The Galweys of Lota

Lotabeg and Lotamore

de Burgh to Galwey

The history of Lota in County Cork begins with the Galwey family, whose ownership of Lotabeg and Lotamor has been obscured by later misattribution.

The Lota lands are situated in Glanmire, County Cork, three miles east of Cork city, between the North Ring Road, Lower Glanmire Road and the Glashaboy River. They were owned from the 1200s by descendants of William Liath de Burgh, who later became known as the de Burgh-Galweys of Clanricarde. Despite an unusually rich body of contemporary estate records, their history has been obscured by the repeated circulation of errors.

The House of de Burgh is much recorded as a highly significant family in medieval Ireland and the de Burgh-Galweys of Dundanian are also frequently mentioned as a significant presence in Cork from the 1400s.

Galwey Castle to Lota

Walter Galwey is said to have built Galwey Castle in 1556, where his descendants lived until the castle and the Dundanian estate were confiscated by Cromwell’s armies in the 1650s. C.J. Bennett (a Lotabeg contemporary) says Edward Galwey crossed the River Lee and settled on their Lotamor estate at Glanmire, and a chancery bill 10^th Nov. 1675 records that Edward built Lotabeg House, a second family home, twenty years later. Edward’s younger brother Geoffrey and family lived at Lotamor House while Edward’s descendants continued to hold the entail at Lotabeg, from 1673. The Lota Estate was known as Lotabeg (the small half) under 500 acres and Lotamor (the big half) over 500 acres.

Four Galwey Lota Houses

The continuous occupation of Lotamor by the Galwey family from the 1650s until 1873 is listed and dated in Blackall’s genealogy. As is that of Lotabeg House, built in 1673 and occupied by the Galwey family until 1789, then by Jane Galwey and Richard Kellett and sons, until 1886.

Edward built The Lota Lodge for Lota’s tenant farmers from 1694 until 1787, when it was leased for 40 years before being sold to James Smith-Barry in the 1820s. Lotaville House was built on the estate by Helen Galwey in 1742 when she married her cousin Sir John Esmonde 5^th Bart.

Geoffrey Galwey’s grandson John of Lotamor went to live at Ormonde House and became John Galwey of Lota and Carrick. The estates were resettled (in the archives) in 1772 and Edward, heir to the Lota entail, son of John Galwey of Lotabeg and Westcourt relocated his family from Lotabeg House to Lotamor House which became the family seat.

John Galwey of Lota and Westcourt settled three sons elsewhere and gave Lotabeg House to his daughter Jane Galwey and husband Sir Richard Kellett when they married in 1788. To get around the Lota entail held by Jane’s brother Edward, Jane and Richard Kellett nominally leased Lotabeg House and demesne. They and their two sons used Lotabeg as their country house from 1789 until 1886.

Lotabeg

Fort William was built by William Galwey in the south-west corner of the Lotabeg Estate, on 45 acres adjoining Lotabeg HOUSE and its demesne to the east. Silver Spring House was built on the land called Lotabeg Farm on 45 acres north of and adjoining Fort William. This land, still called Lotabeg Farm, is now the Lotabeg Farm townlands. Newspapers in 1842 reported that Sir Richard Kellett built the extravagant Silver Spring House with 12-horse stables, separate stallion box and foaling box, two walled gardens, gate lodge, tree-lined drive from the North Ring Road, atrium, wine cellar, ice-house, orchards, vineyard, and stately stone portico. Silver Spring House was widely called “Lotabeg” and frequently confused with Lotabeg HOUSE.

Griffith’s Valuation c1851

William Galwey leased both Silver Spring House and Fort William with 90 acres of land to Poole Hickman who sub-let Fort William to Godfrey Baker. When Hickman died in 1853, his wife Charlotte married Anthony Perrier and continued to hold the lease and sub-let Fort William to William Barrett.

Griffith records only two of the three houses on the Lotabeg Estate. Their lessees Hickman and Baker and the lessor William Galwey are listed and accounted for in Griffith’s 1851 valuation, which recorded properties producing a taxable income – in this case, rent.

Lotabeg House does not appear in Griffith’s Valuation in the same way as Fort William and Silver Spring House. The Kellett/Galwey lease was nominal; they did not pay rent. This house produced no taxable income and was therefore not mentioned by Griffith. Griffiths documentation clearly clarifies the ownership and occupation of the three houses on the Lotabeg estate in the early 1850s.

In the 1860s after William died, his son Edward Galwey sold the freehold of both Fort William and Silver Spring House together with 90 acres of the Lotabeg estate. Edward, the last direct male Galwey heir, sold off most of the land.

Lotamor

At Lotamor in the early 1800s, William Galwey leased two large house-blocks to W.H.Greene and John Power. Greene built Lota House, sold to George A. Wood when Greene died. John Power built Lota Park and sold it to Col. Beamish.

George Wood, owner of Lota House, Beamish of Lota Park and James Smith-Barry of The Lota Lodge together purchased the Lotamor farmlands before Edward Galwey died in 1873.

Charles (Galwey) Murphy inherited what remained of Lotabeg and Lotamor in 1873 through Edward’s daughter Matilda Galwey, together with all the other Galwey lands and estates, houses in Cork and large residences in Dublin. He sold Lotabeg in 1888 and 2,500 acres of land in 1890, and lived at Lotamor until about 1910 when he moved to The Grange, Curraghlass. His descendants owned and occupied Lotamor House until 1961.

The Grange, Curraghlass

Conclusion

For more than two centuries the Galwey family shaped the history of Lota through Lotabeg and Lotamor. In 2016 when Lotabeg was offered for sale, six generations of Galwey furnishings were discovered still inside the house, left behind when Lotabeg was sold in 1888. The house had become a remarkable time capsule of the Galweys of Lota and a final reminder of the family whose history was obscured by later misrepresentation.

More Information about the Lota Estates

Sources

Blackall Sir Henry, “Genealogy of the Galweys of Lota,” 1967 part 2, pages26-33. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society.
Blackall Sir Henry, “Galweys of Munster” 1966, pages 139-42 and 154-6. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society.:
Pedigree of the Galweys of Lota, College of Arms (1762/3)
Burke’s Landed Gentry of Ireland. (1846-71 editions)
Bennett C.J.B. “Galweys of Lota” 1909, pages 5-17,w/ letters, 1800s. Hodges and Figgis, Dublin. A contemporary Lotabeg cousin of Edward and Jane Galwey.
Registry of Deeds, Dublin, deed of 18 May 1772: John Galwey of Lota and Westcourt resettled the Lota estates.
Registry of Deeds, Dublin, 1789 Kellett/Galwey lease.
Cork Examiner and Allnutt’s Irish Inventory, 1857: sale of Lota leaseholds.
(Check exact title/spelling of “Allnutt’s Irish Inventory” before publishing.)
1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland, Hart family recorded at “Westmere,” Cork city.
Mealy’s Auctioneers, Lotabeg House Sale Catalogue, 24 May 2016

Estate Records and Timeline of Galwey Ownership and Occupation of Lota

1675 — The Twigge Collection records that Edward Galwey bought the Lotabeg land in 1673 and built a house there.
1694 — Robert Rogers leased the Lota farmland from the Galweys.
1711 — William Galwey of Lotabeg House married Mary Butler, recorded in multiple sources.
1763 — The pedigree of the Galweys of Lota was registered at the College of Arms, stating that Edward Galwey established his residence at Lotamor in the 1650s when Cromwell’s armies confiscated their home, Galwey Castle, Dundanian.
1763 — The pedigree lists, with dates, Edward, John, William, John, and Edward Galwey at Lotabeg House.
1763 — The pedigree lists Patrick, Geoffrey, William Galwey, and John of Carrick at Lotamor House.
1772 — Registry of Deeds, Dublin, 18 May: John of Lota and Westcourt resettled the Lota estates.
1781 — Edward Galwey of Lotabeg inherited Lotamor from John Galwey of Carrick.
1781–1961 — Blackall records the succession as: Edward, John, William, Edward, John, Edward, Charles Galwey Murphy, and Charles’ children.
1789 — Registry of Deeds, Dublin: Jane Galwey and R. Kellett leased Lotabeg from John Galwey.
1820s — Lota Lodge was sold to James Smith-Barry.
1857 — Cork Examiner and Allnutts Irish Inventory: sale of Lota leaseholds
1961 — No sale or lease of Lotamor until 1961, when it was sold to the Irish Sweepstakes