1960’s

Today, we are going to feature information Danny Dowling (1927-2021) recorded regarding the residents of Rathinure in 1961. Similar to other townlands in Glenmore, Rathinure has been spelled in different ways across the centuries. It was spelled Rathnewre on Sir William Petty’s, Down Survey Map (1656-1658); it was spelled Rathaure in the Tithe Applotment Books (1829); and a popular spelling in late 19^th century newspapers was Rathenure.

Background

The Irish for this townland, according to O’Kelly’s, The Place Names of the County of Kilkenny Ireland (1969, p. 114) is Ráth an iubhair, or rath of the yew. The townland of Rathinure is comprised of 575 acres. O’Kelly listed the ancient Kilcolumb church site, Tobar na gcolm (according to Danny the well of the doves), and Cloch Choilm (the Kilcolumb holy water font that was tossed into a field by Cromwellians and is locally known as the headache stone). O’Kelly wrongly noted that the Bóithrin fada “is the by-road running southward from the main road to a number of houses.” The Bóithrin fada is a narrow unpaved farming lane that runs west from the High Road to the old hamlet of Rathinure coming down behinnd Johnny Garvey’s house.

O’Kelly lists a number of fields with Irish names including: Bán riach; Garaí; Cabúis; Cabus’s garden; Garaí glas; Gort ne sidheog or the fairies field a tradition of losing one’s way at night here; the Móineáns; Ocht na grainsí or hill breast of the grange; Sceathánach, sceach lland; Sean-bheitin; Sileáns or rivuets or drains; and Srath lia mhór, or field of the big grey fern. For further Rathinure families and field names see “The Enduring Names of Rathinure”.

Tithe Applotment Books (1829)

Rathanure was owned by S.W. Aylward who split his holding into Rathanure (566 statute acres) and the Hill of Rathanure (29 statute acres).

There were two tenants for the Hill of Rathanure (29 acres) namely, Philip and John Wallice (sic). There were 18 tenants listed for the 566 acres of Rathanure including: [1] James Wall; [2] William Roach; [3] Patt Kennedy [4] Patt Kennedy; [5] William Kennedy; [6] James Kennedy; [7] Michael Kennedy; [8] John Kennedy [9] John Malone; [10] Patt Eade; [11] Edward Murphy; [12] James Murphy; [13] Patt Murphy; [14] James Deighan; [15] Thomas Sullivan; [16] John Roach; [17] Jno Roach; [18] William Roach.

Griffith’s Valuation (1847-1864)

The immediate lessor (landlord) was James C. Aylward, Esq. Tenants included:

[1] Thomas Wall who had 32 acres, a house & offices;
[2] John Freeman who had a house and garden;
[3] John Roche, 46 acres, house and offices;
[4] Margaret Kennedy, 32 acres, house & offices;
[5] Richard Kennedy, 50 acres, house and offices;
[6] Peter Kennedy, 52 acres, house & offices;
[7] John Kennedy (the wall) had no landlord the word “free” appears in the record for immediate lessor. John the Wall Kennedy owned a house worth 10 shillings;
[8] Patrick Kehoe, 44 acres, house & offices;
[9] Thomas Delahunty had a house he leased from Patrick Kehoe worth 10 shillings;
[10] John Kennedy (Khosub), 41 acres, house & offices;
[11] John Malone, 33 acres, house & offices;
[12] John Kennedy (Ogue), 30 acres, house & offices;
[13] Richard Kennedy, jun. leased a house from John Kennedy (Ogue) worth 6 shillings;
[14] Patrick Geehan, 29 acres, house & offices;
[15] William Kennedy, 30 acres, house and offices;
[16] Mary Den leased a house valued at 5 shillings from William Kennedy;
[17] Jeremiah Greene leased a house (value 9s.) and garden (value 3s.) from William Kennedy;
[18] Edmund Murphy 46 acres, house & offices;
[19]Anastatia Kelly leased a house (valued 5 s.) from William Kennedy;
[20] Oliver Neill leased a house and small garden (valued at 8s.) from Edmond Murphy;
[21] Philip Wallace, had a house (valued at £1) and his immediate lessor were “Tenants of the Townland.”  [22] Tenants of the Townland held 1.6 acres of land in 3 parcels of commons valued at £2.15.;
[23] John Murphy, 25 acres, house and offices;
[24] Ellen Murphy had a house and garden (valued at 12s.);
[25] John Kehoe and
[26] Lawrence Sullivan together leased 1 acre of land; houses & offices from James C. Aylward;
[27] John Roche (Luke),
[28] John Roche (Anne) and
[29] Bridget Roche, the three Roches [27, 28 & 29] shared 72 acres. They had houses and offices valued at respectively £3.10; £4.5 & £2.15.

