Roll Call of the Early Moriartys of Loughane

This is the cabin in which my grandmother, Margaret Moriarty Keohane, was born. It is in Loughane which is part of the Glenlough Lower townland. Originally, it had a thatched roof and a dirt floor.

A Mormon microfilm told me that Michael Moriarty was renting Lots I and J in Glenlough Lower before 1872. There is no I or J in Griffith’s so I am not exactly sure where these 2 lots were – although I imagine they were some part of Uncle Mike’s holding.

My cousin Larry “John L” O’Sullivan, who now lives on the former Moriarty land in Loughane, pointed out where Michael Moriarty and his family lived.  You walk down the road toward Brennans’ (which is now Kevin O’Farrell’s – the multi-million dollar home in Loughane.)  The older homestead was where the new house is on the right of the dirt road. (It was built by Michael Connor from Ballinskelligs who is a relative of Johnny Murphy.)

When I started on this quest, I only knew the names of Ma’s parents and grandparents, and that she had an uncle who was a schoolmaster in Inch. Let’s see what I’ve found over the last 35 years!!

Michael Moriarty and Gubby Sweeney had at least 7 children and perhaps more. Let's do a roll call.

1) Mary Moriarty – remember that I found a listing for a Mary Moriarty who was baptized 15 February 1852 in Cahirdaniel – her parents were Michael Moriarty and Gobnet Sweeney of Reen. 

Her Godparents were Miles Moriarty and Mary Moriarty, and the priest was Reverend Dominic Walsh. The baptism was recorded in Book 2 for Cahirdaniel Parish. 

2) Myles Moriarty was born sometime around 1857. He married Ellen Leary from nearby Bohocogram – they had 5 children – James, Mary, Catherine, Nellie, and Margaret (my grandmother.) Myles Moriarty took over renting Loughane from his father in 1886.

3) Margaret Moriarty was born around 1858 and emigrated to the United States. I could find no listing on www.irishgenealogy.ie for Margaret, but I believe Michael Walsh was the Sneem parish priest at the time, and he was known not to keep complete or accurate records.

4) James Moriarty was baptized 29 January 1860 – his parents were listed as Michael Moriarty and Gobinet Sweeney of Sneem on www.irishgenealogy.ie.  His sponsors were John Moran and Hannah Burns. (I wonder who they are?)  No priest is listed in Sneem Book 2 Page 20. James went to Trinity College to train as a teacher and later became the schoolmaster in Inch. He married a Fitzgerald woman from that area, and they had 12 children.

I spoke of the schoolmaster earlier - Mike Shea of Loughane and Boston had sent my father to Foley's Pub in Inch in search of information about the scholmaster.

5) Cornelius “Con” Moriarty - I couldn’t find his baptism online either although there were several older Cornelius Moriartys. But I learned that Con emigrated to Newport, R.I.

6) Michael Moriarty was born 7 November 1865 according to Mormon records – (#0290 Sneem – Batch C701270 Source Call #0101119.) 

www.irishgenealogy.ie now (August 1 2023) has Michael Moriarty's civil birth record online. He is # 357 below - he was born 7 November 1865 in Glenlough, Sneem. His father was Michael Moriarty of Glenlough and his mother was Abigail Sweeney - his father was a farmer and was the informant. 

I found his baptismal record on www.irishgenealogy.ie for 4 November 1865. His parents were Michael Moriarty and Abigail Sweeney of Luchane in Sneem. His Godparents were James McCarty and Mary McCarty. No priest was recorded in Book 2 Page 8. Interesting that he was baptized before he was born!?!

7) Helen Moriarty was born 20 August 1868 per Mormon records (# 0289 Sneem - Batch C701366 Source Call #101174.) 

According to www.irishgenealogy.ie, Ellen Moriarty was born 20 August 1868 in Glanlough. Parents were Michael Moriarty of Glanlough and Gubby Moriarty - her father was a farmer - again he was the informant.

I found a baptismal record online at www.irishgenealogy.ie for Ellen Moriarty –born and baptized 23 August 1868 – parents Michael Moriarty and Gobinet Moriarty of Glenlough. Sponsors were James Casey and Honoria Sweeney. Ellen was baptized by Rev. T Davis who recorded the event in Sneem Parish book 2 page 99. Record identifier KY-RC-BA-434454.

Before we go any further with my great-grandfather, Myles Moriarty, why don’t we take a look at Myles’ brothers and sisters ...

Was our family evicted after the Great Hunger?

Cottage in Gap of Dunloe from the Lawrence collection - typical of cottages around 1900 in the Kerry mountains.

I knew going into all this that my grandmother’s father was Michael Moriarty of Loughane and that her mother was Gubby Sweeney of Coad.  This was family tradition from Ma and her brother Uncle Mike O'Sullivan.

But we just saw that the marriage entry for 1850 in Cahirdaniel Catholic Church lists Michael Moriarty as being from Coad!  His father or brother – Daniel Moriarty – was named in Griffith’s 1852 Valuation of Coad. There were no Moriartys in Upper or Lower Glenlough in the Valuation.

Gubby Sweeney’s relatives were listed in Griffith’s Valuation of Coad – Patrick Sweeney and John Sweeney. Patrick’s descendant, John Sweeney, still lives in the Coad homestead - Johnny Murphy and I bought 2 cars from him in the mid 1980s when we lived in Sneem.

(And just a quick note – I read somewhere that Mary/Abbie/Gubby/Deborah were interchangeable names – I have seen Gubby’s name in these various forms.)

So Michael Moriarty living in Coad married Gobnet/Gubby Sweeney in Cahirdaniel in 1850. Then two years later, Michael Moriarty and Gubby Sweeney had a daughter Mary who was born in Reen, Cahirdaniel.

When I did a search of Griffith’s Valuation for Michael Moriarty in Kilcrohane Parish, there was a Michael Moriarty in Staigue, which is in Castlecove - plus three Michael Moriartys in Sneem – one each in Derreenauliff, Drimnamore, and Derryquin - all three of these townlands are in Sneem. There was no Reen listed. So what happened to our Michael Moriarty?

We know that some landlords and big farmers were in desperate straits financially after the famine. England put the burden of famine relief – especially after the 1848 Irish uprising  - on the local landlords who were to pay taxes to fund relief for these masses of starving Irish. This proved overwhelming for the good landlords who tried to help their tenants by waiving rents, operating soup kitchens, trying to pay for famine relief. Tenants could not pay their rent, and even though some landlords did try to pay their share, there were simply far too many starving people.

In the earlier years of the famine, the people had pawned the little they had to pay their rent – they had to hold onto that land to survive. They couldn’t afford the inflated food prices. No one expected the famine to last so long.  Now they had nothing but rags, starvation and disease – cholera and typhoid - cabin fever - were rampant.  As Paddy Dennehy said, people were dying on the sides of the road – families were dying in their mountain cabins. Bodies were buried in mass graves. Even those living near the sea were dying – the winters were cold – record amounts of snow fell – frequent storms made the seas too rough for fisherman to go out in their curraghs. People did scavenge the shore for seaweed and any small shellfish they could uncover. But there were too many starving people.

Some landlords started clearing their lands of tenants – either by evicting them onto the road or paying their passage to America – to the United States but primarily to Canada, which was a British colony - this made it easier to send them there. Some landlords would make sure the cabins or huts were toppled so the families couldn’t get back in. Then when the land was cleared, they would bring in cattle for grazing - this was far more profitable than tenants who could not pay their rent. But how did these poor evicted people survive? Many didn’t – they died on the road or on mountainsides – on ships crossing the Atlantic – and some died after they reached Canada or the US. But we know that Michael Moriarty and Gubby Sweeney survived – but how and where?

Griffith’s Valuation lists a Michael Moriarty renting a share in the Staigue commonage from James F. Bland – the Sneem landlord. Staigue is in the same area as Coad. He was also renting a house, office, and 33+ acres of land in Lot 2 from Bland, and his holding included Staigue Fort!

I knew the Curran brothers who lived in this exact spot in the 1980s and 90s. I would see them when I would take the kids or visitors to Staigue Fort. I think they were caretakers for the area around the fort. Johnny Murphy said they were supposed to keep the grass cut and keep an eye on the fort. I wish I knew then that one of my ancestors might have lived on their land. I certainly would have peppered them with questions!!

