Thursday, April 21st, 2022

Today, we are going to feature information that Danny Dowling recorded regarding the residents of the townland of Ballyverneen around 1961. The Irish for this townland is Baile uí Bheirnín, and Danny recorded that there was a settlement, or area in Ballyverneen, called Bearstown. We located one headstone in the cemetery adjacent to St. James that has the following transcription, “Erected by Richard Dunphy, of Bearstown, in memory of his father James Dunphy who departed this life 10^th August 1841, aged 65 years.” We also found Bearstown recorded on the Ordinance Survey Maps (Between 1829 and 1842 the first large scale survey of Ireland was completed. OSI historical maps and information are available to view at Ordinance Survey Ireland. For other links to old maps click on our useful links button on our homepage.) It was only with the building of the New Ross to Waterford railway at the beginning of the 20th century that brick making in Ballyverneen ended.

Danny recorded eight families or households in Ballyverneen as well as a group of men who were dredging the river. Further information concerning the dredging operations is below. Birthdates or birth years are provided for some of the older residents gleaned from available public records. For some time after drafting his notebook, Danny recorded the dates of death or simply recorded that a resident had died.  The recorded information reveals that 43 people resided in Ballyverneen with the population of 24 males and 19 females. If the visiting dredgers are removed from the population there were 37 people residing in Ballyverneen (18 males & 19 females). The largest family recorded was the Forristal/O’Dwyer family comprised of eight persons and there were two households of a single person.

Recorded Residents

Males=24
Females=19
Eldest Recorded Resident= Laurence “Larry” Forristal(b. 11 Dec. 1886. Death register reveals that he died on the 27th June 1963.) Thus Laurence was 74 in 1961.

Recorded Work

Farmers= 2 (both males)
Farm/Agricultural Workers= 4 (all males)
Labourer= 6 (all males)
Carpenter= 1 (male)
Bookkeeper= 1 (female)
Domestic Servant = 1 (female)
Dredge workers= 6 (all males)

BALLYVERNEEN RESIDENTS

[1] LINEGAR

Linegar, James (b. 19 May 1889) General Labourer  (died but date of death not recorded)
Linegar, Annie (b. 1912) wife
Cass, Martin, step-son, General Labourer, (note moved to Aylwardstown)
Linegar, Kathleen, daughter, domestic servant
Linegar, Anne, daughter
Linegar, Josie, daughter
Linegar, Christopher, son

[2] DOOLAN

Doolan, Patrick (b. 1919) Co. Council Labourer
Doolan, Annie (b.1929) wife [known locally as Nancy]
Doolan, Mary, daughter
Doolan, Edward, son
Forristal, Mary (10 May 1896) mother-in-law [This Forristal family was known locally as the Civil Forristals.]

[3] KENNEDY

Kennedy, John (b. 1926) Carpenter
Kennedy, Margaret (b. 1934) wife
Kennedy, Patrick, son
Kennedy, Nora, daughter
Kennedy, Daniel, son

[4] DUNPHY

Dunphy, Ellen (b. 4 June 1898) Farmer
Dunphy, Seamus (b. 1927) son, farm
Dunphy, Margaret, daughter, bookkeeper [known as Maudie Dunphy & worked in Glenmore Creamery]
Dunphy, Mary, daughter [known as May Dunphy}
Dunphy, Richard, son, farm

[5] FORRISTAL

Forristal, Patrick (b. 28 Sept. 1898) Farmer
Forristal, Kate (b. 15 Aug. 1895) wife
O’Dwyer, Denis, son-in-law, farm
O’Dwyer, Margaret, daughter
O’Dwyer, John, grandson
O’Dwyer, Moyra, granddaughter
O’Dwyer, Kay, granddaughter
O’Dwyer, Margaret, granddaughter

[6] DUNPHY

Dunphy, Mary (b. 11 July 1915)
Dunphy, Thomas, son, farm worker (recorded that he moved to England)
Dunphy, Bridget, daughter 
Dunphy, Michael, son
Forristal, Laurence (b. 11 Dec. 1886) uncle, labourer (noted that he died, no date given in notebook. The death register records his date of date as 27 June 1963 ) [Larry Forristal was Nicky “the Miller” Forristal’s brother.]

[7] WALSH

Walsh, Michael (b. 1918) general labourer [locally known as Mick the Weaver.]

[8] DUNPHY

Dunphy, Richard (b. 5 July 1893) retired labourer

[9] DREDGE WORKERS

Robson, Richard Ernest (b. 1901) Skipper dredge boat
Davies, Thomas H. (b.1903) dredge worker
Johnston, Kenneth R. (b.1924) dredge worker
Matthews, Richard A. (b. 1906) dredge worker
Owen, William I. (b. 1923) dredge worker
Ethington, Fred, dredge worker 

Dredging at the Pink Rock

The New Ross Standard (Fri. 17 March 1961, p. 12) reported that in an effort to improve the condition of the River Barrow to allow larger ships to enter New Ross, the New Ross Harbouor Commissioners hired a dredge from a firm in Milford Haven. The dredge, named the “Basingstroke,” arrived on the 12^th of March and began working. It dredged the Kilkenny bank channel at the Pink Rock and was to remove 30,000 tons. It was reported that the dredge had an output of about one hundred tons per hour and had capacity for about four hundred tons.  A crew of seven operated the dredge including John Culleton “whose parents live in the Ballymitty area.”

The dredging “on the Red Bank at the Pink Rock” was completed in mid-August with a “considerable portion of the toe of the dangerous sand bank which curtailed the length and draught of ships entering the port has been removed.”  The dredger removed 24,000 cubic yards of material at a total cost of £6,000 (New Ross Standard, Fri. 18 Aug. 1961 p. 12).

We hope that you have enjoyed or found this snapshot of Ballyverneen interesting and over the coming weeks we will feature the residents of other townlands from Danny’s notebook. The featured photo above is the railway underpass on the Ballyverneen road to the Pink Rock [known locally as the “County Road Bridge”. ]

Please send any corrections, additional information, or queries to glenmore.history@gmail.com. Thanks to all the readers who have provided additional information and we will continue to update as more information is provided.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh