Taylor and Skinner road map West Cork 1777
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Caesar Otway journey Mount Gabriel 1822.
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boyle cox carew schull bantry, dublin penny journal, george petrie, mount gabriel o'mahony, protestants caesar otway sea, west munster
The Reverend Caesar Otway (1780-1842), a native of Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, passed through the district in 1822 going from Schull to Bantry. He describes the journey passing ‘the dark and lofty Mount Gabriel, and took my dreary way over a comfortless tract of country, the peninsula of Ivaugh… and here the tribe of O’Mahony has contrived to increase and multiply, and they replenished these wastes with Paddies, pigs, and potatoes. Let no one say looking at these moors, studded over with cabins, and those cabins crowded with children, pigs, goats, cocks and hens, that a poor Irishmen is not an industrious creature. No; look at that string of men, women, boys and girls, toiling up the mountain side with sea-weed and sea-sand in baskets on their backs. See them reclaiming, from amidst rocks and bogs, patches of ground on which to cultivate their only food, the potato; and no one witnessing this struggle of human industry against nature, but must acknowledge that the Irish can be industrious’. He continued past the stone circle at Dunbeacon and remarked on Dunmanus bay, a very fine estuary a safe harbour and then addressed himself to ‘my Protestant reader, in the condition of the poor Protestants in this south –west district of the county of Cork, planted here originally by the piety of the Boyles and other undertakers of the plantation of Munster. The encouragement, the increase, the cherishing of this Protestant yeomanry formed the pride and honest boast of a Boyle, a Cox, or a Carew; and they were as proud of the number of their Protestants as the number of their acres; but now their absentee descendants have other views and other partialities-as the modern system of elective franchise has changed the face of the country, and made Ireland one wide expanse of populous pauperism, and Protestants are effectually discouraged’.
From Library Ireland
Rev. Caesar Otway
Author of “A Tour in Connaught.”
From The Dublin University Magazine, Volume 14, No.82, October 1839
OUR sketch attempts to pourtray a thorough Irishman. Attempts, we say deliberately, because with all due respect to the clever artist, we declare that though the animal representation be faithful, the spiritual is not caught; for instead of a countenance beaming with gaité de coeur, sparkling with ready fun, and mutable with a playfulness of muscle—the presage of a coming repartee—we have here a likeness, it is true, but of an atrabilious smell-fungus character. The man is taken off as if when his stomach is settling after the sickness of a steam-packet; or after (as is common in his native Tipperary) plotting a homicide. For all this we blame not the artist—for if Caesar Otway chooses to take to his chair as grave as a mustard-pot, considering it needful to be serious, and ambitious of making his anomalous countenance, ordinary as it is (unless sun-lit) cloud-capt with solemnity, whose fault was it? Perhaps it would have been better, had we, instead of taking him like a hare, sitting in its form, caught him unawares, and watching our opportunity, seized him during the “mollia tempora fandi,” in conversation with some kindred spirits in Messrs Currys’ shop. But this is not easy, for it is not every one who can hit well flying. At all events, here is the animal—you may swear to its identity, for it is, at least, as like Caesar Otway as a dead dolphin is like a living one.
We do not intend either in this or our future portraitures, to offer a detailed biography of the individual. Our desire is only to assign a few reasons for admitting him into our Gallery.
The REV. CAESAR OTWAY is a clergyman of the Established Church, and though advanced in life,
and approaching his sixtieth year, has never been beneficed—the only situation he fills in his profession, being some inferior office in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the assistant chaplaincy of the Magdalen Asylum. As a preacher Mr. Otway has much originality; his sermons are animated, forcible, and out of the common run; and though often homely, and approaching to vulgarity in his expressions, and sometimes tempted to indulge his native humour, so far as to border on the ludicrous, yet he has the undoubted power of arresting the attention, and fixing his doctrine, which is Evangelical, in the memory of his hearers. Still our impression is, that Caesar Otway is not at home in the pulpit; for though be does his best, and is evidently faithful and serious, we have no doubt he would have been more in his proper place at the bar.
As a writer Caesar Otway is chiefly known by his descriptions of the scenery and manners of his native land. Of these his “Sketches in Ireland,” and recently published “Tour in Connaught,” are fair specimens. Mr. Otway, in the year 1825, in conjunction with his friend, the Rev. Dr. Singer, Fellow of Trinity College, (whom we hope hereafter to introduce more formally to our readers) undertook the first Irish religious magazine in connection with the Established Church. This valuable and moderate journal, entitled the Christian Examiner, which is still in existence, though struggling under various and unmerited discouragements, remained until the last three years chiefly under Mr. Otway’s management; and it was in the pages of this magazine, and as he said “in order to enliven it, and make it read by the parson’s wife and daughters, as well as the parson himself,” that he ventured to sketch off what his recollections were of the different parts of the island he had visited. Besides these lighter articles, there are many valuable papers to be found in the numerous volumes of the Examiner, supplied by Mr. Otway, of a historical, biographical and controversial character. Among these may be noticed his history of Popery in Ireland, Memorials of the Established Church, and Biographical Sketches ofPrimate Marsh, Archbishop King, Andrew Sall, &c. &c. Mr. Otway has also supplied in many other articles, of an amusing and instructive kind, to other periodicals of a Protestant and Conservative character, which have appeared in Dublin during the last 15 years—what has been the extent of his contributions to our own pages, is, of course, among the secrets of the confessional, and may not be divulged.
