Eleventh Collection of Articles on West Wicklow History

© Individual Contributors

Full title: Journal of the West Wicklow Historical Society: Number 11, 2021-22

Creator / Author: West Wicklow Historical Society & contributors, joint editors Chris Lawlor, Donal McDonnell

Item Type / Page count: Journal (Complete issue) / 168p

When Published: 2021

Publisher / Place of Publication: West Wicklow Historical Society / Baltinglass (?), Co. Wicklow.

About: This is the eleventh publication of the now biennial journal. It includes a very broad set of topics indeed. Subjects covered include: The O’Tooles in the 16^th century, Ladies’ Day in Punchestown, A Wicklow man in India, The seasonal movement of livestock in the Wicklow mountains, A murder from 1916 and A traditional recipe for oatmeal biscuits, to name but a few. The most extensive article in this issue is by Cora Crampton. Running to 26 pages it tells of John & Jennie Wyse Power, a real-life couple who featured in Joyce’s Ulysses.  

ID number(s): 0790-1739

Contents: Foreword from the Chairman / John A. O’Toole — Ramblings of the Secretary / Donal McDonnell — Editor’s Preface / Chris Lawlor — Ladies’ Day at Punchestown: 150 years of Festival Fashion / Dr. Emma Lyons — The O’Tooles of Imail in the sixteenth-century / Brendan Corrigan — ‘Home Rule is throwing many a shadow now’: Wicklow women, Unionism and the Women’s Declaration of 1912 / Rosemary Raughter — ‘A Celt, A Catholic and a Peasant’- A Wicklow man in India / Andrew Keating — John and Jennie Wyse Power – the real-life couple featured in James Joyce’s Ulysses  / Cora Crampton — The Rev. Ogle Moore of Manor Kilbride / Jim Corley — The beautiful woman in the long red cloak / Ita Roddy — Winter-transhumance routes between the Wicklow Mountains and the surrounding lowlands / John Hussey — Murder Most Foul / Maura Murphy Gibson – Some aspects of County Wicklow’s railway history / James Scannell — Back to Burgage / Niamh McCabe & Brian McCabe — The Irish language influence in West Wicklow placenames / John Glennon — Oatmeal biscuits / Sarah Gillespie — Divided loyalties in Kildare: truce, treaty and drift to Civil War / Michael Murphy —Baltinglass Bridewell and Courthouse [Part Two] / Chris Lawlor.

Extra #1: Illustrated throughout with black & white photographs, maps, drawings and graphs.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

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

Extra #4: Visit the West Wicklow Historical Society website.

IN MEMORIAM Donal McDonnell (Hon. Secretary of WWHS and joint-editor of this journal) R.I.P

The Memories of Séamus Balfe

© John Hussey

Full title: Another world: hill farming in the Wicklow Mountains: Séamus Balfe’s memories of Lackan, Kylebeg and Ballynultagh

Creator / Author: John Hussey

Item Type / Page count: Book / 107p

When Published: 2019

Publisher / Place of Publication: The Author / [Co. Wicklow]

About: If this book came out in a hardback edition it might be known as a ‘coffee-table’ book, given its size and format (21 x 30 cm). It is a handsome presentation of the recollections of Séamus Balfe on social and farming life in the uplands of West Wicklow. The book arose out of a series of interviews that John Hussey conducted with Séamus Balfe between 2006 and 2019 and this end result perfectly preserves memories of a way of life that will disappear all too soon.

ID number(s): 9781913108182

Contents: Introduction – Life around Lackan in the early 1940’s – Shops and Traders – Escapades in Dublin — Entertainment — Hill-farming at Lackan and Kylebeg — Fairs, marts and droving – Ballynultagh: a forgotten place — Wicklow houses — Illnesses, doctors and death — Easing off and easing out.

Extra #1: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for this publication in libraries worldwide.

Extra #2: Includes maps and photographs.

