• About
  • Customs Report 1821-2 (and Miscellaneous Petitions to Government 1820-5) and some Earlier Customs Data, including staffing, salaries, duties including, Cork, Kinsale, Youghal, Baltimore, with mention of Bantry, Crookhaven, Glandore, Berehaven, Castletownsend, Enniskeane, Passage, Crosshaven, Cove, Clonakilty, Cortmacsherry.
  • Eoghan O’Keeffe 1656-1723, Glenville, Co. Cork later Parish Priest, Doneralie 1723 Lament in old Irish
  • Historic maps from Cork City and County from 1600
  • Horsehair, animal blood an early 18th century Stone House in West Cork and Castles.
  • Interesting Links
  • Jack Dukelow, 1866-1953 Wit and Historian, Rossmore, Durrus, West Cork. Charlie Dennis, Batt The Fiddler.
  • Kilcoe Church, West Cork, built by Father Jimmy O’Sullivan, 1905 with glass by Sarah Purser, A. E. Childs (An Túr Gloine) and Harry Clarke Stained Glass Limited
  • Late 18th/Early 19th century house, Ahagouna (Áth Gamhna: Crossing Place of the Calves/Spriplings) Clashadoo, Durrus, West Cork, Ireland
  • Letter from Lord Carbery, 1826 re Destitution and Emigration in West Cork and Eddy Letters, Tradesmen going to the USA and Labourers to New Brunswick
  • Marriage early 1700s of Cormac McCarthy son of Florence McCarthy Mór, to Dela Welply (family originally from Wales) where he took the name Welply from whom many West Cork Welplys descend.
  • Online Archive New Brunswick, Canada, many Cork connections
  • Origin Dukelow family, including Coughlan, Baker, Kingston and Williamson ancestors
  • Return of Yeomanry, Co. Cork, 1817
  • Richard Townsend, Durrus, 1829-1912, Ireland’s oldest Magistrate and Timothy O’Donovan, Catholic Magistrate from 1818 as were his two brothers Dr. Daniel and Richard, Rev Arminger Sealy, Bandon, Magistrate died Bandon aged 95, 1855
  • School Folklore Project 1937-8, Durrus, Co. Cork, Schools Church of Ireland, Catholic.
  • Sean Nós Tradition re emerges in Lidl and Aldi
  • Some Cork and Kerry families such as Galwey, Roches, Atkins, O’Connells, McCarthys, St. Ledgers, Orpen, Skiddy, in John Burkes 1833 Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland:
  • Statement of Ted (Ríoch) O’Sullivan (1899-1971), Barytes Miner at Derriganocht, Lough Bofinne with Ned Cotter, later Fianna Fáil T.D. Later Fianna Fáil TD and Senator, Gortycloona, Bantry, Co. Cork, to Bureau of Military History, Alleged Torture by Hammer and Rifle at Castletownbere by Free State Forces, Denied by William T Cosgrave who Alleged ‘He Tried to Escape’.
  • The Rabbit trade in the 1950s before Myxomatosis in the 1950s snaring, ferrets.

West Cork History

~ History of Durrus/Muintervara

West Cork History

Category Archives: Uncategorized

1812 Classical Schools, Kinsale, Clonakilty. 1822 Aid for Ballymodan, Clonakilty, Bridgetown (Skibbereen), Durrus, Kilmocomogue, Skull, Templetrine, from The Association For The Discontinuance of Vice, National School Durrus, Boycotts Kealkil, Dromore, Lisheen.

14 Thursday May 2026

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Click:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16AOj3R3TzCS-yckSCmCcJAJUydNZI25sCQLHEUnHLjY/edit?tab=t.0

From the Kenmare Manuscripts, 1942. Seán na gCupóg, (John of the Dock Leaves)

13 Wednesday May 2026

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From the Irish Manuscripts Commission, Digital edition, page 273.

https://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/digital/The%20Kenmare%20Manuscripts/The%20Kenmare%20Manuscripts.pdf?x80640

Recollections of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Breast Fed Until He Was 3.  Boss Croker:

05 Tuesday May 2026

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Maurice J. Power, Associate of President Cleveland.   Thousands come to Rosscarbery to Celebrate Father Powers Miracles on St. John’s Eve.  1858  St. Johns Eva, Beautiful Irish from a Crippled Beggar, bare ulcerated legs. Thadeus O’Mahony, Bandon born Professor of Irish TCD. Tom Hungerford Landlord, a Tenant of his father. Grandfather’s Bleachery, Flax Meitheal.  West Cork Delegatee to the Dungannon Convention 1782.