It is interesting that there is an Ellen Moriarty renting Lot 4 - this borders on part of Michael Moriarty’s Lot 1. Surely, Ellen must be a widow. I wonder if her husband was related to Michael? Is that how he arrived in Staigue?

Griffith’s was carried out about 1852 in Kilcrohane Parish. So could Michael and Gobnet Moriarty of Coad have married in 1850 and at some point lived in Reen where Mary Moriarty was born in 1852. I couldn’t find a listing for Reen in Griffith’s. Did Coad landlord Edward Hartopp consolidate his holdings and evict our young family? When the landlords were changing over to grazing cattle, they did not need many farm laborers and did not want any tenants - both of whom were forced to look elsewhere for work and for land to rent. Would our family have moved to Staigue by the time of Griffith’s Valuation? We saw that the landlord at this time in Staigue was James Bland. 

Whatever happened, a safe guess is that our Michael Moriarty and Mary Sweeney – both from Coad - marry in the Cahirdaniel Church on 27 November 1850, which is shortly after the famine and before Griffith’s Valuation.  We have also seen that a Mary Moriarty of Reen in Cahirdaniel was born to Michael Moriarty and Gobnet Sweeney in February 1852. I think this may be our family.

According to Mormon microfilm of the Valuation Office, Michael Moriarty was renting Lots I & J in Glenlough Lower sometime before 1872. So that means he moved to Loughane after 1852 and before 1872. I saw this microfilm in the early 1980s at the Mormon library in Weston or Cambridge, but at that time there was no way to make a copy – so I had to copy everything from the microfilm by hand.

One last note about Coad. According to my cousin Hannah John L. O'Sullivan,  Paddy Sweeney of Coad, whose  son John Sweeney now runs the garage in Coad, is 2^nd cousin to my grandmother, Margaret Moriarty.

So my first goal was to learn about Ma's grandparents. I think I have found them. So where do we go now?

Our story begins in Coad?!?

So we have learned a little about Kilcrohane Parish and a little about Sneem – let’s move on now to Loughane and our relatives. As we saw in the letter from Mr. Stokely, Loughane is not itself a townland. It is part of the Lower Glenlough townland. I believe Upper Glenlough is above the main road, and lower Glenlough is below the main road.

There are no census records for the early 1800s. I know Ma’s grandfather is Michael Moriarty from Loughane and her grandmother is Abigail/Gubby/Deborah Sweeney from Coad in Castlecove – I learned this from Ma and her half brother, Uncle Mike.

Since my grandmother’s parents lived in Loughane, I started by looking for Moriartys in Glenlough. But as we saw, there are no Moriartys listed in either Upper or Lower Glenlough/Glanlough in Griffith’s Valuation, which was conducted in Sneem about 1852. This is the end of the Great Hunger – commonly known as the Irish Famine - which was a time of emigration for many and, for many of those left behind, death by starvation or disease. I remember old Paddy Dennehy of Ardmore crying as he told me of hearing that people in the Sneem area died on the roadside with grass in their mouths – they were so desperate for something to eat. He said others, including whole families, died alone on the mountains.

One problem in the days before the Great Hunger was the practice of  tenants renting land from middlemen – some of whom charged unfair, exorbitant rents without the landlords’ knowledge. Other problems were the large families in those days and little or no employment. For these reasons a father would give a section of his rented plot of land to his sons or to his sons-in-law. More and more people were depending on smaller and smaller plots of land for their livelihood. Potatoes were nutritious and easily grown except for the years when the blight struck and caused famine. This happened periodically but never like during the Great Hunger. Tenants normally would live off their potatoes from harvest to harvest – although food would be scarce when the old crop of potatoes was coming to an end and the new potatoes were not yet ready for harvesting - these were called the 'hungry days". No matter what the conditions, the tenants would sell their grain or animals to pay their rent. They would never think to eat their crops or butcher their pig in times of want - they had to pay their rent or the family faced ruin. 

As the population increased, the tenants moved further up the mountains as land ran out. They would have to clear the rough land of stones and rocks, level it, bring seaweed and sand from the shore for fertilizer – make a field and then build up the lazy beds - hard work especially up on the side of a mountain. And then, of course, the landlord or his agent would raise the rent because the land had been improved and was worth more money! And if the tenant couldn't pay his increased rent, he was out and someone who could pay was in.

I remember seeing old ridges/lazy beds where potatoes were grown along mountainsides as I drove throughout Kerry. Every day I would see the ones in Gortdromagh when I looked west of the old house toward our mountain. I wondered who planted them – how long ago did they plant them – what happened to those people? Did they emigrate, did they remain in Gortdromagh, did they survive? Now the earth is reclaiming those ridges as farmers are paid to let farms return to nature – go wild. Who will remember those lazy beds? Who will ever think of those families?

After the “Famine,” many landlords were deep in debt from years of mortgaging their property to maintain their lifestyles.  Tenants were not able to pay their rent during the years of "famine." So many landlords and big farmers decided to consolidate their holdings for grazing cattle, which was more profitable. As a result they needed fewer farm laborers. Another complication was the result of Griffith's Valuation which became the basis for the local tax system in Ireland. Those occupying the land were responsible to pay a yearly tax except for those holding land valued at less than 5 pounds. In this case the landowner was responsible for the tax. Can't you just see the landlords rushing to clear their lands of these small holdings?! This led to evictions, emigration, and hardship for the Irish who remained on the land. Because of this, families had to move around to find work and a place to live.

So we saw that there are no Moriartys listed in Glenlough in Griffith’s Valuation. Our Glenlough/Loughane Moriartys had Moriarty relatives in Castlecove and Cahirdaniel according to Uncle Mike so I am thinking this is where they may have originated. Plus Mary Sweeney was from Coad in Castlecove. There are still Sweeneys living in Coad today – Johnny Murphy and I bought 2 cars from John Sweeney when we lived in Gortdromagh. Larry and Hannah “John L” said I was related to this John Sweeney and his father, Paddy Sweeney. So let’s look west to Castlecove and Cahirdaniel.

These old postcards give an idea of the rough rocky mountainous countryside from Sneem back to Waterville. 

Postcard of Cahirdaniel

The copy of Griffith’s Valuation of Coad below is from the 

www.askaboutireland.com website. Originally, back in the 1980s before computers were so popular and when there was nothing online, the Boston Public Library in Copley Square had Griffith’s Valuation on microfilm, and I was able to print it. That printed copy was so much more difficult to read than this one. I used to have to pour over it with a magnifying glass and still sometimes couldn't read it!!

On http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=nameSearch, when you look up a family or even a townland, you can also see the original Valuation map.

I was totally surprised to see a Moriarty in Coad as well as several Sweeneys.

Edward Bourchier Hartopp, Esquire is the local landlord. He was mentioned in Samuel Lewis’ 1837 description of Kilcrohane Parish as contributing to the upkeep of the Catholic school built by Count O’Connell in Derrynane. He was a Minister of Parliament for North Leicestershire in England. He was one of the principal landowners in Kerry – owning over 24,000 acres in the 1870s. He also owned land in Limerick and Cork. 

Again, the valuation is difficult to read so I just want to point out a few things.

In the 1850s Hartopp was leasing 207 acres of land to a group of tenants in Coad as shown below. This was a commonage – a common pasture where these tenants all may have grazed sheep or cattle – it was the upper portion of Coad mountain. John and Patrick Sweeney are each paying 9 shillings for their share. And Daniel Moriarty is paying 2 shillings for his share.

In plot 2 is John Sweeney renting another 19+ acres of land plus a house and farm buildings. The land is worth 5 pounds 10 shillings while the buildings are worth 15 shillings – grand total of 6 pounds 5 shillings.

In plot 3 Patrick Sweeney is also renting more land - about 15 acres for 4 pounds 10 shillings – along with a house and farm buildings for 12 shillings – total is 5 pounds 2 shillings.

Plot 13 has 5 people renting 56 acres of land. Daniel Moriarty is 13a – this could be a rundale where several people hold the land in common but pay rent only on how much of that land they farm. Or it could mean that a is the farmer and the others - b, c, d, e - are cottiers or laborers working on the farmer’s land. Either way Daniel is paying 4 pounds 4 shillings for his share of the land and 10 shillings for his house.

