Landed Estates
University of Galway

Keane (Beech Park)


Estate(s)

Name Description
Westby Nicholas Westby of Ennis, county Clare, Collector of Customs, was one member of a syndicate of three (Francis Burton, James MacDonnell) who purchased in 1698 the forfeited estates of Viscount Clare from the Earl of Albemarle. The Earl had bought the estates, situated in county Clare, in 1692. Westby's descendents through advantageous marriages acquired estates in counties Wicklow, Kildare and King’s Co (county Offaly). Burke’s Irish Family Records (1976) records Nicholas Westby of Kilballyowen, county Clare and of London, who held extensive estates in county Clare in the mid 19th century, mainly located in the baronies of Moyarta (centred on the parish of Kilballyowen) and Islands (centred on the parish of Kilmaley) but also in at least five other baronies. In the 1870s Edward Perceval Westby of Roebuck Castle, Dundrum, county Dublin and Doon, county Clare, owned 25,779 acres in county Clare and 67 acres in county Dublin.
Keane (Beech Park) The Keanes were established in county Clare from at least the mid 17th century and were residing at Beech Park in the parish of Drumcliff, barony of Islands by the beginning of the 19th century. In 1799 Robert Keane (1774-1839) married Jane Delahunty, whose mother Susan was the only daughter and heiress of James Colpoys of Crusheen, and they had a family of eight sons and five daughters. Robert Keane built Beech Park circa 1800 and established a land agency. The Keanes of Hermitage, near Ennis, descend from his second son Francis. His sixth son Marcus of Beech Park married Louisa daughter of Nicholas Westby of Kilballyowen and took over his father’s land agency. His main clients were the Westby, Conyngham and Henn estates. On these estates he carried out many evictions and so became very unpopular. His younger brother Henry Keane and Basil Lukey Davoren were two of his underagents. In the early 1850s he bought 1,000 acres at Enogh, barony of Moyarta, from the sale of the Hickman of Kilmore estate. In the mid 19th century Marcus Keane held land in the parishes of Kilmaley and Drumcliff, barony of Islands, Inchicronan, barony of Bunratty Upper, Kilchreest, barony of Clonderalaw. Some of his brothers also held land in the parish of Kilmaley and in the parish of Kilballyowen, barony of Moyarta where the Keanes had a summer residence at Doondahlin, Kilbaha. By the 1870s Marcus Keane’s estate had grown to 4,784 acres in county Clare. 168 acres was vested in the Congested Districts' Board in November 1915.
Marrett (Limerick) In 1827 Francis Nathaniel Keane of Hermitage, Ennis, county Clare, married Hannah Maria daughter of Sir Christopher Marrett of Limerick. In November 1865 Ballykillane Marrett, 77 acres in the barony of Bunratty Lower, county Clare were advertised for sale, the estate of William Marrett. Scattery Island, in the Shannon Estuary also belonged to the Marretts but was leased to the Keanes. In December 1854 the lands of Curraviller, 254 acres in the barony of Owney and Arra, county Tipperary, the estate of William Henry Cooper Marrett, were advertised for sale in the Encumbered Estates' Court.