| 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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