Nick Maxwell By Ian Miller In 1872, an alarmed lady wrote to the Freeman’s Journal to report that: ‘Taking shelter in a cottage, near Banbridge, County Down, some time ago, during a shower of rain, and noticing the teapot on the hob, I observed that tea stewed in that way did a great deal of harm. The … Read more
By Patricia Byrne On 1 April 1851 Edward Nangle, who had founded the Achill Mission colony in the early 1830s, publicly announced that the Mission had purchased the major part of the island from the Encumbered Estates Commissioner for £17,500. This put the Mission on a new trajectory as the major Achill landlord. The University … Read more
By John Rodden A once-famous and now all-too-forgotten episode in the annals of ‘sensational spats’ was the belligerent confrontation between the 60-year-old Daniel O’Connell, then near the height of his reputation and influence, and the brash, ambitious, 31-year-old Benjamin Disraeli, future Conservative prime minister of the United Kingdom. It was a historic encounter—indeed, it resulted … Read more
Ellis Lynch was a companion and business partner to Peregrine Tasburgh and connected her English husband with the Catholic society of Connacht. When Peregrine was summoned to the Church of Ireland consistory courts of Tuam and of Killala, it being ‘impossible for him to be at both places at one time’, Ellis wrote that she … Read more
The estate included lands in the counties of Mayo and Galway, some quite widely dispersed but mostly around the town of Cong, as well as fisheries and ‘impropriate’ tithes (that is, tithes enjoyed by lay owners rather than the clergy). The lands were reckoned to comprise 2,502 acres in 1698 and 7,770 acres in 1852. … Read more