CONNACHT LANDED ESTATES PROJECT

User Information

Estate Search

Click on the Estates link at the side of the Screen. An A-Z list will appear. Click on desired letter and scroll down to find Estate. Note that estates are entered by the surnames of the families who owned them at various times and not by geographical location. (See notes below re Estate entries).

The Estate Record is the most comprehensive entry in the database as it contains a description of the estate, the names of the families associated with it, the houses it contained and details of reference sources for more information.

Family Search

Click on the Families link at the side of the screen. An A-Z list will appear. Click on the letter of the family sought. (See notes below re how Families were entered on database). Scroll down the alphabetical list to find the required family. Clicking on any family name will link to the family record and the estates with which they are associated.

Reference Sources

Clicking on this tab will bring you to a master list of the reference sources used to compile the information in the database. Details of reference sources for each estate are contained within the individual estate records. Clicking on the reference source title links within estate records or in the master Reference Source list will take you to a list of estate records which have used these reference sources. (NOTE: It is not advisable to click on a reference such as the 1876 Landowners Survey or Griffith’s Valuation, as these will have been included in many hundreds of estate records!).

Images

There are over 4500 houses recorded in the database and images have been added for approximately half of those. Many of the images are digital photographs of the properties as they exist today taken by the research team. A significant number are from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage’s Buildings of Ireland database (www.buildingsofireland.ie) by kind permission of their principal researcher, Willie Cummings. A small number of images have been drawn from websites and the web address is clearly stated in the caption to these images. Some images have been provided by other bodies or individuals and these are also noted.

Search

The Search box allows a free text search in the estate and house descriptions.

Map

The Map page contains a map of Connacht and Munster with markers, indicating the location of each barony. Zoom in using the plus sign to se the houses in these locations. (See notes below re Houses included). Click on any gree house marker and the house name, townland and grid reference from the Ordnance Survey of Ireland national grid will appear. The house name is a link, so click on that to go into the full record for that house. The estates with which that house was associated appear as links in the record.

Contacting Us

Email info@landedestates.ie. Please allow up to 4 weeks for a reply.

Notes

Houses

There are over 4500 houses recorded in the database. The basic criteria for recording was a buildings valuation of >£10 in Griffith’s Valuation. However, in practice we recorded many more houses, including those with <£10 valuation but which, it was clear, belonged to a particular estate or which had formerly been of greater significance. As far as possible we used later editions of Ordnance Survey maps to locate houses not built at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. We are aware, however, that houses may have been omitted, especially either those built later in the nineteenth century or which had fallen into disuse before the first Ordnance Survey maps were published. We would appreciate further details on properties of this kind.

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	OS Grid Reference / Map
Ballinamore In 1938 the Ormsbys sold Ballinamore to a Scottish order of nuns, the Order of St John, who used the house as a school. The building was donated to Western Care in the 1970s. It now functions as a nursing home.	Ballinamore	Killedan	Swineford	Ballinamore 110	Gallen	Mayo	M315 869 Discovery map #31. OS Sheet #80.

As the example indicates, the house information includes a description as well as the locational details. The spellings used for these have been based on the Index to Towns, Townlands, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland 1851 (reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 1988) with the exception of the District Electoral Division details which were taken from the 1904 edition of the Townlands Index.

Families

Over 2700 families have been included in the database. The surname was used to create the Families index. Where variants of spellings occur in different reference sources, we have tried to reflect that in the index, using the most common spelling first, e.g Tenison/ Tennison. Where an established family name subsequently became hyphenated we have tried to reflect that in the entry also e.g Tenison/Tennison/King-Tenison. However, where the hyphenated version was in constant use over a long period this has been given an entry of its own, e.g. Shawe-Taylor or Gore Booth. There are many examples of families with the same surname in the database. We have tried as far as possible to distinguish these by reference to either the name of their residence or the name of the barony where most of their land was located. Examples include Blakes in county Galway, Kellys in county Roscommon, Powers in Tipperary and Waterford and O’Briens in Clare.

Estates

The basic criteria for inclusion in the Estates record was the possession of >500 acres as recorded in such principal sources as Griffith’s Valuation or the 1876 Landowner’s Survey. In practice there are estates <500 acres included as well, where there is evidence that these were part of the family, social and political network which constituted landed society in Connacht and Munster between 1700 and 1920.