The following is a list of returns for Enniskerry in the report “Landowners in Ireland: Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards” published in 1876. The list is not comprehensive, as it is only informative if people who are resident on that land. For example, Benjamin Lee Guinness comes in as owning nearly 1500 acres of land in Wicklow, but his address is simply: “Dublin”. There is also a Joseph Darlington, a good 19th century Enniskerry name, who owns just over an acre, but again he lives outside the county, so we can’t say if he is indeed an Enniskerry man. Nevertheless, it is an interesting compilation. The most valuable piece of land based on size is that belonging to the representatives of Rev Luke King at Cookstown, which is worth over £7.50 per acre. The extent of the Powerscourt estate is given as nearly 37,000 acres, while Charleville is about one tenth of that. Nevertheless that value of land at Charleville per acre is almost double that of Powerscourt.
| Name | Address | Extent of land (acres) | Value (£) |
| Evans, John | Crone | 454 | 113 |
| Grattan, Lady Laura | Tinnehinch | 58 | 122 |
| King, Representatives of Rev Luke, | Cookstown | 75 | 568 |
| Monck, Viscount | Charleville | 3434 | 1556 |
| Powerscourt, Lord Viscount | Powerscourt | 36693 | 8890 |
| Young, Eliza | Cookstown | 3 | 60 |
You can explore this document at http://www.failteromhat.com/.
The Rev. Luke White King died in 1873. I imagine his heirs still held the lease for his Cookstown property. The Powerscourt papers record that the annual rent on the lease was set in 1860 as £110 per year. The Rev King was the retired headmaster of Ennis College, Co Clare, and his residence was ‘Mervyn’ on the Cookstown road. At the age of 72, he married his third wife, Margaret Anna Palmer, who was the sister of the new curate of Powerscourt Church, Rev Abram Smythe Palmer.
His second wife was Hannah Christie from Bray, and when he died he was buried in the Christie Family plot in the Old Connaught graveyard, Bray.
Thank you Judy. Just in time to include that little nugget of information in the compilation book!
M
Hi Judy,
I am interested in getting more information on Nellie Cronin’s Montessori school and I know that you worked there for many years. My email is lynda.cronin@sympatico.ca. Perhaps you could get in touch.
Best,
Lynda(daughter)