.
Earls of Enniskillen, the Cole Family. See Burke's discussion re the :
"The 6th Earl of Enniskillen (David Lowry Cole, M.B.E.),
Viscount Enniskillen, and Baron Mountflorence in Ireland,
(etc.)...(was descended from the following)...Lineage--The
first of the family who settled in Ireland was Sir William
Cole, Kt., who fixed his abode, early in the reign of James
I, in Co. Fermanagh, and becoming an undertaker in the northern plantation, had an assignment in 1611, of one thousand acres of escheated lands in the county, to which, in 1612,
were added three hundred and twenty acres, of which eighty
were assigned for the town of Enniskillen, and that town was
then incorporated by charter, consisting of a provost and
twelve burgesses, Sir William Cole being the first Provost.
Sir William raised a regiment which he cmd'd against the
rebels in 1643,with important success. He married Susannah,
widow of Stephen Segar, Lieutenant of Dublin Castle, and
daughter and heir of John Croft, of Co. Lancaster, and died
1653, leaving issue..." 25
The PRONI holds
The Enniskillen Papers (D/1702, D/3689 and T/2094) The Enniskillen papers comprise c.40 volumes, c.2.350 documents and photographs and c.200 mainly outsize maps and parchments,
1611-1997. They derive from the Cole family of Florence Court,
Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Barons Mount Florence (from 1760),
Viscounts Enniskillen (from 1776) and Earls of Enniskillen (from
1789), all in the peerage of Ireland, and Barons Grinstead (a
corruption of Grimstead) in the peerage of the United Kingdom
(from 1815).
The seat of the Earl of Enniskillen was Florence Court. See:
Charles Maclosure?... p.78, per Isobel Hurlburt notes.
Rev. Lord Adam Loftis, Marquis of Ely.
Another Co.Fermanagh estate of interest may be that of
the Marquis of Ely. See Samuel Lewis for partial discussion.
Topic needs more research. Note, the Marquis of Ely was a
title for Rev. Lord Adam Loftis. The Loftis family should be a
center of focus for further research.
The PRONI holds The Ely Papers:(D/496, D/527, D/535, D/580 [part], D/962, D/1096/45,
D/3130, D/3805, LR1/9/4A/13, LR1/9L/1-4, LR1/980/3,
LR1/1251/1, T/1041/20 and T/2904) , which as the quantity of reference numbers cited here
would suggest, are not one but a host of scattered deposits in
PRONI, amounting in total to c.1,550 documents, covering the
period 1630-1928 and documenting the estates, mainly in Cos
Fermanagh, Wexford and Dublin, the business affairs and the
frequent accessions of peerage honours of the Loftus family,
from 1751 Barons and Viscounts Loftus and Earls and Marquesses
of Ely.
The following is
quoted from notes by Isobel Hurlburt from "Charles Maclosure?":
"1641 rebellion .... largest planter, Sir John Humes or Hume,
the founder of Tully Castle... passed in 1731 through the
female line, there being no male heir, to the Loftus family.
After peace restored, the Hume family erected a mansion,
called Castle Hume, nearer Enniskillen, and which is now
incorporated in the demesne of Ely Lodge. .... the soil is
variable, the staple trade principally domestic consisting
of butter, corn, and manufacture of linen to a slight degree..."
".... after the Battle of Lisnackea... excerpts from Rev.
John Graham's history of 1688 and 1690... William of
Orange arrived and James II fled Ireland in 1688. A service of
Thanksgiving for the Protestant victory over the Irish... A scroll
sent to King William and Queen Mary for relief of Enniskillen
and Derry... Thm. Wolseley, Commander in chief... signed by
Gustavius Hamilton, Governor and about 200 others, including
James Devitt. See p. 62."
Note also that certain Fermanagh Strongs were tenants of
the Loftis family. See Deputy Keepers Reports and cf.
Griffith's Valuations. See also a 1796 Rent Roll for the Earl of Ely's Fermanagh Estate, which unfortunately does not reflect any Strong tenants at that date.
Caldwell Estate; Western Fermanagh: Templecarne and Belleek Parishs.
From the Parliamentary Gazatteer of Ireland (1844-45):
p. 323:
"Templecarne, a parish, partly in the barony of Lurg,
Co. Fermanagh, and partly in the barony of Tyrhugh, Co.Donegal,
Ulster. The Donegal section contains part of the town of Pettigoe.
p. 71: Pettigoe, a village, partly in the parish of Drumkeeran, Barony
of Lurg, Co. Fermanagh, but chiefly in the parish of Templecarne,
Barony of Tyrhugh, Co. Donegal, Ulster.... pretty, greeen and
wooded hills... the village contains a church, a Presbyterian meeting-
house and a Roman Catholic chapel. Area of the Fermanagh
section of the village ... 10 acres; of the Donegal section... 15 acres.
Population of the whole, in 1841, 616. Houses, 90. Families
employed chiefly in agriculture, 30; in manufacture and trade, 65;
in other pursuits, 19. Population of the Donegal section, in 1841,
490; houses, 71."
The following is found in Lewis's "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland",
Vol. 2, p.602 (1837):
"Templecarne, or Templecarn, a parish partly in
Lurg... and partly in Tirhugh (Donegal). 4 miles west of Kesh,
containing 5461 inhabitants.... 45,868 statute acres; of which
7719 are in Fermanagh (of these, 2140 are Lough Derg, 4400 in
Lower Lough Erne and 1085 in small loughs... About three-
fourths of the land consists of heathy mountain, affording during
the summer only a scanty pasturage to a few black cattle; the
remainder, with the exception of a moderate portion of meadow, is
principally under tillage. The soil is but indifferent... Lots of fish...
