quinheritagroup@gmail.com

This month we visit one of our largest townlands, Ballykilty, which is 2.4km/0.93 miles square or 596 acres. 

Baile Uí Chaoilte, the homestead of the Ó Keilty family, has always been recorded as some anglicized version of the original Gaelic name. PW Joyce translates the name as Baile Ó Coiltedh – O’Kiltys homestead. The area in which this townland is situated is associated with the McInerney clan, there is no record of an Uí Caoilte/O’Keilty family connection. John O’Donovan records it as Baile Coillte, suggesting that it derives its name from its woodlands, which makes sense to anyone who has walked through the manor estate that still dominates it to this day. 

The townland stretches from Ballykilty Manor on the road to Dromoland, to the new cemetery on the Sixmilebridge road. It reaches east and west of the original road into Quin from Limerick. It was originally two separate townlands, Ballyquiltybeg being the other associated name.

The following residents are recorded in the:

1659 Census – (Ballyquilty) 10 residents (all Irish), William Creagh Esq is the owner.

                         (Ballyquiltybeg) 10 residents (all Irish), James Reeves Gent is the owner.

1855 Griffiths Valuation – John Blood, James Corbett, Patrick Corbett, John McCue, Michael McNamara, Michael Buckley, Patrick Walsh, William Monsell.

1901 Census – John/Jane Blood & son plus 4 servants; Nora Ryan & family including her mother Mary Corbett and 5 children; Patrick/Ann McNamara & 3 children; Michael Corbett & 4 children; Denis/Maria McNamara & 3 children; James/Mary Kate Corbett plus visitor (Matt Hourigan, local tailor) and boarder; Michael McNamara (shepherd); Patrick/Johanna Casey and daughter. Total 38 persons.

1911 Census – Fitzgerald Blood plus 3 servants (Pat Ryan, Bridget Hayes, Norah Quinlan); Nora Ryan & family including her mother Mary Corbett and 6 children; Ann McNamara & 2 sons; Michael Corbett & 3 children; Denis/Maria McNamara & 2 children; Mary Kate Corbett plus 2 children, 1 servant(Pat Fahey); Patrick/Isabella Kilmartin and 5 children (see photo below). Total 36 persons.

Michael Kilmartin (1942-2022) and his brother Patrick (1944-2007) with sister Mary (1946-2020) helping their father, Michael (1903-1996) on their farm in Ballykilty in the early 1950’s. Courtesy of Ellen Charge via The Vintage Lens Photo Archive.

Ballykilty Manor

Associated names: Creagh, McMahon, Monsell, Davoren, Blood, Conroy, Atlantis Development.

There are plenty of articles and websites providing historical information on this house, so in keeping with the other townland posts, I will not cover the same territory again. Please see https://ebw.pms.mybluehost.me/the-big-houses-in-and-around-quin-and-clooney/Ballykilty for more detailed information. The website refers to the kitchen mantlepiece “These chimneys were built by John Macnamara and Honora Clancy in 1614“. Some records state that this chimney was taken from Danganbrack Castle, home of the McNamaras, and rebuilt when Ballykilty was constructed in 1760. Its not known who might have been responsible for this act.

Other records speculate that it was taken from the original Ballykilty house (homeplace of the McInernry sept, a junior sept of the McNamaras-Clann Chuiléin) that was on the site prior to the existing house. The monument (CL043-023001), made up of the script plaque, mantlepiece and cornerstones, appears to have been removed for conservation in 2010 and is presently in storage. It would be lovely if someday Danganbrack castle was purchased by the state and restored with this monument reinstated, if indeed this is its rightful place.

The Monsell’s, an English family, were the owners of Ballykilty Manor prior to the Bloods and were related to the Perys of Limerick. The Earl of Limerick, a member of the Pery family, was a major property owner in the village of Quin prior to the ‘Encumbered Estates’ process which allowed for locals to own their own homes.

