The children's burial ground Cathair a' Cillín at Cregduff was recently cleared and tidied up by a group of locals, to whom the gratitude of the community is due. There are numerous upright stones within a small enclosure as at other local children's burial sites. The burial ground was consecrated by Fr. Martin Newell, P.P. on 21 July 2000, and a large inscribed stone was erected by the Heritage Society to mark the location for posterity. Read more
Máirtín Moylan was born on the 10th of November 1898 to Thomas and Honor Moylan, (née Burke from Ardgaineen) of Farmerstown. His father died in January 1899 leaving his mother to rear the family by herself. Could it be from here, looking at his mother's strong will and determination that Máirtín found the resilience to see his cause through to the end in his later life? Honor may have needed time to get herself on her feet after her husband's death, and on the 31st of March 1901, Máirtín is to be found in the census records listed in the house of his grandparents, Michael and Ellen Burke (née Boyle from Carrowbrowne) of Ardgaineen. How long he remained with his grandparents is not known but sending children to live with relatives was not an uncommon practice at the time to help with rearing the family. He was not to remain in Ardgaineen indefinitely and in time returned to his beloved Farmerstown. Read more
Má fháighmse sláinte is fada ‘bheidh tráchtadh,
Ar an méid a bádh as Eanach Dhúin,
‘S mo thrua ‘márach gach athair ‘s máthair,
Bean is páiste tá a' sileadh súl,
A Rí na nGrást, a cheap neamh is parthas,
Nár bheag an tábh'cht dúinn beirt nó triúr,
Ach lá chomh breá leis, gan gaoth ná báisteach,
Lán a' bháid acu, ‘scuab' ar shiúl! Read more
The Kingdom of Maigh Seóla occupied 'the fertile plains which lie east of Lough Corrib between Galway and Tuam'. It was centred on Lough Kime (today called Lough Hackett).
Its origins lie in the 5th century and it flourished until 1185 when the last king, Rory of Lough Kime was overthrown by and killed by his enemies the O'Connors.
Many of the features of our lives today originated with the Kingdom of Maigh Seóla; these include the introduction of Christianity, the introduction of surnames and the construction of many of the ruins we see around us. Read more
Below are two letters by John O'Donovan concerning the Parish of Annaghdown, part of his Letters containing information relative to the Antiquities of the County of Galway collected during the progress of the Ordnanace Survey in 1838 Vol. I. Links to each volume of O'Donovan's Letters are available on the Ask About Ireland website.
"I have not yet sufficiently examined the antiquities of this parish having only passed through a few townlands of it on my way from Clare Galway to Tuam. I met one old church in the townland of Cill Chathail which bears the same name with the townland or rather which originally gave its name of Cill Chathail or Church of St. Cathaldus to the townland. It lies in a fieldto the left of the road as you go from Clare Galway to Tuam about 8 miles from the latter." Read more
They used to dine upstairs at the Mill House, in a large room facing the road, with a cabinet in the corner which contained the finest bone china and polished silverware. There was a mahogany table in the centre of the room, and the lady of the house would often rap its surface with her knuckles and emphasise it was solid mahogany and proceed to give an account of the local doctor offering twenty pounds when he had occasion to visit the house. if they were prepared to sell it. However, even though twenty pounds was a substantial sum of money in the early part of the century, on no account would the table be sold, for at the time, corn mills throughout the country were flourishing and the owners were financially secure, so there was neither the need nor the desire to part with such a magnificent piece of woodwork. Read more
There are some roads the names of which are familiar to people around the globe, such as the Appian Way in Italy, the Silk Road in China, the Stuart Highway in Australia, the Burma Road of World War 2 fame, route 66 in the U.S.A., or the trans American Highway reaching from the tip of South America to Alaska. But the road that had the greatest impact on the people of the Annaghdown/Corrandulla area when it was built was the Curraghline.
Before it existed the means of getting to Galway City was by boat on the lake or by road through Claregalway. The Curragh Line is the stretch of road from Corrandulla Barracks to Carrowbrowne, a distance of approximately 6 miles. By any standard it was a major undertaking, given the difficult terrain it had to traverse from black alluvial clay in some places some fifty or more feet in depth to peat over white marl in others. Other places were a complete quagmire not to mention the added complication of two rivers and a number of streams and drains. Read more
A seldom discussed aspect of Irish history is the number of Irishmen who served in the British forces, a number which exploded in the nineteenth century reaching two in five of all British soldiers. Irishmen are understandably slow to acknowledge their participation in an empire won partly, and policed largely, by their countrymen.
