Estate: Browne (Coolcour)

Associated Families

• Browne (Coolcour)

Description

The Brownes were established at Coolcour/Coolcower, parish of Macroom, county Cork, from at least the early 18th century. Reverend Richard Browne of Coolcour bought some of the estate of the Earl of Clancarty in 1703. The will of Reverend Richard Browne of Coolcower is dated 1710 and that of his wife, Mary, in 1721. She mentions their five sons and two daughters. Their estate included Coolcour, Maglass, Dunderrick, Monehusker and Lackmaloe, all in the barony of Muskerry. Early in the 19th century John Browne married Mary Garde and they had two sons, William Garde Browne and John Garde Browne. At the time of Griffith's Valuation William G. Browne held land in the following parishes of the barony of West Muskerry, Inchigeelagh, Kilnamartery, Macloneigh and Macroom. In the 1870s W. Garde Browne of Coolcower House owned 1,699 acres. At the same time John Garde Browne of Passage, Cork owned an estate of 1,474 acres in the parish of Inchigeelagh. John G. Browne was a barrister and married Mary Frances, daughter of Major Croker of Lisfinny Castle, county Waterford, in January 1847.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Coolcour/Coolcower (H3007) Home of the Browne family in the 18th and 19th centuries, occupied by John Browne in 1814, by W.G. Browne in 1837 and still his residence in the 1870s. In the early 1850s the house was valued at £46 and was held in fee. St George G. Browne was resident in 1906. Coolcour was burnt in July 1921, just before the end of the War of Independence, when it was the residence of Richard C. Williams, a hotel owner in Macroom. It was rebuilt and now functions as a guest house, see http://www.coolcowerhouse.ie/	Coolcour	Macroom	Macroom	Macloneigh 226	West Muskerry	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.88755 -8.94128 OSI Ref: W352 710 Discovery map #79. OS Sheet #71.
Rockborough (H3020) Rockborough was the home of T. Mitchel Browne in 1837. Situated on the Hedges estate it was occupied by John G. Browne in the early 1850s, when it was valued at £25. In 1944 the Irish Tourist Association Survey noted that it had formerly belonged to the Brownes but was then the home of the Twomey family. This property is still extant.	Rockborough	Macroom	Macroom	Macloneigh 226	West Muskerry	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.90062 -8.99096 OSI Ref: W318 725 Discovery map #79. OS Sheet #70.

Archival sources

• Cork County Library: Irish Tourist Association Survey, Parish of Macroom
• Devon Record Office, Exeter: Gibbs Papers, include copy marriage settlement Frances Browne, daughter of Richard Browne of Colcower, Co Cork, esq. & Rev. John Gibbs of Coolmone, Co Cork, conveying to trustees the lands of Ballynora, devised to John by his father Daniel Gibbs of Derry, County Cork, esq., 1779. 5386 M/F/1/1
• Irish Genealogical Research Society Library: Pedigree of Browne family of county Cork (Leader Collection)

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 Muskerry Barony, 121 (Coolcour), 132 (Rockborough)
• 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] : 56-57
• LEET, Ambrose. A directory to the market towns, villages, gentlemen's seats, and other noted places in Ireland. Dublin: Printed by B. Smith, 1814 : 126 (Coolcower)
• LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: II, 328-329 (Coolcawer & Rockborough)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion..., HC 1906, c, 177: 240 (Coolcour)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. 15th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Records Ireland, 1825. Vol XVI, Appendix III. Abstracts of the conveyances from the trustees of the Forfeited Estates and Interests in Ireland in 1688'.: 348
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 118
• SLATER, Isaac. Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats. (Manchester: 1894) : xxv & 264
• TAYLOR, George & SKINNER, Andrew. Maps of the Roads of Ireland, surveyed in 1777 and corrected down to 1783. Facsimile of 2nd edition. Shannon: Irish University Press, 1969: 176 & 178 (Coolcour)

Modern printed sources

• The Freeman's Journal: 12 Jan 1847
• Éire-Ireland: DONNELLY, James S. Jnr. Big House burning in county Cork during the Irish revolution, 1920-21. XLVIII, 3 & 4, Fall-Winter (2012), pp.141-197.[Coolcour was the residence of Richard C.Williams]
• EUSTACE, P. Beryl (ed.). Registry of Deeds, Dublin: Abstracts of Wills. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1954: I, 105