Landed Estates
University of Galway

Fitzmaurice (Earl of Kerry)

Family title

Earl of Kerry

Estate(s)

Name Description
Fitzmaurice (Earl of Kerry) Thomas Fitzmaurice, 1st Earl of Kerry (1668 - 16 March 1741), was the son of William FitzMaurice, 20th Baron of Kerry and Lixnaw. He married Anne Petty, the daughter of scientist and philosopher Sir William Petty and Elizabeth Waller, Baroness Shelburne, in 1692. The 1st Earl of Kerry had two younger brothers, William of Gallane, county Kerry, ancestor of the Fitzmaurices of Springfield Castle, county Limerick and John who had an only child Anne who married her cousin of Springfield Castle. In 1703 William Fitzmaurice of Gullane, county Kerry, bought the estate of Sir John FitzGerald in the barony of Connello, county Limerick for £5,008. Francis, the 3rd Earl of Kerry was mostly an absentee landlord, his estates being administered by agents including Christopher Julian. Dickson writes that he sold much of his Kerry estates to Richard Hare in the 1780s. With his death in 1818 the connection between the Earls of Kerry and Lixnaw came to an end. The title was inherited by the Marquis of Lansdowne of Derreen, county Kerry who owned 1,526 acres in county Limerick in the 1870s.
Hare (Listowel) The Hare family had come to Ireland after the Cromwellian settlement and acquired property initially in Dublin and later in Cork. Their influence extended to Kerry at the end of the eighteenth century when Richard Hare purchased 20,000 acres of the Knight of Kerry's estate around Listowel. His son William afterwards became first Baron Ennismore and later Earl of Listowel. The main family seat was at Convamore, county Cork. The Ordnance Survey Name Books indicate that Stephen Collis acted as their agent in Kerry. Andrew Hare was one of the principal lessors in the parish of Aglish, barony of Magunihy, at the time of Griffith's Valuation. The Earl of Listowel was the lessor of several townlands in the parishes of Ardfert, Duagh, Finuge, Kilcaragh, Kilmoyly, KIlshenane, Killahan, Kiltomy and O'Dorney, barony of Clanmaurice, county Kerry, at the time of Griffith's Valuation. The estate also held property in the parishes of Duagh, Dysert, Kilconly and Listowel in the barony of Iraghticonnor. In 1854 the estate was petitioner to the sale of 150 acres of the estate of Edward Church, at Kilmolane, barony of Iraghticonnor, formerly lands owned by the Raymonds. The estate amounted to almost 26,000 acres in county Kerry in the 1870s as well as over 5,000 in county Cork. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the county Cork estate was in the parishes of Kilmeen (Duhallow), Grenagh (Barretts), Ballyhooly, Killathy, Litter and Mallow (Fermoy), Glanworth (Condons and Clangibbon), while the Dowager Countess held land in the parishes of Churchtown and Kilbroney, barony of Orrery and Kilmore, St Michaels and Whitechurch, barony of Cork. In the mid 19th century the Earl of Listowel also held an estate in the parishes of Aghnameadle and Kilnaneave, barony of Upper Ormond, county Tipperary. This estate was advertised for sale in March 1861. The Irish Times reports that the purchasers included Messers. John Dwyer, Francis Trent, William Bolton and Peter Ryan. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the Honourable Henry Hare held land in the parishes of Castletown, Doon and Oola, barony of Coonagh, and Askeaton, barony of Connello Lower, county Limerick. In the 1870s the Honourable Richard Hare of Devonport, England, owned 3,687 acres in county Limerick. He was a brother of the 2nd Earl of Listowel. His nephew Robert Dillon Hare of Ballymore owned 944 acres in county Cork.
Petty-Fitzmaurice (Marquess of Lansdowne) This estate owes its origins to Sir William Petty, renowned cartographer, mathematician and scientist. He was granted extensive lands in south Kerry, formerly the property of the O'Sullivans, in the seventeenth century. He was also granted large tracts of land in counties Limerick, Cork, Kilkenny, King's County (county Offaly) and Westmeath. Petty's daughter Anne married Thomas Fitzmaurice of Lixnaw, first Earl of Kerry. Their grandson William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, was created Marquess of Lansdowne in 1784. In the 1870s, the Munster estate of the Marquess of Lansdowne amounted to over 94,000 acres in county Kerry with 1,526 acres in county Limerick. This included property in the parishes of Dromod, Killinane and Prior, barony of Iveragh, county Kerry and in the parishes of St Nicholas, St Munchins and Killeely, North Liberties of Limerick and in the city itself. The Irish estate amounted to over 121,000 acres including property in Dublin, King’s and Queen’s County and Limerick. In the nineteenth century they were mostly absentee landlords. In the 1830s, the Ordnance Survey Name Books record James Hickson, of Landsdowne Lodge, Kenmare, as acting as agent for the Marquess of Landsdowne. Later in the century that role was undertaken by William S. Trench.
Deane Matthew Deane came to Ireland in the mid 17th century and purchased lands in county Cork. He was made a baronet in 1709. In 1775 his descendant, Sir Robert Tilson Deane, (created Baron Muskerry in 1781), married Anne, sole heir to her grandfather John Fitzmaurice of Springfield Castle, county Limerick. John Fitzmaurice was a nephew of Thomas Fitzmaurice, 1st Earl of Kerry, ancestor of the Marquis of Lansdowne. Robert Tilson Fitzmaurice Deane, grandson of Robert and Anne, married Elizabeth Geraldine Grogan Morgan of Johnstown Castle, county Wexford and assumed the additional name of Morgan. Their son, Hamilton Matthew Tilson Fitzmaurice Deane-Morgan, succeeded his grandfather as 4th Baron Muskerry in 1868. In his entry for the parish of Mourneabbey, Lewis refers to the "late Lord Muskerry" (1st Baron) having built "a splendid mansion in the vicinity on which he is said to have expended upwards of £30,000; but before it was inhabited it was taken down and the materials sold''. Beaufort also refers to this mansion which had been dismantled by 1788. It was at Dromore, parish of Kilshannig. Griffith's Valuation records Lord Muskerry holding land in the parishes of Killagholehane, Killeedy and Mahoonagh, barony of Glenquin and Dromcolleher, barony of Connello Upper, county Limerick and in the barony of Orrery and Kilmore, county Cork including parishes of Shandrum and Kilbolane. In July 1864 lands in the baronies of Glenquin, Smallcounty, county Limerick and West Muskerry, county Cork and Maguinihy, county Kerry, the estate of Lord Muskerry and Maria Chinnery were advertised for sale. Maria Chinnery would appear to be the daughter of Sir Broderick Chinnery, baronet, of county Cork. These lands were purchased by Messers. Evans, Nagle and Prin. In the 1870s Lord Muskerry owned 3,161 acres in county Limerick, 742 acres in county Tipperary, 912 acres in county Wexford and 28 acres in county Clare. The rental of Barnagurrane, 242 acres in the barony of Connello Upper, the estate of Eugene Guilford Finnerty, was advertised for sale in November 1881. Lord Muskerry was the tenant and this property adjoined his Springfield Castle demesne. His wife, Elizabeth Grogan Deane Morgan, was the owner of over 350 acres in county Waterford in the 1870s as well as extensive estates in counties Kilkenny and Wexford.