Collection Ref.: IE BL/LH/V
Title: The Vickery Collection
Dates: 1770 - [2006]
Level of description: Item
Extent: 2 boxes
Administrative History:
The Vickery Collection was donated to UCC Library Archives by the Vickery Family, Bantry in 2007.
Biographical History:
The collection mainly documents the Vickery Family in Bantry, Co Cork from c.1770 – 1998. The family are best known as the owners of the Vickery Inn or Vickery’s Hotel in Bantry. The Hotel opened in 1850. It was re-registered with Bord Fáilte as a guest house in 1977 and re-named as Vickery’s Inn. It closed in 2006.
Content:
The Collection consists mainly of legal documents, e.g. leases for properties or plots of ground in the town of Bantry and in the townland of Rooska/Rusky/Rooskeigh in the Parish of Durrus, Co Cork. The Vickery’s leased these land from the Earl of Bantry.
The Collection divides naturally into three parts. Section A is concerned with the Vickery family and is broadly arranged in chronological order according to individuals. John Vickery (the Elder) is the earliest individual and thus items relating to him are at the beginning of the listing. His son James follows, and so on. John Vickery had a large family and the collection contains material relating his son James, his heirs Thomas and Richard, and their heirs. There is an accompanying Family Tree to the Collection that may be helpful to the overall understanding of the Vickery family.
Section B contains information on individuals or families who were either related to the Vickery family or were living or owned properties in Bantry town. Some of these properties may have passed to the Vickery family thus explaining why they came to be in the Collection.
Section C contains two Bantry town maps which are not naturally ascribed to any of the previous documentation so are given a separate entry.
There is a small collection of documents (A.1.3) which relates to a John and Richard Vickery from about 1836 - 38. I am not exactly certain of the correct identity of both but I think John may be John, the Tide waiter who went to London in about 1828 and Richard may be the Richard who was a Merchant in Bantry and had a grocery and general hardware shop.
The Vickery Collection very much compliments the Bantry Estate Collection. Several members of the Vickery Family including John Vickery ([1716] – 1796) James Vickery, (1760 -1843) Thomas Vickery (1808 - 1883) and George John Vickery (1862-1918) are also mentioned in the Bantry Estate papers. Many of the leases mentioned in the Vickery papers can be traced back to the original owners or leasors of properties being the Earls of Bantry. The same can also be said of the documents in Section B. relating to Associated Families as some of these, such as the Lannins and Jenkins, are referenced in both collections.
The Vickery Collection is a valuable source of information for researches in Local History and genealogy in the Bantry area of West Cork. The leases provide information on townlands and streets in the town of Bantry and surrounding areas. These document the tenants and occupiers of lands, houses or business premises. This can all help to identify people and families placing them at a location and providing information about their occupations at a specific date.
Sample of Vickery's Hotel letterhead (BL/LH/V/52)
