Irish estate papers

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Location: Ireland
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Irish Estate Papers

Many aristocratic families held prominent roles in Ireland and in its public life. Some of these families accumulated large archives of papers which have been published over time by the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, the Irish Record Commission, the Irish Manuscripts Commission and most recently Beyond 2022 - Ireland's Virtual Record Treasury.

The contents vary significantly from one set of papers to another. Many include correspondence and land records like estate maps, deeds, rent rolls and so on. Some members of these families held important positions in the Irish state and some copies or originals of their state papers came to be stored in their private archives. Others collected papers of historical interest. Papers like the land records can be particularly useful to genealogists in tracing people present in Ireland before the rebellion of 1641 and the subsequent Cromwellian land surveys.

This space lists and links to a series of estate papers available on line in whole or in part. They are shown in alphabetical order. Several large collections relating to Munster are included.

The National Archives of Ireland has a guide to landed estate records.

John Grenham's county by county listings have a section for 'Estate records' under each county with detailed listings of the landlords and some of the rent records availalbe. Unfortunately, most of the records that he lists are manuscripts only available to consult in the National Library of Ireland, but I think that he is overly pessimistic about how much is available on line, eg listed here.

See also Calendars of Irish State Papers and Beyond 2022 - Ireland's Virtual Record Treasury.

See also Irish Quaker sources and resources - section on land records.

See also Early modern Irish sources.

Contents 1 Barry records 2 Carew papers 3 Castlereagh papers 4 Chichester letters 5 Egmont papers 6 Essex papers 7 Hamilton manuscripts 8 Kenmare manuscripts 9 Inchquin manuscripts 10 Correspondence of Emily Duchess of Leinster 11 Lismore Castle papers, 1586-1885 12 McCance papers 13 MacCartney papers 14 Montgomery manuscripts 15 Ormond papers and deeds 16 Orrery manuscripts and letters of Roger Boyle 17 Pembroke deeds 18 Shannon papers 19 Strafford papers 20 Tanner letters

Barry records

James de Barry (1520–1581 4th Viscount Buttevant) was a magnate in Munster, who joined the Desmond rebellion and died in Dublin Castle. His mother was from the powerful FitzGerald family, his wife was from the important McCarthy family and successive generations of Barrys married Powers, Roches and Boyles - daughters of Viscounts, Barons and Earls. James de Barry's great grandson David Barry (1605–1642 - 1st Earl of Barrymore) fought with the King's forces against the rebels of 1641, and probably died as a result of his wounds.

Unlike most of the other sets of records in this space, Barrymore : records of the Barrys of County Cork from the earliest to the present time, with pedigrees (Rev E Barry, Guy & Co, Cork, 1902) mostly does not consist of original documents which can be regarded as close to primary sources. This is mainly a family genealogy, drawing heavily on sources such as the Carew manuscripts and the Fiants of Elizabeth I. However, it does appear to be well-researched and does contain a lot of material which, although mostly also found elsewhere, would be useful for those doing genealogical research into Munster before and after the Desmond rebellion which led to the plantation. Furthermore, some of the sources cited are Irish records destroyed in 1922 no other copies of which may exist.

Carew papers

For the papers of George Carew (29 May 1555 – 27 March 1629) 1st Earl of Totnes one time President of Munster, surveyor of Ulster and collector of historical Irish manuscripts, see here.

Castlereagh papers

Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh and later 2nd Marquess of Londonerry, was born in Dublin on 18 June 1769. He was elected MP for County Down in 1790 and became an advocate of Catholic emancipation. He became Keeper of the Privy Seal with a seat on the Irish Privy Council in 1797 and was involved in suppressing the rebellion of 1798. He then held posts in the British Government including Secretary for War. He suffered a nervous breakdown and committed suicide in 1822.