Monument Features within Ballykilty

CL042-018— 042-/03/4 14042/17317 – Watermill

CL042-019— 042-/07/1 14041/17273 – Burial Ground/Cillín

CL042-020— 042-/07/I 14073/17267 – Ringfort Rath/Cashel

CL042-023— 042-/03/5 14107/17320 – House 17th century B/Kilty Manor

CL042-024— 042-/07/2 14131/17276 – Enclosure

CL042-025— 042-/07/2 14143/17269 – Ballylassa Fort (stone faced platform, 102ft wide)

CL042-028— 042-/07/3 14192/17286  – Enclosure

CL042-029— 042-/07/3 14230/17284  – Enclosure

CL042-030— 042-/03/6 14242/17316 – Enclosure – Parkatruhaun Fort

CL042-127— 042-/07/3 14239/17240 – Enclosure Possible

CL042-128— 042-/03/5 14142/17340 – Enclosure

CL042-129— 042-/03/5 14147/17331 – Enclosure

CL042-130— 042-/03/5 14149/17342 – Standing Stone

CL043-023001 – Chimney Piece (of Danganbrack Castle?)

CL042-173001 – Fulacht Fia

CL042-173002 – Fulacht Fia

CL042-174001 – Fulacht Fia

Closing comment

 Outside of Ballykilty Manor Estate, this townland is almost entirely devoted to agricultural use. It is amongst the best in the county, as witnessed by the 2023 auction and record sale of 47 acres, see https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/farming/1308588/record-price-of-1-35m-paid-for-47-acres-at-auction-in-limerick.html. However, it is still strongly identified with the estate that now sits idle, having provided a valuable asset and amenity to the community as a hotel with its grounds. It has been vandalised and plundered since becoming vacant and plans for its redevelopment have not succeeded. The hotel history probably deserves a post of its own, I am sure there must be great stories to be told. Hopefully it will be brought back to life sometime in the not too distant future.

The historical place of the McInerney Clan in the story of Ballykilty needs to be reinforced. The history of Ballykilty did not begin with the building of the current Manor house in 1760. Whether the Great Mantlepiece belongs to Danganbrack or Ballykilty, an watchful eye needs to be kept to ensure it returns to Quin sometime in the future. Whether Ballykilty Manor or Danganbrack Castle, both these man made features are a vital asset in this communities heritage and should not be allowed to return to nature through neglect.

Historical references:

Monsell family https://landedestates.ie/estate/1994

Blood family https://landedestates.ie/estate/1993

 

1930’s Schools Folklore Collection:

https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177641/5175693

Westropp – Types of the ringforts in Eastern Clare P.69

https://www.burrengeopark.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Types_of_the_Ring-Forts_Remaining_in_Eastern_clare.pdf

TVAS Report on recent archaeological testing of ‘hollow’ in Ballykilty

 

https://excavations.ie/report/2022/Clare/0032516/

 

“..that John McInerney, and Mahone McInerney, of Ballykilty, gents., did, by statute staple defeazanced, acknowledge to owe to said James Martin, the sum of £44 yearly, until the sum of £330, lent by Martin to the McInerneys, together with interest at ten percent should be repaid…”

James Frost, The History and Topography of the County of Clare: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the 18th.Century. P329

 

GENEALOGY OF CLANN McINERNEY

The McInerney demesne at Ballykilty in the parish of Quin may have formed part of the original patrimony of the clann as it was occupied exclusively by the ceannfine – or sept-head – of the McInerneys in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.  Ballykilty was located on the southern boundary of the original Uí Caisin lands and was near Danganbrack, the residence of the McNamara Fionn chiefs of west Clann Chuiléin.  Collateral McInerney land in the parishes of Kilnasoolagh and Clonloghan may have come into the family after 1318 because before this date they were the patrimony of the Uí Bloid clanns.

The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries saw much change in east Clare as the McNamaras expanded into neighbouring Uí Bloid tuatha and sidelined their Uí Gráda (O’Grady) rivals.  By allying with clann Taidhg Uí Bhriain during the wars of Thomond the McNamaras defeated the Norman colonisation of Tradaree.  The climate was right for Donnchadha Mac Con Mara’s airchinneach line to flourish.  During this time the McInerneys are first mentioned as a distinct clann, suggesting that they had grown in influence and were prominent enough to be mentioned as a McNamara sept in their own right.  The importance of the McInerneys is shown by the several pedigrees that were later drawn up to support the claims of the leading branch of the McInerneys to the ownership of Ballysallagh, Ballykilty and Carrigoran.  This also showed that the McInerneys held some importance (at the local level) in the Gaelic social system to warrant several pedigrees outlining patrilineal descent of the clann from its twelfth century origins. The division of the family into two genealogical branches was probably done to support the land claims of the dominant family branch who were vying for control over the clann lands of Ballykilty, Ballysallagh and Carrigoran during the 1560s and 1570s.

