Coote

Family title

Mountrath Earl of

Estate(s)

Name	Description
Coote	The Coote family settled in Queen's county (county Laois) in the early 17th century and the head of the family was granted the title Earl of Mountrath in 1661. The title expired in 1827 but the baronetcy, created in 1621, continued with Sir Charles Henry Coote (1794-1864) who became Ireland's Premier Baronet in 1827. By patent dated 1666 Lord Mountrath was granted over 4,200 acres in the Connacht counties of Roscommonn and Galway and over 15,000 acres in Leinster. His brother, Chidley Coote, was granted over 3,800 acres in county Roscommon in 1674. In 1709 Chidley Coote, then of Jamestown, served as High Sheriff of Leitrim but this branch of the family were mainly resident in county Limerick. In the mid 19th century the county Roscommon estate of Sir Charles Henry Coote, 9th baronet, was in the parishes of Fuerty, Rahara, Killinvoy, Taghmaconnell, barony of Athlone, Oran, barony of Ballymoe, Kilmacumsy, barony of Frenchpark, Kilglass, barony of Ballintober North, Kilbride and Roscommon, barony of Ballintober South and Clooncraff, Elphin, Kiltrustan, Shankill, barony of Roscommon. In the 1870s Sir Charles Henry Coote, 10th baronet, owned over 1,000 acres in county Roscommon but his main estate of 47,451 acres was in Queen's county (county Laois), where he resided at Ballyfin House, Mountrath. He also owned land in the parishes of Athneasy and Knockainy, barony of Smallcounty, county Limerick at the time of Griffith's Valuation and in the 1870s his county Limerick estate amounted to 340 acres and he owned 878 acres in county Kildare. His brother, John Chidley Coote of Farmleigh, Castleknock, county Dublin, owned 10,318 acres in county Roscommon.
Coote (Ash Hill & Bearforest)	The Cootes of Ash Hill and Mount Coote, county Limerick, were descended from a younger brother of Sir Charles Coote, Earl of Mountrath. In 1666 Chidley Coote was granted almost 3,000 acres in counties Limerick and Kerry. The Cootes of Ash Hill married members of the Evans (Lord Carbery), Purdon and Carr families and eventually Charles Henry Coote of the Ash Hill family succeeded the last Earl of Mountrath as 9th Baronet in 1802. Charles Purdon Coote, a grandson of the 9th Baronet's younger brother Robert Carr Coote, owned 4,510 acres in county Cork and had seats at Ballyclough Castle and Bearforest, Mallow in the late 19th century. In the early 1850s the estate of his father, Charles P. Coote, was located in the parishes of Tullylease, Ballyclogh and Kilmaclenine, baronies of Duhallow and Orrery and Kilmore.
Coote (Bellamont)	Richard Coote, 1st Baron Coote of Collooney and brother of Sir Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Mountrath, was granted extensive estates in counties Roscommon, Galway, Mayo and Sligo in the seventeenth century. Much of his Sligo land was eventually purchased by other Sligo landowners in the eighteenth century, notably the Coopers of Markree. The ''Extinct Peerage'' notes that Richard Coote, 4th Baron Collooney, sold Collooney and other lands to Joshua Cooper of Markree in March 1729. In 1689, the 1st Baron's eldest son Richard was created 1st Earl of Bellamont but this title became extinct following the death of the 3rd Earl in 1766, however, the title Baron of Collooney passed to his cousin Charles Coote of Coote Hill, who was created Earl of Bellamont in 1767. Charles was a grandson of Thomas Coote of Coote Hill, county Cavan, (fourth son of Richard 1st Baron Coote of Colloony, county Sligo), who had inherited Coote Hill from his uncle Thomas Coote, who was granted large estates in counties Cavan and Monaghan and smaller acreages in counties Meath and Queen’s County [Co Laois] in 1667. Charles married a daughter of the 1st Duke of Leinster but their only son died before his father and the earldom of Bellamont became extinct again in 1800. Charles Johnston Coote, illegitimate son of the last Earl of Bellamont, succeeded to the house Bellamont Forest and fee simple estates. In 1810, he married Louisa Dawson, sister of Richard 2nd Lord Cremorne and died in 1841. Their eldest son was Dawson Richard Coote, who died in 1850. By the time of Griffith’s Valuation in the mid-1850s Richard Coote, a minor, held an extensive estate in the parishes of Drumgoon and Kildrumsherdan, county Cavan. The estate was then administered by Colonel Charles George Henry Coote of H.M. Indian Service, who also had property in London. Over 7,500 acres were offered for sale in 1857, mainly in county Cavan. Again in 1859, portions of the the estate of Richard Coote in the counties of Cavan, Leitrim (600 acres in the barony of Carrigallen) and Monaghan were offered for sale in the Landed Estates Court. In 1876, Richard Coote of Bellamont Forest owned 5,321 acres in the county while his uncle, Colonel George Charles Henry Coote, owned 2,235 acres. In 1875, the house Bellamont Forest was sold to Edward Smith, a coal tycoon.