This collection comprises printed and manuscript materials primarily relating to county Tipperary collected by Timothy Looney and research material assembled and generated by him for local history lectures and walking tours. The most notable element of the collection is the substantial quantity of estate papers relating to Shanbally Castle, Clogheen, county Tipperary, built for Cornelius O’Callaghan, 1st Viscount Lismore in c. 1810. The building was demolished in stages by the Land Commission between 1957 and 1960, during which time the bulk of the family papers were destroyed. The papers salvaged by Timothy Looney (for which see sub-series P43/1/1) include a near complete set of rentals from the early eighteenth to the late nineteenth century, a number of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century account books, extensive estate correspondence from the early nineteenth to the mid twentieth century, and a range of townland map surveys from 1715 to 1898 primarily for counties Cork and Tipperary. Clogheen Fever Hospital records (sub-series P43/1/1/2/3) and the 1821 census records of Clogheen (P43/1/6/2) are also worth noting, as is the unusually large set of correspondence between Viscount Lismore’s tenants in counties Cork and Tipperary and his agent William Rochfort from the turn of the twentieth century (sub-series P43/1/1/5/1/3/1-2). The Looney collection further contains a quantity of estate papers from Castle Hyde and Doneraile Court in county Cork, and Castle Otway in county Tipperary.
Looney, Timothy (Tim) (1914-1990), local historianThis collection contains material created and received by the Carrol, Angus and Scott families, particularly during their ownership and residence of Tulla and Lissenhall but also beyond. It includes legal, administrative and personal documents. There is a small amount of late eighteenth century material, the more interesting of which is a map from 1798 of the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, though the bulk of the documents are from the nineteenth century. Legal documents include wills and issues of probate and executorship, affidavits, judgments, opinions and correspondence covering financial and trustee arrangements. They also include a large quantity of correspondence related to land sales and transfers, such as agreements, ejectment decrees and indentures, much of which arise from William Hutchison’s efforts to bring estate matters into order. Of particular interest is a return of debts due by the late Lieutenant General Sir William Parker Carrol and paid by his executors which lists many Limerick and Tipperary businesses from the period. Later documents, particularly relating to a legal struggle between the Carrol’s and Lloyds Insurance regarding claims for losses due to the theft of livestock and equipment during the 1920s, are also illuminating.
The Carrol family’s direct involvement with the Tulla and Lissenhall Estates has resulted in the collection containing some rental accounts which provide the names of tenants, acreage and their rentals and also estate accounts which includes the names of local individuals and businesses having commercial interaction with the Carrol estate. Other estate material involves correspondence regarding day to day estate management and operations but worthy of note is a print of the Encumbered Estates auction schedule which includes a description of Lot 1, Lissenhall, its tenants and rents at the time of William Hutchison Carrol’s purchase, and also Alice Carrol’s interactions with the Land Commission leading up to her vacating Lissenhall.
Personal material includes a great deal of personal correspondence and letters from family members much of which is concerned with family genealogy and includes printed and transcribed material from third party sources. Correspondence from institutions with regard to personal finances, stocks and taxation issues is also present. There is a significant quantity of photographs, both in albums and loose covering most of the principal individuals dating from the 1860s to the 1990s. Also present is a large scrapbook. The result of a familial connection to the Scott’s and compiled over nearly fifty years from 1895 to 1944, it contains copious material on Clement Scott and also the Du Maurier family, including photographs of Gerald Du Maurier and the young Daphne with her siblings.