The Muintir Cléirigh of Tirawley
This is an abridged version of a paper submitted to the Royal Society of Antiquarians by Mr A.B. Cleary in 1945
The object of this paper is to present evidence that the O’Clerys of Tirawley, from whom the literary family of 0 Cleirigh of Tir Conaill claimed descent, lived in the position of the four townlands of Gortatogher, Tullyegan, Farrandeelion and Tullysleva. These lands form a compact area situated two miles southwest of the town of Ballina, Co. Mayo.1 Before dealing with the Anglo-Irish sources from which the evidence now submitted has been extracted, it is necessary to refer in brief to the native Irish records of the family in the Annals of the Four Masters and in the 0 Cleirigh Book of Genealogies. The latter, in the handwriting of a 17th century member of the family, believed to be Cuchoigeriche, is preserved in the library of the Royal Irish Academy (23 D 17). These genealogies are quoted extensively by John O’Donovan in his Tribes and Customs of Hy Fiachrach (1844) and are also the basis of Father Paul Walsh’s essay The O’Cleirigh Family of Tir Conaill (1938).
Origins
From the Annals of the Four Masters we know that chieftains of the name 6 Cleirigh ruled in a territory about Gort, in the south of Co. Galway near its boundary with Clare, from about the year 900. The Genealogies tell us that the (5 Cleirighs were driven out of this area by William de Burgo, Conqueror of Connacht (in approximately 1280) and that some of the name went into Tirawley, or north-east Mayo, some into Munster, near Kilkenny and others into Breflni O’Reilly (Co. Cavan). From them also we learn that Cormac, son of Dermot O’Clery, a wise man and learned in Civil and Canon Law, passed after some time from Tirawley to Tir Conaill. Here he remained at first with the monks of Assaroe. Later he married the daughter of O’Sgingin, ollamh in History to O’Donnell. The fruitful product of this marriage was the literary family of 0 Cleirigh of Tir Conaill, of whom O’Donovan wrote in his Mayo ” Letters ” : ” They have done more to preserve Irish Literature than all the other Bardic families of Ireland.” Being compiled by members of the Tir Conaill branch the Genealogies deal with its members in some detail and carry their record down to the period of the Plantation of Ulster. For the Breffni-O’Reilly and Kilkenny branches they mention only the founders of those off-shoots. Regarding those who remained in Tirawley they tell us the lines of descent for four or five generations after the time of Cormac. As this Cormac went into Tir Conaill in the Chieftainship of Niall Garbh O’Donnell (1342-48) and allowing thirty to thirty-three years for each generation, we may suppose that the last 0 Cleirighs of Tirawley who are mentioned in the Genealogies lived about the year 1500. The Genealogies give no indication of the part of Tirawley in i O.S. 6″, Mayo, Sheets 30, 39which these individuals dwelled but O’Donovan (Tribes and Customs of Hy Fiachrach, pp. 88, 125) describes ” John O’Clerie of Lackan ” as of the clan. He identifies Lackan as a townland in the parish of Kilglass, Barony of Tireragh and County of Sligo, not as the townland and parish of the same name in north Tirawley. O’Donovan relates that this O’Clery was born in Tireragh, and in 1452 made an affidavit concerning certain O’Dowd possessions. The above is the only territorial reference to the Muinter (3 Cleirigh of Tirawley which has been noted in O’Donovan’s works. Walsh, dealing exclusively with Tir Conaill, does not mention the matter at all. A search of the Fiant s of Henry VIII-Elizabeth, the Patent Rolls of Elizabeth and James I, Strafford’s Survey and the Books of Survey and Distribution, has yielded information as to the names, location and proprietor ship of land of a number of O’Clerys in Tirawley. As is well known the Fiants are available among the printed Reports of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland (7th to 18th). It will be remembered that the actual” Fiant,” in one class of these instruments, was an order to the Chancery authorizing the issue of Letters Patent (” Fiant literae patentes “) for grants of lands, etc., under the Great Seal. Another class comprehended directions for the issue of ” Pardons ” ; these very frequently contain long lists of the names of persons with particulars of their professions, trades, etc. A single Fiant may refer to several counties but the principal persons in each district are usually mentioned first, followed by the names and frequently the addresses of their tenants and followers. Such ” Pardons ” do not necessarily imply that the recipient had been judged guilty of a crime. Frequently they had the effect of an Act of