Estate: Grehan (Clonmeen)

Associated Families

• Chichester
• Ryan (Inch)
• Grehan (Clonmeen)
• O'Callaghan (Clonmeen)

Description

An estate inherited by the Grehan family of Dublin in the early 19th century. Stephen Grehan (1776-1871) was one of the main beneficiaries of the will of his uncle [by marriage], John Roche of Dublin. In 1809 Stephen Grehan married Margaret Ryan of Inch, county Tipperary. The Grehans were involved in banking. By the time of Griffith's Valuation Stephen's son George held at least eight townlands in the parish of Clonmeen, barony of Duhallow, county Cork and another son, Peter, held lands in the parishes Ballycahill, Moyaliff, Templebeg and Upperchurch, barony of Kilnamanagh Upper, county Tipperary. Peter's surname is spelt Graham not Grehan in Griffith's Valuation for county Tipperary. Over 1,000 acres at Coolroemore was bought in 1857. The Grehans acquired further lands in the barony of East Carbery and in county Tipperary. By the 1870s George Grehan owned an estate of over 7,000 acres in county Cork and his brother, Peter Grehan of 19 Rutland Square, Dublin, owned 1,875 acres in county Tipperary. John Therry was agent to this estate in the late 19th century. A large collection of estate and family papers documenting the Grehans and their property is located in the Boole Library, University College, Cork. The Grehans sold Clonmeen in 1975. Lands leased by George Gre[n]an to Mary Fitzgerald in 1856 were advertised for sale in October 1883, the estate of John Fitzgerald.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Springvale (H3274) This house was ccupied by Roger Bourke in 1814 and by Roger S. Bourke in 1837. Roger Burke was married to a sister of Garret Nagle of Ballinamona. William Baily was resident in the early 1850s and held the property from the Earl of Kingston. The buildings were valued at £14.10 shillings. Grove White writes that Springvale was purchased by George Grehan of Clonmeen in 1855 and John J. Therry, his agent, lived there. In 1942 the Irish Tourist Association noted it as the residence of Mrs. Helen Clancy, a descendent of Therry. Although abandoned for some years in the 20th century the house has now been restored and is lived in again.	Springvale	Kildorrery	Mitchelstown	Kildorrery 292	Fermoy	Cork	Lat/Lon: 52.26886 -8.44683 OSI Ref: R695 131 Discovery map #73. OS Sheet #18.
Clonmeen House (H3559) Built in 1893 for Stephen Grehan and designed by George Ashlin. This house remained in the possession of the Grehan family until the 1970s. In the 1940s the Irish Tourist Association Survey noted it as the residence of Major Grehan. Late in the twentieth century it functioned as a hotel for some time but has now returned to private ownership.	Gougane	Clonmeen	Kanturk	Clonmeen 162	Duhallow	Cork	Lat/Lon: 52.13538 -8.85593 OSI Ref: W414 985 Discovery map #80. OS Sheet #31.
Clonmeen Lodge (H3580) Hajba writes that this house was the home of Cornelius O'Callaghan in 1750. In 1786 Wilson refers to "Bantyre" as the seat of Mr. Callaghan. Viscount Lismore is recorded as proprietor of Clonmeen in 1814. At the time of Griffith's Valuation Clonmeen Lodge was occupied by George Grehan and held from Viscount Lismore. It was valued at £7+. The Grehans continued to use this house as a secondary residence while their main residence was in Dublin. In 1893 a much larger house, Clonmeen House, was built close to the lodge. In the 1940s the Irish Tourist Association Survey noted "The Lodge, Banteer" as the residence of Jerome O'Callaghan and stated that the house had originally been built by the Nash family as a fishing lodge. A building is still extant at the site.	Gougane	Clonmeen	Kanturk	Clonmeen 162	Duhallow	Cork	Lat/Lon: 52.13716 -8.85743 OSI Ref: W413 987 Discovery map #80. OS Sheet #31.
Gortkelly Castle (H4683) The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage dates this house from circa 1800. It is a five-bay house with three storeys. Gortkelly House is marked on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map as a relatively small house but had increased in size by the end of the 19th century when named Gortkelly Castle. Gortkelly was the home of the Ryan family from the mid 18th century. John Ryan was resident in 1814. In the mid 19th century the house was held from Peter Graham [Grehan] by Andrew Ryan and was valued at £6.5 shillings. It is now a ruin.	Gortkelly	Upperchurch	Thurles	Gortkelly	Kilnamanagh Upper	Tipperary	Lat/Lon: 52.69840 -7.97633 OSI Ref: S016 608 Discovery map #59. OS Sheet #40.

Archival sources

• Cork County Library: Irish Tourist Association Survey, Parishes of Clonmeen and Kildorrery
• National Archives of Ireland: Land Judges’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Fitzgerald, 11 Oct 1883, Vol 145 (46), MRGS 39/064, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
• National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Nagle & Curtin, (Coolroemore), 26 Sept 1857, Vol 47 (32), MRGS 39/023, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
• University College Cork, Boole Library Archives: Grehan Family Papers 1779-1975, BL/EP/G/ http://booleweb.ucc.ie/documents/Grehan.pdf

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. : Duhallow Barony, 81 (Gougane)
• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Barony of Kilnamanagh Upper, 80 (Gortkelly)
• BATEMAN, John. The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Harrison, 1883. : p.193
• 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] : 193
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 124, 163

Modern printed sources

• Jnl. of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society.: Historical and Topographical Notes, etc on Buttevant, Doneraile, Mallow and Places in their vicinity. Collected by James Grove White (c 1906). XXVI, 2nd Series (1920), 223-224 (Springvale)
• BENCE-JONES, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 87
• HAJBA, Anna-Maria. Historical Genealogical Architectural notes on some Houses of Cork. Volume I: North Cork. Whitegate: Ballinakella Press, 2002: 119-120
• NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND. Special Lists.: Grehan Family Papers, Boole Library. Special List 424
• PINE, L.G. (ed). Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. 4th ed. London: Burke's Peerage, 1958.: 331