Waterfoot, the residence of Lieut.Col. Barton."
"The church, situate at Pettigoe, is a small, old, and dilapidated
structure, towards the rebuilding of which Mrs. Leslie, (the proprietor
of the estates), the rector and the Protestant parishoners have
contributed a large sum, and a subscription has been raised to
build a chapel of ease about four miles from the town."
The following is found in Lewis's "Topographical Dictionary of Ireland",
Vol. A-G, p.202 (1837):
"Belleek, a parish, in the barony of Lurg, County
of Fermanagh... 3 miles East of Ballyshannon... was erected into
a parish in 1792 by disuniting 36 townlands from the parish of Templecarn...
the land is principally heathy mountain, but that which is under tillage is
of very superior quality; the state of agriculture, though very backward,
is gradually improving; there is a large tract of bog, and abundance of
limestone. The seats are Castle Caldwell, the residence of J.C. Bloomfield,
Esq., and Maghramena, of W. Johnston, Esq.... the village (of Belleek)
consists of 27 houses .... the church, a neat plain edifice, was
erected in 1790... diocese of Clogher... there are schools at Belleek
and Tullynabehogue, partly suppored by the rector and at Castle Caldwell
is a school supported by Mrs. Bloomfield. In these schools are about
60 boys and 80 girls and there are also three pay schools, in which
are about 180 boys and 70 girls and a Sunday school. There are
some ruins of the old church; on the shore of Lough Keenaghan are
those of an abbey; and there are the remains of several Danish forts
in the parish."
The foregoing was provided by Isobel Hurlburt, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,
who in 1991 made an extensive study of Devitt and Strong family origins
in western Co. Fermanagh and Co. Donegal. Much of the following
is extracted from her handwritten notes:
From "Wakeman".... p. 85: Waterfoot, the demesne of Captain Barton and
those of Templecarne Glebe.
.....p. 86: Belleek... about 4 miles from Castle Caldwell.
The china works was originally started by Bloomfield."
From "Dundas".... p.197: Ennniskillen, the town, was planted in1612.
....p. 209: ffrancis Blennerhassett, Esq., undertaker of 1000 acres
(in the plantation scheme), called "Bannaghmore"
.....p. 314: The Blennerhassett Family sold the estate to
James Caldwell, (p.136: a merchant in Enniskillen)
about 1662; who apparently renamed the estate
"Castle Caldwell", and built the pottery. Castle Caldwell
is the "Castle at Belleek". James Caldwell
was created a baronet in 1683. He d. 1717.
In 1830, the Caldwell estate passed to Frances,
wife of Sir John Colpoys Bloomfield (died 1830),
and from her to her son, John Caldwell Bloomfield,
who died in Enniskillen in 1897.
....p.154 of Chapter 65.... Col. Abraham Creighton's Regiment
of Foot, Raised in 1689... List of First Militia Officers
apparently includes James Devitt as one of the Lieutenants;
and he was also listed as a Lieutenant in 1698 when
the regiment was broken (i.e., disbanded) in Ireland.
For more material extracted from Mrs. Hurlburt's notes, see:
Fermanagh Research Notes
The Colebrook Estate & the Brooke Family:
The following is partially quoted from the discriptive material found on the PRONI website concerning The Brookeborough Papers:
Family history.
The best, single source of Brooke family history is chapter one of Brian Barton's Brookeborough: The Making of a Prime Minister (Belfast, 1988), to which has been added extracts from Raymond Brooke's The Brimming River (Dublin, 1961), a source on which Dr Barton himself draws extensively.
'... The first Basil Brooke [1567-1633] ... was a soldier-adventurer who came to Ireland in the late 16th century ... . He came as a captain in the English army bringing reinforcements to Ireland [in 1597], and later commanded a cavalry regiment under Sir Henry Docwra in the conquest of Ulster. He distinguished himself as a servitor during the Tyrone wars and was one of those selected by the King for a proportion of the plantation. He was knighted in 1619, styled of Magherabeg and Brooke Manor, [Co. Donegal], became a Governor of [Co.] Donegal, and later was a member of the commission ordered by Charles I to enquire into how thoroughly the undertakers had fulfilled the conditions of their grants.
Plantation Donegal.
Thus the Brookes first entered Ireland under English arms and initially held their property in Donegal and not Fermanagh. The former was never really colonised. Due in part to its wildness and inaccessibility colonists proved reluctant to attempt settlement. In addition, Sir Arthur Chichester described its native population as a "people inclined to blood and trouble". In 1619, Pynnar recorded of estate after estate that nothing was built and that there were no British tenants. [According to] one historian ... : "it was the pluck, skill and tact of hard-bitten, experienced soldiers such as Sir Henry Folliott and Sir Basil Brooke, that held Donegal quiet and so gave protection to the infant colony". Certainly, the latter appears to have been an energetic, determined and resourceful planter, eager to establish himself permanently in his adopted home.
Sir Basil's grant of 1,000 acres was in a rugged precinct set aside for servitors and natives, and was "to be held forever ... as of the Castle of Dublin, in common socage and subject to the conditions of the plantation of Ulster". The land was of poor quality, the barony in which the land was located being described in the Book of Survey and Distribution fifty years later as "mountainous, boggy, rocky and with many ... ways hardly passable". By 1622, however, Brooke was reported as having repaired a round bawn of lime and stone, 13 feet high, 7 feet thick and 220 feet in compass, within which a house was standing which had been occupied by an English settler in 1619.