Indemnity after a period of upheaval. (Cf. Sir Ml. O’Dwyer, The CDwyers of Kilnamanagh.) For our purpose these ” Pardons ” are of importance because they furnish us with the names and addresses of the inhabitants of widely dispersed areas in the 16th century. As already in dicated, Fiants were given directing the issue of Letters Patent for the grant of lands. From these latter, coupled where possible with the corresponding entry in the Patent Rolls, we have been able to discover proprietorship of O’Clery lands. For the opportunity to study a copy of Strafford’s Survey of 1639 the writer is indebted to Dr. F. S. Bourke, in whose possession is a copy made for James Hardiman in 1846 from the text in the Royal Irish Academy. The Survey covers the County of Mayo barony by barony, setting out the lands owned by each proprietor. It also indicates changes in owner ship in preceding years. The manuscript Books of Survey and Distribution, compiled after the Restoration, are available in the Public Record Office, Dublin. Covering each county by parishes in each barony, the Books show the proprietors in 1641 of denominations corresponding in general to modern townlands and to whom they passed by the Acts of Settlement and Explana tion (1662-65). They therefore indicate the changes produced by the com bined effect of the Settlements of Cromwell and Charles II. It so happens that the barony of Tirawley is reported on twice?once in the Mayo Book of S. & D., and once in the Leitrim-Sligo volume?and that these two returns are not identical. In the column giving tho proprietors of land
Baronies of Co Mayo
This content downloaded from 217.45.244.129 on Mon, 06 Nov 2017 16:19:40 UTC volume corresponds more closely with the statements in Strafford’s Survey than does the Leitrim-Sligo book. Identification of the place names given in the above sources shows that the great majority of O’Clerys in Tirawley lived in Gortatogher and Tullyegan in Ardagh parish, in Tullysleva in Kilbelfad (Kilbelody) parish, and in Farran deelion in the parish of Ballynahaglish (Ballinglass). Despite differences in spelling, the names of the foregoing modern townlands can be readily recognised in the denominations returned in these 16th and 17th century documents. Thus the modern Tullysleva (Tulaigh Cleibh) is recorded as Tullocele, Tulloclea and Tullycleas in the Mayo Book of S. & D. For Farran deelion we find Farrandillon in the Patent Rolls of James I (20th Aug. 15th Jas. 1) and Tullyegan is represented as Tullaghogan in the Patent Rolls of Elizabeth (37th .Eliz.) and as Tullagiegan, Tullagh-hegan and Tullagh-gegan in the Fiants of the same reign. In the Fiants the variants for Gortatogher are Gortnitogher and Gortytogher. Although lying in different parishes, these townlands are contiguous and taken together occupy an area almost square or diamond shaped with angles pointing north, south, east and west. The diameters of the square are approximately two miles in length and its centre lies two miles south-west of the centre of the town of Ballina. In a general way Tullyegan is in the north of the square, Farrandeelion in the east and Tullysleva in the south. The greater part of Gortatogher lie3 in the west of the square but a small part of it extends to the north-east boundary between Tullyegan and Farran deelion. Turning to consider the combined extent of the ancient denominations making up the square, we find that on the north-east and south-west it cannot have differed markedly from that existing at present, as then it was bounded by place names corresponding to the modern limiting townlands. Difficulties are found on the two remaining sides. To the south-east, in the parish of Ballynahaglish, lies the townland of Rahins. This can be equated to the Rahine of the Mayo Book of S. & D. and with Carrow-ne-rahin of the Sligo Leitrim volume. Now, the Patent Rolls of Elizabeth (1595) show that ” two parts of a cartron of land called Carrow-ne rahin, Tullaghogan, parcel in the possessions of Gilleduff O’Clery attainted ” were granted to Ludovick Briskett, so that Carrownerahin in 1595 was the name of part of Tullyegan, despite the fact that the Books of S. & D. record them as in different parishes and the Ordnance Survey map shows that the corresponding modern townlands are separated by a strip of Gortatogher and part of another townland, Creggan, which is returned in the Books of S. & D. as Cregganlough. The difficulty might be overcome by postulating that the old denominations of Carrow-ne rahin and Tullaghogan extended towards or were fused in one another so that part of one was contained within the other, or alternatively that a second Carrow-ne-rahin was recognized in Tullaghogan. The north-west