Extra #3: Link to John Hussey’s page on Academia.edu

Tenth Collection of Articles on West Wicklow History

© WWHS

Full title: Journal of the West Wicklow Historical Society: Number 10, 2019

Creator / Author: West Wicklow Historical Society & contributors, joint editors Chris Lawlor, Donal McDonnell

Item Type / Page count: Journal (Complete issue) / 312p

When Published: 2019

Publisher / Place of Publication: West Wicklow Historical Society / Baltinglass (?), Co. Wicklow.

About: This tenth publication of a set of articles on aspects of West Wicklow history is a bumper edition running to a highest-ever total of 312 pages. A diverse range of articles stretch from the Neolithic period to modern times. The areas covered include Baltinglass, Baltyboys, Blessington, Burgage and Glen of Imaal. East Wicklow also gets a look-in as does neighbouring parts of Carlow and Kildare. The most extensive article in this issue is by Kevin Lee which looks at nineteenth-century emigration from the Coolattin district to Canada.

ID number(s): 0790-1739

Contents: Foreword from the Chairman / John A. O’Toole — Ramblings of the Secretary / Donal McDonnell — Editor’s Preface / Chris Lawlor — Archaeological excavations on Baltinglass Hill: an update / Alan Hawkes — Guests of the Crown: Wicklow men in the Curragh internment camps, 1921 / James Durney — Silk manufacturing in Rathmore, County Kildare (1784-1786) / James Robinson — Preaching the suffrage gospel in County Wicklow: a local perspective on the women’s suffrage campaign, 1908-1918 / Rosemary Raughter —Ballymore Eustace woollen mills / Jim Corley — Cecil Frances Alexander and her connection to County Wicklow / Sarah Gillespie — County Kildare during the War of Independence, 1919-1921 / Michael Murphy — Language matters: the importance of Irish in local place-name lore / Ita Roddy — Shops around the Blessington Lake / Séamus Balfe — Flax growing and linen weaving in Imaal in the 1820s / John Hussey — Book Review: John Hussey’s The Quakers of Baltyboys, County Wicklow – 1678 to 1800s / Jim Corley – The land for the people / Joe McArdle — The Boyestowne Lordship: Baltyboys, Tulfarris & Humphreystown 1650-1850 [Part Two] / Brendan Corrigan — William Dargan and the Dublin and Wicklow railway / Andrew Keating — Aspects of life in County Wicklow during the Emergency / James Scannell — Collapse at Burgage / Brian McCabe — ‘He regarded their interests and his own as interwoven’: the impact of the 1903 Wyndham Land Act on the Mansfields of Morristown Lattin, 1903-1929 / Evan Comerford — A listing of some people living on the Baltinglass Estate of the Earl of Aldborough, 1767-1794 / Richard B. Lennon — Macra na Feirme and the origin of secondary education in West Wicklow / P.J. Hanlon — Nineteenth-century emigration from South Wicklow: from Coollattin to Canada / Kevin Lee — Did you ever dance to these bands in Blessington or Manor Kilbride 1971-1973? / Declan O’Connor — Goodbye to Fortgranite, a much-loved family home / Mark Shirley-Beavan — Mullaghmast – early monuments and mythologies / Cora Crampton — Rathvilly Church of Ireland memorial inscriptions from the church and churchyard / Paul Gorry — Baltinglass Bridewell and Courthouse [Part One] / Chris Lawlor — Book Review: Chris Lawlor’s ‘With Much Quiet Fervour’: a brief history of Dunlavin Roman Catholic parish and St. Nicholas of Myra church / Cróna Cassidy.

Extra #1: Illustrated throughout with black & white photographs, maps, drawings and graphs.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

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

Extra #4: Visit the West Wicklow Historical Society website.