I guess Eugene O'Sullivan in lot 14 is the big farmer - he is renting 152 acres of land for just over 26 pounds yearly! And his house and farm buildings are worth another 14 pounds and 15 shillings! Wow! Must be a big house or impressive buildings! And I guess James Sullivan, who is renting just a house for 7 shillings from Eugene, is a laborer or farm worker. There are 2 vacant houses on his property. Then he is renting out land and buildings in the next few lots – including the Watch House for the Board of Customs for 7 shillings! Are these the excise men looking for smugglers and moonshiners?

Plot 17 has another Patrick Sweeney listed as 17b renting a house from Eugene O'Sullivan for 1 pound 4 shillings and land for 4 shillings. Again there are 7 tenants on 1 and a quarter acres – a is listed as a watch tower. The map shows a coast guard station. But who is this second Patrick Sweeney? 

I recently (April 2013) came across the Ordnance Survey Name and Letters Book which was published between 1824 and 1842. It is on the Ask Ireland website. It was part of the initial mapping of Ireland.   It describes Coad as:

 “Situated on the S. side of Kilcrohane Ph (Parish.) Bounded on the N. by Ballycarnahan; on the E. by Behihaan; on the S. by Kenmare Bay; on W. by Ballycarnahan and Raan. In the barony of Dunkerron, Co. of Kerry.

“Proprietor Edward Boucher Hartropp, Esqr., Meltownmobray, Leicestershire. Agent Eugene O’Sullivan, Esqr., West Cove house, Tld (Townland) of Coad. All held by tenants. A small part by lease. Rent 363 pounds 7 s. (shillings) 11d. (pence) per annum. Farms from 10 to 60 acres. Co. Cess 30 pounds half yearly. Soil rocky and wet. Crops of oats and potatoes poor. There is a dispensary in Coad.”

So this gives us a little more information. That big farmer that we saw in Coad is actually the agent for the landlord. I wonder if Edward Hartopp, who was born in England and inherited this property, was ever in Coad? Or Ireland?

According to the Landed Estates Database, Mr. O’Sullivan was leasing West Cove House from Mr. Hartopp at the time of Griffith's Valuation.

West Cove House today rents for 3600 euro/week in the high season. That’s a whole lot more than the 14 pounds 15 shillings that Eugene O’Sullivan was paying in the 1850s!!

(To see an idea of what the house might have looked like in the 1850s, go to:

http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=434899  and then to see it after recent renovations, go to:

http://www.westcovelettings.com/westcove_house.php?pg=2&img=90#gallery.)

We learn that only a small part of the land in Coad was rented by lease – that was to Eugene O’Sullivan - Samuel Lewis actually mentioned him being in West Cove in 1837. This means that the other tenants were at will – they could be evicted at any time, for any reason – if someone offered more rent for the piece of ground, the tenant could be put out on the road. And the land was rocky as we could see in the old postcards. But it was also wet – boggy. Both are poor growing conditions – even the potato crop was poor. So imagine how desperate it must have been during the “famine.”

One more point re Coad. The Ordnance Survey Name book dates before the famine. It lists the annual county cess or tax as 30 pounds per half year. I'm sure that is different after Griffith's Valuation. And the total rent for Coad is just over 363 pounds in the OS Name book. In the above valuation for Coad done about 1852 at the end of the "famine," the total rent is 153 pounds. That is quite a dramatic drop for Mr. Hartopp!!!

So we found the Sweeneys in Coad. From the old map, I can see that the present day John Sweeney has his garage on the old lot 3 (Patrick Sweeney) which borders lot 2 (John Sweeney.) So I would surmise, but cannot prove yet, that Gubby Sweeney came from one or the other of these two Sweeneys. But we still don’t know who the other Patrick Sweeney is in lot 17.

We also now know that there is a Moriarty in Coad – but there are Moriartys in other Kilcrohane townlands. Does this mean anything?

I was stuck here until I found www.irishgenealogy.com which is a new website hosted by the Irish Department of Arts, Sports, and Tourism – it recently (the end of 2009) put old baptismal and marriage records online and made them available for free. And what did I find?

I found an entry for the townland of Coad in Cahirdaniel for Michael Moriarty of Coad marrying Gobnet Sweeney – no location was given for her. They married 27 November 1850 in Cahirdaniel. The marriage is recorded in Cahirdaniel Roman Catholic Book 1 Entry 8. Reverend Patrick O’Connell was the priest and James Murphy was the only witness listed. Below is a screen shot from the website.

