Coorheen House was originally the Dowager House for the Trench family, who were the Earls of Clancarty, whose seat was at Garbally Court, Ballinsloe. The Dowager House was where the Widowed Countess would go to live once her son was married. The 1901 cesus of Ireland lists the inhabitants of Coorheen House as follows;
Sarah Juliana Clancarty Dowager Countess Aged 88 From Dublin
Margaret Scott Ladies Maid Aged 40 From Co. Meath
Mary Panton Cook Aged 47 From Co. Wicklow
Margaret Sotheren Housemaid Aged 25 From Co. Meath
Mary Hughes Kitchenmaid Aged 26 From Co. Mayo
Alfred Irons Butler Aged 28 From England
William Moirison Coachman Aged 56 From Co. Kilkenny
David Townsend Pantry Boy Aged 17 From Co. Fermanagh
As can be seen above, the Dowager had a sizeable staff. It is also interesting to note that all of the staff, except for Mary Hughes, were members of the Church of Ireand.
The Landed Estates Project in NUI Galway has the following to say about Coorheen House;
Sometimes known as Coorheen House. In 1786 Wilson refers to Curheen as the seat of Mr. Loftus. At the time of Griffith's Valuation, this was a small property occupied by Andrew Egan, leasing from the Clancarty estate and valued at £1 5s. Extended and enlarged sometime after this, by the 1890s it had become Curheen House, resided in by the Aitken family, agents for the Clancarty estate. Later the residence of the RC Bishop of Clonfert.http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie:8080/LandedEstates/jsp/property-show.jsp?id=2924
Do you have any information about the people who lived or worked at Coorheen House? Please let us know so that we can piece together the human story of this marvellous house.
My maiden name is Hughes and my grandfather’s family were from Lisduff in Tyrone. They were flax growers and Roman Catholics. Always tweak to the name Hughes when it pops up. Due to the Penal Laws, we have no knowledge of my family prior to my great- grandfather coming to Canada. Mary-Joan (Hughes) Hale
The George Aitkin mentioned here was my late wife's grandfather and the photograph of Coorheen (Curheen) House here, was taken by me.
