Thornhill (Mount Irvine & Castlekevin)
In 1666 William Thornhill, a Cromwellian soldier, was granted "Castlekiffin" [Castlekevin] and other land amounting to 2,209 acres in the the barony of Fermoy, county Cork. A descendant Richard Thornhill married a Miss Badham, a granddaughter of John King 3rd Lord Kingston. Their grandson Edward B. Thornhill appears to have purchased the Sherlock estate at Mount Irvine (Mount Irwin), in the barony of Coolavin, county Sligo in 1853. He is recorded as in possession of the 338 acres of the townland in Griffith's Valuation. He was residing in Rathgar, Dublin, in the 1870s when he still owned 337 acres in county Sligo. The Ordnance Survey Field Name Books for county Limerick record Edward B. Thornhill as the proprietor of 5 townlands in the parish of Kildimo, barony of Kenry. By the time of Griffith's Valuation these townlands were in the possession of the Court of Chancery. On 21 January 1851 the fee simple estates of Edward Badham Thornhill, Castlekevin, in the barony of Fermoy, county Cork and barony of Kenry, county Limerick, were advertised for sale. The county Limerick estate amounted to approximately 2,000 acres and the county Cork one to about 2,200 acres. Griffith's Valuation records Edward B. Thornhill's county Cork estate as located in the parishes of Clenor and Castletownroche, barony of Fermoy. The sale rental includes a small lithograph of Killuragh House close to Castlekevin and reference to a court case Thornhill v Reeves. The Reeves came to possess the Castlekevin estate.
Associated Families
Houses
| Name | Townland | Civil Parish | PLU | DED | Barony | County | Map Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Irvine or Mount Irwin | Mount Irvine | Kilfree | Boyle | Cuilmore 9 | Coolavin | Sligo |
OSI Ref: G628076
OS Sheet: 39 Discovery map: 32 |
|
| Castlekevin | Castlekevin | Clenor | Mallow | Clenor 253 | Fermoy | Cork |
OSI Ref: R623 026
OS Sheet: 25 Discovery map: 73 |
|
| Killuragh | Killuragh | Clenor | Mallow | Clenor 253 | Fermoy | Cork |
OSI Ref: R637 014
OS Sheet: 26 Discovery map: 73 |
|
Archival sources
- Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Thornhill, 21 Jan 1851, Vol 5 (24), MRGS 39/002, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
- Pedigree of Thornhill of Castlekevin and Rockfield, Co. Cork, c.1662 -- 1830. GO Ms.173, pp.138-9 ; National Library of Ireland
- Arms entry of Edward Badham Thornhill of Castle Keevin, Co. Corke quartering Badham and with an account of his ancestry, Oct. 25, 1768. GO Ms.103, p.51 ; National Library of Ireland
- Copy made in 1830, of the original grant of Arms by Carney, Ulster to Major William Thornhill of Co. Cork, Oct. 1653. GO Ms.104, p.27 ; National Library of Ireland
Contemporary printed sources
- ''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Boyle Union, 11.
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland''. HC 1876, LXXX: 323.
- ORDNANCE SURVEY NAME BOOKS, county Limerick: Parish of Kildimo, 42-64
- ''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Fermoy Barony, 44 (Castlekevin), 46 (Killuragh)
- LEWIS, Samuel. ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland''. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: I, 339 (Killuragh - Cornelius Linihan, Castle Kevin), II, 338-341 (Castle Kevin)
- LEET, Ambrose. ''A directory to the market towns, villages, gentlemen's seats, and other noted places in Ireland''. Dublin: Printed by B. Smith, 1814 : 99 (Castle-kevan, John Gregg)
- SMITH, Charles, M.D. ''The ancient and present state of the county and city of Cork. Containing a natural, civil, ecclesiastical, historical and topographical description thereof ''. First published 1750. This edition published Cork: John Connor, 1815: I, 339
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''15th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Records Ireland,'' 1825. Vol XVI, Appendix I, Grants under Acts of Settlement: 76
Modern printed sources
- BENCE-JONES, Mark. ''A Guide to Irish Country Houses''. Revised ed. London: Constable, 1988. : 71 (Castle Kevin)
- BURKE, Sir Bernard. ''A genealogical history of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire''. London: Harrison, 1883: 307 (Lord Kingston)
- HAJBA, Anna-Maria. ''Historical Genealogical Architectural notes on some Houses of Cork. Volume I: North Cork''. Whitegate: Ballinakella Press, 2002: 105, 225
- McTERNAN, John C. ''Sligo: the light of bygone days, Vol.I Houses of Sligo and associated families''. Sligo: Avena Publications, 2009. : 145-146.(Mt. Irwin)