Robert Ffrench (No
connection to Percy the Songwriter) set up an estate
here in the mid 18th Century, he was a member of one of
the 14 tribes of Galway. He developed a linen industry on the estate
and built the village of Monivea.
By 1779 there were 276 houses with 96 looms
and 370 spinning wheels. East of the village is a mausoleum built
to the last Ffrench Robert Percy by his only child Kathleen.
The monument which today would cost in excess
of one million pounds. It is built in the form of a castle with
a funerary chapel vaulted in white granite, with a floor of white
gray and pink marble. The stained glass windows have elaborate floral
designs around coats of arms.
On a bed on the floor lies the bearded figure
of Robert Percy Ffrench carved in white Italian marble. Kathleen
died while traveling in China, she is buried beside her father.
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