1709. Some West Cork Bridges from the Overseers of Co. Cork Bridges.

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1709 Bridge Overseers, Co. Cork, including at Fermoy Ancestors of James Joyce. (1)

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1707 Grand Jury Records of West Cork Bridges.

The Grand Jury carried out many of the functions of the present County Council. Most of Cork’s Grand Jury’s records were lost in a fire at the Courthouse in Cork in the 1880s. This is a rare survival and shows bridge maintenance and erection at a number of West Cork locations

1709 Bridge Overseers, Co. Cork

An account of bridges, presented at several assizes, since the 3rd day of April 1708 to the 26th day of August 1712 inclusive, the sums and the overseers names:

3rd April 1708:———————+

Balyneene (Ballineen) Bridge: Mr. Andrew Syms £2 10 shillings
Ballyprevane (Connorville, Ballineen) Bridge: Mr. John Wood, £28 1 shilling 8 pence
Macrompe (Macroom): Richard Hedges Esq., £80

28th July 1708

Ballyprevane (Connorville, Ballineen) Bridge: John Wood, Richard Crook?, William Wade?, to be…, £30

28th March 1709

Inishonane (Innishannon) Bridge: John Moore, Clerk (Minister Church of Ireland), £30
Bandon Bridge: William Lapp, Thomas Hosford?, Daniel Connor, James Martine, £200
Carriggeoroghed (Carrigdrohid, Macroom) Bridge, Joseph Osborne, £5
Ballynneen (Ballineen) Bridge, Andrew Syms Clerk, £1. 1 shilling
Abbyshowry (Skibbereen), Michael Becher Esq., £100

23rd March 1709

Irishtown? Bridge of Bandon, Richard Goodman Clerke, Jas. Martine, £30
Ballyhallwick (Dunmanway) Bridge, William Wade Esq., £40

28th July 1710

Ballyhallwick (Dunmanway) Bridge, Richard Cox Esq., Undertaker, further £40 to be added, £260
Inchygeelength (Inchigeela) Bridge, Edward Webber, Edward Brown and William Maylors? £80

27th March 1711

Cussoos(n?)a Bridge (Kinsale area), John Walton, Richard Busteed, overseers, afterwards Michael Daunt, £10
Murragh Bridge, Arthur Bernard, Esq., £30
Ballyfereene Bridge, Thomas Crook, Richard Hedges Esq,. John Herrick, Thomas Crook, £30
Bandon Bridge: John Nash, William Lapp, Daniel Connor, £100
New Mill Bridge, John Clerk ? and Thomas Sealy, £4
Ballynneen (Ballineen) Bridge, Andrew Syms Clerk, £1. 5 shilling

31st October 1711

Done. Awndalow Bridge, Dan Sullivan, Charles Webb, Walter Webb, £15
Claghnaloohy Bridge, George Bullen and Ja Karny (Kearney?), £10
Lawny Bridge, Richard Hedges and Arthur Bernard Esqs. £100
Ballyntose Bridge, Michael Becher, William Wade, Esqs., £20
Kilfaghtny Bridge, John Hungerford Clerk and Samuel Jervois Junior, £4

18th March 1711 (Sequence as in ledger)

Kilmeedy Bridge, Richard Hedges Esq., and Richard Thornhill, £45
Ballynclare Bridge, Michael Becher Esq., £20
Murragh Bridge, Arthur Bernard, Esq., £30
Done. Awndalow/Awndaloo Bridge, money advanced Christopher Webb, £38 3 shillings 4 pence
Done. Awndalow/Awndaloo Bridge, Christopher Webb, for complete finishing and same? £5
Ballyglasheen Bridge, Richard Hedges Esq. advanced to prevent being undermined £2 10 shillings

25th August 1712

Added to another time, Kilmeely Bridge, Captain Hedges and Mr. Thornhill, expended over legal proceedings, £9 6 shillings.
Kilmeely Bridge, Captain Hedges and Mr. Thornhill, Overseers, for complete furnishing the saem, £30
Murragh Bridge, over Bandon River, Arthur Bernard, Esq., £100
Ballybane Bridge (Ballydehob), Hugh Hutchinson Esq., Robert Atking, £20
Added to another time. Ballynneen (Ballineen) Bridge, William Wade Esq., £30
Ballyfereene Bridge, Thomas Crook, among disputes over legal problems? £13 13 shilling
Ballyfereene Bridge, Thomas Crook (Same overseer), for the complete finishing, £40
Added to another …Ballynneen (Ballineen) Bridge, William Wade Esq., £30
Rowry (Rosscarbery) and Drumaleague (Drimoleague) Bridges, Henry Jones?, Samuel Jervois, £12

Grand Jury Room 15th July 1713.