He also acquired other property. One of the written complaints of the Earl of Tyrconnell was that the Lord Deputy had appointed Capt. Brooke to live in his castle, and "constrained the Earl to accept such rents as he had given order of to the said Captain to pay and to pass a lease thereof and four acres of the best lands thereunto annexed, for one and twenty years unto the said Captain". By 1611, with the help of a royal grant, Brooke had repaired the castle, voluntarily built a bawn to enclose it, and a strong house of lime and stone adjacent to it. This relatively secure and less isolated dwelling he occupied with his English wife. Thirty-five British men were said to be present in Donegal town in 1622, their houses constructed "after the manner of the Pale". That same year a commission suggested that if Brooke had "the inheritance of the castle, he would make it a strong and defensible place for his Majesty's service as he affirmeth". He was in fact appointed constable of the castle and given the ownership of it and the town of Donegal, both of which were inherited, with his other property, in 1633 by his only son, Henry, who was then married and of full age.
The latter fulfilled the confidence which the commissioners had earlier expressed in his father. During the rising of 1641, he was successful in "preserving from plunder" the town and castle and the surrounding district. He afterwards fought on the parlimentary side in the Civil War, serving as a captain of foot. In consequence, he acquired a substantial area of land, worth more than �900 yearly, mostly by grant "for his said personal services and for arrears thereof services [sic]", and one-third of it by purchase, selling in the process some of his Donegal property.
The Brookes come to Fermanagh.
These new estates lay in the adjacent counties of Monaghan and Fermanagh, and had become available through the forfeitures of property by two leading local native landholders. In Monaghan, Henry gained possession of some of the lands of Hugh MacMahon in the barony of Cremorne. In Fermanagh he acquired most of the confiscated estates, including the old ancestral home at Largie, of Lord Maguire, who had been hanged at Tyburn and whose family had ruled the county for most of three centuries from their base at Lisnaskea. The latter's property, [comprising most of the barony of Magherastephana and amounting to c.30,000 statute acres], which had until then survived "as a little bit of Gaelic Ireland left untouched", now became the basis of the future Colebrooke estate. [It was confirmed to Henry by royal patent in 1667.] Despite this slightly belated entry of the Brookes into Fermanagh as major landowners, only two of its leading early 20th-century estate-holders could claim earlier links with the county. Of the names of the original British undertakers, only one survived, the Archdales, and the Coles represented the only servitor to survive ... .
Henry, who became high sheriff, Governor and member of parliament for [Co.] Donegal, was knighted in 1664, and died seven years later. He was succeeded by Basil Brooke [d.1692], eldest son of his marriage to his first wife, Elizabeth Wynter [daughter of John Wynter of Dyrham in Gloucestershire]. Soon afterwards a legal dispute arose between Basil and [Major] Thomas Brooke [d.1696], eldest son of Anne St George, whom Henry had married in 1652. The former, who was Chancellor of Oxford University, claimed all of his father's property, both the "ancient inheritance" in Donegal and also the land in Fermanagh and Monaghan, mainly under the entailment clauses contained in a deed of enfeoffment drawn up by his grandfather in 1630. In 1680, he accordingly initiated proceedings in the Chancery court. During the following year, in an Exchequer bill, Thomas claimed that it had been agreed by a settlement, in 1652, just before Henry's marriage to Anne, that he "would settle on his children by her all his new estate".
Eventually, the issue was resolved, and articles of agreement were drawn up under which Basil swore to "acquit and release all his right, title and interest" in Henry's estates in Co. Fermanagh, and that "his heirs and assignees ... [would] ... never pretend, sue for, or molest the said Thomas Brooke, his heirs or assignees or any of the issue of the said Anne". A financial settlement was also entered into whereby the value of the disputed land in Monaghan was shared.
The last of the Donegal Brookes.
The Donegal estates of the senior branch of the family passed by direct descent through three generations to Henry Vaughan Brooke, member of parliament for the county in the late 18th century ... . In 1807, he died intestate, leaving his paternal property to a nephew, Thomas Grove [of Castle Grove, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal], "on condition that he took the name and arms of Brooke". However, their identification with the original plantation grant was only briefly prolonged, as on the death of the latter's wife in 1863, the estates passed to her nephew, James Wood, who was not bound by the earlier conditions of inheritance. [In any case, his natural identification was with the Groves, in whose house (built c.1730 and re-modelled c.1825) he lived.]
The Brookes of Colebrooke, c.1685-1761.
The "issue of ... Anne", the younger branch of the family, have survived on their Fermanagh property through ten succeeding generations. Thomas married Catherine, daughter of Sir John Cole, of Newlands, Co. Dublin, and from this marriage came the name Colebrooke, given later [pre-1718] both to the estate and to the house. Prior to the Williamite wars, then a soldier in the army, Thomas was dismissed by Tyrconnell, later reinstated by William III, and his name together with about 120 other Fermanagh landholders, as well as that of his half-brother, Basil, appears on bills of attainder passed by the parliament of James II. In the more settled times that followed, the family made useful marriages and consolidated their position ... . Colebrooke was then regarded as a good estate and the Brookes as having, with the Archdales, the "principal interest" in Fermanagh.
