Know your Townland-Moyriesk/Maigh Réisc

Although closely associated with Quin, the townland of Moyriesk crosses, unusually, the parishes of Doora and Clooney. The smaller section is in Clooney as the map diagram below outlines. Records for the townland are therefore seperately registered as though this is two different townlands. The background to its division has not presented in research for this post.

Left: Moyriesk Doora, Right: Moyriesk Clooney

0.09 square miles/58 acres.

Maigh Réisc – Marshy plain.

The history of the townland revolves very much around that of the ‘big house’ located there. The Macnamaras were settled at Moyriesk from the 17th century. In 1684 John Macnamara received a grant of 2,370 acres in the barony of Bunratty, including Moyriesk. Colonel Francis Macnamara was Member of Parliament for county Clare 1790-1798. His son was the well-known duellist John “Fireball” Macnamara. His hell-raising caused the loss of the family estates. This branch of the family, the MacNamara Fionn, retained the chieftainship of Clann Cuiléin through eleven generations until 1814 when Francis MacNamara of Moyriesk died. In 1837 Moyriesk was bought by the father of Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci from the Macnamaras. Knopoge Castle, then in the hands of William Scott, had also belonged to the Macnamaras of Moyriesk.

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At the time of Griffith’s Valuation, George Sampson owned land in four county Clare baronies. John Sampson held six townlands in the parish of Moynoe, barony of Tulla Upper, and also land in the parish of Killokennedy, barony of Tulla Lower, county Clare. Lilla Sampson in her book on the Sampson family gives genealogical trees for the descendants of John Sampson and his wife Marcella O’Callaghan. The Sampsons appear to have acquired extensive estates in county Clare by the 1870s as Donat Sampson of London owned 8,501 acres in the county and George Sampson of Belmount, county Limerick, owned 3,596 acres. They both held untenanted land in the Scariff district in 1906.

Moyriesk Clooney

1841 Census: N/A

1851 Census: 2 Houses, Population 11

1861 Census: 5 Houses, Population 23

1871 Census: 3 Houses, Population 18

1881 Census: 1 House, Population 6

1891 Census: 1 House, Population 1

1911 Census Moyriesk Doora(41 persons)

William Slattery, sons Pat, Michael, Francis, Peter, Willie Joe, James, daughter Mary K, visitor Minnie Hennessy, servant Mary Flynn, sister-in-law Mary Collins

John & Margaret Slattery, sons John, Thomas, daughters Mary, Eilly, Margaret, Johanna, servant John Hayes.

Kate Clancy, servant Marguret Purtill

James & Mary Reilly, sons Patrick, James, daughters Mary, Rebecca, Teresia, Anastacia.

Patrick & Anne Hartigan, stepson Thomas Scanlan.

Daniel & Anne Kelly, daughter Anne, sons Frank, William, Dan, John, Martin.

1901 Census Moyriesk Clooney( 5 persons)

Michael Slattery, son John, daughter-in-law Margaret, grandson John, granddaughter Mary.

 

 

Left: 1922 image of a cottage which is thought to have been on the Moyreisk estate.

Moyriesk RIC Barracks and Creamery

Although technically located in the adjoining townland of Ballycrighan, these two buildings have been closely associated with Moyriesk. The RIC barracks is shown on the 1842 6” map, but the date of its construction is nor readily available. It may have been constructed, like many others in nearby areas, in reaction to growing agrarian conflict and to protect the residents of the nearby ‘big house’. There are many photos in the Clare Library O’Callaghan-Westropp photo collection showing police presence within the estate. It is also located in close proximity to the silver and lead mines.

The creamery was not built until the late 1950’s, alongside what was then the old RIC barracks. Moyriesk Creamery was a dairy processing facility which served local farmers by collecting and separating milk, with some operations involving the Scarriff Creamery. While the original creamery building is now a private residence with extensions, it remains a notable local landmark tied to farming history. Its services were availed of from as far as Clarecastle and beyond Quin. It was one of the many co-operative creameries, established from the 1890s to centralize milk collection, though many closed in the late 20th century due to consolidation.

