Estate: Colthurst (Dripsey Castle)
Associated Families
Description
This county Cork family was a junior branch of the Colthurst family, baronets and were descended from James Colthurst, brother of the 1st Baronet. John Colthurst of Dripsey Castle married Jane, daughter of John Bowen of Oak Grove, county Cork. Three of their grandsons lived at houses in West Cork, John Henry at Dripsey Castle, George at Carhue House and Joseph succeeded Henry in 1865. Their granddaughter Peggy married Alfred Greer and this couple were living at Dripsey Castle in the 1870s. Alfred Greer appears to have purchased part of the Dripsey estate, which was advertised for sale in October 1851. It was comprised of over 1,900 acres in 1851. The Greer's daughter Georgina succeeded to Dripsey Castle. In 1878 she married Robert Walter Travers Bowen, who took the additional name of Colthurst in 1882. It was their son, John Bowen Colthurst, who ordered the shooting of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington in 1916. In the 1870s George Colthurst of Carhoo Lower and Joseph Colthurst of Carrignamuck, Coachford, owned 284 and 463 acres respectively in county Cork, while Alfred Greer of Dripsey owned 930 acres in county Cork and 244 acres in county Armagh.
Houses
House Name / Description |
Townland |
Civil Parish |
PLU |
DED |
Barony |
County |
Map Ref |
Carhue/Carhoo
(H3092)
A Coppinger family home, occupied by John Rye Coppinger in 1814 and 1837 and by Henry J. Coppinger in the early 1850s. Henry J. Coppinger held the property in fee and it was valued at £18. The sale rental of 1856 states that the mansion house had recently been repaired and that Henry T. Coppinger was tenant under the Court of Chancery. A lithograph of the house and demesne is included. Burkes (1904) records George Colthurst (born 1811) of Carhue House. John Good was residing in this house in the mid 1870s. In 1894 Slater refers to it as the seat of John H. Colthurst. Carhoo House is still extant.
|
Carhoo Lower |
Magourney |
Macroom |
Magourney 217 |
East Muskerry |
Cork |
Lat/Lon:
51.90289 -8.81227
OSI Ref:
W441 726
Discovery map #80.
OS Sheet #72.
|
Clonmoyle
(H3137)
In 1837 this house was the home of Charles Colthurst, a younger son of John Colthurst and his wife, Jane Bowen. At the time of Griffith's Valuation Jonathon Bruce was the occupier. He held the house valued at £35 from Charles Colthurst. Henry Leader of Clonmoyle, Coachford, owned 2,418 acres in county Cork in the 1870s. The Irish Tourist Association survey of the early 1940s mentions that it was the residence of Mrs.Young, the owner of Clonmoyle Flour Mills and that it had previously been the home of Harry Leader. It is now a ruin.
|
Clonmoyle East |
Aghabulloge |
Macroom |
Clonmoyle 214 |
East Muskerry |
Cork |
Lat/Lon:
51.93105 -8.76771
OSI Ref:
W472 757
Discovery map #80.
OS Sheet #61.
|
Dripsey Castle
(H3138)
This house was the home of the descendants of John Colthurst and his wife Jane Bowen from the late 18th to the early 20th century. It is still extant though it was damaged by fire in June 1920. The Irish Tourist Association survey in the early 1940s recounts the boycotting of the family following the Sheehy-Skeffington murder in 1916 and their subsequent departure to live in England. In the early 1940s it was the property of John O'Shaughnessy who also owned Dripsey Woollen Mills. In 2014 it was offered for sale.
|
Carrignamuck |
Magourney |
Macroom |
Magourney 217 |
East Muskerry |
Cork |
Lat/Lon:
51.92664 -8.75455
OSI Ref:
W481 752
Discovery map #80.