In the year 1832, Mr. Otway, being willing to gratify the demand which then arose for cheap literature, and thus to aid in the diffusion of useful information among the poorer classes respecting the antiquities and history of their country; and desirous of opening out its capabilities by giving information concerning its past and present state, carried on, in conjunction with his friend,GEORGE PETRIE, Esq., for one year, the DUBLIN PENNY JOURNAL. At the end of that period these gentlemen ceased to be connected with it, and certainly with a loss to the country—for without desiring at all to detract from the merits of its subsequent management, it can be with great safety said, that the volume produced by their exertions, without containing one line that would mark the religious or political partialities of the writers, contained more matter illustrative of the history and antiquities of Ireland, than any previous publication.
The peculiar characteristics of Caesar Otway as a writer are, the power he possesses of making his readers partake in the deep feeling he has for the natural beauties of his native land, and the humour and tact with which he describes the oddities and amiabilities of the Irish character; and while depicting, with no mean effect, the absurdities of poor Paddy, there is no sourness in his satire. He even treads tenderly upon the heels of Popish Priests, and would, if possible, by his playful hits, rather improve the profession than hurt the individual.
Beginning late in life to write for publication—we have heard that till his fortieth year he was not aware that he could handle a pen—occupied, too, for seventeen years as the curate of a country parish, he had not the time, even if he had the desire, to be an author : he, therefore, exhibits both the faults and excellencies of one who has late in life come for the first time before the public. His style is often rough and ill-formed; he frequently sins against taste and judgment, and sometimes so far forgets his schoolmaster as to break Priscian’s head;—but, on the other hand, he shows the advantages possessed by one who has evidently poured in much, before he attempted to pour out any. He seems full of multifarious information—he is fraught with practical knowledge—and, having observed almost as much as he has seen and read, he can adorn with legend, anecdote, and veracious story, almost any place or thing he attempts to describe; and we verily believe he would give a very pleasant description of a tour round a broomstick. This is what renders his Tours so interesting; the reader, as he follows him on his journey, is beguiled into a knowledge of the history and traditions of the country through which he passes.
Perhaps our friend Caesar Otway has wasted his time and talents on this gossiping kind of authorship, for we have reason to believe he has powers and acquirements calculated to make him a pleasing and instructive historian. A good Conservative history of Ireland is yet a desideratum, and no one, in our humble opinion, could supply the deficiency better than the elderly gentleman who is so gravely, against his grain, courteous reader, pourtrayed in the etching before you.
A new edition of Mr. Otway’s Sketches in the North and South has lately been issued, and he has in preparation a volume, chiefly devoted to the little known scenery of North Connaught and West Munster.
A. P.
John Windle Dublin Penny Journal 1830 Drimoleague to Durrus
Rides through the County of Cork, Castle Donovan, Dublin Penny Journal 11th November 1834
General Charles Vallancey (1721-1812) Survey Report West Cork, 1778.
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General Charles Vallancey Survey Report 1778
He was sent to Ireland to assist in a military survey, remained and became an authority on Irish antiquities.
He fathered numerousn 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.
From Library Ireland
General Charles Vallancey
From A Compendium of Irish Biography, 1878
« James Ussher | Index | Charles Vereker, Viscount Gort »
Vallancey, Charles, General, an antiquary, was born in England in 1721. He entered the army at an early age, was attached to the Royal Engineers, became a Lieutenant-General in 1798, and a General in 1803. He came to Ireland before 1770 to assist in a military survey of the island, and made the country his adopted home. His attention was strongly drawn towards the history, philology, and antiquities of Ireland at a time when they were almost entirely ignored, and he published the following, among other works: Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, 6 vols., between 1770 and 1804; Essay on the Irish Language, 1772; Grammar of the Irish Language, 1773; Vindication of the Ancient Kingdom of Ireland, 1786; Antient History of Ireland proved from the Sanskrit Books, 1797; Prospectus of a Dictionary of the Aire Coti or Antient Irish, 1802. He was a member of many learned societies, was created an honorary LL.D., and became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1784.
During the Insurrection he furnished the Government with plans for the defence of Dublin. Queen’s-bridge, Dublin, was built from his designs. He died 8th August 1812, aged 91. There are portraits of him in the Royal Irish Academy and in the board-room of the Royal Dublin Society. In the light of modern research his theories and conclusions — a fanciful compound of crude deductions from imperfect knowledge — are shown to be without value, and such as would not now receive a moment’s attention. George Petrie says: “It is a difficult and rather unpleasant task to follow a writer so rambling in his reasonings and so obscure in his style; his hypotheses are of a visionary nature.” The Quarterly Review declares that: “General Vallancey, though a man of learning, wrote more nonsense than any man of his time, and has unfortunately been the occasion of much more than he wrote. The Edinburgh Review says: “To expose the continual error of his theory will not cure his inveterate disease. It can only excite hopes of preventing infection by showing that he has reduced that kind of writing to absurdity, and raised a warning monument to all antiquaries and philologians that may succeed him.”
Sources
16. Authors, Dictionary of British and American: S. Austin Allibone. 3 vols. Philadelphia, 1859-’71.
40. Biographical Division of English Cyclopaedia, with Supplement: Charles Knight, 7 vols. London, 1856-’72.
72. Castlereagh, Viscount: Memoirs and Correspondence, edited by the Marquis of Londonderry. 12 vols. London, 1848-’53.
146. Gentleman’s Magazine. London, 1731-1868.
Gilbert, John T., see Nos. 110, 335.
Petty’s census 1659 for hearth tax Durrus
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The Co. Antrim Rolls give an idea of the scale of the catastrophe inflicted on the Irish People in 1922.
Click to access hearth_rolls_of_county_antrim.pdf
Appendix 9 Petty’s Census 1659
This was compiled for the purpose of compiling a tax base which ultimately became a hearth tax.
