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Cuff (Esker)
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James Cuff, Esker, is recorded as a resident proprietor of county Galway in 1824. He was a member of the family of Cuff of Creagh, Ballinrobe, county Mayo. Townlands in the parishes of Toomore, barony of Gallen, county Mayo and Killogilleen, barony of Dunkellin and Ballymacward, barony of Tiaquin in county Galway, were advertised for sale in December 1851 by Gregory Cuff, eldest son and heir of James Cuff. Flynn writes that Cuff held his Esker property from Andrew Browne of Mounthazel. Captain James Martin, Bloomfield, county Sligo was the purchaser of the Esker and Toomore properties.
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Cuff
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Sir James Cuff was granted the town and lands of Ballinrobe, barony of Kilmaine, county Mayo, under the Acts of Settlement, date of grant 1 Feb 1667. Under this grant he was given 1,872 acres in county Mayo which included lands in the baronies of Kilmaine and Carra and 1,963 acres in the county Galway baronies of Longford, Dunkellin, Clare and Ross. He also received a small parcel of land in county Clare. By a further grant dated 27 May 1669 he received smaller acreages in the baronies of Kilmaine and Tirawley, county Mayo and in the baronies of Longford and Ballymoe, county Galway. He also received grants of lands in the parish of Kilmainemore, barony of Kilmaine and in the parishes of Kilbelfad and Crossmolina, barony of Tirawley. His son Gerald Cuff, collector of quit rents, bought land from Colonel John Browne of Westport, near Belcarra, barony of Carra and built Elmhall. He was succeeded by James Cuff of Elmhall and Ballinrobe Castle, who, in 1731, married Elizabeth, sister of Arthur Gore, 1st Earl of Arran. It was their son, James Cuff of Ballinrobe, who was created Baron Tyrawley of Ballinrobe in 1797. The Cuffs leased land in the barony of Tirawley from the Gores, mainly in the parishes of Ardagh, Crossmolina and Kilbelfad. The rest of their estates were in the parishes of Ballinrobe, barony of Kilmaine and Drum, barony of Carra. Most of the estates of Lord Tyrawley passed to his daughter Jane and her husband, Colonel Charles Nesbitt Knox. Jane's niece, Harriet Gardiner, for a time claimed the Belcarra estate. From the early 18th century a branch of the Cuff family had an estate at Creagh, just outside Ballinrobe, but this eventually reverted to the Knoxes. In 1876 Colonel St George Cuff of Deel Castle owned 3,205 acres in county Mayo. Monuments in memory of family members are located in the Church of Ireland graveyard, Ballinrobe. A branch of this family resided at Ballymoe in the 18th century and intermarried with the Caulfields of Donamon and the Bagots of Aghrane.
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Browne (Moyvilly & Mounthazel)
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The Moyvilly estate, near Oranmore, county Galway, was granted to the Brownes under the Acts of Settlement. It was formerly an estate belonging to the Ffrench family. Andrew Browne of Moyvilla is listed as a resident proprietor in county Galway in 1824. The Blakes of Kiltolla became indebted to the Brownes during the 18th century and in settlement sold their Mounthazel estate, near Mount Bellew, to the Brownes. The Brownes then moved their main residence from Moyvilly to Mounthazel. At the time of Griffith's Valuation, the Mounthazel estate comprised of eight townlands in the parish of Ballymacward, barony of Tiaquin and townlands in the parishes of Boyounagh, barony of Ballymoe and Dunmore, barony of Dunmore, county Galway, some of them purchased from the Cuff and Eyre families. The Brownes also held land in the parishes of Moygawnagh and Kilfian, barony of Tirawley, county Mayo, at the time of Griffith's Valuation. In the 1870s Andrew Browne of Mounthazel owned 1,939 acres in county Galway and 2,953 acres in county Mayo while his first cousin Colonel Andrew Browne of Mount Bernard owned 1,644 acres in county Galway. The Mounthazel estate passed by marriage to the De Stacpoole family in 1883. In 1887 Virginia Maude, daughter of Lieutenant-General Andrew Browne, married Captain Hugh O'Connor Henchy of Stonebrook, county Kildare and they inherited Moyveela Castle.
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