Recollections of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Breast Fed Until He Was 3.  Boss Croker: Maurice J. Power, Associate of President Cleveland.   Thousands come to Rosscarbery to Celebrate Father Powers Miracles on St. John’s Eve.  1858  St. Johns Eva, Beautiful Irish from a Crippled Beggar, bare ulcerated legs. Thadeus O’Mahony, Bandon born Professor of Irish TCD. Tom Hungerford Landlord, a Tenant of his father. Grandfather’s Bleachery, Flax Meitheal.  West Cork Delegatee to the Dungannon Convention 1782.

William Garde Browne (1815-1877), Coolcower House, Macroom, Macroom Poor Law Guardian. 1841 enquiry scathing about effects of middlemen, discount banks, from which tenants borrowed for rent, 

04 Monday May 2026

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William Garde Browne (1815-1877), Coolcower House, Macroom, listed 1846, listed 1843, 1875-6.   Provisional Committee Cork/Killarney Railway 1845. William Cross,1841, Magistrate, Landowner, Macroom Poor Law Guardian. 1841 enquiry scathing about effects of middlemen, discount banks, from which tenants borrowed for rent,  three run in particular by Edward Ash, Macroom, William Guarde Brown, Coolcower, Philip Cross Esq., Shandy House, a Magistrate until deprived, he boasted he acquired a large lot of land from profits of banking.  Cross estimated rate of interest at 20% but when legal expenses time etc. factored in at 40%.  Probate 1887 £40,000.

Earl of Grey Scheme 1848-1850.  Girls shipped to Australia aged 15 to 18 from Workhouses, Skibbereen 110, Kinsale 29, Bandon 20, Dunmanway 14.

02 Saturday May 2026

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Tags

books, family-history, Genealogy, history


Earl of Grey Scheme 1848-1850.  Girls shipped to Australia aged 15 to 18 from Workhouses, Skibbereen 110, Kinsale 29, Bandon 20, Dunmanway 14.

Courtesy Sile Murphy, Dunmanway Historical Society 2010.

Research into the records of Melbourne Maternity Hospital suggest that approximately 1 in 15 women had difficulty in childbirth due to famine induced contracted  or  deformed pelvis.

Irish Times:

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/the-story-of-the-irish-famine-orphan-girls-shipped-to-australia-1.4075722#:~:text=Between%201849%20and%201851%2C%20the,help%20populate%20the%20new%20colony.

The Great Hunger had decimated the population of Ireland, resulting in more than one million deaths and two million emigrants forced to flee starvation.

Between 1849 and 1851, the Earl Grey scheme took girls aged from 14 to 19 from workhouses across Ireland to work in Australia as servants, and to help populate the new colony.

After the horror of starvation and loss of family and home in the Irish Famine, surviving the destitution of the infamous workhouses and enduring an arduous sea voyage, the orphans reached a strange and intimidating new land. But they must also have had feelings of hope and optimism.

An excerpt from The Argus, which was Melbourne’s main newspaper of the day, on April 4th, 1850 said: “Another ship-load of female immigrants from Ireland has reached our shores, and yet, though everybody is crying out against the monstrous infliction, and the palpable waste of the immigration fund, furnished by the colonists in bringing out these worthless characters …”.

Another excerpt from The Argus on April 24th, 1850 of a citizen echoed society’s clamour:

“The whole country cries out against the further admission into our colony, of such degraded beings as the majority of the female orphans have been found.

Nor has their cry been raised without reason, for we venture to say, every vessel that brings an increase of this kind to our female population, brings a melancholy increase to the vice and lewdness that is now to seem rampant in every part of our town. From this class we have received no good servants for the wealthier classes in the towns, no efficient farm servants for the rural population, no virtuous, and industrious young women, fit wives for the labouring part of the community; and by the introduction of whom a strong barrier would be erected against the floods of iniquity that are now sweeping every trace of morality from the most public thoroughfares of our city.”

Nonetheless, most orphans flourished – they married and raised families in the harsh conditions of the new colony. Great numbers would live to see the dawn of the new 20th century in their new land.

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1894 William Martin Murphy’s son Denis died in Davos, Switzerland, skiing accident he had been assisting his father on building of the Skibbereen to Baltimore Railway. 

30 Thursday Apr 2026

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books, Genealogy, history, writing


1894 William Martin Murphy’s son Denis died in Davos, Switzerland, skiing accident he had been assisting his father on building of the Skibbereen to Baltimore Railway. 

Cutting now road entrance to Skibbereen from Baltimore

The Skibbereen to Baltimore Railway was an 13 km. extension of the Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway (CB&SCR) in West Cork, opened on May 2, 1893. It served as a vital, albeit temporary, rail link for the port of Baltimore, closing along with the rest of the West Cork lines in March 1961. 

