Newtown Limavady conformed to a more typical seventeenth-century pattern. It had 13 electors - a provost and 12 burgesses - and, unlike many plantation formations, it grew: it had an estimated population of 27,000 in 1783. William Conolly (0460) probably bought the borough with the Manor of Limavady in 1697. After his death in 1729 it had three successive patrons: the Earl of Conyngham, on whose death it devolved on Thomas Conolly (0459), who disposed of it to Lord Londonderry (2008) about 1792. By 1790 it was stated that:
The Rt Hon. Thomas Conolly, Member of Parliament for the County, is sole proprietor of this close Borough, the electors of which consist of the Burgesses only, who are fixed in their stations by the appointment of Mr Conolly whose pleasure is of course decisive in their choice of its representatives. His fortune and his principles equally concur in preventing it to be exposed to sale but two of his friends are always elected for it, who generally co-operate with him in the House of Commons.243
In 1800 the £15,000 compensation was awarded to Robert, Earl of Londonderry.
