Some unusual photographs of Enniskerry

Some more unusual images of Enniskerry have come our way in the last fortnight from contributor Nivrum. The first is a view from St Mary’s Church which shows clearly the old National School (where the library is now situated), the bridge over the river, the cottages at the bottom of Kilgarran Hill and St Patrick’s on the hill. It is a really amazing image.

From the church

 

The second image is a postcard sent 100 years ago. While it’s a more familiar scene, the date mark is fantastic. It is interesting to trace the developments along Church Hill. St Patrick’s dominates the scene – it really illustrates the fantastic positioning of this church before the trees and subsequent housing shielded it from view. 58213_380174608746244_1795422616_n

 

This final one is another postcard, found on the County Wicklow Heritage Site (well worth checking out). According to them, the message says:

This is where we went for a drive one day and the jarvie let us drive his horse and he (the man) sang for us and we sang for him.  It is great fun here where we are staying and there are other two boys and one girl in the boarding house with us. 

Love from Joseph & Maureen.

Bray Road

Landowners in Enniskerry, 1876

The following is a list of returns for Enniskerry in the report “Landowners in Ireland: Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards” published in 1876. The list is not comprehensive, as it is only informative if people who are resident on that land. For example, Benjamin Lee Guinness comes in as owning nearly 1500 acres of land in Wicklow, but his address is simply: “Dublin”. There is also a Joseph Darlington, a good 19th century Enniskerry name, who owns just over an acre, but again he lives outside the county, so we can’t say if he is indeed an Enniskerry man. Nevertheless, it is an interesting compilation. The most valuable piece of land based on size is that belonging to the representatives of Rev Luke King at Cookstown, which is worth over £7.50 per acre. The extent of the Powerscourt estate is given as nearly 37,000 acres, while Charleville is about one tenth of that. Nevertheless that value of land at Charleville per acre is almost double that of Powerscourt.

Name Address Extent of land (acres) Value (£)
Evans, John Crone 454 113
Grattan, Lady Laura Tinnehinch 58 122
King, Representatives of Rev Luke, Cookstown 75 568
Monck, Viscount Charleville 3434 1556
Powerscourt, Lord Viscount Powerscourt 36693 8890
Young, Eliza Cookstown 3 60

You can explore this document at http://www.failteromhat.com/.

 

 

Memories of Glencot, Enniskerry

This year’s Journal features local stories and people. The articles will be published online in advance and the compiled Journal will be available from September in paperback. This article is from Denise Haddon.

Mrs Lang, the old lady on the right of the photo, owner of Glensynge; Irene Oldfield, the companion; and me, aged about 3. My favourite dog, Jessie Carr, is on Mrs Lang's lap, and Monty the black labrador is at the front.

I first went to Enniskerry before I was born!  My grandmother had brought her terminally-ill daughter from England to have one last holiday in Fethard-on-Sea, her own native village.  This was in the summer of 1939, and war broke out while they were there.  The family persuaded my grandmother to stay in Ireland (‘don’t bring Frankie back to the bombs‘) and so she had to look for a small place to rent rather than stay in lodgings.  She saw an advertisement in the paper for a place in County Wicklow, somewhere called Enniskerry, which looked suitable, so up they went.

My mother went to join them when her own husband was about to go off to the war.  It was from there that Bill Seery, who lived in a cottage on Kilgarron Hill, took my mother in his taxi to Holles Street Hospital the night before I was born, in August 1941.   My father arrived on embarkation leave the next day and, being a Sunday and there being no buses, he had to walk from Dun Laoghaire to Enniskerry, using Cattie Gallagher as his guide.  He knew that once he got there, he could get to The Scalp and then on to Enniskerry.  He stayed in Prosser’s hotel.  A young waitress there was so busy looking at him that she poured his soup into his lap!  Auntie Frankie died two months later and is buried in Curtlestown.  My father was killed by a Japanese sniper in Malaya in early 1942, and so we stayed, on and off, in Enniskerry until it was time for me to start school and we all went back to England.

Glencot, showing the wall and roadway in front. You can't see the water but it came out somewhere along that wall.

The house – it is really a hut and is still there – was called Glencot.   It was in the grounds of a large bungalow called Glensynge.  Glensynge was owned by an English lady, Mrs Lang, and she lived there with her unmarried daughter, Elsie, and a companion, Irene Oldfield.  I think they were Quakers.  They had a large number of dogs and numerous cats.  They were known to be animal lovers so any strays got taken to them!  The grounds were extensive, some cultivated with a lovely lawn and shrubs, a big area where they grew soft fruit, a small orchard and a large vegetable garden.  They kept bees and Elsie Lang was often to be seen in full bee-keeper’s outfit.  They also had several ducks which laid quite a lot of eggs and a lovely pond.

Dotted around the grounds were a few small dwellings which they rented out.  There was one amongst some fir trees, lived in by a school teacher.  I have forgotten her name.  In another larger one was an old Indian Army officer called Pat Wilkinson who was a friend of Irene Oldfield’s.  He had been a student at Trinity College, knew Lady Gregory and was at the opening of The Playboy of the Western World when some of the spectators rioted.  He had several cases of beautiful Indian butterflies which he had caught and had mounted while serving in India.  In another dwelling was a Mr and Mrs Harty and their daughter, Mary, with whom I used to play.  Further up the hill near the road was a family called Ryan, with a daughter called Doreen, who also played with Mary and me.  I don’t think any of these dwellings had running water or electricity. There was a communal ‘toilet’ somewhere in the grounds which the tenants took it in turns to clean.  It consisted of a hut, placed over a stream, over which had been built a bench with a hole in it.  I don’t remember being bothered by it at all – just that my visiting English aunt used to find it very difficult!

