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Lynch (Petersburg)
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This family settled at Ballynonagh Castle on the shore of Lough Mask, barony of Ross, county Galway, in the mid 17th century. Maurice Lynch received 541 acres of Ballynonagh and surrounding area by royal grant dated 30 June 1681. Peter Lynch later built the house known as Petersburg nearby. It was named after him and had no connection apparently with the famous city. The Lynch estate was mainly in the parish of Ballinrobe. The family was Catholic and a small oratory was built near the house in the mid 19th century. In 1876 Richard Lynch owned 7260 acres in county Galway, with an additional 469 acres in the possession of Mrs Lynch of Petersburg. In 1899 the heiress to this estate married Denis Daly of Raford, county Galway. An estate in county Mayo amounting to 9,371 and belonging to R.C. Lynch was included in a list of estates bought by the Congested Districts Board after the passing of the Land Act of 1903 published in the 18th report of the Board 1909.
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Trinity College, Dublin, Provost and Fellows (Connacht)
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In 1837 Samuel Lewis recorded that at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries Queen Elizabeth I granted part of the possessions of the Abbey of Cong to the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, which was established in 1592. On 7 May 1669 Reverend Thomas Steele, Provost, was granted 5,447 acres in the baronies of Ross and Ballynahinch, county Galway, estimated to produce an income of £300 per annum. Parts of the estate covered the region stretching from Cong to the coast at Leenane and included at least 16 townlands in the parishes of Cong and Ross, barony of Ross, county Galway. At the time of Griffith's Valuation the different townlands were let to head tenants such as William Booth, Sir Ralph Sadlier, the Lynchs of Petersburg, Courtney Kenny of Ballinrobe, Robert Fair of Bushfield, Michael Higgins, Anthony Coyne and Peter King. The Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, also held a number of townlands in the parish of Omey, barony of Ballynahinch, county Galway, which were let to Redmond Joyce and other Joyces at the time of Griffith's Valuation. The amount of the acreage belonging to the Provost and Fellows was not given in the Landowners' return published in 1876 and Hussey de Burgh states that a correct return had not been received before the publication of his book in 1878. The Return of Proprietors, also published in 1876, however, states that the estate amounted to over 7000 acres in county Galway. In the introductory chapter to his book on the Trinity College estates Robert MacCarthy distinguishes between the Provost's estates and the College's estates. He writes that a large quantity of estate papers removed from the stables of the Provost's house were destroyed in the 1950s.
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Daly (Raford)
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The Daly family of Raford were descended from the Dalys of Carnakelly. The Raford estate was bought by Denis Daly in 1716 from the Clanricarde family. It included lands in five baronies but had altered in composition by the 19th century. In 1824 Malachy Daly of Raford is described as a resident proprietor in county Galway. Malachy was one of three Daly brothers who succeeded each other as the owner of Raford. The last of these, Hyacinth, was pre-deceased by his son (also Hyacinth, who had married Harriett Bodkin of Annagh) and so the Daly of Raford estate passed to John Archer Blake of Furbough, whose mother was Maria Daly. In accordance with the stipulations of his inheritance he changed his name to Daly. At the time of Griffith's Valuation, Harriet Daly, (nee Bodkin) was leasing Raford House to her brother, Denis Bodkin. John Archer Daly owned over 8000 acres in county Galway in the 1870s. In 1915 over 500 acres of untenanted land on J.A. Daly's estate was vested in the Congested Districts Board. Jordan states that much of the lands of the Raford estate were acquired by the Irish Land Commission in the 1920s and Raford House was sold in 1926.
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