William Martin Murphy (1845-1919), MP, 1884, The Square, Bantry, and Dartry Hall, Rathmines, Dublin, b Castletownbere, child of Denis Murphy, building contractor, and Ann Marie Martin. Ed. Belvedere College, Dublin. 1869 built Barryroe Church, Clonakilty. Moved to Dublin 1875, railways, tramways, newspapers, Clerys Department Store, M.P. 1885, M Mary Julia Lombard d James F. Electrified Dublin Trams 1896. 1890 Skibbereen Quarter Sessions sitting with Circuit Court Judge Ferguson on Schull licensing appeal cases.  Magistrates, John Edward  Barrett, William Murphy, M.P., George Robinson, Somers. H. Payne, W. S. Payne, Henry R Marmion, Samuel Jagoe, O’Donovan, John R. H. Becher, William Norwood, Carew O’Grady.  Donor £40 second largest after Lord Ardilaun £500 in 5 instalments on behalf of the Bantry Estate  1894 son Denis died in Davos, Switzerland skiing accident he had been assisting his father on building of the Skibbereen to Baltimore Railway.  1895 to the Bantry Foreshore Reclamation Fund.  Closely associated with Tim Healy.  1918 largest donor Gearhies Fishing Disaster. 1916 meets Lloyd George to oppose partition.  listed 1913. Buried Glasnevin Cemetery.  Features in James Joyce, ‘Ulysses’, ‘How’s that for Martin Murphy, the Bantry jobber?’ (12.237)

..

1890, Will of Denis Murphy, Builder, Bantry, Builder of Bantry Pier, Father of William Martin Murphy. 1919, William Martin Murphy, Derrymihan, Beara and Dublin, businessman. Estate £250,000. He left a range of businesses with a substantial asset value, including Dublin’s tramway system, hotels in Dublin and Glengariff, Cleary’s Department store, a range of railway shares and various properties including a builders yard in Bantry (which is still in business). He had also invested heavily in the Dublin newspaper industry.

Bantry Gang: Healy Brothers, Thomas, Solicitor, M.P., Timothy, M.P. , Queen’s Counsel, Governor General Irish Free State, Tim, Sullivan Brothers, Alexander Martin, Owner ‘The Nation’, Founder Irish Parliamentary Party, M.P. Queen’s Counsel, Timothy Daniel, M.P. Composer ‘God Save Ireland”, Donal, Secretary Irish Parliamentary Party, M.P, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Harrington Brothers, Tim, Teacher, Journalist, Author of The Plan of Campaign, M.P., Barrister, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ned, Organiser, M.P., William Martin Murphy, International Businessman, Railway Contractor, owner Irish Independent, Dublin United Tramways, M.P., James Gilhooley, Fenian, M.P.

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=39087&action=edit

1909 Bantry Feis.   Patrons include Canon (Church of Ireland) O’Grady, James Gilhooley, M.P., Tim Healy King’s Counsel,M.P., Maurice Healy, M.P., The Earl of Kenmare, Magistrates, Dr. O’Mahony, Benjamin O’Connor, M. O’Driscoll, William Martin Murphy, Alexander Martin Sullivan, King’s Counsel, Dr.  M. J. McCarthy, Patrick (Rocky Mountain) O’Brien, Dromore.  Prizewinners, Industrial Section.

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=40015&action=edit

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=36675&action=edit

Updated. 1918 Gearhies, Bantry Bay Fishing Disaster, Subscription Lists. Largest donor William Martin Murphy £25

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=40040&action=edit

1899, Bantry, Funeral of Miss O’Connor, Wreaths From William Martin Murphy and Family, Buyer of Cleary and Co, Dublin, Attendance, Magistrates, John Daly, Barry O’Leary, John Cullinane, James Gilhooley Member of Westminster Parliament, James Manders (Butter Merchant), Doctor Thomas Popham, William Warner (Merchant), Thomas R. Hurst (Publican).

https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=22453&action=edit

Anglicisation of Irish Christian Names Finín/Finghin. 1841. O’Donovans

29 Wednesday Apr 2026

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O’Donovans

The Egg Girls of Kilcrohane, c 1830s. Evidence of Father John Kelleher, Noted Statistician.

24 Friday Apr 2026

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At the turn of the 19th century butter was the main cash crop. The story is told of women from Kilcrohane walking barefoot to Cork, with a pannier of butter wrapped in cabbage leaves.  10 miles before Cork they stopped at a particular rock and put on boots.  Father Kelleher’s evidence to the Poor Law Commission tells of girls making 12 journeys a year to Cork with large baskets of eggs making around £3 a year. 

