Landed Estates
University of Galway

Lane/Lane-Fox

In 1666 Sir George Lane was granted lands in the counties Dublin, Meath, Kilkenny, Longford, Waterford and Cork. Sir George was the son of Richard Lane of Tulsk, county Roscommon and was granted the Irish peerage title, Viscount Lanesborough, in 1676. He was Secretary of State for Ireland and received lands in the baronies of Roscommon and Ballintober, county Roscommon and in county Longford in April 1678 and May 1679 respectively. Weir notes that these grants were further augmented by the purchase of the Duke of Buckingham's Irish estates in 1710. In 1724 the Lanesborough title became extinct with the death of his son. The Lanesborough estates in England and Ireland were inherited by the 2nd Viscount's sister who was married to Henry Fox. Though the Longford and Roscommon properties were sold to Luke White in 1819, the Lane-Fox family continued to hold substantial property in both counties Leitrim and Waterford. In 1848 George Lane Fox junior, was High Sheriff of Leitrim. For the most part they were absentee landlords, their estates being managed by a succession of stewards, including Joshua Kell, who was a member of the Grand Jury for Leitrim in 1851. The property at Larkfield was leased for a long period to the O'Donnell family who built a house there. At the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1850, George Lane-Fox was among the principal lessors in the parishes of Drumcannon and Kilburne, barony of Middlethird, county Waterford. In 1848 he also held townlands in the parish of Kilbarry, barony of Gaultiere. The Waterford estate amounted to over 5000 acres in the 1870s. In October 1856 and again in June 1860, Matthew Anthony Fox offered for sale, in the Landed Estates Court, his interest in the lands of Cross (otherwise known as Mount Wilkinson), barony of Gaultiere, county Waterford. These lands were part of an original 1741 lease agreement between Samuel Barker and Geoffrey Wilkinson. In June 1857, George Lane Fox had offered for sale over 3000 acres of his Waterford estate in the Encumbered Estates Court. The Freeman's Journal gives details of the purchasers. The family sold the bulk of their remaining Irish estates to the Land Commission in the early years of the twentieth century.

Associated Families

Houses

Name Townland Civil Parish PLU DED Barony County Map Ref
Drumahaire Lodge Drumahaire Drumlease Manorhamilton Drumahaire 36 Dromahaire Leitrim OSI Ref: G805313
OS Sheet: 14
Discovery map: 25
Larkfield Larkfield Cloonlogher Manorhamilton Cloonlogher 35 Dromahaire Leitrim OSI Ref: G883352
OS Sheet: 11
Discovery map: 26
Millbank House Carrickacroghery Drumlease Manorhamilton Drumahaire 36 Dromahaire Leitrim OSI Ref: 802332
OS Sheet: 14
Discovery map:
Carriganard Carriganard Kilbarry Waterford Kilbarry 83 Gaultiere Waterford OSI Ref: S578092
OS Sheet: 17
Discovery map: 76
Kilbarry (Gaultiere) Kilbarry Kilbarry Waterford Waterford Rural 85 Gaultiere Waterford OSI Ref: S592106
OS Sheet: 17
Discovery map: 76
Ballyhoo Ballyhoo Kilbarry Waterford Kilbarry 83 Gaultiere Waterford OSI Ref: S586087
OS Sheet: 17
Discovery map: 76
Foxmount Cross Kill St. Nicholas Waterford Faithlegg 90 Gaultiere Waterford OSI Ref: S662091
OS Sheet: 18
Discovery map: 76

Archival sources

  • Rental: estates of James Fox in Co. Longford (Rathcline Barony) and Co. Roscommon (Tulak), 1819. Correspondence concerning the estate and list of tenants of the Dromchair estate of George Lane Fox, 1845. L F. C XIV. 1-2. [microfilm copy at NLI]; West Yorkshire Archive Service: Leeds
  • Rental book of Dromahair estate, 1898. File 937. ; Leitrim County Library
  • Documents re land transactions with Hamilton family, Killinummery, File 731. ; Leitrim County Library
  • Correspondence & list of tenants of Dromahair estate of George Lane Fox, 1845. Microfilm P4064; National Library of Ireland
  • Encumbered Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Fox, 24 October 1856, Vol 41, MRGS 39/020, (microfilm copy in NUIG) ; National Archives of Ireland
  • Landed Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Fox, 8 June 1860, Vol 59, MRGS 39/030, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
  • Lane Fox Family Papers 1801-1862; Dorset History Centre
  • Encumbered Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Lane Fox, 26 June 1857 Vol 46, MRGS 39/023, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
  • A collection of 421 unsorted letters and papers relating to the estates of George Lane Fox in Co. Leitrim (Dromahair) and Waterford, mostly correspondence of Joshua and Thomas Kell and David and Robert Stewart concerning estate matters, 1830-50. Lane-Fox papers., L F. C XIV. 25 ; West Yorkshire Archive Service: Leeds
  • Papers relating to the estates of the Lane Fox family, 1684-1793, including a list of tenants of James Fox's Waterford Estate, 1773, rentals 1745 and 1792 and a survey with 16 maps of the Waterford estate taken by Nicholas Walsh, 1793. L F. LXXIII-LXXXIII; (Extracts) Microfilm copy at NLI, n.4394, p.4065]; West Yorkshire Archive Service: Leeds

Contemporary printed sources

Modern printed sources