200 Years of Lacken Church History

© The Author
Cover painting by
Stephen Robinson

Full title: Lacken and its Church Down the Years

Creator / Author: Séamas Ó Maitiú

Item Type / Page count: Book / 32p

When Published: 2011

Publisher / Place of Publication: [Bicentennial Committee?] / Lacken? Co. Wicklow.

About: A nice little 32-page booklet which was published locally to celebrate the bicentenery of Lacken Church in 2011. The author is a well-known and prolific writer on historical topics. Apart from the story of the church itself, aspects of local archaeology and history are also covered.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Foreword / Patsy McGarry — Preface — Lacken and its Church — Sponsors.

Extra #1: includes back cover line drawing by Albert Jones and two black and white photographs.

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/

The Famine in Talbotstown Upper

© KCC &
Authors

Full title: Responses to Famine in West Wicklow

Creator / Author: Séamas Ó Maitiú

Item Type / Page count: Book Chapter / 9pp

When Published: c.1995

Publisher / Place of Publication: Kildare County Council / Naas, Co. Kildare

Parent Publication [book]: Lest We Forget: Kildare and the Great Famine / 106pp

About: This essay was published as part of a book commemorating the 150^th anniversary of the Great Famine in County Kildare. It looks at the adjoining district of West Wicklow and uses contemporary accounts from the journal of Elizabeth Smith to show in particular how local officialdom responded to the crisis.

ID number(s): 0952001322

Extra #1: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

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

Extra #3: Link to the full text of the book containing this chapter, courtesy of the Co. Kildare Online Electronic History Journal.

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

Hat-Tip: To the Kildare Library and Arts Services who have arranged for the digitisation of this book and its free accessibility online.

Your 19th-Century Catholic Ancestors from Blackditches Parish

Full title: Blackditches, Archdiocese of Dublin, County of Wicklow

Creator / Author: The National Library of Ireland

Item Type: Website / Publicly Accessible

Homepage URL: http://registers.nli.ie/

When Viewed: Contents described are those showing when viewed in October 2015.

Publisher / Place of Publication: National Library of Ireland / Kildare Street, Dublin 8.

About: The National Library of Ireland holds microfilm copies of over 3500 church registers from parishes in Ireland. The library has now digitised these registers as images which provide records of baptisms and marriages from the majority of Catholic parishes in Ireland and Northern Ireland up to around 1880. The available registers are not searchable by individual names. Instead, they are browseable by diocese, parish and date, searchable by parish and it is possible to zoom from a country map to parish level. This blog entry relates to the parish of Blackditches in West Wicklow.

Contents:  These registers cover baptisms and marriages from 1810 to 1881. Dates are indicative only and coverage may be incomplete. Please refer to the NLI site for specific coverage.

Extra #1: Browse the Catholic Parish Registers for Blackditches Parish

Hat-Tip: To The National Library of Ireland who have arranged for the digitisation of these records and their free accessibility online.

Booklet on Blackditches from 1906

[Virtual Cover]

Full title: Blackditches: its traditions and its pastors

Creator / Author: T. M. O’Reilly

Item Type / Page count: Booklet / 13p

When Published: 1906

Publisher / Place of Publication: The Author and/or Leinster Leader Printing Works [?] / Naas, Co. Kildare.

About:  T. M. O’Reilly from Ballyknockan was a local councillor and writer with a great appreciation of local history. According to Fr. Cantwell of Valleymount, he produced several pamphlets. This booklet mentions old churches and houses of prayer as well as sites of historical or archaeological interest. The derivations of placenames is also featured. The second part of the booklet deals with the various priests who have ministered in the area.

ID number(s): None

Extra #1: Browse the 1901 Census return for the author Thomas O’Reilly.

Tithes Payable by Boystown Folk from 1834

Full title: Townlands in Boystown (Wicklow)

Creator / Author: Genealogical Society of Utah in partnership with The National Archives of Ireland

Item Type: Website / Publicly Accessible

Homepage URL: http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

When Viewed: Contents described are those showing when viewed in June 2014.

Publisher / Place of Publication: National Archives of Ireland / Bishop Street, Dublin 8.

About: Tithe Applotment Books were compiled between 1823 and 1837 in an attempt to determine how much the holders of agricultural land over 1 acre should pay in taxes or tithes to the established Church of Ireland. These books list the name of the head of each relevant household outside of urban areas. A Tithe Applotment book was compiled for each Church of Ireland parish. Some of the transcribed names of people and places are not 100% accurate, but the original entries may be viewed for clarification.

