Sunday, December 3rd, 2023

Today, we are going to feature information Danny Dowling (1927-2021) recorded regarding the residents of the townland of Rochestown in 1961. Rochestown is the largest townland in the parish of Glenmore and in some early records it was spelled as Roachestown. Some of the current residents of Rochestown can find their surnames in the earliest records of the townland.

Background

The Irish for this townland, according to O’Kelly’s, The Place Names of the County of Kilkenny Ireland (1969, p. 114) is Baile na cille, place of the church. The townland is comprised of 890 acres. “Ballynakill is now a subdivision; another subdivision is Ballyilogue, i.e. Baile Ui Laodhog, O’Logue’s homestead. The site of Teampall Fhinnin, Finian of Clonard according to the Ordnance Survey Letters, is on the road north of Rochestown village in a field called Garrai Mhichil Dhuibh, black Michael’s garden. The castle site is near the road south of the village and there is also a Rochestown West village or hamlet. There is a hill called Cnoc an roithleain, hill of the wheel (probably a spinning wheel) and open-air Mass was celebrated at a site called Ath an roithleain, ford of the wheel. Other fields are Ban ard; Ban dearg; Carraig mheanach, the middle rock; Culach cisighe, angle land of the improvised road, and Siolfuar (O).”    It is believed that Siolfuar is cold seed.

According to Dany Dowling (1927-2021) during the Black Plague some of the people of Rochestown hamlet near Veriker’s Cross (river road from Aylwardstown to Ringville where it intersects with the lane from Rathinure) moved west to Ballylogue. Martin Walsh’s (c. 1918-1996) mother, Ellie Walsh née Gahan (1884-1965) referred to the area around the cross as Shean bhaile (old town) and Ballylogue as new town.

Tithe Applotment Books (1829)

The landlord was Pierce Edmond Forestall, Esq. (the handwriting makes the name look like Pierc C. Forslau). There were 22 tenants recorded on 20 plots of land, but there is no way of knowing the exact number of tenants as the same name appears on different plots.  All the acres below are statute acres.

Plot 73 included (1) James Donovan; (2) Tomas Haberlin & (3) Thomas Walsh, with 60 acres; Plot 74 (4) Thomas Walsh, 115 acres; Plot 75 (5) Laurence Forastall, 41 acres; Plot 76 (6) Richard Gahan, 106 acres; Plot 77 (7) John Kelly, 57 acres; Plot 78 (7) John Walsh, 34 acres; Plot 79 (8) Richard Walsh, 2 acres; Plot 80 (9) Thomas Forastall, 20 acres; Plot 81 (10) Patt Gahan, 50 acres; Plot 82 (11) John Forastall, 20 acres; Plot 83 (12) James Forastall, 12 acres; Plot 84 (13) John Vericar, 23 acres; Plot 85 (14) Patt Kelly, 34 acres; Plot 86 (15) James Fitzgerald, 41 acres; Plot 87 (16) Edward Dollard, 36 acres Plot 88 (17) Patt Doyle, 5 acres; Plot 89 (18) Thomas Gahan & (19) Richard Forastall, 7 acres; Plot 90 (20) Martin Denn, 2 acres; Plot 91 (21) Patt Neill, 1 acres; Plot 92 held by the landlord, 19 acres and Plot 93 (22) Laurence Ennis, 37 acres.

See our post of 6 November 2022 regarding the killing of Catherine Hanrahan née Power of Rochestown in July 1822.

Griffith’s Valuation (1847-1864)

The landlord for Rochestown was primarily Benjamin Conn, Esq. Other landlords included Edmund Forstall, Esq. and Miss Julia Sweetman. There are 34 plots recorded for Rochestown. This list provides a fascinating account of how tenancies were often shingled with the landowner leasing or renting to one person who in turn sub-let or rented part of the holding to others. The following tenants are listed and an effort was made in the record to distinguish the various tenants with same or similar names.

