Two Houses Called “Lotabeg”

Historic Lotabeg House survives as a protected historic structure. Silver Spring House, the other mansion called “Lotabeg”, no longer stands. It once stood on Lotabeg Farm, north of Fort William, between the present-day Silversprings Court and Silverheights Drive.

Two Houses, One Confused History

Two separate mansions on Cork’s Lota estate were both called “Lotabeg” in nineteenth-century records.

One was historic Lotabeg House, the Galwey family residence overlooking the River Lee. The other stood on Lotabeg Farm, north of Fort William. Historical maps identify this second mansion as “Silver Spring House”, but here we call it the Lotabeg Farm mansion, to distinguish it from the other houses on the estate.

An 1842 advertisement described the farm property as “The Mansion, Offices and Demesne of Lota-Beg”. An 1848 newspaper report referred to the Hickman family’s ball at “Lotabeg House”.

These repeated names help explain how the histories of the two properties became confused.

The deeds, landholdings and descriptions of the buildings provide the evidence needed to distinguish them.

How we can tell the two houses apart

1. The land and the deeds

By 1935, Vincent Hart had purchased the approximately 34-acre Lotabeg Farm holding and neighbouring Fort William, together amounting to roughly 80 acres. The Lotabeg Farm mansion was also associated with a separately leased parcel of approximately 11 acres at Lotamore, including land used for stabling. This parcel can be traced through six successive deeds, including the 1935 conveyance.

Historic Lotabeg House stood on a separate holding of approximately 37 acres, with its own history associated with the Galwey and Galwey–Kellett families.

The Lotabeg Farm mansion and Fort William property interests can be followed through fee-farm arrangements dating from 1856 and later conveyances. The earlier Galwey–Kellett lease of 1789 records land and an existing dwelling at Lota, although it does not by itself identify which mansion is referred to in later records.

2. The buildings and their grounds

Nineteenth-century advertisements associated with the Lotabeg Farm mansion describe an extensive working property, with grazing land, walled gardens, hothouses, servants’ accommodation and stabling for twelve horses. Architectural features included a marble portico and covered exterior corridors. An avenue approached from the Dublin road.

Historic Lotabeg House was quite different. It stood within a predominantly wooded demesne, historically associated with deer and pleasure grounds. Its rounded bow, circular domed entrance hall and cantilevered staircase distinguished it architecturally. Its entrance and approach were also separate.

The landholdings, deeds and descriptions of the buildings all point to two distinct houses.

How the histories became confused

The repeated use of “Lotabeg” and “Lotabeg House” for two different mansions made their histories easy to confuse. Later interpretations of Griffith’s Valuation appear to have contributed to the problem, associating the Callaghan, Hickman, Perrier and other families with historic Lotabeg House.

The University of Galway’s Landed Estates database still brings much of this history together under its single entry for “Lotabeg”, while the older house’s Galwey and Galwey–Kellett history is largely absent.

The confusion was reflected in the 2016 auction, when historic Lotabeg House was presented as a former home of Vincent Hart.

Yet Hart’s 1935 conveyance concerns the property interests our research associates with the Lotabeg Farm mansion and Fort William. A 1958 newspaper report describing Evelyne Hart at Lotabeg with approximately 34 acres supports that identification, although the address alone cannot establish which mansion was meant.

The distinction between these two properties is central to understanding how the history of Lotabeg House became confused.

Following the Hart Property

The 1935 conveyance to Vincent Hart refers back to earlier fee-farm arrangements associated with the Perrier and Fort William properties.

In December 1947, his widow Evelyne transferred her property interest to their daughter Alycia. Later deeds record Alycia Donovan’s disposal of land at Lotabeg, including a 1999 conveyance of ground at Silversprings Court, a residential development already established by the 1980s.

These transactions help trace the Hart family’s property interests independently of the confusing names used for the houses.

Local recollections of the old mansion, its avenue, gardens and estate walls, together with surviving cottages and walls, offer valuable clues to the former location of the Lotabeg Farm mansion.

Read alongside the historical maps and deeds, these recollections help distinguish it from historic Lotabeg House, overlooking the River Lee above Lower Glanmire Road.

Two houses, each with its own history.

Sources

Registry of Deeds, Dublin, memorial 408.479.271527, 29 October 1789, John and Edward Galwey to Sir Richard Kellett. Records a lease concerning approximately 80 acres at Lota, formerly associated with Richard Bradshaw, including an existing dwelling. The lease does not, by itself, identify the mansion described in later records or establish when that mansion was built.
Callaghan v Callaghan, House of Lords, 6 October 1841, 8 E.R. 145. Records the Callaghan family’s residence at Lota and discusses their property arrangements, including references to Fort William.
Southern Reporter and Cork Commercial Courier, 10 May 1842, p. 2. Advertisement for the letting of “The Mansion, Offices and Demesne of Lota-Beg”, describing approximately 45 acres, extensive gardens, offices, coach houses and twelve-horse stabling.
Grand Fancy Ball at Lotabeg House, 1848. Contemporary newspaper report attributed to the Cork Constitution, describing Captain and Mrs Poole Hickman’s ball at their residence called Lotabeg. Exact publication date to be confirmed.
Cork Constitution, 10 October 1891. Advertisement for “Lotabeg” and adjoining Fort William, describing the fee-farm arrangements and the separate 11-acre stable holding.
Limerick Chronicle, 24 October 1891, p. 4. Advertisement for “Lotabeg”, describing the mansion, approximately 45 acres, gardens, avenue and extensive stabling.
Griffith’s Valuation and subsequent Valuation Office Revision Books and maps, Lotabeg, Rathcooney. Used to compare the numbered holdings, occupiers, acreage and valuations with the separate property histories.
Registry of Deeds, memorial 1898.69.207, 18 October 1898, Barry Michael Egan to Elizabeth Maraquita Jackson. Includes the separate 11 acres 1 rood 4 perches and the earlier fee-farm and sub-fee-farm title history.
Cork Examiner, 1 June 1918, p. 6. Auction notice for “Lotabeg”, describing a residence, gardens, pleasure grounds, stabling, out-offices and 45 acres.
Registry of Deeds, memorial 1935.7.55, 25 January 1935, William Alfred Johnstone and Mary Clarke Johnstone to Vincent Hart. Records the later property succession and its connection with the 1856 fee-farm title.
Registry of Deeds, registration 1948037048. Conveyance dated 19 December 1947, Evelyne Hart to Alycia C. M. Hart, registered 9 August 1948. Describes lands of Lota subject to the sub-fee-farm grant of 17 December 1856, linking the transfer to the earlier Silver Spring House title.
Registry of Deeds, conveyance dated 11 June 1999. Alycia Clara M. Donovan to O’Brien and O’Flynn Ltd, registered 27 September 1999. Describes ground at Silversprings Court, townland of Lotabeg, documenting Alycia’s later disposal of land in that area.
University of Galway, Landed Estates Database, “Lotabeg”. The modern entry combining the Kellett construction attribution, Callaghan, Hickman, £87 valuation and Mahony association under one property history.

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