Sir Arthur Brooke, Bt (c.1715-1785).
In 1761, however, Thomas's grandson, Sir Arthur, [one and only baronet of the first (1764) creation, succeeded. He proved to be] a spendthrift, unconscious of the value of the money and a gambler on a large scale, [who] wasted his patrimony. ... [He] married in 1751 Margaret, daughter of Thomas Fortescue of Reynoldstown, Co. Louth, and sister of Lord Clermont. They had two daughters - Selina, who married Lord Knapton (afterwards) [1st] Viscount de Vesci), and Letitia, who married Sir John Parnell, [2nd] Bt, and so was great-grandmother of Charles Stewart Parnell, MP, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. Both young ladies were well known for their beauty and charm, ... [but their unpaid marriage portions of �5,000 each, and Sir Arthur's gifts and bequests to them, placed a considerable strain on the estate].
Sir Arthur ... was sheriff of Fermanagh in 1752 and was created a baronet in 1764. He was also a Privy Councillor and Custos Rotulorum of the county. It would seem that he took an independent line in politics. The government manipulators complained that Sir Arthur was ready to accept any favours to be had, but when the time came to produce the help which they expected in return, nothing was forthcoming. In Sir John Blaquiere's "Members of the House of Commons 1770-1773, Notes on Same 1773", the entry under Fermanagh is: "Sir Arthur Brooke, Bt, has the principal interest in the county and will continue to do so while he unites with Archdale. He has the character of being one of the worst tempered men living and very stingy. ..."
Sir Arthur Brooke's portrait by Hugh [Douglas] Hamilton ... [does] not in any way suggest a bad-tempered man. Certainly, his successors would have been better pleased if he really had been stingy. ... Though he had inherited through his grandmother's brother, Lord Ranelagh, large and valuable property [either in possession or reversion], in the city of Dublin, Tipperary, Clare and Wiltshire, at his death in 1785 ... [little] was left but Colebrooke, denuded of trees and heavily encumbered.
.....
Recovery over two generations, 1785-1834.
[In spite of Sir Arthur Brooke, Colebrooke] remained, in the words of an informed contemporary in 1783, "a good estate but involved", and in the years preceding the Act of Union the family continued to be regarded as having one of the chief interests in the political life of the county. Sir Arthur's immediate successors, his brother [Major] Francis, and ... [Francis's] eldest son, Sir Henry, first baronet of the 1822 creation, diligently set to work to restore the fortunes of the estate, living frugally, and investing rents in land drainage and replanting. ...
Gradually, also, the quality of its soil was improved. The barony of Magherastephana was described in a Book of Survey and Distribution at the time of the original grant as "part mountain and part lowland, the mountain is for the most part pastureable, and the lowland is intermingled with many bogs, loughs and heathy grounds". Though the house and property were described as "well improved and elegant by a contemporary traveller in the 1730s, a professional survey by [William] Starrat, commissioned at this time [1722], indicates that the overall quality of the land had changed little from the earlier assessment. However, two generations later, Sir Henry could write that Starrat was "not entirely to be relied upon ... . The several distinctions are very faulty, there being more bog set down than there is on each farm, and the same of mountain and moor. Most of what is called moor ... is now brought in and is good land".
Sir Henry ... spent �10,000 [in 1820-1823] on rebuilding Colebrooke [to the design of William Farrell] on the site of the original house, and the Ordnance Survey memoirs suggest that he was one of the most enterprising landlords in the county. They commented that by his attention to the habits and comforts of the tenantry, [he] ... went far towards giving his dependants an opportunity of raising their general standards. The effect is evident in the very respectable appearance of the present occupiers of the district". This evaluation is confirmed by an improbable source, The Impartial Reporter. Though bitterly anti-landlord, it described Colebrooke in 1874 as "one of the most prosperous and cultivated ... [estates] ... in the Kingdom"... . At the time of the 1876 return of owners of land in Ireland, its size was recorded as almost 28,000 acres, the third-largest in the county, only slightly smaller than Crom or Florence Court. ...
The military tradition of the Brookes.
Over the past three hundred years, the Brookes have established a remarkably consistent record of military service. In that period, through each successive generation, they have served with every leading regiment and in every major British theatre of war in Europe, the empire and elsewhere. It is the most outstanding feature of the family's long recorded history. The army was the almost inevitable career of their younger sons and the sons of younger sons, few entering either the Church or the professions. Unless when war came to Ireland, such service was less common for the eldest son, and in any case [was bound to be] disrupted at some stage by the inevitable burdens of inheritance. Their function was rather to use their influence to launch younger relatives in military careers, and meanwhile preserve eternal vigilance and preparedness at home, "encouraging the loyal, and never taking their eyes off the doubtful". ...
The Brookes [had] acquired their estates in the 17th century at the expense of three of the province's leading native families and mainly as a reward for military service. In the Williamite wars Thomas Brooke served in the regiment raised by his brother-in-law, Lord Drogheda, Basil helped to defend Donegal against Sarsfield's army, and his brother was staff officer to the Duke of Schomberg, whilst three of their relatives, a colonel, a lieutenant and a pikeman, helped to defend Derry during the siege. In the Napoleonic wars, Sir Henry Brooke [as has been seen] had three brothers holding high military rank. ... Sir Henry's second [but first surviving] son, Arthur, served in the Royal Navy and succeeded as the second baronet of Colebrooke.
Politics and local government.
The Brookes of Colebrooke, as with most of the Anglo-Irish gentry, made little contribution to the intellect and to the imagination of the province, though this is less true of collateral branches, notably the Brookes of Dromovana. They did, however, exercise and preserve an important governing role, particularly at county level, acting as governors, sheriffs, lieutenants, deputy lieutenants and magistrates, as well as sitting on various county committees and councils, and as members of parliament. Partly in recognition of such services, two members of the family were knighted, and two separate baronetcies created [in 1764 and in 1822].
If the political tradition of the Brookes over the centuries is less sustained, less illustrious and altogether less impressive than the military, it is nonetheless an important aspect of the family's history and of its significance. From the late 17th century, they held one of the leading political interests in Fermanagh, and particularly in the years prior to the Act of Union they competed with success for the county's two seats in parliament. The continuity of their parliamentary representation, nonetheless, compares unfavourably with such families as the Archdales, who successfully contested the county without disruption from 1731 to 1885, and the Coles and the Crichtons who controlled the boroughs of Enniskillen [Co. Fermanagh] and of Lifford [Co. Donegal] respectively, and who normally provided the county's second member.
The most consistent period of Brooke parliamentary representation occurred in the years up to 1785. For a short time in the 1690s, Thomas Brooke was MP for Antrim borough. His son, Henry, after sitting briefly for Dundalk, [Co. Louth], represented Co. Fermanagh between 1727 and 1761 and was thus the first of his family to do so. He was succeeded in the seat by his son, [Sir] Arthur, who defended it successfully to 1783. ... In later years he sought a peerage, without success. Both the Crichtons and the Coles were ennobled in the 1760s, ... [and Sir Arthur's] urgent requests for a peerage in the early 1780s were prompted, [partly by county rivalry, and partly], a contemporary observed, by his being afraid of losing the county. If this was the case, such fears were realised. In the 1783 election when he and Colonel Mervyn Archdale were opposed by Viscount Cole, eldest son of the 1st Earl of Enniskillen, Archdale and Cole were returned. However, Sir Arthur did succeed in retaining a seat in parliament. Sir John Parnell, who married his daughter, Letitia, ... brought him in for Maryborough ... which he represented until his death in 1785. Nonetheless, the pattern of Brooke represention of Fermanagh was broken. Sir Arthur's successor, his brother Major Francis, failed to regain the seat in 1790.
The townlands in the manor of Brookeborough/the Colebrooke estate.
The following is a list, alphabetically arranged, of townlands in the manor of Brookeborough/Colebrooke estate, or at any rate of those which feature frequently in the archive, particularly among the maps, surveys and leases. Some townlands listed in the c.1685 survey (D/3004/B/1/1) may not feature because they were sold or in effect alienated by long-leasing. In any case, the spelling in the c.1685 survey is, to say the least, quaint.
Agalun Corralough/Corlongford Killartry
Aghacramphill Cornakessagh Kilcarry
Aghavea Cornamucklagh Killybarne
Aghavoory Cornarooslan Killycloghy
Agheeghter Cran Killykeeran
Aghnacloy Cranbrooke Knockmacmanus
Aghnagrane Creagh Largy
Altagoaghan Crocknagowan Lisboy
Altawark Crocknagrally Lismalore
Altnaponer Curraghanall Lisnabane
Ardmoney Deerpark Lisolvan
Ardmore Derrinton Longfield
Arduncheon Derrycrum Lurganbane
Arlish Derrychree Magonragh
Ashbrooke Derrychulla Mullaghafad
Aughnagrawne Derrycullion Mongibbaghan
Ballymacaffry Derryheely Monmurry
[?Bannafily] Derryloman Nutfield
Bohattan Derrynalester Owenskerry
Bonnerloghy [Bunlougher] Derrynavogy Rafintan
Boyhill Dooederny Ramult
Breandrum Doogary Ranafely
Brobrohan Dressoge Raw
Brookeborough Drombrughas Sheebeg
Broughderg Drumgorran Skeoge
Bunlougher Drummorris Stripe
Cappanagh Edengilhorn Tattenaheglish
Carrickapolin Erdinagh Tattenalee
Cavanagarvan Ervey Tattenbuddagh
Cavanaleck Eshacorran Tattendillur
Cavans Eshnasillog Tattinfree
Claraghy Eskeragh Tattykeeran
Cleen Foglish Tattynuckle
Cleffany Foydragh Tattyreagh
Cloghtogle Gorteen Tireeghan
Coolcoghill Greagh Tirkenny
Coolrakelly Grogey Todragh
Cooltrane Guderagh Trasna
Cooneen Grogey Tullreagh
Corcreeny Killabran Tullykenneye
Corlacky Killabreagy Tullynagowan
Corlough White Hill
Title deeds, etc.
D/998/27 comprises c.50 title deeds, deeds of settlement, mortgages, legal case papers, etc, 1706, 1765, 1792, 1799, 1815-1881 (with many gaps) and 1916. However, most of this type of material, comprising c.100 documents, 1575, 1639 and 1658-1896, will be found at D/3004/A. Included among these latter are 2 title deeds relating to the late Lord Ranelagh's estate of Rathurles, Kilconane, etc, near Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, 1755 and 1758, 2 legal papers about the granting to Sir Arthur Brooke, Bt, of the right to hold a weekly market at Brookeborough, 1770, and a bundle of deeds of settlement relating to the marriage of Henry Brooke, later Sir Henry Brooke, 1st Bt, and Hariot Butler, daughter of the Hon. John Butler and granddaughter of Brinsley, 1st Viscount Lanesborough, 1792.
