Estate: Knox /Blake Knox (Moyne Abbey)

Associated Families

• Knox (Castlereagh)
• Jones (Ardnaree)
• Knox (Moyne Abbey)
• Lindsey
• Sproule
• Langley (Co Tipperary)

Description

The senior branch of the Knox family in county Mayo who were descended from William Knox of Castlereagh. In 1741 Mrs. Dorothy Knox was given a lease of Moyne Abbey in the parish of Killala, barony of Tirawley for 999 years by James O'Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley. The Knoxes leased Moyne to the Jones in the 19th century. In that century the Blake Knoxes owned an estate in the parishes of Kilconduff, Templemore and Kildacommoge, in the barony of Gallen, and in the parish of Kildacommage, barony of Carra, county Mayo. They also had some lands in the parish of Kilmoylan, barony of Clare, county Galway and in the parishes of Rahara, barony of Athlone and Cloonfinlough, barony and county of Roscommon. Their county Mayo agent in the 1830s was George Knipe of Carn Hill, Belturbet. In 1834 Francis Blake Knox married Jane Knipe. In the 1870s the representatives of Francis Blake Knox owned 1,337 acres in county Galway. Henry Blake Knox of Moyne Abbey and Dalkey, county Dublin, owned 4662 acres in county Mayo , while his brother, Ernest Edward Knox, owned 1074 acres in county Roscommon and their uncle, Lieutenant Colonel William Knox of Brittas Castle, Thurles, county Tipperary, owned 1352 acres in county Mayo and 993 acres in county Tipperary. Lieutenant-Colonel William Knox bought the Brittas estate from the Langley family in 1853. It was mainly located in the parish of Rahelty, barony of Eliogarty. The estate of Henry Blake Knox was vested in the Congested Districts' Board on 19 Mar 1914.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Moyne Abbey (H240) Associated with the Lindsey family in the 17th century it was leased to the Knoxes by James O'Hara, Lord Tyrawley, for 999 years in 1741. The Knoxes built a private residence on to the east end of the friary. At various time the Jones, Palmer and Kirkwood families leased parts of Moyne. Thomas Jones sold his interest in the Landed Estates' Court in 1867. The Ordnance Survey Name Books record that Peter Nolan, agent to Sir William Palmer, lived in a neat cottage in the east of the townland. This may be the property labelled Moyne House on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map of the 1890s (G228287), the remains of which are still extant.	Abbeylands and Moyne	Killala	Killala	Killala 100	Tirawley	Mayo	Lat/Lon: 54.20230 -9.17702 OSI Ref: G232 288 Discovery map #24. OS Sheet #22.
Brittas Castle (H4233) The original castle was burnt circa 1820 (Bence Jones) when the owner was Henry Grace Langley. His nephew Major Henry Langley began to build a Medieval Revival castle to the design of William V. Morrison but died when only the gate tower was completed. The Irish Tourist Association surveyor wrote that it was to be a replica of Warwick Castle. In 1840 the Ordnance Survey Name Books commented that Brittas Castle was "a modern unfurnished building on a most magnificent scale but in all probability it will never be finished"! In the mid 19th century Henry Langley held the castle valued at £30 from the Court of Chancery. The sale rental of December 1853 records Thomas Kirwan as the tenant of the castle and 464 acres for 7 years from 25 March 1851 pending the cause of Langley v Langley. From 1853 Brittas belonged to the Knox family who lived in a single storey house located behind the gate tower. This house was described as a mansion house in 1906, valued at £25 and occupied by Fitzroy Knox.	Brittas	Thurles	Thurles	Thurles Rural 143	Eliogarty	Tipperary	Lat/Lon: 52.69557 -7.81509 OSI Ref: S125 605 Discovery map #60. OS Sheet #41.

Archival sources

• National Archives of Ireland: Landed Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Jones, 10 Dec 1867, Vol 87, MRGS 39/042, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
• National Library of Ireland: Rental of estates of Francis B. Knox in Cos Roscommon, Galway & Mayo 1845-1846, 1849-1886. MSS 3077-3078
• National Library of Ireland: Pedigree of Knox of Lifford, Co Donegal, of Castlereagh, Moyne, Rappa Castle, Broadlands, Netley Park, Bushfield, Greenwood Park, Lissodrone, Co Mayo and of Woodstock, Co Wicklow and Dublin city, c 1600-1824. GO MS 169, 280-289
• National Library of Ireland: Rental of the Roscommon estate of Francis Blake Knox and Edward Ernest Knox, kept by Alexander Sproule [agent], 1849-1886. MS 3178

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. : 56 (Palmer)
• 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] : 255-256
• ORDNANCE SURVEY NAME BOOKS, County Mayo: Vol V, 11 (Palmer)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion..., HC 1906, c, 177: 281 (Brittas)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. 24th Annual Report of the Congested Districts' Board for Ireland, [Cd 8356], HC 1916, vi, 564-586. Appendix VIII: 52
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of names of proprietors and area and valuation of properties in counties in Ireland, held in fee or perpetuity or long leases at chief rents, 1876. (412) LXXX. 395: 149.
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 165, 297, 310 & 317
• SLATER, Isaac. Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats. (Manchester: 1894) : xxiii, 319 (Brittas Castle)
• 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: 70
• WILSON, William. The Post-Chaise Companion or Travellers Directory Through Ireland. The author: Dublin, 1786 : 110 (Moyne)

Modern printed sources

• Jnl. of the North Mayo Archaeological and Historical Society: II, No.5, (1991-1992), 54-55. SMYTH, P.G. Moyne Abbey.
• BENCE-JONES, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 48 (Brittas)
• MCGUIRE, Jim (ed.) Moyne - our heritage in stone. Ballina: Killala Diocese, 2000: 17
• MONTGOMERY-MASSINGBERD, Hugh (ed). Burke's Irish Family Records. London: Burke's Peerage, 1976: 675-681
• NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND. Special Lists.: O'Reilly, includes reference to Knox of Moyne Abbey. No. 273