Civil Survey Notes

Civil Survey Notes - Cragg

From - The Civil Survey A.D. 1654–56 vol. ii, county of Tipperary western and northern baronies - Irish Manuscripts - available to download here

Cragg

In the Civil Survey for Cragg a John Ryan is listed. John Ryan is almost the equivalent of John Smith in Tipperary. In the Griffiths Valuation in the 1840s there are over 1300 John Ryans recorded.

However this particular John Ryan was an Esquire and owned close to 3000 acres (not just in Cragg obviously). As far as I know he was the 2nd son of William O’Mulryan of Annagh – Chieftain of the O’Mulryans of Owney.

At Cragg he is recorded as owning Cragg Castle in the Civil Survey “Upon the sd. lands of Crage standeth test Walls of a Castle & a Barbicon & the ruines an old mill, and are at prsent totally wast wthout any Improvement or accomodacon”

His older Brother Conor O’Mulryan died in 1640 and so at the time of the Civil Survey which is supposed to record the year 1640 but is dated 1654-56 he should have been the Chief of the O’Mulryans.

Come the transplantation decrees of 1656 we find in Simingtons Transplantation to Connacht pg 125 / 261 - Ryan, John Fitzwilliam; of Craig in Tipperary is recorded as being due to receive land in two locations. 500 acres in Ahascragh and 168 acres in Aughrim.

Fitz William backs up that we have the right person – ie son of William Ryan.

Did he ever take that up I’m not sure?

Interestingly come the Hearth Money Rolls of 1666-67, there is a John Ryan recorded still in the townland. Now obviously it is such a common name that we can’t be sure if it is him.

There are still Ryans living in the townland in the 1911 census.

https://thetipperaryantiquarian.blogspot.com/2024/08/hearth-money-rolls-cragg.html

Another interesting note re John Ryan is this gravestone in Kilconnell Abbey recording a William Ryan who died in 1773. Kilconnell being in the same Barony as where John Ryan of Cragg was to be transplanted. It was erected by William’s Son Hugh.

John Ryan of Cragg’s father was William and his Uncle Hugh, obviously it is not possible that it is them by the timeline but could names have been passed down to subsequent generations?

Comments

Hag Stones, are they an example of authentic Irish folklore or a neo-pagan import?

By Darkone CC BY-SA 2.0 The first time I ever heard of Hag-stones was this year. They are more commonly known as Adder stones and described on wikipedia as follows: " An adder stone is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it. Such stones have been discovered by archaeologists in both Britain and Egypt ." In Britain they are also called hag stones , [1] witch stones , serpent's eggs , snake's eggs , or Glain Neidr in Wales , milpreve in Cornwall , adderstanes in the south of Scotland and Gloine nan Druidh ("Druids' glass" in Scottish Gaelic ) in the north. In Germany they are called Hühnergötter ("chicken gods"). In Egypt they are called aggry or aggri . Adder stones were believed to have magical powers such as protection against eye diseases or evil charms, preventing nightmares , curing whooping cough , the ability to see through fairy or witch disguises and traps if looked at ...

The Origins of the surname Ryan

NOTE: This is currently a work in progress and I ask for any feedback on what I have written. Ryan is one of the top ten surnames by population / number of people in Ireland. It would be nice if there was a simple explanation as to the meaning of the surname Ryan, unfortunately to my knowledge there isn't. The most likely explanation is that it goes back to a King or Chief of Idrone circa 900AD named Rian or Rien. It was around this time that the Irish began taking on surnames and it may be that it was after him his descendants began to be called, O or descendent of Rian. We are not sure how or when exactly the O'Mulryan name came about. It is likely that it means "descendent of the followers of Rian". However, this is not certain. We will see further down in this article that the genealogies suggest they are both descended from the same ancestor circa 900AD. Although other evidence does contradict this. Just what Rian means is not known for sure. Explana...

Ryan Family Nicknames

Over 500 individual Ryan Family nicknames - many with townlands associated with them. Click Here

The Tipperary Antiquarian

Search This Blog