From Minto to Luss: Corkagh 1609-1637
For much of the 17th century, the Colquhoun lairds of Luss possessed a 1,000 acre property in County Donegal, Ireland, the manor known as Corkagh, from the Irish corcach (“marsh”), the same derivation as for the city and county of Cork. Corkagh, one of the original Ulster Plantation grants for the precinct of Portlough, was located in parish Raymoghy (aka Ray) and included the townlands of Labbadish, Carrickballydooey, Roosky, Lisclamerty, Corkey, Tully, and Carricknamart, as well as a place called Gortmore, which I have not been able to locate. To distinguish them in this blog, I will refer to the manor as Corkagh (a more common 17th century spelling) and the townland within it as Corkey (the present-day spelling).
The original grantee of Corkagh was Sir Walter Stewart, son of Sir Matthew Stewart of Minto and Jean Colquhoun. His letter patent of denization of Ireland dated 20 July 1610 states, “Sir Walter Stewart, born in Scotland (together with a grant of the small proportion of Corragh [sic] in the precinct of Portalough, Co. Donegal” (Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland, 1603-1700, in The Publications of the Huguenot Society at London, vol. XVIII. Lymington: William A. Shaw, 1911, p. 17). As an Undertaker, Sir Walter was tasked with populating his Irish lands with English-speaking, Protestant tenants from Scotland and England, as well as developing and fortifying the land against the native Irish. However, based on the first two Plantation surveys, it appears that he never did so.
Carew’s Survey, 1611. “July 29…. Sir Walter Stewart, Knt., Laird of Mynto, 1,000 acres; hath taken possession in person, the summer 1610; returned into Scotland, done nothing.” (J. S. Brewer and William Bullen. Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts Preserved in the Archepiscopal Library at Lambeth. Public Record Office, 1873, reprinted 1974, p. 75.)
Bodley’s Survey, 1613. “1,000 [acres] to Lord Minto … I found not any man to give account of their purposes, but, as I was informed by their neighbour undertakers and others, these parties are as yet wholly unplanted.” (Francis Bickley, ed. Report on the Manuscripts of the Late Reginald Rawdon Hastings, Esq., vol. IV. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1947, p. 170.)
Following the death of his father around 1610 or 1611, Sir Walter succeeded as laird of Minto, so I speculate that he abandoned his Irish property to focus on tending to the affairs of the estate of Minto back in Scotland. At some point thereafter, he sold Corkagh to his uncle, Alexander Colquhoun, 15th/17th of Luss (as confirmed in the 1654 Civil Survey; see below). I have been unable to determine an exact date of this sale, but it must have occurred sometime between 1613 (when Bodley’s survey stated it was in Minto’s possession) and 1617 (when Alexander Colquhoun’s will mentioned “the Ireland landis”). Perhaps to secure proper title to the land, Alexander obtained letter patent of denization of Ireland, issued three days before his death. His son Sir John Colquhoun, 16th/18th of Luss was probably the man made denizen on the same day but inexplicably called “Daniel Colquhoun of Corkie.” (See my previous post for details.)
From the time of Alexander’s death in 1617 to 1630, Corkagh was in the hands of his widow and then his son and heir, Sir John. While the Colquhouns did a better job than their predecessor of developing the property, by 1622 they had only managed to do the bare minimum of what was technically required of Undertakers.
Alleyne’s Survey (“A Muster Roll of all the Undertakers, Servitors, and Natives in the county of Donegal”), 1618. “Barony of Raphoe, 1,000 acres: The Lady of Luce.” [Rev. Charles W. Russell and John P. Prendergast. Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Ireland of the Reign of James I, 1615-1625. London: Longman & Co., 1880, p. 223.)
Pynnar’s Survey, 1619. “The Laird of Luss hath 1,000 acres, called Corgagh. Upon this Plantation there is a Bawne of Clay and Stone, 60 feet square, 10 feet high, with two Flankers, and a poor House within it, which is thatched. I find planted and estated upon this Land, of Brittish Families, [2 freeholders, 3 lessees for years, and 5 cottagers, a total of 10 families and 26 men].” (Rev. George Hill. An Historical Account of the Plantation of Ulster. Belfast: M’Caw, Stevenson & Orr, 1877, p. 512).
Government Commission Survey, 1622. “The proportion of Corgagh, first granted to Sir Walter Stuart, knight, leard of Mintoe, and now held by Sir John Calhoone, l[air]d of Lase, 1,000 acres. Upon this proportion there is a bawn of clay and stone, 72 foot square with 2 round flankers, 12 foot high, part of the bawn being fallen down, within which there is a thatched house wherein a Scottish man dwells. Upon this proportion [there are 1 reputed freeholder, 1 leaseholder for years, 5 reputed leaseholders for years, with a total of 25 British men, 22 of whom are armed].” (Victor Treadwell, ed. The Irish Commission of 1622. Dublin: Irish Manuscripts Commission, 2006, pp. 619-620.)
The 1630 muster roll of the Barony of Raphoe, County Donegal notes 19 men on the property of “Mr. Cahoune, Lard of Luce, undertaker of 1,000 acres.” As I mentioned in the previous post, none of these men were named Calhoun. Many of them were probably the same tenants enumerated in Pynnar’s 1619 survey, still on their original leases. Whether these tenants, who appeared sometime between 1612 and 1619, were planted by the laird of Minto before the sale or by the laird of Luss after the sale is not known. If the former, the absence of Calhouns in 1630 is perhaps not surprising, since Undertakers tended to recruit from their own districts, and Minto was located in Roxburghshire, which as far as I know was not an area of Scotland where many Colquhouns lived.
Also in 1630, perhaps shortly after that muster roll was taken, a Robert Colquhoun was made denizen of Ireland and received a new grant for the same property, “…as an undertaker, of the province of Ulster, of the small proportion of Corkagh, in the precinct of Portlough, barony of Raphoe, and county of Donegal, containing 1,000 acres…. The lands are created into a manor, to be called the manor of Corkagh, with power to create tenures, and hold 400 acres in demesne….” I speculated in an earlier post that this was Robert Colquhoun, later 10th of Camstradden, a close friend and associate of the Luss family. During the period 1630-1633, Sir John Colquhoun, 16th/18th of Luss was under extraordinary financial strain, due in part to his obligation to provide monetarily for ten siblings as per his father’s will and in part to his own overspending and financial mismanagement. Fraser states,
This accounts to some extent for the pecuniary embarrassments of Sir John. The splendid heritages which had been transmitted to him—the constantly accumulating possessions of his ancestors for many generations—were nearly ruined. He borrowed large sums of money from many parties, for the payment of which several of his friends became cautioners.
Fraser vol. 1, p. 249.
Robert of Camstradden may have been one of these friends, and I speculate he may have acquired Corkagh temporarily, as collateral for some debt. Fortunately, the Luss family’s assets were saved through the interventions of John’s more responsible brother, Sir Humphrey Colquhoun of Balvie, and (I again speculate) it might have been Humphrey who restored Corkagh to the Luss family. This restoration must have occurred, if not immediately, by 1637. That year, Humphrey Galbraith purchased the greater part of the manor of Corkagh from Sir John Colquhoun, 16th/18th of Luss for “a valuable consideration” (source: Chancery Bill of 1678; see below). This sale marked the start of more than 40 years of legal wrangling between the Colquhoun and Galbraith families over Corkagh, a battle that, it would appear, the Colquhouns ultimately lost.
The Galbraiths and the Breakup of the Manor
The brothers James, Humphrey, and Robert Galbraith came to Ireland from Scotland in the early days of the Plantation. Humphrey and Robert evidently had been employed as agents or bailiffs by James Spottiswood, the Protestant bishop of Clogher. In 1625-1626, the bishop was involved in a dispute with the Undertaker James Balfour during which Lord Balfour’s son-in-law was fatally stabbed and the Galbraiths were also injured. As a result of subsequent litigation, the bishop was forced to pay the Galbraiths a significant sum of money, which they used to purchase land. (The details can be found in Hill’s footnote 180 on pp. 511-512.) The Galbraiths of Scotland were neighbors, relatives, and perhaps tenants, of the laird of Luss in Dunbartonshire, so it is not surprising that the two families should have been associated in Ireland as well.
(An aside to astute readers of my last post: yes, this is the same Humphrey Galbraith who succeeded Rev. James Colquhoun as rector of Tedavnet, Co. Monaghan and who later became Archdeacon of Clogher. This succession occurred in 1637, the same year that Humphrey purchased part of the Corkagh estate. I sometimes wonder whether Rev. James Colquhoun was a relative or associate of the Luss family and whether he might have brokered an introduction between Humphrey and the laird of Luss that resulted in the land sale discussed below. Just my idle speculation.)
The 1654 Civil Survey of County Donegal describes the state of the manor of Corkagh as follows. (Note the ownership of the townlands of Tully and Carricknamart, part of the original Corkagh grant, as well as the townland of Rosamonil or Durosamount, now called Kincraigy, are not stated, but they may have been included in Sir John’s remaining proportion.)
| Sir John Colchoun, British Protestant | Corky |
| Robert Galbraith, besieger of Derry | Gortmore, Roosky, Lisclamerty, Labbadish, Carrickballydooey |
Sir John Colchoun holds the above proportion of Corky, as we are informed, by Patent first granted to Sir Walter Stewart of Minto and afterwards purchased by the present proprietor’s grandfather Sir Alexr. Colchoun to him and his successors forever. Robert Galbraith, Gent., and his brother Mr. Humphrey claim the Quarter land of Gortmore as executors to their brother James Galbraith who purchased the same as a freehold to him and his successors forever from the proprietor.
1654 Civil Survey, County Donegal, Barony of Raphoe
Based on the above record, by 1654 only the townland of Corkey was still in possession of the laird of Luss, while the townlands of Gortmore, Roosky, Lisclamerty, Labbadish, and Carrickballydooey were all in possession of Robert Galbraith. Gortmore, it states, was purchased from the laird of Luss by James Galbraith at an unspecified date, but as James was deceased by 1654, it had passed to his brothers, Humphrey and Robert. The other townlands of the manor of Corkagh then in the Galbraiths’ possession, according to a Chancery Bill of 1678 (see below), were purchased from Luss, perhaps independently of Gortmore, by Humphrey Galbraith in 1637. As noted above, Sir John Colquhoun, 16th/18th of Luss was frequently in need of money, and his sale of parts of the estate may have been done for the same reason that it was placed in the hands of Robert Colquhoun of Camstradden in 1630. Sir John died in 1649 or 1650, and his eldest son, another Sir John Colquhoun, was served heir, becoming 17th/19th of Luss. The younger Sir John apparently set about to reclaim for his family the parts of the estate that his father had sold off. Hill’s notes on Pynnar’s Survey of 1619 state,
In 1662, Humphrey and Robert Galbraith held nearly all [of Corkagh’s] lands in fee, having purchased from Sir John Colquhoun, the laird of Luss. His son, Sir John Calhowne, purchased back this property on the 1st of May 1664, consisting of the quarter called Corkagh, the quarter of Lebindish, the quarter of Lesglamerty, the quarter of Ruskey, the quarter of Gortmore, and the towns and lands of Carrickballydowy al’ Carrickballyduffe—in all, 700 acres. (See Inquisitions of Ulster, Donegal, (3) Car. II.) The Two Galbraiths above named were probably connexions of the Colquhouns.
Hill, p. 511.
The Galbraiths evidently disputed that this 1664 purchase occurred, or at least that they never received the agreed-to sum of money. By 1678, all three of the Galbraith brothers were dead, but Humphrey’s heirs accused the Colquhouns of having kept possession of the property by force. Details were described in a Chancery Court Bill dated 9 Nov 1678, which “shows that in the year 1637 Humphrey Galbraith bought the Manor of Corkagh in County Donegal from Sir John Colquhoun for a ‘valuable consideration’” (Charlotte Violet Trench. The Wrays of Donegal. Oxford: University Press, 1945, p. 89). The continuation of the bill is transcribed by the same source as follows.
In consideration of sd marriage and Isabell’s marriage portion of £300 Humphrey Galbraith by deed dated in the year 1639 did settle an annuity of £60 to be paid out of the Manor of Corkagh and did settle said Manor on heirs male of said marriage with remainder over to heirs female, and said Deed was lost or destroyed in the late horrid rebellion [of 1641] … that the said Marriage Settlement [of Humphrey Galbraith] and other deeds relating to the premises came into the hands of James Colquhoune, one of the sons of Sir John Colquhoune, who is in actual possession of the Manor of Corkagh ….
That Humphrey Galbraith not having been able to recover the calamities of the late horrid rebellion and having been a constant and loyal subject of His Majesty…, John Colquhoune of Luss in Scotland … and James Colquhoune brother of said John, easily forced in possession of the Manor of Corkagh … Humphrey Galbraith having died before the Restoration without issue male, leaving plaintiffs Lettice, Marianna and Angell infants of tender years, his daughters and coheirs to whom the Manor did descend and come begotten by Isabell Galbraith als Gore, his wife.
That Sir John Colquhoune and John his son are both dead.
That plaintiffs being orphans and of tender years at the death of their father Humphrey Galbraith and not capable to be sensible of their fathers interest in the Manor of Corkagh and continued ignorant thereof till of late….
That James Colquhoune being demanded by plaintiffs for possession of the Manor of Corkagh doth refuse to surrender same…. Plaintiffs pray writ against said James Colquhoune.
Trench, pp. 89-90.
Perhaps the Luss family’s thinking was that even if their claimed re-purchase of the estate was in legal dispute, possession is nine-tenths of the law. Unfortunately for the Colquhouns, the courts are the remaining one-tenth of the law, and what they say goes. The legal record states, “Writ granted against James Colquhoune 9 Nov 1678.”
Presumably, James and his family were then forced to cede the majority of the original Manor of Corkagh to the plaintiffs, namely the three daughters of Humphrey Galbraith: Lettice (wife of Michael Sampson, Esq.), Marianna (wife of Rev. John Leslie, D.D., Rector of Urney), and Angell Galbraith (spinster). This left the Colquhouns with, as best I can tell, two remaining townlands: the eponymous Corkey, and the neighboring Rosamonil (aka Durosamount).
To be continued!
*****
Thanks to Matthew Gilbert for help with the 1622 plantation survey, thanks again to John Grenham for the use of the map from his website, and once again, special thanks to Paul Calhoun for critical reading of this post and helpful edits.
*****
© 2024 Brian Anton. All rights reserved.
*****
Genealogy of the Calhoun Family 
Again, thank you for making your wonderful research available in this way, Anton.
LikeLiked by 1 person