History

The Ballykilcline townlands, like so many others, had been seized by the British government from the Irish citizenry who had ancestral rights to the lands. It's residents, living on the brink of starvation on over-tilled farms, were forced to pay rents to the English Crown through the landlord, Lord Hartland. The townlands supported a population of just over 500 and was subdivided into 463 minute holdings or subdivisions occupied by these "cottier labourers". A land survey completed in 1836 shows the location of each farm and the number of acres held by the individual families.

In April, 1834 the lease "fell in" and the tenants were unable or failed to pay their full rents. Lengthy legal proceedings were initiated and continued into the famine years after 1845. On May 27, 1847 the townlands were occupied by an army of 60 police, 25 cavalry and 30 infantry. A battle ensued and the homes of the farmers were "tumbled" and the tenants evicted. In an unusual "state-aided emigration scheme", the Crown paid the fares to America for those tenants who would relinquish rights to their lands and leave the townlands.

Notes:

Baile is an Irish language term to describe a small community of farmers and laborers.

Townland was 1900-century term to denote a surveyed unit of land in which one or more communities may existed.

The Rebellion: A period of fourteen years 1834-1848 when a group of 14 tenants paid no rent and had sporadic confrontations with bailiffs and police. They were known as The Defendants of Ballykilcline.

Liverpool, England A turbulent and exotic port city of the age. It was the deportation center for the Ballykilcline tenants to the New World on the packet ships, Roscius, Progress, Metoka, Channing, and Creole.

Eldridge Captain of the Roscuis in 1847.

McGuire Captain of the Metoka in 1847.

Hulleston Captain of the Channing in 1848.

Rattoone captain of the Creole in 1847.

Driver A collector of rents and an evictor within a townland for the owner. The Diver had the weight of the law, bailiffs, constables, sheriffs, and courts behind him. When the law of the land was violated, as by non payment of the rents, the driver pointed out the offender, nailed the notice of eviction on the doorpost, and gang-bossed the casual laborers who pulled the house down.

James Burke the Officer of the Quit Rents in Dublin.

The Mahon family held thirty thousand acres of what had been the ancestral lands of the O'Connors had been confiscated in the Cromwellian conquest.

James Weale a prominent surveyor of the firm Brassington and Gale who surveyed the Crown estate for the Commissioners of Wood in 1836. He was a zealous collector of papers relating to Ireland. He died in 1838.

Fancies a local term used to describe women's cotton undergarments and kerchiefs of many colors.

Land was the principal measure of wealth and welfare in pre-famine Ireland. To the tenants, access to the land was their measure of wealth, as none owned the fields they farmed. All the farm inhabitants of Ballykilcline were Tenants from year -to -year, or "Tenants-at ­Will".

Defendants: a group of 14 Ballykilcline tenants who organized a rent strike, filed suit against the Crown and illegally reoccupied their homes. They were the micro-elite inside the community of tenants. They were: Hugh McDermott and his son Barnard, Bartholomew Narry/Neary, Patrick Narry/Neary, Patrick Croghan, Richard Padian, Terence Connor, Patrick Callogan, Michael Connor, John Connor, Patrick Stewart, James Stewart, James Reynolds, Joseph Reynolds.

Terence Reynolds, a family member of James Reynolds, returned to Ballykilcline after the clearances as a tenant. His descendants remain as residents today.

Patrick Coyle returned to Ballykilcline as a tenant after the clearances. He lost two sons during the winter of 1847-1848, Dominick and James. His descendants remain as residents today

William Flanagan was a coachman for Denis Mahon, the heir to the Hartland estate.

Thomas Conry held the townland of Killdologue and Cloonahee. In the early 1820's he was Hartland's steward, a substantial tenant, and keeper of the books for the second Hartland Baron. He was a middleman for the estate.

Father Michael McDermott was a Catholic priest in Strokestown, Elphin Parish. He often spoke out against the treatment of the tenants on the Hartland estates.

Reverend Thomas William Lloyd was a Church of Ireland Rector in Kilglass parish and subtenant of the Hartland estate. He lived at Glebe House on the border of Ballykilcline. His wife was Eleanor who was seven years younger that William and bore him seven children. They had adult servants, Anne Stuart (50) housekeeper and cook, Maria Gill (20) scullery girl, Thomas Fox a farmhand, and Thomas Wynne a farmhand. The Lloyd's remained at Glebe House, with a manservant Bernard Regan (50).