border of the *’ square ” has probably changed but little, but uncertainty arises through being unable to identify in the surveys or contemporary sources denominations corresponding to the bounding townlands of Sliev-na-gark and Crannagh. We should note that the town land of Brackloonagh in Ardagh parish, and spearated from Gortatogher by four intervening townlands, does not represent the place of similar name returned in Strafford’s ” Survey ” as held by Edmond mcOwin O’Cleary. The Mayo Book of S. & D. returns this latter as the cartron of Brackloonagh in the quarter of Tullycleane, parish of Kilbelody. The return for Ardagh parish in the same book shows a half quarter of Bracklone in the four quarters of Brackloonagh, alias Corbally. This Bracklone represents the present Brackloonagh townland. Examining the individual denominations which constitute our square, we note that Gortatogher and Tullyegan lie in the parish of Ardagh. The Mayo Book of S. & D. returns Gortatogher as one quarter, with Tullyegan one cartron thereof but they are now considered as separate townlands. From Fiant of Elizabeth 5798 we learn that the following O’Clerys lived in Gortatogher : Gileduff, Twohill, Donnyll and Ferdorogh m’Twohill, Teige, and Donogh and Brien m’Davy Bwy. On 18th March, 1593, by the above Fiant they and many other inhabitants of the locality obtained ” pardons ” subject to payment of fines of 5s. None of the O’Clerys is returned as owning land in Gortatogher proper. The proprietor in 1636, by Strafford’s ” Survey,” was the See of Killala. The Mayo Book of S. & D. returns the Earl of Cork as proprietor after the Restoration of Charles II. Tullyegan is met with in connection with the lands of Gilduff O’Clery, already described as of Gortatogher. Despite his pardon he was soon attainted and Fiant Elizabeth 5865, dated 5th June, 1594, shows that John Rawson and Henry Deane obtained a lease for 21 years of a parcel of his lands and recites that the lands were ” concealed and detained from the queen’s hands until by the industry and at the cost of the lessors they were found to belong to her.” We may presume that some good friends tried to save Gilduff’s property, after his attainder, by assuming its nominal ownership but that the attempt was unsuccessful. On December 13th, 1594, more of Gilduff’s lands were disposed of (Fiant 5911), this time to Ludovick Briskett who, in addition to large tracts elsewhere, obtained ” one cartron in Tullagh-hegan, parcel in the possessions of Gilleduffe O’Clerie, attainted.” This grant is also mentioned in the Patent Rolls, 37? of Elizabeth, as ” two parts of a cartron called Carrow ne-rabine Tulloghogan parcel in the possessions of Gilleduffe O’Clery attainted.” Yet another parcel of his lands is mentioned in Fiant 6016, dated Sept. 12th, 1596, which records the leasing to Wm. Taffe of Boneneddan, Co. Sligo, of ” one cartron of Tullaghgegan Co. Mayo, lands in the possession of Gilduff O Clery attainted.” It is apparent that these transactions refer to different parts of Gilduff’s possessions for Rawson and Dean were still leaseholders of ” Tullagayan late possession of Gilladuffe O Clerie ” in 1606 according to the Calendar of State Papers of Ireland (1606-8, p. 65). The Mayo Book of S. & D. shows that the denomination finally passed to Richard Rutledge. There remain for consideration the denominations of Tullysleva in Kil belfad parish and Farrandeelion in Ballynahaglish. The modern townland Tullysleva (Tulaigh Cleibh) is to old renderings Tullycleas and Tullycloa. From Strafford’s ” Survey” and the Mayo Books of S. & D. we learn how the four cartrons of this quarter were held. The proprietors of the first cartron were Shane, Bryan, Dermott, Rorie and Donella, or Daniell O’Cleery. Edmond Crone O Cleary owned the second. Sir Thomas Bourke was proprietor of the third cartron, known as Knogh na-geragh. (He also collected a chief rent of 5s. from each quarter of eighty quarters in this barony including Tullysleva.) Regarding the fourth cartron, called Brackloonagh : half of this was sold in 1633 to Sir Thomas Bourke by Edmond M’Owin O’Cleary and Dermott M’Edmond O’Cleary for ?10. The remaining half cartron was retained by Edmond M’Owin with Edmond M’Donnell O’Cleary in 1641 (Mayo Book of S. & D.). It is of interest that the Leitrim-Sligo-Tirawley Book of S. & D. returns the whole of ” Tullyclo ” as in the possession of Walter and John Bourke as in 1641. This suggests that the compilers of the latter volume relied on different or possibly later information or gave more importance to the chief rent interest of the Bourkes. According to the Books of S. & D. Tullysleva passed with many other de nominations to Owen Vaughan after 1660.