PRONI holds c.7,450 documents and c.40 volumes, 1798-1822 (including some earlier and some later), as well as some papers of his wife, Emily, his half-brother and successor, the 3rd Marquess, and the 3rd Marquess's wife, Frances Anne. A part of these has been published by PRONI/Ireland’s virtual record treasury under ref PRONI D3030. For more information about the collection use PRONI's e catalogue and search for ref D3030. The record treasury appears to hold all the papers listed by PRONI under D3030, but not the related papers held under other references listed in the PRONI catalogue.

Some of this same correspondence was published as Memoirs and correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh, second marquess of Londonderry (12 volumes, London 1848-1853). PRONI notes that these volumes were published under his editorial controls and some papers excluded for reasons that it questions.

Chichester letters

Arthur Chichester (May 1563 – 19 February 1625) later Sir Arthur of Carrickfurgus and 1st Baron Chichester was Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1605 to 1616 and was instrumental in the development of Belfast.

His letter book (175 pages) was published in Annelcta Hiberica (Chichester, Arthur, and R. Dudley Edwards. “Letter-Book of Sir Arthur Chichester.” Analecta Hibernica, no. 8 (1938): 3–177) and is available on JSTOR. Also available are two biographies. The first can be read on line - Fortescue, F., Clermont, T. Fortescue. (1858). An account of the Rt. Honourable Sir Arthur Chichester, Lord Belfast, Lord Deputy of Ireland,. London:: Printed for private circulation. The second is more recent and will have to be bought or consulted in a library - McCavitt, J., Queen's University of Belfast. Institute of Irish Studies. (1998). Sir Arthur Chichester, Lord Deputy of Ireland, 1605-1616. [Belfast]: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University of Belfast..

Egmont papers

John Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont, PC, FRS (12 July 1683 – 1 May 1748) was an Anglo-Irish landowner, politician, scientist and president of the trustees for the colonisation of Georgia. His papers include records of his ancestors including Richard Percivale (1550 – 4 September 1620) and Sir John Perceval (7 September 1629 – 1 November 1665) who were participants in the plantation of Munster.

There are two relevant publications.

Report on the manuscripts of the Earl of Egmont. London, Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Printed for H. M. Stationery off. by Mackie & co. ld., 1905-09. (2 vols)

Manuscripts of the Earl of Egmont. Diary of Viscount Percival afterwards first Earl of Egmont, Royal Commission on Historic Manuscripts, HMSO, London 1920, on Hathitrust or Archive.org

• Vol I (1730-1733)
• Vol II (1734-1738)
• Vol III (1739-1747)

Essex papers

Arthur Capel (1631-1683) was Earl of Essex and (from 1672 to 1677) Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He died in The Tower of London (apparently having had his throat cut) after being convicted of participation in the Rye House Plot against the king.

A volume of his letters was published in 1773 'Letters written by his excellency Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in the year 1675.: To which is prefixed an historical account of his life, and deplorable death in the tower of London.' The 2nd ed. Dublin: Printed for T. Walker.

Ireland's virtual record treasury lists five volumes of his correspondence and dispatches while Lord Lieutenant held by the Bodleian Library under ref Bodleian MS.Add. and has digital content for three of those five volumes.

Hamilton manuscripts

James Hamilton (c. 1560 – 24 January 1644) was a Scot who became a large landowner in County Down following the Scots settlement of Ulster starting in 1607 and became 1st Viscount Claneboye.

The Hamilton Manuscripts : containing some account of the settlement of the territories of the upper Clandeboye, Great Ardes, and Dufferin, in the county of Down, edited by T. K. Lowry (Archer & son, Belfast, 1867) were mostly written at the end of the 17th century. See also 'The Montgomery Manuscripts' below.

Also, a series of journal articles The Hamilton Manuscripts published in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology from 1855-1857.

Kenmare manuscripts

Valentine Browne (January 1754 – 3 October 1812) was the seventh baronet Browne of Kerry and the 1st Earl of Kenmare. The Browne family was firmly established in county Kerry before the end of the 16th century and Valentine Browne (1638–1694) was a Jacobite who was attainted in 1691.

