Shindilla or Lurgan

Text - Mary Kyne, Hyperlinks - Antoinette Lydon

Shindilla or Lurgan is in the civil parish of Kilcummin. The civil Parish corresponds with the following Church of Ireland parish of Kilcummin, Galway West. In general the civil parish and the Church of Ireland parish are the same as is the case in the Kilcummin Oughterard area.

 

The Irish form of the name is: Lurgan Sindile – shin and beetle .i. mallet.

Lurgan is in the Electoral Division of Letterfore, in Civil Parish of Kilcummin, in the Barony of Moycullen, in the County of Galway

Lurgan is also known as Shindilla /Sindile

Other forms of name

Lurgan sin dille

Lurgan Boundary Map

Lurgan Barony Cess book

Shindella County Map

Lurgan local

Larganreogh Inquis. Temp. Jac.1

Description

The land is very bad, heathy, wet and swampy. It contains 911½ acres land. There is about 20 acres of arable and 210½ acres of water, the remainder mountain pasture. Ardevny Lough, the centre of which forms its southern boundary also a bye road passes thro’ it to the East. There are gravel pits situated close to its Southern boundary.

Information From Joyce’s Place Names

Translation according to P. W. Joyce

Lurga, Lurgan, a shin or long hill, a long strip of land: see vol. i. p. 527 [reproduced below].

The shin. Irish lurga or lurgan. This word like the last, was often applied to a long low ridge, or to a long stripe of land. From the first form, some townlands, chiefly in the south, are called Lurraga. The second form was much used in the northern and western counties, in which there are about thirty places called Lurgan, and more than sixty others of whose name it forms a part.

Butler’s Lodge: A House now a ruin with one of the gables down and a hut adjoining one end of it. On the road heading to Maam.

Derreenanéancrin Hill – little Derry of the one tree – Doirín an Aéin Chroinn. It is a steep hill with one tree N.E. of Derrue.

Fairy House – Teach na Síodóg – house of the fairies. It is a ruin said to be the abode of the fairies.

Labbadermot –a rock – Leabaidh Diarmada – a large rock near the fairy house with a deep cavern under it, supposed to be the bed of Diarmuid one of the ancient Irish chieftains.

 Loughnanillaun – lake. A lough full of small islands which belong to Lackavrea. The total area of the Lough is 1611/4 acres on the boundary between Lurgan and Lackavrea. Irish form: Loch na nOileán – lake of the islands.

Lurgan Bridge: Lurgan an sindile – a bridge of one arch in good order on the road from Oughterard to Clifden on the boundary between Shindilla and Lurgan townland.

Some other placenames in or near this townland are…

Situation:

It is situated in the northern extremity of the parish.

This is a list of townlands that share a border with this townland.

