Bruen
James Bruen was a Cromwellian soldier who settled at Boyle in county Roscommon. A descendant, Colonel Henry Bruen, purchased the Oak Park estate in county Carlow circa 1775. His third son, Francis Bruen, was leasing property at Castleturvin in county Galway valued at £15 to Reverend Mark Perrin in 1855. The Bruens intermarried with the county Mayo families Knox of Rappa and Ruttledge of Bloomfield. The Bruen estate was mainly in the counties of Carlow and Wexford where they had houses at Oakpark in Carlow and at Coolbawn, Enniscorthy. Francis Bruen was married to Catherine Anne Nugent, daughter of the Earl of Westmeath. Three of their townlands in the barony of Athenry were offered for sale in the Landed Estates court in June 1866. The Bruen estate in county Galway amounted to over 700 acres in the 1870s but was part of an estate of almost 25,000 acres in total. Manuscripts in the Genealogical Office would suggest that the family held lands at Boyle, county Roscommon, in the eighteenth century. These lands seem to have been at the centre of a legal case between the Bruen family and Richard St.George.
Associated Families
Houses
| Name | Townland | Civil Parish | PLU | DED | Barony | County | Map Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castleturvin | Castleturvin | Athenry | Loughrea | Greethill 114 | Athenry | Galway |
OSI Ref: M493256
OS Sheet: 96 Discovery map: 46 |
|
| Mulpit House | Mulpit | Athenry | Loughrea | Greethill 114 | Athenry | Galway |
OSI Ref: M489262
OS Sheet: 84 Discovery map: 46 |
|
Archival sources
- Landed Estates Court Rentals (O'Brien), Bruen, 14 June 1866, Vol 81, MRGS 39/039, (microfilm copy in NUIG).; National Archives of Ireland
- Landed Estates Court Rental, Bruen, 14 June 1866, barony of Athenry & Cos Wexford & Carlow. Photocopy; Galway County Library
- Abstracts of Bruen wills relating to Dublin Oakpark, Carlow and Boyle, 1694-1795. GO Ms. 139, 168-9. ; National Library of Ireland
- Documents in the case of Richard St.George v Bruen, late eighteenth century. Ms.10,079. ; National Library of Ireland
Contemporary printed sources
- ''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Loughrea Union, 11 (Castleturvin), 13 (Mulpit)
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland''. HC 1876, LXXX: 293.
- 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] : 59.
- 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: 151.
- BATEMAN, John. ''The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland''. London: Harrison, 1883. : p.62
Modern printed sources
- PINE, L.G. (ed). ''Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland''. 4th ed. London: Burke's Peerage, 1958.: 117
- PINE, L.G. (ed). ''Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland''. 4th ed. London: Burke's Peerage, 1958.: 117
- KAVANAGH, Art & MURPHY, Rory. ''Wexford Gentry''. Vols. 1 & 2. Bunclody: Irish Family Names, 1994. : 64-69
- O'TOOLE, Jimmy. ''The Carlow Gentry''. Carlow: [the author], 1993: 50-60