1747 Lease and Release and 1770. Mortgage Given by Richard Tonson Esquire, Dunkettle, Cork to Charles Coughlan of Carrigmanus of Lands at Dunlough otherwise Three Castle, Goleen, West Cork.
Tonsons are descendants of Hulls of Leamcon, Schull.
Part of 1833 collection transcribed prior to 1922 destructions by Denis O’Callaghan Fisher his brother the Rev. Fisher of Toormore.
1784, Benevolence of Richard White (Later Lord Bantry) in making Provisions Available to Tenantry in Famine and other Famines.
Richard Pococke (1704 – 1765), the English-born Bishop of Ossory, travelled in the South West and in 1758 wrote the following in respect of Bantry ‘he chief support of the town is fish and a clandestine import of French brandy’ and re the Beara area, which would have a reference to the other peninsulas ‘they keep their sheep and black cattle …. They can legally send no fish to France but salmon, all the rest goes to Spain’…… ‘They make huts to keep their cattle in the mountains in summer and live on new churn milk’. …… ‘Girls married at the age of thirteen and boys at sixteen’ … ‘People here live to a great age, notwithstanding they drink drams immoderately, living on fish and potatoes, and the sea air makes…
Appointment by Lord Chancellor on Recommendation of Lord Fermoy of Richard Hungerford Morris of Friendly Cove, Durrus, West Cork, to the Commission of the Peace for County Cork (Magistracy).
Cork Examiner 22nd September 1866.
Morris was a prize farmer winning many prizes for crops and beasts. He married into the Evanson family who had Friendly Cove, the house is still extant looking onto Dunmanus Bay. His Morrises came from Castle Salem, Rosscarbery. HIs descendant, Dick Morris was alive to the 1930s in the area.
Society for the Promotion Education of the Poor 1819, Schools, West Cork
Some West Cork Teachers, only a drop in the ocean gleaned from deeds, church records, directories.
Among the Protestant Teachers, the Hurley family of Kilmeen are allegedly descendants of the Hurleys who built Ballinacarriga Castle near Dunmanway. Looking at some of the other names it may be that lines of hedge school masters converted. It may be because these teacher were known for their mercurial temper and may have fallen out with Parish Priests.
Sea Lodge: Timothy Daly may be from Dromnea also part of Evanson Estate in Kilcrohane and was location of O’Daly Bardic School. Ruins of school still extant just of Sheeps Head way from Durrus Court to Gearhameen, not the Sea Lodge on coast
1827
Recommended for Gratuity
School Number
Location
Teacher
Numbers
706
Bantry Male
J.B. Patterson
1828 John Lanktreee, Protestant, recommended Rev. Sadlier
1822 John Holmes 18 in 1822 recommended John Smith Esq.
708
Inch Cillertane
John McGivern
71
Richard McGivern , 1828, 19 recommended Rev James McCheane
Note to the Editor of the Cork Commercial Courier dated the 15th February, 1838:
The Registry commenced here this morning at ten o’clock before Assistant Barrister, Mr. Moody and the members of the Close to Dusk Co. Cork – fifteen liberals, six orange men of Burrow, Bandon and John O’Connell, Esq and others were most indivisible for deliverable interest. Disappointment was depicted in the countenance of the conservatives in this town – the Derry I might be permitted the designate of the South that their exertions were great indeed to try and defeat the honest frieze quoted from obtaining the franchise. The tenants of Timothy O’Donovan, Esq of O’Donovan’s Cove, Durrus, were chiefly those who registered. Messrs. O’Donovan and Galwey appeared on the part of the liberals and Messrs. Greg and Morgan for the conservatives.
Ardogeena (152 acres) (Irish: Ard na Gaoine, meaning ‘Height of the flint stones’). On the east side is Lisdromaloghera (Irish: Lios Drom Luachra, meaning ‘Fort of the rushy ridge’). Bounded by Boolalaghta.
This in on what was formerly O’Mahony lands. The probably defaulted on a pre 1600 mortgage from Richard Boyle, Great Earl of Cork and he went into possession. These practices and his chicanery and sharp legal practices are often suggested as one of the causes of the 1641 Rebellion in the area.
The Evansons were settled on the former Mccarthy lands forfeit post 1641 at Durrus Court across Dunmanus Bay from around 1690. They acquired the lands and associated townlands from the Boyles c 1760. The conveyance gave rise to significant litigation in the 1850s as to whether it included the underlying mineral right at the time thought to be valuable.
They may have been in occupation earlier. One of the Evansons, Mrs.Beamish, is noted in the school folklore project for her charity during the famine having soup kitchen at Ardgouna. The general location was used for hare coursing from the 1850s.
Remains, the slip in the masonry near doorway may suggest a stable and the slit for ventilation, this was probably a three storey structure. The back wall is unstable and at risk of collapsing. In the main building the front wall collapsed some time ago.:
Well recessed at rear of structure:
Stonework, a mix of field and quarried stone.
The house is shown on the Admiralty map as a guide to navigation as is one of the other Evanson houses at Sea Lodge across the bay:
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….
Legal Tenure:
Ardogeena
Probably in Plot 496A Earl of Cork, Protestant part of 896 acres
Probably O’Mahony
The land was originally sold by the Duke’s predecessor in title, Edward Boyle and his wife Mary by way of lease for 500 years from the 21st May 1626. The property including 3 ploughlands at Drumreagh, Dromelower and Ardgenane in Durrus including Murreagh was acquired by the Earl of Burlington and Cork and Sir William Heathcote who disposed of it to Richard Tonson in 1738 included as part of the Manorial rights to the Lord of the Manor of Ballydehob including the Durrus lands. In 1765 the Durrus lands were demised to Richard Tonson Evanson and renewed by Lord Baron Riversdale to Nathaniel Evanson in 1811,
1714 Lease of Part Of Lands in West Carbery from Henry Boyle to Darby Mahoney Excepting Mineral Rights Probably including Townlands at Ardgoena and Drumreagh Later Part of Evanson Durrus Estate.
