Smyth (Portlick Castle)
Description
Burke's ''Landed Gentry of Ireland'' (1904) suggests that the Smyths of Portlick were a branch of the Smyths of Gaybrook, near Mullingar, county Westmeath.
Estate(s)
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Smyth (Portlick Castle) | This branch of the Smyth family appear to descend from the Rev Robert Smith, rector of Ballyloughloe, county Westmeath, a younger brother of Bishop William Smyth ancestor of the Gaybrook and Barbavilla branches. The Trustees of forfeited estates sold the lands of Portlick and Whinings, previously part of the estate of Garret Dillon, and other lands to John Asgill of Dublin in 1703. Subsequently the lands of Portlick and Whinings were conveyed to John Smyth in trust for the Rev Robert Smyth of Dublin, subject to a 99 year lease to William Palmer. This deed enrolled in 1704. Fennell states that the Rev Smyth bought the castle from Palmer for £885. Rev Robert’s grandson Robert married Friderswide, daughter of Thomas Auchmuty of Bath and their son married in 1858 Sarah Martin. The Smyths continued to own the castle until 1955. See http://www.bomford.net/IrishBomfords/Chapters/Chapter14/Achmuty.htm From the early 18th century the Smyths of Portlick Castle, owned a small estate in county Galway. In 1824 Smyth of Springlawn was recorded as an absentee landlord in county Galway. The estate was comprised of 2 townlands in the parish of Ballynakill, barony of Killian, county Galway in the mid 1850s. The Smyths were involved with the Irelands with a mortgage on Springlawn and Castlegar and lands in Kilkenny West, count Westmeath in 1864. In the 1870s the Smyths owned 799 acres in county Galway and 459 acres in county Westmeath. Two annuities charged on the lands of the Smyths in counties Westmeath and Galway were advertised for sale in January 1871. By March 1916 a final offer of £6,000 had been received by Robert W. Smyth from the Congested Districts' Board for the purchase of his county Galway estate. http://www.celticcastles.com/castles/portlick-castle/history.html |
| Maunsell | John W. Maunsell was occupying Springlawn on the Smyth estate at the time of Griffith's Valuation. In the 1870s he is recorded as owner of 1,124 acres in county Galway and was still residing at Springlawn. |
| Ireland (Galway & Kiltartan) | The Ireland family settled in the midlands in the 17th century. Through marriage with the Lynch family of Lydican, county Galway and the Stanley family of county Westmeath they came to acquire land in counties Galway, Roscommon and Westmeath in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Irelands were an influential family involved in the administrative and business life of Galway city in the mid-19th century. John Ireland of Eyre Square, Galway, married Eliza Josephina McDonnell in July 1836 and he is buried in the grounds of St. James' Church, Bushy Park. John Ireland's brother Arthur was the first Bursar of Queen's College, Galway. Property at Eyre Square, Galway, owned by Edward Ireland, was sold in the Landed Estates Court in November 1866. The purchaser was Captain Forster. The estate at Roo, in the barony of Kiltartan, was offered for sale in the Landed Estates court in April 1873. At that time it was the property of Isaac Daly and his wife Henrietta and John Ireland and his wife Henrietta. The estate, amounting to over 600 acres, of Sophia Mary Ireland in the barony of Kilconnell were offered for sale in the Encumbered Estates Court in March 1851 and 1852. The sale also included lands in the barony of Kilkenny West, county Westmeath. In March 1851, he Freeman's Journal reported that the Galway lands were purchased by William Fry but the sale of the some of the Westmeath lands were adjourned due to insufficient bidding. A Mrs. Ireland, address at Woodlawn, is recorded as the owner of over 1200 acres in county Galway in the 1870s. At the same time Samuel Gardiner Ireland of Roberstown, Naas, county Kildare, a nephew of John and Arthur Ireland of Galway, owned 121 acres in county Roscommon, 314 acres in county Westmeath and 242 acres in county Kildare. |