Described as ‘Part of Dunisse Parish’
A table sets out the breakdown of land ownership and the total area is 8,674 acres, 5,646 profitable, 3,078 unprofitable. This document is the Downe Survey in the National Library Ms 714
Collumlimge, no.6, Lt. Coll. John Read, 3 English, 3 Irish
Curcollaght, no.5, Richd. Earlsman, 2 English, 3 Irish
Dromreage, no.23, ” , 23 Irish
Tullagh, no.9, ” ”, 9 Irish
Rossmoye, no.11, ” , 11 Irish
Bracklisse, no.2, ” ” , 2 Irish
Killounnoge, no.6, ” ” , 6 Irish
Part Ducusse
Ballycomane, no.22, Richd. Earlsman, 22 Irish
Maulbyvard, no.17, ” ” , 17 Irish
Letterlicky, no.27, ” ” , 27 Irish
Skart, no.32, ” ” , 32 Irish
Baregorume, no.14, ” ” , 14 Irish
Carrig Buvy, no.51, ” ” , 4 English, 47 Irish
Clonigh, no.2, ” ” , 2 Irish
Durrus is listed but the townlands are more proper to Bantry i.e., Rooska, Beach etc. The numbers listed are not the absolute population but those liable to hearth tax, over 18, not a servant or single.
Description of ‘The Parish of Durrous’
Is bounded on the East with the Parish of Caharagh on the South with the parish of Skull on the West with the Sea and the Parish of Kilcroghane and the North with the Harbour of Bantry and the Barony of Bantry in the County of Corke:-
The qualitie of the Land of this Parish is course part mountainous pasture part wood and some arable: – A small river called the Four Mile Water runneth through the Parish into the Sea, in its way passing neere the Church of Durrous and neere unto the Sea by the House called Four Mile Water at present is a Garrison:- The following Denominations are members of this Parish viz
Glinnykelty 2 Tullagh 3 Cullinalong 4 Drumitahane 5 Killowne
Colanalong Coarguolaghty Ballicomane Aghaguhine Letterlicky
Skart Baregorrum Cahersacragh (?) Killaminoge Drumreagh
A table sets out the breakdown of land ownership and the total area is 8674 acres, 5646 profitable, 3078 unprofitable. This document is the Downe Survey in the National Library Ms 714
Numbers Proprietors Denominations Numbers of Lands Lands
In Plott Acres by Profitable Unprofitable
Admeasurement
487 Florence McCarthy Pt. of Tullough Glynikelly 599-2-0 Ar. & Past.
And Collanatsonge 599-2-0.
487m The Same Part of Tullough 182-0-0 Unprofit.182-0-0
m Capt. William Hull Part of the same & )
Protestant Prop. Drumlahane 40 acres)
487.1 Owen o Dale Jr Part of Killtowne 062-0-0 Ar.& Past.062-0-0
The same of the same 026-0-0 Mount. 026.0.0
487b Florence McCarthy Part of the same 128-0-0 Bogg &Mt.128-0-0
487b The Same Pt. of Coolanalong 238-0-0 The same 238-0-0
488.1 The Same of the Same 114-0-0 Ar. & Past.
488.16 The Same of the Same 334-0-0 Bogg&Mt.337-0-0
488.16 of the Same 468-0-0 Bogg&Mt.468-0-0
488.2 The Same of the Same 116-0-0 Ar. & Past. 116-0-0
2b The Same of the Same 022-0-0 Bogg – 022-0-0
2b The Same of the Same 022-0-0 Bogg – 022-0-0
488 John McCarty als Muckle Part of the Same 860-0-0 Ar. & Past. 860-0-0
489 Knogher & Mahony Coarguolaghty ) 372-2-0 Ar.Wood & Past.372-2-0
+ als Mc O Deilanirfra 3 plough Landes)
489 The Same of the same 072-0-0 Bar.Mt. 072-0-0
489 The Same of the Same 110-0-0 Mount.110-0-0
489 m. The Same of the Same 092-0-0 Mount.092-0-0
491 Owen McThynine Aghaguihine 1 Pt. 624-0-0 Ar. & Past.624-0-0
491 Friosyne McNasoig Part of the Same 232-0-0 Ar. & Past.2323-0-0
491.1 Owen McFhynine Part of the Same 058-0-0 Ar. & Past. 058-0-0
491.V Unprofitable Land in Aghaguhine 087-0-0 Bog.& Mt.087-0-0
492 Donagh McDermod ) Letterlecky 348-0-0 C…Mt.Past.348-0-0
& Daniel, McDermody
492a Fhymine McOwen Pt. of the Same & 156-0-0 Ar. & Pasat. 146-0-0
492b Charles McCarthy & Donagh Part of the Same) 231-0-0 Bogg 231-0-0
a:V ?? Ffynine McOwqen Pt. of Letterlecky ) 114-0-0 B & Mt. 114-0-0
b:V Charles McCarty & Donagh Part of the Same ) 212-0-0
493 Ffynine McCarty Skart 3 ploughed Lds. 724-0-0 Ar. & Past. 724-0-0
494 Jn. McCarty als. Muckly Baregorrum 1 pld. 412-0-0 Ar. & Pasat. 412-0-0
494V The Same of the Same 180-0-0 B.Mount.180-0-0
The Same of the Same 048-0-0 Wood 048-0-0
B & Mt. 212-0-0
P The Same of the Same 009-0-0 Pasture 009-0-0
495 Fynine McCormack Cahivevneagh 1/1 pt. 318-0-0 Ar.l & Past. 318-0-0
496 Philip O’Sullivan Kilominogue 1 ½ pt. 335-0-0 Ar. & Past. 335-0-0
A E. of Cork Ptestant Drumreagh 896
Total 8674-1-0 5646-0-0 3078-1-0
Petty, in 1687 believed that land values were substantially higher than in 1641 but the population had not recovered to its level before that time.