1. Thomas Walsh (Tom) 41 acres and on this land were Ann Ryan who had a house & small garden (free) house worth 5s; John Ryan who rented from Thomas Walsh (Tom)  a house worth 7s. and (3) John Terry who had a house and office free worth 6s.
2. Thomas Walsh (Tom) also rented 14 acres from Miss Julia Sweetman and sublet a house and garden to George Young. Young’s house was valued at 2 s.
3. Joseph Gahan and John Gahan, Jr. each held 22 acres belonging to Benjamin Conn, Esq. Joseph’s house was valued at 6s. and John Jr. house was valued at 4 s.
4. John Gahan, Jr. and Joseph Gahan also rented 56 acres from Miss Sweetman. Sub-tenants for  John Gahan Jr. included John Haberlin who had a house valued at 5s.; James Kirby, Sr. who also had a house valued at 5s. and Peter Kirby who had a house valued at 2s. Joseph Gahan leased a house to George Young valued at 5s.
5. James Walsh leased 102 acres, a house and offices from Conn. His house was valued at £7. Walsh sub-let to Thomas Neill a house valued at 5s. and to Michael Henneberry a house valued at 8s.
6. James Walsh leased 11 acres from Miss Sweetman.
7. James Walsh and John Dollard leased 8 acres from Conn.
8. John Dollard leased a house, offices, and 34 acres from Conn. The buildings were valued at £3 15s.
9. Ellen Kelly leased a house, offices and 44 acres from Conn. Her house was valued at £2. John Haberlin had a forge on plot 9 that he leased from James Walsh. It was valued at 6s.
10. John Forrestal (Poer) leased a house, office and 40 acres from Conn. The buildings were valued at £4 15s.
11. John Gahan (Waria) and Patrick Gahan leased a house, offices and 43 acres from Conn. They sublet a house and office to Paul Landrigan valued at £1.
12. Patrick Gahan and partners leased 2 acres of wasteland from Conn. The land had no recorded value.
13. Patrick Henneberry leased a house and 1 acre of land from James Walsh.
14. Bridget Forrestal leased 6 acres from Conn.
15. Bridget Forrestal leased a house, offices and 14 acres of land from Edmund Forstall, Esq. Her house was valued at £1 15s. Edmund Holden also leased from Forstall a house & garden valued at 9s. and Mary Cashin had a house leased from Forstall valued at 5s.
16. Edmund Forstall, Esq. owned plot 16 which consisted of a house, offices and 146 acres of land. His buildings were valued at £20. On plot 16 Forstall leased a house and gardens worth 12s.. to James Forrestal (Dick). He also had another house with offices worth £3 that was vacant. Forstall owned a salmon weir valued at £10 and leased to Richard Malone a house and gardens valued at £1 13s.
17. Forstall rented a couple of acres to Thomas Aylward.
18. Thomas Aylward leased a house, offices and 24 acres from Forstall. His house was worth £2 10s.   James Aylward leased a house worth 8s. from Forstall. Patrick Kelly leased a house and small garden from Thomas Aylward valued at 10s.
19. James Forstall, Jr. leased from Edmund Forstall, Esq. a house, offices and 18 acres. The house was valued at £2 10s.  Thomas Greene rented a house from James Forstall, Jr. valued at 8s.
20. James Forrestal, Jr. leased from Conn 3 acres
21. John Vereker leased from Forstall a house, offices and 20 acres. The house was valued at £2 10s.
22. John Vereker leased 3 acres from Conn.
23. Denis Magrath had a house, offices, and 68 acres. His landlord was Conn. The house was valued at £2.
24. Edmund Ryan rented 1 acre from Forstall.
25. John Forrestal, Jr. leased a house, offices and 2 acres from Forstall. The house was valued at £1 10s.
26. John Fitzgerald rented a house and 2 acres from James Walsh. The house was valued at £1. Michael Kirby rented a house and garden from Forstall valued at 14s.
27. Conn held 37 acres in this plot. Richard Walsh leased a house and offices (valued at £2 10s.) Catherine Manion and Mary Donovan leased houses from Conn each were valued at 5s.
28. Thomas Walsh (Jack) rented from Conn a house, offices and 29 acres. James Kirby, Jr. rented a house and garden from Joseph Gahan valued at 15s.
29.  James Costello leased a house, offices and 1 acre. The house was valued at £1.
30. Morgan Denn leased a house, office, 2 acres and a salmon weir from Forstall. The house and the weir were valued at £1 1os. each.
31. Thomas Gahan leased 3 acres from Joseph and John Gahan, Jr.
32. Thomas Gahan rented from Miss Sweetman a house, offices and 6 acres. The house was valued at £1 15s.
33. James Duggan rented a house with 1 acre from Miss Sweetman. The house was valued at 10s.
34. John Doyle leased a house, office and 5 acres from Miss Sweetman. The house was valued at £1 12s.

    For further information on Pierce Edmond Forstall Esq. and the Conn family see, Martin Forristal (2019) “Mount Ida.” See also our post of 7 October 2023, “An Old Anglo-Norman Glenmore Family: The Forrestalls.”

ROCHESTOWN (1961)

In 1961, Danny recorded 16 families or households in the townland of Rochestown. Birth dates 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 or left the townland.

Danny’s recorded information reveals that in 1961, 62 people resided in the townland of Rochestown with the population comprised of 33 males and 29 females. The largest household was the Heffernan family with 8 persons in their household. There were 2 households recorded with a single person living alone in each house. Information under residents of Rochestown not in Danny’s original list has been placed in square brackets [   ].

Recorded Rochestown, Glenmore Residents (1961)

Males= 33
Females= 29

Eldest Recorded Resident

The eldest resident recorded by Danny in Rochestown, Glenmore was Alice Walsh née Doherty (1875-1962) who was 86 in 1961. Alice was the daughter of Richard Doherty and his wife Mary Merigan of Milltown, Glenmore. Alice was baptised the 3^rd of February 1875, yet her birth cert provides that her birthdate was the 15^th of April. Her father registered her birth on the 5^th of May and obviously gave her birthdate in April to avoid being fined for the late registration. James and Alice were married on 23 August 1904 in Trinity Without, Ballybricken, Waterford. James was living on Morris Road and Alice was resident on Presentation Row. James was the son of James Walsh and his wife Mary Power of Rochestown. Their witnesses were Martin Walsh and Johanna Doherty.