We know that the rich pastoral land of Ballykilty probably served as the demesne of the McInerney ceannfine as it was sometimes pledged as collateral in land deeds, had two-water mills, and possibly a fortified house that was built in the seventeenth century or earlier on the site of the current Ballykilty house. Ballykilty was also the principal residence of the leading faction of the McInerney deirbhfhine who emerged successful after a challenge from a junior branch of the family over the inheritance of the bulk of the McInerney lands.  It would seem likely, therefore, that Ballykilty served as the sept’s demesne and their most important landholding.  This is supported by the fact that it was exclusively a McInerney possession until the 1650s.  Ultimately it was the senior branch of the McInerneys that prevailed, ousting the junior faction from the lands of Ballykilty, Ballysallagh and Carrigoran.

 

extracts From “Survey of the McInerney Sept of Thomond” by luke mcinerney m.a.

Below right: Tom Fahy on the Ballykilty Manor Pitch & Putt grounds

 

Michael Maguire 2024

What did the Anglo Normans ever do for us?

We are well aware of the impact of the Anglo-Norman invasion on our history, the undermining of Gaelic society and the replacement of our native structures. Poor old Diarmuid MacMurrough takes a lot of blame for all of this, despite the fact that Henry II in England had already sought and had been given approval by Pope Adrian to invade and civilise us. Henry was just waiting to finish his war in France before sorting us out!

Anyway, in they came, conquered, settled, married and eventually becoming more Irish than even ourselves, ‘níos gaelaí ná na Gaeil féin’! But besides building towns and castles, robbing our women (and probably taking our jobs!), what did the Anglo-Normans do for us – if anything?

Well, for one, they gave us a whole new suite of names, both forename and surname, to choose from.

The Norman influence on Irish surnames

Following the invasion of 1169, a large number of Anglo-French first and last names entered into Ireland. Many, such as Power, Browne, Fleming, Joyce, Burke, Barry, Costello, Nagle, Nugent, D’arcy, Roche and Walsh/Welsh/Wallace, are nowadays considered Irish and are commonly found in Clare. So, too, are those with the Fitz prefix such as Fitzmaurice, Fitzgerald, Fitzgibbon and Fitzpatrick which most people would regard as Irish as the shamrock. Fitz, meaning ‘son of’, can be considered the Norman version of Mac (it derives from the Latin/French ‘fils de’, meaning ‘son of’). Burke came from de Burgh, Roche from de Roiste, Power from de Paor.

In 1366, a law was passed that “Every Englishman do use the English language, and be named by an English name, leaving off entirely the manner of naming used by the Irish.” This was introduced to dissuade the settlers from adopting Celtic prefixes or forms of surname. It didn’t have much affect as many settler families added Mac or ‘O’ and Norman names evolved into an Irish form (eg McHenry, McArthur).

In 1465 a law was passed enacting “that every Irishman that dwells betwixt or amongst Englishmen in the County of Dublin, Myeth, Vriell, and Kildare … shall take to him an English Surname of one town, as Sutton, Chester, Trym, Skryne, Corke, Kinsale; or colour, as white, blacke, browne; or arte or science, as smith or carpenter; or office, as cooke, butler ….”

Many of the trades of the early medieval period such as Archer, Butler, Cooper, Carpenter, Draper, Skinner, Tanner found their way into our surnames. Other introductions from this period came from the mercenary soldiers who accompanied the Norman invasion: Walsh (meaning Welsh), Joyce and Fleming (from Flemish mercenaries) are examples.

Incidentally, the Normans usually took their surnames from the place of their family origins. So, D’arcy originates in Arcy in Normandy. De Clare originates in Clare in Suffolk where the Anglo-Norman family were based. While De indicated their place of origin, Le was used to describe them, eg Le Poer meant ‘a poor person’.

De Burgh – Burke – from a placename in Suffolk, France

Le Botilier – Butler – Occupation bottle steward

De Barra – Barry – from an estate in Wales

Le Waleys – Walsh – the Welshmen

De Angulo – Costello/Nangle – from Nangle Pembrokeshire

What of their influence on forenames?

 Many of the Normans forenames introduced here were of a biblical or European saintly origin.

 In 1922, Reverend Patrick Woulfe wrote extensively on the topic of Irish name origins as follows:

In the same manner Norman and English names became current in Irish families during the thirteenth and subsequent centuries. These have now almost completely supplanted the old Gaelic names. The names borne by the Normans and by them introduced into Ireland, were of three kinds :

 (1) names of Scandinavian origin which their ancestors had carried with them to Normandy ;

(2) names of Germanic origin which the Frankish conquerors had brought across the Rhine and which had ousted the old Celtic and Latin names from France ; and

(3) Biblical names and Latin and Greek names of saints,, which the Normans began to adopt about the beginning of the eleventh century.

