Estate: Gildea

Associated Families

• Bingham (Earl of Lucan)
• Gildea
• Clements & Caulfeild (Earls of Leitrim & Charlemont)
• National Building and Land Investment Company

Description

The Gildeas were established at Port Royal in county Mayo from early in the 18th century, where they held an estate of church lands in the parish of Ballyovey, barony of Carra. Thomas Fair of Roundfort was agent to James Gildea in the 1830s. From early in the 18th century the Gildeas also leased Cloonnagashel in the parish of Ballinrobe from the Bingham family, Earls of Lucan. In 1865 James Knox Gildea was advertising for sale over 10,000 acres in the barony of Ross, county Galway and in the baronies of Carra, Clanmorris and Kilmaine, county Mayo. Most of the county Galway part of the estate was sold to the Earl of Leitrim. Part of the Portroyal estate was sold to Thomas K. Sullivan of Bandon while the Caher estate was sold to Francis Browne. The following year the Port Royal estate of 5,480 acres was purchased by the National Land and Building Investment Company for £9,000. In the early 19th century the Gildeas moved their main residence from Port Royal to Clooncormick in the parish of Kilcommon, barony of Kilmaine. In the 1870s Anthony Knox Gildea of Clooncormick owned 1,635 acres in county Mayo.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Portroyal (H373) In 1786 Wilson refers to Port Royal as the seat of Mr. Gildea. At the time of Griffith's Valuation, the townland was in the possession of James and Anthony Knox Gildea and the house was valued at £2 10s. The house is not shown on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map of the 1890s.	Portroyal	Ballyovey	Ballinrobe	Portroyal 26	Carra	Mayo	Lat/Lon: 53.70974 -9.27834 OSI Ref: M156 741 Discovery map #38. OS Sheet #.
Cloonnagashel (H416) A house inhabited by the Gildea family from the mid 18th century and situated on the estate of the Earls of Lucan. Wilson refers to it as the seat of James Gildea in 1786. It was the home of James Simpson between 1855 and 1880 , valued at £25 at the time of Griffith's Valuation. Later occupied by the Egan family. It now functions as the club house for Ballinrobe Golf Club.	Cloonnagashel	Ballinrobe	Ballinrobe	Hollymount 37	Kilmaine	Mayo	Lat/Lon: 53.64712 -9.16150 OSI Ref: M232 670 Discovery map #38. OS Sheet #110.
Clooncormick (H457) Home of the Gildea family in the 19th century and of the McCartan family in the late 20th century until it was destroyed by a fire. Francis Knox Gildea was leasing from James Knox Gildea at the time of Griffith's Valuation, when the property was valued at £45. No trace of the house remains but much of the stable yard is still extant.	Clooncormick	Robeen	Ballinrobe	Hollymount 37	Kilmaine	Mayo	Lat/Lon: 53.65463 -9.12843 OSI Ref: M254 678 Discovery map #38. OS Sheet #110.

Archival sources

• National Archives of Ireland: Landed Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Gildea, 1 June 1865, Vol 77, MRGS 39/038, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
• National Archives of Ireland: Xerox copies of entries from notebook of George Pridday, c 1840 relating to members of the Knox Gildea family of Hollymount House. Acc. 999/406
• National Library of Ireland: Copy of confirmation of arms to Rev George Robert Gildea, Provost of Tuam, son of Thomas Gildea, descendant of James Gildea of Port Royal, 4 Dec 1884. GO MS 110, 59-60
• National Library of Ireland: Westport Estate Papers, rental of the estate of Arthur K. Gildea of Clooncormack for the year ending Nov 1919. MS 41,078/3
• Private Possession: Clements Papers at Killadoon, Co Kildare, include conveyance of Maumtrasna, Glenbeg East and West to the Earl of Leitrim, 8 June 1865

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. : Ballinrobe Union, 10 (Port Royal) & 140 (Clooncormick)
• 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] : 181
• LEET, Ambrose. A directory to the market towns, villages, gentlemen's seats, and other noted places in Ireland. Dublin: Printed by B. Smith, 1814 : 121 (Cloonnagashel)
• LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: Vol I, 116 & Vol II, 67 (Cloonnagashel & Clooncormick)
• M'PARLAN, James. Statistical survey of the county of Mayo. Dublin: Royal Dublin Society, 1802: 103
• ORDNANCE SURVEY NAME BOOKS, County Mayo: Vol I, 491 (Cloonnagashel) & Vol VI, 221 (Clooncormick)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion..., HC 1906, c, 177: 357 (Clooncormick)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 309
• 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: 216 (Port Royal)
• WILSON, William. The Post-Chaise Companion or Travellers Directory Through Ireland. The author: Dublin, 1786 : 129 (Cloonagashill), 397 (Portroyal)

Modern printed sources

• Irish Times: Landed Estates Court sales, 2 June 1865, p.4. 17 November 1865, p.4
• BURKE, Sir Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. London: Harrison & Sons, 1904: 221
• GILDEA, Sir James. The Gildeas of Port Royal and Clooncormack and collateral branches. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1916: All
• MORAN, Gerard. A Radical Priest in Mayo, Fr Patrick Lavelle: the rise and fall of an Irish Nationalist, 1825-86. Blackrock, Co Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1994: 118-123
• RUANE, Patrick. Thesis entitled Mayo Country Houses before 1840 - Vernacular country houses in the classical tradition (M.U.B.C.), 1996: Appendix VI