Glencot consisted of three rooms:  two bedrooms and one all-purpose room.  It had a small wood-burning stove on which the kettle sat and a two-ring cooker which was run on oil.  It was very cosy.  Lighting was by oil lamps and there were candles in the bedrooms.  We filled our jugs and saucepans and bowls from the beautiful spring water which gushed out of the wall below Glencot.  It was surrounded by buddleia trees and to this day the smell of buddleia takes me straight back to Enniskerry.    For nearly a year, when I was 3, my twin cousins came to stay, and they used to sleep in a little hut beside ours.

We used to go out with Miss Oldfield to walk the dogs every afternoon.  I can’t remember all their names, only Monty, the black Labrador, Ben, the greyhound, Jilly-pup, the golden retriever, and my own best pal Jessie Carr, a little mongrel with a curly tail who used to run round to me every morning when she was let out.  We collected wood for the stove during these walks, and to this day I have difficulty walking past a nice-looking piece of wood!

We used to walk across the Bog Meadow to Mass on Sundays, and indeed I used to run across it alone to meet my gran coming home from daily Mass.  There were scarcely any cars then, and everybody knew everybody so it was very safe.  We used to get Bill Seery to take us up to Curtlestown for the annual Pattern.  But a lot of people used to walk all the way. There were of course the lorries taking the men up to Glencree to cut the turf.  There is nothing like the smell of burning turf!  I used to love going to Mrs Windsor’s shop and if I was lucky I’d get an HB ice cream.  There was another shop called Quigley’s round the corner.  What did they sell?  Is there anyone who remembers?

We got our meat from Mr Magee.  I remember standing at the end of Magee’s yard and hearing the pigs squeal as they were slaughtered.   John Magee was behind the counter as a very young man.  I thought he was very tall.   Occasionally boys would knock at the door selling rabbits for a few pence, and I watched in amazement as my gran skilfully skinned them.  I was only aware of the scarcity of tea because a tramp once knocked on the door and said ‘can ye spare a grain of tea?‘ and my gran said ‘we haven’t enough for ourselves‘.  I did know that there were food shortages in England because if we went over we’d always pack some things in with our luggage, and we regularly sent my other aunt a bar of chocolate hidden inside a rolled-up newspaper.  Only the older people will remember that you could roll up a newspaper in a special wrapper and send it at a cheap rate.

This was taken at my aunt's grave in Curtlestown. I'm about 5 in this one. My grandmother, Mary Cooper, is behind me. May O'Rourke is on the right of the picture, and Aunt Maggie is on the left.

There were regular shopping trips into Dublin, which I hated unless we were going to Bradleys near Trinity College to buy me shoes.  You always got a ride on their rocking horse and were given a big balloon to take home.  And lunch at Bewley’s was always a treat.  The Dublin and Bray buses used to start and finish outside the Protestant school.  There was a bus once an hour.  I always felt sick on the Dublin bus but the conductor used to tell me that he’d always been sick on the bus when he was a little boy and look at him now!

I used to play with Guard McGrath’s daughter – Deirdre I think her name was – and Mairead Tallon.  My mother and grandmother became friends with the O’Rourkes – Mr O’Rourke, and his daughter May, and Aunt Maggie – in the big house just below Glensynge and the derelict bus garage.   It was a lovely house with a huge garden with a tennis court, and it had trees with delicious plums trained along the wall beside the driveway.  When the old people died, May sold up and moved to England.

There was the occasional drama.   One day a lorry’s brakes failed as it was coming down Kilgarron Hill, and it crashed into the wall of one of the houses by the Protestant school.  I just remember the smashed lorry and wall, and not whether the driver was badly injured.  A more pleasant excitement was the occasional showing of films in a building along the Bray road.  I don’t remember what the building was but seem to remember a garage being nearby.

This is Glencot, with my grandmother, Mary Cooper, at the window, and my mother, Betty King, outside. I have no idea of the date. I'm wondering if it was before I was born.

After we moved back to England and up until my late teens, we spent every summer in Ireland.  Bill Seery used to meet us at Dun Laoghaire and take us to Windgates on the Greystones side of Bray Head where my mother had had a small holiday house built. Over the years since then we always came back to visit Enniskerry, to look at Glencot, to visit Irene Oldfield and Pat Wilkinson when they were still there, to visit my aunt’s grave in Curtlestown.  It’s a place of bitter/sweet memories, and for me, the one place where my parents and I were together as a little family, Enniskerry, then Bray;  where my dad caused quite a stir by changing nappies and pushing the pram – unheard of in 1941 Ireland for a man to do any such thing!

Denise Haddon (nee King) lived in Enniskerry from 1941 to 1945, returning annually (more or less) ever since.

List of those with burial rights in Powerscourt

When the new church at Powerscourt gates was built, Mervyn, 7th Viscount, “requested Mr William Buckley, the then innkeeper of the Powerscourt Arms Hotel Enniskerry, who was then churchwarden, to furnish me with a list of the parishioners…[so that] the burials in the old churchyard are restricted to those families who had rights prior to 1869.” – where the old churchyard was that beside the house.