Gill Abbey, Cork inventory 1541 including ‘vicarage’ of Durrus
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Inventory Gill Abbey (Cork) 1541
Against the background of the Tudor appropriation of religious property an inventory of property belonging to Gill Abbey was conducted in 1541. A panel of Cork jurors were appointed and numbered, Walter Gallwey, John and Richard Skiddy, Patrick and William Coppinger, William Meade and Richard Gould (these were representative of old Cork Merchant families some of possible Viking decent). They included under ‘Durruske’ the vicarage of Durrus which also belonged to St. Catherines in Waterford. In the 1580s the parsonage and vicarage had a valuation of 40s. A further list was compiled in 1588 and the valuation of Durrus vicarage was £1. 6s. 8d. and ‘Kylcroghan’ was £2. 10s. 0d. in 1591.
It might be noted that the Coppinger family at one stage owned the Durrus town land of Ballycommane
Evanson Family and Estates, Durrus
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Magistrate, Nathaniel Evanson, 1675, probably Castledonovan.
Gearhameen, originally McCarthy Castle then Durrus Court c 1740:
Ardgoeena from c 1740 still there in ownership of Gallagher family,remnants of probable stable still extant main wall of old house collapsed some years ago. Well behind stables.:
Friendly Cove/Murreagh probably from c1790:
There were two large crypts at the sea ward side of St. James Church of the Evansons until a cemetery clearance in the 1930s. The family in England had paid for their maintenance from the late 19th century and when after WW2 they discovered the loss of the tombs with all their detail they were most upset.
Branches of the family were sugar planters and slave owners in Barbados. They expanded into Bandon and Cork where Charles was Mayor. It is difficult to distinguish whether at time the were based in both Bandon and Durrus the house name ‘Brookfield’ may be either Durrus Court or a Bandon House.
Evansons
Dive Downe’s was the bishop of Cork and Ross and in 1700 toured the dioceses he says ‘Mount Gabriel is the haunt of wolves and there are no trees or shelter except rocks and bogs. The patron saint of Durrus is St Faughan in the parish of Durrus i.e. about Four Mile Water and at Blackrock near Bantry are about 30 Protestant families and in that part of the parish which is in Bantry are two English Schools kept by women. All the inhabitants of Kilcrohane are Papists and the land very coarse except for that of the Bishop of Cork’s lands’. He refers to Vicar Thomas Holmes of Kilmacomoge preaching every fourth Sunday at Captain Evanson’s house at Four Mile Water. Nathaniel Evanson the elder was the Lieutenant of Dragoons who received 2,400 acres of O’Donovan lands at Castle Donovan in the 1661. He mortgaged these lands and moved to Four Mile Water. He had three children, Thomas whose son Edward settled in Antigua, a daughter who married John Beamish in 1678 and a son Charles who married Susan Arnopp in 1688 (daughter of Colonel Arnopp of Dunmanway). Their eldest son Nathaniel married Mary Alleyn in 1724 and died at Four Mile Water in 1766. Their son was Alleyn, and his son Nathaniel the third, who was at Four Mile Water in the 1790s was made a Justice of the Peace on the 27th May 1799. They had numerous relations sugar planters in Antigua. He may also have been resident in Bandon. He married Mary Townsend Baldwin in 1784 and their children were Alleyn who was ordained, Nathaniel (1802-29) and Tonson (Richard) who built Friendly Cove probably around 1810. He married Melian Donovan in 1812 who died childless and then Mary Beamish in 1816. Friendly Cove passed to William Beamish Morris who married their daughter Catherine. In Pigot’s Directory of 1824 Nathaniel Evanson and Richard Evanson are at Four Mile Water. Nathaniel Evanson, Sea Lodge, Cork died on 1849 and the Rev. Alleyn Evanson died in 1853. In Slater’s Directory of 1846 Allen Evanson lives at the Court, Richard Tonson Evanson at Friendly Cove, and Richard Tonson Evanson Jnr. at Ardogina. There is no reference to them in Thom’s 1862 Directory. Richard Tonson Evanson was one of the judges of the Bantry Agricultural Show in 1861 and his address was Bantry. Evanson’s Cove is shown, on the northern side of the road as a wooded estate, on the Ordnance survey map of 1842 in Ahakista but does not appear on the later map. There are two references to Evansons of Brookfield, Cork in the King’s Inns Admission rolls for the early 19th.Century. The Rev. A. Evanson sat on a committee in Bantry in 1824 to petition against the withdrawal of the linen bounty.
In 1864 Richard Evanson makes over Friendly Cove to his son-in-law and goes to live in Gurteenroe and in 1869 he has moved to Cork City. That branch of Evanson line died out by the death of the last descendant Catherine Beamish Morris in 1898 aged 80, there are however Evanson descendants living in Cork.
