|
Vandeleur (Rathlaheen)
|
The Vandeleurs’ Rathlahine estate was in the parishes of Feenagh and Tomfinlough, barony of Bunratty Lower, county Clare. They were descended from Boyle Vandeleu,r third son of Giles Vandeleur, who settled at Rathlahine in 1660. This branch of the Vandeleur family intermarried with the Fitzgeralds of Carrigoran, Scotts of Cahiracon and the Molonys of Kiltanon. John Scott Vandeleur was the landlord responsible for the founding of the Rathlahine Co-operative in the 1830s. Edward Craig organized the co-operative and Vandeleur was President. However J.S. Vandeleur accumulated very large gambling debts and his estate had to be sold in 1834. Pierce Creagh bought the mortgages on the house. However the family did retain much of the estate as Mrs Mary Vandeleur of Lemington, daughter-in-law of J.S. Vandeleur, owned 1,887 acres in county Clare in the 1870s. A granddaughter of John Scott Vandeleur married A. B. Stoney and they continued to farm part of the estate until the 1920s. The house was demolished in the 1940s. Hannah Villiers Boyd, a sister of John Scott Vandeleur, was the author of two books in the mid 19th century ''A Voice from Australia: or an inquiry into the probability of New Holland being connected with the prophecies relating to New Jerusalem and the Spiritual Temple'' and ''Letters on Education''.
|
|
Creagh (Mount Elva)
|
Lewis writes that the Creaghs were granted all the parish of Kilmoon, barony of Burren, county Clare, by Charles II, except for two townlands. Simon Creagh, brother of Robert of Dangan, parish of Quin, barony of Bunratty Upper, county Clare, married Dora MacNamara and had four sons. In 1806 the eldest son, Pierse Creagh, married Belinda Butler of Walterstown and had two sons, Simon of Bryan’s Castle and Walter. In the 1830s, the Ordnance Survey Name Books record Pierce Creagh as a proprietor in the barony of Trughanacmy, county Kerry. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation Pierce Creagh held four townlands in the parish of Inchicronan, barony of Bunratty Upper and two townlands in the parish of Kilmoon, barony of Burren. His son, Simon Pierce Creagh of Mount Elva, Lisdoonvarna and Bryan’s Castle, Crusheen, owned 1,907 acres in county Clare in the 1870s but his main residence was at Bath in England. In May 1877 lands belonging to Symon Pierce Creagh in the baronies of Bunratty Upper, Inchiquin and Burren were advertised for sale. The Irish Times reported that the purchasers included Messers. Smyth and Collins, in trust, and Messers. O'Brien and Joynt.
|