The Kenmare Manuscripts published by the Irish Manuscripts Commission and available free from their web site (Kenmare manuscripts MacLysaght (ed) Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1942) contains 'A series of rental ledgers and estate account books, a considerable volume of correspondence, many hundreds of Chancery bills, briefs and other legal documents, a very large number of conveyances, leases, etc.,together with various interesting miscellaneous items, the majority, but not all, of them relating to the Browne family and the Kenmare estate (mainly county Kerry).' Unfortunately the estate rentals before the 1691 attainder do not exist, but there is a very complete set after then.

Inchquin manuscripts

Murrough MacDermod O'Brien, 1614-1697, 1st Earl of Inchquin, 6th Baron Inchquin was made Governor of Munster after the rebellion of 1641. He maintained his influence in Munster during the Civil War but was banished to France after Cromwell's invasion. His estates were restored by the post-restoration Act of Settlement of 1662 but his Catholic religion prevented him from returning to his previous post.

The Inchquin Manuscripts were published by the Irish Manuscripts Commission in 1961 and are available free from their web site. (Inchquin manuscripts Ainsworth J (ed) Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1961). They contain 'Correspondence, deeds, leases, bills, legal papers, marriage settlements, wills etc of the O’Briens, Earls of Inchquin. The correspondence starts in 1577, but most of it is much later.'

Correspondence of Emily Duchess of Leinster

Emily FitzGerald (1731-1814) Duchess of Leinster. Emily Lennox, daughter of Charles Lennox Duke of Richmond, married James FitzGerald Earl of Kildare with whom she had 19 children. After the Duke's death she married her children's tutor and had a further three children. One of her children, Lord Edward FitzGerald, was a republican who was killed during the Rebellion of 1798.

The Irish Manuscripts Commission has published three volumes of her correspondence, edited by Brian FitzGerald all of which are available free on their web site.

• Vol 1. Dublin 1949 (Including letters of Emily Duchess of Leinster, James First Duke of Leinster and Caroline Fox Lady Holland)
• Vol 2, Dublin 1953 (including letters of Lord Edward FitzGerald and Lady Sarah Napier nee Lennox.)
• Vol 3, Dublin 1957 (including letters of Lady Louisa Conolly and William Marquis of Kildare (2nd Duke of Leinster))

Lismore Castle papers, 1586-1885

A collection of the records of the estates of the Boyle family, Earls of Cork and Burlington and the Cavendish family, Dukes of Devonshire, situated at Lismore, Bandon, Dungarvan, Youghal, Tallow and other locations in counties Cork, Waterford, Tipperary and Dublin, and which were generated between 1586 and 1885. The collection contains a significant portion of the papers of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, and otherwise consists largely of title deeds, leases, rentals, estate accounts, legal papers and land agents' correspondence, the greater part of which was generated between 1814 and 1885. There are two series

• 1st series. Autobiographical notes, remembrances and diaries of Sir Richard Boyle, first and 'great' Earl of Cork. Edited, with introductions and notes and illus. by Alexander B. Grosart. From the original MSS. belonging to the Duke of Devonshire, preserved in Lismore Castle. London 1886 (5 volumes)
• 2nd series. Selections from the private and public (or state) correspondence of Sir Richard Boyle, first and 'great' Earl of Cork. Edited, with introductions and notes by Alexander B. Grosart. From the original MSS. belonging to the Duke of Devonshire, preserved in Lismore Castle. London 1887-88 (2 volumes)

Also available is The life and letters of the great Earl of Cork (Townsend D, EP Dutton & Co, New York, 1904). See also Orrery manuscripts and Shannon manuscripts below.

