Estate: Somerville

Associated Families

• Somerville
• Coghill

Description

Burke's ''Irish Family Records'' indicates that the first of this family to settle in Cork was Rev. William Somerville, who allegedly fled persecution in Scotland in the 1690s. Col. Thomas Somerville of Drishane, Skibbereen, owned over 450 acres in county Cork in the 1870s while other members of the family owned similar amounts. Thomas Somerville was among the principal lessors in the parish of Castlehaven at the time of Griffith's Valuation while Elizabeth Somerville held townlands in the parish of Skull at the same time.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Point House/Cosheen (H2530) John Somerville was leasing Point House from Rev. M. Townsend at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £20. Lewis recorded it as the seat of R.B. Townsend in 1837. It is labelled Point House on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map but as Cosheen on the 25-inch edition of the 1890s. It is still extant and known by the latter title.	Castletownsend	Castlehaven	Skibbereen	Castlehaven North 317	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.52587 -9.17591 OSI Ref: W184310 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #142.
Mall Cottage/House (H2531) John H. Townsend was leasing this property from Thomas Somerville at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £20. It is still extant.	Castletownsend	Castlehaven	Skibbereen	Castlehaven North 317	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.52767 -9.17595 OSI Ref: W184312 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #142.
Laputa/Glen Barrahane (H2534) Thomas Somerville was leasing this property to William Hicks at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £12. Gifford Lewis states that "Glen Barrahane was a rambling conglomeration of extensions to what was once a simple house called Laputa.". It became the home of the Coghill family later in the nineteenth century.	Castletownsend	Castlehaven	Skibbereen	Castlehaven North 317	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.52586 -9.17735 OSI Ref: W183310 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #142.
Drishane (H2535) Thomas Somerville held this property in fee at the time of Griffith's Valuation when it was valued at £35. Lewis also recorded it as the seat of Thomas Somerville in 1837. In 1906 it was owned by Aylmer Somerville and valued at £35. The Irish Tourist Association Survey described it as having been home to Coghills, Townsends and Somervilles. In 1945 it was the home of Dr. Edith Somerville, the well known author and illustrator. It is still extant.	Drishane	Castlehaven	Skibbereen	Castlehaven South 315	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.52402 -9.18162 OSI Ref: W180308 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #142.
Rock Cottage (H2649) Edward Powell was leasing a property to James Somerville,MD, at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £11 10s. In 1837 Lewis noted Capt. Somerville's seat as Union Hall. This house is labelled Rock Cottage on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map but as Myross Glebe on the 25-inch edition of the 1890s. In 1945 the Irish Tourist Association survey recounted a story associating Dean Jonathan Swift with Rock Cottage and noting that it was the home of the Casey family. A house still exists at this site.	Bawnlahan	Myross	Skibbereen	Castlehaven South 315	West Carbery (East)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.55851 -9.14790 OSI Ref: W204346 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #142.
Lissacaha Cottage (H2697) Phillip Somerville held this property in fee at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £12 10s. It is labelled "Lissacaha Cottage" on the 1st edition Ordnance Map but has become "Prairie Cottage" on the later 25-inch map. In 1906 it was owned by Thomas Phillip Somerville and valued at £15 5s. It is no longer extant.	Lissacaha North	Skull	Skull	Dunmanus 324	West Carbery (West)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.53842 -9.63031 OSI Ref: V869330 Discovery map #88. OS Sheet #139.
Stone Hall (H3686) John Allen was leasing this property to Phillip Somerville in 1851 when it was valued at £26. Noted by Lewis as the seat of Maj. J. Allen in 1837. The house is still extant and occupied.	Aghatubrid More	Kilfaughnabeg	Clonakilty	Kilfaughnabeg 319	East Carbery (West)	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.56501 -9.12643 OSI Ref: W219353 Discovery map #89. OS Sheet #142.
Kingston House (Galway) (H4848) Richard N. Somerville was the owner of over 70 acres in the county of the town of Galway in the 1870s. He was the owner of Kingston House at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when it was valued at £14 and was unoccupied. By the 1890s it was occupied by a religious order.	Rahoon	Rahoon	Galway	Galway Rural 45	Galway	Galway	Lat/Lon: 53.26671 -9.09720 OSI Ref: M268246 Discovery map #45. OS Sheet #94.