Together with these came in a few Celtic names from Brittany, a small number of Anglo-Saxon names, some Danish and Norse names from England, and one or two British or Welsh names. These were nearly all very rare and most of them soon died out. Of the Anglo-Saxon names, only two, Edmund and Edward, survived. Alfred has been revived in recent times. At the period of the Invasion, Frankish names were by far the most popular among the Normans, but Biblical and saintly names were coming rapidly into favour.

The following is a list, in order of frequency, of the more common names borne by the early Anglo- Norman invaders, the Biblical and saintly names of Latin and Greek origin being printed in italics :

William, Robert, Richard, John, Walter, Roger, Ralph, Adam, Hugh, Henry, Thomas, Nicholas, Gilbert, Geoffrey, Elias, Peter (Piers), Osbert, Reginald, Jordan, Simon, Alan, Stephen, Philip, David, Arnold, Alexander, Laurence, Baldwin, Herbert, Martin, Maurice, Godfrey, Andrew, Alfred, James, Samson, Turstein, Warin, Ailward, Daniel, Edward, Gregory, Bernard, Benedict, Hamon, Matthias, Michael, Gerard, Gervase, Lambert, Wilkin, Patrick, Edmund, Edwin, Hubert, Ivor, Joseph, Oliver, Mark.

 The following in alphabetical order were rare :

 Abraham, Adelard, Ailmer, Antony, Augustine, Brian, Clement, Constantine, Estmund, Eustace, Everard, Gocelin, Isaac, Leonard, Luke, Matthew, Miles, Milo, Odo, Osbern, Osmund, Pagan, Ponce, Randulf, Redmund, Rodulf, Silvester, Turold, Ulf, Vincent.

 The following names only came in, or at least became popular, at a later period :

Bartholomew, Christopher, Francis, Gerald, George, Paul, Roland, Theobald.

 Women’s names among the Normans were nearly all of the Biblical or saintly class:

 Agnes, Alice, Amelina, Anastasia, Annabella, Catherine, Cecily, Christina, Dorothy, Egidia, Eleanor, Evelyn, Frances, Honora, Isabella, Johanna, Matilda, Margaret, Susanna.

 The name Mary does not seem to have come into use in Ireland before the end of the16th century. Brigid only began to be used about the same period.

 

Extracted from ‘Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall’, Patrick Woulfe 1922

Out with the old, in with the new

The Anglo-Normans also brought with them new animal species such as the rabbit and fallow deer, new foods such as wheat, orchard fruits, mutton and farming practices such as hay-making. They introduced us to continental European religious saints and practices of the Roman Church. European religious orders soon followed such as the Franciscans, Augustinians, Cistercians, Dominicans etc. These replaced the structures of the native Irish Christian Church.

Up to then, the Irish natives did not adopt the name of saints as they considered this to be placing themselves on a par with the saint. Such naming convention was reserved for those of higher status in the monasteries. This was circumvented by use of the prefix Maol or Giolla meaning follower or servant. The Normans changed all of that and it was now acceptable to be called Peter, James, Michael, John, Mary, Brigid or Margaret.

Very few of us to this day do not have either a forename or surname that is not of Norman origin. Eventually, arising from the Gaelic Revival in the late 19th century, new Irish language versions of these forenames appeared such as Séan, Seamus, Peadar, Máire, Bríd, Mícheál, Cathal and many more appeared.

The Irish Church did not condemn the practice of slave-trading by the Irish until the invasion by the Anglo-Normans and the encroachment of the Roman Church. The story of Patrick (Patricius, son of a Roman administrator), which was introduced here after the Norman conquest, presents the native Irish as uncivilised pagan slavers who needed to be brought to heel. So the Normans inadvertently gave us our native saint and a forename for a good chunk of our population for generations following.

Out with the new, in with the old

Children are rarely given these European saint names today. Authentic Gaelic forenames are much more popular. We are nevertheless, unlikely to see the demise of the Anglo-Normans surnames that were introduced here. But all of us Mikes, Jimmies, Johnnys, Paddys, Kittys, Cathys, Maggies and Bridies can thank the Normans for what they brought us!