What’s Halloween Without a Haunting?

© The Publisher

Full title: The Haunted Cottage

Creator / Author: Hans Holzer

Item Type / Page count: Book Chapter / 7p text + 1p illustration

When Published: 1967 [and later editions]

Publisher [1] / Place of Publication: Wolfe Publishing Ltd. / 10 Earlham Street, London WC2.

Publisher [2] / Place of Publication: Ace Books / 1120 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N. Y. 10036.

Publisher [3] / Place of Publication: Various other publishers / Various locations.

Parent Publication [book]: The lively ghosts of Ireland / 187pp / 191pp

About: Hans Holzer was a well-known ‘ghost-hunter’ and paranormal researcher who travelled the word in search of psychic experiences. The book from which this chapter is taken could be seen as the outcome of a ‘ghost safari’ in Ireland. The haunted cottage in question is located in the Grogan Family estate at Slaney Park, Baltinglass in West Wicklow.

ID number(s): 0723400423

Extra #1: Most editions of the book include a charming drawing of the ‘haunted cottage’ by Catherine Buxhoevden.

Extra #1: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #3: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide.

The Baltinglass Balloonatic

© JSTOR

Full title: ‘A most ingenious mechanic’ : IRELAND’S FIRST AIRMAN

Creator / Author: Bryan MacMahon

Item Type / Page count: Journal Article / 3p

Journal Information: History Ireland, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 22-24

When Published: November / December 2010

Publisher / Place of Publication: Wordwell Ltd. / Unit 9, 78 Furze Road, Sandyford, Dublin 18.

About: An article outlining the career of Richard Crosbie, Ireland’s very first balloonist. The author of this article had just recently published the definitive book on Richard Crosbie.

ID number(s): 0791-8224

WW Connection #1: Richard Crosbie was born in Baltinglass in West Wicklow.

Extra #1: includes illustrations and photographs.

Extra #2: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide.

Extra #3: Read this article online via JSTOR. [Personal registration / conditions apply]. Alternatively, your local public library may provide free online access to this article.

Early Local Government in Suburban Dublin

© The Publisher

Full title: Dublin’s suburban towns, 1847-1930 : governing Clontarf, Drumcondra, Dalkey, Killiney, Kilmainham, Pembroke, Kingstown, Blackrock, Rathmines and Rathgar

Creator / Author: Séamas Ó Maitiú

Item Type / Page count: Book / 256p

When Published: 2003

Publisher / Place of Publication: Four Courts Press Ltd. / 7 Malpas Street, Dublin 8.

About: In the nineteenth century places such as Clontarf, Drumcondra, Dalkey, Killiney, Kilmainham, Pembroke, Kingstown, Blackrock, Rathmines and Rathgar were the suburbs of Dublin City. This book looks at the history of these townships and their impact on the political, social, domestic and cultural life of the ever expanding capital city.

ID number(s): 1851827226 / 1851827234

Chapters: Introduction — Establishing townships  — Township administration, finance and staffing  — Health and wholesome water: the fight for environmental control — The Royal Commission on boundaries: the Exham Commission, 1878 — From township to urban district council — Cultivating the civic arts: expanded services — In time of international and domestic war: 1914-23 — In a free state, 1922-30 — Notes — Appendix: Rathmines & Rathgar Commissioners, 1847-1930 — Bibliography.

WW Connection #1: The author is a long-time resident of West Wicklow.

Extra #1: includes many illustrations, photographs and maps.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #3: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide.

Extra #4: Link to a portrait of the author via https://portraidi.ie/ga/seamas-o-maitiu/

Households in Tober Parish in middle of 19th century

Full title: Parish of Tober

Creator / Author: Richard Griffith

Item Type / Page count: Book Chapter / eDoc / 2p

When Published: 1854

Publisher / Place of Publication: Alexander Thom and Sons for Her Majesty’s Stationary Office / 87 Abbey Street, Dublin.

Parent Publication [book]: County of Wicklow: valuation of the several tenements comprising that portion of the Union of Baltinglass situate in the county above named / Richard Griffith, General Valuation Office / 106pp

About: The property tax system of 1850’s Ireland, otherwise known as Griffiths Valuation. It was the first major attempt at valuing property. This section lists householders in the Parish of Tober, part of the area covered by the Poor Law Union of Baltinglass in West Wicklow.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Friarhill — Manofwar — Sandyhills — Tober Demesne — Tober Lower — Tober Upper — Wards of Tober.

