Whilst searching Irish newspapers from Tipperary on Find my Past for my ancestor John Kennedy, of Redwood, I found an 1849 article referring to a John Kennedy and John Coghlan apparently leasing two roads at a Special Roads Session in Nenagh
Can anyone explain what that might have meant in 1849?
With thanks
Margaret
Margvk
Sunday 23rd May 2021, 06:54AMMessage Board Replies
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Margaret,
Did the 2 Johns have land adjacent to these roads? If so, I think you’ll find this was the local Grand Jury paying them to repair and maintain the roads, for the public good. Nowadays most roads are in public ownership but in those days they were often on private land and so where the road was considered important, the state had to pay the land owner/user to maintain it. One of the roads was the mail car road, so you can see why it would be important that it was passable.
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Sunday 23rd May 2021, 10:19AM -
Thank you Elwyn, that is very interesting and I am learning more of 19th Century life in Ireland. John Kennedy was a tenant of Lord Bloomfield near Redwood, and in a similiar newspaper article a year or two later, one of the roads mentioned was near land of Lord Bloomfield.
Margaret
Margvk
Monday 24th May 2021, 05:38AM