Contents: Annacarney – Ballyknockan – Ballinagee – Ballinahown – Ballynastockan – Ballynultagh — Baltyboys Lower — Baltyboys Upper – Bannaught (sic) Bawnoge (?) — Blackditches Lower — Blackditches Upper – Blackmoor — Blackmoor Hill – Carrig – Carrickbrack – Carrigacurra (including Quintagh) – Cross – Garryknock – Glenbride — Granabeg Lower — Granabeg Upper – Humphrystown – Kilbeg — Kilbeg North — Kilbeg South — Knockalt Lower — Knockalt Upper – Cransillagh – Lackan – Monamuck – Quintagh — The Breeches — The Cross – Togher – Tulfarris.

Extra #1: Browse the Tithe Applotment Book(s) for Boystown Parish

Hat-Tip: To the Genealogical Society of Utah and The National Archives of Ireland who have arranged for the digitisation of these records and their free accessibility online.

The Schools Around the County

© The Publisher

Full title: Education in Wicklow: from parish schools to national schools

Creator / Author: Michael Seery

Item Type / Page count: Book / 189p

When Published: 2014

Publisher / Place of Publication: Creathach Press / Wicklow [?]

About: A meticulously researched and well-presented work which traces the history of purpose-built schoolhouses in Wicklow up to around the middle of the nineteenth-century. Written by someone who has an obvious passion both for education and for local history, it is hard to believe that a book of this size could contain so much information.

ID number(s): 9780992823306

Chapters: [Introduction] Education in Ireland – Penal Laws – The lay of the land – Sources for this study – Overview of book.
[Education in Ireland before and under the Penal Laws] Royal schools – Charter schools – Other schools.
[Landlord educators and the Wicklow Education Society] The Kildare Place Society — The Wicklow Education Society – The Fitzwilliam Estate – Arklow  Barony – Talbotstown Barony – North-east Wicklow – Conclusion.
[The emergence of a National School system] The decline of the Kildare Place Society – National Schools in County Wicklow — Conclusions.
[Appendices] Extracts from the reports of the Kildare Place Society training records for Wicklow (1814-1825) — Extracts from the records of the Kildare Place Society:  gratuities awarded to teachers to 1824 — Extracts from the Lord Lieutenant’s Fund for County Wicklow – Wicklow returns to the Second Report of the Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry (abridged) – Brief biographical details of those with an interest in Wicklow education – Schools marked on Ordnance Survey of Ireland Map (1838-1840), with web link to OSI map, Google Map, Google image (where school building is still in existence) and notes on the location of school – Bibliography – Endnotes.

Extra #1: Includes several black & white photographs, maps, plans and tables of data.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

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

STOP PRESS: The author’s website (viewed March 2015) stated: “Education in Wicklow is now sold out but is available for free on Google Books.” Click here for Google Books link.

A Fourth Valleymount Compendium

© The Publisher

Full title: Valleymount. Facets of our Local History (Part IV: the unpublished volume, added May 2013 by John Hussey)

Creator / Author: John Hussey & contributors.

Item Type / Page count: Journal (Complete issue) / eBook / 39p

When Published: [Posted online] May 2013

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

About: This is the last of four collections (so far) of local history material which was first published separately in various issues of the Valleymount Parish News. This last issue was never made available as such. Rather, John Hussey has gathered together various pieces that were mostly not already included in the first three volumes to make up a virtual fourth volume of material. The major article here recounts an altar boy’s memories of local parish priest, Fr. John Moynihan.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Teacher’s Residence, Lacken / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Death of Fr. Heffernan P.P [taken from Leinster Leader] – Ballyknockan National Brass and Reed Band [taken from Leinster Leader] – “Dip me Flute” / Mattie Lennon – Valleymount I.C.A. / Tess Curran – The Coal Pit / Mattie Lennon – Bishop Boden’s Well Lacken, Sunday November 5^th 1978 / Fr. Richard Cantwell  – School in Lacken in the nineteen hundreds / Mattie Lennon — Parish Properties – Community Centre / Fr. Richard Cantwell — Renovation of the old Parochial House / Fr. Richard Cantwell — The Irish Journals of Elizabeth Smith, 1840-1850, edited for us by Mattie Lennon – Rerum Novarum: Memories of Fr. John Moynihan / Michael O’Brien (a Valleymount altar boy of many years ago) — A few historical notes from 150 years ago / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Matt Reid / Fr. Richard Cantwell – The Punchestown Races (in memory of Pa O’Brien) / Michael O’Brien – A few little details of Boystown gleaned from the census of 1841 / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Old names of fields in our parish / Fr. Richard Cantwell — Stone trough in Baltyboys cemetery / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Baltyboys House — Irish Folklore Commission – Local Weather Observations / Maggie Broe.