Leasehold Deed 4th September 1765, three Ploughlands at Murreagh, Ardogna, Dromreagh between Richard Tonson, Dunkettle, Cork and Richard Evanson, life interest to his wife Elizabeth (nee Shaw father woollen draper Cork?) son Nathaniel late Murreagh, all Evansons Four Mile Water. Marriage settlement Evanson 1818 to Beamish , Melian died childless, Mary Beamish had a fortune of £1,600, makes provision for 3 ploughlands of Droumreagh, Muraigh, and Ardaguina and also the impropriate tithes of of the Parish of Durrus. Kilcrohane and Kilmacomogue recited in deed of 24th September 1765
Evanson Marriage Settlement 4th October 1816
Melian died childless, Mary Beamish had a fortune of £1,600, makes provision for 3 ploughlands of Droumreagh, Muraigh, and Ardaguina and alos the impropriate tithes of of the Parish of durrus. Kilcrohane and Kilmacomogue recited in deed of 24th September 1765
Letter from John T Collins to Paddy O’Keeffe 6 Jan 1955 ‘To be let 25. 9. 1829. Commodious gardens and demesne of Ardageena ( Friendly Cove) 5 miles from Bantry and 12 of Skibbereen. Well equipped out offices. 6 horse stables with stables and walled in farmyard hay lofts etc. Any person taking house can set land from 18 A 96 acres. Good turbary sea manure and a sand quay sea bathing in perfection within 3 mins walk from house. Also to be let a large corn (Noted Store on Dunmanus Bay opposite Durrus Pier) store and kiln and a good corn growing country at the head of Dunmanus Bay. Great facility of shipping and lying of vessels of 60 tons at the store. Apply J Evanson Esq Adrgeena.
1884, Elizabeth Hungerford Morris late Friendly Cove, Michael Hungerford Morris, Cork and Walter Thornhill, Solicitor Cork. He was given a Power of Attorney over tithes and rent charges over Durrus properties. (ROD 1884 20/6)
Nathaniel Evanson as Lessee of Impropriate Tithes
Richard Tonson Evanson selling 1854 at Landed Estates Court with Impropriate Tithes of part Kilcmacomogue and Durrus/Kilcrohane deriving from lease for lives renewable forever of 1765
1869 Reps Richard Tonson Evanson (Catherine Morris daughter?) William and Reps of J M Gumbleton.
1901 Tenants in Fee
1925 January Friendly Cove Mrs O’Brien 30a commodious house held under lease of 999 years from 5 April 1834 at a rent of £37 p.a.
Discovery of Fadden More Psalter Probably from c 800 ad in a Bog Egyptian papyrus represents the first tangible connection between early Irish Church and the Middle-Eastern Coptic Church. Possible link to Irish Round Towers to Structures in Sinai
Egyptian papyrus represents the first tangible connection between early Irish Christianity and the Middle-Eastern Coptic
The conservator called the finding miraculous: “We never before had to deal with a manuscript recovered from a bog.”
In 2006 an Irish worker discovered an amazing find while digging in a bog with his backhoe at Fadden More.
Sticking out of the earth was an ancient manuscript, miraculously intact after more than a thousand years. Archeologists were quickly notified and carefully retrieved the manuscript and began at once investigating it and putting the pieces together.
Senior conservator John Gillis stated, “We never before had to deal with a manuscript recovered from a bog,” and said its survival after all these years in such an environment was “miraculous.”
It took more than four years of preservation work to discover the many treasures hidden inside the manuscript.
According to the National Museum of Ireland, “The Faddan More Psalter is composed of 60 sheets of vellum which are divided into five gatherings, or quires. The text is based on the Gallican Psalter, a version of the Latin Psalter devised by St. Jerome in the late 4th century. The text is written with iron gall ink, and a red and yellow pigments are used for decoration. It contains the standard 150 psalms. The opening letter of each psalm is marked by a capital and the opening words of Psalms 1, 51, and 101 are decorated, a convention used in other Irish psalters.” The Psalter has been dated to c. 800 and is one of the earliest Church documents found in Ireland.
When the manuscript was found it was opened to Psalm 83 and some saw it as a prophecy regarding the destruction of Israel. However, Dr. Patrick Wallace pointed out that the numbering of the Psalter was according to the Septuagint and differs slightly from our modern numbering system of the Psalms. He said what was found was “part of Verse 7 of Psalm 83 in the old Latin translation of the Bible [the Vulgate] which…would have been the version used in the medieval period.” The text of Psalm 83(84) reads:
1 Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core. 2 How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of host! 3 My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. 4 For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God. 5 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall praise thee for ever and ever. 6 Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, 7 In the vale of tears, in the place which be hath set. 8 For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion. 9 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. 10 Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ. 11 For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners. 12 For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and glory. 13 He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence: O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
The most significant find was the original leather cover that protected the psalter. It was found intact and provided an insight into the origins of the Irish church. The inside of the leather cover “is lined with papyrus, a writing material produced from reeds grown in the eastern Mediterranean, famously in Egypt. The papyrus was probably placed inside the cover to act as a stiffener.”
Some scholars believe the “discovery of Egyptian papyrus represents the first tangible connection between early Irish Christianity and the Middle-Eastern Coptic Church.”
Two pages of the Psalter are currently displayed at the National Museum of Ireland and because they are so sensitive to light, they can only be displayed three months at a time. It is regarded as one of the greatest finds in Ireland since the Ardagh Chalice.