Estate: O'Donovan

Associated Families

• O'Donovan (The O'Donovan)
• Powell (West Carbery)

Description

Burke's ''Irish Family Records'' indicates that The O'Donovan's ancestors' original territories were in county Limerick but that they were driven into West Cork where they acquired considerable lands in what became known as the barony of Carbery. The estate of The O'Donovan amounted to over 3000 acres in county Cork in the 1870s. It was one of the principal lessors in the parishes of Abbeystrowry and Castlehaven at the time of Griffith's Valuation.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Hollybrook (H2488) At the time of Griffith's Valuation, John Beecher held two substantial properties in fee at Maulbrack. They were purchased in 1703 by Henry Beecher from the trustees for forfeited estates. In the early 1850s the larger was valued at £36 10s. In 1837 Lewis and Leet in 1814, had noted Hollybrook as the seat of Richard Beecher. It was offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates Court in 1851 and again in February 1852 and April 1858, when the sale notice included a lithograph and floor plan of the house. A plan of the demesne is also included. This house was also the seat of the Beecher family in the late 1770s and noted by Wilson as the seat of an earlier John Becher in 1786. Colonel Anthony Morgan was the owner of a property valued at £150 here in 1906 and The O'Donovan was resident in the mid 20th century. The original house is not extant but a later house exists at the site.	Maulbrack	Abbeystrowry	Skibbereen	Skibbereen Rural 309	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.57528 -9.26518 OSI Ref: W123366 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #141.
Carrigfadda Glebe (H2499) At the time of Griffith's Valuation, Rev. Horace Townsend was leasing this property from The O'Donovan's estate when it was valued at £12 15s. In 1837 Lewis had noted it as the seat of R.B. Townsend. It is still extant and occupied.	Carrigfadda	Abbeystrowry	Skibbereen	Skibbereen Rural 309	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.54021 -9.26709 OSI Ref: W121327 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #141.
Rosebank (H2508) Thomas Marmion was leasing this property to Avisa Clarke at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £11 10s. The house at this site is labelled Russagh Cottage on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map but as Rosebank on the 25-inch map of the 1890s.The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage states that the current house was built by the O'Donovan family in the 1860s as a dower house for Liss Ard House nearby. It is still extant and occupied.	Russagh	Abbeystrowry	Skibbereen	Skibbereen Rural 309	West Carbury (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.53498 -9.25109 OSI Ref: W132321 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #141.
Bawnlahan (H2647) Edward Powell held this property in fee at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £21. Lewis describes it as the residence of Major Powell in 1837. In the 1770s it was the seat of an O'Donovan family. Lt. Col. Henry Powell was the owner in 1906 when it was valued at £21. By 1945 the Irish Tourist Association Survey reported that it was the home of the O'Callaghan family who "had bought it from the Powells". Bawnlahan is still extant and occupied.	Bawnlahan	Myross	Skibbereen	Castlehaven South 315	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.56020 -9.15948 OSI Ref: W196348 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #142.
Squince House (H2655) At the time of Griffith's Valuation, John F. Townsend was leasing this property to Alexander Donovan, when it was valued at £9 10s. It is described as "in ruins" on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map of the 1890s. In 1945 the Irish Tourist Association Survey noted that traces of the old walls and gardens of the O'Donovan property could still be seen but that the site was now occupied by a modern two-storey house, the residence of the Brown family.	Myross	Myross	Skibbereen	Myross 321	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.53075 -9.13712 OSI Ref: W211315 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #142.
Liss Ard (H2701) Built in the later nineteenth century Lissard was owned by The O'Donovan and valued at £90 in 1906. The Irish Tourist Association survey of 1943 mentioned that it was then the property of John Connolly. It is still extant and offered as luxury accommodation. The gardens are open to the public. See www.lissardestate.com.	Russagh	Abbeystrowry	Skibbereen	Skibbereen Rural 309	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.52868 -9.25236 OSI Ref: W131314 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #142.
Montpellier (H3796) A house occupied by the Reverend Morgan O'Donovan in 1837 and by Morgan O'Donovan in the early 1850s. The house was held in fee by the O'Donovans and was valued at £55. There is no trace of this house now as modern development has taken place in the area.	Castletreasure	Carrigaline	Cork	Douglas 98	Cork	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.86443 -8.43700 OSI Ref: W699 681 Discovery map #87. OS Sheet #86.

Archival sources

• Cork County Library: Irish Tourist Association Survey files, Parishes of Castlehaven, Skibbereen
• National Archives of Ireland: Documents relating to interests and property of the O'Donovan family in Co. Cork, 1619-1874. M. 7051
• National Archives of Ireland: Maps of the O'Donovan estate (later Powell) in Myross parish, Co. Cork, 1727 - 1835. M. 4969 (1-9)
• Private Possession: O'Donovan Papers, including rental of The O'Donovan's estate in Carbery, 1839-1869, journals of The O'Donovan mid 19th century, in possession of The O'Donovan, Hollybrook House, Skibbereen, in 1976, see James S. Donnelly's book

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. : West Carbery (East): 2 (Carrigfadda), 135 (Myross)
• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Cork Barony, 3 (Castletreasure)
• 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] : 348
• LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: I, 485 (Montpelier)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion..., HC 1906, c, 177: 250 (Russagh)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 131

Modern printed sources

• Jnl. of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society.: Ó MURCHADHA, Diarmuid. Diary of General Richard O’Donovan 1819-1823. 2nd Series, XCI (1986), 105-117
• DONNELLY, James S., Jr. The land and the people of nineteenth-century Cork. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1975: 389 & index
• HOWARD, Joseph Jackson and CRISP, Frederick Arthur (eds). Visitation of Ireland. Baltimore: reprint by Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., 1973: O'Donovan of Clan Cathal, Co Cork. IV, 55-56
• MONTGOMERY-MASSINGBERD, Hugh (ed). Burke's Irish Family Records. London: Burke's Peerage, 1976: 905-907.
• NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND. Reports on Private Collections: AINSWORH, J.F. Report on the O'Donovan Papers (from 1610), the property of The O'Donovan, Hollybrook House, Skibereen, relating to the O'Donovan family and to lands in Co. Cork Report No. 153
• NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND. Reports on Private Collections: AINSWORTH, J.F. Second supplementary report on the O'Donovan Papers (from 1632), the property of Brig. M. J. W. O'Donovan, Skibbereen, relating to the O'Donovan family and to lands in Co. Cork. No.370