Where is Redfield in Killaloe parish?

Message forwarded to volunteer who covers Killaloe parish.

Hello,

I found a Redfield house in the centre of Fahybeg townland vwhich is SW of Lackareagh mountain (W of Killaoe).

I also have ancestors who were from Fahybeg, the children were all born/baptised in the ecclesiastical Parish of Killaloe-O'Briensbridge with the priest recording the family's address as Redfield.  Delighted to see a lead to Redfield.  Humpty

Below is a response to Jan Humphries that might help other people find this area. It is not a townland in its own right but the Irish population had an immense bond with places and it is part of their culture to use place or object names to provide others with placement - one of the extra confusions but only becaue the modern population are losing contact with their roots and localities.

I am indebted ot Orla Kuiper-Ryan for a conversation about such and a link to an RTE programme tha more than highlights this rich culture of people and their places.

https://www.rte.ie/player/series/creedon-s-atlas-of-ireland/SI0000005960?epguid=IH000402198

I was able to play this link in my browser in Spain and it is a beautiful documentary both in production and evocative of the culture and people of Ireland

 

Hello Jan,

Thanks for the message!

It reminds me to go back to the original post and answer myself :)

 

I knew where to look approximately and looking over the ancient ordnance survey maps I found Redfield house in Fahybeg townland which is touching Bridgetown and north and west of it.

 

I have attached a section of map I have taken from the Clare Library website which you can see for yourself online. Double clicking the county map will exp[and it and then show different layers of maps - very useful for your research?

 

On the map if you go directly up from Bridgetown to the green line  and move up to the left on the line and just to the left is Redfield marked (above the Fahybeg label?

 

In the 1901 Census fahybeg is under fahymore if you need to search that place in particular?

 

Talking with Orla Kuiper-Ryan, who is from the area originally, she explained, if I remember correctly off the top of my head, that the old name for Bridgetown was Redfield in Gaelic and the English changed it to Redfield.

 

Now, I eventually found a couple more entries to Redfield and I wonder if that is because they were tenants to the Manor house or worked there and I enclose the sheet I have made as a working model to see if there is any connection there with you? The family data is right but of course all I have done at this stage is put it on one sheet and have not checked its connection with other groups etc but see what you think and tell me what you think?

 

This townland and the ones north of it and to the east are particularly rich in Crowe names, my own (Glenaglough) from a mile north on the country road you would meet going  directly north from Redfield?

 

Hopefully you now know everything I know and some more but do come back again, especially if you want more details on Crowes. I have recently been putting the Crowes here together and am keen to make as many links as possible. My main interest here was diverted by accidentally coming across the top of my trees first family (I am from the second or maybe third brood), so I have a personal interest here too.

 

Good luck and best wishes,

Shay

 

Sorry I missed your reply of 23 September.  I am interested in the Gortcallyroe as my gg grandfather John Herbert married Hannah Reddan there on the 1 March 1840.  John's address was given as Redfield and Hannah's as Garraunboy. They had 4 children : Ellen, Mary, Margaret and Peter all baptised in Gortcallyroe.  Ellen the eldest daughter sailed from Liverpool aboard the ship Dirigo arriving at Port Phillip 28 March 1859.

The parents of John Herbert were Peter Herbert and Ellen Tuohey, John had a sister Bridget who married Michael Cuneen in 1839 in Gortcallyroe.  In the Tithe Applotments Books I have found a record for a Peter Herbert resident at Fahy Beg, Killaloe, Clare in 1824 and 1830, as Herbert is not a common name in the area I am hoping this is my Peter.

Local surnames from family documents : Reddan, Herbert, Crowe, Ringrose, Neill, McKeogh, Bunfill and Raheily.

Local surnames from Tithe : Tuohey, McKeogh, Raheily and Ringrose.

From what I can make out Fahy Beg is not far distant from Gortcallyroe.

Thank for your help, Humpty.

Chipping in a few comments and some transcriptions from Sean Kierse's "Land & People of Killaloe Parish".

"William Brown's [b. 1658 in Belfast] first residence, Redfield House, was situated in the townland of Fahy Beg." p. 237

"His [John Brown's] title to the lands of Ballyknavin (Ballymacnavin), Clonboy and Fahy Beg (Fahyroe) was confirmed by a lease of 1717 from William, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin." p. 237. Here we see a conflation of Fahyroe (red field) and Fahybeg (small field).

