The predecessor of the Cork Archives acquired the papers of the former firm of Wheeler Doherty, Bandon, Solicitors and Land Agents to the estate of the Earl of Bandon in 1971. It is an enormous collection and part was recently archived the inventory runs to over 70 pages.
The Bandon Estate was somewhat unusual insofar as it was not acquired by conquest but on the earnings of Francis Bernard as a barrister in Dublin in the early 18th century and added to later by judicious marriages and purchase.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bernard_(lawyer)
Reading the inventory it is possible to look at the estate as a commercial concern, the rents paid by the tenants supported a large organization employing many in Bandon in Castle Bernard. At its height the estate ran to over 40,000 acres mainly in Co. Cork but in Dublin and other parts of the country. It was managed professionally from…
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