Atkinson (Rahans)

Description

Elizabethean settlers from whom the Atkinson families in the baronies of Erris and Tirawley were descended.

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Estate(s)

Name	Description
Atkinson (Glencastle)	Matthew Atkinson, a Dublin lawyer and son of Charles Atkinson of Rahans, parish of Ballynahaglish, barony of Tirawley, county Mayo, bought land in the barony of Erris in the 1850s, including land leased from the Carter family by George Tollett. In 1876 his widow held 5317 acres in county Mayo. By March 1916 she had accepted an offer from the Congested Districts' Board for the purchase of her estate.
Atkinson (Rahans)	According to Burke's ''Landed Gentry'' the Atkinsons were Elizabethean settlers. On 5 July 1742 they were given a lease of Rahans, parish of Ballynahaglish, barony of Tirawley, county Mayo, by James O'Hara, Lord Tyrawley. The estate of 1244 acres was sold in the Encumbered Estates' Court following the death in 1849 of Charles Atkinson, the coroner for North Mayo. Rahans was bought by George Orme in 1855 and the Atkinsons moved to Ballylahan in the parish of Templemore. Matthew Atkinson, a Dublin lawyer and brother of the coroner, who bought land in the Encumbered Estates Court in the barony of Erris, was a member of this family.
Atkinson (Kilbarron)	Thomas John Atkinson was the proprietor of over 3400 acres in County Donegal in the 1870s. The Atkinsons are recorded among the principal lessors in the parish of Kilbarron, barony of Tirhugh, at the time of Griffith’s Valuation in the 1850s. This family was established in the Ballyshannon area since the early seventeenth century when Thomas Atkinson was among those named as burgesses in the Borough of Ballyshannon. Burke suggests that the family derive from a Captain Charles Atkinson, originally of an ancient Yorkshire family.