O'Brien (Inchiquin Castle)

Family title

Baron Inchiquin, Earl of Inchiquin, Marquess of Thomond

Estate(s)

Name	Description
O'Brien (Inchiquin Castle)	Murrough O'Brien, 6th Baron Inchiquin, was created 1st Earl of Inchiquin in 1654. An estate of almost 40,000 acres in county Clare, over 1000 acres in county Limerick and over 15,000 acres in county Cork, was granted to Morrough O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, in 1666 and 1667. In 1680 his son William received a further grant of 4,890 acres in county Clare. His great grandson, William O'Brien, 4th Earl married the 1st Countess of Orkney in 1720 and was succeeded by his son-in-law and nephew, Murrough O'Brien, who became Marquess of Thomond in 1800. The 1st Marquess married twice. His first wife was his first cousin, Mary 2nd Countess of Orkney, by whom he left a daughter, also Mary. His second wife was Mary Palmer, a niece of Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was succeeded by his nephew William, 2nd Marquess. The 2nd Marquess had no sons so the title devolved on his brother James, 3rd Marquess in 1846. Following the death of the 3rd Marquess in 1855 without male heirs the Marquessate of Thomond and the Earldom of Inchiquin became extinct and in 1862 the title Baron of Inchiquin passed to Sir Lucius O'Brien, 5th Baronet of Dromoland. In 1857 the trustees of the will of James, 3rd Marquess of Thomond, sold the Earl's estate consisting of over 40,000 acres in the baronies of Burren (mainly in the parish of Carran), Corcomroe (parish of Clooney) and Inchiquin (mainly in the parishes of Kilkeedy, Ruan and Killinaboy), county Clare. The barony of Inchiquin contained by far the largest portion. Houses on the estate in the first division including Rockvale and Rathorpe. Reid writes that Richard Darcy of New Forest, county Galway, purchased the largest acreage, some 2,782 acres in the parish of Kilkeedy, barony of Inchiquin. Other purchasers included the Right Honourable Francis Blackburn of Rathfarnham Castle, county Dublin, Thomas Crowe of Dromore and James O'Gorman of Buncraggy. In 1837 Inchiquin Castle and the mansion attached were described by Lewis as in a "greatly dilapidated condition". He writes that the Castle on the shore of Inchiquin Lake was for a long time the residence of the Marquess of Thomond. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the Marquis also held a large estate in county Cork. He was one of the principal lessors in the parishes of Kilmacdonogh, Aghada, Ballintemple, Cloyne, Corkbeg, Garranekinnefeake, Inch, Rostellan, barony of Imokilly, county Cork. His county Cork estate included the village of Ballymacooda. The county Cork estate, amounting to 8,833 acres, was advertised for sale by the trustees of his will in December 1857.
D'Arcy (Newforest)	This branch of the D'Arcy family were descended from Martin D'Arcy, second son of James 'Riveagh' D'Arcy, and were settled at Rockvale on the northern border of county Clare from the late 17th century. The Newforest estate, parish of Kilkerrin, barony of Tiaquin, county Galway, was in the shared ownership of this branch of the D'Arcy family and the D'Arcys of Kiltullagh and Clifden from the 17th century. In 1754 the estate was officially divided between the two branches. The D'Arcys of Clifden sold their part of the estate in 1850 to Thomas Eyre. Richard D'Arcy built a house on the Newforest estate soon after the division of the land and the Newforest estate remained in the possession of the D'Arcy family into the 20th century. He also built a house at Rockvale on his county Clare estate in the parish of Kilkeedy, barony of Inchiquin. He purchased 2,782 acres in that parish from the sale of the estate of the Marquis of Thomond in 1857. The Newforest estate was expanded with the purchase of the Fiddane estate of the Kellys in the 19th century, which McCarthy writes amounted to over 7,000 acres. In 1844 the D'Arcys also inherited the Fisherhill estate of their cousins, the Blakes. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the D'Arcys had lands in county Mayo in the parishes of Kilconduff and Killasser, barony of Gallen, and in the parish of Breaghwy, barony of Carra. Over 1100 acres of the D'Arcy estate in county Mayo was sold to the Congested Districts' Board on 28 July 1903 and 4395 acres was vested in the Board in March 1915. In the mid 19th century the Newforest estate was divided between two brothers James and Martin D'Arcy. Martin D'Arcy and his descendants lived at Wellfort, previously part of the Kelly estate. In the 1870s Hyacinth D'Arcy of Newforest owned 4,434 acres in county Galway, 3,871 acres in county Mayo and 3,129 acres in county Clare. The Newforest estate was divided among the tenants in the early 20th century but the D'Arcy family retained the home farm until the 1950s when it was bought by the Land Commission and the house demolished.
Blackburne	In 1857 The Right Honourable Francis Blackburn of Rathfarnham Castle, county Dublin, purchased 1,180 acres of the Marquis of Thomond's estate in the barony of Inchiquin county Clare. In the 1870s Captain John Blackburne of Brownsbarn, Thomastown, county Kilkenny, owned 1,152 acres in county Clare. He was probably a member of the Blackburne family of Tankardstown, county Meath. The Blackburne families of Rathfarnham and Tankardstown were related. A branch of the Blackburne family were resident at Renny, county Cork, during the mid and later nineteenth centuries. In 1885, Walford refers to Frederick John Blackburne, of Renny, who died in 1863, and to his son, John, who was resident at Renny in the 1880s.
Crowe (Dromore)	The Crowe family were living at Nutfield, near Ennis, county Clare in the 1780s. Burke records that Thomas Crowe, second son of Robert Crowe of Nutfield, married a Miss Wainwright of Dublin and had a son, Thomas Crowe of The Abbey, Ennis. He married Ellen Tymons and had six sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Thomas Crowe ,born in 1803, became a barrister and lived at Dromore House, parish of Ruan, barony of Inchiquin which he owned in fee. In 1838 he married Isabella Hume of Humewood, county Wicklow. In the mid 19th century Thomas Crowe held land in seven baronies of county Clare but the main part of his estate was concentrated in the parishes of Ruan and Inagh, barony of Inchiquin and in the parishes of Kilfarboy, Killard and Kilmurry, barony of Ibrickan. In 1857 he bought over 2,000 acres of the estate of the Marquis of Thomond in the barony of Inchiquin. His youngest brother, Wainwright Crowe, lived at Cahircalla, parish of Drumcliff, barony of Islands. In the 1870s Thomas Crowe of Dromore owned 6,121 acres in county Clare and the representatives of his brother, Wainwright Crowe, owned a further 3,126 acres. By 1909 Wainwright F. Crowe had agreed to sell over 1,600 acres to the Congested Districts' Board. The mansion house of Dromore and almost 1,000 acres of untenanted land was still in the possession of the Crowes in 1906. Thomas Crowe's grandson, another Thomas Crowe, sold Dromore in 1936.
Wise (Rostellan)	In the 1870s Joshua P. Wise of Rostellan, Middleton, county Cork, is recorded as owning 1,122 acres in county Cork. He appears to have purchased some of the estate of the Marquess of Thomond. He was the second son of Thomas Wise of Lunan, Scotland and died unmarried in 1879. His brother Thomas Alexander Wise succeeded him at Rostellan.