Landowner ; Thomas B. Martin

  • Martin (Ross) – The Martin family were established beside Ross Lake in the barony of Moycullen, county Galway, from the late 16th century, where they purchased land from the O’Flahertys. They were Royalist supporters and were dispossessed of their property in the city of Galway by the Cromwellians. Robert Martin received a grant of 2,909 acres in the barony of Moycullen, by patent dated 21 Aug 1677. Jasper Martin of Ross, who died in 1700, had two sons Jasper and Richard, from whom descend the two branches of the family settled at Ross and Ballynahinch. Nicholas Martin, who died in 1811, married Elizabeth O’Hara, daughter of Robert O’Hara of Lenaboy, and according to Burke’s ”Landed Gentry”, a grandniece of James O’Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley. Their grandson, James Martin of Ross, had sixteen children from his two marriages. His daughter, Maud, married H. Callwell and they were the parents of the author, J. M. Callwell. The youngest daughter of James Martin was Violet Florence Martin of the well known literary team Somerville and Ross. The Martins of Ross owned 5,767 acres in county Galway in the 1870s. They advertised the sale of their estate in the Landed Estates’ Court in May 1885.
  • Martin (Ballynahinch) – A branch of the Anglo Norman family of Martin, one of the Tribes of Galway, was granted the O’Flaherty lands in the Connemara region in the mid 17th century. This family were a junior branch of the Martins of Ross and under the Acts of Settlement were granted vast estates in counties Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Clare and Sligo. By a patent dated 1698 they were confirmed in the possession of their Connemara estate known as the Manor of Claremount by King William. The Westport Estate Papers document the sale of over 27,000 acres in the baronies of Moycullen and Ballynahinch by the trustees for the sale of Colonel John Browne’s estate to John Edwards for Richard Martin in 1699. The early generations of Martins lived at Birch Hall and Dangan, in the townland of Oranhill, parish of Rahoon, near Galway city. Richard Martin, better known as ‘Humanity Dick’, was the first member of the family to be reared as a Protestant. He was a famous duellist and founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Ballynahinch Castle was built in the centre of his estate. His son Thomas Martin died in 1847 during the Famine and Thomas’s only daughter and heir, Mary Laetita, inherited a heavily encumbered estate. She married her cousin, Arthur Gonne Bell, and died in New York in 1850. The Martin estates were offered for sale in two sections in 1849. Their property close to Galway town included Dangan, Corcullen, Bushypark and Killeen. Their Connemara estate was acquired by the Law Life Assurance Society in 1852, to whom it was heavily mortgaged. In 1853 the estate of almost 200,000 acres was surveyed by Thomas Colville Scott for a prospective buyer. Richard Martin, second son of Richard ‘Humanity Dick’ Martin of Ballynahinch, is recorded as holding five townlands in the parish of Killannin, barony of Moycullen, county Galway, at the time of Griffith’s Valuation although he emigrated to Canada in 1833. He was also recorded as the occupier of Clareville, a Martin home in the village of Oughterard. Many of his descendants still reside in Canada. http://www.martinhistory.net

Information from the Down Survey Website.

The Down Survey is a mapped survey. Using the Civil Survey as a guide, teams of surveyors, mainly former soldiers, were sent out under Petty’s direction to measure every townland to be forfeited to soldiers and adventurers. The resulting maps, made at a scale of 40 perches to one inch (the modern equivalent of 1: 50,000), were the first systematic mapping of a large area on such a scale attempted anywhere. The primary purpose of these maps was to record the boundaries of each townland and to calculate their areas with great precision. The maps are also rich in other detail showing churches, roads, rivers, castles, houses and fortifications. Most towns are represented pictorially and the cartouches, the decorative titles, of each map in many cases reflect a specific characteristic of each barony. (http://downsurvey.tcd.ie)

Townland of LURGAN or SHINDILLA

No townland information available.

The down survey website will tell you who owned this townland in 1641 (pre Cromwell) and in 1671 (post Cromwell).

Down Survey Website

The Tithe Applotment Books

About the Records

Tithes were a tax on agricultural produce which was payable by the occupiers of agricultural land. They were the main source of income for the parish clergy of the Church of Ireland (the largest Protestant church and the church established by law). However, in many parishes a large part of the tithes was ‘appropriate’, which meant that they were payable to a bishop, cathedral chapter or other ecclesiastical recipient, or were ‘impropriate’, which generally meant that they were payable to a local landowner. The parishes used in the Tithe Applotment Books are civil or Church of Ireland parishes, which often differ in name and territory from Catholic parishes, Acts of Parliament of 1823 and 1832 provided for the conversion of tithes into a fixed charge on land, and specified the average price of wheat or oats in the parish in the seven years before 1821 as the basis on which the tithes would be calculated. They also extended the application of tithes to pasture, where previously they had been levied only on tillage.

