The Down Survey and Waller Connection
Introduction
One of the most significant developments in cartography in Ireland in
recent years has been the digitisation of the Post-Cromwellan Down Survey in
conjunction with modern Google maps by Trinity College Dublin. This new
development went online in Ireland on 13 May, 2013, and has been widely
welcomed by scholars, especially historians. But the project is of special
interest to people in the barony of Kenry, because Sir William Petty, Surveyor
General and chief organiser of the Down Survey, was married to one of Kenry’s
famous ladies. She was Elizabeth Waller of Castletown, Pallaskenry, daughter of
Sir Hardress Waller and Elizabeth Dowdall. Elizabeth, herself, joined the ranks
of the aristocracy when she was created Baroness Shelbourne. Moreover,
her grandson, the Marquis of Lansdowne, became Prime Minister of Britain in
1782.
What was Down
Survey?
The purpose of the Down Survey was to survey the entire island of Ireland in
preparation for the rewarding of Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers and supporters with
land grants in lieu of cash payments. Petty had been an Oxford professor and
was something of a polymath, being proficient in several disciplines, among
them surveying and map-making. He began his survey in 1656, the first complete
survey of an entire country in the world, and completed it in 1658. Though he
conducted the survey and prepared the maps, some of which were destroyed in the
famous fire at the Four Courts in 1922, it was the politicians who did the
distribution. Since most of Cromwell’s financial backers and soldiers were
Protestant, the redistribution , in practice, meant that the lands of Irish
Catholics were sequestered and allocated to English or Anglo-Irish
Protestants. This was the beginning of the great estates of Kenry,
including those of the Wallers and the Burys.
Land Redistribution
One of those who benefitted from the Down redistribution was Phineas Bury, who
received 40 townlands in County Limerick, mostly in the parishes of Ballysteen,
Kilcornan, Pallaskenry and Kildimo. It will be recalled that his descendants
lived first in Summerville, before moving to Shannongrove and then to
Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Among the 40 townlands which Bury
received were Ardlahan, Ballyashea, Ballycasey, Ballyculhane, Ballynolan,
Ballyrune, Ballyvareen, Bolane, Carheeny, Cloncaura, Coolbeg, Court,
Cragganacree, Curraheen, Dromore, Glenameade, Kildimo (Old), Knockroe, Monanooag,
Tobermurry, Tonlegee; Ballinacourty; Clorhane, Kilcurly, Balydoole,
Ballinacarriga, Cartown, Kilmacat, Mellon, Mountpleasant, Ringmoylan,
Shannongrove, Ballymacdonagh, Ballyshonickbane, Ballyvogue, Dominaclara,
Dommoher and Tinacullia.
The case of Sir
Hardress Waller was different to that of Phineas Bury, in so far as Waller was
already in possession of some townlands in the barony of Kenry. He was allowed
to keep these and, in addition, was allocated 28 additional townlands in County
Limerick, mostly in Kenry, and two in Tipperary. The townlands Waller was
allocated in the Down Survey included Ballylongford, Capparoe, Clopongownagh,
Copay, Port, Shantraud, Drominycullane, Bansha, Blossomhill, Boherboy,
Bushyisland, Castlegrey, Castletown, Cloonagalleen, Cowpark, Cragreagh,
Crokerspark, Curraghchase North, Deegerty, Kilbreedy, Rintull, Shanbally,
Stonehall and Summerville.
William
Taylor from Hollypark got seven townlands, including Moig East, Moig West,
Ballycahane, Dromlohan and Garranard. Sir Samuel Barnardiston, most of whose
estate was in the Patrickswell area, also received seven townlands in Kenry,
including Ballycanana, Mitchelstown, Faha, Ballyhanrahan West, Ballyhanrahan
East and Barnakyle. Captain Widdenham from Court received four townlands in the
Adare area: Killnockan, Tuogh, Curraghbeg and Curraghbridge. A surprise name on
the list, mainly because it sounded Irish, was that of Captain Tadgh McMahon,
who received six townlands in Ballysteen, including, Ballinvoher,
Ballyaglish, Beagh, Ballyvaddock and Drominoona. No doubt, McMahon was a strong
supporter of Cromwell, if not one of his officers.