Ninth Collection of Articles on West Wicklow History

© WWHS

Full title: Journal of the West Wicklow Historical Society: Number 9, 2017

Creator / Author: West Wicklow Historical Society & contributors, joint editors Chris Lawlor, Donal McDonnell

Item Type / Page count: Journal (Complete issue) / 170p

When Published: 2017

Publisher / Place of Publication: West Wicklow Historical Society / Baltinglass (?), Co. Wicklow.

About: This ninth publication of a set of articles on aspects of West Wicklow history is the most substantial yet with articles of the highest quality. A diverse range of topics is covered from medieval stone lamps and sheep wash-holes to the Plymouth Brethren and railway accidents. The most extensive article in this issue is by Chris Lawlor which looks at the impact of the Civil War on ordinary citizens as reflected in compensation claim records. Overall this publication makes a most appealing Christmas stocking-filler for anyone interested in West Wicklow history.

ID number(s): 0790-1739

Contents: Foreword from the Chairman / John A. O’Toole — Ramblings of the Secretary / Donal McDonnell — Editor’s Preface / Chris Lawlor — Archaeological excavation on Baltinglass Hill – Lathaleere – the evolution of a place-name / Paul Gorry — Death in the Glen of Imaal – 16^th September 1941 / James Scannell — The Plymouth Brethren and the Baltinglass connection / Cora Crampton – The Boyestowne Lordship: Baltyboys, Tulfarris & Humphreystown 1650-1850 [Part One] / Brendan Corrigan — County Wicklow Grand Jury 1793 – William Hanbidge’s recollections of wool-weaving in the 1820’s / John Hussey — A light into medieval Ireland: some thoughts on cresset-stones and a previously undocumented example from Newry townland, southwest Wicklow / Lorcan Harney — Denis Gavin and Ellen Murphy: early Queensland pioneers / Pauleen Cass — Odd fish in West Wicklow / Christopher Moriarty — Sheep wash-holes in West Wicklow / Seamus Balfe and John Hussey — A fatal accident on the Dublin & Blessington tram line in 1912 / James Scannell — Ernest Molyneux of The Decoy / Tom Molyneux – Tuckmills in West Wicklow / John Hussey — Trouble with the points / James Scannell – Three men and a (little) mountain / Brian McCabe – Raids, requisitions and recompense: the Civil War’s impact on West Wicklow, 1922-3 / Chris Lawlor – Review: Brendan Corrigan’s The History of Hollywood Co Wicklow / John Glennon.

Extra #1: Illustrated throughout with black & white photographs, maps, drawings and graphs.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

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

Extra #4: Visit the West Wicklow Historical Society website.

The ‘Friends’ in Baltyboys (2)

© The Publisher

Full title: The Quakers of Baltyboys, County Wicklow, 1678 to 1800s

Creator / Author: John Hussey

Item Type / Page count: Book / 56p

When Published: July 2017

Publisher / Place of Publication: The Historical Committee of the Religious Society of Friends in Ireland / Quaker House, Stocking Lane, Dublin 16 D16 V3F8

About: This is a history of the Quaker community which settled in the valley of the King’s River in West Wicklow. Also known as ‘The Religious Society of Friends’, The Quakers were heavily involved in the woollen and textile industry. Appendices to the main text include individual family details and a brief explanation of Quaker origins. This book was originally published as an eBook on the author’s website in 2015.

ID number(s): 9781911345565

Contents: Preface – Acknowledgements – Foreword / Christopher Moriarty – Ballymore Eustace, the gateway to West  Wicklow — Baltyboys — The  Quakers’ move to Ireland — The founding of Blessington ‘New Town’ – Visits by important Quakers to Dublin — Peter Peisley’s move to Baltyboys — The first Quaker lease at Baltyboys, 1678 — The role of the early Quakers at Baltyboys — The rationale for Quakers to settle at Baltyboys—Connections of the Baltyboys Quakers with Dublin — William Lappam’s refusal to pay tithes — Anthony Sharp’s visit to Blessington — Quaker settlement beyond Baltyboys — Other Protestant settlers of the early 1700s — Quaker weaving activities at Baltyboys – Disownments – Quaker Families at Baltyboys in 1791 — Peisleys replaced by Radcliffes – The 1798 Rebellion — Quaker Migration into the Church of Ireland — After the Quakers – Appendices: 1. The ‘Religious Society of Friends’ – 2.The Quaker meeting house and graveyard at Baltyboys – 3. Notes on individual Quaker families of Baltyboys – 4. Other family names.