From University College Galway
ESTATE: EVANSON
Associated Families
Description
Local sources suggest that the Evanson family in West Cork descend from Lieutenant Nathaniel Evanson who was granted an estate of 2,373 acres in the barony of West Carbery, county Cork in 1666. Rev. A. Evanson and Richard T. Evanson were among the principal lessors in the parish of Durrus, barony of West Carbery, at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. Rev. William Evanson was also a lessor in the parish of Kilcrohane and Rev. Allan Evanson in the parish of Kilmocomoge, barony of Bantry, at the same time. Lands owned by members of the Evanson family and others, in the parishes of Carrigaline and Durrus, were offered for sale in the Landed Estates Court in November 1862. The sale included Charlemont House, this had ben the residence of Charles, the Mayor of Cork. This property was held under a lease from the Allen family dating from 1800. In the 1870s, Revs, Charles, Robert and Richard Evanson of Llansory rectory, Monmouthshire, Wales, owned over 2000 acres in county Cork. In 1858 Michael Hungerford Morris married Elizabeth Burrows Evanson, daughter of Richard Tonson Evanson and in the 1870s Michael H. Morris of Durrus owned 1,157 acres in county Cork. http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.beamish/111/mb.ashx
Houses
| House Name / Description | Townland | Civil Parish | PLU | DED | Barony | County | Map Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ardogeena House (H2670)At the time of Griffith’s Valuation, Richard T. Evanson was leasing this property to Florence McCarthy when it was valued at £10. In 1837, Lewis noted the house as the seat of R.T. Evanson. It is still extant and occupied. |
Ardogeena | Durrus | Bantry | Durrus East 27 | West Carbery (West) | Cork | Lat/Lon:51.60992 -9.52747OSI Ref: V942408 Discovery map #88. OS Sheet #130. |
| Four Mile Water Court or Durrus Court (H2672) Rev. Alleyn Evanson was leasing this property from the Earl of Bandon’s estate at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £15. It is labelled Four Mile Water Court on the 1st edition Ordnance Map and Durrus Court on the later 25-inch edition. In 1837, Lewis recorded it as Four Mile Water Court, the seat of A. Evanson. It is still extant. |
Gearhameen | Durrus | Bantry | Durrus West 28 | West Carbery (West) | Cork | Lat/Lon:51.62046 -9.54660OSI Ref: V929420 Discovery map #88. OS Sheet #130. |
 Friendly Cove (H2675)Richard T. Evanson was leasing this property from John B. Gumbleton at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £24. Stores adjoining the property were valued at £6. Leet records this property as the residence of Nathaniel Evanson, jnr. in 1814. The house is still extant and in 2009 was offered for sale. |
Murreagh | Durrus | Bantry | Durrus East 27 | West Carbery (West) | Cork | Lat/Lon:51.61705 -9.53204OSI Ref: V939416 Discovery map #88. OS Sheet #130. |
| Charlemont House (H3834) Charlemont House was leased by Charles Evanson from Nicholas G. Allen at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £20. It was included in the sale of Evanson property in the Landed Estates Court in November 1862. It is still extant. |
Monfieldstown | Carrigaline | Cork | Douglas | Cork | Cork | Lat/Lon:51.87444 -8.40225OSI Ref: W723692 Discovery map #87. OS Sheet #75. |
Archival sources
- National Archives of Ireland: Landed Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Evanson, 6 November 1862, Vol 66, MRGS 39/033, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
- National Library of Ireland: Abstract of deed of 25 Sept., 1844, between Rev. Alleyn Evanson of Fourmilewater, and Stephen Sweetman and Maria Sweetman als. Long, his wife, with Trustee, Richard James Long, 1844. Genealogical Office: Ms.144, pp.33 & 37-8
- National Library of Ireland: Investigation into search for acts by Allan Evanson against lands of Ballyboughemore, Carrurmore, Doogh and Litter in the parish of Kilmoe, Barony of West Carbery, Co. Cork, 1849. GO Ms.144, pp.33-40
- National Library of Ireland: Lismore Castle Papers, include rental & other documents re sale of lands in barony of West Carbery, Co Cork, in Encumbered Estates Court, 1854. Collection List 129. MS 43,964
Contemporary printed sources
- GRIFFITH’S VALUATION OF IRELAND, 1850-1858. : West Carbery (West) Barony: 113 (Ardogeena), 119 (Gearhameen), 121 (Murreagh)
- GRIFFITH’S VALUATION OF IRELAND, 1850-1858. : Barony of Cork: 11 (Monfieldstown)
- HUSSEY DE BURGH, U. H. The Landowners of Ireland. An alphabetical list of the owners of estates of 500 acres or £500 valuation and upwards in Ireland. Dublin: Hodges, Foster and Figgis, 1878: 150
- LEET, Ambrose. A directory to the market towns, villages, gentlemen’s seats, and other noted places in Ireland. Dublin: Printed by B. Smith, 1814 : 190
- LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: Vol.I, 591 (Durrus Parish)
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. 15th Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Records Ireland, 1825. Vol XVI, Appendix I, Grants under Acts of Settlement: 64
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties …. in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 122
Modern printed sources
Evansons named in 1837/8 enquiry into fictious votes Cork City
Evanson, the Rev. Alleyn Four-mile Water yes
Evanson, Nathaniel Four-mile Water no
Evanson, Charles Four-mile Water no
Evanson, Abraham M. Four-mile Water no
Evanson,William B. Four-mile Water yes
Evanson, Richard Tonson Ardoguma yes
Evanson, Nathaniel Friendly Cove
Evanson, Nathaniel jun. Four-mile Water no
Earl of Bandon (Bernard) Estate, Durrus, Co. Cork
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From University College Galway, database.
The Bandon estate recovered Durrus lands on the expiration of the Evanson’s lease c1850. The estate extended from Crottees to Brahalish and included the village which the estate rebuilt c1850.
In the Bandon Estate papers there is a lease from Bernard to Charles and Nathaniel Evanson and Jeremy Cough(l)an (probably of Carrigmanus/Crookhaven their cousin) of lands at Gerhameen, Coller, Rathmore and Rosavanny for 31 years from the 30th October 1727.
The estate donated the site of the present Catholic church c1899.
