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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

 

 

 

Seán na Gealaí

Halloween is the direct descendent of Samhain. It was the night when the gap between this world and the spirit world narrowed.  Known as Oiche Shamhna or ‘spirit night’, the souls of the dead were expected to return to the family home. The Church introduced the Feast of All Saints (Nov1) and the Feast of All Souls (Nov 2nd) to counter Samhain. Evil spirits were also thought to be abroad and people avoided travelling alone on this night.

   “Deireann na daoine go mbíonn sidheogaí amuigh oidhche Shamhna”, Schools’ Collection (NFCS 249).

Origins of Samhain

Contender 1- Tulsk, County Roscommon

Oweynagat Cave, Uaimh na gCat, meaning the ‘Cave of the Cats’ in Rath Croaghan. The Book of Leinster names it as dorus iffrin na Hérend – Ireland’s Gateway to Hell. Demons and all kinds of creatures emerge from here on Oiche Shamhna.

 Echtra Nerai (the Adventures of Nera) is first mentioned in the 10th century Cath Maige Mucrama story,  happening at Samhain.

Oweynagat Cave is also said to be the home of the Morrigan. She is portrayed as a goddess of battle and war, with the power to transform into crows or ravens. Her dreaded cry was frequently heard over battlefields.

Echtra Nerai, the Adventures of Nera

An Irish text taken from the Ulster Cycle, dating to the tenth century entitled ‘Nera and the Dead Man’, tells of the warrior Nera who accepts a dare during a dark and stormy Samhain night to tie a withy around the ankle of a hanging dead man. As he does so, the corpse suddenly comes to life and asks Nera to carry him on his back. Nera complies. After some adventures Nera gets the dead man back to his tree. All of this takes place at Samhain at Rath Croaghan/Cruachan, hence its association with Halloween.

Contender 2 – Tlachtga, Meath

The original Tlachtga was a druidess of considerable power and importance, the daughter of Mug Ruith who lived on Valentia Island in Kerry. He is said to have lived through the reign of nineteen kings, with his lifespan stretching back to the time of Christ on earth. Tlachtga and her father could travel the world on the Rath, a fabulous spinning wheel of fire that easily transported them. Mug Ruith sought out knowledge and learning like few before him and it was in this manner that he and Tlachtga travelled to study under Simon Magus (Simon the Sorcerer), who is mentioned in the Bible.

Simon Magus and Mug Ruith sent Tlachtga out into the world to gather as much knowledge as she could find. Upon her return they realized that her knowledge far surpassed their own!
They were outraged and such was their jealousy that they set the three sons of Simon Magus upon Tlachtga, who defiled her. She returned to Ireland where she gave birth to three sons, Dorb (Doirb), Cuma (Cumma) and Muach.

It was on the hill of Ward in county Meath that Tlachtga brought her three sons into the world, and it was there that she died, unable to sustain her life in the face of the utter grief and despair she felt at the indignity she had endured.

In recent years a renewal of the annual gathering on the hill of Ward now attracts hundreds of people at Halloween. A walk from Athboy up towards the Hill itself culminates with a celebration, with elaborate ceremonies and an acknowledgement of the cultural gift to Ireland and the world that Tlachtga represents.

In the ancient kingdom of Mide, Tlachtga was considered an important assembly place alongside Tara, Teiltun and Uisneach. These four ‘corners’ are recorded as having been the location of fortresses constructed by high king Tuathal Techmar at the foundation of Mide in the early decades of the first millennium AD.

‘Much of the (archaeological) evidence points towards a long history of ritual activity. Large quantities of animal bones – a sign of large scale feasting have been found throughout all phases of the site. The lack of evidence of any residential or day to day activity strengthens the idea that it most likely it was set aside purely for ritual or celebratory activity.

There have been finds in all three phases of the site, including scattered Bronze Age human remains and the skeleton of an infant between seven and ten months old… The child burial, next to a ritual deposit of cow bones, dates to AD 450 – around the time of the arrival of Christianity.

“The child was clearly buried with care and having not found any evidence of burials on the site, we’d have to guess that This child belonged to someone significant”.

Harvest knots and Guises

 

 

Homemade masks made by village boys calling to local houses on Oiche Shamhna

Outdoors

Unlike May when the fairies are active, November Eve brings malevolent spirits. It is the night for community bonfires, especially in housing estates in the cities and towns. Collecting the last handful of fruit and nuts.

Indoors

Families would attempt to have a celebratory supper on Oiche Shamhna. Family supper might be colcannon or pandy. They would first secure the house by sprinkling Holy Water and possibly placing a religious object in the thatch near the front door.

Typical Samhain Food included pancakes, stampy (a potato and apple cake, crusted with barley, enhanced with sea spinach and rock samphire & cooked with oil) apple cakes, nuts, blackberry pies.

An bairín breac/the barmbrack or the ‘speckled loaf’, containing oodles of dried autumn fruits is still a favourite treat, with lashings of butter.

Tokens inside the traditional loaf included the ring as a symbol of love and marriage,  a thimble (spinsterhood); a button (bachelorhood); a stick (to be beaten by the spouse); a rag (poverty); a coin (wealth) and a crucifix (the taking of religious orders).

Future Reading