John Burke was of Her Majesty's Quit Rent Office in Dublin. George Knox's report were sent to him regarding Ballykilcline.

George Knox a local Crown Agent deputy in Strokestown for Ballykilcline. He reported to John Burke in Dublin regarding the rent and arrears due, list of legal tenants and conditions in Ballykilcline. However, he only visited the townland twice before the mass evictions. Knox used a driver, John Cox, instead for information. George and Jane Mahon Knox had a son, Thomas Knox. The family lived at Clonfree House. George Knox died in winter of 1847.

John Cox was a Driver /bailiff for George Knox. A native of the townland with a younger brother, Owen Cox, among the cottiers. John passed on rumors and rents up the chain of authority to George Knox. John had a shebeen on the road between Strokestown and Ballykilcline for gathering news and recruiting informers. He arranged and conveyed the five batches of Ballykilcline emigrants to Dublin.

Owen Cox was the younger brother of John Cox.

Michael Cox was a brother of John and Owen. He was allowed to return to Ballykilcline as a tenant after the clearance. His descendants remain as residents today.

The Sanders Newsletter was a local newspaper in the 1840's.

Patrick Maguire was a "cart man" and laborer in Ballykilcline. He was a marginal tenant north of Aughamore. He was regarded as a "collaborator" during the legal proceedings of the case brought by the Defendants and was beaten by 'unknown persons'. He operated yet another shebeen a few steps away from the McDermott and Cox establishments. He and his wife, Catherine, would lose 5 out of 6 children to the famine and fever. Patrick Maguire's appeal to Knox to reoccupy his holdings was made and rejected, he was dispossessed.

Francis Stewart He was sent to Liverpool, England to sail but was returned to Dublin and there forwarded aboard the ship Laconic. The Messrs. Scott reported that Stewart arrived in New York but 'died in hospital' after landing, 1848.

Thomas Geelans He headed a landless family of ten that had strayed from the townland during the 1847-1848 winter in search of food. The family returned before the last group left Ballykilcline in 1848 to request of John Cox that they be allowed to sail with the last emigrates. They were refused and 'presumed to have left the land' in Cox final report on the clearance.

Hugh Geelan was Thomas Geelan's oldest son.

Bernard Magan, a loyal tenant, opposed the rent strike from the beginning.

Cartmen was a term for a local townland man that performed assorted services for local landlords, agents, big farmers and merchants. The stigma attached to this position entailed the ever-present risk of violence from the tenants.

Shebeen was a premisis selling illicit spirits. The owner made the product also.

A List of tenants a working list compiled by George Knox between 1842 and 1986 to be used for reports to The Crown Agent. It lists 101 households' containing 476 persons, by age, relationship, and date of departure. It may well be the most complete list of the Ballykilcline occupants, but John Cox supplied the information to Mr. Knox.

State-Aided Emigration Scheme A Crown plan to relieve the ever-increasing population on the over-worked worn-out Crown owned estate land. It would free the Crown from dependence on uneconomic holdings in Ireland.

Cottiers were small landless farmer in the Irish midland estates. They farmed at will, not year to year.

The rent books a record of "tenants-at-law", which enumerated only those holding leases. Such lists only accounted for the 8 percent to 20 percent of all households, the rest fell into the category of "tenants-at-will" and often never were recorded in the rent books.

Terence Connor and his wife, Bridget, had a girl of fifteen and a boy of ten. The household included his mother-in-law, Mary Maguire, aged eighty, the mother of Patrick Maguire, the "collaborator". Terence held 6 acres located between Padian and McDermott holdings.

Hugh O'Ferrall (O'Farrell) was a resident of nearby Ashbrook with a law practice in Dublin. He was the lawyer hired by the Defendants Case #223, Report of the proceedings, Court of Exchequer, Easter term, 1846, Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland. Hugh's son was named Hugh also and worked as a clerk in his father office with Edward Donnellen, a son of one of the larger tenants.

Hugh McDermott age 65 in 1841,one of the larger tenant farmers in Ballykilcline, 36 acres held jointly with his brother John. His wife was Eliza Kelly and they had 10 children. He was evicted and voluntarily left the townland in 1844, the first family to do so. He had a shebeen near Cox and Maguire. The family held shares on meadows and peat bog land with the Reynolds and Calligans, two other Defendants.

Bernard McDermott age 20 in 1841,was the oldest son of Hugh McDermot and a named defendant.

James Donnellen this family held 25 acres and was probably the community's main link to Lawyer O'Ferrall through James's son, Edward Donnellen, a law clerk.

Richard Padian was one of the 14 defendants and an important part of the Ballykilcline legal action. He had a wife and 2 sons age 4 and 6. His home was the center of the agitation. He collected fees from the tenants for a legal fund for the defendants required by of Mr. O'Ferrall. He was a neighbor and friend of the McDermotts.

Patrick Reilly opposed the strike and was an alleged informer in Ballykilcline. Unknown persons assaulted him before they were cleared off the townland.

Reverend Peter Geraghty was the only priest resident on the estate. He had neither church nor school, and claimed the people of Ballykilcline as his congregation. He lived as a lodger at Richard Padian's home. It is not known if he had a part in the resistance, but was present for meetings.

Father Henry Brenan was the pastor of Kilglass parish.

John McDermott age 46 in 1841, and his wife Nabby, age 40 in the same year, had 2 daughters and 4 sons. He was a brother to Hugh McDermott.

Thomas McDermott was age 40 in 1841, and a tenant nearby with 7 acres and a family of 8. He was a brother of Hugh McDermott.

Patrick Connor patriarch of the Connor family and widowed. He lived in the Aughamore, the local name of the crowed southwestern sector of Ballykilcline, on 8 acres. He collected funds for the legal fees to pay Hugh O'Ferrall, the Defendants lawyer.

Michael Connor was a brother of Patrick Connor. He was a widow with 4 grown children living on 7 acres. He had a son, Michael, who was said to have been "married and in England harvesting" in the rent rolls.

John Connor was the eldest son of Patrick Connor and one of the Defendants.

Denis Connor son of Patrick Connor.

James Connor had a wife, Honora, and three young children. He lived quietly through the strike years. The daughter, Eleanor, died at 16, leaving the household with two sons, 10 year old Martin and an infant. His spinster sister lived in the house, but did not sail with family. The family was deeply resistant to leaving Ballykilcline, but arrived safely in America with his family in the spring of 1848.

Mark Narry had 3 sons, Luck, James, Edward, who held 30 acres jointly. Due to the size of the holding, he was a leader within Ballykilcline.

The men that took a leadership in Ballykilcline for the Rent strike: Patrick Connor Hugh McDermott Martin Padian William Stewart Mark Narry

John Stewart opposed the rent strike from the very beginning. He was a brother of William Stewart, a leader for the strike.

The Micro-geography of Ballykilcline: 40 families had no leases and were landless laborers Hugh McDermott held 36 acres Edward Donnellan held 25 acres. John and Mary Mullera jointly held 20 acres with John Carolan. Thomas and Edward McCormick shared 15 acres. Patrick and James Deffely shared 11 acres. Patrick and Martin Finn shared 10 acres. Barty Connor and James Nary held 18 acres jointly with the Foxes. Hanlys held 5 acres in joint tenure in the infield. (Family had held 150 acres in Barrawalla, but the lease defaulted in 1820's).

Gaelic place-names in Ballykilcline: Aughamore, located in the southwestern sector of Ballykilcline, the infield. Kiltullivary, also called "the Narry lands". Bungariff, also called "the Narry lands". The outfields were the northeast sector of Ballykilcline where the McDermotts and Padian family lived.

Honora Winters was a widow living alone on less than half an acre.

Gales are the semiannual rent due days.

Michael Hoare he was a landless cottier that farmed on Ballykilcline with his wife and 5 children under the age of 11. He left for England after the clearance.

Patrick and Bartholomew Nary were known as the hot heads of the Defendants group. They both were often arrested for violence during the eviction process.

Dominick Coyle was Patrick Coyle's 30-year old son that Knox scribbled "Dead Easter" beside his name on the rolls and "dying" beside that of his other son, James Coyle, in 1848

Catherine Connor is listed as a wife of John Connor in 1846 and as a widow in 1847.

Thomas McGanne was listed as "a Mason,quite willing" on a rent book.

Thomas and Mary Costello lived with his mother, Bridget (80), who had been born in Ballykilcline in 1766.

Catherine White, age 5, lived with Bridget Fallon (20) who was blind for 8 years and with her widowed mother, Bridget (60). Also in that household was two brothers, a younger sister, and two orphan nieces

Bridget Conry, a widow of 70, dwelt with her unmarried sister, Judith McDermott (60). Bridget held the lease and managed her own holdings. She was one of the very few females listed as head-of-households in that time period.