In the late 19th century Lord Bandon used Durrus Court as a summer residence. The family maintained gamekeepers in areas such as Coomkeen, the Burke family.
The rental registers of the estate covering the Durrus lands from 1850 were rescued some years ago and are currently in the Cork Archives Institute but are awaiting restoration.
FAMILY: BERNARD (EARL OF BANDON)
| Family name: | Bernard |
| Family title: | Earl of Bandon |
| Description: | |
| Estates: |
|
Carbery/Evans/Evans-Freke Estate, Durrus
09 Sunday Oct 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
1821 disturbances, Arthue Hyde., Ballycomane, Carrigboy, Clonee, crottees, Dromreagh, Hugh Hutchinson. James Bernard, Moulivard, Thomas Sherrard
In 1700 Bishop Dives Downes visited Durrus and said the landowners included Colonel Freke presumably Ballycomane.
| NAI REFERENCE: | CSO/RP/SC/1821/299 |
|---|---|
| TITLE: | Letter from 6th baron Carbery, County Cork, reporting his efforts to maintain law and order in area |
| SCOPE & CONTENT: | Letter from John Evans-Freke, 6th baron Carbery, Castle Freke, Rosscarbery, County Cork, to Chief Secretary’s Office, Dublin Castle, concerning the state of his neighbourhood and emphasising his own vigilance in keeping the peace. Urges government to adopt ‘vigorous’ measures to prevent the ‘contagion’ from spreading to all parts of Ireland. Comments that, ‘Until the Irish are taught to obey the Laws by a due sense of religious and moral Obligation they must be made to obey them by coercive means – This is a most difficult Country to govern’. |
| EXTENT: | 1 item; 4pp |
| DATE(S): | 30 Nov 1821 |
| DATE EARLY: | 1821 |
| DATE LATE: | 1821 |
For Map of Ballycomane, Durrus, c1770
https://durrushistory.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/ballycomane/
From University College Galway, database, includes town land of Ballycommane.
FAMILY: EVANS/EVANS-FREKE (BARON CARBERY)
The National Library, Map Collection has a map of the estate of family compiled by Thomas Sherrard it included the townland of ‘Ballycomaune’ (Ballycomane), Durrus and was done in 1788. It shows the townland with a ford at the road to Bantry presumably where the former creamery was.
Ballycomane is divided into:
West 210 acres arable, mountain
Middle 266 acres arable and pasture
Mountain 318 acres coarse mountain
Lissheen 305 acres arable and mountain
East 213 acres arable and mountain.
The total area is 1,315 acres, and the total family estate is 15,276 acres. The maps are beautifully produced in a black hue.
In addition local townlands bordering on the estate are listed with the owners and are
Glenlough, Knowlavard (Moulivard) and Clonee Hugh Hutchinson. West Clonee Arthur Hyde. Kielreagh and Dromreagh Rt. Hon. Lord Riversdale. Carrigboy, Dromtineheen and Crutteee (Crottees), James Bernard.
| Family name: | Evans/Evans-Freke |
| Family title: | Baron Carbery |
| Description: | |
| Estates: |
|
O’Donovan estates, Muintervara
09 Sunday Oct 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
O’Donovan Magistrates:
Richard O’Donovan 1818, Fort Lodge, Durrus listed 1838 , son Richard Esq. O’Donovan Cove, and Jane d Alexander O’Donovan, Squince. Father of Richard O’Donovan JP History Brother of Timothy and Dr. Daniel O’Donovan JP He married Maria O’Sullivan on the 15th October 1833, her father was Murty Og, of Ceimatringane House, Castletownbere. She died at Fort Lodge, aged 52, voted 1850 for Denis Galwey as High Constable for Ibane and Ballyroe (Clonakilty).
Richard O’Donovan 1845, Glenlough Cottage, Durrus listed 1838 , son Richard Esq. O’Donovan Cove, and Jane d Alexander O’Donovan, Squince. Son of Richard O’Donovan JP and Maria O’Sullivan, nephew of Timothy and Dr. Daniel O’Donovan JP , listed 1854.
Timothy O’Donovan (1790–1854), 1818, O’Donovan’s Cove, in ruins 1875, Durrus, listed 1838 , son Richard Esq. and Jane d Alexander O’Donovan, Squince. Correspondent with Antiquarian Dr. John O’Donovan re O’Donovans of Carbery. Brother of Dr O’Donovan and Richard O’Donovan JP and uncle of Richard O’Donovan JP. Landlord and political organiser. Member Election Committee, Rickard Deasy, Clonakilty (later Attorney General) 1855
Timothy O’Donovan (1790–1854), 1818, O’Donovan’s Cove, Durrus, listed 1838 , son Richard Esq. and Jane d Alexander O’Donovan, Squince. Correspondent with Antiquarian Dr. John O’Donovan re O’Donovans of Carbery. Brother of Dr O’Donovan and Richard O’Donovan JP and uncle of Richard O’Donovan JP.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZvT84JCKTIhMqqZjJsF_AUJLH8S820ksObykwOty3wg/edit?pref=2&pli=1
Signature of Timothy O’Donovan, Magistrate/Justice of the Peace 1830 for Tithe Aplottments Caheragh (The O”Donovans are buried in the old Caheragh graveyard)
Takes a little time to open, details of title, tenancies, plan of estate.
Sale O’Donovan Estate, Durrus, Landed Estate Court 1876“>
The above photographs are of Fort Lodge, an O’Donovan house near the residence of O’Donovan’s Cove. The property is owned by Mr. Ryan. Of that original residence nothing remains but the stones may have been used in the building of the house and farm buildings of the Cronin family which are adjacent to the site.