Extra #1: 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 Third Valleymount Compendium

© The Publisher

Full title: Valleymount. Facets of our Local History Part Three

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

Item Type / Page count: Magazine (Complete issue) / 65p

When Published: Easter 1993

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

About: This is the third 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. About one-third of this issue is taken up with an article about the various parish priests that have served in the parish. The publication is photocopied rather than printed and the quality of reproduction reflects this.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Cover drawing: The Church — Bronze Age cemetery at Carrig, Co. Wicklow / Eoin Grogan — Snippets from ‘Leinster Leader’ – Balfe-the-Robber or Cock-a-Hoof / Fr. Richard Cantwell  – “A hoor of a flood” / Mattie Lennon — Lacken Well / Mattie Lennon — School in Lacken in the nineteen-hundreds / Mattie Lennon — Snippets from ‘Leinster Leader’ – Highway robbery at the Tollhouse — Boyce Oh Boyce / Matty Lennon – Saint Patrick stood at Burgage Bridge / Matty Lennon – Light in Lacken / Mattie Lennon – E.S.B. installations at Lacken / Mattie Lennon — Ninety eight in Kilbeg / Mattie Lennon — Lines by a local poet on the funeral of Fr. Rowan [poem] – The bonfire stones / Mattie Lennon — The January fair / Matty Lennon — The Irish Journals of Elizabeth Smith, 1840-1850, edited for us by Mattie Lennon — Griffith’s Valuation Parish of Boystown [reproduction] – History of our former Parish Priests / 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 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 First Valleymount Compendium

© The Publisher

Full title: Valleymount – Facets of our Local History. Part One

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

Item Type / Page count: Magazine (Complete issue) / 65p

When Published: Christmas 1990

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

About: Available for the princely sum of 50p, this is the first of four miscellanies which gathers together local history material that was first published separately in various issues of the Valleymount Parish News.  It covers areas such as Lacken, Baltyboys, Poulaphuca and Valleymount and contains a roughly 50/50 mix of church history and secular history. It is a photocopied rather than printed publication and the price and quality of reproduction reflects this.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Cover drawing: The Church — Introduction / Fr. Richard Cantwell  — Church Windows [Our four stained glass windows from the Harry Clarke studios / Fr. Richard Cantwell  – Place Names [Names of townships etc in our Parish of Valleymount] — Death of Fr. Jones [Parish Priest killed in accident] — Recipes: 19^th Century [taken from old Valleymount Register 1844-59] — Building Agreement 1862 – Blackditches Church / Fr. Richard Cantwell — Blackditches: its history and its pastors / T. M. O’Reilly — Parish Priests of Valleymount (formerly Baltyboys or Blackditches) — Guide: to Tourists and Sportsmen visiting Blessington and its Environs / T. M. O’Reilly – Advertisements of an earlier age — Tithe Applotment List 1834 / Fr. Richard Cantwell — Stations across the King’s River 1834 / Fr. Richard Cantwell — Tombstones in Baltyboys Cemetery / Brian J. Cantwell — Ballyknockan Brass and Reed Band / Kay Byrne — Lease of former Presbytery, Valleymount / Fr. Richard Cantwell — Fr. Francis O’Loughlin — Ballyknockan Granite Quarries / Mary McEvoy and Annie McEvoy – Plane crash Blackhill, 1941 / Peter Garry [?] – Lacken Church / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Baptismal Font in Lacken Church / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Baptismal Font in Valleymount Church – Lease of Lacken Church / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Parish Visitation: Blackditches and Lacken 1840 / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Lacken / Mrs. White – Presentation to Mrs Easie Gallagher / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Dedication of Lacken Church to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 1882 – The Hollywood Stone / Aiden O’Sullivan – Quaker burial ground in Baltyboys / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Rude stone monument at Lacken / Fr. Richard Cantwell – The excavation of a relig at Ballyknockan – Two ringforts submerged at Ballyknockan – Poulaphuca reservoir / Fr. Richard Cantwell – Murder at Butterhill – Presentation to Fr. Heffernan – Fr. Finney’s affairs – Items from ‘Leinster Leader’.

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.