This change in the law resulted in the valuation of individual holdings in almost all parishes containing agricultural land, in order to assess the portion of the tithes for which each occupier of land would be liable. The apportionment was recorded for each Church of Ireland parish in a Tithe Composition Applotment Book. The information was collected and the amounts were calculated by two Parochial Commissioners, one of whom was appointed by the cess-payers of the parish and the other by the relevant Diocese of the Church of Ireland. This procedure was carried out in over 2,500 parishes between the years 1823 and 1837.

The Tithe Applotment Books are in a variety of formats, from a few pages sewn together to elaborately bound volumes. In most cases they are written in manuscript throughout, although some consist of manuscript entries on printed questionnaires. The information in the books is broadly uniform and generally includes at least the name of occupier; the size of holding, the valuation and the tithe payable. In some cases, more detailed information is provided. Some volumes have maps and most have certificates and correspondence attached.

The sub-divisions of the parish were recorded. Some of these subdivisions, such as plough lands, ceased to be in official use after the six-inch survey of the Ordnance Survey was completed in the 1840s. Only productive land was subject to tithe, and the books usually distinguish between this tithable land and untithable land such as roads or mountains. Tithable land was in some cases classified by quality, and a money value was given to each class. In some cases, the proportion of tithe payable to the rector, vicar or lay proprietor of the tithes was set out. The column for observations was sometimes completed, with information about commonage, for example.

There are a number of other points that should be noted. The acreages given in the Tithe Applotment Books are in Irish or Plantation measure, which is 1.62 times larger than statute measure. Only occupiers of land at the time of the tithe composition are recorded, so not all heads of households living in a parish at the time are included. Only rural areas are systematically covered, although inhabitants of towns who held plots of cultivable land are included. The equivalent tax in urban areas, Minister’s Money, has left few records.

The Tithe Applotment Books are an important source of information for a wide variety of researchers of pre-Famine Ireland. They provide the first surviving national list of the occupiers of land, and are used by genealogists as a partial substitute for returns of the 1821 and 1831 censuses of population, which were destroyed in 1922. They also record information on the quality of land, and provide information on pre-Ordnance Survey territorial divisions, some of which were not recognized after the 1840s.

The National Archives hold the original Tithe Applotment Books only for the twenty-six counties of the Republic of Ireland. The books for the six counties of Northern Ireland are held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast. (http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/aboutmore.jsp)

Tithe Applotment

John Connely, Richard Martin & Martin Naughton had 3 acres of land; 2 acres of 2nd quality land with a fee of 1s and 1 acre of 3rd quality with a fee of 6d.

The Tithes were payable to Richard Martin Esq. Reverend James Daly & Reverend John Wilson.

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/results.jsp?county=Galway&parish=Kilcummin&townland=Shindilla&search=Search&sort=last_name_sort

Griffiths Valuation 1850’s

In Griffith’s Valuation the area is 1121 acres 22 perches 9 (Land 910 acres 2 roods 6 perches, Water : 210 acres 2 roods 16 perches) with a land value of £5 5s 0d . Value of Buildings 15 shillings, Total £16

Occupiers of the Land: The Law Life Assurance Company

Immediate Lessor: “in fee”, meaning that the occupier is also the legal owner of the property.

View the heads of households in the townland at this time.

Out Offices and Land

The out office was a farm building, a cow house, piggery or barn. The land was very poor and sterile and people were always poverty-stricken. At this time most tenants were trying to eke out a living on 5 acres or less and a farmers needed at least 15.3 acres to survive. There was a total of 15 buildings in Shindilla.

Poor Law Union Ireland

In Ireland the Poor Relief Act of 1838 divided into districts or “unions” in which the local taxable inhabitants were to be financially responsible for all paupers in the area. In 1898 the Poor Law Union was adopted as the basic administrative division in place of the civil parish and barony. Further subdivision into 828 registration districts and 3,751 district electoral divisions followed. Townlands were not arranged according to these divisions with parish and barony retained as a means to make comparisons with records gathered before 1898.