I had known that Mary/Gubby Sweeney was from Coad. And I thought the Moriartys might have come from Castlecove or Cahirdaniel, but I never thought that they might have come from the same townland as the Sweeneys! Could this be our Michael and Gubby? The names are the same, and the date is right. Unfortunately, only a transcription of the record is available online – we can’t see the original record ... yet.

Cahirdaniel Church February 2010 where Michael Moriarty and Gobnet Sweeney were married in 1850 – almost 160 years before!

 Cahirdaniel Church interior in February 2010 – I wonder how much it has changed since 1850?

Reverend O’Connell married Michael Moriarty and Gobnet Sweeney – he was parish priest of Cahirdaniel during the  Great Famine. Imagine the terrible sights he saw. He was 104 years old when he died. Michael and Gubby married just as the famine was ending.

There is also another Cahirdaniel entry on this website which I find quite interesting – Mary Moriarty of Reen is baptized on 15 February 1852 by Reverend Dominic Walsh. 

Listen to this - the parents are listed as Michael Moriarty and Gobnet Sweeney! The witnesses are Michael Moriarty and Mary Moriarty. This is listed in Cahirdaniel Book 2 Entry 7 Record Identifier KY-RC-BA-111796. Coad is near the Blackshop while Reen is a couple of miles west just before you get into Cahirdaniel.

Who were these sponsors? Mary could certainly be Michael’s sister or even his mother. But the other sponsor, Miles Moriarty? Could he have been the father or cousin of our Michael?

And my cousin Hannah told me that Myles Moriarty, my grandmother’s father, had a sister Mary. Could this baby be Myles Moriarty’s sister?

What a lot of questions, and we are just starting out!

Quick look at Sneem

Samuel Lewis has described Kilcrohane parish to us, but he also writes in 1837 that Sneem is “a maritime village, in the parish of KILCROHANE, barony of DUNKERRON, county of KERRY, and province of MUNSTER, 12 miles (W. S. W.) from Kenmare … The harbour is frequented chiefly by fishing vessels. The village, which is irregularly built, has been lately somewhat improved by the erection of some new houses.”

Sneem pier with the village in the background from the Lawrence Collection in the National Library of Ireland.

“A penny post to Kenmare has been lately established. Petty sessions (court sessions) are held generally once a month; and a constabulary police force (RIC) is stationed here. Fairs are held seven times in the year for general farming stock (cows, sheep, pigs, donkeys), and for flannel and frieze (coarse wool.) ... A dispensary (medical office) has been lately established."

This fair is in Cahir which is a much bigger town than Sneem but it gives us an idea of what a fair was like.

So from Samuel Lewis, we know that in 1837 Sneem had a Church of Ireland and a public school, a Catholic Chapel and a Catholic school, a police barracks, and a new doctor. A road was being built out to Moll’s Gap to meet the Killarney to Kenmare road, and you could mail a letter to Kenmare. Some new houses were recently built. Farming and fishing seem to be major occupations in an area that is mountainous and has extensive bog land.  Fairs are held throughout the year.

Griffith’s Valuation of Sneem Village in the early 1850s provides some interesting information. I’ve included it here although it will be difficult to read. The village of Sneem begins at the bottom on the first page. Remember that it includes: a number that corresponds to the map that accompanied the valuation, names of occupiers and lessors, description of the tenement or rental, the area of land rented, and the value of each. 20 occupiers are listed plus the Roman Catholic Chapel.  I was surprised at how few people  lived in the town until I remembered what Theo Stoakley had said – that Sneem was almost depopulated during Cromwell's time and developed later than Killarney, Kenmare, Tralee. 

There are a few interesting entries in Griffith's.

#4 lists Grand Jury County Kerry paying local landlord James F. Bland 1 pound 10 shillings for the (?) Sessions Court House. I can’t make out the first word – almost looks like “petit” – but the rent is for the building where the petty court sessions are held. These local courts handle charges of drunkeness, destruction of property, assault, tax evasion, poaching. Often the local landlord would be the Justice of the Peace. More serious crimes would go on to a larger court. I wonder if any of our relatives appeared in a Petty Court? For poaching salmon perhaps?