Father Kelleher:


Rev. John Kelleher, C.C. Trained in Rome. 28 Jan 1830, anti tithe agitation.  Noted statistician. Later c 1840 Parish Priest of Kilurray, at British Association meeting gave detailed paper on condition in Kilmurray parish later published by British Association.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11Zd1e3qFvD2-lzpNWupF_gBwCkJQbvey1yFAXuCxmys/edit?tab=t.0

1894. Shrove Tuesday, Skibbereen

16 Thursday Apr 2026

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1892 Faction Fight Dromdeega Near Dunmanway

15 Wednesday Apr 2026

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Instructing Solicitor

Francis Fitzmaurice Solicitor Subscriber Dr. Daniel Donovan ‘History of Carbery, 1876. Attending funeral 1898, Thomas Fuller, Dunmanway, Chairman Dunmanway Board of Guardians

Counsel

1859-, Patrick D. Fleming K.C., 1906, King’s Counsel, Revising Barister sitting probte Court Dublin 1894 Magistrate, Co. Cork, 7 Hatch St., Dublin, listed 1913. In 1890s appearsin numerous West Cork cases

Prosecuting solicitor

1859, 1863, 1879, 1882, 1884, 1914, 1917 George Kingston Sherlock Solicitor 1859, Crown Solicitor West Riding, Commissioner for taking Affadavits South Main St. “7 Castle St. Supporting Colonel 1863, The Honourable Henry Boyle Bernard in Bandon by-election.
1882 donor to the new Catholic Church, Barryroe. 1877 donor Newcestown Church Spire.

1884 donor Presentation Convent School, Bandon.
” “Prosecutor 1889 Coercion Court, Rosscarbery, pubs closed huge throngs of people in the town, 90 police drafted in, Dr. William Kearny sentenced to Four Months Hard Labour.Guy 1914. 1881 subscriber to testimonial for Fr.. William Murphy, Kilbrittain
” “Brinny Sherlock Annie 08/06/1901 67 In loving memory of Annie Sherlock the beloved wife of George K. Sherlock solicitor died at Round Hill House Bandon on June 8 1901 aged 67 year Sherlock George K. Sherlock 01/10/1922 died 1st October 1922
Sherlock Emily Emily Sherlock their daughter died 24th December 1933 and their son Robert Webb Sherlock died 10th May 1937 ” “
“

Judge

(1847-, 1895 William Seymour Bird, M.A., K.C. Chairman Quarter Sessions (County Court Judge), Cork Wes Riding 38 Lower Leeson St., Dublin. Born Co. Offaly. 1900 attending RIC Sports, Mardyke..Electoral revision Macroom. Telegram of condolonces at funeral 1915 of P.J.Collins, Skibbereen. 1900 donor Eagle Santa Children’s Fund. “Meany, a defendant in a civil claim at Macroom Quarter Sessions, admitted that he
had been previously examined in English but claimed that he had forgotten the
English language. The judge told him that if he did not speak English he would not
be examined, so Meany stepped down. The plaintiff, Baldwin, said he had always
done business with Meany in English. Mr Sheehan, solicitor for the defence, said his
client ‘could tell his story better in Irish’ but County Court Judge Bird Q.C. ‘said he
could tell it as well in English’. Sheehan then pointed out that there was an
interpreter attached to the court but the judge replied ‘For those who speak Irish,
but this man can speak English’ (Southern Star, 13 June 1896, 8).” Judge Bird was the County Court Judge for the West Riding of Cork in Ireland around 1900. He is noted for presiding over an equity civil bill case in 1900 regarding a mortgage foreclosure in Sheehy v Sheehy, where he dismissed the case due to the composition of the debt.

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16th Regiment of Foot assisted female emigration australia ballyclough bantry bay caithness legion cavan regiment of militia cheshire fencibles coppinger's court inbhear na mbearc Irish words in use 1930s lord lansdowne's regiment mallow melbourne ned kelly new brunswick O'Dalys Bardic Family. o'regan Personal Memoirs rosscarbery schull sir redmond barry sir walter coppinger st. johns sydney Townlands treaty of limerick Uncategorized university of Melbourne victoria

16th Regiment of Foot assisted female emigration australia ballyclough bantry bay caithness legion cavan regiment of militia cheshire fencibles coppinger's court inbhear na mbearc Irish words in use 1930s lord lansdowne's regiment mallow melbourne ned kelly new brunswick O'Dalys Bardic Family. o'regan Personal Memoirs rosscarbery schull sir redmond barry sir walter coppinger st. johns sydney Townlands treaty of limerick Uncategorized university of Melbourne victoria
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