Cong, County Mayo

Cong, situated between Loughs Mask and Carrib, was one of the most important abbeys in the west of Ireland. After the Dissolution it was leased by the Crown to various tenants and finally by James I on a lease expiring in 1724. Charles I granted the reversion to Sir Maurice Eustace as part of his salary as Speaker. He left it to his nephew Sir John Eustace, who mortgaged his rights for £200 while in financial straits in 1681. In 1724 Sir John Eustace’s heiresses tried to obtain possession and eventually won their case in the Irish courts, although repayment of the loan was long overdue and there were serious arrears of interest. This decision was quite rightly reversed by the English House of Lords, with costs amounting to some £2,000. For a modest loan in 1681 they lost this charming old abbey and rents of nearly £1,000 a year, perhaps three-times as much today! Moreover they were so shaken that they feared to press some other far better claims, including that to St. John Priory at Athy (q.v.).

These pages © Ronald Eustice, 2007