John Carrington was in the Roscommon Jail when the townland of Ballykilcline was cleared. The Very Rev. Henry Brennan requested he be released in time to sail with his family on the packet ship Creole.

William George Downing Nesbitt of Edenderry, bought the Crown estate of Ballykilcline for 5,500 pound sterling in 1849.

All the names on this list were from the book,"Out of Hidden Ireland", by J. Scally. More names will be added as information regarding the missing people of Ballykilcline is found. This is an on-going project and needs your contribution of information. Maureen McDermott Humphreys, direct descendant of Hugh and Eliza McDermott.

Alex de Tocqueville wrote about "Village X" in the book 'Journeys to England and Ireland' during a trip to Galway in 1835.

Rundale was a term used to describe the practice of distributing plots of land among townland families.

John Kelly of Essex Town in Roscommon, was a county surveyor who advised the Crown.

O'Conor Don the 'brown' held the territories of Ballintobber, including Strokestown, before 1688 and the Elizabethan conquest.

O'Conor Ruadh the 'red' held lands in 1688 to the west of Strokestown before the Elizabethan conquest.

Lord de Freyne owned the estate of Frenchpark near present day Boyle, Ireland.

Richard Irwin a magistrate and brother of Edward Irwin, Esquire of Knockhall which adjoined Ballykilcline.

Owen Beirne tried and hanged for the murder of the Reverend John Lioyd in 1848.

Patrick Brown a native catholic farmer that held the townland of Clonfad with his father. He was especially callous with his tenants and laborers. His brother was the Catholic Bishop of Elphin.

Godfrey Hogg a modest squire of Churchview in Strokestown.

Alexander Reynolds Sandys a modest squire of Carracrim.

Mr. Morton a modest squire of Strokestown.

Thomas Fallon was an old tenant who Hogg pled for to remain on the land. Thomas's son had left for America.

Land Management firm of Guinnes and Mahon employed John Ross Mahon and recommended state-aided emigration of the Townland.

Edward Gibbon Wakefield first to propose large-scale assisted emigration for the estate owner 25 years before 1848.

Thomas Roberts was a land agent. John Saul was a steward for the Hartland estate.

Charles Armstrong was a lessee on the Reverend Lloyd's Kilglass land and lived in Galway town.

Mesdames Moorhead and Gray were holders of the lease on Kilglass land owned by Reverend Lloyd after 1834 when Armstrong died.

The Magan family was a middling family with few hands to work the land.

Fines were an oral system the tenant farmer set up for the use of their holdings by other tenants.

The Hanlys in 1820's held long leases in Barrawalla, which had expired. By the 1840's they were among the poorer occupants of Ballykilcline holding five acres in joint tenure.

John Hanly was the tenant-of-record with Thomas, Edward, and Patrick McCormick, together with John Clemons and Luke Henry. The fines were kept off-the-books of the English taxes.

The Nary family had held substantial leased lands in Farnbeg until the 1820's when the lease could not be renewed. Most resettled to Ballykilcline.

1820 period when the Napoleonic Wars ended a time of relative affluence for tenant farmer in Ireland ended with falling crop prices. Many were unable to renew leases and were forced off the holdings into grinding poverty. The decline continued until emigration in the 1840's.

Paddy's a derogatory term used by the English to refer to a poor tenant farm of the time.

The Pretender O'Connor a shadowy unidentified person that was at the heart of the rebellion of Ballkilcline.

Honora Winter was a widow living alone on less than half an acre.

The Widow Ginty was one of the smallest tenets in Ballykilcline.

Throughotherness a vestige of the old rundale system used by the tenants to allow other tenants to use field privately and pay fines to the tenant of record.

Lord Clarendon was the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Patrick Riely he held eight acres in the townland for forty years. He refused the rent strike and was beaten. He was refused by Mr. Knox to remain on the land and his house was leveled.

Anne Flower was a widow with a strong family.

Widow Loughan was a tenant in Boughill, Galway at age 97. She once said, " I can be led, but never driven".

The Guiney families lived in the Pobble O'Keefe townland and were the straw bosses of the local land agents.

John Reynolds the grandson of James Reynolds who re-told the Ballykilcline events to Robert James Scally, author of, "Out of Hidden Ireland". The Reynolds decendents still live in the "outfield" .