1961 Rathinure, Glenmore

In 1961, Danny recorded 14 families or households in the townland of Rathinure. 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 or left the townland.

Danny’s recorded information reveals that in 1961, 52 people resided in the townland of Rathinure with the population comprised of 29 males and 23 females. The largest households was the Maguire family with 8 persons in their household. There were 4 households recorded with a single person living alone in each house. Information under residents of Rathinure not in Danny’s original list has been placed in square brackets [   ].

Recorded Rathinure, Glenmore Residents (1961)

Males= 29
Females= 23

Eldest Recorded Resident

The eldest resident recorded by Danny in Rathinure, Glenmore was Peter Kennedy (5 Nov. 1878-17 March 1962) who was 83 in 1961. Peter Kennedy was the son of Thomas Kennedy and his wife, Anastatia Irish, of Aylwardstown. Peter only had one sibling Bridget who married Peter Foskin of Big Wood, Mullinavat. Peter Kennedy married Elizabeth Walsh (c. 1884 – 1958) of Powerswood, Thomastown. The couple were married on 8 February 1921 at Thomastown. Elizabeth pre-deceased him Peter. Peter Kennedy and his wife had five daughters and the youngest Cissy Kennedy will be 94 on the 5^th of January 2024.

Recorded Work

Farmers= 8 (7 Males; 1 Female)
Retired Farmer= 1 (1 Male)
Farm Workers  = 11 (11 Males)
Council Worker= 1 (1 Male)
Builder’s Labourer= 1 (1 Male)
Odd Jobs = 1 (1 Female)

Rathinure, Glenmore Residents 1961

[1] KAVANAGH
Kavanagh, Annie (b. 5 May 1901)

[2] ROCHE
Roche, Mary (b. 1918) [née Forristal of the Mill was the widow of Edward “Ned” Roche of the High Road, Rathinure who died 15 August 1957 aged 75. Mary died on 26 January 1984 aged 87].

[3] GRACE
Grace, John (7 Sept. 1893-22 June 1964) Farmer
Grace, Bridget (b. 12 Dec. 1899) wife
Grace, Patrick , son, assisting on farm
Grace, Ellen, daughter-in-law

[4] ROCHE
Roche, Catherine “Katie” (b. 1 Jan. 1912) Farmer [died 9 August 1967, aged 56]
Roche, Mary “May” (b. 4 Aug. 1916) sister [May Roche died 28 September 2001].
Delahunty, Michael (b. 20 Dec. 1906) farm labourer

[5] ROCHE
Roche, John (b. 11 Oct. 1911) Farmer
Roche, Margaret (b. 1917) wife
Roche Michael, son
Nolan, Nicholas, nephew, assisting on farm  [died 22 Sept. 2013, aged 69, of Garryduff, Piltown]

[6] KENNEDY
Kennedy, John (10 Feb. 1885-11 Feb. 1962) Farmer [John Sean Og Kennedy]
Kennedy, Mary (b. 13 April 1881) sister [Mary Sean Og Kennedy died 8 February 1971]
Garvey, John, grand-nephew, assisting on farm

For more information on the Sean Og Kennedy’s of Rathinure see our post of 3 October 2021.

