|
Reeves (Besborough)
|
A family originally from Sussex who settled in Ireland in the mid 17th century. Their connection with county Clare began with the marriage of Robert Reeves and Grace Spaight daughter of Thomas Spaight of Bunratty Lodge and Burrane, county Clare. Although following generations of Reeves owned Burrane they do not appear to have lived there but leased it to the Hodges. By the beginning of the 19th century members of the Reeves family were prominent lawyers, including William Maunsell Reeves, who was legal adviser and agent to the Smyth Barry estates.The legal firm of S.S. Reeves and E. Reeves of Merrion Square, Dublin, was founded in the early 19th century by members of this family. Griffith's Valuation records them holding land mainly in the parish of Killimer but also in the parishes of Killaloe, barony of Tulla Lower and Feenagh, barony of Bunratty Lower. In the 1870s Robert William Cary Reeves owned 2,628 acres in county Clare. In 1866 he married Grace Vandeleur of Kilrush and they had one son and five daughters. In May 1912 over 1,000 acres of the Reeves estate was vested in the Congested Districts' Board. In the 1870s Robert Edward Reeves of Capard, Rosenallis, Queen's County (Laois), a member of this family owned 593 acres in county Limerick and 168 acres in county Kilkenny.
|
|
Spaight
|
The Spaight family was originally from Kent. In the late 17th century Thomas Spaight was seneschal to Henry, 7th Earl of Thomond, and in 1684, he married Elizabeth Westropp of the Fort Anne family. They lived at Bunratty Lodge, possibly the house later known as Cappagh Lodge, parish of Kinfinaghta, barony of Bunratty Lower, county Clare. His son Thomas also lived at Bunratty Lodge and at Burrane, parish of Killimer, barony of Clonderalaw, county Clare. Later generations of the family lived at Corbally, Afflock and Derry Castle, (near Killaloe), county Tipperary. A granddaughter of the second Thomas Spaight married Edward Ferriter of county Kerry. The representatives of Edward Spaight Ferriter are recorded in Griffith’s Valuation as owning land in the parishes of Kilconry and Kilfinaghta, barony of Bunratty Lower and Quin, barony of Bunratty Upper. At the same time George Spaight and Henrietta Stapleton owned land in the parish of Clooney, barony of Bunratty Upper and William Spaight held land in the parishes of Kilnasoolagh and Tomfinlough, Bunratty Lower. In 1854 Thomas Spaight of Corbally, parish of Clooney, barony of Bunratty Upper, bought Ardataggle, parish of O’Briensbridge, barony of Tulla Lower, from Thomas Fitzgibbon. In 1855 approximately 1000 acres of the Spaight estate, including Cappa Lodge, was advertised for sale in the Encumbered Estates Court. Property in the town of Kilrush was sold in the Landed Estates Court in trust to a Mr. McSheehy in July 1865.
In the 1870s his wife Mrs Spaight of Ardataggle owned 689 acres in county Clare while her sister Mrs Constantia Spaight, wife of Thomas’s brother Henry, owned 153 acres. At the same time William Spaight of Derry Castle owned 315 acres in county Clare and 4,597 acres in county Tipperary. The Spaight's county Tipperary estate was mainly in the parish of Templeachally (11 townlands) and in the parish of Burgesbeg, barony of Owney and Arra. 134 acres belonging to Henry W. Spaight were vested in the Congested Districts' Board on 22 February 1911.
|
|
Reeves (Castlekevin)
|
This family was a junior branch of the Reeves family of Besborough and Burrane, county Clare. Edward Hoare Reeves married, as his second wife, Dorothea, daughter of John Carleton of Cork and niece of Lord Carleton. He purchased Castlekevin from the Thornhills in the Encumbered Estates' Court. Their grandson, Edward Hoare Reeves, owned land in the parish of Kilcully, barony of Cork at the time of Griffith's Valuation. By the 1870s Edward Hoare Reeves of Castle Kevin, county Cork, owned 1,208 acres in county Limerick and 1,702 acres in county Cork. At the same time Robert and Thomas B. Reeves, also of Castlekevin, owned 842 and 541 acres respectively. A property belonging to Robert N. Reeves was sold in the Landed Estates Court in April 1864. The purchaser was Mr. Henry Paul of Cork. The life estates of Edward Hoare Reeves and that of his mother in the Castlekevin estate was advertised for sale in July 1879.
|