Extra #1: Read the entries for  Griffiths Valuation Tober Parish (pdf file).

Extra #2: Search Griffiths Valuation and link to contemporary maps at AskAboutIreland.ie

Extra #3: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #4: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide

A Tinahely Debutante Writer

© The Publisher

Full title: The Locket: coincidence or divine intervention? [Short story]

Creator / Author: Ita Roche

Item Type / Page count: Short story / 29p

When Published: 2007

Publisher / Place of Publication: Poolbeg Press Ltd., / 123 Grange Hill, Baldoyle, Dublin 13.

Parent Publication [book]: Do the write thing: 14 winning stories by Ireland’s newest writers / 311pp

About: This short story appears in the book featuring the winners  of the ‘Do the write thing’ short story competition in association with the RTÉ television programme ‘Seoige & O’Shea’.  The story was inspired by the loss of the author’s son some 11 years earlier.

ID number(s): 9781842233023

WW Connection #1: The author is from Whiterock, Tinahely in West Wicklow.

Extra #1: Opening line: “It is the 19th of August 1996 and a scorching hot summer’s evening, 4.30 p.m. to be precise. There is hardly a cloud in the sky”.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #3: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide.

Extra #4: Link to the Publisher’s website.

From Killamoat to Cranareen

© Rathdangan CC

Full title: Rathdangan heritage trail : a walk through time from Killamoat Church to Cranareen Cemetery

Creator / Author: Rathdangan Community Council

Item Type / Page count: Booklet / 28p

When Published: 2009

Publisher / Place of Publication: Rathdangan Community Council / Rathdangan, Co. Wicklow.

About: A well-illustrated description of a heritage trail in the Rathdangan district which links many points of historical interest. Another excellent example of a local community initiative to highlight the heritage and history of their neighbourhood.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Introduction and Acknowledgements – Hello to Rathdangan [poem] / William Byrne — Rathdangan Heritage Trail map — Killamoat Church — From Killamoat Church [poem] / Tom Kelly — The Camp Field — School — The Moat — Football fields – The school and the Ruahan — The Butler’s field — The old road -– County football final — Mass house – Accident site – Shebeen – Rathdangan Church and O’Toole Memorial Hall — The village of Rathdangan: 18th to 20th century [1] Shops and public houses [2] Schools [3] Tradesmen [4] Fair — Toberowen – The shoeing stone — Moses Walsh’s schoolhouse — Mrs Kehoe’s shop — Kavanagh’s Tailors — Cornaan Barracks — Cornaan Church — Tubbernashankill — Cranareen Cemetery.

Extra #1: Includes map with photographs profusely interspersed throughout the text.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #3: Link to the Rathdangan.com website

Taxing the Hearthland

© JRSAI

Full title: The Hearth Money Roll for County Wicklow

Creator / Author: Liam Price

Item Type / Page count: Journal Article / 15pp

Journal Information: Journal of The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Seventh Series, Volume 1 Number 2 pp. 164-178

When Published: December 1931

Publisher / Place of Publication: R.S.A.I / Merrion Square, Dublin

About: Hearth Money or Chimney Money was a 17th-century tax based on the number of fireplaces in a person’s dwelling. The original returns for this levy were lost in the destruction of the Public Record Office. However some earlier transcriptions survive. This article mainly consists of a listing of the Hearth Money Roll for County Wicklow as transcribed by Mr. William Monck Mason in the 19th-century. The listing gives the names of all the parishes and townlands of which the County was then composed (except for some places missing from the original manuscript) together with the number of inhabited houses in each townland. Unfortunately, the only householder names recorded by Mr. Mason are those living in houses with more than one hearth. The author of this article has written the introduction to this listing and added footnotes as appropriate.

ID number(s): 0035-9106

Extra #1: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #2: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide.

Extra #3: Read this article online via JSTOR. [Personal registration / conditions apply]. Alternatively, your local public library may provide free online access to this article.

A Second Valleymount Compendium

© The Publisher

Full title: Valleymount – Facets of our Local History Part Two

Creator / Author: Fr. Richard Cantwell (editor) & contributors.

Item Type / Page count: Magazine (Complete issue) / 38p

When Published: Christmas 1990

Publisher / Place of Publication: Parish of Valleymount / Valleymount, Co. Wicklow.