From University College Galway Database on landed estates.
ESTATE: O’DONOVAN (KILCROHANE)
Associated Families
Description
The estate of Timothy O’Donovan, of O’Donovan’s Cove, parishes of Durrus and Kilcrohane, amounted to almost 2000 acres in county Cork in the 1870s. The estate of the late Richard O’Donovan, MD, amounted to over 1600 acres in county Cork at the same time. Both were among the principal lessors in the parish of Kilcrohane, West Carbery, at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. Richard and Daniel O’Donovan held townlands in the parish of Inchigeelagh in 1851. In June 1869, over 1400 acres at Coolmountain, owned by Richard Donovan and others, was offered for sale in the Landed Estates Court. The sale notice indicates that the lands were held on lease from members of the Tonson, Lords Riversdale, estate since 1832. Kathleen O’Donovan, executrix of Richard O’Donovan, offered over 1000 acres of this estate for sale in the Landed Estates Court in July 1876. The original lease, dated 1752, was between the Bishop of Clonfert, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora and William Roberts. Timothy O’Donovan had taken up the lease in 1844.
Houses
| House Name / Description | Townland | Civil Parish | PLU | DED | Barony | County | Map Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Lodge (H2676) John B. Gumbleton was leasing this property to Richard Donovan at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £7. In 1837 Lewis noted it as the seat of R. O’Donovan. It is now in ruins. |
Tullig | Durrus | Bantry | Glanlough 29 | West Carbery (West) | Cork | Lat/Lon:51.60798 -9.60537OSI Ref: V888407 Discovery map #88. OS Sheet #130. |
| O’Donovan’s Cove (H2687) Timothy O’Donovan held this property in fee at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £12. Lewis recorded it as the seat of T.O’Donovan in 1837. It is described as “in ruins” on the 25-inch map of the 1890s and no trace remains now. |
Rossnacaheragh | Kilcrohane | Bantry | Glanlough 29 | West Carbery (West) | Cork | Lat/Lon:51.60523 -9.60960OSI Ref: V885404 Discovery map #88. OS Sheet #130. |
Archival sources
- National Archives of Ireland: Landed Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Donovan, 11 June 1869, Vol 94, MRGS 39/045, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
- National Archives of Ireland: Landed Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), O’Donovan, 7 July 1876, Vol 125, MRGS 39/056, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
Contemporary printed sources
- GRIFFITH’S VALUATION OF IRELAND, 1850-1858. : West Carbery (West) Barony: 54 (Rossnacaheragh), 122 (Tullig)
- GRIFFITH’S VALUATION OF IRELAND, 1850-1858. : East Carbery (West) Barony: 115 (Coolmountain)
- HUSSEY DE BURGH, U. H. The Landowners of Ireland. An alphabetical list of the owners of estates of 500 acres or £500 valuation and upwards in Ireland. Dublin: Hodges, Foster and Figgis, 1878: 348
- LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: Vol.I, 591 (Durrus Parish)
- PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties …. in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 1
O’Donovans
In 1615, Donnel O’Donovan, of Castledonovan, surrendered and was regranted large areas of lands including an interest in Brahalish. The Antiquarian Dr John O’Donovan, In his translation of ‘The Tribes of Ireland’ by Aonghis O Dalaigh 1852 states that Timothy O’Donovan of Ardahill, Kilcrohane descends from Keadagh Mor the youngest son of O’Donovan, by the daughter of Sir Owen MacCarthy Reagh was himself the purchaser of Adrahill, Carravileen, Derryclovane and Faunmore. The ancestor the Richard O’Donovan, Fort Lodge, Dr Daniel O’Donovan, Ahakista, and Timothy O’Donovan, the Cove took this large tract of land for 999 years from a Mr Congreve, of Mount Congreve, Co Waterford an undertaker and they still pay some small head rent.
One of the O’Donovan’s of Clann Lochlainn purchased land in fee simple at Ardahill, Kilcrohane but there is now no trace of his fine residence and imposing iron gates. He may have been Ceadach who was formerly in Inchoclogh, Bantry. In 1794 Timothy O’Donovan of this branch was born and married Mary daughter of Daniel O’Sullivan of Reendonegan House, Bantry and Hanora O’Connell. She was the aunt of Daniel O’Connell who secured Catholic Emancipation in 1828. Possibly around 1850 Ceadach O’Donovan helped in improvements to the Kilcrohane Church. He also built a water mill near the house and the mill race is still extant. By the mid 19th Century the family had fallen on hard times with two brothers in the Workhouse in Bantry. Some of the stones from the house may have been used to build outhouses near Fitzpatrick’s Pub.
Another O’Donovan of Clann Cathail held land by way of 999 year lease from Lord Riversdale and their house was at Tullig, O’Donovan’s Cove near Ahakista. Timothy O’Donovan of this branch was born in 1790 and was succeeded by his nephew Richard. Timothy was a Justice of the Peace in 1823 which was unusual for a Catholic who were only then a handful of the approximately 300 JPs in Co Cork at the time. In a Petty Session case in Castletownbeare involving Father Healy and a parishioner Sullivan in January 1845 his written opinion was sought by Resident Magistrate Litttle and he was described as a worthy Catholic Magistrate well known in the west Riding of Cork as a most practical and enlightened Catholic in this case on the discipline and conduct of Roman Catholic Clergymen.