As luck would have it, this list still exists in the Powerscourt Papers at the National Library of Ireland, and I have reproduced it below. Some of the names have been annotated in pencil “decd” – so the list was obviously updated at some stage. It is in two parts: those living in the Parish and those outside. A note on the front page said that a copy of the list has been given to (I think) H Galbraith in 1879.

MS 43,061 /10: List of those with right of burial in the churchyard in Powerscourt Demesne; 2pp undated

List of those resident in the parish

Anthony Beale and family Killough
James Booth do Bahana
Thomas Bradner do Tonygarra
William Buckley decd do Enniskerry
Francis Buckley do Lackendarra
Robert Buckley do Onagh
John Buckley do Knockbawn
John Buckley do Ballybrew
John Thomas Buckley do Enniskerry
Henry Buckley decd do Enniskerry
Samuel Buckley do Glasskenny
Loftus Buckley do Deerpark
William Burn/Bunn do Killegar
Thomas Burton do Annacrevy
Mrs Burton do Annacrevy
Alice Burton do Barnamire
Richard Burton do Barnamire
William Burton do Barnamire
Bethel Burton decd do Barnamire
Mrs Bernard do Enniskerry
William Correll decd do Enniskerry
Anne Curley Enniskerry
Maryanne Darlington Monastry
John Evans decd and family Crone
Thomas Fanning do Stylebawn
Catherine Green do Enniskerry
Robert Graydon do Coolekey
Mrs Harricks do Glasskenny
William Hicks do Kilmolin
Leonard Hicks do Cluen?
John Hicks do Cluen?
Mrs Harrisson do Ballinagee
Thomas Halpin decd Monastry
John Hopkins and family Deerpark
Mrs Jones do Ballinagee
John Jones do Tinnehinch
Mr Henry Keegan decd do Bahana
Mrs Saul Keegan do Bahana
Mr RP Keegan do Ballinagee
John Long do Killough
Miss Larkin do Charleville
Viscount Monck do Charleville
Miss Moore Ballinagee
Thomas Miller decd and family Glasskenny
Mary McMullen do Monastry
Matthew Noble do Tonygarra
Patrick Noble do Annacrevy
Philip O’Connor do Annacrevy
Henry Pearson do Killough
Mrs Patrickson do Killegar
Viscount Powerscourt do Powerscourt
James Quigley do Enniskerry
Timothy Quigley decd do Kilmolin
Henry Quinn do Killough
William Quinn do Charleville
Mrs Roe do Coolekey
Henry Sandys decd do The Dargle
Henry Sutton do Long Hill
Mrs Sutton do Ballyreagh
Mrs Stronge decd do Berryfield
John Townsend do Killough
Henry Townsend do Ballyornan
Saul Tourson do Cluen?
Mrs Tourson do Kilmolin
Mrs Tourson do Enniskerry
Robert Townsend decd and family Deerpark
Thomas Walker decd do Curtlestown
Margaret Walker Enniskerry
Henry Ward Parknasillogue
Francis Ward and Family Parknasillogue
Robert Williams do Ballybrew
Mrs Maude Williams do Ballybrew
Abraham Williams do Cookstown
William Williams do Ballinagee
Miss Williams do Enniskerry
Michael Walker do Ballybawn
Edward Young decd do Barnaslingan
John Hillman do Monastry
George Hillman do Monastry
Mrs Curley Enniskerry

Not resident in this parish

Edward Keegan and Family Kilternan
Anne Davis do Dublin
Mrs Dalton do Bray
John Buckley do Killincarrig
Mrs Wm Fox do Coolegad
Captain Needham do
Mrs Murray
Mr Shaw do Celbridge
Mr Houghton do Ballybride
George Heatley do Glencormick
Mr McCready do Dublin
James Sutton do Ballycorus
Thomas Saunders do Dundrum
Mr Ormsby do Dublin
John Richardson do Kilgobbin
Benjamin Buckley do Rathgar
Benjamin Buckley do Ballybeta
Mr Le Grange and family Fassaroe
John Pharr do Ballinastow
George Fox do Kilternan
Mr Tracy do Bally—duff
John Williams do Donnybrook
Edward Pharr do Rathmines
Charles Douglas do Palermo, Bray
James Buckley do Ballinastow
Alexander Roe in Australia
David Tourson do Bray
Mr Wm Harpeur? Do Stillorgan
Mr Vernier/Verrier do The Astle
Represantitves of Mr Hamilton
do Mr Ferrier Dublin
do Mr Woodburne Dublin
do Mr Underwood Dublin
do Mr Kennan Dublin
do Revd Wm Walker? England
do Mr Wm Collins Templeogue
do Captain Hoare
do Mr James Tracey Ballycorus
do Mr James Shirley Enniskerry
do Mr H M Mason Dublin
do Mr Frette? Dublin
do Mr Anthony Leeson Ballinastow
do Mr John Johnson Dublin
do Mr Flood Cookstown
do Mr Thomas Fox Killmurray
do Mr Devine Dublin
do Mr Thos Collins Ballybetha
do Major De Butts
do Mrs Stronge Glenamuck
do Mr Clark Dublin
do Mr Bessonnett (added in pencil) Dublin

Brassington & Gale Valuation of Powerscourt 1853: Tenant Names (Archive Month #18)

In 1853, during the minority of the 7th Viscount Powerscourt, the firm Brassington and Gale (Bachelor’s Walk) were requested to carry out a valuation of all property on the Estate, to assist the Guardians of the estate in deciding on rents that should be charged for land. They produced a ledger of incredible detail, which is now in the National Library of Ireland (MS 2740) that lists all of the townlands in the Wicklow estate (Enniskerry and Castlemacadam), the tenants in each of the holdings in these townlands, their area and their value.

Below, I have reproduced some of this—namely the townlands, their total acreage and value, and the tenants names given in each. There is a return for each holding, so in many cases a tenant’s name will appear more than once. For each holding, the original lists several sub-sections—e.g. arable fields, rocky land, boggy land and their component values and areas—this isn’t reproduced. Therefore the list below should be read as all of the holdings within a townland, bearing in mind that their value was comprised of several sub-sections. Also, some holdings have joint tenants—I would imagine that these are usually related in some way.

Of course, there were many more tenants than are listed here—I suppose they sub-let land from the listed tenants. I am really just listing these names as a genealogical resource, so hope it is of some interest. There does seem to have been a map to accompany this report, but I haven’t seen it yet (I’m not even sure if it still exists). I have occasionally recorded details of note, usually any significant buildings that were noted or anything that was occupied directly by the estate (!In hand”). Unfortunately, details in the village were scant – buildings were only listed as dwellings, sub-divided by whether they had slated or thatched roof. Businesses or types of buildings, with some rare exceptions, were not indicated.

[table id=8 /]

Judicial Rent Reviews at Powerscourt (Archive Month #9)

The pencil lead is hardly dry on this latest data collection! I’m interested in the change of ownership of land from Powerscourt to tenants, and have been looking at the Land Commission records. From my limited understanding so far the Land Commission was established in 1881 to effect the voluntary transfer of land from estate owners to tenants. The initial idea seems to be that the land owners would be compensated with some form of bonds, and the tenants, living and working on the land, would borrow to buy the land they farmed. It wasn’t a terribly successful strategy, and a subsequent Act was enforced in 1903 called the Wyndham Land Act, which really seemed to be the death knell of great Irish estates, and this is what I am working on. This Act was much more successful, as it was cash up front, with a 12% bonus on price paid to the landlords to compensate for any discrepancy between what the tenant thought it was worth and what the landlord wanted. Acknowledging my economic naïveté, I consider it a latter day NAMA.

Powerscourt, as ever, is curious though. As part of the Land Commission’s duty, it seems they set judicial rents for what tenants should be paying. Land value hadn’t been set it seems since Griffith, and judicial reviews of rents seemed to set a new precedent, I think for a fixed period of 15 years. In the 19th century Parliamentary Papers, the summaries of these reviews was regularly published. Also published were amounts paid by the government after tenant purchase, which details the tenants involved.

Now here’s the thing – if you are still with me after my long preamble… While there are several judicial reviews for the Wicklow and Wexford estates, the only details of purchasing by tenants are in Wexford. I could find no details of land purchase from 1881 through to 1900 in Wicklow. It seems Powerscourt had no problem selling off his Wexford land, but was obviously not too keen on selling his Wicklow land. Listed below, are the judicial reviews for Wicklow, showing the tenant, area and value paid at the time, along with value after review. Almost all were down-graded in value, except for poor Eliza Burton, who had to pay more.

At the other end of the scale, there is an answer to a parliamentary question in the new Dáil in 1932, which stated that as far as the Government knew, Lord Powerscourt owned 1,845 acres in Wicklow, with a Poor Law value of £1346. The next part of my jigsaw search is finding out what happened in between. It is likely that the old boy hung on until the new Free State government forced his hand in the matter, and that land transfer began en masse in our estate in 1923. This was suggested by Canon Stokes in his Lecture. The remaining land was the subject of additional strife in the 1960s – another story – but at the time Taoiseach Seán Lemass, in response to a Dáil question about whether the government would buy Powerscourt, said that anyone who knew Powerscourt knew it was only mountain bog (referring to the surrounding land).

When I know more – I’ll tell you; if you know more – please tell me!

Judicial Reviews of Land Rent 1881 – 1900, Viscount Powerscourt as Landowner (Wicklow Estates)

Tenant/ Location Area Poor Law Valuation Former Rental Judicial Rental
1886 Lady Laura Grattan, Tinnehinch 34-1-35 £32 £77 35s £45
1889 Peter Whelan, Monastery and Anahaskin 21 £30 £36 10s £34
1889 James Pharr, Ballinastor 46-0-25 £15 5s £25 6s £15 15s by agreement
1890 Edward Somers, Ballinastoe 26-2-10 £24 10 £17 10 £15
1890 Francis Ward, Parknasilloge 22-0-34 £20 £13 £11
1890-91 James Quigley, Cookstown 13-1-14 £14 10s £19 10s £17 10s
1898 Wm A Buckley, Monastery 23-1-0 £21 £25 2s 8d £22 19s
1900 Eliza Burton, Barnamire 129-0-22 £33 15s £25 £31

 

 

Maps from Powerscourt Papers in National Library of Ireland (Archive Month #3)

The National Library of Ireland has an important set of manuscripts relating to Powerscourt and Enniskerry in its Powerscourt Papers collection. There is a general index to the collection, which is available online (Collection List 124 PDF file). Having looked at many of the maps, some more detail from notes made are provided below. As well as being beautiful visual images from the past, these maps often provide detail of where people lived, their names and neighbours names, new plans, etc. I have tried to include any of these details below.

Some really useful information on using manuscript maps in local history is provided by Jacinta Prunty in her book “Maps and Map-Making in Local History” – see the website library for details.

21F 163/22

Map and sections of present and proposed roads from Enniskerry to crossroads at Kilmolin. No other details except Scale: 16 statute perches to an inch.

An absolutely beautiful map showing plans for a road which plans to avoid Kilgarran Hill, by veering right past hospital (Estate Office) and runs along Kilgarran townland through Kilmolin and meeting present road at junction with Glencullen. Enniskerry village shown in detail. Rationale appears to be to avoid steep incline at Kilgarran. Incline is given as 1 in 6 1/2 at steepest on current road and 1 in 17 for proposed road. No date, but town clock is not marked and village schoolhouse present (although not marked). (Some more detail and context for this map given in the book).

Names/references:

  • Reference to Mr Magee’s House – is this Kilgarran House?; it includes a lodge.
  • Tim Quigley and John Buckley named as ?occupiers? south and north of new road in Kilgarran.
  • Mrs Dixon north of Buckley
  • John Buckley and his house and Edward Ward’s House marked
  • Miller’s Hotel marked in village.
  • “Old Hospital – Thomas Basset” marked at proposed junction at end of Kilmolin.

21F 163/43

A map of part of the old roads and new intended road leading from the old road at the upper end of Glencree by Lough Bray to the Road of Shramamuck and Adowne, by Michael Currin. Date: April 1799. Scale: 320 perches/1 mile to an inch.

Details of a new road between Enniskerry and Glencree, which is 4 miles, 19 perches (1299 perches) long. Map shows proposed road from Glencree to ?Sally Gap? at Liffeyhead. It was commissioned by Viscount Powerscourt. There is little local Enniskerry detail; Powerscourt, Charleville and Tinnehinch are marked; roads to Bray by Cookstown and by Kilcroney marked. Hard to say if it is old/new Enniskerry to Glencree road, but probably old road as it ends up below L. Bray. Of interest, given the date, as it precedes the military road.

21F 163/46

Map of part of Ballyman in the Co. of Dublin and Barony of Rathdown – part of the estate of Lord Powerscourt, by Michael Currin, Surveyor, 1792. 5 perches to 1″.

Map shows road from Dargle to Old Connaught, including the walled garden of Mr Mason – “11 1/2 perches plantation measure” – surrounding land to north is James Pluck’s (?) holding.

21F 163/47

Map of part of the land of Lackendarragh 1846 June now in possession of Mr Francis Buckley, no other details.

Map shows holdings either side of road to Enniskerry including holding of Buckley (36 acres 1 rood 9 perches), divided into “Hill” and “Arable”, and the neighbours holdings; on the east side: Thomas Gilbert, bound along the south by a river running west-east; neighbour on the west side: Mrs Mary Keegan. “Plantation” is marked along the northern edge.

21F 163/48

Cookstown. No other details.

Map shows an area of 12-2-20 which looks similar to what was Summerhill in Cookstown. The name associated with it is hard to read – possibly Mr. Z Lord. The holding is marked in detail, including an outline of the house, vegetable garden, pasture, meadow, yard, garden. There appears to be two driveways meeting at a central circle.

21F 163/60

A map of Ballynagee, 1759, Chas Maguire, 40 perches to 1″.

Map showing “Fine arable and pasture” land divided into two lots, one being 102-1-19 and the second being 41-1-5. On the south side is Deerpark to the west and Long Hill due south. Coolikeagh is marked to the east. Along the west is Bahana, marked as “Deacon’s part of Bahana” at the north end and “Booth’s part of Bahana” to the south end. Onagh is marked on the north edge.

21F 163/63

A map of Cuttlestown in the manor of Powerscourt… the holding of Edward Mooney and Partners for Mr Anthony Burton, 1795, Michael Currin.

Map showing a plot of 78 acres on the west side of a road north of Cuttlestown. At the north-east end, Cuttlestown Hill is marked, Annacrevy is due east, along with the name “Mr Wingfield Burton” and to the south east, Cuttlestown, with the name Mr Anthony Burton. On the west side, Barnamire is to the west and south west, to the west the name Mr George Burton is appended, and to the north west is the “Land of Clune”, with the name Mr Gregg Hicks. A short section of road is marked here on the north west corner.

21F 163/64, 65

Design for a new bridge and proposed line of road from near entrance gate to Powerscourt Waterfall leading towards Bahana, 1834.

Architect’s plan for bridge at Waterfall entrance by Henry Thomas Provis (?), Sandymount, Dublin. Bridge is 18ft wide and 60 ft long. Map #65 shows the road plan. Some more details on this in context are in the book.

21F 163/67

Design for two new bridges, July 1847.

“Bridge near waterfall and “Bridge on double stream on upper part of new road”, by John Louch architects (the estate architect). More details on this in the book.

21F 163/68

A map of the lands of Monastery let to the Rev’d Mr McGhee, 1834, 10 perches to 1″.

Map shows Enniskerry bridge and Monastery road and possible village road and Kilgarran Hill. A barley field and pasture are marked on map. An addition, added in 1843 says the land was let to Ben Buckley at £2 per acre. (See this article for more on our friend Mr McGhee).

21F 163/16

A map of gardens at Enniskerry formerly under lease to the Miss Tooles (1850s?) 2 1/2 perches to 1 inch. A component, possibly the Garda barracks and Rosemount, is not included in the lots.

Map shows new road (Forge road) and “street” (Church Hill). Several plots are marked, one belonging to Mrs Shirly. the Courthouse is on the northeastern corner.

43010/1

No title. A map showing the New Military Road, surveyed by William Duncan, 1802.

The land marked for the new barracks at Glencree has lease value of £3 17s 6 3/4. Map shows Aurora Hutts (sic). A road to Dublin is shown. Map is interesting in the context of Military road history.

43003/10

No title, but a map of the road from Bray to Enniskerry, running along the Dargle at Cookstown, 1821.

Has several plot numbers and refers to “Powerscourt Estate Grand Map”. Several houses are marked, but only name shown in Widow Clements. The 21 bends road  is obviously not present, but Widow Clements’ land aligns with where this would be, on the Enniskerry side of the Big Tree. “Enniskerry River” marked. Plot numbers are 51, 113, 58, 118, 108, 107, 111, 109. The area is 5-3-9, and an amount is shown, perhaps rental income of £28 19s 9d.

43001/6

Map concerns lands south of Tinnehinch towards Sugarloaf and west to Giltspur, 1839. Scale 40 perches to 1 inch

Map shows lands divided between Powerscourt, Rathdowne and Sir George Frederick Hodson (1370 acres). Shows entrance to Charleville (house not marked), Tinnehinch bridge marked and  Ballyorney road. Six houses marked along Ballyorney road.

43003/15

No title. Map showing two plots along “street of Enniskerry to Dublin”, evidently along Church Hill. No date.

Plots are on the west side of street and are labelled “No. 1 The Garden” and “No. 2 The House”. On the south side is marked “Mrs Toole’s holding”, on the west side is “Mrs Toole’s at will” and on the north side “Mr J Buckley”. The house is 63 feet in front. An amount of £23 p.a. is marked, as is the text “Kilgarran containing by survey nine perches of the late plantation measure to the same ——-”

43006/13

No title. A map showing a parcel of land between Monastery and the Parknasillog, by Chas Maguire, 1759.Scale: 40 perches to 1 inch.

Two pieces of land in a plot: (1) Fine arable and pasture (145-0-16) and (2) Coarse ditto (18-2-16). Bounded on the north east (or at least top right) by “Folliot Patrickson, part on Monastery”, on the east by “Road from Powerscourt to Dublin , with William Harrick’s part of Monastery on the other side of the road, on the south west by Kilgarren, on the west by the river and Parknasillog and on the north west by Killegar.

43006/14

No title. Townland of Barnamire.

A map showing a plot in Barnamire surrounded by Glancree, Lackendara, Knockbawn, Curtlestown. No names of features marked.

Missing Maps

Unfortunately, several maps are marked as missing. Their titles suggest tantalising detail. They include:

  • 21F 160/13 – Map of church plot near Enniskerry, 1860, by Brassington and Gale. 50 ft to 1 inch.
  • 21f 160/14 – Map of part of Coookstown in the County of Wicklow, laid out in villa lots, 8 perches to one inch.
  • 21F 163/15 – Holding of late Mrs Dickson at Enniskerry, 2 perches to one inch.
  • 21F 163/16 – Lands at Toneygarrow in lots.
  • 21F 163/18 – Map of Rev T O’Dwyer’s holding in Enniskerry, church plot included. 100′ to 1″.
  • 21F 163/110 – Mrs Crooke’s right of way, 8 perches to one inch.
  • 21F 163/111 – Mrs Murray’s Demesne, 1873, 5 perches to one inch.

Postscript: The National Library are introducing a digital search facility for its Longfield Index (an index of many maps) which will have images incorporated. I can’t remember off hand if there were any maps of our area included, but it will be a useful resource nonetheless.

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About Archive Month

 

House Book for Town of Enniskerry 1840 (Archive Month #2)

NAI 5.3573 30 Jan 1840: Houses in Town of Enniskerry

Many of us are familiar with the wonderful Griffith Valuation records available online. The valuation of Ireland has a complicated heritage, but gathered pace as a result of the enactment of the Poor Law in Ireland in 1838, with a view to establishing a uniform valuation of land across the country for taxation purposes. The Primary Valuation is now online and searchable by name and place. The House Books (and Field Books) relate to the preparation of the Primary Valuation and can provide additional detail on a locality, by giving occupiers’ names, size of buildings and additional comments.  They are on microfilm in the National Archives of Ireland.

The House Books for the “Town of Enniskerry”, detailing notes made by surveyors, are recorded below. The book is dated January 1840, but lines crossed out may refer to subsequent amendments These were distinguished by colour and can be traced using the Valuation Office original documents in the Irish Life Mall – an expensive exercise – but it does yield information on the transfer of ownership of land over a long period of time.

Notes for Town of Enniskerry in the townlands in which it lies:

1. Townland of Cookstown, 19th December

Number on Map: 16 [10 (4 then 11 crossed out)]

School for Boys and Girls

House (53 x 20), Teacher’s dwelling (17 x 18), “more of same, more and sheds, office and privy”

Quality 1B+

Observation: With 16 perches of a yard and garden. Patron Lord Powerscourt, all people able pay from 3 to 4 (s?) per quarter each child, but a good many are taught free. Note added in pencil – 15 payable out of 45.

Number on map: 9 (5 then 10 crossed out)

Doctor Rufsel

Dwelling 37.5 x 22

Quality 1B+

Observation: With a large yard and 30 perches of a garden. Leased at £40 yearly

Number on Map 2 [ 7 (8 crossed out)]

Doctor Geeson Mrs Caroline Geeson

Includes dwelling 44.6 x 24. Quality 1A+

Observation: The late Dr Geeson expended two thousand pounds in building this house and offices it is leased at ground level.

2. Townland of Kilgarron

Number on map – 8 [22 (15 crossed out)]

CHARITY HOUSES 50X15 QUALITY 1B+#

TWO HOUSES IN WHICH SIX WIDOWS ARE KEPT BY LORD POWERSCOURT AND THE REV ROBT DALY CHARLES BUNALL

Number on Map – 5

House for temporary Worship – Rev Robt Daly 43 x 23

More of house – 17 x 13

Number on Map – 4 a, b , c, d, e, f

Dwellings 13.6 x 19.6 – given free by Lord Powerscourt to a widow (quality usually 1B+)

Names: Mrs Stack (crossed out) = c, Mrs Boyle = a, Mrs Dennis = c, Mrs Margaret Smyth = d, Mrs Brigid McHugh = e, Mrs Margaret Dempsey = f. B and C subsequently annotated vacant.

Number on Map – 2

Hospital consisting of House (53.6 x 21.6 (Quality 1B+)), returns, basement and privy, no observations.

3. Townland of Knocksink

Number on map – 3 Captain Cranfield

House (33 x 18 – 1B+) and others –

Observation – £85 yearly is paid for this house and four Irish acres of land – see sheet 7 the house is furnished by herself

Number on map not legible (Mr John Barrington – name crossed out). is the name replaced by Messrs Millers? – very difficult to see pencil.

Observation – This is the hotel and was built by the father in law of Mr Barrington and pays only ground rent.

Hearth Money Rolls, Powerscourt, 1668

One of the earliest writings on placenames by the indefatigable Liam Price, historian, scholar and Wicklow judge, was his work on transcribing the Hearth Money Rolls of County Wicklow, which he published in 1931.* Price was a district justice in County Wicklow from the 1920s until the 1950s. His interest in history and antiquities apparently led him to take detours on his way to and from local court sessions to places of interest, where he would record the antiquities, placenames and folklore he found. His transcription of the Hearth Money Rolls were completed from a copy provided to him “through the kindness of Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole, Litt.D., formerly of Dunganstown Castle, Co. Wicklow“, which themselves were copied out by Henry Monck Mason. The original rolls were dated 1668, and list the names of the parishes, and townlands within the County. Unfortunately, “Mr. Mason did not copy out the names of the householders except in the case of a house containing more than one hearth” and so the number of names are more limited than they might otherwise be. It does however, provide a lot of information on the names of townlands and number of significant houses therein. Householders were taxed two shillings for every hearth they owned.

 

The table below lists the details for the parish of Powerscourt, half barony of Rathdown as transcribed by Price, along with his notes. Placenames and people’s names are left as found. The first column lists houses with one hearth and a chimney, the second lists houses with one hearth and no chimney, and the third lists houses with more than one hearth, and the name of the head of the house. It is likely therefore that the latter are significant houses in each townland.

[table id=7 /]

 

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* Price’s article was published in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1931, Vol. 1, No.2, pp. 164-178.

Five O’Clock Tea at the Dargle

Allen Mustard has sent in some information on his ancestor, Thomas James Mustard (1826 – 1902), who lived at Dargle Gate Lodge, Cookstown Enniskerry, taking payments for entering into the Dargle Glen. He had served in the RIC, and his son was born in the married quarters of the Barracks at Enniskerry.

Thomas James Mustard

The Dargle Glen was a very popular tourist destination at this time. One visitor was the poet Alice Furlong, who wrote two poems after visiting the Dargle. The first, In the Dargle, begins

By leaning fern and mossy stone
The river singeth all alone
A musical sweet monotone.

Within its lucent canopies;
The sunbeam broodeth dreamy-wise
Like to a smile in girlhood’s eyes.

Athwart the amber and the snow
Of quiet pools ‘twixt flow and flow,
The quiet birds flit to and fro.

The poem continues on a rather depressing note.

A second poem, much happier in tone is Five O’Clock Tea at the Dargle, which mentions Mustard and describes the jaunting car ride to Wicklow and Enniskerry, and is reproduced below. If you have any more information on the tea rooms at the Dargle, or anything about the Mustard family in the area, Allen would be delighted to hear from you.

Harp, long disused and out of tune!
Assist us to remember
This sunny, breezy afternoon,
This second of September,
Nineteen-nought-one, when two fair dames.
An old man and a younger,
First having satisfied the claims
Of Nature’s noontide hunger,
We issue from the postern-gate
Of sylvan Villa Nova,
Sweet haunt of song, yet rhyming mate
it hath not, save Jehovah!
We speed on nimble jaunting-car
Through sunshine and no showers
Towards where the Sugar-loaf afar
O’er Wicklow valleys towers;
Past Linden when the sun is high,
Past Leopardstown, Stillorgan –
For city smoke the bright blue sky,
The birds for barrel-organ.