Oral interview with Paddy Hassett of Moyriesk

A conversation between Paddy Hassett, Moyriesk, and the Quin Heritage Group was recorded as part of our ongoing project on local interviews. Paddy was one of six children, all born in Doora, where he developed an early interest in horses. He moved to Parkview house in Moyriesk when he married his late wife Eileen in 1966. The house was originally an old RIC barracks built in the 19th century and a creamery was built beside it in the late 1950’s. In this video he shares some memories of his working life, he also gives us an insight into life in a rural farming community and the importance of the Creamery, the hurling and Paddy Con’s.

https://ebw.pms.mybluehost.me/paddy-hassett-moyriesk-clooney/

Moyriesk House

At the end of the sixteenth century the Castle of Moyriesk was the property of Donogh Macnamara. His grandson was  Macnamara Fionn who mortgaged his property to STheobald Butler in 1713, The Macnamara Fionn’s son, John of Moyriesk & Cratloe, married Margaret Butler of Castlekeale. Their eldest boy was the father of “Fireball” Macnamara, an eccentric MP, who is reputed to have fought over fifty duels, as well as having been wounded at Vinegar Hill in 1798. There is a memorial for him in Lady Chapel, Quin Friary. Sometime after his death in 1836, George Sampson leased the house and its two hundred and twenty-six acre demesne from Lord Fitzgerald, a Baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer. Moyriesk then became the property of James Foster-Vesey-Fitzgerald, D.L., J.P., High Sheriff of Clare in 1868. In 1845, James had married Henrietta Mahon of Castlegar, Galway. In 1878 he owned five thousand, two hundred and ninety-three acres, one thousand and forty seven of which were in County Clare. He was succeeded by his eldest son, also called James, in 1893. The latter died unmarried in 1907 but his sister, Geraldine Sophia Foster- Vesey-Fitzgerald married Robert Crowe, J.P., of Toonagh, and they lived at Moyriesk for some time. She died in 1932. 

Fitzgerald/Foster Vesey Fitzgerald (Moyriesk)

This family was originally Fitzgerald Fitzgibbon but the surname Fitzgibbon was dropped in the late 17th century after the family settled in county Clare. The Right Honourable James Fitzgerald, son of William Fitzgerald of Inchicronan, county Clare, married Catherine Vesey daughter and co heiress of the Reverend Henry Vesey. She was created Baroness Fitzgerald and Vesci in 1826. In the mid 19th century the Vesey Fitzgeralds held an estate in the barony of Bunratty Upper, mainly located in the parish of Inchicronan but also in the parishes of Clooney, Doora, Quin and Templemaley. In the barony of Inchiquin, the estate was mainly in the parish of Kilkeedy, formerly belonging to the Macnamaras. Their house at Lahardan was in ruins by the time of the first Ordnance Survey. When the last Baron Fitzgerald and Vesci died in 1860 his sister Letitia Foster assumed the additional surname of Fitzgerald and Vesci and her children inherited the Fitzgerald Vesci estates in Clare. In the 1870s her three sons William (of Derrybrick, parish of Kilmurry, Clonderalaw, county Clare and Moyvane, county Kerry), John and James owned 3,581, 2,224 and 1,047 acres respectively in the county. William also owned 2400 acres in county Kerry. In addition the youngest James Foster Fitzgerald Vesci of Moyriesk and Glantreague, near Clonbur, county Galway, also owned 3,715 acres in county Galway and 531 acres in county Louth. He wrote a book entitled ‘A Practical Guide to the Valuation of rent in Ireland’ and married his first cousin Henrietta Mahon of Castlegar. They lived at Mountbernard at the time of Griffith’s Valuation. By 1916 John V. Fitzgerald had agree to the purchase of over 2,000 acres of his county Clare estate by the Congested Districts’ Board.