This short study focuses on the one hundred men from Annaghdown who served in British forces prior to the twentieth century, and it is important to note that this study includes only those who survived to discharge. The total number of men from Annaghdown was therefore considerably more, several times more indeed, in an era of war and particularly poor conditions for servicemen.
Nationally, close to three quarters of Irish soldiers were from rural areas and, in general, the men enlisted 'for life' (i.e. unlimited service) or, into the nineteenth century, for twenty-one years. The men were more often illiterate, well over half in the case of Annaghdown, with them making 'their mark' on attestation and discharge. This was an impediment to their promotion. Read more
Our Summer 2020 newsletter can be viewed or downloaded at the link below. We hope to return to printing and distributing paper copies for the next edition.
Items in this edition include:
Cambridge, MA to Glenrevagh: The Journey of my father, William Flanagan, July 1904, by Mary Flanagan Newell; Thomas Browne's Applotment, 1847, by Paul Greaney; The Kingdom of Maigh Seóla, by Patrick O'Flaherty; Annaghdown's Army - One Hundred Annaghdown Men 'In Service' by Steve Dolan; Secret Stones of Annaghdown; Cathair a' Cillín: The Children's Burial Ground at Cregduff, by Br. Conal Thomas; and from the archives: Another Tithe Campaign, from the Freeman’s Journal, January 28, 1834.
As always, we welcome articles, items of interest, other material and suggestions for future editions. Read more
This is a transcription of a document entitled ‘A Copy of the Annadown Applotments – 1847’, presented to the Annaghdown Heritage Society in February 1996 by the Devaney family of Cregduff, Corrandulla. According to the prefacing summary page, it was applotted in spring 1847 by Thomas Browne, who lived in Cregduff.
It is unclear why the document was produced. A comparison with the later Griffith’s Valuation shows that the acreage given for each townland is consistent between the two. This suggests that Browne’s applotment was based on a published source – possibly the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map, produced in 1838. It is also possible that Browne came into contact with those carrying out the official valuation during the 1840s. Read more
The stone walls and ruins of east Galway are famous all over the world. They record the graft and skill of former generations who knew from the feel and heft of a stone precisely how to place it in a wall that would withstand generations of wind, rain, ivy, livestock and farm machinery.
Annaghdown has some of the most beautiful walls and ruins in Ireland, and they are an important part of our history and heritage. Previous generations, who cleared the land and drew out the fields and laneways of Annaghdown with simple stone walls, have left us a remarkable legacy. Though we are in awe of the world’s great monuments like Newgrange and Stonehenge, the pyramids in Egypt and Mexico, the largest and most significant monument on the face of the earth is the mosaic of farms and farmland that stretches right across the globe: agriculture has literally changed the surface of the planet and is testimony to what can be achieved by even the smallest of communities. Read more
In 1812 the Commissioners for Enquiring into the Nature of the Bogs of Ireland published detailed maps of the Bogs, along with reports of how useful they might be for reclaiming for agricultural use. The map of the Cloonboo area shows the bogs and also the roads and houses in the area. Whether the houses are shown in their correct locations is not clear.
A map made by the Ordnance Survey in 1839 shows the houses and roads in their exact locations, with the road in the same orientation as on the bog map.
The N84 Headford Galway Road was not yet in existence, not being built until 1870. The road through the village from north to south was the boreen that goes through Greaney's bus yard. Read more
Birth registrations for one hundred years ago (1919) and marriages for 75 years ago (1944) have recently been added to irishgenealogy.ie. Records from these years in Annaghdown parish are as follows... Read more
Below are births registered in the Annaghdown townlands of Turloughmore Registration District in 1871. Read more
Omaha Daily Bee, August 1908: More than fifty-eight years after they left their old home in Ireland, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Cavanagh, 5056 North Twenty-fourth street, will visit it again. They will leave about August 31 on the long journey to the scenes of their childhood. "I don't expect we'll see a soul we know," said Mr. Cavanagh. "All of them are gone by this time, though it's quite possible I'll run across some of the boys I used to play with about the quay and wharfs of old Galway, for the people over there are not great to leave their homes and where they are born they generally stay like a tree rooted in the ground. "Of course, the city will be changed. There'll be tram cars and electric lights and all kinds of modern improvements that we knew naught about when my wife and I left there in the '50s. And there'll be steam cars runnning all over the dear old isle and steamships spouting smoke in the harbor where I knew naught but sailing vessels. Read more
In the early 1920s, with the battle for an independent Irish Republic at full pace, when IRA Volunteers were taking the fight to the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, the land question was still a major issue in County Galway. Despite various Land Acts, particularly 1903 and 1909, in which loans were provided to tenants to purchase land, there were still many families who remained landless. Although the Acts allowed for land purchase, they did not allow for the distribution of land. Poverty-stricken families looked longingly at large ranches in Galway which supported only livestock and dreamed of having their own plot of land.