Leases and lease-books.
D/998/26 comprises 650 leases of farms in the manor of Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh, 1713, 1733, 1740, 1747-1881, 1891, 1894, 1903 and 1916 (with gaps in the chronological sequence between 1747 and 1881, and concentrations of documentation on years when there were major re-lettings of the estate, e.g. 1833). In D/3004/A/4-6 and A/9 a further 177 leases are to be found, all falling within the same period.
In addition to individual leases, there are at D/998/12 3 lease-books, compiled c.1818-c.1824 (in some instances up-dated to the 1840s), and recording leases back to 1735, together with 4 registers of leases granted during the period c.1820-c.1895. [See Fermanagh Deeds (also Known as the Brooke Deeds) on the Ulster Ancestry website. The webpage comprises the LEASES made to various tenants during the period described.]
The lease and lease-book material is completed by 10 boxes/bundles of Irish Land Commission sale papers, c.1880-c.1930 (D/998/24), some of them tracing title back to 1786.
Maps and surveys.
The biggest single component of D/998, /1 and /21, is a run of c.1,070 maps and surveys of lands in the manor of Brookeborough, 1722-1938, some of them maps/surveys of the entire estate, notably the first in the series which is by the celebrated William Starrat, 'philomath', 1722. (The earliest survey, which is verbal, not pictorial, is actually to be found at D/3004/B/1/1. It is of the components of the 10,077 statute acres comprised in Charles II's patent of 1667 to Sir Henry Brooke, Knight, of the manor of Brookeborough and it is dated c.1685.) Of the c.1,070 maps and surveys in D/998, few are post-1834 derivatives from the Ordnance Survey; so this is a major series of manuscript maps and surveys. Other surveyors, besides William Starrat, who feature in this part of the archive are James Leonard (1744-1755), Arthur Darling (1756-1764), Nicholas Willoughby (1765-1777), Robert Mitchel (1786), John Piers (1770-1798), etc, etc.
Rentals.
D/998/4 comprises 110 Colebrooke estate rentals, 1849-1929 (with some duplicate and some missing volumes), 12 summary Colebrooke estate rentals, 1854-1919, and 3 Colebrooke estate receiving books, 1876-1915. D/3004/B includes a rent receipt book, 1799-1815, a volume of rentals, 1831-1844, and a rental, 1884-1885. In 1799, the rental of the estate was �5,180 per annum, and in 1831 �8,358.
Account books, etc.
In addition, D/998 includes 27 Colebrooke estate cash books, 1834-1875 and 1878-1945, 22 Colebrooke estate memoranda books, 1855-1876, 8 bundles of farm steward's pay sheets, 1881-1895, 7 bundles of labourers' pay sheets, 1917-1948, 2 bundles of workmen's accounts, 1876-1880, 5 registers of improvements made by tenants, of judicial rents fixed, of sales to tenants under the Land Act, etc, 1877-1915, a bundle of accounts relating to schools on the Colebrooke estate, 1865-1868, and 32 miscellaneous account books, rentals (not in particular series), etc, 1879-1963. There is also a volume containing copies of the tithe applotment books for the parishes of Aghavea and Aghalurcher, 1832.
Papers relating to Colebrooke and demesne, 1819-1889.
D/3004/B/8 comprises 37 documents and volumes (original and photocopy) of material relating to Colebrooke and its out-buildings and two cottages in the Colebrooke demesne, 1819-1874. This material includes: a library catalogue, 1819; contracts and correspondence relating to the rebuilding of Colebrooke by William Farrell, 1820-1823; an indemnity bond binding the contractors to Henry Brooke in �3,000, 1820; a front elevation of the new house, 1820; two volumes of a Colebrooke cellar book, 1864-1874; and a household account book, 1864-1889.
There is also a volume of daily weather records, 1906-1935, presumably recorded at Colebrooke (D/3004/B/11/1), and 11 demesne and personal game books, 1840-1844 and 1865-1959 (D/3004/B/9-10), the former mainly recording numbers and types of deer, particularly the Sika deer introduced by Sir Victor Brooke, and the latter relating to fishing as well as shooting.
Leasing Practices: The earlier Conditions Precedent to Grants in the Plantation of Ulster continued as a social and economic basis behind many of the great families who formed "The Protestant Ascendancy" following the 1689 Revolution. However, the Earls of Erne, Tynan Abbey Stronges, and other prominent families who controlled the politics, large land holdings, and social and economic life of Ireland in the 18th and 19th century now owed a much greater allegiance to the English monarchy. Their lands and titles had been received in reward for service to William of Orange and his heirs.
Irish Society was dominated by an agricultural economy.
In general, four classes of people occupied the soil of Ireland. At the top of the scale were the landlords, about five percent of the population. Of these, one-fifth controlled
eighty percent of the arable land. The landlords included
the London Companies and their undertakers. 26 Another
"landlord" was Trinity College, Dublin, the trustees of which
held extensive lands as a source of revenue. 27
Below the landlords were the leaseholders, who held the
land in perpetuity. These people, comprising about 2.5 percent of the population, belonged to the "established" Church of Ireland, were part of the "Ascendancy", did not engage in
tilling the soil, and generally occupied grazing land. 28
Under the leaseholders, or directly under the landlords,
were one or more "freeholders" or middlemen, who might hold
their lands for terms such as "three lives or 31 years,
whichever came first". Leases in general in Ireland at this
time were of four main types:
(1) Leases for three lives renewable for ever;
(2) Leases for three lives which expired on the death
of the last life;
(3) Leases for a period of years, e.g. 21 years, 31
years, 41 years, etc.;
(4) Leases for three lives, or so many years, whichever
was longer. 29
These leaseholders were usually not obliged to work
for the landlord. If they did, they were paid in money.