Recorded Work

Farmers= 7 (6 Males; 1 Female)
Farm Workers  = 8 ( 8 Males; 0 Females)
Clover Meats 8 =  ( 6 Males; 2 Females)
Secondary School Teacher = 1 (0 Males; 1 Female)
Retired Labourer= 1 (1 Male; 0 Females)
Fisherman= 1 (1 Males; 0 Females)

Rochestown, Glenmore Residents 1961

[1] FORRISTAL
Forristal, William (21 Dec. 1915, Clover Meats [Billy Forristal was the first Glenmore person I met in October 1991. He was a fountain of information and for years wrote the Glenmore column for local newspapers.]
Forristal, Bridget (b. 1921) wife
Forristal, Alice, daughter, secondary school teacher
Forristal, John, son

[2] WALSH
Walsh, James (27 July 1877) Farmer  dead [died 7 April 1963 in Waterford]
Walsh, Alice [née Doherty] (1 Feb. 1875) wife, died 5 August 1962 [death register reveals her granddaughter Alice Walsh née Wash of Scartnamore, Glenmore was with her]
Walsh, James Patrick, grandson, assisting relative
Walsh, Rosaleen, granddaughter

[3] FORRISTAL
Forristal, John (b. 17 March 1887) Farmer
Forristal, Ellen (b. 1 April 1883) sister
Forristal, Mary (b. 3 April 1881) sister
Ennett, John (b. 1911) nephew-in-law, assisting relative
Ennett, Bridget (b. 1921) niece [née Walsh]
Walsh, Mary (May) (b. 1919) niece

[4] WALSH
Walsh, Ellen (17 Oct. 1883-1965) Farmer
Walsh, Joseph (b. 1914) son, assisting relative
Walsh, Kathleen (b. 1916) daughter
Walsh, Martin [25 Dec. 1918-6 Jan. 1996] son, assisting relative

[5] CONNOLLY
Connolly, Philip (b. 13 Oct. 1891)
Connolly, Edward (b. 14 April 1908) brother, Clover Meats
[These brothers were the last to live in their family home in Ballylogue, Rochestown, Glenmore.] The featured photo above was taken in 2021 when vegetation was removed from around the long house.]

[6] DELAHUNTY
Delahunty, Patrick, (b. 21 June 1911), Farm Labourer

[7] MAGUIRE
Maguire, Catherine (b. 20 April 1890) dead
Maguire, Elizabeth (b. 1925) daughter
Maguire, Patrick, grandson

[8] AYWARD
Aylward, James [Sonny] (4 June 1900-23 April 1962) Farmer
Aylward, Bridget (b. 1902)
Harney, Michael, son-in-law
Harney, Ellen, daughter

[9] DILLON

Dillon, Catherine (b. 28 Oct. 1896)
Dillon, Patrick (b. 1916) son, Clover Meats
Haberlin, Richard, grandson, scholar

[See our post of 27 March 2021 regarding daughter Ciss Dillon (1919-1997) and her WWII work .]

[10] RYAN
Ryan, Philip (b. 17 Oct. 1886) Farm Labourer

[11] KIRWAN
Kirwan, Thomas (b. 7 July 1898) Farm Labourer
Kirwan, Ellen (b. 5 Sept. 1898) wife
Kirwan, William, son, Clover Meats
Kirwan, Alice, daughter, Clover Meats

[12] GRAHAM
Graham, John (b. 1901) Clover Meats
Graham, Mary Ann (b. 1916) wife
Graham, Thomas, son, child

[13] HEFFERNAN
Heffernan, Patrick (b. 1924) Farmer
Heffernan, Anastatia, wife
Heffernan, Mary C., daughter
Heffernan, Catherine, daughter
Heffernan, William, son
Heffernan, Edward, son
Heffernan, Maria Bernadette, daughter
Finn, Patrick, farm labourer

[14] AYLWARD
Aylward, James (b. 1929) Farmer
Aylward, Mary, wife
Aylward, Margaret (b. 1900) mother
Aylward, Mary, sister
Aylward Eileen, sister, Clover Meats

[15] KEOGH
Keogh, John (b. 1916) Farmer
Keogh, Margaret, wife
Keogh, Martin, son
Keogh, Sean, son
Keogh, Eamonn, son
Keogh, Bridget, daughter
Keogh, Margaret, sister

[16] FORRISTAL
Forristal, Michael, Retired Labourer
Forristal, Peter, son, fisherman
Forristal, Michael, son, Clover Meats

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Please send any corrections, further information or photos to glenmore.history@gmail.com.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh