of Kilmaine, county Mayo leased from the Bishop of Tuam from the mid 18th century. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the Elwoods held 4 townlands in the parish. Most of the Elwood estate of 621 acres was sold to Sir Arthur Guinness in 1871. This branch of the Elwood family were related to the well known collector of Japanese folklore, Lafcadio Hearn.
- Guinness
- Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness of the famous brewing family began to purchase Connacht estates for sale in the Encumbered Estates' Court from 1852. He bought the Ashford estate from Lord Oranmore and Browne, the Doon estate from Sir Richard O'Donel, the Cong estate from Alexander Lambert, part of the Rosshill estate from Lords Charlemont and Leitrim, parts of Connemara from Christopher St George and Kylemore from a banking consortium in 1859. Guinness acquired landed in county Kerry in the 1850s and was a principal lessor in the parish of Kilcrohane, barony of Dunkerron South at the time of Griffith's Valuation. He bought the Elwood estate of Strandhill, just across the river from Ashford, in 1871 and Lord Kilmaine sold him Inishdoorus, islands on Lough Corrib and lands in the barony of Ross, part of Nymphsfield in 1875. William Burke of Lisloughry was his agent. Arthur Guinness was granted the title Baron Ardilaun in 1880. In the 1870s Arthur Guinnes owned 19,944 acres in county Galway, 3,747 acres in county Mayo and smaller acreages in counties Wicklow and Dublin. In 1906 Lord Ardilaun's estate held over 1700 acres of untenanted demesne land at Moyode, Loughrea as well as the mansion house at Moyode. By March 1916 Lord Ardilaun had accepted final offers from the Congested Districts' Board for over 2000 acres of his estate in county Mayo and for almost 28,000 acres in county Galway. The Board paid £50,000 for the Galway acreage. Lord Ardilaun and others had also accepted an offer for the purchase of the Aran Islands by the Board. The Guinness family retained Ashford Castle and the surrounding woods until 1939 when the property was sold to the Irish Government.
- Digby (Aran)
- The Aran Islands comprised 3 parishes Inisheer, Inishmaan and Inishmore, all in the barony of Aran, county Galway. At the time of the Acts of Settlement the islands were granted to Richard [Butler] Earl of Arran. From the mid 18th century they belonged to the Digby family of Landenstown, county Kildare, a junior branch of the Digby family granted the title Baron Digby of Geashill in 1620. The Digbys bought the islands from John Richard Fitzpatrick and Sir Stephen Fox. The islands had been granted to Richard Butler, Earl of Arran, in 1669. The issue of ''The Connaught Journal'' dated 4 June 1840 reported the marriage of John William Digby of Landenstown and landlord of the islands of Arran with Frances Georgina Townsend. By the time of Griffith's Valuation the Aran Islands were in the possession of Peter Barfoot, his wife Henrietta and her sister Elizabeth Digby. Henrietta and Elizabeth were sisters of John William Digby. In the 1870s Henrietta Barfoot and Elizabeth Digby each owned 5596 acres in county Galway. By the early 20th century the islands appear to have been owned by the Guinness family, Baron Ardilaun, who was negotiating with the Congested Districts' Board for the sale of the islands by March 1916. In the early 19th century Digby Devenish, revenue officer, was a prominent resident of the Aran Islands. In 1803 he married Elizabeth Digby of Aran and during the following 20 years their children were baptized in St Nicholas Church, Galway.
- D'Arcy (Kiltullagh & Clifden Castle)
- The D'Arcy family of Kiltullagh, parish and barony of Athenry, county Galway, was founded by Patrick D'Arcy, a younger son of James Riveagh D'Arcy in the early 17th century. The D'Arcy's Connemara estate was granted to them under the Acts of Settlement. It had been confiscated from the O'Flaherty clan and by the 19th century amounted to over 12,000 acres mainly in the parish of Omey, barony of Ballynahinch. The head of the family at the turn of the 19th century was John D'Arcy (1785-1839) who founded the town of Clifden. Shortly before his death he mortgaged his estates to 2 English brothers Thomas and Charles Eyre of Bath and London. Following the Famine his son Hyacinth D'Arcy was in severe financial difficulty and his estates were one of the first to be sold in the Encumbered Estates' Court. The sales included 697 acres at Kiltullagh and part of the D'Arcy of New Forest estate in the barony of Tiaquin, county Galway, the two D'Arcy families had intermarried. Much of Hyacinth D'Arcy's Connemara property was purchased by the Eyre brothers and Thomas Eyre subsequently bought out his brother's interest. A consortium, which included James Sadlier, appears to have bought the townland of Kylemore which they advertised for sale in the Landed Estates' Court in May 1859 and was purchased by Benjamin Lee Guinness. At the time of Griffith's Valuation Thomas Eyre was the occupier of the part of the New Forest estate that had belonged to the D'Arcys of Clifden.
- Lambert (Brookhill)
- The Lamberts of county Mayo were descended from the county Galway family located at Cregclare and Aggard. From the early 18th century the county Mayo branch were leasing land in the barony of Kilmaine from such families as the Veseys, Ruttledges and Bowens. They lived at Togher and Rusheen or Thomastown but moved in the late 18th century to reside at Brookhill, parish of Crossboyne, barony of Clanmorris, leased from the Gonne Bells. They were closely linked to the Ruttledge family, Joseph Lambert of Brookhill having married in 1784 Barbara Ruttledge sister and heiress of Robert Ruttledge of Bloomfield. Their second son the Reverend Francis Lambert changed his name to Ruttledge and continued the family of that name at Bloomfield. Joseph Lambert married secondly Mary Clendining and their sons Joseph and Alexander C. were agents to many of the landowners in the locality. Alexander Clendining Lambert bought almost 1000 acres of the O'Donel of Newport estate in the Cong area in 1852 and sold it to Benjamin Lee Guinness in 1858. In 1854 he bought much of the land he was already leasing from the Brownes of Castlemagarret in the Encumbered Estates' Court and other property in 1860 from the sale of the Brownes of Claremount estate. In 1876 Alexander C. Lambert owned 1409 acres in county Mayo and 1121 acres in county Galway. His property in the barony of Ballynahinch was purchased from the Thomson family of Salruck. The Brookhill estate was gradually sold in the 1920s and 1930s and the house and about 100 acres in 1946 to Gerald Maguire, a solicitor in Claremorris. In the mid 20th century Alexander Fane Lambert, wrote a detailed account of the history of his family and its land holding, based on family papers still in the possession of a family member in London.
|