The 1838 Act

The main provisions of the 1838 Act were:

  • The extension of the existing Poor Law Commissioners’ powers to Ireland, with the appointment of Assistant Commissioners who were to implement the Act in Ireland.
  • The division of the country into Poor Law Unions based on Irish electoral divisions which were themselves made up from townlands.
  • The creation of a Board of Guardians for each Union, two-thirds of whom were to be elected, the other third to be appointed ex officio.
  • The setting up of a workhouse in each Union.
  • The collection of a local poor-rate to finance the system.
  • Assistance for emigration.

Initially, 130 Unions were created, based upon 2,049 electoral divisions. The divisions were composed of townlands, a peculiarly Irish unit, traditionally of 120 Irish acres in area. (Between 1848 and 1850, an additional 33 Unions were created by subdividing and reorganizing the boundaries of some existing Unions, particularly in the west of the country.

Boards of Guardians were elected annually on 25th March. Only rate-payers were eligible for election, which effectively disenfranchised most of the native Irish who were usually tenants at this time. Rate-payers were allowed between one and six votes depending on the size of a valuation of their property.

Townlands

A town land is one of the smallest land divisions in Ireland. They range in size from a few acres to thousands of acres. Many are Gaelic in origin, but some came into existence after the Norman invasion 1169. Shindilla is a townland.

Population & Census Information

People who lived here:

You can retrieve a list of people who lived in this townland from 1827 to 1911. This list is compiled from the following resources.

  • The Tithe Applotment Books
  • Griffith’s Valuation
  • 1901 Census
  • 1911 Census

List of nineteenth century and early twentieth century inhabitants of this townland.

1841-1891 Census

1841 – 5 houses with 24 people

1851 – 3 house with 18 people

1861 – 2 houses with 15 people

1871 – 3 houses with 8 people

1881 – 2 houses (2 inhabited) with 10 people (7 males, 3 females). There were 2 outbuildings.

The valuation of Houses & Land in 1881 was £10 15s 0d.

1891 – 9 houses (4 inhabited) with 29 people (20 males, 9 females). There were 7 outbuildings.

The valuation of Houses & Land in 1891 was £10 15s 0d.

1901 Census Shindilla

This is a return of the members of the family, visitors boarders and servants who slept or abode in their house on the night of Sunday March 31st 1901 in Shindilla

There were 4 houses and a Barracks listed in the Townland of Shindilla. The people were of mixed religions – Roman Catholics and Irish Church and they were born in County’s Galway, Tipperary, Monaghan and Cavan. There were 15 in total of farm buildings and out offices which included, a coach house, stores, stables, cow houses, barns, piggeries, and a fowl house.

Class of House: The class of house depended on the materials used in the roof, walls, number of rooms and number of front windows. A 1st class house was considered the highest standard.

Walls of the houses: The walls were of stone, brick, concrete or of mud, wood or other perishable material. The houses in Shindilla were built of stone, brick or concrete. There were no mud cabins.

 Landholder of the property unless otherwise stated was the occupier of the house.

 Roofs were of slate, iron, tiles, thatch, wood or other perishable material. The roofs of houses were of thatch, wood or perishable material. Most likely they were thatched as there was ample reeds for thatching in the lakes.

House Occupancy: Each of the 4 houses was occupied by one family.

The people listed as Head of the Family were also listed as the lawful Landholder of the property in most cases.