It looks like part of #5 and #6 are missing. I want to say that #5 looks like the Barracks for the Royal Irish Constabulary which would include a building, an office which would be a shed or an outside building and also a yard, and a garden– the land rental is 5 shillings - the barracks look to be worth 5 pounds.

#6 seems to be the Roman Catholic Chapel which is worth 3 pounds and 15 shillings rent. 

The doctor in #15 is paying 5 pounds 10 shillings for a house, yard, garden and dispensary.

The other people listed are renting houses with or without an office, garden, or yard. I wonder what kind of work they did?

Just a quick note. In #10ab James Flaherty is renting a house, office, yard and two gardens from Lawrence Sullivan for 4 pounds 18 shillings/year – 8 shillings of this is for the land - 2 roods and 4 perches  of land.  I wonder if he has a large family or if he sells his produce?

(BTW: 1 perch = 16.5 feet. 40 perches = 1 rood, and 1 rood = ¼ acre.)

And look at #14 - Jeremiah Crowley is listed for walls and yard from our local landlord!! But no payment seems to be included.

 Speaking of the Catholic Chapel, in the mid-1800s, Sneem’s Catholics attended Mass in an old leaking building. The 3^rd Earl of Dunraven had a family seat in Adare Manor in Limerick. The Earl of Dunraven rented Garnish Island off the coast of Sneem from the Blands. According to Christopher Fitz-simon in “the Most Beautiful Villages of Ireland,” the second Earl of Dunraven improved the village of Adare and “was responsible in 1807 for the restoration of the fourteenth-century Augustinian Priory as a place of worship for the Church of Ireland. Three years later he saw to the rebuilding of the derelict thirteenth-century Trinitarian Priory, for use as a Roman Catholic parish church.

Adare Manor In Limerick - former home of the Earls of Dunraven - now a luxury hotel.

“The second Earl also laid out the two groups of thatched cottages which give Adare its distinctive appearance, and which are the principal reason for the very large tourist trade that the village enjoys.” We’ve all driven through Adare and passed by the thatched cottages. But how many of us knew of Adare's connection to Sneem! “It is the trim thatched cottages which give Adare its special resonance and romance … The 2^nd Earl and Countess of Dunraven were responsible for improving the village, and thus the lives of their tenants, in the early 19^th century. The domestic buildings which they introduced derive from a style found in the west of England.” Downton Abbey in Ireland! Sounds like the Dunravens were good landlords.

Cottage in Adare village - photo from the Lawrence Colection

Anyway, back to our story. The Earl of Dunraven rented Garnish Island off the coast of Sneem from the Blands. The 3^rd Earl was a convert to the Catholic religion and would come to Sneem to Mass when he was in the area. 

Cottage on Garnish Island - is this where the Earl stayed? Photo from the Lawrence Collection.

When he saw the condition of the Church, he donated funds to build a new chapel. Mr. Bland, the local landlord, donated the land – which is interesting because he was collecting rent from the old church according to Griffith’s. In 1861 demolition of this old Church began. Dr. Moriarty, Bishop of Kerry, laid the foundation stone of Sneem Chapel on 3 September 1863. While the building was going on, Mass was celebrated in the South Square – a makeshift tent was erected to cover the priest and the altar – the parishioners stood out in the open no matter what the weather. The Church of St. Michael was finished in 1865. This is the Church where my relatives were baptized, married, and buried – on Sundays did they walk the 6 or 7 miles into Sneem from Loughane to attend Mass – even in bad weather? 

Sneem Chapel from the Lawrence collection.

Just a footnote, Adare Manor was sold in 1982, and it is now a first class luxury hotel. I happened to be in Sneem when the present Earl of Dunraven and his family attended Mass in St. Michael’s Church to rededicate it. Now Reverend Murphy, the parish priest, is trying to raise a million euro to restore the church.

One last note about Sneem. The book “Landowners in Ireland 1876” tells us a little about the local landlords. Page 141 lists Francis C. Bland of Derriquin Castle, Sneem owning 25,576 acres, 1 rod, 20 perch worth 1862 pounds.

Meanwhile, Daniel O’Connell of Derrynane Abbey of Cahirciveen (the Liberator’s son) owns 17,394 acres – 3 rods – 25 perches for a value of 1626 pounds 15 shilling.  

So let's get to the Moriartys!