The MacPhillips Family

John Rooney

A Genealogical History of Irish Families

1895

MacPhillips family crest

(Crest No. 26. Plate 68.)

THE MacPhillips family is of Norman origin, being a branch of the Burkes who took the name of MacPhillip from the founder of the family, Philip de Burgo. They possessed large estates in the barony of Costello, in the present County of Mayo, their principal seat being at Cloonmore. They had also a castle at Doon, a short distance east of Westport, in the same county. Another branch of this family settled in the County of Monaghan.

The McPhillips contributed many eminent men to the Irish hierarchy, among whom may be mentioned the Rev. Thomas McPhillip, formerly of Cleenish, Diocese of Clogher. He was educated in France, and was a man of varied learning and profound erudition. His brother, William McPhillips, was a man of much influence in his locality and exercised it on many occasions for the benefit of the people. He was gifted with great mechanical ingenuity, and had he a larger sphere of action would have left an enduring mark.

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