Enumerators Extract

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000840413/

House & Building Return

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000840414/

Out Offices & Farm Steadings

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000840415/

House 1: Mary Peacocke aged 62, born in Co. Tipperary and a member of the Irish Church was head of the family. She was widowed and was a Sub Post Mistress. Living with her were her family Robinson 29 who was married and a sub post master, Robert 24 a postman,  Isabella Wilhelmina 19 and Elizabeth 22. Living with them were Coleman Haherty 18 a servant and James Walsh 19 a servant and general maintenance man. They were both Roman Catholics. They all spoke Irish and English and they could read and write. They lived in a Class 2 house with 3 front windows with a slated roof. It was a hotel and 7 persons occupied 9 available rooms. They had 2 stables, a coach house, cow house and 2 stores.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Letterfore/Shindilla/1394504/

House 2: William Coughlan aged 28 and head of the family was born in the King’s County. His wife Kate aged 28 was born in County Cavan. Their children – Patrick Joseph 6 was born in Westmeath, Elizabeth 4 in Co. Meath, Bernard 3 and Kate Ann 1 were born in Co. Galway. William  was the Station Master at Maam Cross. Attached to the Station were a store, 2 signals boxes, office, 3 waiting rooms and a large water tank.

The family could read and write and they spoke Irish and English. They lived in a Class 1 house which was slated with 7 front windows. 6 persons occupied 5 available rooms. The premises belonged to the Midland Great Western Railway Company.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Letterfore/Shindilla/1394505/

House 3: John Parsons born in Co Meath aged 38 and head of the family lived with his wife Roseanne 36 born in Co. Cavan, Robert Joseph age 12 his son born in Dublin City, Patrick 8 born in Co. Meath and twins John 3 and Roseanne born in Co. Mayo. They were Roman Catholics and the family could read and write. The premises belonged to the Great Midland Western Railway Company. John was a railway Ganger and he lived in a Class 2 house with 2 front windows. 7 persons occupied 3 available rooms. They had a fowl house.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Letterfore/Shindilla/1394506/

House 4: Ellen Darcy aged 67 a widow and head of the family lived with her daughter Bridget 40 who was single and a farmer’s daughter. Living in the house was Anthony Lynch 24 Ellen’s grandson a farmer’s son.  They all spoke Irish and English except Ellen whose first language was Irish. Kate Logan aged 60 a boarder and Barrack servant lived with them. They were all born in Co. Galway. They lived in a Class 3 house with no front window. They had a cow house. 4 persons occupied 2 available rooms.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Letterfore/Shindilla/1394507/

Barrack Return Form; The first initials of the 4 males in the Barracks were given as follows:

M   J – a sergeant aged 37 born in Co Limerick a farmer’s son.

R    T – constable 26 born in Co. Galway a R.I.C. Pensioner’s son.

F  M – aged 26 born in Co. Galway, a farmer’s son

 D  P – constable 24 born in Co. Leitrim a farmer’s son. The men were single and they could read and write and they spoke Irish and English. They were Roman Catholics.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Galway/Letterfore/Shindilla/1394508/

Shindilla/Lurgan  Census 1911

This is a return of the Members of families in Shindilla, their visitors, boarders and servants who slept or abode in the house on the night of Sunday the 2nd of April 1911.

Description of the Houses

The houses were built of concrete or stone.  The roofs of the houses were of wood, thatch or other perishable material. The main buildings at the Station were slated while the private house was thatched.  The Class of the house depended on the material used in the roof, walls, number of rooms and number of front windows. Most of the houses in the area  came under “2’ in the census form meaning that there could be 2, 3, or 4, rooms in the house. There were 19 out buildings in the townland.

Enumerators Extract

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002435027/

House & Building Return

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002435029/

Out Offices & Farm Steadings

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai002435031/

House 1: Mary Peacocke a widow aged 69 and head of the family who was born in Co. Tipperary and belonged to the Church of Ireland was a publican. She lived with her son Robert James 34 – a postman and Elizabeth her daughter aged 29 a Sub Post Mistress and Robert Mulvagh 26 a shop assistant. The three of them were single and belonged to the

Church of Ireland

Kate Conneely 17 a domestic servant, Matthias Mc Donagh 22 a postman, Anthony Lynch 11 a farm servant and Thomas Coyne 19 car driver and farm servant – all Catholics lived and worked with Mary Peacocke. The occupants of the house except for Mary were born in Co. Galway. Mary was married 47 years. 8 children were born alive and 6 were still living. They all could read and write. They lived in a Class 2 house with 6 front windows. It was a private dwelling where 8 persons occupied 6 available rooms.