The Earl of
Kingston, who had the greater part of his huge estate in County Cork, centred
in Mitchelstown Castle, also received some townlands in county Limerick,
including Ballinahalee, in Kildimo. James, Duke of York, who received thousands
of acres in Ireland, got 91 townlands in county Limerick, including Kylevaragh,
North, South and Middle.
Later Transfer of
Land
As is generally well known, all the recipients of lands following the Down
Survey did not retain these lands. Some of the recipients quickly sold their
land for ready cash. Others retained the land during their own lifetime, but it
was sold by their descendants. This was the case with the Bury, estate, a large
part of which was sold in the land sales of 1844 to General James Caulfield.
Other parts of this estate were purchased by the Westropps and the Russells of
Limerick. Capt McMahon also soon disposed of his land. Captain Widdenham gave
the four townlands in Adare as a dowry to his daughter, Mary (1682-1776), who
married Valentine Quin (1678-1744) of Adare. This land thereby became part of
the Dunraven estate.
The Wallers were one of the few families in Kenry to maintain ownership
of their land. Almost 250 years after acquiring their estate, they still had
6,636 acres in the first quarter of the twentieth century. In fact, they not
held on to what they acquired following the Down Survey distribution, but they
purchased land when it became available, as happened when the Bury estate was
auctioned in Dublin in 1844.
See
for Yourself
Though as mentioned above, some of the maps from the Down Survey were destroyed
in the fire at the Four Courts, Dublin, in 1922, copies of these maps survived
in other libraries, not only in Ireland but also in Britain and France. There
are two main components to the new website. The Down Survey Maps section
comprises digital images of all the surviving Down Survey maps at parish,
barony and county level. The written descriptions of each barony and parish
that accompanied the original maps have also been included. The second section,
Historical GIS, brings together the maps and related contemporaneous sources –
Books of Survey and Distribution, the 1641 Depositions, the 1659 Census – in a
Geographical Information System (GIS). All these sources have been
geo-referenced with 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps, Google Maps and
satellite imagery.
All this specialised but interesting information is now at your disposal,
dear reader. All you require is access to a computer. Use Google Search to
locate the website at http://www.downsurvey@tcd.ie/
John M Feheney
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Following the dispute, Throp became depressed and ‘fell into a rapid decline’,
dying soon afterwards in 1736. Though Throp’s brother attempted to raise the
matter in the British Parliament in 1739, Waller succeeded in preventing this,
largely because of his political influence as a member of the Irish parliament.
The Throps, however, also had influential friends, among them Dean Swift, who
lampooned Waller in a well-known balled, ‘The Legion Club’, part of which ran,
‘See the scowling visage drop, just as when he murdered Throp’.
Waller the Builder
It was Captain John Waller,
son of the man lampooned by Dean Swift, who built and paid for the church (of
Ireland), which was designed by James Pain and completed in 1831. The same man
gave both the site and a substantial donation for the building of Kilcornan
Catholic church in 1828. It is also likely that he was the main driving force
in the erection of the Glebe House in Castletown in 1810. Since there is no
longer a resident Rector in Castletown/ Kilcornan, the Church of Ireland sold
the Glebe House some years ago and it is now in private ownership.
Architecture
The main building in the
Glebe House consists of a 3-bay, two-storey house, with a recessed 4-bay, two
storey addition on the east side. There is a hipped slate roof with rendered
chimney stacks and terra cotta ridge tiles. Before recent renovation, there
were large nine-over-six pane windows to the south and six-over-six pane
windows to the north. This arrangement has, however, been changed in recent
times. There is a round-headed opening to the south elevation, flanked by
timber pilasters, with fluted consoles. There is a fanlight over the front
door. To the south of the house are the remains of a walled garden. The NIAH
survey notes that the house retains much of its original form and is characteristic
of the Glebe Houses of that period. It also notes the restraint in
ornamentation, which, it suggests, adds symmetry to the building and focuses on
the front entrance.
Originally, there were sixty acres of land going with the Glebe House.
Griffith’s Valuation (1850) lists only 57 acres, but this area was gradually
reduced over the years.