The undernames overseers are to quote before the Grand Jury for the bridges when they were appointed overseers of respectively?

28th March 1709.
Piercy Smith, overseer of Ballynoskarty Bridge, £80

23rd March 1799.

Ballyhallwick Bridge, William Wade Esq., £40

28th July 1710
Ballyhallwick (Dunmanway) Bridge, Richard Cox Esq., Undertaker, £260
Bride Bridge, George Bernard?, Thomas Moore, William Philpot, £260
Inchygeelength (Inchegeela) Bridge, George Bernard?, Edward Browns? And Mahony £8

27th March 1711
Murragh Bridge, Arthur Bernard Esq., £30
Ballyfeeerson Bridge, Richard Hedges Esq., Jur? Herrick, and Thomas Crook, £30

3rd October 1711

Ballynovaa Bridge, Ralph Frekes Esq., £6?
Lawny Bridge, Richard Hedges, Arthur Bernard Esqs., £100
Ballintoro Bridge, Michael Becher, and William Wade, Esqs, £20
Kilfaghtny Bridge, Jus. Hungerford and .. Samuel? Jervois Junior, £4

18th March 1711

Awahaloo Bridge, William Haa? Esq., £250
Kilmeeedy Bridge, Richard Hedges Esq., and Mr. Richard Thornhill, £45
Ballinclaw Bridge, Michael Becher Esq., £20

26th August 1712

Killeneedy Bridge, Captain Hedges and Richard Thornhill, £9 6 shillings
Killeneedy Bridge, Captain Hedges and Richard Thornhill, for complete finishing by law £20
Murragh Bridge, Arthur Bernard, £100
Ballybane Bridge, Hugh Hutchinson and Robert Atkins, £20

Irish Town Bridge Bandon:

First built by the O’Mahonys in the 14th century. Built in 1864 to replace a bridge built by a Mr John Lodden in 1636. Immediately west of this bridge was the East Gate of Bandonbridge. Adjoining this site was the site house in which George Bennett, Historian of Bandonbridge and Bandon Oregon was born.

1650. Richard Cox, who built Dunmanway town and brought in a linen industry, was born in Bandon. The town is indebted for its origin to Sir Richard Cox, Lord Chancellor of Ireland in the reign of Wm. III., who obtained from that monarch the grant of a market and fairs, and erected a stately mansion for his own residence. Sir Richard also built the long bridge over the river Bandon, consisting of six arches, exclusively of four under the causeway, and introduced the linen manufacture, for which, under his auspices, this place became one of the principal marts, and the town, in which a colony from England had settled, one of the most flourishing in the south of Ireland

Innishannon Bridge:

Formerly a ford nearby. The first known mention of Innishannon Bridge comes from a record of a resolution by Kinsale Corporation, in 1665, “to oppose the payment of money towards Innishannon Bridge”. This bridge was completely destroyed in the tsunami of 1755, following an earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal. This earthquake, known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, is thought to have had a magnitude of 8.5-9, and shockwaves were felt across Europe. It created tidal waves which hit coastlines as far away as North Africa, and the boats in Kinsale harbour are said to have spun around on their moorings. The wave travelled up the estuary of the Bandon River from Kinsale as far as Innishannon, devastating the bridge here.

General Charles Vallancey Survey Report Developments from 1760 to 1778

He was sent to Ireland to assist in a military survey, remained and became an authority on Irish antiquities. He fathered 44 children by three wives. He learnt Irish and became fluent in it. Some of his theories are now regarded with a degree of scepticism. He wrote a report on the West Cork area which should also hold true for Durrus at the period: ‘There was only one road between Cork and Bantry; you may now proceed by eight carriage roads beside several horse tracks branching off from these great roads, from Bantry the country is mountainous and from the high road has the appearance of being barren and very thinly populated; yet the valleys abound with, corn and potatoes and the mountains are covered with black cattle. In 1760, twenty years ago it was so thinly inhabited, an army of 10,000 men could not possibly have found subsistence between Bantry and Bandon. The face of the country now wears a different aspect: the sides of the hill are under the plough, the verges of the bogs are reclaimed and the southern coast from Skibbereen to Bandon, is one continued garden of grain and potatoes except the barren pinnacles of some hills and the boggy hollows between which are preserved for fuel’ This would suggest that the major population expansion may have dated from c 1775. Wakefield in 1809 estimated the number of houses on the Muintervara peninsula occupied by Catholics and Protestants at 600. In the 1831 Census the population of Durrus East is 1,620. In 1838 the population was 8,340 of whom around 800 were Protestant.

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