Mary owned 3 stables, coach house, cow house, calf house, horse house, fowl house, turf shed, shed and forge.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Letterfore/Lurgan__or_Shindilla_/912201/

House 2: Robert Melleet aged 38 born in Co. Mayo a Station Master and head of the family lived with his wife Mary 31 born in Dublin City. They were married 6 years but they had no children. Living with them was Robert’s sister Nora Melleet aged 19 born in Co. Mayo and single. The family could read and write and they spoke Irish and English. They were Catholics. They lived in a private dwelling a Class 2 House with 6 front windows. 3 persons occupied 5 available rooms. The owner of the house was The Great Western Railway Company. They had a turf shed and store.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Letterfore/Lurgan__or_Shindilla_/912202/

House 3: Martin Kelly aged 54 a Railway Ganger lived with his wife Elizabeth 51 and children Annie 15 and Elizabeth 8 both scholars. They were Catholics, could read and write and spoke Irish and English. James Mullarney a Railway Porter who was single lived with the family. They lived in a Class 2 house with 3 front windows. It was a private dwelling owned by the Midland Great Western Railway Company. 5 persons occupied 3 available rooms. They had a cow house and calf house. Martin and Elizabeth were married 28 years. 10 children were born alive and 8 were still living.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Letterfore/Lurgan__or_Shindilla_/912203/

Barrack Return Form: Full names were not recorded just the initials.

J  W  aged 49 a Sergeant born in Co Cork, married, a member of the Church of Ireland and a Grocer’s son.

C   C  a Constable aged 25 single born in Co Meath a member of the Catholic Church and a shop assistant.

G  P aged 33 a Constable born in Co. Roscommon single a farmer’s son, a member of the Catholic Church.

Q   M aged 25 a Constable born in Co Kerry, single, a member of the Catholic Church and a farmer’s son.

The head of the Family in this return form was listed as William Thompson.

They lived in a Class 2 house with 2 front windows. The owner was Mary Peacocke. 4 persons occupied 2 available rooms. They had a shed.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Letterfore/Lurgan__or_Shindilla_/912200/

Church records of births, deaths and marriages:

Church records of births, deaths and marriages are available online at http://www.rootsireland.ie.  To search these records, you will need to know the ‘church parish’ rather than the ‘civil parish’. (The civil parish is the pre-reformation parish and was frequently used as a unit of administration in the past.)

Lurgan or Shindilla is in the civil parish of Kilcummin.

Roman Catholic parishes:

This civil parish corresponds with the following Roman Catholic parish or parishes.

  • Carraroe
  • Kilannin
  • Kilcummin/Oughterard
  • Rosmuc

Church of Ireland parishes:

This civil parish corresponds with the following Church of Ireland parish.

  • Kilcummin

In general, the civil parish and the Church of Ireland parish are the same, but, this is not always the case.

Maps

It is located at 53° 27′ 36″ N, 9° 31′ 24″ W.

Original OS map of this area. Ireland was first mapped in the 1840s. These original maps are available online.

Lurgan or Shindilla

Original OS maps at the Ordnance Survey of Ireland website.

Below is a link to the Ordnance Survey of Ireland website. It displays the original OS map that was created in the 1840s.

Lurgan or Shindilla

Information from Google Maps.

You can use this link to find this townland on Google Maps

Google Maps

Information from the National Monuments Service.

You can use this link to view a map of archaeological features. This link brings you to a website wherein you will have to search for your townland.

Archaeological map from the National Monuments Service

Galway Library Website

http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/place/52938

Townlands.ie Website

https://www.townlands.ie/galway/moycullen/kilcummin/letterfore/lurgan/

This page was added on 28/07/2016.

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