Estate: De Vere

Associated Families

• O'Brien (Dromoland) (Baron of Inchiquin)
• De Vere
• Hunt (Limerick)

Description

This family were descended from Vere Hunt, a Cromwellian soldier who was granted land in county Limerick and at Glangoole, county Tipperary in the mid 17th century. John Hunt of Glangoul purchased 177 acres in the barony of Kenry, county Limerick in 1703. In 1784 a descendant also named Vere Hunt was created a baronet. The 1st Baronet married Elinor Pery, sister of the 1st Earl of Limerick. Their son Sir Aubrey assumed in 1832 the surname of De Vere only. He wrote poems, developed the estate and married Mary Rice of Mount Trenchard, county Limerick. They had five sons, none of whom left male heirs so Currah Chase passed to the descendants of their daughter Elinor who married Robert O'Brien. Robert Stephen Vere O'Brien the O'Brien's grandson succeeded to Currah Chase in 1898 and assumed the name De Vere in 1899. In the 1870s the De Vere estate was comprised of over 4,000 acres in county Limerick. In the mid 19th century the De Vere estate was mainly in the parishes of Kilcornan and Adare, barony of Kenry and Kilmeedy, barony of Connello Upper, county Limerick and in the parishes of Kilcooly and Fennor, barony of Slievardagh, county Tipperary. The agent in the early 1840s was Stephen Edward De Vere. The Hollypark demesne was advertised for sale in December 1854, Catherine Taylor, widow, was the petitioner. The county Tipperary property, comprised of over 6,000 acres and including coal mines at Glangoole, was advertised for sale in June 1855. This sale rental is annotated with the names of some of the purchasers.

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Currah Chase (H2251) This was an 18th century house with early 19th additions, home of the Hunt/De Vere/ Vere O'Brien family. In 1906 it was valued at £57 and was occupied by Henrietta L. De Vere. Bought by the Forestry Department in the 1940s the house was destroyed by fire in 1949.	Currahchase	Adare	Rathkeale	Kilcornan 126	Kenry	Limerick	Lat/Lon: 52.57612 -8.80843 OSI Ref: R452 475 Discovery map #65. OS Sheet #11.
Farm Lodge (H2252) Marked as Farm Lodge on the first Ordnance Survey map this house on the De Vere estate was occupied by James Potter in the early 1850s when it was valued at £16.	Kyleavarrraga Middle	Adare	Rathkeale	Kilcornan 126	Kenry	Limerick	Lat/Lon: 52.58294 -8.86020 OSI Ref: R417 483 Discovery map #65. OS Sheet #20.
Holly Park (H2267) In 1786 Wilson describes Holly Park as "the seat of Richard Taylor, it is very commodious and well-situated, having convenient offices and extensive demesnes". Lewis writes that Holly Park was the ancient residence of the Taylor family "now the property of Sir Aubrey de Vere". However Griffith's Valuation records Richard Taylor holding Holly Park in the early 1850s in fee. It was valued at £36. In 1894, Slater referred to it as the seat of George Taylor and in 1906 George Taylor held 277 acres of untenanted land and a mansion house valued at £34 at Currahchase North. Sold by the Taylors in 1939. Feheney writes that the son of Tom Clarke, one of the leaders executed in 1916, bought Holly Park from the Land Commission in the 1940s. The home of John Philip Cohane in the 1970s who had restored the house after a fire. It is still extant.	Currahchase North	Kilcornan	Rathkeale	Kilcornan 126	Kenry	Limerick	Lat/Lon: 52.60887 -8.87842 OSI Ref: R405 512 Discovery map #65. OS Sheet #11.

