A Snapshot of the Finances of Cork 19th Century Magistrates, Rent Rolls, Probates, Building Projects.

At the other end of the spectrum a labourer gave evidence to a Parliamentary Commission sitting in Skibbereen in the 1840s that if he managed to get work for a tenant farmer possibly on the Becher estate the pay was 4d per day.

 

Cork Magistrates:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZvT84JCKTIhMqqZjJsF_AUJLH8S820ksObykwOty3wg/edit

Finance/Probate

To get some idea of comparative values, an RIC man in 1900 earnings allowing for uniform, accommodation and pension say €75 per annum, Garda say €30,000 net in 2016 a factor of 400 perhaps on the high side.  Date of death and value of estate.

Annual Estate Rent rolls estimate 1811, Bandon £30,000, Devonshire (Cork), John Smith-Barry, Lord Shannon, Lord Kingsborough, Longfield all £20,000

Mitchelstown Castle 1820s cost of building £100-200, 000, never lived in, burned 1919-1922 now Co-Op.

Richard Townsend rent roll 1820s estimate £8,000.

Rev. Alleyn Evanson, Durrus, 1853, £5.

Paul Limrick, Solicitor, 1864, Union Hall, £180.

Becher Lionel Fleming (1821-1869), Landlord, Probate £1,400, 1869 to Becher L. Fleming, Oldcourt and Rev.Horace Fleming, Kilnagross, Clonakilty.

Ludlow Bamish, Brewer, Cork, 1872, £5,000

Timothy O’Donovan, Landlord, Durrus, 1874, £2,000

Francis 3rd Earl of Bandon, Landlord, 1877, £18,000

James Redmond Barry, Glandore, Landlord,  Fishery Commissioner, 1879, £1,500

Richard Donovan, Clerk of Crown, Lisheens, Ballincollig, 1883, £10,164.

John Limrick, 1890, Union Hall, £3,647.

James Hutchinson Swanton, 1891, Miller Landowner, Rineen, Skibbereen, £3,807

Sir John Arnott (1814-1898), Businessman, Landowner, Newspaper owner, £694,306

Richard Lane Allman, 1904, Distiller, Bandon, £22,034.

James Clugston Allman, Distiller, Bandon, 1911, £11,789

Courtesy Helena O’Sullivan:

1924 School photo of Lowertown National School, Schull, West Cork taken in 1924.

 

1924 School photo of Lowertown (Lubhghtúam?)  National School, Schull, West Cork taken in 1924.

 

 

 

Courtesy:  Dickson, David, Old World Colony, Cork and South Munster 1630-1830, Cork University Press, 2005

 

 

The Lost World of the Flemings of Oldcourt, Reenmurragha, Skibbereen, West Cork, Where, ‘All The Famous Horsemen Met..With Their Fowling Pieces..The Gentry of Rosscarbery Met.. Song in Lionel Fleming’s Book, Head or Harp.

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/New+Court,+Co.+Cork/@51.5447325,-9.3378748,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x4845a46cacaa1b69:0x07ec6fa5b4f74cc6

The Flemings as landlords had a mixed press some reviled others praised.

Lionel was brought up in Cork later he was a journalist on the Irish Times and later went to England.  The book as published in 1965.

Eliza (Dizzie) Townsend (Mrs. Lionel Fleming)

She was in  Ballydevlin, Goleen, West Cork towards the srart of the 19th Century, no roads, rooms lit by smokey candles made of mutton fat, a diet of cabbage, seaweed, mutton, salt ling, salted pork, pig’s head and crubeens, playing Handel and Mozart with the Rev O’Grady.

Until Richard Griffith completed the road from Skibbereen to Crookhaven in 1824 there was only a saddle path. When the road opened, for the first time, wheeled vehicles came to the western area.

Her Father was the Rev. Horace/Horatio Townsend, pre 1824, Derry, Rosscarbery, noted agriculturalist, 13 children of whom Dizzie married Lionel Fleming JP, Ballydevlin later Newcourt. Managed estates of Lord Shannon in Timoleague until his death. 1835 Subscriber Lewis Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837.

The song he quotes was written by Mr. Carney whose family worked on the Estate.

Fleming Magistrates;

Becher Fleming (1760-1837), Pre 1831,  Oldcourt (Reenmorragh),  lived at Ballydevlin for a period, father 10 children including Lionel Fleming JP, Ballydevlin later Newcourt, m Judith Barbara (Dizzie) d Horace Townsend, JP, Derry.

Becher Lionel Fleming (1821-1889), 1865, 1865, 1874,  Oldcourt (Reenmorragh), Skibbereen, £160, m Elizabeth Reeves (who have O’Dempsey ancestry)

Lyonel Flemyng (Lionel Fleming) (1725-1803), 1778, Oldcourt (Reenmorragh), son of John, Skibbereen, m Martha Wren sister of Mrs Townsend of ‘The Point’, farmer, built Eldon Hotel, landlord.  Captain Carbery Vounteers 1777. Oldcourt owned by Bechers who sold to Tonson who let to Fleming.  His will describes him as being possessed of ‘the lands at Ballydevlin, Carrigocat, Clohananecullen, Kilbrown, Cloheanalid, Milleen, Skeanore, Thornhill, Kilmacaconage, Kilcrohane, and Windmill Hill in Skibbereen.’ It adds that he wishes to be buried: ‘in the tomb I erected in the parish church of Aghadown, and to be conveyed there by my tenants, each of whom is to receive a linen hat-band.” Fleming

Lionel John  Fleming-1869),  Oldcourt (Reenmorragh), Skibbereen, pre 1831, listed 1838, sitting Skibbereen 1850, 1861.  Probate £1, 400, 1869 to Becher L. Fleming, Oldcourt and

Rev .Horace Fleming, KIlnagross, Clonakilty.

Fleming Family History:

http://nycnuts.net/ancestors/fleming/contents/index.html

Eliza (Dizzie) Townsend (Mrs. Lionel Fleming), in Ballydevlin, Goleen, West Cork 1819, no roads, rooms lit by smokey candles made of mutton fat, a diet of cabbage, sea weed, mutton, salt ling, salted pork, pigs head and crubeens, playing Handel and Mozart with the Rev O’Grady.

Estate:

http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-show.jsp?id=2606

Book 1965.