History

Fota Island, 316 hectares in area, and approximately 12 km east of Cork City, was formerly the property of the Smith-Barry family who were descended from Philip de Barri. Following the Norman invasion, Philip received large grants of lands in South Cork from Henry II in 1177, and by 1206, a royal charter confirmed the existence of a manor at Barryscourt. The original family seat of the Barrys at Barryscourt castle, a 15th century fortified tower, stands 3km to the North East of Fota.

The lands granted to de Barri extended East to Castlelyons, where the Barrys subsequently built a Catholic abbey and a Barry Mausoleum, and north to Buttevant where they built a monastery for the Fransciscans. The name Buttevant derives from the Barry family motto: "Boutez en avant", which roughly translates as "advance boldly". In 1627 the title Earl of Barrymore was bestowed on David Barry and the Barry family continued to hold this title until the 20th century. In 1746 John Barry married a wealthy American heiress (Dorothy Smith) beginning the Smith-Barry line. 1925 the last male Smith-Barry, Sir Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry died and Fota Estate passed to his daughter Dorothy. Dorothy married a Major Bell, and they in turn, had three daughters.

Upon the death of Mrs. Bell in 1975, Fota Estate was put on the market. Local farmers made a valiant attempt to have the land divided for themselves by the land commission. However, University College Cork intervened, at the behest of Prof. Tom Raftery, and purchased the whole estate for the modest sum of £400,000. In 1988 UCC sold part of the estate due to government cutbacks in funding.

Fota Island Golf Club, which hosted the Murphy's Irish Open in 2001 and 2002, was developed on the land UCC sold.

In 1990 47 hectares of land including parkland, gardens, arboretum, Fota house and courtyard were leased to Fota Trust Company Ltd. and the gardens and arboretum were transferred into state care in 1996. Prior to the purchase of Fota by UCC, the estate was private property to which the public had no access. Following two years of extensive work to the arboretum UCC opened the gardens to the general public in 1977 and they have remained open for 363 days a year ever since.

In 1980 Prof. Raftery, then vice-president of UCC, persuaded the Zoological Society of Ireland (Dublin Zoo) to join with UCC in establishing a wildlife park in Fota. UCC leased roughly 30 hectares and Fota Wildlife Park was established and officially opened by President Hilary in 1983. The wildlife park is now attracting in excess of 300,000 visitors per year.

In December 2007, the Irish Heritage Trust took over responsibility for Fota House.