Holmes (Nenagh)

By the early 18th century the Holmes family were settled in counties Offaly and Tipperary. Daniel Grace writes that Peter Holmes of Cullen, county Offaly, bought the Johnstown estate of 540 acres from John Barry for £4,437 in 1728. His son, Robert Holmes of Johnstown, county Tipperary, married Elizabeth Malone of Ballynahown, county Offaly and had a son, Peter, who was Member of Parliament for Banagher, county Offaly in the 18th century. This Peter built the mansion house known as Petersfield. In 1765 Peter Holmes married Elizabeth Prittie, sister of the 1st Lord Dunalley. As they had no male heirs the property passed to a cousin also named Peter Holmes. George Holmes of Liscloony, county Offaly, was an uncle of Robert Holmes of Johnstown. His son, Gilbert Holmes, was father of Peter Holmes of Peterfield who married Henrietta Hamilton in 1796 (''The Monthly Magazine'' 1796) and of the Very Reverend Gilbert Holmes, Dean of Ardfert, who, in 1810, married Lydia Waller Saunderson and had six sons. The eldest was William Bassett Holmes. B.W. Holmes and the representatives of Peter Holmes held land mainly in the parishes of Nenagh and Killodiernan, in the mid 19th century. The lands of Nenagh North and South and the toll, customs, fairs and markets of the town, the estate of Mary Augusta Dundas (nee Holmes), John Hamilton Dundas and Peter Holmes, a minor, were advertised for sale in December 1856. Some lots were purchased by Mr. Holmes while the sale of others was adjourned. The estate of Peterfield (985) acres belonging to the same persons was offered for sale in December 1865. Peter Holmes is described as deceased. Peterfield was bought by the Headechs. In the 1870s William Bassett Holmes or Bassett W. Holmes, with an address at St. David's, Nenagh, county Tipperary, is recorded as the owner of over 200 acres in county Galway, over 1000 acres in Tipperary and 900 acres in county Offaly (King's County).

Associated Families

Houses

Name	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
St Davids	Urra	Killodiernan	Borrisokane	Cloghprior 8	Lower Ormond	Tipperary	OSI Ref: R812 872 OS Sheet: 14 Discovery map: 59
Johnstown Park	Johnstown	Killodiernan	Nenagh	Knigh 86	Lower Ormond	Tipperary	OSI Ref: R828 885 OS Sheet: 9 Discovery map: 59
Brook Watson	Nenagh North	Nenagh	Nenagh	Nenagh West Urban 90	Lower Ormond	Tipperary	OSI Ref: R867 808 OS Sheet: 20 Discovery map: 59
Riverston	Nenagh North	Nenagh	Nenagh	Nenagh West Urban 90	Lower Ormond	Tipperary	OSI Ref: R877 795 OS Sheet: 21 Discovery map: 59
Smithville [Yewstown House]	Nenagh North	Nenagh	Nenagh	Nenagh Urban	Lower Ormond	Tipperary	OSI Ref: R861788 OS Sheet: 20 Discovery map: 59
Annebrook House	Nenagh North	Nenagh	Nenagh	Nenagh Urban	Lower Ormond	Tipperary	OSI Ref: R856790 OS Sheet: 20 Discovery map: 59

Archival sources

Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Dundas & Holmes, 5 Dec 1856, Vol 43 (14), MRGS 39/020, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
Sale of Johnstown, John Barry to Peter Holmes, 1723. ROD 60.81.3995; Registry of Deeds
Map of the estate, 1768. M.2140; National Archives of Ireland
Lease of Peterfield to Samuel Prendergast, 1823. ROD 781.352.5288 ; Registry of Deeds
Landed Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Fogarty (Nenagh), 21 Apr 1864, Vol 72 (17), MRGS 39/035, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
Landed Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Dundas & Holmes, 15 Dec 1865, Vol 79 (46), MRGS 39/039, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
Landed Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Woods (premises town of Nenagh), 7 July 1871, Vol 103 (19) & 4 Sept 1871, Vol 103 (38), MRGS 39/048, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
Landed Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Booth, (Farnamurry), 9 June 1876, Vol 124 (3), MRGS 39/056, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
Will of Bassett William Holmes, St. David’s, Co. Tipperary. Principal Registry, 1884. 999/575/143 ; National Archives of Ireland

Contemporary printed sources

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] : 221.
PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland''. HC 1876, LXXX: 164, 296
LEWIS, Samuel. ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland''. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: II, 150
''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Barony of Lower Ormond, 72 (Johnstown), 74 (Urra), 131 & 133 (Nenagh North)
SLATER, Isaac. ''Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats''. (Manchester: 1894) : XXXII, 280 (St. Davids)
ORDNANCE SURVEY NAME BOOKS, County Tipperary: Vol.V, Parish of Killodiernan, p.125 (Fishing Lodge). Vol. VII, Parish of Nenagh, pp.106, 107 [Brook Watson], 112

Modern printed sources

BURKE, Sir Bernard. ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Ireland''. London: Harrison & Sons, 1904: 270
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND. Reports on Private Collections: Report on the Charleville Papers (from 1709), in the custody of Mr. C. J. Bourchier, Charleville Estate Office, Tullamore, relating to the families of Armstrong, Cox, Holmes and Bury, Earls of Charleville and to lands in Cos. Tipperary and Offaly. Includes reference to 60 lease of houses & lands in Nenagh made by members of the Holmes family, 1734-1840. Report No 211
BENCE-JONES, Mark. ''A Guide to Irish Country Houses''. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 161
BURKE, Sir Bernard. ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the Landed Gentry of Ireland''. London: Harrison & Sons, 1912: 326
GRACE, Daniel. ''Portrait of a Parish, Monsea & Killodiernan, Co Tipperary''. Nenagh: Relay Books, 1996: 126-129
''Freeman's Journal'': Encumbered Estates Court sale reports, 6 December 1856, p.4.