OS Sheet #72.
|
Beechmount
(H3139)
Occupied by Dr Godfrey in 1837 and by Thomas Batten who held the property from Henry Lindsey in the early 1850s. A house is still extant at the site.
|
Deeshart |
Magourney |
Macroom |
Magourney 217 |
East Muskerry |
Cork |
Lat/Lon:
51.92668 -8.74873
OSI Ref:
W485 752
Discovery map #80.
OS Sheet #72.
|
Deeshart
(H3955)
Denis Fielding held a house, office and mills valued at £28 from John H. Colthurst at the time of Griffith's Valuation. This may be the premises labelled "Carding Mill" on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map and as "Dripsey Woollen Mills" on the 25-inch edition of the 1890s. Industrial buildings still exist at the site.
|
Deeshart |
Magourney |
Macroom |
Magourney 217 |
East Muskerry |
Cork |
Lat/Lon:
51.92488 -8.74870
OSI Ref:
W485 750
Discovery map #80.
OS Sheet #72.
|
Archival sources
- Cork City and County Archives:
Colthurst of Blarney estate papers, including deeds, rentals, correspondence, maps & plans, photographs & other material relating to Colthurst, Morris, Oliver, Jefferyes & other families.
1602-1960s. U196 & 196A
- Cork County Library:
Irish Tourist Association Survey Files, Parish of Aghabullogue.
- National Archives of Ireland:
Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Colthurst, 25 Oct 1851, Vol 11(28), MRGS 39/005, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
- National Library of Ireland:
Copy of confirmation of arms being Colthurst quartering Conway, to the descendants of James Colthurst of Knockanariff, Co. Cork, next younger brother to Sir John Conway Colthurst, 1st Bart. of Ardrum and to his great grandson, Joseph Colthurst of Dripsey Castle Oct. 31, 1867. GO Ms. 109, pp. 155-6
- National Library of Ireland:
Copy of grant of arms to Robert Walter Travers Bowen of Oak Grove, Co. Cork and Georgina de Bellasis Greer, his wife, on their assuming under Royal Licence and in compliance with the will of Joseph Colthurst of Dripsey Castle, Co. Cork, the name and arms of Bowen Colthurst Feb. 8, 1883. GO Ms. 110, pp. 37-8
- National Library of Ireland:
Pedigree of Colthurst, Barts., of Macroom and Cooleneshan and Ballyally and Ardrum, of Knockannariff, Killigrohan, Dripsey Castle, of Carhue House and Clonmoyle all in Co. Cork, and Lucan House, Co. Dublin 1641 -- 1865. GO Ms.114, pp.6-10
- National Library of Ireland:
Pedigree of Colthurst, Barts., of Ballyally and Ardrum, Killigrohan, Knocknemariff and Dripsey Castle c.1680 1810. GO Ms.113, pp.251-2
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. :
East Muskerry, 35 (Clonmoyle), 141 (Carrignamuck), 144 (Deeshart)
- 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] :
191
- LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837:
I, 12 (Clonmoyle), II, 335 (Dripsey & Beechmount)
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX:
120
- SLATER, Isaac. Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats. (Manchester: 1894) :
xxiv, 265 (Carhoo)
- SLATER, Isaac. Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats. (Manchester: 1894) :
xxvi,189 (Dripsey Castle)
- TOWNSEND, Horatio. Statistical survey of the county of Cork... Dublin: Royal Dublin Society, 1810:
683 (Dripsey)
Modern printed sources
- The Genealogists' Magazine:
Letters and documents relating to Dripsey Castle, Co. Cork. Society of Genealogists D.MSS. 6810. Vol. 4, No. 1, March, 1928
- The Genealogists' Magazine:
Colthurst, of Co. Cork. Pedigree, copies of 3 wills and 2 letters. D.MSS 1008 Society of Genealogists, London.
Vol. 3, No. 2, June, 1927
- Éire-Ireland:
DONNELLY, James S. Jnr. Big House burning in county Cork during the Irish revolution, 1920-1921. XLVII, 3&4, Fall-Winter (2012), pp.141-197.
- BURKE, Sir Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. London: Harrison & Sons, 1904:
104