About: This is the second of four collections of local history material which was first published separately in various issues of the Valleymount Parish News.  It covers areas such as Lacken, Baltyboys, Blessington, Poulaphuca and Valleymount. The major article in this collection is on the history of Valleymount G.A.A. club. It is a photocopied rather than printed publication and the quality of reproduction reflects this.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Cover drawing: The Church — Photograph of C. S. Parnell and T. M. O’Reilly —  Valleymount Church Restoration / Fr. Richard Cantwell  — St. Kevin’s Window / Fr. Richard Cantwell  – St. Joseph’s Valleymount, Re-opened / A Special Correspondent — Bishop Boden’s Well — Parish Registers of Births, Marriages and Confirmations  / Fr. Richard Cantwell — Ireland’s ‘Forgotten’ Valley / Barbara Page – To the memory of Father Rowan [poem] / Anon — Lough Cleevaun [poem] / T. M. O’Reilly – Granabeg [poem] / T. M. O’Reilly — …”When yez lave me in Baltyboys” / Matty Lennon – Sister Kevin Osborne / Fr. Richard Cantwell — Fr. Seamus McGeehan [obituary] / Mgr. Owen Sweeney — The Lord Mayor / Mattie Lennon — Diamond Jubilee of Father Dufficy / Fr. Richard Cantwell — The Dublin Blessington Steam Tram / Fr. Richard Cantwell — Valleymount GAA Club / Sean O’Sullivan – Items from ‘Leinster Leader’ – A Peek at our History / Fr. Richard Cantwell.

Extra #1: Contains illustrations and reproduction photographs throughout the text.

Extra #2: Link to the full text of this magazine via this page at blessington.jimdo.com.

**UPDATE** September 2022: This ebook does not appear to be currently available to read online.

A Little Miscellany of Things and Times Past

© JCKAS

Full title: Archaeological Jottings from the Neighbourhood of Baltinglass

Creator / Author: Charles M. Drury

Item Type / Page count: Journal Article / 7p

Journal Information: Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society, Vol. IV, No. 2, pp. 148-154

When Published: 1903

Publisher / Place of Publication: E. Ponsonby / 116 Grafton Street, Dublin.

About:   An article by this Grangecon author on various archaeological features known to him as well as historical snippets gleaned from conversations with locals. The area covered ranges widely from Glen of Imaal to the Carlow border. The amount of information on each topic is relatively sparse and probably deserves fuller treatment. The biggest section of the article is given over to the family of Rev. Benjamin Neale.

ID number(s): 0332-0782

Extra #1: includes some rough illustrations and the Neale Family coat-of-arms.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #3: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide.

Extra #4: Browse the 1901 Census entry for the author of this article.

Extra #5: Browse the 1911 Census entry for the author of this article.

Extra #6: Visit the County Kildare Archaeology Society website.

Extra #7: Search and access the content of Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society free of charge, courtesy of the Co. Kildare Archaeological Society and Kildare Library Services.

Bringing Home the Bacon

© AskAboutIreland

Full title: The Bacon Curing Industry

Creator / Author: Alexander W. Shaw

Item Type / Page count: Book Chapter / 17p

When Published: 1902

Publisher / Place of Publication: Browne and Nolan Ltd., / Dublin.

Parent Publication [book]: Ireland : Industrial and Agricultural / edited by William P. Coyne / 532p

About: The book from which this chapter is taken is an official handbook detailing agricultural and industrial progress in Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries. This edition was published following the International Glasgow Exhibition of 1901 in an attempt to give a full and detailed account of Irish industry and agriculture at the time. This chapter appears between pages 241-257 of the book. It briefly looks at the history of bacon curing, provides detailed statistical analysis relating to pig production for the previous 60-year period and relates some of the then current practices in pig processing.

ID number(s): None

WW Connection #1: According to the author of this book chapter, “Tradition has it that the birthplace of the bacon curing industry was Baltinglass in the County Wicklow and that the county was at one time the scene of operations of a large number of small curers, who cured long sides for the Dublin market.”. He does not present any substantial evidence for this, but it certainly opens up an avenue for future research.

Extra #1: Contains photographs and tables throughout the text.

Extra #2: Link to the full text of the book chapter here.

Extra #3: Link to the full text of the entire book at Ask About Ireland.ie [Warning: this is a very large file]

Extra #4: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #5: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide.