O'Flaherty (Lisdonagh)
For fifty years in the middle of the 19th century a branch of the O'Flaherty family leased an estate at Lisdonagh, parish of Donaghpatrick, barony of Clare, county Galway, from the St George family of Headford. Bernard O'Flaherty of Lisdonagh was agent to Peter Lynch of Ballycurran in the 1830s. In the 1850s Bernard O'Flaherty was one of the principal lessors in the parish of Oranmore, close to Galway city and held part of Annaghkeen, barony of Clare. Parts of the estate of Dominick O'Flaherty were sold in the Encumbered Estates Court in June 1854, purchased in trust by Mr. O'Flaherty. In the 1870s he owned more than a thousand acres in the town and county of Galway and his address was Villa, Galway. John Andrew O'Flaherty, the residuary devisee of Bernard O'Flaherty, was selling land in the barony of Clare and Shannon View in the barony of Longford in May 1884. John A. O'Flaherty, then resident in New South Wales, sold the townland of Brockagh, in the parish of Oranmore to the Irish Land Commission in 1901/2. Hughes writes that Martin O'Flaherty, on his return from the United States of America in the 1860s, bought Lydican Castle and other land in the county. In the 1870s Martin O'Flaherty of Lisdonagh owned 2,128 acres in county Galway. He married Mary O'Gorman and their daughter Eva, a founder member of Scoil Acla on Achill Island, was born in 1874. He sold his estate to Peter O'Mahony in the late 19th century and Lisdonagh passed to Henry Palmer of Galway, who married O'Mahony's daughter. Their daughter Valda Palmer lived at Lisdonagh until the 1990s. In 1885 Martin Francis O'Flaherty was acting as a trustee for the estate of Edward Michael Davies, a bankrupt. Part of this estate at Moneyteigue, barony of Dunkellin, was offered for sale in the Landed Estates court in April 1885.
Associated Families
Archival sources
- Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), O’Flaherty, 27 Apr 1854, Vol 29, MRGS 39/013, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
- Landed Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Davies, 17 April 1885, Vol 148, MRGS 39/065, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
- Landed Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), O'Flaherty, 2 May 1884, Vol 146, MRGS 39/064, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland
- Documents re property in the parish of Rahoon, Galway town, belonging to Bernard O'Flaherty, including his will 1879, 1857-1920. 999/613/i-v; National Archives of Ireland
- Westport Estate Papers, rental of the estate of M.F. O'Flaherty, including Lydican House and Lisdonagh, 1884-1885. MS 41,078/2; National Library of Ireland
- Lisdonagh photos. 022/069; Irish Architectural Archive
- Jameson, solicitor's collection, includes an agreement for a loan & mortgage of lands of Monetregue, otherwise St Michaels, barony of Dunkellin, Co Galway, Martin Francis O'Flaherty to Michael Charles C. Burke, 1876 & 1881. Small Accs. Index 53, D.7000, 7004-7005; National Archives of Ireland
- W.B. Scott, solicitor's collection, includes lease of the house & demesne of Lisdonagh & parts of Donagh Patrick, Richard J.Mansergh to John O'Flaherty, Lisdonagh, 1830. Small Accs. Index 76, D.10,034; National Archives of Ireland
- Baker, Ringwood & Gordon, solicitors' collection, includes statement of claim Chancery case Blake v O'Flaherty, 1883 & receiver's accounts re property of Martin O'Flaherty in Co Galway, 1896-1907. Small Accs. Index 105, M.4035(1-11); National Archives of Ireland
- Copy probate of Bernard O'Flaherty, The Villa, Co Galway, 6 July 1881. Acc No. 1/299. T.186; National Archives of Ireland
- Longfield, Kelly & Armstrong, solicitors' collection, documents re O'Flaherty estate, 1880s including rentals and accounts 1879-1895. Small Accs Index 47, Bundle 23, no 395, 2C.47.126; National Archives of Ireland
Contemporary printed sources
- ORDNANCE SURVEY NAME BOOKS, County Galway, http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/default.html: Inchiquin
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of Untenanted Lands in Rural Districts, Distinguishing Demesnes on Which There is a Mansion...'', HC 1906, c, 177: 340 (Mahony)
- 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] : 350
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. ''Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland''. HC 1876, LXXX: 298 & 302
- ''GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]', 1850-1858. : Tuam Union, 29
- LEWIS, Samuel. ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland''. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: II, 116
Modern printed sources
- CRAIG, Maurice. ''Classic Irish Houses of the Middle Size''. Dublin: Ashfield Press, 2006: 181
- McGRATH, Mary. ''Landholding in the parish of Castlegar, county Galway: study of five townlands.'' Unpublished Dip, Local Studies dissertation, NUI, Maynooth, 1999. : 9.
- HUGHES, Michael John. ''History & Folklore of the Barony of Clare (Co Galway)''. The author, circa 1997: 53
- ''The Freeman's Journal'': Encumbered Estates Court sales: 17 June 1854, p.4
- MURPHY, Mary J. ''Achill's Eva O'Flaherty: forgotten island heroine, (1874-1963).'' Galway: Knockma Publishing, 2012. : 1-26