| Description | The Grandison Estate in County Waterford was centered on Dromana, the principal seat of the Decie Fitzgeralds from the later middle ages on. The family survived the political and religious upheavals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries when the surviving heir of the house, Catherine, married George Villiers, the earl of Grandison. The only surviving heir of John, second earl of Grandison, Lady G A Villiers, married the first Marquis of Bute, whose son, Lord Henry Stuart (d. 1809), was brother-in-law to Sir William Homan.
The seventeen items in this collection can hardly be said to provide a comprehensive record of the workings of the Grandison estate. The material here does, however, provide an interesting glimpse into estate management at the beginning of the nineteenth century, primarily through the few examples in Homan's correspondence. The leases, the backbone of landed estate management while providing specific information on parties and land denominations, provide no discernible land-holding pattern.
The arrangement of this collection reflects these two aspects. The first part consists of leases, the second of material relating to Sir William Homan, primarily dealing with the management of the Grandison Estates. |