[7] KEHOE
Kehoe, Richard [19 July 1914—15 Dec. 1974] Farmer
[Dick Kehoe married Mary Doherty, of Ballinlammy in the late 1960’s. Mary Kehoe née Doherty died 7 December 2016 at the age of 94.]

[8] WALSH
Walsh, Thomas (b. 27 May 1908) Farmer [died 2 April 1992]
Walsh, Stacia (b. 31 March 1922) wife [died 12 Nov. 1984]
Walsh, Robert, son [4 May 1950-14 Aug. 1984]
Walsh, Peter, son
Walsh, Elizabeth “Elsie”, daughter
Kennedy, Peter (5 Nov. 1878-17 March 1962) father-in-law, retired farmer

[9] FITZGERALD
Fitzgerald, Anastasia (b. 14 Feb. 1900) [née Sullivan]
Fitzgerald, Stephen, son, farm labourer      [died 8 July 1999, aged 76]
Fitzgerald, Patrick, son, farm labourer        [died 28 Oct. 1981, aged 55]
Fitzgerald, John, son, farm labourer
Fitzgerald, Bridget, daughter                         [died 22 May 1994, aged 66]

[10] DALTON
Dalton, Johanna “Josie” (b. 31 Dec. 1907) odd jobs [died Dec. 1978] 

[Josie Dalton’s grandfather, R.I.C. Hearn, arrested Roger Casement in Kerry c. 1914. Danny Dowling said her father was a cobbler from Tullogher and moved to the Railway Cottage in Rathinure. Josie had two sisters and a brother Pat. All her siblings went to England and Josie lived in the isolated Railway Cottage until shortly before she died. Josie broke her leg and was found by a neighbour and taken to the hospital. She lived in a small mobile home where Willie Cummins had lived. Although Josie told friends she was going to return to the Railway House she died at the mobile home.]

[11] KENNEDY
Kennedy, Thomas (b. 26 Aug. 1912) Farmer                             [died 9 Jan. 1987]
Kennedy, Laurence (b. 12 Aug. 1914) brother, assisting on farm
Kennedy, Richard (b. 5 Oct. 1917) brother, assisting on farm    [died 10 Jan. 1994]
Kennedy, Patrick (b. 14 March 1921) brother, assisting on farm [died 19 May 1997]
Kennedy, Bridget (b. 1922) sister

[12] ROCHE
Roche, Edward (b. 4 Nov. 1887) Farmer       [died 14 Jan. 1969, aged 81]
Roche, Alice (b. 22 Dec. 1886)  [née Heffernan of Aylwardstown died 28 Nov. 1972, aged 86]
Roche, James [2 Nov. 1928-13 Dec. 2018 aged 91]
Roche, Alice “Ciss” (b. 1930) daughter-in-law [née Culleton of Kilbride]
Roche, Eddie, grandson
Roche, Michael, grandson
Roche, Alice, granddaughter

[13] WALSH
Walsh, John “Jack” (b. 5 Feb. 1893) Farm Labourer
Walsh, Anastatia (b. 14 March 1899) wife
Gahan, Michael (b. 10 Feb. 1911) brother-in-law, Council Worker

[14] MAGUIRE
Maguire, John, Builder’s Labourer
Maguire, Catherine, wife
Maguire, James, son
Maguire, Catherine M., daughter
Maguire, Margaret M., daughter
Maguire, Thomas J., son
Maguire, Mary, daughter
Maguire, Anastatia, daughter
(Family moved to Ballinlaw, Slieverue).

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

The featured photo above is Kilcolumb ruins and churchyard. See our post of 22 December 2019 concerning what happened to persons who abused or damaged Cloch Choilm (the Kilcolumb stone for curing headaches).

For a link to a recording of Danny Dowling in 1991 speaking on Kilcolumb click here.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh