Small Sources No. 80: This is a list of 95 tenants of the Domvile Estates in Santry (58 tenants) and Templeoge (37) in Co. Dublin in the period 1769-1775. It is in a folder entitled ‘Rentals of the Domvile estates in Counties Dublin and Meath, 1769-1775; 1713-1728‘ which is among the Domvile papers in the National Library of Ireland (Mss. 11,766). Rentals are the account-books used by an estate agent to manage the affairs of their tenants. Although primarily business accounts, they can provide valuable family information.
Rental records are variable in format as there is no prescribed format and each agent or landlord has devised a system to suit their own needs. However, the surviving Domvile papers are in a particularly unusual format. They comprise a large collection of 100+ separate rentals, valuations and other property-related documents that have been pasted into a single large ledger to form a ‘scrap-book’ of rental material. Although the index (shown in Fig 1) is one of these documents, it is not possible to determine to which of the rentals the index refers. All we can say is that the tenants named in the index occur in one or more of the rentals for the dates specified above, with some variation by year as might be expected.
Apart from the index, the further information available on each tenant (see Fig 2) is a basic description of their holding (headed ‘Denominations’), the tenant name; dates when rent is due; yearly rents and fees; receipts; and observations. The latter three columns are on a separate page within the estate papers and not shown in Fig. 2. A full description of rentals and the useful family information they can provide is in our blog “Rentals as a resource for Irish family history” which is available here.
The Domvile or Domville family had two estates (and residences) in Dublin county: one was Templeogue House, (spelled Templeoge in this record) to the West of Dublin and the other was Santry Court, to the north of the city. The family left the Templeogue house in 1780 and moved to the Santry residence. Some of the servant’s records for these housholds is in a separate blog entitled ‘Servants of Domville Households in Dublin from 1768-95‘.
The specific location of the holdings within townlands in the Santry and Templeoge estates is provided in the rentals, although the spellings of these townlands are often not the currently accepted forms.
The papers refer to the area as the ‘Santry estate’ bu this is not a geographical division. Although there is a Civil Parish called Santry in north county Dublin (comprising almost 7 square miles), many of the properties listed are in North or central Dublin but not within this parish. These include the townlands Cabragh, Pickardstown and Tubberbonny (now Toberbunny) listed in Fig 2. Similarly, the Templeoge estate has properties not within the immediate area of Templeoge. It may be that these terms are used to indicate the location of the management of the respective estates.
The names in the rental are an interesting mix of commoner and gentry including the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the Lord Chancellor. 
Less common names among them are Onge, Kelso, Sanky, Plessey, Campleson and Leland. Further information on some of the families listed may be included in our publication ‘Sources for Irish Family History 2021‘ which lists books and articles on over 2,500 Irish families. Note also that name variants are common at this period.
The images below are created by Ancestor Network and are presented by courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. Ancestor Network publish a ‘Guide to Tracing your Dublin Ancestors‘, a comprehensive aid to genealogical research in the city and county – see cover below. Ancestor Network will also offer 1 free hour of research by a professional genealogist to conduct further research on these individuals or others in these estate papers. Click here and quote ‘Dublin SS80’ in the subject line.
The tenants of the Santry and Templeogue holdings are listed below. A brief search was conducted for some of the tenants with rarer names and the results of this are also reported where relevant. Note that first names are abbreviated, but are generally easily interpreted (e.g. Patk. = Patrick, Willm = William, Jno = John etc).
Santry
Allin, Geo
Arthur, Bess / Ben ?
Andrews, Patk.
Brackin, Thos.
Boyne, Andw.
Bayly, Thos.
Byrne, Revd. Randolph
Berrill, Laurence
Crean, Nicholas
Connolly, Jno.
Croker, Edwd. Heirs
Coughlin, Chs.?
Cavanagh, Wm.
Cavanagh, Ant.
Coughlan, Widow
Corbally, Christ.
Carberry, James
Cook, Rich.
Clinch, Jno.
Crilly, Edwd.
Chancellor (Lord)
Cavanagh, Anty.
Clark, Precs.
Doran, Thos.
Dillon, Henry,
Divin, Christr.
Ellis, Rt Hon. Welb. ? (Possibly Welbore Ellis)
Ellis, Mrs.
Fairbrother, Wm
Foster, Geo. Tuff?
French, Ald. (Alderman)
Garden, Wm.
Gorden & Walker
Hendrick, Edwd. heirs
Hamilton, Robt.
Jackson, Henry’s heirs
Jackson, Revd. James
Knox, Jno. Esq.
Kelso, Jno.
Lyndon, Wm.
Merryman, –
Mitchel, Thos.
Mecum, Jas. (James Mecum, Flax draper is witness to a lease in 1768)
Moore, Fras.
Meredyth, Exors. (executors)
Meredyth, Henry
Moore, Mr?
Mitchell, Hugh
Mitchell, Henry
Meredyth, Mr.? by Mr. Trake
Pecher (Pechell?), Saml. Esq.
Sanky, Jno.
Snow, Mary
Sweeny, Michl.
Taylor, Thos.
Wilson, Alex,
Ward, John’s heirs
Yeates, Willm.
Templeoge (usually spelled Templeogue)
Aughmuty, Town J. (probably Towneley Aughmuty)
Byrne, James
Bayly, …sd.
Burnett, Thos.
Coates, Hosea
Conway, Genl.
Connolly, Jno.
Campleson, Jno. (very rare – generally spelled Camplisson)
Casey, James
Dean of St. Patrick’s
French, Alderm.
Howard, Ralph.
Hillsborough, Lord
Houstan, Jno.
Henan, Thos.
Leland, Richd.
Lord Mayor
Lawless, Jno.
Litton, Thos.
McMahon, Jno.
Mahon, Tim
Massey, Thos.
Murphy, Robt.
Onge, Capt. (Probably Capt. Abel Onge)
Place, Geo.
Plessey, Widow
Proud, Nichs.
Paine, Thos.
Rankin, Jas.
Reed, Laurence
Reed, Howard
Sleator, Ann
St, Patrick’s, Dean of
Underwood, Richd.
Walsh, Sophia
Ward, Elizth
Willson, Councillor Hugh
The images were created by Ancestor Network and are reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. Ancestor Network conducts research on all Irish family history sources and archives. If you need help in following up on anything related to this source, or any other Irish research, you can outline your requirements here and we will let you know what we might be able to do for you.
Further articles in our series on Irish Family History sources include:
- Petty Sessions– the records of local courts
- Catholic Church records
- Grand Jury Presentments – records of local councils on payments for public works and staff
- Rentals – management of tenants by estates and the records created
- Middle names – the use (or non-use) of second or middle names in Irish records
- How comprehensive are Irish Civil Records?
- Census returns in Gaelic or Irish language
- 70+ blogs with names extracted from manuscript sources from many counties. A handy map index to these is available here.
Dublin Sources