Richard built the house Fort Lodge, now in ruins c 1830. He in turn married Maria O’Sullivan on the 15th. October 1833; her father was Murty Og, of Ceimatringane House, Castletownbere. She died at Fort Lodge, aged 52, on the 27th May 1865 the death reported by her son Richard. The Antiquarian Dr. John O’Donovan states that a Richard O’Donovan of this family entered the Irish College in Toulouse, joined the Irish Service in France and became a well known swordsman. In this house Diarmuid (Jerry) a’Duna, the last of the MacCarthys of Glennacroim near Dunmanway spent his final days ending an ancient line. He was 83 when he died and was the great grandson of Teige-an Duna the last to reside in the McCarthy Castle in Dunmanway.
Richard O’Donovan, O’Donovan’s Cove is listed in Pigot’s Directory of 1824 and at Fort Lodge in Slater’s Directory of 1846 as well as one of Co. Cork’s property owners in 1870. Daniel O’Donovan of Ahakista cottage (now demolished) is listed in Slater 1862 as a Magistrate. Tim O’Donovan appears in Thom’s Directory 1862 at O’Donovan’s Cove; he is buried in a large tomb in the old graveyard in Caheragh. Tim O’Donovan is listed as a Magistrate of O’Donovan’s Cove, Carrickbui, and Bantry. It is believed that the O’Donovans had sub-tenants such as the O’Brien family of Glenlough.
The various O’Donovan houses are shown in the 1842 Ordnance Survey Maps of 1842 all surrounded by trees and outbuildings at Ardahill Kilcrohane, O’Donovan’s Cove and Fort Lodge. The Cove had extensive wooded grounds going down to the sea and a gate lodge on the northern upper road. Guy’s Directory of 1875 refers to Timothy O’Donovan deceased and the Cove ‘almost in ruins’. By 1913, the Cove was shown in ruins and Ardahill had disappeared. There is now no trace of the house at Ardahill or O’Donovan’s Cove, apart from wide iron gates on the main Durrus-Ahakista road near the Cove. These gates are known as the white gates and in former times were a gathering place for fisherfolk. Mrs Cronin of the nearby farm (b.1917) says that the house was demolished and she heard that the Cronin farmhouse was partly built with stones from that house. She said there were stables and kennels for the hounds. She understood that the O’Donovans were good landlords. The orchard nearby is still extant. There is another later O’Donovan house on higher ground (Fort Lodge) last occupied by Miss Kate O’Donovan (known as Miss Katty) who in the 1870s had 1,243 acres. She is remembered as being very generous and in the end indigent, apart from the old age pension. She died in 1928 and is buried in the Durrus Chapel Graveyard with her cousin Jane Blair. In her latter years the house had part of the roof missing and on the night of her wake the timbers of the house were removed for fire wood. The house was lost and forgotten until Mr Ryan purchased the property and in 2006 removed the ivy revealing the full extent of that property.
Other branches of the O’Donovan family conformed to the Established Church from the end of the 17th Century and in the 1730s and intermarried with the Townsend, Beecher and Tonson families among others and their descendants gave service in the Royal Navy, British army and Colonial Service.
In the 18th and 19th centuries families in West Cork and South Kerry such as the O’Donovans, the O’Leary, the O’Sullivans, the McSweeneys and McCarthys managed to acquire leasehold interests as middlemen and had close ties of marriage with each other. These interests may be seen in the Tithe Aplottments, Ordnance Survey Name Books and Griffith Valuations. In 1857 Peter McSwiney, the last lineal descendant of the Mac Finin Dubh O’Sullivans (a 400 year old title), after his eviction from Dereen in Kenmare by the Lansdowne Estate, spent his last days in Ahakista Cottage. Richard O’Donovan, O’Donovan’s Cove is listed in Pigot’s Directory of 1824 and at Fort Lodge in Slater’s Directory of 1846 as well as one of Co. Cork’s property owners in 1870. Daniel O’Donovan of Ahakista cottage (now demolished) is listed in Slater 1862 as a Magistrate. Tim O’Donovan appears in Thom’s Directory 1862 at O’Donovan’s Cove. Tim O’Donovan is listed as a Magistrate of O’Donovan’s Cove, Carrickbui, and Bantry. In the late 19th century newspaper obituaries mention ‘old established’ or ‘long tailed’ families and families such as the Dillons and Cantys of Clashadoo, O’Sullivans of Crottees, the Rosses and Kingstons of Glendart are so described and may be indicative of a slightly lesser social stratum then the petty landlord families.
Burke’s Peerage 1871 has a piece on the O’Donovans of O’Donovan’s Cove pointing out their ancient lineage and family relations.
Pococke visit to Bantry 1758, smallpox, leprosy A Bandon doctor, John Milner Barry had noted in 1800 that exposure to cowpox gave immunity to smallpox; this was known in West Cork as ‘shinach’ from ‘sine’ the Irish word for teat.
08 Saturday Oct 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
Famine 1741 Richard Pococke 1758
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 ‘the 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 this custom less pernicious … but then smallpox is very mortal among them, supposed to be owing to the first died. A sort of scurvy also, which sometimes come near to a leprosie, is frequent among them. They have great notions of fairies in all these parts, which take the place of witches in other places. ….. All workmen, though only making a ditch or thrashing, do all sorts of handicraft in a private house or fields, had the shameful custom these parts more than any other, of holding a string or something across the way and begging money’. In relation to smallpox it might be noted that in 1842 the Ordnance Survey Name Book for Rooska mentions a disused sand pit since levelled formerly used to bury smallpox victims. A Bandon doctor, John Milner Barry had noted in 1800 that exposure to cowpox gave immunity to smallpox; this was known in West Cork as ‘shinach’ from ‘sine’ the Irish word for teat. There were outbreaks of fever in the mid-1740s, 1762, 1771 and a major epidemic in 1800, 1801 There was a reputed church at Kilhanagan, between Altar and Dunmanus which had a leper’s window.
