Castle Crine

THE BUTLERS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY CLARE, WITH 11,389 ACRES

This family is said to descend from the noble house of BUTLER, VISCOUNTS MOUNTGARRET.

WILLIAM BUTLER, of Rossroe Castle, County Clare, serving as High Sheriff of that county in 1712, left a daughter, Anne, wife of St John Bridgeman (of Woodfield), and two sons, viz.

HENRY, of Rossroe Castle;
THOMAS, of Castle Crine.

The second son,

THOMAS BUTLER, of Castle Crine, was father of 

WILLIAM BUTLER, of Castle Crine, who succeeded to the landed property of his cousin, Henry Butler, of O’Brien’s Castle, in 1791.

He wedded Anne D'Alton and had issue, a son,

JAMES BUTLER, of Castle Crine, who espoused Mary, daughter of Robert Ievers, of Mount Ievers, County Clare; and dying ca 1821, leaving issue.

The eldest son,

HENRY BUTLER JP DL, of Castle Crine, married Anna, daughter of Charles Dawson, of Charlesfort, County Wexford, and died in 1852 (buried at Bunratty), leaving,

JAMES, his heir;
Charles Eyre, 69th Regiment;
Henry, 90th Regiment;
William Dawson;
Deborah.

The eldest son,

JAMES BUTLER JP DL, of Castle Crine, High Sheriff of County Clare, 1851, wedded, in 1852, Sophia, daughter of Major Irvine, and by her (who married secondly, Major Graham), he left at his decease, in 1857, three daughters, of Castle Crine, his co-heiresses,

ANNA FRANCES;
SOPHIA MARY;
HENRIETTA JEMIMA.

The second daughter,

Sophia Mary Butler, married the 5th Lord Clarina, though had no male issue, and on the marriage of her eldest daughter, the Hon Sophia (Zoë) Butler-Massey to the Hon Eric Henderson, the Castle Crine estate was settled upon her, subject to the life interests of her mother and aunts.

Following the decease of Miss Anna Frances Butler in 1938, the last survivor, Mrs Butler-Henderson (who with her husband assumed the surname of BUTLER in addition to that of HENDERSON) succeeded to Castle Crine estate.

Her daughter, Mrs Wordsworth, resided there until 1951, when the estate was sold. 

CASTLE CRINE, near Sixmilebridge, County Clare, was a castellated late-Georgian house, comprising a two-storey block with two curved bows beside each other at one end; one with pointed Gothic windows and a three-storey tower.

Little battlements; corbelled turret on tower.

Castle Crine was demolished in 1955.

First published in November, 2012.