The marriage of James Thomas Leslie Foster, Moyriesk, Quin, County Clare and Miss Henrietta Louisa Mahon, Stephens Green, City of Dublin, 4 December 1845

(see landedestates.ie)

For a more detailed account of the Fitzgerald Vesey family, see The Other Clare, Vol.14, pages 48-51.

National Monuments

CL034-081001 Cashel ringfort, CL034-081002 Cashel ringfort, CL034-081003 Cashel ringfort, CL034-082001 Cashel ringfort

CL034-176— Castle (site of, coincident with location of Moyriesk House), CL034-219— Fulacht Fia

In addition, there are numerous ‘Burnt Mound’ sites identified by the NMS within Moyriesk townland.

Source: National Monument Service – Historic Environment Viewer

Closing Comments

Much of the history of Moyriesk is attached to the ‘big house’ or it’s residents, whether MacNamara’s or Vesey-Fitzgerald’s. Both of these families have reaches beyond Moyriesk.

James Vesey-Fitzgerald represented Clare as an MP for many years and vacated this seat for his son William. This son had mired himself in controversies and needed to be settled down. He eventually lost this seat to Daniel O’Connell, a Catholic, in a chapter of history we are familiar with. In this 1828 contest, only those Catholics who were freeholders with a valuation above 40 shillings could vote. Catholics, however, were not allowed to take a seat in parliament, a situation later changed through the efforts of O’Connell. Up to this point, those tenants eligible to vote, took guidance or instruction from their landlord on these matters.

Further references to this townland:

Francis MacNamara: The last member of the MacNamara family to have held possession of Knappogue Castle was Francis MacNamara of Moyreisk. He was half brother to John ‘Fireball’ MacNamara. Francis was M.P. for Co. Clare in 1790-8 and 1800-02, then High Sheriff of the county in 1789. He was Colonel of the Volunteers in 1783, and Lieut. Col. commanding the 121st Regiment of Foot in 1794. Francis MacNamara died in 1814 and is buried at Quin.

To pay debts incurred from a court action, which subsequently ruined him financially, he sold Knappogue Castle in 1800 to the Scott family of Cahircon. Francis died unmarried at Well Park, Co. Galway, ‘a pensioner on the bounty of his kinsman, Francis MacNamara of Doolin’, according to Twigge. This was Francis MacNamara of Doolin and Ennistymon. Well Park was the Co. Galway residence of the MacNamara family of Doolin and Ennistymon, into which family Robert Twigge was married.

Margaret MacNamara: She was the daughter of John MacNamara of Moyreisk and Knappogue, and sister of Francis. She married Edmund Burke of Meelick House, in east Co. Clare, who was a forebear of the nineteenth-century genealogist and publisher, Sir Bernard Burke, (1814–92), who published Burke’s Peerage. This family was a cadet branch of the Burkes of Clanrickard

Source: The MacNamara Family of Knappogue & Moyreisk by Martin Breen

The death record for Jeremiah Vaughan, age 72, parish priest Roman Catholic church, states he died on 28th of November 1879 at Moyriesk:

On Dec. 7th, the remains of the revered and deeply lamented Father Jeremiah Vaughan were removed from his late residence, Moyreisk Villa, to the parish church, Doora, previous to the funeral obsequies and interment, which took place next day at eleven o’clock. The funeral cortege testified to the respect and admiration with which the good priest was regarded by all classes and creeds. A large number of clergymen wearing scarfs walked in the procession. The coffin was carried shoulder high the entire distance—two miles. The remains were deposited in Doora chapel, where many parishioners kept a pious vigil round the bier till morning. On the following morning the remains of the deceased were entombed in front of the altar. The Most Rev. Dr. Ryan, Bishop, presided at the sacred ceremonies.Irish American, New York, 3 January 1880

https://clarelibraries.ie/localstudies/forums/clare-past