Though Magill is no more today, the magazine was hugely important in its day and remains a very useful tool for those researching the Ireland of the past.

Founded by Vincent Browne in 1977, the magazine included frequent contributions from some of Ireland’s most relevant journalists, including Eamonn McCann and Gene Kerrigan. It also included the photography of Derek Spiers, who captured great images of social movements in the Dublin of the 1970s and 80s. The magazine frequently found itself making headlines in other publications. A 1982 edition, exposing criminal activity on the part of the Official IRA, caused serious headaches for Sinn Féin The Workers’ Party (SFWP), while the magazine also interviewed many controversial individuals, including Provisional IRA spokesmen and criminal elements.

Today, the archive of the magazine is online and free to browse, thanks to the people at politico.ie, and it’s something I want to highlight here. From

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Reenydonagan,+Co.+Cork/@51.7093811,-9.4486432,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x48450b99e737ec9d:0xc95402708f3b2e25

The Hollow Blade Company (they had funded Parliament’s 1680s campaign against the English King and these lands were part of their reward)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Sword_Blade_Company

Pre Hollow Blade tenure

http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/9809/eppi_pages/214817
http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/documents/9809/eppi_pages/214820

was originally set up to manufacture swords in the 1690s but shortly afterwards was used as a shell to engage in banking.  It would have been the Anglo-Irish Bank of the early 18th century and failed in a spectacular fashion with its involvement with the South Sea Bubble .

It acquired various Irish properties in 1703

http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=1129  including property at Reendonegan, Bantry.  This townland has land which is very fertile and much sought after abutting theBay, atthe time access to seaweed and sea sand would be a contributor to value.

This was leased to Henry Hutchinson of Bantry and is recorded in the Registry of Deeds  1714 Vol 13 page 185 Memorial Number 5543 to Hutchinson a “Protestant’ for £266.

The Commission was investigating the state of the fishing industry on the south west coast.  One of the Commissioners was Redmond Barry, an inspector of fisheries.  He was a small landlord, a Catholic  from Glandore who worked tirelessly to improve agricultural and general condition in the area.

Among those who gave evidence was John Young then 87 whose family had been extensively involved in the industry.  There were a number of seine owners and owners of a hooker. The Youngs had been involved in fishing in Bantry for generations and Richard Young gave evidence that his great grandfather had lost £2,000 when a Finance House in Bilbao had collapsed. This may have been the Consulado de Bilbao in 1651

Click to access catalogo_diputacion.pdf

Timothy O’Donovan, a small landlord and Magistrate of O’Donovan’s Cove, Durrus, gave a written submission on the futility of certain controls as not being effective and only…

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Donemark,+Co.+Cork/@51.6967895,-9.44044,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x48450bbaf6a63bed:0x5730c094c9aaf311

From University College Cork’s electronic texts

http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/E600001-030/text001.html

Donemark is a short distance from Bantry.

16th October 1861, Donemark, Bantry, 16 acres to let prime land suitable for potatoes or corn, Four Boats of Sea Sand Will be Given.

Petition of Maurice de Carrreu (Carrew) to King of England c1300 including Donemark, Bantry.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqhnQGE3ANjzdE9yRHVkdUUwX1l0WWRERWRGSkdtVmc#gid=0

In 1837 a Parliamentary Commission took evidence on the operation of Manor Courts.  It heard evidence from John Jagoe.  He was from Bantry a Fish Merchant, had sat on a Fisheries Commission had engaged in correspondence with Dublin Castle on fisheries and non-denominatinal education.  His only son John became a barrister. He was admitted to Grey’s Inns London in 1835 aged 34.

In his evidence he said that there were Manor Courts in Bantry  and Leamcon (Schull).  They were generally held in public houses wiht a jury drawn from a low class.  The seneshal was drawn from  a drunken class and paid £50-£80 per annum.  His evidence suggested that the jury demanded cash or whiskey from the successful party.  This was referred to as a ‘cob’.  The jury did not retire but openly debated the verdict and onlookers could hear and influence.  The more respectable class of…

One of your favourite recent Roaringwater Journal Facebook photos – Ballydehob’s 12 Arch Bridge

We’re taking a blogging break for a couple of weeks. Since we won’t be posting during that time, here are a couple of your favourite posts from times past, to keep you going! 

You loved the traditional shops that are still to be found here and there in West Cork. Our Shopping for Memories post features Miss Evans’ shop in Bantry.

Castles fascinate us all and you liked the post about the tower houses, When is a Castle… and the one about fortified houses, Trading up in Tudor Times. From the second one, here is Coppinger’s Court.

Michael Davitt struck a chord with many readers. We are still looking for heroes, and this was a man worthy of the name.

Finally, to celebrate the Chief O’Neill Festival, just on last weekend on Bantry, here is our…

Minutes of Balineen, Co. Cork, Agricultural Society 1845-7, ordered that pamphlet on turnips be translated into Irish for some of the Protestant famers, turnips, flax growing plight of labourers, attendance by name and townland 1847 contrasted with 1946 location of families.

From 1946 JCHAS.

The author was somewhat surprised at the use of Irish among some of the ‘settler’ famers. In some of the adjoining Church of Ireland parochial records there is phonetic rendering of the Lord’s Prayer in Irish.

The Society attracted farmers from other parts of West Cork. For example Jeremiah Crowley from Ballyourane in Caheragh a very substantial tenant of Lord Bandon.

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/bantry-west-cork-agricultural-show-taisdaeantas-cuireadgineachta-bheantrai-1947-names-and-addresses-of-competitors-curriculum-of-vocational-educational-committee-day-and-evening-kingdom-show-b/

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/history-of-drinagh-co-op-west-cork-poem-1924-eulogy-to-fonder-father-john-crowley-photo-mr-a-j-f-oreilly-tony-reilly-bcl-general-manager-bord-bainne-at-opening-of-drinagh-new-piggery-1962/

Sir Thomas Upington (1845-1898), Lisleigh House, Mallow, Co, Cork to Secretary to Lord O’Hagan, Lord Chancellor, Lawyer, Attorney General and premier of Cape Colony , South Africa, 1884.