Nolan (Ballinderry)
Description
In the mid 17th century the Nolans owned a large estate in county Mayo and resided at the Ballinrobe Castle. They lost much of their property to the Cuffs at the time of the Cromwellian confiscation and were transplanted to Ballinderry, near Tuam, county Galway, although they still retained some land in county Mayo. John Nolan of Ballinderry had 2 sons Patrick and Andrew from who descend the Nolans of Ballinderry and Ballybanagher respectively.
Estate(s)
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Nolan (Ballinderry) | The Nolans were Elizabethan settlers in the Ballinrobe area of county Mayo. They lost most of their estate in county Mayo to the Cuffs during the Commonwealth and were transplanted to Ballinderry in the parish of Cummer, barony of Clare, county Galway. A notebook in the National Library contains a copy of a patent dated 20 Aug 1677 which refers to the Nolan interest in lands in the baronies of Kilmaine, Clanmorris and Gallen, county Mayo and in the baronies of Clare, Dunmore and Ballymoe, county Galway. At the time of Griffith's Valuation their estate at Ballinderry was mainly in the parish of Cummer but also included townlands in the parishes of Annaghdown and Belclare and the Nolans still had 2 townlands in the parish of Kilcommon and 2 townlands in the parish of Kilmainebeg, barony of Kilmaine, county Mayo. A volume in the Kirwan of Dalgin collection traces the early generations as Patrick Nolan who married Anne Browne in 1667, John married Ellis Brabazon in 1709, Patrick married a Martin of Tulira. Through a late 18th century marriage with Margaret the daughter and heiress of James French of Portacarron, parish and barony of Moycullen, county Galway, an estate in that district came into the possession of John Nolan, son of Patrick. In 1809 their son John Nolan married Mary Browne daughter of John Browne of Castlemoyle. Mary Anne Nolan, widow of John Nolan of Ballinderry and herself a Nolan of Lugboy, county Mayo, held townlands and islands in the parishes of Moyrus, Kilcummin and Killannin in the barony of Moycullen at the time of Griffith's Valuation. She and her husband had 6 sons of whom John Philip Nolan was a Member of Parliament for county Galway for much of the later part of the 19th century. Burke's ''Landed Gentry of Ireland'' records that J.P. Nolan's younger brother Walter Raymond Nolan was heir to his maternal grandfather. Sebastian Nolan, a very wealthy bachelor, lived at Castlemoyle and later at Seamount, Salthill. Philip John Nolan was the only one of the brothers to marry. In the 1870s the estate amounted to 6,866 acres with an additional 800 acres in county Mayo. Walter M. Nolan of the Army and Navy Club, London owned 1852 acres in county Galway in the 1870s. The records of the land agents Denis J. Kirwan and Sons contain late 19th century records relating to the estate of Colonel W.R. Nolan in the parishes of Kilquain and Killimorbologue, barony of Longford, Annaghdown and Belclare, barony of Clare, Monieva, barony of Tiaquin and Dunmore, barony of Ballymoe. |
| French (Portacarron) | Martin J. Blake wrote in ''The Tuam Herald'' that this family were descended from the Frenchs of Monivea and that they bought their estate in the parish of Kilcummin, barony of Moycullen, county Galway, from the persons who had been granted it by the Cromwellian Commissioners. Their residence was at Portacarron, close to the shore of Lough Corrib. James French of Portacarron married Helen Daly and died in 1760. He was succeeded by his son Francis who married Sarah Roche of Rye Hill, county Galway, but they had no children. Francis had a sister Margaret who married John Nolan of Ballinderry, near Tuam, and through this marriage the estate passed to the Nolan family in the early 19th century. |
| Nolan (Ballybanagher) | Over 1,300 acres at Ballybanagher in the parish of Cummer, barony of Clare, county Galway, were granted to Patrick Nolan by patent dated 20 Aug 1677. The Nolans were originally from Ballinrobe, county Mayo. This branch of the Nolan family held a much smaller estate than their cousins at Ballinderry. It amounted to 1,186 acres in the 1870s. |