Deanagh Mills Tradesman’s Note

This establishment was never registered as a ‘bank’ per se and, as a result, its notes are listed as a Tradesman Issue in the Paper Money of Ireland catalogue. That said, their banknotes were produced to a high standard and the surviving banknotes (usually un-issued) are of good quality and usually found in the higher grades.

In Slater’s National Commercial Directory of Ireland of 1846, the proprietor is listed as one Christopher Gallwey and, back in 1800, we can see his name in scrolling text on the left-hand side of his note. He appears to have been the owner of the mill but, nore importantly, he was a land agent for Lord Kenmare and, as such, Gallwey would have been trusted to ‘honour’ his paper.

One Pound, Two Shillings & Ninepence (One Guinea)

• Killarney, Deenagh Mills, unissued 1 Guinea £1, Two Shillings and Ninepence,
  • Thought to have been issued c. 1804
  • Embossed seal at top right, pinholes along counterfoil
  • The name “Christopher Gallwey” engraved (vertically, bottom to top) on the left-hand side

Deanagh Mills

Not a lot is known about Deanagh Mills, except that it was a corn mill on the Deanagh River, operated by Christopher Gallwey from 1781 to 1861, (Blake & Callaway page 85).

More is known about the proprietor:

Christopher Gallwey

• In the 1830s, Christopher Gallway is mentioned as agent to Lord Kenmare in the Ordnance Survey Name Books. He is recorded as the proprietor of several large business concerns in and around Killarney at the time of Griffith’s Valuation.
  • Royal Victoria Hotel
    • Christopher Gallway was leasing this property to Thomas Finn at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £65. This appears to be the Royal Victoria Hotel.
    • In the early 1940s the Irish Tourist Association Survey noted that the Victoria Hotel “once the finest hotel in the district” had been converted into a farmhouse “about 130 years” and that there was an expectation that it was to be converted into a golf clubhouse.
    • The site is now occupied by the Castlerosse Hotel, opened in 1960
  • Ballymalis
    • Christopher Gallway was leasing a property from John Sealy, which included a mill, at Ballymalis at the time of Griffith’s valuation. It was then valued at £34.
    • It is labelled “paper mill” on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map and as “woollen mill” on the 25-inch edition of the 1890s. An extensive range of buildings still exists at the site.
  • Killarney Mills
    • Christopher Gallway was leasing an extensive milling concern from the Kenmare estate at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. It was then valued at £85.
      • Lewis refers to “the extensive flour-mills of Messers Galway and Leahy, worked by the river Dinagh” in 1837.
      • Lyons notes that the mill complex was sold in the Encumbered Estates Court in 1855 and purchased by Richard Leahy for £1,500.
        • The Freeman’s Journal, however, reported that it was purchased in trust by Mr. McGrath for £1,500.

        • 

          Deanough Mills (Encumbered Estates Court Sale Notice)

      • It was taken over by the Electricity Supply Board in 1940.
      • The mills are no longer extant.
  • Torc View (Torc View Hotel)
    • Jeremiah Hurley was leasing a hotel valued at £40 from the Gallway estate at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. This was the Torc View Hotel. Horgan states that the building was later purchased by the Loreto Sisters and opened as a boarding school.
      • It is labelled Loreto Convent on the 25-inch map of the 1890s.
      • The site is now occupied by town houses.
  • Cloonlara
    • Christopher Gallway was leasing this property to William Hickson at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £7 5s.
      • A farm is still extant at the site.
  • Inchinveema
    • Christopher Gallway was leasing this property to Daniel Sullivan at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £6.
      • Buildings are still extant at the site.
  • Gallwey was also one of the principal lessors of property in the parish of Molahiffe, barony of Magunihy, at the same time.

Lucy Gallwey

In Muckross Abbey, there is a stone monument to Lucy Gallwey – so generally esteemed that the inhabitants of Killarney erected the memorial.

“Wife of Christopher Gallwey of Killarney, Esq. This monument was erected By the inhabitants of Killarney and its neighbourhood to testify The deep sense of those amongst whom she lived And the Exemplary fidelity With which she discharged the relative duties of wife mother and friend as well as to perpetuate the recollections of the many benefits she conferred upon society and to hold up to the emulations of posterity her active useful yet unostentatious exercise of the most ardent charity directed by a singularly sound and well regulated understanding.”

Archival Sources:

• Kerry Library, Local History & Archives Section : Irish Tourist Association Survey files, 1942-43: Parish of Fossa.
• National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Gallwey, 1 May 1855, Vol 34, MRGS 39/016, (microfilm copy in NUIG)

Contemporary Printed Sources:

Many of these resources are now available online.

• GRIFFITH’S VALUATION OF IRELAND'[Primary Valuation of Tenements]’, 1850-1858. : Magunihy Barony: 10 (Knockreer/Royal Victoria Hotel), 25 (Ballymalis), 95 (Killarney Flour Mills), 124 (Torc Hotel), 141 (Cloonlara)
• HUSSEY DE BURGH, U. H. The Landowners of Ireland. An alphabetical list of the owners of estates of 500 acres or £500 valuation and upwards in Ireland. Dublin: Hodges, Foster and Figgis, 1878. [available online at www.askaboutireland.ie] : 174
• LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: Vol.I, 14 (Aghadoe Parish)
• ORDNANCE SURVEY NAME BOOKS County Kerry: Vol.I, Aglish Parish,76. Vol.II, Currans Parish, 54.
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties …. in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 142

 

 

Modern printed sources:

• Freeman’s Journal: Incumbered Estates Court sale reports, 2 May 1855, p.4.
• Jnl. of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society.: BLACKALL, Sir Henry. The Galweys of Munster. [Killarney, Mallow, Youghal branches]. 2nd Series, LXXIV (1969), 71-83
• BLACKALL, Henry. The Galweys and Gallweys of Munster. Cork: Cork Historical & Archaeological Society, 1970. : All
• GALLWEY, Timothy & GALWEY, Andrew. The Galweys and Gallweys of Munster. Revised ed. 2015. Available at https://internetarchive.org. : All
• LYONS, Mary C. Illustrated Incumbered Estates, Ireland, 1850-1905. Whitegate, county Clare: Ballinakella Press, 1993. : 134-136.
• MONTGOMERY-MASSINGBERD, Hugh (ed). Burke’s Irish Family Records. London: Burke’s Peerage, 1976: 463-464.
• O’BRIEN, Pat. “The story of the Royal Victoria Hotel” in Larner, Jim (ed). Fossa and Aghadoe: our history and heritage. Killarney: Fossa Historical Society, 2007. : 97-104
• ROSNEY, Michael. “Tourism and Fossa” in Larner, Jim (ed). Fossa and Aghadoe: our history and heritage. Killarney: Fossa Historical Society, 2007.: 105-113

Other Sources:

• Historical records and family trees related to Christopher Gallwey.