The Ponsonby family were members of the landed gentry. This branch of the Ponsonby family was descended from John Ponsonby (1713-1787) speaker of the House of Commons in the Irish Parliament and second son of Brabazon Ponsonby, 2nd Viscount Duncannon and 1st Earl of Bessborough.

The Ponsonby estate was located between Killeagh and Youghal, in the barony of Imokilly in east Cork. During the mid-nineteenth century, the estate was located across the civil parishes of Ardagh, Clonpriest, Kilmacdonogh, Killeagh and Youghal. Charles William Talbot-Ponsonby (1843-1927) inherited the estate in 1866. According to the book ‘The landowners of Ireland: an alphabetical list of the owners of estates of 500 acres or 500 pounds valuation and upwards in Ireland with the acerage and valuation in each county’ by U.H. Hussey De Burgh, the estate consisted of 10,367 acres and was valued at £6,768 in the 1870s. The Ponsonby estate at this time included Park House, Burges House, Inchiquin House, Knockmonalea House and Ballykinealy.

While the exact date of this map is unknown, it is thought to date from the late 1860s/early 1870s and shows the part of the estate near the town of Youghal.