File 3 - Renmore

c. 50 items

In 1888 in a statement to the Governors of the Erasmus Smith Schools, John Wilson Lynch wrote that six generations of his family had held the lands of Renmore, on the eastern edge of Galway city, and then equivalent to 550 acres. He records that in 1852 his father, Patrick M Lynch, took a lease of Ballybrit and Parkmore from the Erasmus Smith Schools and that Patrick M Lynch built Renmore House at a cost of £5,000. This house was the principal residence of the Lynch family in the second half of the 20th century. The military barracks at Renmore were also leased from the Erasmus Smith Schools by the war department. Another building close to Renmore was Belmont House, which was bought from William King for £600. Thomas Wilson Lynch was living at Belmont in 1911-12.

James Connor or O'Connor was the steward until his death in 1881 and his name is written on the plans for a steward's house [see LE6/B/791], which when built was known as Renmore Cottage. Michael O'Connor, who was killed in Australia, may not have been his son [see LE6/B/760]. John Burke appears to have been the bailiff at Renmore in the late 1890s.

The 1901 census does not record any Wilson Lynchs living at Renmore. Mrs Rose Persse and her daughter and son in law Col and Mrs A S Woods were inhabiting the only no 1 private dwelling in Renmore. LE6/B/762 indicates that Renmore House may have been let to the Persses from 1893. In a letter dated 26 March 1924 [LE6/D/285], Thomas Wilson Lynch refers to the sale of Renmore, which then became a TB sanitorium and later the Woodlands centre for disabled persons.

There is a manuscript map in NLI, described in R Hayes 'Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilisation' as follows: 'A map and survey of that part of Renmore in the County and Town of Galway, surrendered to the Governors of the Erasmus Smith's College, by John Wilson Lynch in November 1891, including the adjoining shore, with names of tenants etc.' Ref no 21 F 76 (34). [see also LE6/B/792].

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19/06/2013
10/07/2025