Archival sources

• Limerick City Archives: Hunt & De Vere Family of Currahchase, Co Limerick Papers, include estate & military records & family correspondence, 1755-1888. P22
• Limerick Studies Department, Dooradoyle: Irish Tourist Association File, parish of Stonehall, Limerick West 24
• National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), De Vere, 8 Dec 1854, Vol 32 (47), MRGS 39/014 -39/015, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
• National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), De Vere, 22 June 1855, Vol 35 (49), MRGS 39/016, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
• National Library of Ireland: Pedigree of Hunt of Williamstown, Liggadoon, Friarstown, Curragh Chase, Co Limerick & Co Wicklow, afterward De Vere Barts of Faha, Curraghbridge, Co Limerick, Cappaghwhite, Curragheen, Ballysinode & High Park, Co Tipperary, c 1649-1910. GO MS 180:158-169
• National Library of Ireland: Limerick City Library: 5 letter books of Sir Vere Hunt of New Birmingham & Currah chase re business & personal affairs, including some from his agent Thomas Lahy, 1815-1818. Microfilm P 5527
• National Library of Ireland: Copy of confirmation of arms to Robert Stephen Vere O’Brien of Curragh Chase, & to his mother Harriet Lucy O’Brien, widow, on their assuming under Royal Licence the name & arms of de Vere, 26 May 1899. GO MS 111:42-43
• National Library of Ireland: De Vere Papers: literary remains of Aubrey de Vere, his personal & family papers, including domestic accounts of Curraghchase, Co Limerick, c 1855-1895. MSS 13,101-13,121
• Trinity College Dublin: Some reminiscences re estate of De Vere family at Curragh Chase, Co Limerick. Misc.VI
• Trinity College Dublin: Pamphlets, journals, notebook, letterbook & bank books of Sir Stephen de Vere, 1846-1881, includes household expenses account book [of Sir Aubrey de Vere] and estate & demesne accounts of Sir Vere de Vere Bt, 1866-1871, 1830-1846. Mss 5059-5086
• Trinity College Dublin: Papers relating to the De Veres of Curragh Chase and the estate there. Ms.3572

Contemporary printed sources

• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND, 1850-1858. : Barony of Kenry, 3 (Currahchase), 4 (Kyleavarraga Middle)
• LEET, Ambrose. A directory to the market towns, villages, gentlemen's seats, and other noted places in Ireland. Dublin: Printed by B. Smith, 1814 : 146
• LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: I, 9
• ORDNANCE SURVEY NAME BOOKS, county Limerick: Parish of Adare, I, 83-94
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion..., HC 1906, c, 177: 170 (Currahchase)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. 15th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Records Ireland, 1825. Vol XVI, Appendix III. Abstracts of the conveyances from the trustees of the Forfeited Estates and Interests in Ireland in 1688'.: 349
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 148
• SLATER, Isaac. Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats. (Manchester: 1894) : xxv, 120
• 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: 104 (Curra - Hunt)

Modern printed sources

• Analecta Hibernica: MacLYSAGHT, Edward. Sir Vere Hunt's Diary & list of Hunt records in city of Limerick public library. XV (1944), 389-390
• BENCE-JONES, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 97 (Curragh Chase), 154-155 (Holly Park)
• BURKE, Sir Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. London: Harrison & Sons, 1904: 147
• BURKE, Sir Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. London: Harrison & Sons, 1886: 1365-1366
• CLARKE, H.B., PRUNTY, J. & HENNESSY, M. (eds). Surveying Ireland's Past: multidisciplinary Essays in Honour of Anngret Simms. Dublin: Geography Publications, (2004) : NOLAN, W. "A public Benefit": Sir Vere Hunt, Bt, and the Town of New Birmingham, Co. Tipperary, 1800-18. 415-453
• GLIN, Knight of, GRIFFIN, D. J. & ROBINSON, N.K (eds). Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland. Dublin: Irish Architectural Archive/Irish Georgian Society, 1989. : 101 (Curragh Chase)
• NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND. Reports on Private Collections: Report on O’Brien Papers, re families of Hunt, O’Brien & De Vere. No 137
• NOLAN, W. 'A public benefit': Sir Vere Hunt, Bart and the town of New Bermingham, Co Tipperary, 1800-1818'. In CLARKE, H.B., PRUNTY, J. and HENNESSY, M. (eds.) Surveying Ireland's Past. Dublin: 2004: All
• WHELAN, Frank. Cappagh, A Sense of History. The author, 1987 & 2003 : 39-42
• Ó CORRBUÍ, Máirtín. Kenry: The story of a barony in County Limerick. The author, 1975, reprint 2004: 103-107

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