McCausland

Description

A family from county Donegal who served as members of Parliament and in the legal profession. In 1793 Catherine McCausland married William Plunket 1st Baron Plunket. Her nephew Sir Richard Bolton McCausland inherited the Drimbawn, county Mayo property of his first cousin Catherine Plunket.

---

Estate(s)

Name	Description
Plunket (Baron Plunket)	During the 19th century the Plunkets, many of whom were prominent clerics in the Church of Ireland, held a sporting estate in the parish of Ballyovey, barony of Carra, county Mayo, from the Lynch Blosses. Thomas Plunket, Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry and 2nd Baron Plunket purchased a large part of the Lynch Blosse estate in the barony of Carra in 1859. He also bought the Ballybanaun estate of the Moores of Moorehall sold in the Encumbered Estates' Court in 1854, so that by the end of the 1850s he owned approximately 14,200 acres in the county. At this time he was involved in a very public dispute with Father Lavelle, the local parish priest, concerning proselytising activities on his estate. Following the bishop's death in 1866 his daughters sold the Tourmakeady Lodge estate to William Horsfall, a worsted manufacturer from Bradford. In 1875, Horsfall sold the estate to the Mitchell brothers, also from Bradford, Yorkshire. The Bishop's sister Catherine Plunket also owned land in the parish at Cappaghduff where she built Drimbawn House. She left her property to a McCausland cousin from county Donegal. In the 1970s Drimbawn was the home of the actor Robert Shaw. At the time of Griffith's Valuation Lord Plunkett held an estate in the parish of Shandrum, barony of Orrery and Kilmore, county Cork. The Plunket family’s county Monaghan estates were bought by Dr Patrick Plunket, older brother of William Conyngham Plunket, 1st Baron. In 1795, Dr Plunket purchased the interest of William Giles of Rakane, county Cavan, in the Raw estate in the parish of Aghnamullen and in 1802 he bought the interest of the de Clifford family in the Milltown estate in the parish of Ematris held in perpetuity from Baron Cremorne. By the time of Griffith’s Valuation these estates were in the possession of Bishop Thomas Plunket and included four townlands in the parish of Tedavnet, north of Monaghan town, part of the See estate of the Bishop of Clogher held in perpetuity by James Rose of Monaghan. In the late 1870s the 4th Baron Plunket owned 1,057 acres in county Cork, 2,592 acres in county Monaghan and 185 acres in county Dublin.
McCausland	In 1868 Sir Richard Bolton McCausland inherited the Cappaghduff property, parish of Ballyovey, barony of Carra, county Mayo, of his first cousin Catherine Plunket. In the mid 1870s he owned 850 acres in county Mayo and 48 acres in county Dublin. He was married to Fanny Blake of Castlegrove, county Galway. The estate was sold to the Congested Districts' Board on 17 May 1906.