Henry Blake returned from Montserrat in 1676 and according to Martin J. Blake bought the Lehinch estate at Hollymount, county Mayo, about 600 acres, from the patentee John Porter and the Renvyle estate, county Galway from Richard Nugent, Earl of Westmeath in 1680. In 1780 the estates passed to a cousin Valentine Blake of Mullaghmore and Windfield, county Galway, whose son Henry Blake of Renvyle sold part of his Lehinch estate, including his house, to Thomas Lindsey of Hollymount circa 1812 and the rest of the estate was bought by the 2nd Marquess of Sligo in 1818.
The Lehinch estate was in the parishes of Kilcommon, barony of Kilmaine and parish of Tagheen, barony of Clanmorris. The Renvyle estate of nearly 13,000 acres in the parish of Ballynakill, barony of Ballynahinch, county Galway, was visited by Henry Blake for the first time in 1811. He refused to renew the O'Flaherty's lease of the property and took up residence there in the early 1820s. His descendents continued to live at Renvyle until the early 20th century. A large portion of the estate was sold in the early 1850s.
Mrs Caroline Johanna Blake of Renvyle, widow of Edgard Henry Blake (her cousin) owned an estate of 4,682 acres in the 1870s. She opend Renvyle House an an hotel in September 1883. She is thought to have died in Renvyle House prior to 1916.
The author Oliver St John Gogarty bought the house and about 200 acres from her heirs in 1917 and entertained many well known artists and literary figures there. The house was burned to the ground in 1923 by Gogarty's political enemies. Rebuilt, Renvyle House was opened by the Gogartys as an hotel in 1930, which was largely run by Gogarty's wife, Martha Mary (1876-1958) as known as Neenie. They sold the House in 1952.
From http://www.landedestates.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/search.jsp?q=blake
Archival History ↴
Donation to Galway County Council Archives
Immediate Source Acquisition ↴
Donation
Content & Structure
Scope & Content: Solicitors to Blakes of Renvyle ↴
Bundle of documents primarily containing copy of wills, such as that of Dr Henry Edgar Valentine Blake (d.1910) and that of his son Edgar Valentine Myles Blake (d.1959), income tax and mortgage interest receipts and copies of a Deed of Surrender of Tully Coast Guard Station (1966).
Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention
Arrangement ↴
Chronological
Conditions of Access & Use
Access Conditions
Available by appointment. Unrestricted access. The material in this collection is available to all bona fide researchers by appointment only, and subject to the conditions of access governing the consultation of archival material at Galway County Council Archives.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No material may be reproduced from this collection without the written permission of the archivist, and reproductions are subject to the conditions of access.