Archival sources

• Cork County Library: Irish Tourist Association Survey files, Parish of Castlehaven
• National Library of Ireland: Somerville Family: Records of the Somerville and allied families by B. A. Somerville, 1870, including Somervilles of Castlehaven and Drishane Co.Cork, Cookstown, Co. Dublin, Somerville, Co. Meath. With later additions. Microfilm P 2347
• National Library of Ireland: Copy of confirmation of arms to the descendants of Thomas Somerville of Castle Halkett in Co. Cork and to his grandson, Thomas Somerville of Drishane, Co. Cork, son of Thomas Townsend Somerville of Drishane, May 30, 1861. GO MS 108, pp.372-3
• Queen's University (Belfast) Library Archives: Somerville and Ross Papers. MSS17

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) Barony: 49 (Castletownsend), 53 (Drishane), 129 (Bawnlahan)
• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : West Carbery (West) Barony: 92 (Lissacaha North)
• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : East Carbery (West), 147 (Kilfaughnabeg)
• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Galway Union, 55 (Rahoon)
• LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: Vol.I, 297 Castlehaven Parish, Vol.II, 416-7 (Myross Parish)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion..., HC 1906, c, 177: 249 (Drishane), 251 (Lissacaha)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 134
• SLATER, Isaac. Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats. (Manchester: 1894) : xxvi, 161 (Drishane)

Modern printed sources

• In the Shadow of the Steeple: journal of the Tullaherin Heritage Society: MURPHY, William. Edith Somerville in Thomastown. IX (2006), pp.184-189.
• Jnl. of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society.: The Somervilles and their connexions in Cork. XLVII, 2nd Series (1942), 30-33
• Skibbereen & District Historical Society Journal: LACEY, Brian. Admiral Boyle Somerville: archaeologist and pioneering archeoastronomer. VII (2011), pp.97-108.
• Skibbereen & District Historical Society Journal: LANE, Padraig G. Somerville and Ross's West Cork: an image in fiction of land struggle and rural society. VIII (2012), pp.30-40.
• The Irish Genealogist: CHARLES-EDWARDS, G. The descent of the Somervilles of Drishane, county Cork. V (1979), 704-709.
• The Irish Genealogist: EDWARDS, Gifford Charles. The descent of the Somervilles of Drishane, County Cork, from the Scottish line of Somerville. V (1974-1979), 704-709
• HICKS, David. Irish country houses: portraits & painters. Cork: The Collins Press, 2014. : pp.120-133
• LEWIS, Gifford. Somerville and Ross: the world of the Irish R.M. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987. : All
• LYONS, Mary C. Illustrated Incumbered Estates, Ireland, 1850-1905. Whitegate, county Clare: Ballinakella Press, 1993. : 36-37 (Castlehaven)
• MONTGOMERY-MASSINGBERD, Hugh (ed). Burke's Irish Family Records. London: Burke's Peerage, 1976: 1041-1043
• NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND. Reports on Private Collections: Report on the Somerville Papers (from 1687), the property of Brig. D. H. Somerville, Drishane, Skibbereen, relating to the Somerville family and to lands in Co. Cork. No. 143
• O'HEA O'KEEFFE, Jane. Voices from the great houses: Cork and Kerry. (Cork: Mercier Press, 2013): 105-115
• SOMERVILLE, Edith Oenone & SOMERVILLE, Boyle Townshend (compilers). Records of the Somerville Family of Castlehaven and Drishane, from 1174-1904. Cork: 1940: All