Grazing land sufficient for a few head of cattle per family
might be held in common. While the title of "freeholder" conferred dignity on the individuals concerned, these freehold
estates lasted only for the duration of the lease or of the
lives concerned, and thus were of uncertain length. 30
Often, significant changes in the lives of the "freeholders" came at the expiration of the leases. For example,
an entire congregation of Scots-Irish "Associate Reformed
Presbyterians" apparently emigrated to South Carolina in 1771
when their leaseholds on his Antrim estate expired and the
Marquis of Donegal demanded exorbitant increases. Included
in the congregation were Charles Strong and James Strong, descendants of a certain Christopher Strong, and who founded a
lineage described herein as the "South Carolina Strongs".
See APPENDIX One, Chart 3. 31(To be added later)
Middlemen sometimes made, or added to, their living by
renting land themselves and then letting it out in small
holdings on shorter term leases, usually annual in length, or
even "at will", in which case the tenants could be driven off
the land if the middleman could get a higher rent from someone else. These middlemen were often oppressive, looking for quick profits at the expense of their subtenants. Because of
personal supervision, conditions were usually better when the
landlord handled the leases himself. 32
Under the middlemen came the tenants...the most numerous
class of all. There were three classes of tenants: 33
(1) The annual tenants formed about seventy-seven percent of the occupiers of farms. This was the typical "small
farmer" class. They settled mainly on lands valued at perhaps less than �15 per annual leasehold, land which totaled
more than fifty percent of the cultivated acreage.
(2) Next came the cotters who lived in poor cottages
usually located on someone else's land. They usually rented
a patch of "conacre", or land rented annually on an eleven
month tenure to the highest bidder, to grow a crop of potatoes, or to pasture their sheep. Labor was often exchanged
for rent.
(3) At the bottom rung of the ladder were agricultural laborers who had no land at all, but they too often
rented a patch of conacre. The potato crop from one acre was
enough to maintain a man and wife and six children for
three-quarters of a year in a less than satisfactory condition.
By law, any improvements made by a tenant became the
property of the landlord. Improved property commanded higher
rent and the tenant who made the improvements was not compensated. Consequently, he was discouraged from bettering his
house or his land. 34
The situation of the peasantry was indeed deplorable. A
description of their condition in County Monaghan is contained in a Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, written in the early to mid-19th century: 35
"Population is dense, the number of labourers has increased, and the system of con-acre is prevalent. Marriages
are, in general, early and without provision. The wages of
agricultural labour average 10d per day; and the amount of
work for each labourer averages about 180 days in the year.
Most of the peasantry pay their rent in labour to the parties
from whom they hold their con-acre and their cabins. Labourers wives occasionally earn a mere trifle by keeping poultry
or by spinning; and their children sometimes earn from 10s to
15s during the summer for weeding and herding.
"The common food is potatoes with rarely a little
butter-milk or sweet-milk; and is preferred, as constant
food, to bread or meal. The cabins have either one room or
two rooms; they may measure 12 feet square, and seven or
eight feet high; they are floored with mere soil, occasionally mixed with lime; they have straw thatching, and in general, chimneys of sticks and clay, with perhaps an old firkin
square (a small wooden vessel or cask 36) for a chimney pot;
and their windows are usually about a foot square, and
rarely glazed.
"Clothing is, for the most part, both poor and scanty.
Few women make their own clothes; though since the failure of
employment at spinning, many are becoming more used to the
needle. When families are large, a portion of the bedding is
usually mere straw spread upon the floor. Pawning and drunkenness, up to a period of about 5 years ago, were seriously
on the increase; and the chief drunkards were tradesmen about
the towns, and farmers who frequented the markets. Emigration, principally to Canada and the United States has been
considerable."
Ffolliott / Folliot Family, Barons of Ballyshannon:
What follows is a followup re the Ffolliott / Folliot family, which MAY
be related to the "Ffillot" family mentioned as part of the Warham lineage
discussed by Martha F.B. Strong in her "Southern Triangle" papers,
which were formerly posted on Geocities.
Note, I think this material is significant because it MAY provide a link
from the "Southern Triangle" to Counties Donegal, Fermanagh, Sligo, and Cork
for the Strong families who can be found in the records of each of these
counties! It may well be that these families were "planted" in Ireland as
under-tenants of the Ffolliotts. I invite further examination and research
by interested researchers!
The following is quoted from "Donegal History and Society", edited by
William Nolan, Liam Ronayne, and Mairead Dunlevy, published by Geography
Publications, Dublin, 1995: at pps 185-186,
"....in the Civil Survey of 1654 the plain between the Drowes and the Erne,
the property of Thomas Lord ffolliott, is firmly described as part of the
barony of Tirhugh and the county of Donegal."