The Stuarts
The Patent Rolls of James I show that ” Farrandeelion, one carton” was granted in 1616 to Bryan and Donogh O’Cleary of Gortatogher to hold for ever as of the castle of Athlone by Knight’s service. We know from Fiant of Elizabeth 5798, already noted, that Bryan and Donough were the sons of Davy Bwy. Farrandeleion is not mentioned by name in the books of S. & D. It may have been considered as part of the neighbouring land of Tullysleva in Kilbelfad parish although modern Farrandeelion now lies in the parish of Ballynahaglish. If this supposition is correct the Brian already noted as part proprietor of the first cartron of Tullysleva may well be one of the sons of Davy Bwy. Of his brother Donough we find no further record. Consideration of the following three points would appear to establish our contention that the above mentioned O’Clerys are descended from those mentioned in the Genealogies as the Muintir Cleirigh of Tirawley.
First, except for a few exceptions, they are the only bearers of the name known to exist in that barony between 1590 and 1640 ; secondly, they are the only members of the family who can be shown to have held land there ; and thirdly, they shared with those in the Genealogies at least two unusual personal names. Thus, in the Fiants of Elizabeth, O’Clery is mentioned nineteen times in connection with places in Mayo. Of these, sixteen refer to the barony of Tirawley and thirteen of this sixteen to Gortatogher. In the same way Strafford’s “Survey ” returns the holdings of twelve O’Clerys in Tirawley, one in Kilmaine and none in the other baronies of the county. Of the twelve in Tirawley, eight are proprietors in Tullysleva, two, Elfish and Catilin ny Cleary, had life interests, respectively two miles and half a mile to the west of Gortatogher. The entry regarding the two remaining reads ” Sir Thomas Bourck in 1633 did purchase of Dowgine O’Cleary and Thomas O Cleary one half cartron called Reissey for no consideration appearing to us “. Reissey (or Reisi) was a hill on the north-east border of Tullyegan.
A Bourke-Barrett property in the Manor of Beleak, it was in mortgage in 1584 (T.C.H.F., p. 458). The above extract from Strafford may mean that the mortgage was repaid or that the Bourke’s chief rent was unpaid. The place is now represented by the townland of Raish. The Book of S. & D. confirms Strafford’s account of O’Clerys in Tullysleva. There remain for consideration the question of unusual personal names. David Buidhe and Eamonn Cron are the examples we present. The former occurs in a grandfather and grandson in genealogy No. 41 and singly in No. 37. The latter is found in a father and son in No. 38. This recurrence suggests that the names were not applied to their holders to denote a personal characteristic but were family names and likely to occur again in later generations. Accordingly when we find that the sons of David Bwy lived in Gortatogher (Fiant 5798) and that Edmond Crone held land in Tullysleva (Strafford) a further proof presents itself that we are dealing with the same family. In the foregoing discussion a connection has been demonstrated between a settlement of O’Clerys in Tirawley about 1600 and the Muintir Cleirigh of Tirawley as recorded in the 6 Cleirigh Book of Genealogies, and through these genealogies with the family in Tir Conaill. No direct evidence has been found to show when they settled between Ballina and Lough Conn. Possibly they wandered for a time through Tirawley, but, if so they have left no trace of their wanderings, of O’Clerys surviving or of having held land.
It is more likely that they settled about Gortatogher as farmers under O’Lachtna, Chief of the Two Bacs. With the coming of the Barretts (c. 1300) some of the O’Clerys may have gone into Tireragh with the tribes native to Tirawley, for traces of O’Clerys are found about the coast of Sligo, but the majority remained and paid tribute or chief rent first to the Barretts and later to the Bourkes, until in 1652 under Cromwell all was lost and, as mcFirbis relates, ” there remained neither Barrett nor Bourke, not to mention the Clann Fiachrach, in possession of any land.
The Author: Anthony Burton Clery (AB or Tony) PRCSI (1899-1979)
Anthony Burton Clery was born in Bantry Co Cork in 1899 the eldest son of Patrick Francis Clery (Provincial Bank Kilmallock) and Gertrude Clery (née Dolan) of Cootehill, Co Cavan. Educated at Clongowes Wood College and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, he married Mary Gabriel Hogan in 1928 and they had three sons and one daughter; Anthony, Gearóid, John and Mary. As well as his early distinguished career as a general surgeon, he came to specialise in plastic and reconstructive surgery becoming a founding member of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons.He was a keen student of history publishing articles in the Royal Society of Antiquarians of Ireland on the O’Clery family. His family sept is rooted in east Limerick and despite his place of birth he always considered himself a Limerick man. In addition he wrote a history of the Richmond Hospital in Dublin.
