The Tipperary Antiquarian

  By Derek Ryan I'm sure many of ye have passed this monument near the Castleconnell exit off of the M7 at Limerick (Junction 27). I have passed it many times and finally got a chance to spot and have a look at it. It has been moved to make way for the nearby motorway and re-erected here.  Some might say that the monument could have removed altogether as the Fitzgibbons record as landlords were mixed to say the least.  They had the title of Earls of Clare, the 1st Earl John Fitzgibbon was anti-Catholic and pro the Act of Union.  https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-FitzGibbon-1st-earl-of-Clare It was the great grandson of the 1st Earl that is commemorated here.  From the roadside information board "Lady Louisa Fitzgibbon and her first husband, Gerald Dillon, had this arch erected in 1875 in memory of their eldest son, Charles Richard George (1849-70), who died of blood poisoning aged 20. It was positioned over a road side pump originally installed by Louisa...

Ned of the Hill's Cave near Cappawhite, Co. Tipperary. By Derek Ryan Bawn Who was Ned of the Hill? Ned or Eamonn O'Riain an Chnoic was an Irish Rapparee or Highwayman from near Upperchurch in Co. Tipperary. In folklore he developed a reputation as a kind of Irish Robin Hood, taking from the rich to give to the poor. It is said that he went to France to train to be a priest but on a trip home to Ireland he got into some trouble and became an outlaw. He fought during the Williamite War when many Rapparee's fought on the side of King James's forces. Local folklore records that he led Patrick Sarsfield and his soldiers through the secret passes of the Slieve Felims on their way to blow up the Williamite Siege train at Ballyneety in Co. Limerick in 1690. https://thetipperaryantiquarian.blogspot.com/.../sarsfiel... In the mountain area between Cappawhite and Hollyford is the reputed gravesite of Ned of the Hill. https://www.facebook.com/Thetipperaryantiquarian...

  Created by the page owner - Derek Ryan As far as I can recall these are townland / areas in Owney that have an entry in the Civil Survey of 1654-56 and the Hearth Money Rolls of 1665-66-67 and also feature a person that was listed for Transplantation to Connacht.  Why is this important? This allows you to trace particular names between the various records. This has never been done before to my knowledge and will be of great use to researchers.  Ballyhourigan Bauraglanna / Glenculloo Tullow / Newport Mountphilips / Cloncummer Cragg Rossaguile Oakhampton Killoscully / Aughavehir Garraunbeg Doonane Clonygaheen Shower Clonbunny Ballymackeogh & Rossary Tonetiry / Ballkinlalee

Not in copyright - dates to the 1680s Why Transcribing the Civil Survey of Owney & Owneybeg into a Spreadsheet Matters The Civil Survey of the 1650s is one of the most valuable historical sources for understanding land ownership in Ireland before the Cromwellian confiscations. For the baronies of Owney and Owneybeg, it records who owned land, where that land was located, and how much was held. However, in its original manuscript form, the survey is difficult to analyse. Transcribing it into an Excel spreadsheet transforms the document from a static historical text into a powerful research tool. Turning Historical Records into Usable Data The Civil Survey was written as a series of descriptive entries. Each entry usually includes: The landowner’s name The townland The type of land The acreage When this information is transferred into a spreadsheet, each detail can be placed into its own column. This allows the data to be sorted, filtered, and analysed in ways that ...

  From 1840s Ordnance Survey map of Tipperary (not in copyright) The famed rapparee is more often associated with Atshanboy and the Upperchurch area. However I recently came across a few interesting references linking him to the townland of Knockmeale near Killoscully.  In the Four Tipperary Septs pg 80 it says "An inquisition taken at Clonmel on Sept. 10th. 1633 found that Daniel Ryan late of Knockmoell in Co. Tipperary was seised in fee of the 6th part of one carucate of land at Knockmoell and died on May the 10th. 1630. That Edmond Ryan was his son and heir, of full age and married. The lands were held in capite and by knight's service.  Probably from Edmond descended Eamon an Chnoic or Edmond of the Hill a noted Rapparee whose name and exploits are still preserved among the inhabitants of the district where he held at bay for several years in his mountain fastness the forces endeavouring to capture or hill him.  He was born at Athcanboy in the parish of Upperchur...

Back in 2022 I received a newspaper cutting from a friend of mine, Joe Ryan Cooper about a bit of lost rock art in the Arra area. He said along the lines of, you probably already know about this one but just sending it on anyway! I didn't and I hadn't heard of it!  From Tipperary Vindicator / Limerick Reporter 1877 (not in copyright) The newspaper was the Nenagh Guardian and it referred to an article by Maurice Lenihan in the Tipperary Vindicator / Limerick Reporter.  I wrote a detailed article about it in the Annals of Arra Vol. 5 under the title "Alleged Megalith in Coumbeg".  I have since knocked on doors and walked a lot of the townland looking for this possible rock art, to no avail.  Recently AI has been able to generate images from sketches and I thought it might be interesting to see what the sketch of it would look like in "real" life.  Here is it -  Created using Google Gemini Hopefully some day this stone will turn up again sometime. As of now, m...