The "land question" as it had been labelled for many decades, was still not solved for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the poorer families remained unable to purchase, so the situation arose where more prominent individuals bought up land that came on the market. The result of this meant that there were still many disgruntled landless farmers who felt they had no option but to resort to the tried and trusted methods of land agitation to highlight their plight. Additionally, there was now a national rebellion underway, with Irish freedom within touching distance and people dreamt of a bright future in an Ireland free from English tyranny. Read more
July 2018 marked the coming together of the Coen family of Anbally for the first time in many years, when the descendants of John Coen and Sarah Spelman gathered at Cloonacauneen Castle. John Coen was born in Anbally in March 1838 to Edward Coen and Mary Glynn. In 1876, he married Sarah Spelman of Cahernahoon, who was born in 1850 to John Spelman and Catherine Fahy (Twomileditch). Their family were as follows. Read more
It is just over one hundred years since the influenza pandemic, commonly known as the Spanish Flu, swept through Ireland and infected one fifth of the population. The death registers for Turloughmore and Headford registration districts indicate that there were at least 25 deaths due to influenza in the Annaghdown area, between September 1918 and May 1919. The first victim recorded is Martin Nally (57) of Tonamace, who died on 22 September 1918. The disease is known to have affected younger individuals more severely, and this is to be seen in the fatalities in Annaghdown, with 17 of those who died aged under 40 years. Read more
Our Summer 2019 newsletter was printed in June 2018 and distributed at the Corrandulla Show on 23 June, and thereafter at local shops and Corrandulla Post Office. We welcome articles, items of interest, other material and suggestions for future editions. Articles in this edition: The 1918-19 Flu Epidemic in Annaghdown; The Coen Family, by Mary Margaret Burke; Land Agitation in Galway, 1920-23, by Johnny Burke; and from the archives: Visit to Old Irish Home - Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Cavanagh Will Go Back to Galway, from The Omaha Daily Bee, August 4, 1908. Read more
I was born on 4th July 1923 and was second in a family of 6. My parents, Patrick and Mary Greaney lived at Cahermorris Cross where our house was used as the local dispensary and subsequently became known as Cahermorris Dispensary. When I was a child, Doctor Golding of Headford was the local district doctor and attended each Thursday from 11a.m. till 1p.m. until his retirement. He was replaced by Dr. Maguire who was the last doctor to attend there prior to the dispensary's closure. At the time most houses would have had to get their water from local streams or would have had collection tanks. The nearest local well at the time was in Kilcoona. It was practice at the time to have a clean water source in close proximity to a dispensary for patients who were attending. Read more
Water. Let us pause for a moment and dwell upon this element which is essential to all life. Our bodies are believed to be made up of 60% water and this same substance covers 70% of the earth’s surface in oceans, rivers and lakes. It’s also contained in vast quantities as ice in the Polar Regions which contain three quarters of the earth’s fresh water.Water is present naturally in three states – solid as ice, liquid as oceans, lakes and rivers and in a gaseous form as vapour. This element has been an integral part of our existence since the beginning of humanity and provides us with life and leisure but yet can be a source of fear and danger. Read more
At the turn of the twentieth century and probably before that, St. Brendan's Church, Corrandulla had two side altars. One was adorned with a picture of Our Lady of Good Counsel where Mrs. Frances Butler, Winterfield House, Tonagurrane prayed. This altar was situated near where the commemorative window to the late Fr. P.V. O'Brien is today. In later times that same picture was hanging in the then childrens' corner until the 1970s. Across the aisle, where the window dedicated to St. Francis is now, Mrs. Helen Blake, Cregg Castle had a picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on her altar. That picture has lingered on and can be seen today hanging on your left as you enter the church by the side door. Those two altars were beautifully adorned with golden-laced cloths, shining candle holders with lighted candles and of course flowers of the fairest. During Mass those two ladies would be praying with their backs to each other and side on to the rest of the congregation. Meanwhile the Reverend celebrant would be on the altar with his back to everyone. Read more