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Castletown Manor Walled Garden
I recently visited the former walled garden at Castletown Cross, Pallaskenry (now the property of the Holland family) and was amazed at how well-preserved the surrounding walls are. These walls, most of them built of brick, are 10 feet high, and enclose an area of 3.5 acres. This area formerly comprised the walled vegetable/ fruit garden of the Waller family in Castletown Manor.
The Waller Family
Most of my readers will be
familiar with at least some of the history of the Waller family. In my book, Adare and the Barony of Kenry Biographical
Dictionary (Iverus, 2010), I have given detailed accounts of several
prominent members of the Waller clan. Sir Hardress Waller, founder of the
Castletown branch, was a prominent supporter of Oliver Cromwell and became
infamous for being one of the judges who condemned King Charles I (1600-1649)
to death. He had a distinguished military career with Cromwell’s army in
Ireland and was an MP and Governor of the Castle in Askeaton. He and his wife,
Elizabeth Dowdall, obtained a large estate in the Castletown area and extending
towards Adare. Though Sir Hardress lost his lands at the Restoration of King
Charles II, his wife managed to hold on to her estates, and as late as 1872,
the Wallers still had 6,636 acres in Co.
Limerick. Though Sir Hardress was condemned to death at the Restoration, this
sentence was commuted to life imprisonment at Mount Orgeuil Castle in Jersey,
where he died in 1666.
The descendant of Sr
Hardress who seems to have built the walled garden in Castletown was either
Bolton Waller (1769-1824) or his son, Rev William Waller (1794-1863).
Victorian Walled Gardens
Walled kitchen gardens achieved their greatest popularity during the reign of Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Some famous walled gardens can still be seen at: a) Lissadell House, Co. Sligo b) Kylemore Abbey, Co. Galway (6 acres); Johnstown Castle Co. Wexford; Powerscourt Castle, Co. Wicklow, and the Phoenix Park, Dublin. Queen Victoria herself had a large walled garden of 32 acres. These gardens were usually surrounded by high walls. Those in Queen Victoria’s garden were 9 feet high, while the walls in other gardens rose to 12, even 24 feet. The purpose of the high walls was to ensure the safety of valuable fruit and vegetables
Most of the high walls
surrounding gardens and estates in Ireland were built in the famine and
post-famine era, when the employment of local craftsmen and labour was regarded
as a benevolent act. The Hunt estate in Incherourke, Askeaton, has an area of
more than one square mile (640 acres) and the entire estate was bounded on the
eastern and northern sides by an expertly-built dry wall, much of which can
still seen today.
Glass Houses
In 1845, the tax on glass
was removed in Great Britain and Ireland and this led to cheaper glass and its
more widespread use in glass houses in the gardens of the gentry. Plate glass
was invented in1848. Many of the gardening tools invented in the1880s are still
in use: spades, rakes, pruning shears. The Sutton's Seeds was founded in
Reading, England, in 1806 and this firm sent cheap packets of seeds all over
the world, including Ireland. In each walled garden there was a Head gardener
and assistants, who served their ‘time’ as apprentices and gradually mastered
the secrets of good gardening.
The popular vegetables
cultivated included potatoes; cabbage; carrots, parsnips; white turnip;
asparagus; artichokes; onions. The high walls were used to provide reflected
heat, less so light, for fruit trees. The north wall, which got little sunshine
was the domain of gooseberries, red and black currants and cherries. Around the
eastern wall were planted apples and pears. The western wall was reserved for
figs and plums, while the warmer southern wall was reserved for tomatoes,
peaches, apricots, plums, and nectarines. Popular varieties of apple grown at
the time included Beauty of Bath; Gladstone; Lady Sudeley (all early
varieties), while the later varieties included Cox Orange Pippin and Charles
Ross.
Though the primary purpose of walled gardens was the
production of fruit and vegetables, the excess of which was sold, flowers were
also grown, including varieties that required, at least for some time, the heat
and shelter of the glass house.
The remains of the walled garden are still a little marvel to
behold. Of special interest are the 10 feet high brick walls, several hundred
yards of which are still in perfect condition. Moreover, the wall still has the
flat slate covering, originally used to prevent ingress of water into the wall
and still performing that service efficiently after 160 years.
John M. Feheney