The following is quoted from "The Folliotts, Wardtown Castle and the
Colleen Bawn", by Anthony Begley, published in The Donegal Annual, 1991, at
p.61,62-69:
....."Henry Folliott was born at Pirton Court in Worcestershire in 1569, the
son of Thomas Folliott and Katherine Lygon. He had one elder brother, Sir
John Folliott, who inherited the English lands of the family and a branch of
whose family subsequently settled at Hollybrook in Co. Sligo. Henry married
Anne, daughter of Sir William Stroude of Stoke-under-Hamden, Co. Somerset,
and they had seven children. In May 1594 Henry Folliott was based in the
Ballyshannon (Co. Donegal) area, presumably in the military service of the
crown....
"In December 1607 the Earl of Tyrconnell complained of "sundry rapes and
extortions" of the soldiers of Sir Henry Folliott and for "the said Sir
Henry's house, every month there were six beeves and six muttons taken up by
his own officers within the barony of TISHERE (Tirhugh) without any
payment"... In June 1608 the Castle of Lough Eske was delivered to Sir
Henry, and in the same year he sacked Tory Island and killed rebels there".
"(During the "Plantation of Ulster",) The Barony of Tirhugh, in which
Ballyshannon is situated, was granted to Servitors (ex-army officers), to
the Church and to Trinity College, Dublin; The Irish were allowed to remain
in the barony and it was planted relatively thinly with Scots and English.
Henry Folliott, because of his military service to the Crown, acquired much
of the lands in the Ballyshannon area by grant and he also plurchased
additional land... (including subsequently the lands of the former Abbey of
St. Barnard of Asheroe, located at the present site of Ballyshannon)....
"Henry, First Baron Folliott of Ballyshannon, had seven children. Thomas,
who became the Second Baron, Michael, Arthur, Charles, Anne, Elizabeth and
Frances, who married Sir Robert King, M.P. for Boyle. The First Baron died
in 1622.... The inheritance of the First Baron passed to his eldest son
Thomas who was only nine years old at the time of his father's death in
1622. During his long minority he was in ward to the King from the 26th
February 1623 to 30th May 1634. Thomas, Second Baron of Ballyshannon,
married Rebecca French, relict of a Mr. Waterhouse of Dublin. They had four
children: Henry, Anne, Rebecca and Elizabeth. An indication of the extent
of the Folliott property in the Barony of Tirhugh can be gleaned from the
following survey in the 1650's:
"Parish of Innishmacsaint: "Eleven quarters and a halfe in total.
Ogherous, Knockaterry, Killerlacky, Dunmuckrum, Crevagh,
Donoghmore, Leckalastran, Camlin, Beleeke, Conntokker,
and ye halfe quarter of Reglass". In the above parish,
Thomas Folliott had and estimated 1034 acres and he had
a mill on the River Erne at Ballyshannon. He also held
Ballyhanna by lease from the Bishop of Clogher.
"Parish of Kilbarron: "Ten quarters and six ballibose called the
halfe quarter of Shiggis, ye halfe quarter of Mullinashee, ye halfe
quarter of Crevaugh, the quarter of Cashell, ye halfe quarter of
Alla, the quarter of Cillcarbare, ye halfe quarter of Legaltion,
the quarter of Knada, the quarter of Corlee, the quarter of
Cassalard, the quarter of Teagh Leagh, the quarter of Tubber,
the quarter of Garvanagh". In the parish of Kilbarron Thomas
Folliott held 1187 acres
Parish of Drumhome: "Two quarters of land called Ballimagroty
containing 360 acres. One quarter of land called Ballidermott
containing 160 acres; a total of 520 acres....
Trinity College Lands: Trinity College Dublin had been granted
land in the Barony of Tirhugh under the Ulster Plantation
arrangements. The Folliotts leased the College lands in the
parishes of Innishmacsaint and Kilbarron. In the parish of
Innishmacsaint, they leased the 4 quarters of Bundrouse,
Drumkrin, Ardfarnagh and Ramore, comprising 588 acres.
In Kilbarron they leased the six ballibose called BalliMcWard
containing 115 acres and "Nine ballibose called Colearrmur,
one quarter one balliboe of Keran". A total of 703 plus acres.
"The Folliotts also held land in Fermanagh, including the Manor of Dumkyn,
and in England where Thomas 2nd Baron resided at Ferney Hall in
Worcestershire.....
"Wardtown Castle is located on the townland of Ballymacaward. The land
was originally the home of the Wards who were the chief poets to
the O'Donnell Irish Chieftans. As described in the Civil Survey of 1654-56,
the "six ballibose of BalliMcWard begineth
their bounds norward with a brooke which runneth into the sea called
Ffalkinlargg and soe runeth tel wee come to a ditch with boundeth them
westward from a hill called Shiggis belonging to the Lord Folliott which ditch
runneth from thence to a bogg called Monin Kilbaugh and continueth
westward while we come to Collchill and from thence turneth norward
to Shiggis and from thence eastward to Gortnebrade and soe norwest
to a brooke from which runneth a gutter norwest into a brooke which
boundeth them from one partt of ye Lord Folliott's lands called Kildone
and from thence southwest into the sea and soe south to ye Barr of
Ballishanon and from thence eastward to Ffaulkinlard where wee
began our bounds.
"No Folliotts have resided in Wardtown Castle for the past two hundred
years. By famine time, John Folliott let the land and Castle to Henry Likely,
who had an estate of 575 acres. The Likelys came from Parke, near
Kinlough, Co. Leitrim.... The last of the Likelys to reside in the castle
was Henry Likely who died in 1914. Mrs. Violet (Likely) Strong recalls
that as a baby she slept in the Castle in September 1914, while her
parents attended the funeral of Henry Likely. The Castle has not been
lived in since that time.