Hall (Knockbrack)
The Halls were an English family who settled in the north of Ireland at Narrow Water, county Down, in the 17th century. The Knockbrack branch are descended from a younger son and appear to have begun their connection with county Galway in the late 18th century, when the Reverend Francis Hall became Rector of Aughrim. Family members pursued careers in the army and church. General Henry Hall bought about half of the Tiaquin estate of the Burkes, which was advertised for sale in the Encumbered Estates' Court in October 1851. He built a house in the townland of Knockbrack, which he called Mairwarra, after a place in India, but by the late 19th century the house was called Knockbrack. The Hall estate was in the parish of Monivea, barony of Tiaquin, county Galway, and in the 1870s amounted to 4,139 acres in county Galway and 232 acres in county Fermanagh. Pádraig Lane records that Henry Hall also bought the Bodkin estate of 347 acres at Bingarra. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation (publ. 1854) Colonel William [Henry?] Hall held three townlands in the parish of Kilbeggan, including part of the town, purchased from Gustavus Lambert in the Encumbered Estates Court, 1851. General Henry Hall (1789-1874) of Knockbrack, county Galway and Merville, county Dublin, associated with the monument known as the Five Lamps in Dublin, owned 572 acres in County Westmeath in the mid-1870s. In 1906 his grandson Henry T. Hall held over 1,000 acres of untenanted land and the mansion house at Knockbrack. Deposits of Hall of Narrow Water papers in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland do not appear to relate to any property in Connacht.
Associated Families
Houses
| Name | Townland | Civil Parish | PLU | DED | Barony | County | Map Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knockbrack | Knockbrack | Monivea | Loughrea | Tiaquin 118 | Tiaquin | Galway |
OSI Ref: M525 334
OS Sheet: 71 Discovery map: 46 |
|
| Bingarra | Bingarra | Monivea | Loughrea | Graigabbey 113 | Tiaquin | Galway |
OSI Ref: M536311
OS Sheet: 84 Discovery map: 46 |
Archival sources
- Hall, with reference to the Co Down estate of the Rev Francis Hall of Aughrim. D/424; Public Record Office, Northern Ireland
- Hall of Narrow Water, Co Down. D/1540, D/2090 & T/1718; Public Record Office, Northern Ireland
Contemporary printed sources
- ''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Loughrea Union, 84
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland''. HC 1876, LXXX: 84, 296
- 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] : 198
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion...'', HC 1906, c, 177: 326.
- SLATER, Isaac. ''Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats''. (Manchester: 1894) : xxix, 78 (Knockbrack)
- ''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Tullamore Union, 208 (Hallsfarm)
- LEWIS, Samuel. ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland''. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: II, 51 (Belmount)
Modern printed sources
- BURKE, Sir Bernard. ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Ireland''. London: Harrison & Sons, 1904: 238-239
- LANE, Pádraig. The Encumbered Estates Court and Galway Land Ownership, 1849-58. In MORAN, Gerard (ed). ''History & Society''. Dublin: Geography Publications, 1996 : 395-419
- O'Brien, Donal. ''The Houses and Landed Families of Westmeath''. The author, Athlone (2nd edition 2015): 34