Kilballyowen Lodge

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Jim
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:24 pm

Kilballyowen Lodge

Post by Jim » Sun Nov 15, 2015 10:19 pm

For some time I have been researching the Gibson family of Kilballyowen Parish with particular reference to the early Gibsons in the 18th & 19th centuries. Captain Thomas Gibson fought on the Williamite side at the Battle of the Boyne. I believe his son, also Thomas, came to the Loop Head area at the invitation of the Westbys to whom his father was related by marriage. Apparently Thomas (II) was responsible for maintaining the early Lighthouse at Loop Head. He was listed in The Freeholders of Co Clare in 1768 when his residence was given as Lighthouse.
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I am particularly interested in a possible link to Kilballyowen Lodge which is located in Kilballyowen townland.

Among the earliest written references to the Gibson family in Co Clare is Leets Directory of 1814 which shows Mr Daniel Gibson, Cross (Kilballyowen) in the list of gentlemen's seats in Co Clare. It appears that Daniel died very soon after this date. From my research it seems certain that Daniel was the father of Thomas (III) who moved to Ballyvoe, Inch, Kilmaley, in 1818. Daniel had another son named Martin who remained in Kilballyowen after Thomas moved to Ballyvoe.

The Grand Jury Map of 1787 shows Cross House as a two storey house a short distance east of the village of Cross. However the location of the house as shown on this map may not be accurate as there is no such house shown east of the village in the 1842 Ordnance Survey map. The only large house (valuation £8) shown on the 1842 map near Cross is Kilballyowen Lodge which is a short distance west of the village. I think it likely that this is the same house shown on the 1787 map & may have been the original residence of the Gibson family, built soon after they arrived in the area in the mid 1700s & that it was renamed Kilballyowen Lodge when Robert Keane became the occupant prior to 1855. In Hugh Weir's book The Houses of Clare (p155), he says that this house dates from the 18th century & lists the families associated with it as Westby, Keane, Studdert & Gibson, but does not specify the Gibson connection.

I see that Kilballyowen Lodge is currently advertised for sale on various websites & is quoted as having been built in 1753. Does anyone have any specific information on the Gibson connection with Kilballyowen Lodge?. Does anyone know the present owner of Kilballyowen Lodge?. As they quote a very specific date for the building of the house they may have title deeds showing this & if so this would provide valuable information.

The Freeholders List of 1821 shows that Thomas III Gibson of Cooleen had a lease registered in 1815 naming him as the freeholder of lands in Cross with a valuation of £20. I believe tha Cooleen was an old subdivision of Kilballyowen townland & I suspect that Cross House was located in Cooleen. Can anyone with local knowledge confirm this?. I also suspect that Thomas's 1815 lease was necessitated by the death of his father Daniel.

Martin Gibson was "of Cross" in lists of Cesspayers published in the Clare Journal between 1835 & 1840. This would seem to indicate that Martin then lived at Cross House, the residence of Daniel Gibson in 1814. The death of Mr Martin Gibson of Tullig, near Carrigaholt, was reported in the Limerick Chronicle on 5th Feb 1848. The Casey Manuscript in the Killaloe RC Diocesan Archives, written in 1933 by Tom Casey who was born in 1838, says that "when he (Fr Meehan) was very young, his mother died and he went to live with his aunt, Mrs. Peter Gibson, at Cross and later Moneen". Thus it seems certain that Peter, who was a son of Martin Gibson, was born in & lived at Cross House. Peter married c1825 when Fr Meehan was aged about 15. From the available evidence it appears that Martin Gibson & his family lived at Cross House up to at least 1840 but he was no longer in possession when he died in 1848.

I would be grateful for any information.
Jim Molohan

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