By quiet rural roads we glide
Past Stepaside, Kilgobbin,
‘Twixt hedges tall and thick that hide
The home of many a robin.
In purest air, no dust, no glare,
We four, sedately merry,
Whirl through the Scalp, that tiny Alp.
And skirt fair Enniskerry.
Alighting soon, we leave the road
For forest-shaded byway;
Our car will find again its load
By driving round the highway,
While we pursue our grassy way
Through glorious maze of greenery.

Oh! could I worthy tribute pay

To such enchanting scenery!
A mighty fissure’s rugged sides
Are oft austere, unsightly –
Rich verdure here all harshness hides,
Wild flowers from clefts gleam brightly.
Far down in leafy depths below,
Winds noisily the Dargle,
In whose pure wave the linnets lave,
Their throats the thrushes gargle.
And can it be yon slender stream
Has scooped this magic valley ?

But, though ’twere sweet to gaze and dream,
We must no longer dally.
Nature for some refreshment calls:
Lo ! yonder stands old Mustard
Beside his whitewashed cottage walls
With roses thickly clustered.
Between the porch and hedge is spread
A white-naped wooden table,
Whereon is served no common bread
But fairy feast of fable:
Hot scones, delicious jam, hot tea,
And dainty pats of yellow –
Could cream more like to nectar be ?

Could butter taste more mellow ?

We home return another way,
Like to the Eastern Magi,
While I of our grand Dargle “tay”
This monument
exegi.
Would that my strain were half as sweet
As is my theme so bonnie!
With love I lay it at the feet
Of my grandnephew, Johnnie.

Download PDF of poem

Source

Matthew Russell, Poets I have Known: VIII: Alice Furlong, The Irish Monthly, Vol. 36, No. 421 (Jul., 1908), pp. 389-398

Enniskerry, 1910 Commercial interests mapped

Excerpt from Porter’s Directory for Enniskerry, 1910

Some notes and information on commercial interests according to Porter’s Directory, 1910 mapped on a Google map. Locations are approximate based on placename given. Green pins = farmer, red pin = local business, yellow pin = doctor, purple pin = accomodation. Click on a pin to see the name in each case. The full extract with details of the village is given below, as sourced from IGP-Web.
Click here to view map in Google Maps

Excerpt:
An important village in the Parish of Powerscourt, about four and half miles from Bray Railway Station in the barony and Union of Rathdown and Catholic Diocese of Dublin and Protestant Diocese of Glendalough. It is the head of a Petty sessional District. This is the most beautiful district in all Ireland. No language can describe it. Every man, woman and child should see it; and owing to the kindness of the Proprietor of the estate, Lord Powerscourt, visitors to the Powerscourt Arms Hoted are afforded every opportunity of viewing the superb beauty of the district, which would require a well spent week to explore. A car leaves Bray Station for Enniskerry at frequent intervals during the day in summer. Population -235-

  • MAGISTRATES ATTENDING PETTY SESSIONS

Viscount Monk-Charleville/Lord Powerscourt-Powerscourt Castle/ Sir Robert Hodson -Bart-Hollybrook/ A Chatterton -Kilgarron/ R M Barrington -Fassaroe/Albert H R M Meldon/ Henry Sandys, Patrick Henry Esq., -Clerk.

  • DISPENSARY OFFICER- R W Brew, B. A. , M.B., C.Ch.
  • CONSTABULARY-Daniel Chambers, Sergt and four constables
  • Catholic Church- Father McGrath, C.C./Father McCarroll, C.C.
  • Catholic School-Christopher O’Rourke-Master/ Mrs O’Rourke -Mistress/Miss Kelly Assistant

ENNISKERRY COMMERCIAL LIST 1910

  • John Alexander confectioner, tea rooms, & apartments
  • George Bradner Farmer Tonygarrow
  • James Breheny Family Butcher
  • Richard Brew, M.B. T.C.D. physician & surgeon & medical officer, Powerscourt Dispensary
  • Francis Buckley Farmer Ballybrew
  • Mrs Hannah Buckley Family grocer & drapery Enniskerry
  • Thomas Buckley Farmer Monastery
  • Mrs Isabella Buckley Farmer Lackendarragh Lower
  • Wm. A Buckley Farmer Chrompstown
  • James Bunn Farmer & Dining rooms Killegar
  • Mrs Eliza ( George) Burton Farmer Barnamire
  • Mrs Elizabeth Burton ( Richard) Farmer Barnamire
  • Mrs. Elizabeth Burton Farmer Kilmalin
  • George Burton Jnr. Farmer Barnamire
  • Andrew Byrne Farmer Glaskenny
  • Brigid Byrne Farmer Cloon
  • A Chatterton J.P. Knocksink Estate Agent
  • Thomas Collins Temperance Hotel and Restaurant Cookstown
  • John Cullen Coachman
  • Mrs Cuthbert Farmer Killegar
  • Anthony Doyle Farmer Killigar
  • John Doyle Bootmaker
  • Joseph Doyle Apartments
  • John Gaskins  Private Apartments

Source