Extra #1: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

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

Extra #3: Includes two maps.

Extra #4: A review of this book appears in the Journal of the West Wicklow Historical Society, Number Ten, 2019.

Extra #5: Link to the Quakers in Ireland website.

Extra #6: Link to the author’s page on Academia.edu

Weaving Down the King’s River Valley

© John Hussey

Full title: Wool and Weaving in the Kings River Valley, County Wicklow: 1660’s to 1840s

Creator / Author: John Hussey

Item Type / Page count: eBook / 95p

When Published: March 2^nd, 2016

Publisher / Place of Publication: John Hussey / [Co. Wicklow?]

About: The Quaker community based around Baltyboys were responsible for wool production in the area and supplied Dublin with this commodity. Later this enterprise developed into carding, spinning and weaving operations. In this substantial e-book publication, local author, John Hussey, details the almost 200-year history of wool and weaving in the King’s River Valley.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Abstract – Author details – Notes — Acknowledgements – 1650 to 1699 – The wool and weaving industries in Ireland — 1699 to c.1740 – The Wool Act and rustication — c.1750 – Weaving and tuck mills — 1760s – Road improvements — 1760s to 1770s – Pirn/Warping mills — 1770s to 1790s – The commercial state of Co. Wicklow — 1798 – The United Irish Rebellion — 1800 to 1840s — The final decline and death of weaving – Epilogue – Appendix 1 – Valleymount and hat-making – Appendix 2 – Weaving in the town of Blessington and on the estate – Appendix 3 – Flax growing and linen weaving in Co. Wicklow – Appendix 4 – General Holt’s metal boilers.

Extra #1: Includes several maps, photographs and illustrations.

Extra #2: Link to the author’s page on Academia.edu

Update July 2022: This ebook does not appear to be currently available online.

The ‘Friends’ in Baltyboys (1)

© John Hussey

Full title: The Quakers of Baltyboys, County Wicklow: 1678 to 1800s

Creator / Author: John Hussey

Item Type / Page count: eBook / 44p

When Published: 2015 (Second edition March 7^th, 2016)

Publisher / Place of Publication: John Hussey / [Co. Wicklow?]

About: This is a history of the Quaker community which settled in the valley of the King’s River in West Wicklow. Also known as ‘The Religious Society of Friends’, The Quakers were heavily involved in the woollen and textile industry. Appendices to the main text include individual family details and a brief explanation of Quaker origins.

ID number(s): None

Contents: Abstract – Acknowledgements — Ballymore, the gateway to west  Wicklow — Baltyboys — The  Quakers’ move to Ireland — Events of 1669 – 1671 – Peter Peisley’s move to Baltyboys — The founding of the ‘New Town’ of Blessington – The rationale for Quakers to settle at Baltyboys — Visits by important Quakers to Dublin — The role of the early Quakers at Baltyboys — The first Quaker lease at Baltyboys, 1678 — Connections with Dublin – Anthony Sharp — William Lappam’s refusal to pay tithes — Anthony Sharp’s visit to Blessington — Quaker settlement beyond Baltyboys — Other Protestant settlers of the early 1700s — Quaker weaving activities at Baltyboys – Disownments – Peisleys replaced by Radcliffes – The 1798 Rebellion — Migration of Quakers into the Church of Ireland — After the Quakers – Appendix 1: The ‘Religious Society of Friends’ – Appendix 2: The Quaker meeting house and graveyard at Baltyboys – Appendix 3: Notes on individual Quaker families of Baltyboys

Extra #1: Includes two maps.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for the print edition of this publication.