McCance papers

Held by PRONI c.150 documents, 1689-1799, comprising the records of the McCance family, donated to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland by Capt. S. McCance, London in June 1928. For more information about the collection use PRONI's e catalogue and search for ref D272. They contain papers and transcripts

• Papers. This body of original documents and transcripts has strong military associations with the originals relating mostly to the 1798 period in Ulster. It includes a remarkable register called 'The Black Book of the North of Ireland' which contains some 200 names of local leaders of the United Irish Party, often with particulars of their appearances and their careers in the Society. Many notable names appear in this collection ...
• Transcripts. The transcripts in the collection are copies made in the Public Record Office of Ireland from the military records of the years 1689 to 1719 with special references to Brigadier Richard Ingoldsby, Colonel Herbert and the regimes associated with those officers as well as the Purcell and Sabine regiments. The most remarkable feature of this period is a very long set of lists of persons having claims on regiments such as Herbert's for goods supplied or for accommodation ...

Most of PRONI's holding of these papers appears to be available on Ireland’s virtual record treasury (under ref PRONI D272).

MacCartney papers

George Macartney, Earl Macartney (1737-1806) was one of the foremost British diplomats and proconsuls of his day. His distinguished career took him to Russia, the West Indies, India, China, Italy and South Africa - and even back to his native Ireland.

PRONI's holdings (ref D752) documenting Macartney's Co. Antrim estate affairs and of his period of office as Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1769-1772, 'are almost complete and are certainly fuller than those of any other individual or institution'. (To see more use PRONI's e catalogue and search for ref D752.)

Ireland’s virtual record treasury includes part 1 (of 17) from this collection. PRONI describes this as follows D572/1 (1768-1804) contains the letters written by Lord Townshend as Lord Lieutenant to Macartney as Chief Secretary. Their main topic is the struggle between Townshend and the undertakers, Lord Shannon, John Ponsonby, etc. To combat their influence Townshend undertook tours in the south, which he describes, in order to win supporters for the government. He attributes some of the weakness of government to the fact that the poor salaries of the judges made 'young lawyers of ability attach themselves to parties in parliament instead of looking directly to the Crown'. In one of his last letters he amusingly likens himself to 'a wreck on the coast which is supposed to have some kegs of Brandy on board - assailed every moment & trampled on by a most rapacious Crew'. Included in this volume is an adverse report made by Colonel Charles Vallancey on the construction of the Grand Canal, alleging incompetence on the part of the engineer and that in some places the Canal had been diverted for the purpose of draining the lands of interested individuals. It is available in the treasury under ref PRONI D572/1.

Montgomery manuscripts

Hugh Montgomery (c. 1560 – 15 May 1636) was a Scots aristocrat and soldier who led the first Scots settlement of Ulster under James I/VI in 1606 (before the plantation of Ulster in 1610) and became the first Viscount Montgomery of the Great Ards.

The Montgomery Manuscripts (1603-1706) edited by the Rev George Hill (James Cleland, Belfast, 1869) start with autobiographical memoirs of the first, third and fourth Viscounts (those of the second Viscount are missing) and continues with papers of other people related to the family. (George Hill was the author of the standard work on the Plantation of Ulster.)

In the preface, George Hill emphasises the importance of the memoirs of the third Viscount which cover the period from the rebellion of 1641 to the restoration in 1660. See also 'The Hamilton Manuscripts' above.

Also Notice of a hitherto unpublished portion of the "Montgomery Manuscripts" in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 1861/2.

Ormond papers and deeds

Members of the Butler dynasty were prominent in the administration of Ireland over several centuries, reaching the peak of their power as Earls, Dukes and Marquesses of Ormond.

The papers of James Butler 1st Duke of Ormond and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland under both Charles I and Charles II are listed here. This section describes other sets of the family's papers now available.

A Calendar of Ormond deeds (in 6 vols) 'being the mediaeval documents preserved at Kilkenny Castle mostly relating to the Butler dynasty' has been published by the Irish Manuscripts Commission and is available free from its web site

• Vol 1 1172–1350
• Vol 2 1350-1431
• Vol 3 1413-1509
• Vol 4 1509-1547
• Vol 5 1547-1584
• Vol 6 1584-1603

Some Ormond deeds (presumably also included in the calendar) are available in Ireland’s virtual record treasury from the archives of the National Library of Ireland under ref NLI Ormond. They appear to be copies of court rolls relevant to the Treasury's Medieval Gold Seam.

Orrery manuscripts and letters of Roger Boyle

Roger Boyle (25 April 1621 – 16 October 1679) 1st Earl of Orrery and son of Richard Boyle 1st Earl of Cork was an Anglo Irish soldier and politician who fought in the Irish Confederate Wars and became antagonistic to Irish Catholics. Two sets of his papers are available

• A collection of the state letters of the Right Honourable Roger Boyle, the first Earl of Orrery, lord president of Munster in Ireland. Containing a series of correspondence between the Duke of Ormonde and his lordship, from the Restoration to the year 1668. (Orrery, Roger Boyle, Earl of, 1621-1679, and Thomas Morrice, Bettenham, 1742.)
• Orrery manuscripts (MacLysaght, Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin 1941) relate for the most part to a period of about 30 years from the Restoration to the outbreak of the Williamite War. During this time three Earls of Orrery appear on the scene thus presented to us. We meet the famous Roger, first Earl of Orrery, equally well known to students of history as Lord Broghill, the Royalist who became a Cromwellian yet was largely instrumental in bringing about the restoration of Charles II and also his son Roger and grandson Lionel.

See also Lismore Castle papers above and Shannon papers below.

Pembroke deeds

Part of a collection of papers of the Earls of Pembroke held by the National Archives of Ireland and described by the NAI here. According the the NAI's description, they cover the period c. 1240–1728.

A part of this collection containing letters patent (and therefore relevant to the Medieval Treasury Gold Seam) is available in the treasury under ref NAI PRIV 2011/1.

Shannon papers

Henry Boyle, 1st Earl of Shannon (1684-1764), was the second son and heir of the Hon. Colonel Henry Boyle, son of Roger, Earl of Orrery, and grandson of Richard, 1st Earl of Cork. PRONI has a collection of some 4,500 documents relating to the Viscounts Shannon, Earls of Shannon and other members of the Boyle family of Castlemartyr, Co. Cork. For more information about the collection use PRONI's e catalogue and search for ref D2707.

Two small subsets of this collection are included in the Irish virtual record treasury being

• the letter book of Henry Boyle for May 1734 - September 1735 (under ref PRONI D2707/A/1/7/1 - it has a long write up on the PRONI e catalogue highlighting correspondence about French agents recruiting Irish Catholics for military service) and
• his letter book for June 1736 - August 1737 (under ref PRONI D2707/A/1/8/1 - also with a long write up.)

See also Lismore Castle papers and Orrery manuscripts above.

Strafford papers

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1593-1641) was a major figure in the English Civil War and Lord Deputy and later Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1632-9. He became a very powerful figure there, managing an Irish Parliament, instituting the Commission for Defective Titles, significantly increasing crown revenues and becoming extremely rich in the process. He was also strongly opposed to the Scottish Covenanters who were increasingly powerful in Ulster.

A very small set of papers relating to him edited by CH Firth is available on line here. Firth used papers collected by William Knowler in compiling his collection.

William Knowler and Sir George Radclife published a two volume set of The Earl of Strafforde's letters and dispatches, with an essay towards his life in 1739.

A biography of him by Elizabeth Cooper, published 1874, is available here.

Tanner letters

A compilation of documents donated to the Bodlean Library by bishop Tanner of St Asaph (died 1735) but mostly from the collection of William Sancroft (1617-1693) who was archbishop of Canterbury from 1677-1690. Sancroft remained abroad during the period of the Commonwealth and supported James II rather than William and Mary.

The Tanner Letters (Ed Charles McNeill, Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin 1943) is a set of sixteenth and seventeenth century letters from the collection relating to Ireland. The introduction states that the papers are particularly useful on the period of the Irish Confederation and the Scottish Covenanters (ie during the wars of the three nations).