"The Earl leased half of Fahy More and Fahy Beg to Thomas Arthur in May 1714, at an annual rent of £30 plus duties of 18s. The other half of Fahy Beg plus Clonboy was leased to William Brown on the same date, at an annual rent of £21 10s plus duties of 10s." p. 242. This contractual division might lead the locals to have different names for each half of Fahy Beg.

"William Brown, the first of his family to be granted lands locally, lived at Fahyroe (An Faiche Ruadh) The Red Field, in the townland of Fahy Beg. His son, Archdeacon Brown, writing in 1740, stated that about 1695 his father settled his family on the 'barren mountainous farm of Fahyroe, on a 21 years lease from the Earl of Inchiquin'." p. 242. Reinforcing the notion that Red Field refers to both a house and a farm or subdivision of the townland. This is similar to 'Rabbit Hill' being a subdivision of Fahy Beg: "William Steele also had a lease of part of Fahy Beg (Rabbitt Hill) (33 acres) dating from 1857." p. 243. The 1944 auction of this estate by eleven lots mentions many subdivisions of this land such as “Front Lawn”, “Black Lawn”, “Lacy’s Field”, “Burned House Field,”, etc. p. 246.

“Clonboy House was built on the site of an earlier house built when the Browns moved from their Redfield residence at Fahy.” p. 248

“John Brown, Archdeacon of Limerick, son of William, writing in 1740, gives a vivid account of conditions at Redfield: ‘About 1693, my father having the opportunity of many good bargains…settled his family at last on the barren mountainous farm of Fahyroe, now Redfield, upon a lease of 21 years from the Earl of Inchiquin and gave half his farm…to Lieut. Felton and afterwards half of the remaining half to Quarter Master Thombury — two officers of the same regiment at Redfield and fell to improve that poor soil, which was one entire field of heath and Irish furze, without hedge or a great wood…Sometime before my marriage (in 1717) my father…at Redfield, with his consent I gave up his old lease being only for a term of years and took out a new one in my own name of lives renewable for ever (Clonboy now) paying a considerable fee to my Lord Inchiquin and in 1719 my mother dying and my father breaking up his family I took the lands into my own hands…I made many improvements at Redfield tho’ long before that I had done a great deal and directed most of what was planted but at present there is not a stick or a stone left of any of the old works and scarce a tree either of fruit but what has been raised and planted by me’. p. 250-251 (ellipses in original).

“John O’Donovan in 1840 reported on Redfield House as follows: ‘Of this house there is no further account by the natives than about 100. It was three-storey high with offices, houses, kilns and malt houses and an extensive orchard.’ ” p. 260

The Clare Library’s baptism (1828-1855) and marriage (1829-1860) registers for Killaloe Parish have nearly 400 entries citing Redfield as a residence. Unfortunately these entries put Redfield in Co. Kerry. These entries clearly refer to a patch of land rather than a particular house. Family names listing as having a Redfield residence are (alphabetically) Barry, Browne, Burke, Connell, Considine, Crowe, Divane, George, Gleeson, Grady, Herbert, Hogan, Keogh, Lynch, Minaghan, Moloney, Ringrose, Ryan, Sheedy, and Tuohy. These mentions are consistent for these families. Having many DNA connections to several families in these registers, to cousins in this area, and to ancestors buried in the St. Thomas churchyard, I’m confident this Redfield mentions in the registers should be Co. Clare not Co. Kerry. Considering the parish registers and the mentions from Kierse, the locals may have referred to the northern extent of the Fahy Beg road — further distinguishing it from the adjacent Fahy More — as Fahy Roe.

Matt Barry

From the listings above as having a Redfield residence, I recognise the names of Herbert, Touhy, Keogh, Crowe and Ringrose from documents I hold. Found posting very interesting. Humpty

Redfield is a townland in Killaloe. It was once referred to as Gortcallyroe which, I believe translates to Field of the Red Witch. It was called Redfield in church records of the 1840's but is again being called Gortcallyroe. It can be seen on Google Earth at 52 degrees 47' 58.37" N and 8 degrees 29' 59.01"W.

 

Thank you for the information every little helps.

Humpty