Extra #2: Check OCLC WorldCat.org for the print edition of this publication in libraries worldwide.

Extra #2: Link to the author’s page on Academia.edu

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

**UPDATE** The author’s website (viewed October 2017) states: “My book on the Quakers of Baltyboys has been published by the Religious Society of Friends in Ireland….. July 2017”. Link to the blog post relating to this print edition.

Blessington Stones in Dublin

© The Publisher

Full title: Granite as a building material in Dublin in the early eighteenth century

Creator / Author: John Hussey

Item Type / Page count: Journal Article / 3p

Journal Information: History Ireland, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 18-20

When Published: November / December 2014

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

About: In this three-page article the author investigates when granite was first used as a building material in Dublin. He also traces the origin of this granite to the Woodend and Threecastles quarries in the Blessington area. Indeed the granite came to be referred to as ‘Blessington Stones’ in transactions of the time.

ID number(s): 0791-8224

Extra #1: includes photographs, an illustration and map.

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.

Extra #4: Visit the magazine website at: http://www.historyireland.com/

First Collection of Lakeside Articles

© BLHG

Full title: Journal of Blessington-Lakeside Heritage Group

Creator / Author: Blessington-Lakeside Heritage Group & contributors.

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

When Published: 2013

Publisher / Place of Publication: Blessington-Lakeside Heritage Group / Blessington (?), Co. Wicklow.

About: The inaugural publication of a set of articles on aspects of the history and heritage of areas that surround Blessington Lake. All articles are concise ranging from snippets to four and a half pages. Plans are already afoot for the next issue.

ID number(s): 9781908559906

Contents: Cover Photo: The Mace of the Corporation of Blessington, 1786 — Blessington-Lakeside Heritage Group — Blessington-Lakeside Heritage Members — Future issues of the journal — The Tassies of Threecastles / John Hussey — Early local headstones (based on a talk by Chris Corlett) — A stranger in Ireland (snippet) / John Carr — Fair day in Blessington / Seamus Balfe — Early-Medieval Mill-site at Burgage Mor / C.J. Darby — Members of Parliament for Blessington 1692-1800 — The sand pits at Blessington — A history of stonemasons / Andy Farrington — Local lime kilns / Aiden Cruise — “I done my bit for my country” / Tom Tyrell — Presentment Grants, Kildare Spring Assizes, 1882 / abstract by Aiden Cruise — Archaeological locations in Lakeside / Aiden Cruise — The Quaker burial-ground at Baltyboys / Maureen McCaw — The woollen mills, Ballymore Eustace / Matt Purcell — A visit to Bishop Boden’s Well, Lacken, Sunday November 5th, 1978 / Seamus Balfe — The Dispensary Doctor / Fidelma Clearkin— Church of ‘Our Lady’ [from Irish Independent Friday, 31st May, 1946] — Summer visitors – by Tram [from Irish Independent Saturday, 17th August, 1912] — Public Notices [from Freemans Journal 24th August, 1921] — Threecastles and Burgage Castle / Dr. Brendan O’Riordain — Blessington is our town [poem] / Michael Farrington — Church records and Manor Kilbride graveyard survey / Blessington History Society — Kilbride Military Camp / courtesy of Pat Lavelle — Cures in the 1820s from Fr. Finney of Valleymount — Blessington Men’s Shed — Estate Maps of our district — The Liffey Bridges beat them all! — Back Cover Photo: The gravestone of Patrick Brady at Manor Kilbride, 1732

Extra #1: Contains black & white photographs, illustrations and plans.

Extra #2: Check Libraries Ireland for this publication.

Extra #2: Blessington-Lakeside Heritage Group can be contacted via email @gmail.com. Use BlessingtonLakeside as the name.