Smyth (Drumcree)

This branch of the Smyth family descend from Thomas Smyth, second son of Captain Ralph Smyth of Ballymacastle, county Antrim and younger brother of the Right Rev William Smyth, Bishop of Kilmore (died 1698). In 1666 Ralph Smith gent was granted about 1,450 acres in the barony of Moygoish, county Westmeath. The family were settled at Drumcree by the early eighteenth century. Robert Smyth of Drumcree, High Sheriff of the county in 1823 and its MP in 1826 held eleven townlands in the parish of Kilcumry at the time of Griffith’s Valuation (publ. 1854). He was succeeded by his daughter Alicia who was married to General the Hon. Sir Leicester Curzon, youngest son of the 1st Earl Howe who assumed the name of Smyth in 1866. In the 1870s the Hon Leicester Curzon Smyth owned 4,431 acres in county. As this couple had no children Alicia’s cousin William Maxwell Symth succeeded at Drumcree following her death in 1898. In 1904 he was succeeded by his brother Henry (1827-1912).

Associated Families

No associated families were found for this estate

Houses

Name	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	County	Map Ref
Knocknacreeve House	Parcellstown	Templeoran	Mullingar	Portloman 56	Westmeath	OSI Ref: N363546 OS Sheet: 18 Discovery map: 41
Ballynagall	Ballynagall	Portnashangan	Mullingar	Owel	Westmeath	OSI Ref: N442588 OS Sheet: 12 Discovery map: 41
Archerstown House	Archerstown	Castletowndelvin	Castletowndelvin	Clonarney	Westmeath	OSI Ref: N595682 OS Sheet: 8 Discovery map: 42
New Archerstown	Archerstown	Castletowndelvin	Castletowndelvin	Clonarney	Westmeath	OSI Ref: N595673 OS Sheet: 8 Discovery map: 42
Derry Cottage/Drumcree Cottage	Ballymacahil and Derries	Kilcumny	Castletowndelvin	Kilcumny 42	Westmeath	OSI Ref: N549648 OS Sheet: 8 Discovery map: 42
Drumcree	Drumcree	Kilcumny	Castletowndelvin	Kilcumny 42	Westmeath	OSI Ref: N544659 OS Sheet: 8 Discovery map: 42
Glananea/Ralphsdale	Ralphsdale	Kilcumny	Castletowndelvin	Kilcumny 42	Westmeath	OSI Ref: N540655 OS Sheet: 8 Discovery map: 42

Archival sources

Conveyance by way of Release to confirm grantee's estate in certain lands. Thomas Smith, Drumcree, Co. Westmeath and Robert Ross, Rostrevor, Co. Down. 1st pt. Francis Price, Saintfield, Co. Down, 2nd pt. Charles Caldwell, Dublin, 3rd pt. Relating to Killynure, Lessans, Lisdunan, Tullyvastikinagh, Carsons, Co. Down. 2 August 1755. D650/53; Public Record Office, Northern Ireland
Recovery, John Williams v John Smyth and others, vouchers of lands, tenements and rents in Castletown, Balrath etc with the advowson of Drumcree, 9 June 1699. D 9776; National Library of Ireland
Copy of grant of arms to Col the Hon Leicester Curzon and to Alicia Mary, daughter of Robert Smyth of Drumcree, on their assuming the name and arms of Smyth, 26 Nov 1866. GO M109, 129-130; National Library of Ireland
Smyth Papers (Ballynagall) include letters to Walter Nugent, mainly at Drumcree, from William McCoy, Dublin, re estates in Dublin, and Cos Limerick and Westmeath with some accounts, 1831-1852. Ms 18,924; National Library of Ireland
Receipts, payments and memoranda of Thomas Smyth of Drumcree, 1693-1698. Ms 16,971; National Library of Ireland
Smythe of Barbavilla Papers include series of plans for William Smyth of Drumcree’s kitchen garden at Drumcree, barony of Delvin, Co. Westmeath, [c. 1760]. MS 41,574/10; National Library of Ireland
Smythe of Barbavilla Papers include letters, case papers and other papers about a dispute between the Smyths of Barbavilla and their cousins and neighbours, the Smyths of Drumcree, over Drumcree bog, 1764-1773. MS 41,563/7; National Library of Ireland
A survey of part of Johnstown and part of Parcellstown in the barony of Moygoish and County of Westmeath the estate of Ralph Smyth. By John Brownrigg 1783. Scale 20 perches to an inch. Names of tenants and acreage of holdings shown on Parellstown holdings. 21 F 48 (16); National Library 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] : 418
PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland''. HC 1876, LXXX: 86
PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''15th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Records Ireland,'' 1825. Vol XVI, Appendix I, Grants under Acts of Settlement: 50
''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Mullingar Union, 28 (Parcellstown)
PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion...'', HC 1906, c, 177: 369 (Ballynagall)
''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Castletowndelvin Union, 2 (Archerstown); 23 (Ballymacahil and Derries); 26 (Drumcree); 27 (Ralphsdale)
LEWIS, Samuel. ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland''. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: I, 310 (Archerstown); II, 78 (Drumcree and Ralphsdale)
LEET, Ambrose. ''A directory to the market towns, villages, gentlemen's seats, and other noted places in Ireland''. Dublin: Printed by B. Smith, 1814 : 8, 164, 327
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: 245 (Drumcree)

Modern printed sources

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND. Reports on Private Collections: Report on the Smyth Papers (from 1639), formerly the property of Mr. H. Smyth, Drumcree House, Co. Westmeath, now in the National Library of Ireland, relating to the Smyth family and to lands in Cos. Meath, Westmeath and Wicklow. No. 49
''Analecta Hibernica'': Smyth Papers (from 1639), including deeds, legal papers, leases, rental 1780 and accounts, the property of Mr. H. Smyth, Drumcree House, Co. Westmeath, relating to the Smyth family and lands in Cos. Meath, Westmeath and Wicklow. XX, (1958)
PINE, L.G. (ed). ''Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland''. 4th ed. London: Burke's Peerage, 1958.: 642
O'Byrne, Robert (ed). A vanishing world: the Irish country house photographs of Father Browne. Dublin: Messenger Publications, 2024.: pp.100-102 (Glananea)
O'Brien, Donal. ''The Houses and Landed Families of Westmeath''. The author, Athlone (2nd edition 2015): 17, 99, 110