Library Forum

In the nineteenth century there were O'Halloran and
Murrane neighbouring farming families in the Cratloe / Bunratty area.

Many thanks. I came to this topic in relation to Meelick. My hypothesis is that in the 1820s, 1830s [and I think later] the mail coach road came out over the Thomond Bridge, then past the present day Hassett's cross, on up to Punchbowl cross roads in Meelick, and then over Meelick mountain. At some ...

Would any person know when the Limerick Ennis mail coach began to use
Bunratty bridge? I am assuming that, until the 1840s at least, it made its way through and
to Sixmilebridge, via Cratloe cross, across the western end of the Clare hills, without
crossing the Ratty river.

From an item in the Limerick Chronicle I note that Bunratty bridge was already there in March 1823.

Would anyone have information on Captain John O'Brien, Famine Relief Inspector
in the south east Clare area in 1847?

Dear Paddy,

Would you know if the boundaries of the Electoral Division of Killeely coincided with
the boundaries of the Civil Parish of the same name?

It was in the area of the Limerick Union.

This is what Father Fitzgibbon of Meelick/Parteen said in evidence to a Commission of Enquiry in 1844. They are small farmers of ten or twelve acres of land, and hold in common, what they call 'partners', which is a very bad system. They very often do not agree, and it lays the foundation for disput...

The Tithe Applotment Book for the Civil Parish of Killeely that covers most of
Meelick and Coonagh, straddling Clare and Limerick. notes that the acres counted
are measured as English acres.

Many thanks Sheila.

This very significant fact had escaped me.
I intend to continue my investigation.

Many thanks SMCarberry.

The Tithe Applotment Book for the Civil Parish of Saint Nicholas [that includes part of
the North Liberties of Limerick] assesses land as one of five classes:
First class, second class etc

How this categorization was arrived at I do not know.

Your reply much appreciated Lucille. Griffith's Valuation gives an acreage for each townland. This can be compared to the aggregate of the acres tithed in the same townland twenty or more years earlier. I am doing such comparisons at the moment. Prima facie, in the case of some townlands in Meelick ...

Would any person know how tithes were calculated in Clare or in parts of it? Was it on all land occupied, or only on cultivated land? In other words does the acreage noted in the case of a person in the Tithe Applotment Books constitute the entire acreage occupied by him/her in that townland or only...

The Limerick Reporter of September 6, 1850 contains a prospectus for Stephen Meany's new paper: The North Munster Advocate and Clare Sentinel. It is headed with a quotation from Thomas Davis and begins 'The want of a Liberal Newspaper in Clare has long been felt and deplored' At a preparatory meetin...

Many thanks MCreed for such a comprehensive reply. My query arose from an item in the Limerick Chronicle of August 1, 1849 reporting a contract by the Limerick Board of Guardians with a John Doherty 'to have the use of his quarry at Ballynanty for quarrying stones for the use of the workhouse' I sur...

Can anyone tell me if inmates of Famine era workhouses in the Clare/Limerick area were compelled to work?
Was the breaking of stones a common form of work in the workhouse?
Were children made work?