Coolcronan, Foxford, County Mayo, has long been an important location because of the wonderful River Moy which meanders through it from south to north on its way to the sea at Enniscrone, Co Sligo. A distance of 12 miles (by road).

In 1641 the proprietor was a William Oge McAndrew at the pleasure of Lord Collooney. The McAndrew family of which little has so far been uncovered, owned a great amount of land in the surrounding parish. By 1838 the proprietor was the Earl of Limerick (Edmond Henry Perry). Viscount Limerick and Baron Glentworth in the peerage of Ireland, Baron Foxford of Stackpoole Court, County Clare, in the peerage of the United Kingdom.

A nephew of the Earl of Limerick who was named after him, Edmond H Perry, married Sarah Jane Knox Gore. (The sister of Sir Arthur Knox Gore of Belleek Manor, Ballina.)

Sir Arthur would appear to have been descended from a family who is reputed to have been given large tracts of land and Moyne Abbey on the banks of the Moy north of Ballina by Oliver Cromwell.

Sir Arthur owned much of Ballina and its surrounding townslands. He was very active in the industrial, commercial and political front in Ballina and a street in the town was named after him. He built Belleek Manor in 1860.

By the time his sister, Sarah Jane, got married, Coolcronan was in the possession of Sir Arthur. He made available Rinnegry House to the young couple while a large house was to be built for them across the river from Coolcronan in Carrowkerribly.

Indeed, woodlands had long since been established on that side of the river in readiness for the new mansion. The young bridegroom however was not interested in his father-in-law's plans. He had chosen the east side of the river because the land was higher up and did not flood like it did on the Coolcronan side of the river.

Researched by Mary Faughnan, Coolcronan.