Browne estate placed on the property market
March 20 1996
Tom Kelly Reports
The old Rahins Estate in Castlebar has been put up for sale by private treaty. Mr. Frank Durcan, Chapel Street, Castlebar, has been appointed auctioneer for the sale.
The property consists of a large, derelict Georgian residence and extensive farmyard. A three-bedroom Gate lodge, which has been completely refurbished to a high standard, is included in the sale.The estate was the ancestral home of the eminent Browne family up to the early 1920s. Tradition has it that Cromwell gave the property to one of his officers who subsequently gave it to anybody who would give him a horse to take him back to Athlone.
A soldier named Browne gave him an old white horse and received the estate in return.
Dodwell Browne, an ancestor of the Browne's of Breaghwy and Lord Sligo, Westport , owned the estate in 1800 when Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. He married Maria O'Donnell, a Catholic, from Newport at the beginning of the 19th century.
She fell ill some time later and was ordered to Dublin for treatment. But she died shortly after her arrival in Dublin. The Brownes erected a cenotaph on the estate in her honour in 1809. An epitaph was inscribed on the monument with the words: 'To Gaiety and Innocence'. The cenotaph is 80 feet high and still stands today.
Judge James Browne was the head of the estate in the early 1900s when the house and gardens were majestically maintained. Judge Browne's sister, Mrs. Wright, also lived on the estate, as well as his wife and sons, Master O'Donnell, Master Kettle and Master Dodwell. The estate was once visited by John Wesley, the famous preacher. The Browne family are still fondly remembered in Castlebar.
According to Mr. Durcan, auctioneer, the property is an ideal site for an up market residential housing development.
The property is situated a mile from Castlebar along the main Castlebar to
Newport road, and was used as the location for two major rock festivals in
the early eighties.
Connaught Telegraph - News - Mar 1996
Connaught Telegraph - Sports - Mar 1996
